BrockH
Finally, after two seasons, I am writing a preview for
BrockH’s team. I’m assuming the H in his name stands for Hockey because being
named Brock Hockey would be cool. I was originally going to write his preview
last season but then his team slaughtered me 9-1 and I cried every time I
started writing, so I couldn’t finish. Let’s now explore the team that I’m
picking to be number one in the league this season!
Forwards:
Brock’s top forwards are like the royal family of fantasy.
The fact that he even managed to acquire these players on the same team speaks
volumes for the need of collusion in fantasy hockey, to prevent these
atrocities from ever occurring again. We start of course, with Alex Ovechkin.
Ovechkin has been the king of fantasy pretty much since he broke into the
league. As a left winger, a notoriously tough position to fill, his value was
already huge, but considering that not only does he consistently put up 100
points but he also plays hard and usually puts up PIMs as well. And last
season, an off-year by his standards, he still scored EIGHTY FIVE points. On an
off year! For some ‘elite’ players, that’s a career year. It speaks volumes to
Ovechkin’s talent level and for Brock Hockey to have him on his squad, even
though he paid out the nose, he is a better team for it.
After Ovechkin, Brock has a guy known as Sidney Crosby, only
the best player in the league who is currently seeing stars. Crosby has cracked
100 points four times so far, and before being injured, he scored 32 goals in
41 games to go with 66 points! The PPG that works out to be I’ll leave for
CRD’s calculator, but I think it’s around 140 points. If he comes back and
seems no worse for the wear, Brock will own the best 1-2 punch on his team
since Kopitar and Stamkos (Sorry I had to). The question is, when is Crosby
coming back, and if he does, will he be the same player? Brock Hockey sure
hopes so.
And how do we top having Ovechkin and Crosby? Oh, throw in
current Hart and Rocket Richard trophy winner Corey Perry. Last season Perry
scored 98 points and put up 100 PIMs. He’s like Ryan Clowe but actually good!
Perry has a face that even his own mother would punch, and as a result, he
tends to get into a lot of scrums. He’s been remarkably fortunate to stay
healthy throughout his career, and if he can manage to do this, he can build on
his career season. Either that or he’ll revert back to his 75 point self and
we’ll make fun of Brock. But he’ll still be better than Clowe!
Well, we’ve managed to make it through the big three, (that
was painful), let’s look at the big nose, Brad Marchand! After making the
Bruins full time, Marchand managed to score 20 goals as a rookie, but he really
made a name for himself as an agitator, annoying people and scoring timely
goals throughout the playoffs. Now how this translates for Brock’s team
throughout the regular season, that’s a good question, but Marchand is a
confident guy and he should be able to easily surpass the 41 points he put up
last season.
Mike Ribeiro is the last guy who can stick handle remaining
in Dallas and although losing Brad Richards playing in front of him, he is
still a talented enough player to put up 70 points in Big D, despite them
having lost most of their good players. It’s too bad shootout goals aren’t
counted in this league, because Ribeiro is a mastermind on the breakaway.
Brenden Morrow is another guy on the Stars who is on Brock’s
team. Apparently Brock thinks the Stars are better than the rest of us do.
Morrow hits hard and can score 50 points. Some of those hits may translate into
PIMs, and that’s about all I can say about the Stars captain.
Erik Cole was picked up by Brock Hockey during the draft, but
someone forgot to tell Brock that he plays horrible if he’s not in a Carolina
jersey. His lone season outside of the swirling vortex was with Edmonton and he
played abysmal, putting up a horrible 27 points before being jetted out of the
town faster than Chris Pronger’s wife. Whether he fits in with Montreal is a
big question, but he’ll be a giant among dwarfs in the Hab uniform.
Two big power forwards in Chris Kunitz and James Neal join
Brock’s team as well. Neal was brought in as a perfect winger for Sidney Crosby
who is currently out. He’s a guy with a ton of talent and could be a future 30
goal scorer. Chris Kunitz on the other hand, is a guy on the decline of his
career and probably won’t do a whole lot this season. He was one of those guys
who benefited from playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but on his
own, he’s pretty useless.
Jason Pominville, brand new captain of the Buffalo Sabres,
joins the newly invigorated Sabres in hopes of boosting his career high of 80
points in 82 games back in 2007. He’s on the fast track to start the season,
scoring 4 points in 2 games and although he’ll probably follow the path of
Sabre captains and end up playing in the ECHL, at least while he’s up here, he
could have a fruitful few seasons.
Finally, Brock continues his odd choice of investing heavily
in a few teams instead of spreading out his assets by carrying Chris Stewart
and T.J. Oshie on his squad together. Stewart is being raved about by basically
anyone who likes power forwards, as he is heralded as being the next great
power forward in the game. Of course, it’s easy to say that he’s been just a
tad overhyped and although 60 points is well in reach, he’s still a ways away
from replacing a guy like Jarome Iginla in our hearts and our roster spots.
