CRDragon
Last year’s champion, CRD, missed the playoffs in his first
season as general manager. He also apparently had a co-GM, but this year, he
appears to be branching out on his own. Not that it’ll make much of a
difference. Let’s take a look at your 2010-2011 champion’s returning roster.
Forwards:
The real elite player on CRD’s team is Eric Staal. The number
one centreman on the Carolina Hurriances, Staal has yet to come close to
matching his 100 point sophomore ‘slump’. Although 70+ points is respectable, I
guess Staal isn’t really that elite either. Just very good with a high upside.
He does have a Stanley Cup but that doesn’t mean much in the fantasy world.
Consider him a solid producer of penalty minutes along with a solid decrease of
your plus/minus.
Ryan Kesler is back on CRD’s squad and although injured, he
still managed to make headlines when he posed nude for ESPN’s Body issue. The
newly matured Kesler will have trouble resisting adding responses to the chirps
he is bound to get on the ice once he returns from injury. The reigning Selke
trophy winner will be in tough to replicate his 40 goal season, but depending
on when he makes his return, 30 goals could be possible.
Cody Hodgson joins the squad of CRD, causing millions of
Canucks fan’s around the world to groan bust consecutively. I’m assuming he is
on CRD’s team in order to make up for not having Kesler, but I don’t really see
him doing a whole lot aside from filling a rookie quota. Look for 25 points and
maybe a trip to the minors before the season ends.
Jordan Staal joins his brother Eric on team CRD and hopes to
bounce back from an injury plagued season. With Sidney Crosby out, Staal will
get every opportunity to step into a more offensive role and hopefully for
CRD’s repeat aspirations, he can surpass the 49 points that he’s been stuck on
for the past two healthy seasons he’s had. He brings a handy dandy centre/left
wing eligibility to the table.
Marian Hossa is back for another season as well, looking to
not score 100 points, which he only managed once in his career, back in 2006.
Although he’s now a solid 50 point player, I don’t think being named Marian
Hossa is enough to make him warrant a keeper spot, especially on a guy who just
won the whole freaking championship. Weird, but anyway, he plays with some good
players, so if he can remain healthy, he might hit 60 points. Whooptie doo.
Vinny Prospal joins CRD’s squad, adding to his pile of
European players who used to be good but are no longer good. At 36 years old
and playing on the Blue Jackets, Prospal does have the unique potential of
being lined up beside Nash and Carter but I don’t really see him doing anything
more than 50 points with a new team. After all, he only has chemistry with
Marian Gaborik!
Brooks Laich is a third liner who most teams would love to
add to their team. Unfortunately, that’s in real life, not fantasy, and Laich
sadly isn’t going to contribute anything more than 50 points. Of course, he
makes up for this with his Laich-able name. The guy doesn’t even add many PIMs,
come on now!
Ryan Clowe is another keeper for some odd reason. I guess
putting up 100 PIMs makes you a valuable enough asset to keep on your team. I
know that as a manager myself, I would much rather prefer to keep players who
can put up points, not PIMs, but hey, everyone has their own strategy. Anyway,
Clowe could have an alright season, playing with either Pavelski or Thornton
but his real contribution will be in the penalty stats.
Mikael Samuelsson represents the homer in all of us, joining
CRD’s squad despite scoring 50 points and having a pretty serious injury in the
playoffs. He has fallen down the depth charts in Vancouver and is not playing
with any real talented players. Whether he can get back to the form that saw
him put up 30 goals is anyone’s guess, but his point production will probably
see a dip.
CRD managed to trade Jamie Benn and acquire the 2nd
overall pick in exchange for Benn and his 12th overall pick. As a
result, CRD got the luxury of picking Gabriel Landeskog. As a guy who drafted a
highly touted young player, enjoy being frustrated by their lack of ice time
and lack of point production. With guys like these, you need to be patient in
order to see success. He’ll be a good player in a year or two, but right now,
those growing pains aren’t going to help your squad in those dire moments when
you really need it.
