No question this year's Cinderella has to be the Montreal Canadiens. They knocked off the President's trophy winning Washington Capitals after being down three games to one. Absolutely stunning. The road doesn't get any easier for Les Habitants who now have to face Sidney Crosby and his defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
Hello Fantasy GMs. Missed me? I missed this, actually - I've been eager to get to it because there so much going on in Russia right now.
I had a bit of a Eureka moment the other day as I was sifting through scouting reports and doing some research for the 2010 DobberHockey Prospects Report. I found a prospect that is not drafted in my league, not on my list of assigned players for the prospects report, and – more importantly -- has some decent upside.
Since I’d rather not use this column to profile players who we’ll be featuring in our upcoming Prospects Report, I was pretty happy to find this little nugget in the Anaheim system. His name is Justin Schultz.
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.
Keeping my rule in mind, I have compiled a list of the top ten keeper league left wingers to own (assuming standard keeper league rules and scoring categories). Using the two or three season scope, I had to balance proven production with young players on the verge of breaking out. I hope you enjoy!
Here are the individual and averaged predicitions for the second round of the NHL playoffs from Dobber, Angus, Bugg, Ma, Miller, and more! The panel's consensus picks were 12-3 last year, and we boast an impressive 34-11 record over the past three seasons!
The first round featured a trio of upsets in the Eastern Conference. None of the 13 experts predicted the Montreal Canadiens over the Capitals. Only Ryan Ma foresaw the Flyers defeating the Devils, and only Ma, Matt Bugg, and Russ Miller saw the Bruins taking care of Buffalo. I was a horrendous 0-4 in the East, as I took a chance on the Senators, who fell flat in game six. Ryan Ma went 7-for-8 in the first round, and Bugg went 6-for-8. A few (myself included) are looking for redemption in round two! The panel's consensus picks went 5-for-8 in the first round.
What the #%& is up with the New Jersey Devils?
While the NHL playoffs are always frustratingly/awesomely capricious in nature, a full dozen of the13 experts on Dobber’s Expert’s Panel selected New Jersey to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers (props to Ryan Ma, the sole dissenter). And while excuses are for sissies, one can perhaps forgive those who thought the Devils would prevail.
The third annual Prime Cuts roster is here! Check out the Prime Cuts rosters from 2007-08 and 2008-09. The thinking process that goes in to selecting the team is similar to Pierre McGuire’s “Monsters” for 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 favours 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 favourite article to write each year, and I hope you will all enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
Part 4 of the article series will name the top forward line.
The third annual Prime Cuts roster is here! Check out the Prime Cuts rosters from 2007-08 and 2008-09. The thinking process that goes in to selecting the team is similar to Pierre McGuire’s “Monsters” for 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 favours 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 favourite article to write each year, and I hope you will all enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
Part 4 of the article series will name the top forward line.
The first round of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs has provided me with more entertainment and topics of discussion than I ever imagined. Surprises lurk around every corner, as goalies have proven their worth in a myriad of different ways. Yes, the Playoff Beasts are emerging, and the sight is a welcome one for all of us fantasy goalie aficionados.
And thanks to the patented Playoff Beast Tracker, we can all follow along and chart some of these inexperienced goalies. So let’s take a look at some key dynamics that have surfaced over the last two weeks and see what we’ve learned so far about goaltending in the playoffs!
The fat lady hasn’t sung yet in every series this round, but we’ve seen enough to make some interesting observations that could give us an edge in offseason deals.
