Roos Lets Loose

Jonathan Drouin vs. Nathan MacKinnon

This is one we will no doubt be debating for years to come. Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon are two can’t miss prospects in one of the best drafts in recent years (although we do seem to say that every year, don’t we?) Each has the power to not just become an impact player right away but to help change the course of the team that drafts him at Sunday in Newark. And each one could have a similar impact for your fantasy team. But who should you choose?

Taking a look at some point totals that are somewhat deceiving

Even if you look closely at a group of players who all scored roughly the same number of points in a season, chances are each guy could’ve had a somewhat different overall impact on your team. Of course the key is finding the best guy among a group of apparently similar players, as that can often makes the difference between winning and losing in fantasy hockey.

With that in mind, I’ll look at several groups of players who had similar point totals in 2012-13, to see if there were any standouts (good or bad) once you dig a little bit deeper beyond just how many points they scored. I’ll highlight some interesting trends within my discussion of each group, and finish with some key overall takeaways in my Final Verdict.

Cage Match: Who is the better fantasy own - Drew Doughty or Alex Pietrangelo?

Drew Doughty and Alex Pietrangelo will always be linked in my mind as the best two traditional defensemen drafted in the disgustingly loaded 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Yes, yes, yes, Erik Karlsson, but note I said traditional defensemen. Karlsson is something else. He’s the cherry on top. Doughty and Pietrangelo were drafted to become anchors on the blueline for their once wayward franchises and they’ve become just that.

Roos takes a funny look at what Google's Instant Search offers when you type certain player names... 

It’s hard to believe that Google Instant Search has been around for almost three years. For those who don’t know what Instant Search is (or might not realize they do), the way it works is when you type something in a Google search box it auto-completes the search as you type, predicting what you’re searching for based on the most popular searches that have been run which match what you’ve typed so far. Since it debuted, Instant Search has been used as a source for humor almost as much as for information. I figured I’d try to mix a little bit of both with this week’s column by using Google Instant Search to have some fun, but also to see if it could somehow be turned into a useful tool for fantasy hockey enthusiasts.

This week's Cage Match - who is the better fantasy own, Logan Couture or Derek Stepan?

The last time we discussed Derek Stepan I had him losing to David Desharnais. Oops.

After a huge breakout season (44 points in 48 games) Stepan looks like a star. He always had potential but we could only wonder if it would ultimately translate. It obviously has. But this season is fraught with small sample size wonders. Many a player has put together a great half-season. Dustin Byfuglien was a point-per-game defenseman for 40 games once, ditto for Dustin Penner at forward for a similar stretch. This isn’t so much a slight at those guys but rather a reminder that strange things happen over smaller stretches of games. We simply don’t know if Stepan has the mojo to sustain those scoring rates over 82 games, especially with much more difficult travel coming next season.

These eight players are good...but not worth the cost

In last week’s column, I highlighted eight players who aren’t as bad as they might seem. This week I figured I’d shift my focus to the other end of the spectrum – eight guys who are good, but not worth the cost it would likely take to obtain them via trade or in a draft for the 2013-14 season. In other words, any of these eight guys could be a very nice addition to your fantasy team in 2013-14, but you still might be best to avoid obtaining them because you’ll likely have to pay too much of an inflated price.

Eight players who are thought to be busts...but really aren't

One of the biggest traps that Fantasy Hockey GMs can fall into is overvaluing players, either by paying too high a price to draft or trade for them, or by holding onto them even after it becomes clear they’re not worthy of still being owned. But it’s arguably just as bad to mislabel a player as a bust when he could still turn things around, or to ignore a player whose performance seems to have fallen off but who still could help your team despite maybe having lost a step.

Cam Fowler vs. Vyacheslav Voynov

This should really be Voynov vs. my keyboard since I have most certainly butchered that name a hundred times over the years and may have even done so right now. However you spell it, Voynov’s a name you had better get to know because he’s fast becoming one of the best young defensemen in fantasy hockey so much so that this has become a compelling Cage Match.

 Roos investigates players who will disappoint ... or improve in the West next season

Welcome to Part 2 of my series about non-playoff teams, focusing on two players from each team – one who I think is a good bet to improve next season, and another who I feel will disappoint. In last week’s column I tackled the Eastern Conference, so this week it’s time for the West. For my “Final Verdict”, I’ll again go over some keys to identifying guys like these, plus talk about how this really all boils down to value versus expectations.