Finally, Brandon Saad and Matt Read, two guys I’m going to
cover at the same time. These are your typical HFBoard pickups, where you value
youth and potential over veteran production and consistency. Let’s call them
both lottery tickets, but like most lottery tickets, you’re probably going to
dump them in the trash once the week is over and you realized you lost. Matt
Read is playing with Sean Couturier and Scott Hartnell. Stop the presses, I
need to pick him up immediately! Hey, at least pick up the guy who got drafted
in Couturier, why bother with Read? At least Saad is lined up with Patrick Kane
and Marian Hossa, who will probably never pass him the puck.
Defense:
I remember a time when I was the only guy who had defenseman
but now it seems like everyone’s strategy involves holding as many defensemen
as possible. CRD is no exception, rocking a grand total of SIX defensemen. Now
whether any of them are any good…that’s another question entirely.
We start with a guy we all know is very good in Shea Weber.
The undisputed leader of the Nashville Predators, Weber finally got paid in a
one year deal dealt to him in arbitration. It was one of the highest in history
relative to the day and age. The man with a booming point shot and the giant
playoff beard will be a key cog in Nashville’s putrid offense and scoring
double digits in goals should be a no brainer. The biggest thing will be
whether or not Weber can increase his powerplay point production. He’s got the
shot to do it.
Dan Boyle gets a year older but he will still probably end up
with 50 points on the San Jose’s blueline. Questions about Brent Burns’ arrival
hurting his output could prove to have some merit, but hey, there’s always
second assists if it comes down to it. I see the 35 year old cracking 50 once
more.
Cam Fowler made the team as an 18 year old, and he put up a
whopping 40 points to go along with a horrific minus 25 on his plus/minus rating.
I suppose it is a case of a young defenseman not really knowing how to play
defense on an NHL level, but another year under his belt should hopefully see
Fowler’s game increase on both ends of the ice. At the very least, have some
self-respect!
After that, CRD’s defense gets ugly with two Calgary Flames.
Of course, I suppose a Dragon always needs some Flames, so it makes sense in a
way, but Mark Giordano and Anton Babchuk play for the worst team in the West.
One of them, I could understand, but both of them? That’s just asking to be
harpooned by bad stats night in and night out. Look for Babchuk to take the arc
of other former Eastern Conference players who are forced to play on the Flames
and stink up the joint this year. Giordano might get by on natural ability, but
there is really nothing going on good with that team.
Finally, we have Dennis Wideman, for whatever reason I don’t
know what. I guess he plays on a good team in Washington, so he could end up
being good without really meaning to be. But as far as him replicating his
career high of 50 points again? Yeah, not going to happen. Sorry CRD.
Goalies:
CRD’s goalies helped him reach championship glory and if he
has any hope of repeating, he’s going to have to rely heavily on his group to
push him through some matchups. Fortunately for him, Ilya Bryzgalov got traded
to a team that can bail him out if he lets in a goal, which always does wonders
for your confidence. Of course, Bryz has looked flakey at times so hopefully he
can fix his consistency and get back on track.
Cam Ward on the other hand, represents a guy with tons of
natural ability playing in front of a Paul Maurice coached team that does not
understand the concept of playing defense. As such, Ward will continue to face
a ton of shots and even if he manages to repeat his .923 save percentage of
last year, he probably will still lose his fair share of games. There’s a lot
of youth on Carolina, and that means a lot of mistakes. Questions will remain
about whether or not Ward is ready to take the step into the conversation of
elite goaltenders, for my money, he’s not there yet.
Closing Thoughts:
Playing in a weak division will help CRD secure his second consecutive division
title and a bye week, but it will only prolong his pain and suffering as he
will be expelled from the playoffs in the second round, ruining any chances of
repeating. Having said that, he is a guy who is in a prime position to have a
letdown year after touching the Holy Grail, so keep an eye on that as well.
FINAL PREDICTION:2nd OVERALL
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