pittsburgh penguins Archives

2008-09 NHL Wrap-Up: Fantasy Busts

June 16, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

First off, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins on their seven game Stanley Cup victory over the dynastic Detroit Red Wings. This was the most entertaining NHL playoffs I have had the pleasure of watching, featuring some close battles, fantastic goals, and likely and unlikely heroes (ahem, Maxime Talbot).

The 2008-09 NHL awards ceremony kicks off in Las Vegas in two days, and this past season’s stars will be rewarded for their efforts. However, as a fantasy hockey guru, I would much rather criticize this year’s fantasy busts – the players who were supposed to propel your team towards victory, but performed well below their projected standards. That’s why we have the “Busties” – the NHL awards for the biggest busts!

For the sake of identifying as many different underachievers as possible, no nominee or winner of a “Busty” will be eligible for an additional award. The “Busties” will be awarded parallel to several of the NHL awards, but commended for reverse results. For example, the first Busty award given will be the Art Ross Trophy (for the most points during the regular season) but will be awarded to a player who should have been in contention for the award, but fell far below expectations. Injured players are cut some slack such as Marian Gaborik. Without further ado, I would like to present to you this year’s winners of the 2008-09 Busties.

Art Ross Busty (most disappointing point total during the regular season)
1. Jason Spezza
2. Dany Heatley
3. Anze Kopitar

The Ottawa Senators have received little secondary scoring the past few seasons, but usually were able to stay in contention thanks to their dominant top line. When that line stopped scoring at will this season, the team went downhill quickly. And now Dany Heatley wants out of town. GM Bryan Murray will certainly have his hands full this offseason putting together a competitive team for 2009-10.

Maurice Richard Busty (most disappointing goal total during the regular season)
1. Vincent Lecavalier
2. Olli Jokinen
3. Henrik Zetterberg

Perhaps it was the shoulder surgery, or maybe the constant trade rumours, but Vincent Lecavalier wasn’t the same scoring threat in 2008-09 that we’ve grown accustomed to. While Jokinen and Zetterberg had mediocre campaigns, they too had trouble piling up goals.

James Norris Busty (most disappointing defenseman during the regular season)
1. Ed Jovanovski
2. Wade Redden
3. Dion Phaneuf

While there were several others who could’ve made this list (Braydon Coburn and Brent Burns), these three really stood out for me, as they’ve all been models of consistency in the past, when healthy. While 47 points may not seem like a bad year for a defenseman, Dion Phaneuf is capable of much more. Look for a bounce back year for him in 2009-10.

Georges Vezina Busty (most disappointing goalie during the regular season)
1. Chris Osgood
2. Marty Turco
3. Vesa Toskala

Though he shone in the playoffs, Chris Osgood had the worst regular season of his 15 year career in the NHL, losing the starter’s job to back-up journeyman Ty Conklin for much of the year. Marty Turco wasn’t especially sharp for the Dallas Stars either, as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2001-02. Vesa Toskala was little more than a humanized sieve for the Toronto Maple Leafs, playing with an ailing groin for much of the season.

Chances are if you had more than one of the previous players, you didn’t fare too well in your pools. Which players drove you to the brink of insanity this year? Go ahead and share your frustrations with us.

And They’re Off!

April 16, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

The first night of NHL playoff action in 2009 was not without its share of surprises. The recently struggling New Jersey Devils absolutely shutting down a now formerly hot Eric Staal and the rest of the Carolina Hurricanes’ offense, and New York Rangers’ deadline acquisition Nik Antropov playing the role of star in a game that featured names like Ovechkin and Lundqvist. I even caught Sean Avery giving Jose-Swiss-Cheese-Theodore a sharp cross-check after a whistle, though Avery kicking a guy when he’s down should hardly surprise me.

So, let’s take a gander at how your picks faired last night. An overwhelming majority took the Capitals to beat the Rangers, and if you’re in that boat, Theodore is reason enough to be worried. He could get the hook with another poor outing. Apparently Floyd, megameg, leaffaninbell, Tcgpay, hotstreak, and cmancuso don’t fear Alexander Ovechkin quite as much as the rest of us do, taking the Rangers to win the series.

