Top 10 disappointing campaigns…

You’d be hardpressed to find a fantasy general manager who didn’t own a player that had a disappointing season. Even those who won a championship may have owned a player or two that underperformed. But the smart GM sees the silver lining as many of the players on this list could be the perfect buy-low candidates.

Below you’ll find 10 players that disappointed. Players who missed most of the season because of injuries are excluded. I’m also combining teammates for reasons that will become apparent very quickly.

10. Jesse Puljujarvi

It’s easy to forget now how hyped Puljujarvi was before the season began. Most thought he was playing a full season and was a shoo-in for the Calder trophy as he would be a top-six forward right out of the gate. But Puljujarvi struggled with just eight points in 27 games before finally being sent to the AHL. He may be a good buy-low candidate but his rookie season was pretty disappointing.

9. Jaroslav Halak

He started off with so much promise after an excellent World Cup of Hockey. Then he struggled on an Islanders team and was sent to the AHL, where he dominated. But it took ages before he was called up despite the Islanders pushing for a playoff spot and needing goaltending help. He finished strong but fantasy GMs were not expecting only 12 wins out of him.

8. Derick Brassard and Bobby Ryan

These two are grouped together because they were both anticipated to be around the 60-point mark and it was hoped they would have great chemistry. Brassard wound up with just 38 points in 81 games while Ryan had 25 in 62 (a 33-point pace). Brassard had seven power-play points, down 67 percent from the previous year. Ryan had a total of five PPPts.

7. Tyler Johnson

With every passing month, I’m becoming more convinced that Johnson’s 72-point campaign two seasons ago will wind up as an outlier more than the norm. Many expected Johnson to have a bounce-back year, but it wasn’t to be. In Johnson’s last four seasons he’s posted 50, 72, 38 and 45 points. Maybe we should stop expecting 72-point seasons and more 45- to 50-point years.

6. The Colorado Avalanche

Exibit A as to the reason I’m grouping players together in some instances. Without doing it this way, more than half of this list would be Avs! They weren’t all bad: Nathan MacKinnon was okay and Mikko Rantanen was the only Avs player to hit 20 goals. But the rest of the team was horrendous. Here were the four worst:  

Matt Duchene: Just 41 points, a league-leading minus-34, nine power-play points and 160 shots.

Gabriel Landeskog: 33 points, a minus-25, 169 shots and jut 143 hits.

Tyson Barrie: His 38 points wasn’t that bad, but people were hoping for 50. He also had a minus-34 and doesn’t hit or block enough to be valuable in the peripheral categories.

Semyon Varlamov: Lost 17 of 24 games before going on the IR for the rest of the season. He had a 3.38 GAA and a .898 SV %.

And then think of how bad the seasons were for the likes of Jarome Iginla, Mikhail Grigorenko, Joe Colborne and others. It was just an ugly season overall in Colorado.

5. Joe Thornton

We all knew he wouldn’t repeat a point-per-game player pace, but we were not expecting this poor of a season. Most had Thornton pegged as a 70-point player, but he missed that mark by 20. Ouch. Every aspect of his game took a step back: plus/minus, shots, power-play points, etc. Father Time is catching up.

4. Tyler Toffoli and Anze Kopitar

Toffoli had improved in almost every relevant fantasy category from 2013-14 to 2015-16. This year was a big step back. Sure, he battled injuries, but his per game numbers were all down. He had just 16 goals and 34 points, down from 31 and 59 the previous year. His plus-minus and shots were also down. Kopitar scored just 52 points this season. The last time he had that few points in a non-lockout NHL season? Never. His previous career worse was 61 during his 2006-07 rookie season. His shot totals were down, his faceoffs won were down, his plus-minus was down. Just an overall disappointing season.

3. John Tavares and Andrew Ladd

There was plenty of hope among poolies that Ladd would be a great fit alongside John Tavares. Some were hoping Ladd could return to his 60-point days. But that duo never had any chemistry. Ladd did finish with 23 goals, but had only 31 points and was a minus-14. He took 40 fewer shots than the season before, had about 40 fewer hits and nine fewer power-play points. Tavares was a late first-round selection in many leagues. But he delivered more like a third-round player. He had just 66 points, a plus-4 and 18 power-play points. He doesn’t hit or collect PIM. Although his shots were up slightly, that’s not enough to make up for another disappointing season for Tavares owners. They need him to be elite. And 66 points simply doesn’t cut it.

2. Evgeny Kuznetsov

More great things were expected from Kuznetsov. A year after posting a 77-point season, Kuz struggled for the first quarter of the season. He managed to turn it around but wound up with just 58 points. Part of that is because he wasn’t as productive on the power play, but he also didn’t shoot the puck as much as the previous year. 

1. Jamie Benn

Benn is an elite player and this type of season is not supposed to happen to elite players. I have 15 guides/projections from last summer. Fourteen of them projected Benn to have at least a point-per-game season and quite a few projected at least 90. Benn was the fifth player taken on average in Yahoo pools. But he had a setback in almost every fantasy category. Goals, assists, points, shots, hits. All down. It was a frustrating year to be a Benn owner.