Eastern Edge

Heading into the 2009 NHL entry draft, the top North American ranked skaters were John Tavares and Matt Duchene. As it turns out, these two and the top-ranked European skater (Victor Hedman) occupied the first three picks in the draft. At number four overall, the Atlanta Thrashers would select Vancouver native Evander Kane. Kane had just wrapped up a 96-point performance in 61 games for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL and would turn pro the very next season.

Last week we looked at some quality players who are either hot or heating up who are worth keeping on your roster. This week we’ll take a look at a few Eastern Conference players who might be better off on your opponent’s roster. Let’s take a look and keep in mind, these comments are for one-year leagues.

Trying to gauge the talent of the players on your fantasy roster is not always an easy task. Of the hot players, which will continue their dominance? On the flip side, which cold players are going to turn things around? Which players may have already turned their season around without everyone else realizing it? While I can’t delve into each and every situation, I’ll take a look at a handful of Eastern Conference players below.

By this point in the year, you should have a pretty good idea who your draft day steals were and who the main contributors of your roster are. You should also be able to notice which categories you might need to target through a free agent/waiver wire pickup, and let’s be honest – we all have to go fishing in that pool from time to time. The reason could be an injury (or number of injuries) or simply a miss on a sleeper pick or any other number of factors. Whatever the reason, here are a few Eastern Conference faces that might be able to help you out for a little while.

A year ago, the Leafs’ best offensive line was the one consisting of Clarke MacArthur, Mikhail Grabovski, and Nikolai Kulemin. Phil Kessel’s line was always considered the first line, but the offense from that line was sporadic at best. This year, Kessel is scoring at a superhuman rate (tops in league scoring). The chemistry he has formed with Joffrey Lupul (who is tied for fourth in NHL scoring) is unmistakable and the result has the Toronto Maple Leafs tied for second place in the NHL standings. With the strong play of Kessel and Lupul continuing, it is easy for fantasy owners to focus on that line, but the MacArthur, Grabovski, and Kulemin line should certainly not be ignored.

Before the season started, there was a faint buzz in Philadelphia about some kid out of college that might have a shot at making the team. The Flyers roster already had some pretty impressive names penciled in for the top-nine though, so the odds that some unknown collegiate graduate would make the team in an offensive role were low enough for the majority of the NHL community to completely ignore any stories out of Philadelphia on this Matt Read character. As the preseason games began, Read began to open the eyes of those who ignored him, leaving many to ask, “Just who is Matt Read?”

As most teams have played six or seven games and the rust has shaken off, we are starting to see who is performing up to standards and who is either exceeding or falling short of our expectations. Although most expected an improvement, New York Islanders captain John Tavares is one of those players exceeding our expectations early. In fact, the only person scoring at a higher pace in the NHL right now is Toronto sniper Phil Kessel (Kessel is on pace to score 164 points while Tavares is on pace to score 137).

As each new hockey season progresses, fantasy hockey poolies are eager to dominate their pool. While the season is still young, everyone wants all of their star players and their sleepers to absolutely dominate. Despite hearing from the masses to be patient and against their better judgment, some folks pull the trigger far too early on the slower starters. Conversely, if a mediocre guy has a couple good games, their fantasy owner wants a king’s ransom. Let’s take a look at some of the slower or hotter performing Eastern Conference players thus far and what we can take from the good and the bad.

Panthers’ GM Dave Tallon has done nothing short of a massive overhaul to his roster, arguably bigger than the Philadelphia Flyers’. Countless names were shipped out and just as many new faces arrived. With an overwhelming amount of new talent available, there are quite a few question marks surrounding the players, their potential performance, the line combinations, and of course the overall competitiveness of the team. Here’s a quick look at some of the players in Florida this year.