z-Archives (other articles)

The Atlantic Division has been one of the league’s most successful in the past five years, with two of the last five Cup finalists- and one winner- coming out of the division. However, one former powerhouse is experiencing its first shot at lottery talent, while another is hoping that their lengthy rebuild is finally coming to an end.

It will take months to dissect the bitter ending to a spectacular 2010-11 season for the Vancouver Canucks.  On the surface, Roberto Luongo hardly seems like the guy to blame for Vancouver’s loss against Boston. He received only eight goals of support in the seven game series, and two of his three wins were of the shutout variety. Upon closer look,a trend that has been developing over the past few years reared its ugly head once again – Luongo’s mercurial and moody off-ice personality having a negative effect on the team.

Age, upside, value, team and positional requirements, among other influences, impact where players are ranked. As expected, those who continually fill up multiple roto categories are favoured and active roster players are the focus. Salaries and contracts are not in effect.

This is not a player-to-player draft guide simply because the flow of draft, positions required and many other needs come into play. Each month players will get shuffled up and down the standings based on pace, monthly performances, consistency and potential.

Last Monday, I revealed one way in which fantasy managers can get a pulse on some future top-flight prospects via the Hockey Canada Program of Excellence goalie camp. As a result, we all learned about the viable long-term future of guys like Mark Visentin, Tyler Bunz and the small but fiery Alex Dubeau.

Thanks to a few well-timed strong finishers, my undermanned team (The Crosby Show) in an extremely competitive head-to-head keeper league managed a second place finish after the playoffs. As you can probably tell from my team name, Sidney Crosby was my star. This league counts standard categories (goals, hits penalty minutes, and so on), and over the past few seasons we have added a few more (faceoff wins and hits).

Over the past few weeks I have been formulating a plan for my team this summer. I’ve decided to share it with you, even though every single one of my competitors reads this site (in fact one of them is even a fellow columnist). Why? I’d like to think it is because I am such a nice guy, but I am also looking for feedback and your opinion as to how I should approach the summer ahead.

Another day, another prospect discovered. This is the trend heading into the summer again, as the market for the $4 or $5 million-a-year superstar begins with Tomas Vokoun and ends with Ilya Bryzgalov. So as general managers continue to try getting the most bang for their buck in goal, now more than ever before, tracking prospects is vital to successfully managing your fantasy keeper team.

The return of Lecavalier, free agency predictions, replacing Rafalski, the next Zetterberg, and more.

Roto Keeper Monsters encourages poolies who play in rotisserie or H2H based leagues to recognize the importance of equalled category value. To accomplish that task, RKM combines both standard and unusual combo types, brewing unique results. This edition features the Top 21-30  Goals / Shots on Goal combo players and finishes of trilogy. Enjoy!

The 2011 Fantasy Prospects Report has been officially released. Pick a copy up today!