parabola
I had a
tough decision to make in regards to which team to put in this spot, whether it
be parabola’s team or the next two teams to be talked about. I ended up picking
this team, not so much because of the team itself, but moreso the setup of the
two teams ahead of him. Anyway, this team used to belong to the goalie premium
master himself, our former commissioner, and it surprised everyone by squeaking
into the playoffs and making it all the way to the semi-finals. This team might
be in tough to repeat, even with its obvious strength in goaltending.
Forwards:
Para’s team
is led by Zach Parise, a guy who was acquired by the previous owner of this
team for a goalie, giving the idea that the goalie premium actually existed. In
actuality, Parise was probably traded because he spent 80 percent of the season
hurt and well, nothing says fantasy like impatience with injuries. Parise comes
back to the Devils being named their captain and hoping to have a solid year
after the Devils season tanked without him. Playing with Ilya Kovalchuk on the
powerplay should produce a decent amount of opportunities for Parise to
showcase his playmaking abilities, but he’s a guy who has a nice hard shot and
when given the opportunity he can wire it with the best of them. Of course,
this all can change and it will be interesting to see how his first few weeks
of the season go, as it will no doubt be indicative of what’s to come.
Jarome
Iginla has the distinction of being the only player with any talent on his
team, which can be both a good and a bad thing. Obviously the good thing comes
in the form of scoring 86 points, but the bad thing is of course that if he
actually had a centreman who knew how to play hockey, he could probably put up
95-100. A class act all the way, Jarome’s career success has been a testament
to just how good he is, and he definitely helps the Flames’ delusions that they
are a better team than they actually are. This might be the same case for
parabola, as how this season goes could be a toss-up but having Alex Tanguay
back for another year should help him out, as the two have obvious chemistry.
Jason Spezza
giggles his way onto the list next. He has a brand new coach and thank goodness
for that, as the past two seasons have been not so hot for the centreman.
Granted, he has had health problems, but this is a guy who is capable of
putting up 90 point seasons, and him having a year with a clean bill of health
will be a good gauge of whether or not parabola has a chance at making the
playoffs. If he gets hurt again, he could be a wasted spot for para. But when
healthy, he’s one of the best, even if the other stars around him are getting
up there in age.
Andy
McDonald returns for another year on St. Louis’ top line. After suffering from
a couple injuries, if he can remain healthy, he could be a pleasant surprise
for para’s team, but this is a guy who isn’t exactly the biggest guy on the ice
for his team, and some might describe him as a touch fragile. As such, I
wouldn’t depend on him for more than 50 points, but the dual eligibility he
provides as a LW and a C is a nice bonus.
Speaking of
bonuses, Alex Burrows is back for another year with the Sedin twins. After
coming so close to a Stanley Cup last year, he should be motivated to come out
hard but there are questions about a Stanley Cup final hangover, since the
Canucks season ended only a mere four months ago. It could be a sluggish first
month for Burrows, especially considering his fellow teammates Mason Raymond
and Ryan Kesler are out to start the year. Still, playing with the Sedins gives
anyone a nice little boost in the stat column.
Another guy
looking to make an impact after coming close to the Stanley Cup finals is
“Little Joe” Pavelski. The centre/right winger put up a career high in points
and looked awfully sharp in the post-season this year. With Dany Heatley being
jettisoned to the Minnesota Wild, Pavelski could see his role increase,
especially on the powerplay. The Sharks should be one of the top teams in the
league, and Joe Pavelski, as one of the team’s main cogs, should be right in
the thick of things.
Division
rival Dustin Brown hopes that this isn’t the case though, as the Kings are
looking to make a push for their first division title in years. They’ve made
some smart additions in the off-season, picking up exiled centreman Mike
Richards. The fact that Brown is either going to be playing for Richards or
Anze Koptiar bodes well to see Brown’s totals increase from last year, where he
put up 57 points. When Brown is on, he can be one of the most dangerous players
in the league, especially when it comes to his knack for drawing penalties with
timely dives. Too bad there isn’t a category for that in fantasy.
Another guy
who wishes they had extra categories for fantasy is Matt Cooke. I’m sure if
they gave out fantasy points for suspensions because of cheap hits, Matt Cooke
would be right at the top of everyone’s list. I don’t really know what parabola
sees in Cooke to add him to his roster, but maybe there’s still a soft spot
there for his days as a Canuck. (Or maybe there is just a soft spot in para’s
head, I don’t know.)
Jordan
Eberle scored one of the nicest first goals I’ve seen for a player to start his
NHL career and then promptly did nothing else as his team failed their way to a
second consecutive first overall pick. The youth on this team is infectious and
it also doesn’t play defense, so look for an increase for Eberle’s total, with
his plus minus continuing to crash to the floor. The addition of Ryan Smyth is
a nice touch and might help Eberle, I’ve heard a rumour that instead of using a
Zamboni to resurface the ice, they are just going to tell Smitty that he’s been
traded to the Islanders again.
