Team Mahoney
I selected Team Mahoney as my dark horse pick to squeak into the playoffs for two
reasons. First, the last few seasons, the player coming in 6th place
has usually bumbled their way into it (or in the case of my championship
season, bumbled their way out of 6th) and what fun would it be if I
predicted the exact same teams to make the playoffs as last year. Let’s look at
some of the players returning for BM and some of the fresh new blood coming in
for him.
Forwards:
Not
surprisingly, BM is led by his young players for the third straight season.
John Tavares personifies what BM’s team is all about. The young Islanders
centre will look to continue to increase his numbers in an attempt to get the
Islanders back to respectability. I’m sure that deep down BM is hoping for a
Stamkos-like explosion out of Tavares, where he goes from a respectable season
to elite numbers. Tavares has the talent to do so, no one doubts that, but
whether he has the supporting cast? Well, I guess we’ll see.
The other
young centre on BM’s team is Matt Duchene, a guy drafted in the same year as
Tavares. Both men are in similar
positions, they play for terrible teams, and they have had two points of
respectable margins. Obviously I expect the two to have a breakout season of
some sorts otherwise I would not have bothered ranking Team Mahoney in the playoffs.
If he is to content, Duchene, like Tavares will need to take the next step into
elitehood.
Rounding out
the centremen for BM’s team is newly acquired Joe Thornton. A one-time member
of the 2009-2010 championship fantasy team, he should bring some much needed
consistency on a team primarily made up of young guns. Thornton is on a team
expected to contend, but after posting his lowest point total in ten years, can
Thornton build on a successive playoff run and more importantly, how much will
he miss Dany Heatley?
Milan Lucic
and Nathan Horton come off a big Stanley Cup victory, in which Horton sat on
the sidelines and watched his team skate to victory. Horton was having a huge
playoff, showing signs of clutch scoring that he never really had in Florida.
It’s clear that he’s bought in completely to the big bad B’s mentality. But he
is completely healthy? Milan Lucic was also a key cog in the Bruins title
defense, and he scored 30 goals on the season! He had the benefit of shooting
on an empty net more than most, so this total might be a little skewed. Still
the two wingers will do their best impressions of the bash brothers, putting up
points and PIMs.
Nikita
Filatov joins the Ottawa Senators, which shouldn’t seem much different from the
Columbus Blue Jackets. I think he has a clause in his contract that says if
he’s asked to play defense, he will immediately leave for the KHL. Lucky for him,
I don’t think Ottawa will be doing much defending of anything, except for maybe
the first overall pick in the NHL draft. The enigmatic winger does have the
talent to be a fixture in this very bad lineup, and we could see him put up
solid points but I think the ship has sailed on him becoming an elite winger.
The Okposo
monster joins teammate John Tavares on BM’s squad. After suffering through most
of the season with an injury, Kyle Okposo will hope to have a bounce back year.
He showed flashes of breaking through in 2009, so hopefully this young winger
can recover from his last season and have a good year for BM. Otherwise, he
might just be another warm body wasting a roster spot like he was for his owner
last year.
Evander Kane
becomes Winnipeg’s favourite son, wearing Bobby Hull’s old number 9. Of course,
no one told them that Bobby Hull’s old team is still in Phoenix, and he’s
actually only wearing Pascal Dupuis’ old number nine. But we won’t tell anyone
that. Kane is still developing as a powerish forward, and his biggest highlight
last year was knocking out Matt Cooke. If BM and Winnipeg are to have any hope
of contending and making my prediction come true, Evander Kane will need to
continue to progress. We all know power forwards take longer to develop though,
so let’s not make our expectations too lofty.
Speaking of
power forwards developing, David Backes, newly anointed Blues captain had a
breakout year, where he scored 30 goals and put up 30 assists to go with nearly
100 PIMs. That sort of production can make you into a five tool player, which
is invaluable as a roster spot. Then add in that he managed to be +32 on the
year and you’ve got a guy who is criminally underrated as a player. I am not
very high on the Blues but if anyone will prove me wrong, it’s Backes. Look for
him to have another big year and potentially be the MVP for Team Mahoney if he manages
to make the playoffs.
Travis Zajac
was picked up by BM, but he’ll miss the rest of 2011 with a torn Achilles
tendon. Yikes. Stowing a guy like him on IR though, when he could be playing
with Kovalchuk and/or Parise, could turn out to be a savvy move and a good
influx of talent in January, where everyone is looking for that one little
boost to push them over the top. At the very least, he could flip him for a
draft pick from a contender.
Finally,
Taylor Hall comes back to the frozen tundra, Edmonton, after they inexplicitly
picked up yet another forward. Hall could see himself playing with RNH
alongside Jordan Eberle to make up the “Can We See Your ID?” line. Of course,
trying to predict what Edmonton is going is a lost cause at this point, but any
delusion of Edmonton being a good team will be lost on people until they can
fix their defense and goalie situations. Hall could be due for an explosion after
getting his first year under his belt, but his plus minus and general moral
will suffer being on such a young bad team.