Power forwards are notorious slow developers, so it remains to be seen if Brock
Hockey has the patience to wait this guy’s development tract out.
Defense:
Defensively, Brock is led by a bunch of guys who may or may
not pan out for him, starting with former Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith.
Keith followed up his career season where he won a Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold
and the Norris with well, a rather significant let down season, where he was a
minus player for only the second time in his career and he saw a 24 point drop
off in his production levels. Obviously this was the hockey gods intervening
telling Brock that he had too many good players and he needed to have the hard
mode button pressed. Whether Duncan Keith can get back to an almost 70 point
season, well, it’s unlikely, but with Brian Campbell and his spin-o-ramas gone,
I suppose it is possible.
After Keith, future HOFer Nicklas Lidstrom joins the squad,
in what could possibly be his last season. What better way for him to sail off
in the sunset than bring Brock to the playoffs once more. Lidstrom showed that
he had plenty left in the tank though, putting up 62 points on route to another
Norris Trophy win. He, shockingly though, was a minus player for the FIRST time
in his career, finishing at minus 2. Pretty odd considering his career plus
minus is +431. Whether or not the old man can still provide the magic is a
story worth following throughout the year.
After that, newcomer Brent Burns to the San Jose Sharks joins
Brock’s group, another wildly heralded breakout candidate. Joining the Sharks
high octane powerplay should do wonders for Burns, but a question of whether or
not there is enough puck to go around could be a theme in San Jose. If anything
though, his plus minus should be better than it was in Minnesota.
Speaking of horrible plus minus, Erik Karlsson is back for
another year with the Senators. After putting up a solid 45 points on the year,
Karlsson will look to provide leadership on a Senator blueline while playing
absolutely no defense. He’ll put up the points though, but you’ll have to
accept the tradeoff if you’re going to keep him on your roster.
Grant Clitsome comes back with a name that makes teenagers
giggle, another trendy pickup based on his final games in the regular season
where he put up 19 points in 31 games (cue CRD calculator), Brock is hopeful
that his point pace will continue over the course of this season. Whether this
actually happens, I personally doubt it, but hey, if you’re going to buy a
lottery ticket, at least check out the numbers, which it is clear Brock has.
Finally, Kevin Bieksa joins Brock’s team coming off of a
successful playoff that resulted in him getting a new contract. He hasn’t
scored more than his 43 point season back in 2008, but he’s mean and puts up
the penalty minutes. Playing on a Vancouver squad that scores a lot of goals,
he should be solid in this plus-minus department as well, but he could end up
as waiver wire fodder if someone better pops up. A solid decision for a 6th
defenseman, he could see powerplay time, which pops up his value a tick.
Goalies:
Brock is led by Jonas Hiller, a former all-star whose battles
with vertigo might have cost Brock from doing anything special in last year’s
playoffs. He’ll be back to hopefully continue the trek he went on last year
before suffering the injury and he hopes to put up solid numbers for Brock.
Hiller had 5 shutouts last year and he has little to none competition for the
backup spot, so this is his team and he’ll be the workhorse for them, as long
as he can remain healthy.
After Hiller, Antti Niemi returns for another season. Niemi
has had some knee troubles to begin the year, so Brock did the smart thing and
added Thomas Greiss the backup as an insurance policy in case Niemi can’t go.
After last year’s playoffs, the Sharks will look to Niemi to continue to
provide leadership, as he is one of the few Stanley Cup Champions on the
roster. He is of course, the undisputed number one goalie on the team.
Finally, Niklas Backstrom was hung onto by Brock, giving him
three goaltenders this season. Of course, Backstrom is the most important piece
to Minnesota’s success and if he plays well, Minnesota will do well. Of course,
he has had moments in the season, especially last year, where he has struggled,
and he can sometimes be a guy who you might have trouble deciding whether or
not you should play him. If he is played during a time where he struggles, he
can anchor your goalie stats downhill in a big way.
Closing Thoughts:
As far as top end elite talent goes, there is no one better than Brock. I still
think it is criminal that he was able to acquire both Ovechkin AND Crosby,
although in no means do I blame LS for taking the deal that sent him over.
Having said that though, beyond Brock’s big three, questions about Crosby’s
health linger and his depth can be prone to hitting dry spells, so it begs the
question. Is it really worth sacrificing all depth in order to acquire elite
talent? I’m sure Brock Hockey is hell bent on proving that it is this season
and finally coming through with a championship win.
FINAL PREDICTION: 1st OVERALL
This Web Page Created with PageBreeze Free HTML Editor / Web Hosting