After watching a period of the Devils/Canes game yesterday, a sickly feeling came over me. How could I, and many of you, have bet against that annoyingly effective, defensive system, backed by the best goalie ever to play the game?!? If game 1 was any indication of how this series will play out, well, dodge23 (who picked the ‘Canes to win the Stanley Cup) is likely feeling less spectacular than myself right about now. Bold, bold pick dodge23… Do note that I said bold and not wise – defending that pick will be a steep uphill battle!

While some contestants have yet to see their scorers play a game, like andrewg and datsyukkk13 who loaded up with Red Wings, one of our co-leaders, arseneau, reaped early benefits from players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as the Pittsburgh Penguins roughed up Martin Biron. Woody, our other co-leader, scraped together some points from the Sedin duo as the Vancouver Canucks took a close game 1 from the St. Louis Blues.

The other four series’ are scheduled for this evening, and if you’re overwhelmed with all of the options, my advice would be to wait until 10:30 pm tonight to watch the battle of California between the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks (cough-upset-cough). Good luck competitors and enjoy the playoff hockey!

3rd Quarter-Pole NHL Power Rankings

March 16, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

Since opening day in October, the San Jose Sharks have been the best team in the NHL. They have been poised and consistent, stringing together win streaks with regularity and rarely losing more than a game in a row. While centre Joe Thornton has been a sure top 10 fantasy pick for years, the Sharks have another veteran emerging as a legitimate first round pick for the next few seasons; goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. While not as flashy as a Roberto Luongo or as fundamentally sound as a Martin Brodeur, Nabokov can be your fantasy hockey savior if you’ve got him, and your worst nightmare if you don’t.

His value can be indicated by the 80 wins he’s compiled over the last two seasons, which is tops in the league. In our current era where most starting goalies suit up for 60 games or less, Nabokov’s 90% start rate is unmatched, especially when you consider the strength of the Sharks team in front of him. It’s likely that he will be at the top of my projections for 2009-10, so if you own him in a keeper league, consider him untradeable. With fantasy sports, nothing is certain, but Evgeni Nabokov is as close to a sure thing as you’ll find.

The surging New Jersey Devils appear to be the real deal, and Martin Brodeur doesn’t seem to have lost a step after his return from bicep surgery, as he tied Patrick Roy’s all-time wins record Saturday night in Montreal. Zach Parise has been a man possessed in the second half of the season, and should break the impressive 83 point career-high projection I had for him. Evidently, the Devils make for an extremely difficult matchup for any opponent in the first round of this season’s Stanley Cup playoffs.

The young Pittsburgh Penguins are up five spots to 11th in this edition of the power rankings. They have played a more inspired brand of hockey since the All-Star break, and their key additions, Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin, have paid immediate dividends. A first round matchup with the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, or Philadelphia Flyers could make for a long, but massively entertaining series.

I know it’s a tad late, but here are our Power Rankings at the 3rd quarter of the 2008-09 season.

1.	(1)	San Jose Sharks	11.	(16)	Pittsburgh Penguins	21.	(21)	Dallas Stars
2.	(2)	Boston Bruins	12.	(19)	Florida Panthers	22.	(23)	Toronto Maple Leafs
3.	(3)	Detroit Red Wings	13.	(11)	New York Rangers	23.	(24)	Los Angeles Kings
4.	(4)	Washington Capitals	14.	(20)	Columbus Blue Jackets	24.	(26)	Ottawa Senators
5.	(9)	New Jersey Devils	15.	(12)	Anaheim Ducks	25.	(28)	St. Louis Blues
6.	(7)	Chicago Blackhawks	16.	(13)	Buffalo Sabres	26.	(18)	Phoenix Coyotes
7.	(8)	Calgary Flames	17.	(17)	Edmonton oilers	27.	(27)	Tampa Bay Lightning
8.	(5)	Philadelphia Flyers	18.	(14)	Minnesota Wild	28.	(22)	Colorado Avalanche
9.	(6)	Montreal Canadiens	19.	(25)	Nashville Predators	29.	(29)	Atlanta Thrashers
10.	(10)	Vancouver Canucks	20.	(15)	Carolina Hurricanes	30.	(30)	New York Islanders
Note: Brackets indicate prior power rank.