Fantasy Hockey

A play that will live in infamy

Players projecting toward the bottom of the first round range from skaters with high upsides like Kelowna defenseman Madison Bowey to more sure things like Edmonton center Curtis Lazar.

Between Doughty, Muzzin and Voynov; the Kings' young defenders hold promise for the organization, and for fantasy owners.   Coming off a year when you win a Stanley Cup, there can tend to be somewhat of a letdown from a team. The challenge of re-signing many key contributors and having the same ambition you had a year prior, are not easy things to accomplish. The Los Angeles Kings, however, have avoided falling into that trap. They finished in fifth spot this year in the Western Conference, as opposed to eighth spot in 2011-12, and survived a gruelling opening round series with the St. Louis Blues.

What we said about James Reimer back in 2007...   The 2013 Fantasy Prospects Report will be the seventh annual production from DobberHockey. And what better way to celebrate than to take a trip down memory lane at past prospects and profiles?

Ottawa finds another diamond in the rough prospect.   The success of the Ottawa Senators this season has been nothing short of surprising. Injuries to Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza and Craig Anderson, among others, had many pegging the Sens as a sinking ship, likely to miss the playoffs for the third time in five years. Injuries forced the Senators to dip into their prospect pool in the truncated season, which as it turns out, is quite deep. Surprises in the form of prospects helped to carry the Senators to regular season and playoff success, upsetting the number two seed Montreal Canadians 4-1 in the opening round.  The contributions of Swedish prospects Mika Zibanejad and Jakob Silfverberg helped carry the offensive load in the regular season, scoring a combined 39 points in 90 games. Come playoff time, yet another prospect has emerged in the form of 20-year-old center and Gatineau, Quebec native Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

That’s more like it!

Briggins lets you know who to watch for at the 2013 Memorial Cup.   This year’s edition of the Memorial Cup features a plethora of players who will hear their names called on the first day of the NHL draft this year. In fact, there is an excellent chance the first three names called will be players from this tournament. Potentially, seven players from the best CHL teams could end up going in the first round. In this week’s article, I examine the top eight ranked players from the Halifax Mooseheads, Portland Winterhawks and London Knights, and get you up to speed on how they performed in the playoffs this year. The host team Saskatoon did not have any players ranked in the top 50. All ranking numbers come from NHL Central Scouting Services’ final rankings.

Daoust provides a comprehensive breakdown of all 30 NHL clubs and their cap situations.   For most keeper leagues the offseason begins as soon as the NHL regular season ends and lasts more than five months. During this time poolies will do a lot of maintenance on their teams to get ready for the next campaign. In fantasy leagues that use NHL salary cap figures the landscape changes in July when a slew of players sign new contracts.

Download the May 2013 edition right here. Round two of the NHL playoffs is now underway and the players who have excelled in their respective series have had a sudden boost in trade value. Negotiations can sway in your favour by playing on these newly found emotions. The month of May is quite important for keeper leagues, especially for those that had crowned their champion a couple of weeks ago.

Take a peek into my brain on the topics of Marc-Andre Fleury, Pascal Dupuis, and the Ottawa Senators as a second round opponent.