For the average
fantasy hockey player, draft preparation consists of purchasing a magazine,
turning to the last page and cracking open a beer 10 minutes before draft
time. They may pull up an injury report
while they're waiting for that last guy to drop off his kids and show up 10
minutes late for the draft. For those
who put their fate entirely in the hands of the experts, you will undoubtedly
miss on a few of your picks. To provide
some context for your cheat sheet, I've taken the liberty of rating their
ratings. After finalizing my own draft
rankings (free at landsharkhockey.com), I took the liberty of pulling up the
lists for some of the major go-to sources: The Hockey News, NHL.com, and
Yahoo. Here's what they got wrong. Today, I'll deal with the over-rated players. I'll follow up tomorrow with the under-rated
misses.
OFFENSE
Corey Perry (NHL:3 / Yahoo:3 /
landsharkhockey:11)
Ryan Getzlaf (Yahoo:6 / THN:8 /
landsharkhockey:18 )
These two go
together. Either you believe last season
was a bit of an anomaly (I do), or you overdraft them both.
Nicklas Backstrom (THN:11 / landsharkhockey:19)
Unless your league
is based purely on assists, this is overreaching in the early rounds.
Jonathan Toews (NHL:12 / landsharkhockey:33)
As a Captain,
sure. As a fantasy Round 2 pick? No way.
Patrick Sharp (NHL: 18 / Yahoo:18 / THN:26 /
landsharkhockey:64)
Injury prone and
getting older. I see a major decline for
Sharp. They don't.
Patrice Bergeron (Yahoo:20 /
landsharkhockey:81)
I assume Yahoo was
looking at the faceoff stats. Otherwise,
are you serious?
David Backes (Yahoo:27 / landsharkhockey:76)
Again, Yahoo loves
their captains. This is fantasy hockey,
not the real thing. Don't reach nearly
that far for Backes.
Martin St. Louis (THN:28 / landsharkhockey:62)
He's 39 years old,
guys.
Jason Pominville (THN:38 / landsharkhockey:60)
Not a horrible reach
at 38, but you can wait a few more rounds here.
Jaromir Jagr (THN:54 / landsharkhockey:88)
He'll be sitting
there in the last round. Be patient.
DEFENSE
Mike Green (THN:4 / landsharkhockey:19)
Wow. Fourth?
That would be great for the Caps and the NHL to see this revival. Won't happen.
Ryan McDonagh (Yahoo:12 / NHL:13 /
landsharkhockey:45)
Once again - real
NHL he's a stud. Fantasy? Average.
Mark Streit (THN:13 / landsharkhockey:45)
Best days are behind
him. Way behind him. 13th is silly.
Mark Giordano (THN:14 / landsharkhockey:44)
I can't see him
repeating last year's magic.
Matt Niskanen (Yahoo:14 / landsharkhockey:39)
Plus-minus fluke has
Yahoo reaching crazy early for an average fantasy option you'll drop in week 3.
Jason Garrison (THN:17 / landsharkhockey:48)
I just don't
understand this one.
Brian Campbell (THN:19 / Yahoo:25 /
landsharkhockey:52)
He's still in
Florida, right?
GOALIE
Ben Bishop (THN:2 / landsharkhockey:8)
I see a big season
for big Bishop. Just not that big.
Semyon Varlamov (THN:3 / landsharkhockey:9)
He won't come close
to last season's breakout numbers again.
Corey Schneider (NHL:10 / landsharkhockey:21)
The Devils will be
bottom feeders this season, meaning Schneider won't compile enough wins, no
matter how well he plays.
Cam Ward (THN:21 / landsharkhockey:35)
I love the Canes,
but can't understand why Ward continues to get fantasy attention like this.