Over the course of the last few weekends, I participated in a few, (about 30), Yahoo! mock drafts to gain a better grasp of what’s been going on in the real fantasy hockey world and thought that I’d pass my findings onto you Dobberities. I participated in random drafts ranging from eight to 14 teams from H2H to Roto leagues with standard settings. This is what I have concluded.
Fantasy Impact: The Thrashers have signed Swedish winger Fredrik Modin to a one-year contract.
If you’re in a deep keeper league, you might be looking for some players who can step into your lineup this year, or if you’re in a one-year league you might be wondering if there are any sleeper picks you can take late.
There are a few players that I’ve targeted for my watch list and I will be watching them closely during training camp to see if they can help me this year. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I’ve deliberately left out many of the more well-know guys who are expected to battle for spots or earn them such as Joe Colborne, Tyler Ennis, P.K. Subban and Nazem Kadri.
Fantasy Impact: The Penguins have signed Mike Duff (er... I mean Comrie) to a one-year contract worth the league minimum ($500,000).
Of all the cities where Antti Niemi could have played, very few ever imagined that his final destination would be San Jose. Even I figured it was only a matter of time before he cut his losses and played anywhere that guaranteed him enough starts to improve.
You know…like Finland…or Sweden, maybe?
Fantasy Impact: The San Jose Sharks have signed Antti Niemi to a one-year deal worth a reported $2 million.
Fantasy Impact: The New York Rangers have signed free agent forward Tim Kennedy to a one-year, $550,000 contract.
After spending a year in the Kontinental Hockey League, Jiri Hudler is returning to the Detroit Red Wings’ dressing room for the 2010-11 season. In the summer of 2009, Hudler took the Wings to salary arbitration and was awarded $5.75 million over two years, but the (now defunct) Moscow Dynamo organization dangled a $10 million offer over the same period and the 26-year-old Czech took the money and ran. But Hudler is now doubling back to the NHL…so what does this mean to you?
I have a few general rules when it comes to building a team in a fantasy hockey keeper league. One of the more important ones is to not plan beyond a two or three year window. You are not building a real NHL club, and too often fantasy hockey poolies place an emphasis on youth and prospects over proven veterans with gas still left in the tank. So using my general rule, take a look at your team(s). Can you realistically say you will have a shot at winning the league at some point within the next two or three seasons? If not, time to scrap the rebuild and start adding proven NHL talent.
Once again, much like last year, here’s a list of players who just won’t tickle my fancy. There are a variety of reasons ranging from my dislike of some players, changes to the team during the off-season, recovery from off-season surgery, overvalued rookies/prospects, or just plain over-inflated stats from last season.
