2008-2009 Fantasy Hockey Preview

Since all 4 of us bloggers are in the same fantasy hockey league, I'll give my analysis on each of the 4 teams, plus a few extra notes. We'll start off with my team, ThsIsSharksTerritory. (WARNING - This analysis may be biased, because I wouldn't have picked anyone who I didn't think would do well)

Goalies

I'll start off where I'm strongest. Not to boast or anything, but I have the best goalie tandem in our league right now. It was a little bit of a stretch to take Nabby with the #6 pick in the draft, but I've always valued goalies very highly. In most standard leagues, there are only 2 roster spots for goales, yet they count for 4 of the 10 scoring categories.

When the 2nd round rolled around, I wasn't planning on taking Luongo, but there were no forwards (or defensemen) that I trusted enough to take that high. Gaborik is injury prone, St. Louis plays for a bad team and only gets points, and Nash also plays on a bad team and gets no help.

I thought my 3rd goalie was also a good steal in round 14. Mathieu Garon is the starting goalie for an improving Oilers team. Garon never put up great numbers in the past, but that's partly due to the fact that he played for the LA Kings. Hopefully, this year, he can reach 30-35 wins, with a 2.50 GAA and a couple shutouts.

Forwards

This is probably where I'm weakest, considering I didn't take a forward until the 4th round. I took Brenden Morrow with the pick because of how well-rounded he is (I know, I know - he plays for the Stars). He had "only" 74 points, but he also contributed a +23 and 105 penalty minutes. I would gladly take him over someone like Eric Staal, who had more points, but was minus player and had less than half the amount of penalty points.

Aside from Morrow, I took a lot of guys who have potential, based on who they're playing with this year. Marleau should be good for 80+ points if he stays on a line with Big Joe, with many of those coming on the power play. Cammalleri should be in the 70 point range, playing with Iginla and have a better +/-, being on a better Calgary team. Steve Bernier also falls into this category. Playing with the Sedins, hopefully he can put together a 30/30 year.

Speaking of the Sedins, Henrik's one of the guys I'm looking to replace on my roster. Yes, he did contribute 76 points (only 15 goals), but he didn't help too much in the other categories. I think I'm just biased and never really liked the Sedins (or the Canucks).

Another team I REALLY don't like is the Ducks. So I have no idea why I took Teemu Selanne in the 5th round. I should've taken into consideration that the Ducks' offense is now pretty horrible and Selanne is now 38 years old. He won't hit 94 points, like he did back in 06-07, but I'm hoping 80 is within reach.

Petr Sykora is a hot guy (that one's for you Grace). Hopefully he can stay healthy enough to stay on a line with Malkin and Staal all year. If he manages to do that, he should pick up 60-70 points easily. Malkin is an absolute stud (100+ points) and Staal should be much improved (he just turned 20!).

Defense

My defensemen are a solid group. I might have taken Boyle a little early (in the 3rd round), but I have really high hopes for him this year and it's nice to have as many Sharks as I can get on the team. With him on the power play with Joe, Patty, Cheechoo, and Blake, he can end up with 40 power play points and maybe 65-70 total.

Blake should have a rebound year too. He was decent last year, but his +/- was pretty bad. He should get about 40 points and also contribute 100 penalty minutes.

Kuba and Timmonen are both solid defensemen who play tons of minutes on pretty good teams (Ottawa and Philly). They'll both put up solid numbers, between 35-45 points. Kuba has led the Senators in ice time in each of the first 3 games and already has 3 power play assists. Timmonen hasn't put up great numbers yet, but has logged at least 27 minutes of ice time in each of the Flyers' 3 losses.

I knew nothing about Byfuglien going into the draft, but anyone who plays as a forward but is eligible as a defenseman should pretty valuable. Last time I checked, he was playing on the 2nd line in Chicago with Sharp and Kane - good company. However, he got less than 14 minutes of ice time tonight, so I'll continue to keep an eye on him. I might drop him in the future if he doesn't step it up.


And that concludes my team. Tune in this weekend and I'll cover the other teams when I have the time.