Lie Like an Eagle - Week THREE

Week One - Grab Filatov, he has immense talent and should be mentioned in the same stratosphere as Tavares and Hedman, he will start the season hot, before he slumps, dump him on an unsuspecting owner.

Week Two - Grab Del Zotto, he is hot, he is wonderfully talented, he cannot maintain it, dump him on an unsuspecting owner.

Week Three - Grab Benn, he is hot, he does not possess elite skills, he has great linemates, he is a keeper.

I am confused as to how Janet Eagleson comes to these conclusions. When is it beneficial to play with good teammates? When is it a detriment? When is a hot start a reason to keep a player? When is it a reason to trade him at his peak? When is age a negative factor? When is age a positive factor? When is talent a reason to trade somebody? When is less talent a reason to keep somebody?

I would like a coherent argument as to why Del Zotto and his fantastic skills cannot maintain his pace and why Benn and his lack of elite skills can. Benn is listed as being a beneficiary of Ribeiro and Morrow and yet she recommends TWO Rangers this week because of Marian Gaborik, yet Del Zotto is not a wise long-term investment? If Eagleson didn't waste our time with 10-12 players a week and whittled  her column down, she could provide more than three nonsensical sentences to justify my waiver wire investments.

So after reading her final line about Benn being entrenched as the first line LW because there was nobody else on the depth chart, I was reminded of Oct 24, 2009 where during Frozen Fantasy she recommended her readers to pick up a Dallas LW by the name of Fabian Bruunstrom. I did a search to use for reference and to my shock, Yahoo had deleted her archives. The search result listed this.

Frozen Fantasy: Tortoise or Hare? - Fantasy - Yahoo! Canada Sports - 6:22am
Frozen Fantasy: Tortoise or Hare? By Janet Eagleson Oct 24, 14:51 EDT ... Fabian Brunnstrom, LW, Dallas (37 percent owned) – I dissed this guy in my ..

Followed by a dead link. I call it covering up the evidence.

Of course, last season after Brunnstrom had a hat trick in his debut and posted 5 points through 5 games Eagleson recommended you pick him off the waiver wire. Brunnstrom would go on to put up 24 points in his next 50 games and one season later is a 4th liner who poses no threat to Jamie Benn and his 5 points in 5 games.

Thanks for the advice Eagle.

Here are her week three selections. (my comments in red)

Jamie Benn LW, Dallas (4% owned)

Eagleson upside? See above

Gilbert Brule C, Edmonton (1%)

Eagleson upside? Some ridiculous child crawling analogy, not sold on him, was a top 5 pick (so was Stanislav Chistov), maybe he fails and eats a bottle of glue. Can you be any more non-committal? If Brule puts up 90 points, can she claim this as a solid recommend? If he finishes the season with 15 points can she claim she warned you of his pitfalls? IF YOU AREN'T SURE, DON'T LIST HIM AS A FANTASY ADD!

Ales Kotalik RW, NY Rangers (41%)

Eagleson upside? Inconsistent player who is reaping the benefits of playing with elite teammates. Why not trade him? The guy is not really inconsistent, he is just not very productive. One 60+ pt season at 31 years of age? Pass.

Ryan Malone RW, Tampa Bay Lightning (50%)

Eagleson upside? Has he turned the corner? No, he hasn't. Maybe St. Louis and Stamkos will give him consistency. Can other players GIVE you consistency? What does this mean? 

Brendan Morrison C, Washington Capitals (9%)

Eagleson upside? On Thursday night, Morrison played with Ovechkin and Knuble. Do I need to say anything else? Do you need to say anything else? Yes, you do! In week one you told everybody to dump Brooks Laich because he was playing with Ovechkin, in week two you offered the advice to never judge a player off ONE boxscore and now in week three you are recommending me to pick up a player who is playing with Ovechkin after ONE GAME? Are you kidding me? Can we force her to give her awards back like the Grammy's did with Milli Vanilli?

Matt Moulson LW, NY Islanders (4%)

Eagleson upside? Only thing you need to know, he plays with Tavares. So now the Eagle is recommending rookies drafting off more talented rookies? I think Timmy from Southpark could offer more informative analysis. Pick up TIIIIIMAAAAY THOMAS. Pick up TIMMMAAAY CONNOLLY.

Tomas Plekanec C, Montreal (15%)

Eagleson upside? Rebound season, leads the Habs in scoring, don't be surprised if he has more points than Gomez. Plekanec has been playing with jump this season.

Vaclav Prospal LW, NY Rangers (62%)

Eagleson upside? You need to know two things. He scores every other season and he is playing with a healthy Gaborik. So I should invest in a player based on their chemistry with the most injury prone player in the NHL? Yeah, no thanks. I don't invest in injury prone players, let alone players who rely on injury prone players.

Brad Richards C, Dallas Stars (58%)

Eagleson upside? Pick him up because I want to bed him and he had 90 pts four season ago, and he is better than Lecavalier. His outlier season was the 91 pt year. I assume if Richards puts up 90+, Morrow is going to bounce back and Benn will benefit from Ribeiro that the Stars are in for a monster offensive season.

Darcy Tucker RW, Colorado Avalanche (13%)

Eagleson upside? Pick him up now, but he will not keep it up. No shit!