The Scouts at FantasyHockeyScouts asked me to contribute to their Fantasy Hockey Tweet-Off. Since the kids out there are all aflutter with twitter, they decided to write the post in twitter form. We were asked eight questions and the answers couldn't be longer than a tweet.I went off the board as I was the only one who didn't bow at the alter of Alexander Ovechkin. Come on Fatso, make me look good!
To read the results, click here.
My rationale below.
The consensus was Alexander Ovechkin. I knew the easy answer was Alexander Ovechkin, so why didn't I choose Alexander Ovechkin? Because f@#k him, that's why.
My reasoning? Alexander Ovechkin is going to be the number one choice in EVERY fantasy hockey draft. Where is Brodeur going to be drafted? Last season he was coming off two ridiculous seasons and was probably the first goalie off the board, but the fantasy owners memory span is about as coherent as Bob Cole and his stock has dropped. With the return of Jacques Lemaire and his defensive system to New Jersey and the wonderbra effect to prop up Fatso's glorious mantits, I went out on a limb.
Pulling a 180ยบ with Janet Eagleson like precision, I decided to go with the consensus and take Tavares as the Calder winner. I dabbled with taking Hedman, but at the end of the day I stuck to my belief that Tavares is underrated because of the "too much tape theory". After scoring 72 goals as a 16 year old, the scouts began to focus on his bad games and ignore the overall landscape of which he performed during his OHL career, it is the polar opposite of a player like Benoit Pouliot, a player who offered less tape and less chances to find flaws (Will anybody under 20 understand that tape means VHS tape?). Do I worry about the regression in his numbers? Not really. With all the court challenges, he seemed to be refining his game, preparing himself for the league he felt he should be in, the NHL. It is also understated that he is already 19, an age that Steven Stamkos did not reach until February of his rooke campaign.
Once again, with the fantasy memory being short, Erik Johnson was a forgotten name on the fantasy landscape. My initial instinct was Stamkos, but watching him being drafted mid-round as opposed to Johnson who was not even drafted in either of my pools, I felt a 50 pt campaign is more of a breakthrough than Stamkos with 65-75 pts. Johnson had 33 points in 69 games as a rookie, and as the top defense man on a team with a lot of burgeoning offensive talent, I think his draft ranking and position mark him for a bigger impact.
How does a goaltender who was undrafted, sight unseen and playing for one of the worst teams in the NHL get hyped to the point where his pre-season fantasy projections (minus wins) place him alongside NHL veterans Marc Andre Fleury, Henrik Lundqvist, Carey Price and Ryan Miller?
Get signed by Team Hyperbole, the Toronto Maple Leafs, that's how.
Did anybody learn the lesson of Fabian Brunnstrom in 2008? Nobody has seen the kid play and they are making judgements based on conjecture and stats that are impossible to translate to the NHL. Corey Hirsch was a dominant goaltender in the SEL, as was Martin Gerber and at a younger age Mikael Tellqvist put up huge numbers with a similar resume. (Anybody from the Toronto area will relay the stories of hope about Tellqvist's future as the Maple Leafs number one of the future). Yet the hopes of Leaf Nation paint him as Henrik Lundqvist instead? He could match all the hype, but those who are projecting that hype forward are being disingenuous, they have NO IDEA how good he will be.
Here are their 2009 numbers
Theodore - 32W, 2.87 GAA, .900 SV% 2 SO
Kipprusoff -45W, 2.84 GAA, .903 SV%, 4 SO
Add a middle of the pack starter to bridge the 20 game gap that Kiprusoff required to win those extra 13 wins and use your earlier pick on a forward and your team is in superior shape. He is extremely low risk right now and if he can even rollback his numbers to 2008 levels, he becomes an even bigger bargain. This choice was all a way of getting a three for one in that I got to expose Varlamov and Kiprusoff as overrated as well. If Theo's ownership number was 75% or above, I wouldn't have mentioned him, but 57% is absurd.
For a breakdown on why, click here.
An opportunity to crack an Osgood joke? I couldn't resist.
That's a bitchslap of truth right there!
3 comments:
Love it!
Love how you went off the board with Fatso. It's a gutsy pick... silly, but gutsy.
I was thinking EJ for my breakout as well it was a tough call between him and Stamkos.
I guess it all depends on what you deem MVP.
I considered Tim Thomas the MVP last season because of his end of season ranking in comparison to his draft position.
The difference between Ovechkin and Crosby, Malkin, Getzlaf, Kovalchuk is not as great as the difference between Thomas and the majority of goaltenders drafted around him.
Brodeur is nowhere near as extreme, but his draft stock has dropped far enough where if he leads the league like he did in 2007 or put up 40-45 wins that an argument can be made for him affecting the final result just as much as the Great 8.
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