By JIMMY D / Fantasy Sports
Few hockey poolies are in leagues as psychotic as the SuperCity league that Jimmy created a decade ago. It’s a keeper pool without equal in terms of scouting amateurs and pros literally at every corner of the globe and at every age (there was nine-year-old Saskatchewan kid picked Sunday).
So the first two picks in Saturday’s annual draft won’t mean a lot to the average poolies, at least not for a few years. John Tavares went No. 1 and is the consensus pick to go first overall next June.
And Nicklas Backstrom, who went fourth overall in last June’s NHL draft, was the second name called.
Jimmy will even forgive you for not knowing everything there is to know about Jiri Tlusty, Ondrej Pavelec or Steve Stamkos who went with picks 4-6.
But you should pay attention to our No. 3 – Colby Armstrong of Pittsburgh.
Young Colby had the very good fortune of developing some chemistry with that Crosby kid in town and morphed from a fantasy nobody into someone you need to have listed in your first three or four rounds.
Some of you may have picked him up late in the season off the waiver wire. He only got into 47 games and played fewer riding shotgun with Sid the Kid. But when he did, he produced – 40 points and +15 in those games. He was held off the score sheet just five times after Feb. 3.
A weightier question you must answer this week before your weekend drafts is who gets to play the other wing?
Pittsburgh signed Nils Ekman, an underrated winger who produced solid fantasy numbers in San Jose the past few seasons, has earned the early nod. But like Armstrong, he is a bit scrawny and Jimmy projects dinosaur John LeClair to see some icetime digging pucks out of the corner in Steeltown.
Some other random NHL tidbits of note:
- Mark Bell – Produced decent fantasy number in Chicago last year and will ride the wing with Joe Thornton and Jon Cheechoo in San Jose this year. Observers have watched Bell’s slow progress the past few years and this could be breakout time.
- Patrick Eaves – Senators have been demo-ing him on a line with Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza. He has wheels to keep up with Heatley.
- Jussi Jokinen – Jimmy told you to watch him last preseason and he turned in 55 points. He is now a fixture alongside Mike Modano, Jimmy pegs him for 65+ points this season.
- Dustin Penner – At 6 foot 4, 245 pounds, he adds power to the Duck lineup and proved his value with nine points and a +10 in 13 postseason games last spring.
- Bill Guerin – Veteran scored four times on Sunday, but this quote after the game doesn’t inspire Jimmy that Billy will rebound from last year’s ugly numbers. “I had a good preseason last year, too, so I'm not getting my hopes up.” Great, Bill. Jimmy won’t either.
- Michal Handzus + Martin Havlat – Jimmy sees these two new Blackhawks hitting it off and bolstering their usual output. Chicago is one of Jimmy’s darkhorse teams to see improvement across the board and to make the playoffs.
- Brian Rolston – After a remarkable 79-point season, it’s hard to imagine improving his numbers. But paired with Marian Gaborik and Slovak chum Pavol Demitra, the century mark is not out of sight for either of this trio.
- Anson Carter – Jimmy was a sell-high proponent of the dreadlocked winger, but getting possible first-line and power-play duty in Columbus changed his thinking. Count on him for similar production (25-30 goals and 55 points)
- Pascal Leclaire – With Marc Denis gone to Tampa Bay, it’s his turn to sink to swim. Jimmy sees him swimming with the goaltending big fish by the all-star break. A good mid-round goalie grab.
- Brendan Morrison – Keep a close eye on this, as longtime Morrison linemate Markus Naslund skated with the Sedin twins on Sunday night. If that experiment works, Morrison will be forced to produce with a dog’s breakfast of Jan Bulis, Taylor Pyatt or Matt Cooke. It would knock Mo down your draft list.
NFL Pool update
Would you rather be good or lucky?
Jimmy almost benched Brian Westbrook for the week, concerned that his lack of practice and wonky ankle would keep him out against a weak foe. Until the last minute, he had 49er Frank Gore penciled into his fantasy lineup.
But Jimmy stayed busy, reading the Philly papers and decided to put him in. Presto, a whopping 25 fantasy points, three scores and 100+ yards rushing. (The paper didn’t say anything about Donte Stallworth being a late scratch, so Jimmy got the goose egg from him).
A day earlier, Jimmy sorted through the league scrap heap and plucked up Jon Kitna, convinced he could generate offense against a weak Packer defence. Presto, a week-high 342 yards and 16 points, easily outperforming Jimmy’s usual backup Steve McNair.
So Jimmy won his head-to-head league again this week and people will say he got lucky.
Maybe. But you create good luck through good management.
Quotes of the Week
“My feet are getting all squelchy.”
Mick Jagger.
After 90 minutes prancing around the rain-soaked stage on the Commons, Sir Mick proved he’s got to be the fittest, most hyper senior citizen on the planet. The boys kicked up a good storm in the rain, cold and wind. Jimmy tips his hat to them.
“Coach, I think I hurt my spleen.”
OK, I made this one up, but imagine Tampa pivot Chris Simms coming back after a few hard hits and driving his team into field goal range – and then driving to the hospital to have his ruptured spleen removed.
By the way, rookie Bruce Gradkowski replaced Simms, so watch for him or a free agent signee to be running the Buc show after their bye week.
Say busy and stay lucky.
JimmyD
Jpoole@Herald.ca |
