Brian Pothier

Pothier is still out with concussions and has a history of them. It has been about eight months since his injury and the team is pessimistic about his future. He has two years worth $5 million left on his deal, which may mean the Caps will be shopping for a defenseman or bringing up one of their top defensive prospects to replace him. Obviously stay away, he has no fantasy value.

Pothier put up a respectable 28 points in 72 games, including 15 with the extra man, while quarterbacking the Caps’ power play last season. With the signing of Tom Poti, Pothier will no longer hold that role, and with coach Glen Hanlon often using a power play unit containing four forwards, Pothier is likely to be relegated to the second unit. His rating might increase, but don’t look for a significant increase in points out of Pothier in 2007-08.

There's plenty to like about Pothier. He set career highs with five goals, 30 assists, 35 points, 59 penalty minutes, three power play goals, 14 power play assists, 133 shots and a robust plus-29 rating, good for 10th in the league. There's also plenty not to like. Pothier didn't even play a full season in the NHL until 2005-06, and then he lucked into a spot on the rarely tested Ottawa blue line. The Senators outscored their opponents 312 to 205, and while it would be remiss to assume that Pothier didn't have any role to play in those numbers, he surely didn't have a large one; despite the gaudy plus-minus, he was tied for fifth on the team while receiving cushier defensive assignments on the third defensive pairing. God bless Capital-ism for allowing the journeyman to parlay his one successful season into a four-year, $10 million deal with Washington, but Pothier and his stats should crash back down to earth on the rebuilding team in 2006-07.

Pothier is a dependable blue liner who'll be counted on this year to anchor the third defensive pairing. However, he's scored just 23 points in 105 NHL games, so not much to get excited about here.