Which brings
us to Matt Moulson the guy who keeps scoring thirty goals and yet for whatever
reason, we don’t take him seriously as a talented player. Maybe it’s the fact
that he’s named after beer or maybe it’s the fact he’s on the Islanders, but
riding with John Tavares can do wonders for your career. The Islanders are a
team that plays teams tough until the third period where they usually just roll
over and die, but for those two periods, Matt Moulson has the ability to score
goals. He’s not going to get you many assists though, his goal totals usually
are what you get.
Zac Dalpe,
another trendy pick of the year for people in keeper leagues, will try his best
to replicate Skinnermania with Dalpesteria. Unfortunately, I don’t really see
Zac Dalpe doing anything remotely close to what Skinner did in his first season
in Carolina, but hey, he’s got a nice looking name, and that’s what’s really
important, right? He also provides some fun, but not really useful in his case,
C, RW dual eligibility.
Finally,
Jonathan Huberdeau follows the odd trend of moderators carrying young Florida
Panthers on their roster even while they spend the entire year in the AHL or
juniors. I don’t know if this is just something I’ve noticed, but they do
realize that the Florida organization is kind of a gongshow and even if these
kids make the squad they probably aren’t going to do much to turn it around,
right? Huberdeau is a solid talent, no doubt about it, but if I had any
delusions of contending for a championship, I probably wouldn’t stow him away
for the year, I’d leave that for a team that has no chance of a title.
Defense:
Lubomir
Visnovsky exploded last season with a 68 point season! After previous seasons
of 45 and 31, it’s safe to say that no one saw that coming. The chances of it
happening again this season…well, I don’t know, I somehow don’t see it being
that likely. But with a powerplay that has Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby
Ryan, I suppose as Kevin Garnett would scream, “anything is possible!” I
personally don’t really see it happening, which hurts the depth of parabola’s
defense.
Tobias
Enstrom is another guy who had a career year, putting up 51 points on Atlanta’s
blueline! Of course, he petered out rather meekly at the end of the season, but
his start was huge. It’s a new season in Winnipeg and obviously the pair of
Enstrom and Byfuglien will be the focus for teams playing them, as they both
were dominant in the first few months of the season. It’ll be interesting to
see how the pair plays together north of the border, but if they don’t put at
points, at least there will be noise in the arena.
Keith
Ballard joins parabola, instantly helping him achieve powerhouse status. With a
whopping 7 points on the year last year, Ballard is a sure bet to win the
Norris trophy. In all seriousness, I don’t really understand the logic of a
Canucks fan keeping Ballard on their roster throughout the season after knowing
how bad AV has it out for the guy. But who knows, maybe we see a bounce back
season for Ballard and he surprises us with a return to his past glory years in
Phoenix.
Jamie
McBain’s first full season as a professional went alright, with him putting up
30 points. Carolina will probably continue to hover around the 8-10 spot in the
standings, so McBain will get some decent minutes. He doesn’t really stand out
to me as someone who will be anything more than average, so I don’t think I’m
going to waste anymore thought on him.
Finally,
Brent Seabrook will keep his head up on parabola’s team, hoping that the Torres
train doesn’t run wild on him. Seabrook actually had a great year offensively
by his standards last season, putting up a solid 48 points in spite of Duncan
Keith regressing in a big way. His gain, I suppose. With Brian Campbell taking
off to Florida, Seabrook could see some added opportunities at offense. Look
for him to crack the 40 point barrier once again.
Goalies:
Oh, here’s
where the glory really is for parabola’s team, his bread and butter. He has
easily the best goaltender combination in the league with workhorse Henrik
Lundqvist and Roberto Luongo. If Lundy played in front of a team that wasn’t
consistently awful in front of him, he’d probably have a Stanley Cup by now. As
far as pure talent goes, there’s none better. He had ELEVEN shutouts last year,
and he finished the year with 36 wins.
That’s 30% of his wins being shutouts, which is crazy.
Roberto
Luongo came a game away from winning the Stanley Cup and silencing the critics
once and for all. He saw his workload decrease with the arrival of Cory
Schneider but he looked much fresher throughout the playoffs. Look for the
Canucks to continue this trend and give him around 60 games once again. This is
the first time in a while the Canucks have had a real backup who they can
trust, and they should lean on both goaltenders equally. As such, Luongo’s
value diminishes a bit fantasy wise. But when he’s on, there are few like him.
Closing
Thoughts:
Parabola has
the best goaltending combination in the league, no doubt. But with goaltending
being so unpredictable at times, it may not be enough for him to make the
playoffs in his inaugural year. After all, it’s hard to predict when a shutout
will come, and although his offense is decent, there are questions about almost
all his players about whether they can bounce back from injury or build on last
year’s season, and there are teams ranked ahead of him whose offenses are much
more potent. Of course, with the goalies, he could very easily prove me wrong,
and Zach Parise rounding back to his pre-injury form would also be a big boost.
But he also has the biggest chance IMO of being this year’s bubble boy.
FINAL
PREDICTION: 7th PLACE
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