Puneet Sharma pens The Journey every Saturday for DobberHockey. He also writes about Chicago Blackhawks prospects for DobberProspects, and he has contributed to the Fantasy Prospects Report.
Although he's already 27 and he has never lit up the AHL in scoring, blue liner Corey Potter might be the most unknown fantasy "prospect" in the NHL right now.
Most teams have played a half dozen games and we're getting close to the nine game limit where teams have to decide whether to keep or cut high picks or risk having their contracts kick in. Aside from newly drafted players, there have been a few surprises both pleasant and not so pleasant.
Preseason success isn't always a good indicator of regular season success, however, for prospects it's one of the few times to make a significant impression. This week we look at four more prospects that have had outstanding training camps/preseasons. Two have likely earned themselves a permanent NHL roster spot. Three of the four prospects last week were well known prospects. This week's players are more obscure and in some cases have come out of nowhere.
Preseason success isn't always a good indicator of regular season success, however, for prospects it's one of the few times to make a significant impression. Introductions are in order for four prospects who have had outstanding training camps/preseasons and have likely earned themselves at least a few call-ups throughout the season if not a spot on the NHL roster.
In the last decade there have been a number of elite forwards who were slow developers. They either got stuck in deep organizations, suffered injuries or simply needed more time to produce. These late bloomers didn't emerge as potential stars until their early twenties. They are hard to distinguish from players who go on to have average careers or no careers at all. Some recent examples of late blooming forwards include Logan Couture, Michael Grabner and Bobby Ryan in 2009. In the last 10 seasons there has been roughly one late blooming prospect per season. These players emerge on average at age 22 and all have gone on to some variation of fantasy stardom. Who is going to be this season's Logan Couture or Bobby Ryan? Here is a list of candidates, their age this season, and their point predictions.
David Rundblad and Robin Lehner are two of hockey's best prospects. Both happen to hail from Sweden, and both happen to be property of the Ottawa Senators.
_Photos/Colgate/Mark_Dekanich_Admirals3.gif?max_width=360 "Mark Dekanich - courtesy of ECAC Hockey")
Last season, Mark Dekanich was just another excellent goalie in the goaltending factory that is the Nashville Predators. For some reason the Predators seem to consistently produce excellent goaltenders. Tomas Vokoun (acquired through expansion), Chris Mason, Dan Ellis, Pekka Rinne and Anders Lindback have all thrived in the "Volunteer" State. Dekanich looked like he was another candidate to get lost in the Nashville shuffle, but Group six free agency allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. Group six free agency occurs for goalies when they have reached age 25, have 3 accrued years of professional experience, and whose contracts have expired, but have played fewer than 28 NHL games. Columbus signed Dekanich to a one-year, one-way, $575,000 contract on July 1st 2011, giving him a chance to prove himself in the NHL next season.
You can choose as many stats as you want for fantasy pools, but I've found that there are six categories that consistently come up and they include: goals, assists, plus/minus, penalty minutes, power play points and shots on goal. Shooting the puck is important because points are allocated for shots on goal and goals. If you get lots of both you're going to be on the power play and get power play points. Penalty minutes also count, so ideally you're looking for someone that can score goals and get penalty minutes. You're essentially looking for a power forward along the lines of Rick Nash or Jarome Iginla. Today we'll take a look at a few of Dobber's top ranked power forward prospects and examine their potential for multi-stat pools.
Draft time is just around the corner. Many of you will be looking to draft prospects that can produce right now and most of you will be looking to stock up on players that will produce in a season or two. Seven prospects will be examined this week, three of whom are draftable, but won't produce this season. The other four are to be avoided completely for upcoming fantasy drafts and have a lot to prove before they are considered legitimate prospects again.
Okay, so these guys aren't exactly old, but they have to be at least 22 by the start of the 2011-12 season to be included. In most cases these players have proven themselves in the AHL and are due for a serious look at some NHL ice time. There are some hidden gems in this list and in some cases all these defencemen need is a break. Most of them are stuck in organizations with a lot of blue line depth. Because of their age, there is more pressure for the organization to play them sooner rather than later and that's good if you need to shore up your blue line next year in a keeper league. These are good defensive prospects that are very close.