Defense:
Zdeno Chara
(wow, enough Bruins there buddy?) leads this blue line, as he showed the world
how good he was on route to winning the Stanley Cup and also answering the
question “How high can someone lift the Stanley Cup?” in the process. Chara has
more Norris Trophies in his future, no doubt about it, especially once Lidstrom
retires. Look for him to put up big PIM totals and around 45-50 points. It’s a
good thing that the auto-draft gifted Team Mahoney with this guy, as he adds some
consistency to a rather random rest of his blueline.
Like Tomas
Kaberle, a guy who has played in Toronto almost his whole life and joined
Seguin as the two players who left Toronto and won a cup. He goes to the old
Frank Kaberle stomping grounds in Carolina, but the question remains, when
playing with players who actually have more talent than him, something that he
didn’t really know about when playing on Toronto, how will his totals reflect
that? This is a guy who when healthy has never dipped before 40 points, and he
should be good for that again, but could he be even better? That’ll be a key
question moving forward for BM’s team.
Kimmo
Timonen for example, has seen better days. He is 36 years old this year, and
his point totals have continued to sag each year, since his career season in
Nashville where he put up 55 points.
Philly does have aspirations of contending for a title this
year, but
they traded a great two way centreman in Mike Richards, and they didn’t
really
get anyone to replace him. If anything, he’ll provide solid +/-
production for Mahoney and he does provide some upside if the Flyers
really get going.
Sergei
Gonchar has struggled horribly since joining Ottawa last season. A career low
in points, it is sad to see how the once dominant Russian has struggled since
leaving Pittsburgh. It’s one of those moves you look back on and wonder if
taking less money for more enjoyment would’ve been a smarter decision. Ottawa
is bad, and the Gonch isn’t doing anything to change that perception in
Sensville. With a new coach though, maybe Gonchar gets utilized in a way that
can make him more effective, he certainly can’t be any worse than he was last
season.
Dmitry
Kulikov fits the “rookie with high potential but no points yet” roster spot
quota for Mahoney. The Panthers are not going to be doing anything this season,
so a guy like Kulikov could see big ice time in order to speed up his
development. Of course, this could also hurt his development, as playing in
front of Jose Theodore is enough to shatter even the best player’s confidence
in his defensive ability. You can’t even let a shot get through! I would say 30
points is the ceiling this year for Dmitry.
Finally,
Adam Larsson joins team BM, as there was no way Mahoney could go a season without
adding a top 5 overall draft pick in this year’s draft. (SERIOUSLY, he’s done
this every year!) Larsson is the reward for the Devils’ awful season last year,
and he’s a good one. He made the team and he could see time on the powerplay
for the Devils. When you’re blasting from the point surrounded by Parise and
Kovalchuk, you’ve got yourself in a good situation. He could end up being the
pick of the draft for Mahoney if his ability translates into the regular season
effectively.
Goalies:
BM is led by
Marty Brodeur, a sure fire HOFer. Obviously, last season was a bit of a
disaster as I mentioned above, but Martin Brodeur being one of the greatest of
all time is probably primed to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I highly
doubt a guy of his calibre wants his swan song to be another top 5 pick in the
draft, so look for him to have a big year for the Devils. He will be a key cog
in Mahoney’s transition to playoff team.
Another
piece received by letting go of Kopitar was goaltender Corey Crawford. After a
big time rookie campaign where he made people mostly forget about Antii Niemi,
Crawford usurped Marty Turco from the starting position and signed a brand new
contract this year. Chicago should be one of the beasts in the West, and
Crawford is the guy there. Of course, veteran Ray Emery and a guy named Salak
are waiting in the wings, haunting the dreams of BM who still hasn’t quite
gotten over the Varlamov saga.
Evgeni
Nabokov is the “holy crap I hope he gets traded” pickup, as I don’t see him
starting any games for the Islanders, not until Rick DiPietro hurts himself
anyway. Nabokov could see some extended time in Long Island if that happens,
although I’m thinking that the Isles management is also pretty high on Al
Montoya, considering how well he played for them down the stretch. In talking
with BM, he seems to think that Phoenix would be a good fit for Nabs, but I
don’t really know if Dave Tippett is going to bury his former protégé Mike
Smith right out of the gate, although the Turris contract situation does make
things interesting…hmm, wheels are spinning!
Finally,
Sergei Bobrovsky returns to Mahoney, after being heralded as the pickup of the
century he was regulated to backup role upon the arrival of the new saviour,
Ilya Bryzgalov. Obviously Bryz is going to see the brunt of the load for the
Flyers this year, so one only wonders how long BM will keep living on a prayer
that Sideshow Bob gets some solid ice time. Holding two goaltenders who aren’t
really playing much could prove to be a fatal error for BM.
Closing
Thoughts:
I picked BM
as this year’s breakout team because he has so much youth with so much draft
pedigree and after three years of suffering through disappointments I feel like
this is the year where they start to breakout for him. Down the road, BM is
going to have a team with a lot of elite talent and the move to acquire
Crawford and Thornton I think is a significant one and it shows that BM is
ready to join the big boys as a contender instead of waiting patiently for his
under 20s to develop. Plus I have more faith in his decision making than I do
with the two who I ranked below him. Any of the three have an equal shot of
taking the coveted 6th playoff spot though.
FINAL
PREDICTION: 6th OVERALL