Tuesday, October 4, 2011

30 in 30: Top NHL Fantasy Sleeper Picks - Winnipeg Jets

It’s almost time for those annual fantasy hockey drafts. While most drafts feature the same players going in the first two rounds, it’s those players that you take in the mid-late rounds that will win you your league. Here’s the last of the thirty players that could be great sleeper picks in your draft this year.

Ondrej Pavelec – Winnipeg Jets
Position – Goaltender
Height – 6’3”
Weight – 220
Drafted – 2nd Round, 41st Overall, 2005 NHL Entry Draft
2010/2011 NHL Stats – 58GP, 21W, 23L, 9OTL, .914Save%, 2.73GAA

The Winnipeg Jets could be one of the bigger sleeper teams in the NHL this season. After playing in front of a near empty arena in Atlanta, the team has now moved north and will be playing in front of a very loud 15,000 fans every night in Winnipeg. How much of a difference the crowd makes remains to be seen, but it’s safe to assume that it will only help the team that finished last season 12th in the Eastern Conference and 20th in scoring and 29th in defense. It’s in the category of goals against that the Jets will be greatly improved in this season.

The Jets starting goalie will once again be 24 year old Ondrej Pavelec. What will help Pavelec this season is the great blue line that he has in front of him. The Jets defensive group includes Tobias Enstrom, Dustin Byfuglien, Zach Bogosian, Ron Hainsey, Johnny Oduya, and Randy Jones. Not too bad of a group to have playing in front of you. Plus the Jets have Charlie Huddy as an Assistant Coach this season who will work hard to improve the team defensively. He had a similar role last season with the surprising Dallas Stars.

Pavelec had a rough start last year when he collapsed during a game on October 8. After his health scare he came back to start the majority of the games for the Thrashers and finished the season with a respectable .914 save percentage. According to a recent article in The Hockey News, Pavelec has been working on his conditioning in the off-season in hopes of being better prepared for this season. He’ll need to be prepared as the Jets are going to have a god-awful travel schedule since they’ll be playing out of the South-East Division. If the Jets can stay within the playoff hunt in the East (which they should easily be able to do), Pavelec could get you quite a few wins and will be a great fantasy option in goal this season.

Previous Sleeper Picks:

30 in 30: Top NHL Fantasy Sleeper Picks - Washington Capitals

It’s almost time for those annual fantasy hockey drafts. While most drafts feature the same players going in the first two rounds, it’s those players that you take in the mid-late rounds that will win you your league. Here’s the twenty-ninth of the thirty players that could be great sleeper picks in your draft this year.

Troy Brouwer – Washington Capitals
Position – Right Wing
Height – 6’2”
Weight – 214
Drafted – 7th Round, 214th Overall, 2004 NHL Entry Draft
2010/2011 NHL Stats – 79GP, 17G, 19A, 36P, -2, 38PIM

Despite being Stanley Cup favorites in the playoffs last spring, the Washington Capitals were once again knocked out early. It’s not like the Capitals were missing a lot of pieces, they just had to make a few adjustments. One of those adjustments was to add some more grit to a team that was going in a more defensive direction last season. At the draft this summer the Capitals traded their late first round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for emerging power forward Troy Brouwer. Brouwer is one of those players that everyone has been saying will have a big breakout season one of these years. This could be that year in Washington.

Last season Brouwer scored 36 points in 79 games with Blackhawks while averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time each night. The big winger should see an increase in playing time this season while getting some big minutes on the Caps second line along with Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble. While Brouwer will see time on the second unit power play it wouldn’t be surprising to see him put up Brooks Laich numbers this year (48 points in 2010/11). With the Capitals aiming to once again be an offensive juggernaut in the league, look for Brouwer to flirt with 50 points this season.

Previous Sleeper Picks:

Monday, October 3, 2011

30 in 30: Top NHL Fantasy Sleeper Picks - Vancouver Canucks

It’s almost time for those annual fantasy hockey drafts. While most drafts feature the same players going in the first two rounds, it’s those players that you take in the mid-late rounds that will win you your league. Here’s the twenty-eighth of the thirty players that could be great sleeper picks in your draft this year.

Alex Edler – Vancouver Canucks
Position – Defence
Height – 6’3”
Weight – 215
Drafted – 3rd Round, 91st Overall, 2004 NHL Entry Draft
2010/2011 NHL Stats – 51GP, 8G, 25A, 33P, +13, 24PIM

It’s really hard to look at the Canucks roster and name a player who would be a good sleeper pick. They have pretty much the same team that was within one game of winning the Stanley Cup last summer. They’re still going to be a great team and are heavy Stanley Cup favorites once again. The one hole in their lineup that they’re going to miss though is Christian Ehrhoff. Ehrhoff signed a huge 10-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres this summer when he was an unrestricted free agent. With Ehrhoff on his way to Buffalo this allows for Alex Edler to take over the Canucks power-play this season.

Edler will be an easy choice for teams to draft this year but based on his 33 points last year he might fall in some draft rankings. It’s important to remember that his 33 points are misleading though as he missed 31 games in the second half of last season with a back injury. His career high in points came during the 09/10 season where he scored 42 points in 76 games. It’s easy to think that Edler will easily surpass that total this season while running the Canucks power-play. He should be one of the top scoring defenceman this season.

Previous Sleeper Picks:
Day 27 - Toronto Maple Leafs