With another season in the books, are you surprised to find that not a single goalie notched 40 wins? I’m not. More prospects took advantage of more opportunities, while many of the elite workhorses played less. In my opinion, this is a visible change in the workload paradigm that will continue to shift as the clock ticks towards your next fantasy draft.
Here are the individual and averaged predicitions for the first round of the NHL playoffs from Dobber, Angus, Bugg, Ma, Miller, and more! The panel's consensus picks boast an impressive 42-18 record over the past four seasons! But, the panel was a very un-expert-like 8-7 last year, a dissapointing spring after posting a solid 12-3 record the year before. On to the picks...
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Tyler Toffoli not only led the OHL in scoring this season with 108 points in 68 games but he also scored more goals than any other player in the CHL with 57. Five of those came in the final week of the season (four in the season finale against the Sudbury Wolves), earning the Ottawa 67’s right winger CHL Player of the Week honours.
After successfully picking all six winners in my last column, I’m on quite the roll hitting my picks at nearly a 70% clip over the past two months. Hopefully I can keep it rolling in the last full Saturday Evening slate of games for this 2010/2011 regular season. I hope you’ve enjoyed this weekly piece (and have been riding my hot streak since the last month). This weekend will surely play a role in helping you determine which players you will be targeting in your playoff drafts early next week.
The thinking process that goes in to selecting the Prime Cuts roster is similar to Pierre McGuire’s “Monsters” team on TSN (I promise that is the first and only time I will compare my thinking process to Pierre’s). Since this is a fantasy hockey site, the selection process favors players that have had strong seasons on the score sheet, obviously. However, not just goals and assists are weighted – perhaps a player has started to shoot the puck more, or play better defensively. Intangibles like heart, grit, and determination factor in to the selection process as well. It is far and away my favorite article to write each year, and I hope you will all enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
The first part of the series will focus on the six defensemen.
In marketing, they call it brand recognition. You aren't going to the drug store to buy Kleenex, you're going to buy facial tissues. Your loving girlfriend isn't bringing you Tylenol to cure the beer-induced headache from last night, she's bringing you acetaminophen. The value these names hold are worth far more than the actual product is. The same can be applied to players in fantasy hockey.
Each year I write out 10 fearless forecasts (some crazier than others). This past September was no different (check my list for 2010-11 out here). I was right in a few cases, I was close in a few cases, and I was completely off base in a few as well. How did you do with your preseason predictions (preferably those that were a bit out there)?
Why the shutout is overrated, defensemen to watch for 2011-12, the most underrated player in the league, and more.
Fantasy managers must realize that the world of goaltending revolves due to the forces of cause and effect. What one goalie accomplishes over the course of a season plays a major role in the development path of another. With each NHL team averaging at least six goalies in their system, it is impossible to place every prospect in a perfect setting. For as I have explained before, when one goalie plays, another goalie is forced to sit and watch.
Eight years ago, NHL GMs consulted with their scouts and chose from a talent in pool in what is now considered one of the deepest drafts of all time. One player chosen in that 2003 draft (26th overall) is often overlooked. Brian Boyle is taking longer than expected, but many forget that he was drafted just two spots behind Philadelphia’s Mike Richards and three spots behind Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler.
