Fantasy Hockey Blog Fantasy Hockey

NHL Picks for the 2017-18 Season

By Mike Gay on

With the hockey season just weeks away, we’ve polled our expert pucksters on how everything should shake out over the course of the 2017-18 campaign. Interestingly, everyone picked a different Stanley Cup champion, and only yours truly appears to be bullish on 2017 Hobey Baker Award winner Will Butcher right out of the gate. The criteria for making the picks was loosely defined (by design), but here’s hoping it will help you get a basic idea of who to look out for or even avoid in drafts. Hint: None of us seem to like Jeff Carter this year. Agree? Disagree? Let’s hear your take!

Mike Gay Kyle Riley Tim Schuler AJ Scholz Jordan Buckley Doug Greenberg Joe Mahoney
Rising in September Alex Wennberg Alex Wennberg David Pastrnak Matt Murray Ryan Strome Artemi Panarin Johnny Gaudreau
Falling in September Brock Boeser Andreas Athanasiou Jeff Carter Connor Hellebuyck Brandon Dubinsky Joe Thornton Mike Smith
2 Players I Want on My Teams Leon Draisaitl, Justin Schultz Jack Eichel, Brady Skjei Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews Patrick Marleau, Mark Scheifele Jamie Benn, Aleksander Barkov Brad Marchand, Jeff Skinner Leon Draisaitl, Erik Karlsson
2 Top-50 Players to Avoid Nazem Kadri, Steven Stamkos Pekka Rinne, Henrik Lundqvist Jamie Benn, Jeff Carter Jeff Carter, Wayne Simmonds Corey Perry, Anze Kopitar Claude Giroux, Eric Staal Pekka Rinne, Corey Perry
Forward I’m Optimistic About Mitch Marner John Tavares Jakob Silfverberg Leon Draisaitl Jordan Eberle Ryan Johansen Nik Ehlers
Forward I’m Pessimistic About Alexander Ovechkin Viktor Arvidsson Eric Staal Mike Hoffman Artemi Panarin Jeff Carter Eric Staal
Defenseman I’m Optimistic About Anthony DeAngelo Mark Giordano Zach Werenski Dustin Byfuglien John Carlson Dougie Hamilton Matt Dumba
Defenseman I’m Pessimistic About Shayne Gostisbehere Andrej Sekera Mark Giordano Dougie Hamilton Justin Schultz Victor Hedman Kevin Shattenkirk
Goalie I’m Optimistic About Matt Murray Corey Crawford Craig Anderson Marc-Andre Fleury Ben Bishop Andrei Vasilevskiy Craig Anderson
Goalie I’m Pessimistic About Ben Bishop Henrik Lundqvist Marc-Andre Fleury Mike Smith Brian Elliott Pekka Rinne Corey Crawford
Draft Crosby or McDavid first overall? McDavid McDavid McDavid McDavid Crosby McDavid Crosby
Select Will Butcher in top half of drafts? Yes No No No No No No
Outside Top-100 to Finish Top-25 Jonathan Drouin Jordan Eberle Zach Werenski James Neal Nathan MacKinnon Jonathan Drouin Aleksander Barkov
Top-15 to Finish Outside Top-40 Sergei Bobrovsky Cam Talbot Jamie Benn Nikita Kucherov Matt Murray Joe Pavelski Carey Price
2017 Fantasy MVP Connor McDavid Patrick Kane Auston Matthews Connor McDavid Nikita Kucherov Connor McDavid Sidney Crosby
Stanley Cup Edmonton over Columbus Chicago over Columbus Washington over St. Louis Pittsburgh over Edmonton St. Louis over New York Rangers Edmonton over Pittsburgh Anaheim over Pittsburgh

Penguins Repeat as Stanley Cup Winners

By Janet Eagleson on

Just a few things that caught my eye:

  • Sidney Crosby’s legacy continues. He put the Pens on his back in Game 5 and his performance in big-money games is unsurpassed. And now he’s just the third NHLer to win the Conn Smythe in consecutive years. The last? Yup, team owner Mario Lemieux.
  • 19. The number of years the Preds have been in the league just happens to be the number of years since the last back-to-back Cup winner (Detroit in 1997 and 1998). Ironic coincidence.

Continue reading →