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and I am expecting him to struggle once again this year. It will be interesting to see how Kruger uses Whitney this season. He’s being paid like a top pairing but if the quality of play isn’t there, how long will Kruger keep giving him top billing ice time. His playing partner last season was Corey Potter but with the addition of Justin Schultz this year, I am not sure whom Whitney lines up with on a regular basis. I expect Whitney to slide down the depth chart to a 5/6 defence at best and paired up with either Potter or Peckham. Petry and Smid are locks to play together. I can see both Schultz’s sticking together. A healthy Whitney is a 1/2 defenseman on most NHL teams, but unfortunately he will probably struggle with this injury the rest of his career so that means he will have to alter his play because of it. I will be quite surprised if Whitney scores 10 goals this year and hits 30 points. He has never been an aggressive player; he doesn’t hit, doesn’t take a lot of PIM’s and is a moderate shot blocker at best. He will offer some PP points but that’s about as good as it gets from Whitney. Ales Hemsky The fact I have this name down for a letdown really shouldn’t surprise anyone. Personally, I am a big Hemmer fan but to own him in fantasy hockey is tough. Hemsky has been a point per game player most of his career so to expect 75+ points over 82 games wouldn’t be a reach. Unfortunately, Hemsky can’t stay healthy. It’s that simple. As if staying healthy wasn’t a big enough obstacle, a new one has surfaced for Hemsky and his production and that obstacle is now opportunity. It’s an obstacle Hemsky has never had to deal with before in Edmonton. Where exactly does Hemsky play this year? The right side in Edmonton is filling up quickly with Eberle and Yakupov quite possibly taking their places on the top two lines. As mentioned earlier in this write up, Yakupov could possibly play the left side on the second line but he’s always played the right side. Could we see Hemsky on the left side on the second line? He’s too good to be a third line player. Last season, when healthy, he played less PP time then he ever has (he averaged 2:08 PP time, normally he’s over three minutes of PP time) mainly due to the wonder kids getting the time. It’s safe to say this is yet another example of the lack of opportunities being presented to Hemsky. In my opinion, there are two things Hemsky needs to have a productive season. The first is obvious he needs to stay healthy. The second would be a trade. I have no doubt the Oilers have tried to deal him but their demands are simply too high for a player making $5M and unable to stay on the ice. If he was able to stay healthy, $5M is a bargain for a player of Hemsky’s ability so I don’t think the contract is the issue. It’s his health and until he can show his ability to stay on the ice, he isn’t going anywhere. If Hemsky stays in Edmonton for the full season, I expect him to play about 55+ games and score about 15 goals and chip in 30-35 assists. So there you have it, my top three surprises/letdowns for the Oilers. As a die-hard Oilers fan, I can only hope my top three surprises come through and that my top three letdowns prove me wrong. I would be more than happy to eat crow should that happen. 59
y Steve Laidlaw The Florida Panthers were not supposed to be good last season. Most pundits had them as heavy favourites to win the first overall selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. The Panthers had other ideas. They brought in a new coach and a slew of new players. With a ton of offseason changes they didn’t just avoid finishing in last place. They avoided the lottery altogether and even won their first division title in franchise history. That they turned their fortunes completely around while simultaneously possessing the best group of prospects of any team in the league was a coup. What’s interesting about Florida’s massive year-to-year improvement is that they did so without really scoring or defending all that much better than they did in 2010-11. In 2011-12 the Panthers scored just six more goals than they did the previous season and similarly allowed just six fewer goals. Where the Panthers improved greatly however was on the power play where they finished dead last at 13.1% in 2010-11. The Panthers in 2011-12 were the seventh best team in the NHL with the man advantage scoring on 18.5% of all opportunities. The Panthers are pretty good bet to decline this season based on the fact that they held a goal differential of minus-19 and pushed 25 games (nearly a third of their schedule) to overtime where they could gain extra points even in the event of a loss. Still, a decline in wins and losses should have little impact on the Panthers’ fantasy value. What bears watching instead will be the impact of the incoming Panther rookies who may steal prime ice time from established veterans but could also give the offense the kick in the rear it really needs. So who is due to improve and decline heading into next season? I’m glad you asked. TRENDING UP: Dmitri Kulikov – Is this the year Kulikov finally stays healthy? Through his first three seasons in the NHL, Kulikov has missed 14, 10 and 24 games respectively. Despite missing the most games of any season of his career Kulikov still managed to set a career high for points with 28 and has in fact improved his point total in each successive NHL season and will almost certainly do so again in 2012-13. He may be injury prone but there isn’t a better candidate to improve his scoring totals in the league this season. Kulikov has all the skills necessary and while he is still just 21 years old, he has all the experience he needs to break out this season. Peter Mueller - Is this the year Mueller finally stays healthy? Wait a minute. I’m sensing a pattern here. Yes the next upwardly trending candidate is another BandAid Boy and quite frankly a gamble. The upside on Mueller is huge. He has all the skills to supplant Stephen Weiss as the number one center on the Panthers (at least offensively anyhow). I don’t have much confidence in Mueller’s health but Florida seems to be a hot destination for reclamation projects (see Fleischmann, Tomas and Theodore, Jose for examples). If Mueller is ever going to succeed as an NHL player going forward the first step must be taken this season. 60
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GMG’sMARKETBUZZ September2012 Vol
Page 3 and 4:
GMG’s Introduction - September 20
Page 5 and 6:
11. David Backes, C/RW - STL B+ M H
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61. Brad Richards, C - NYR B- B A :
Page 9 and 10: Combo Ranks : G / SOG Combo Ranks :
Page 11 and 12: Jordan Eberle, RW - EDM This is a b
Page 13 and 14: Mastering a Hits & Blocked Shots Le
Page 15 and 16: To visualize the two teams, let’s
Page 17 and 18: Comparing the statistics of these p
Page 19 and 20: Now compare the category totals : T
Page 21 and 22: Lockout Ready : Players Edition (wh
Page 23 and 24: The Benefits to a Lockout by Austin
Page 25 and 26: exceptional completion. When you ca
Page 27 and 28: 3 Factors 1. Know the team Knowing
Page 29 and 30: To that end an important principle
Page 31 and 32: Teemu Selanne - “Forget this, I g
Page 33 and 34: The Skinny: The glut of this group
Page 35 and 36: Meanwhile, the Hurricanes acquisiti
Page 37 and 38: Stars - Last season, the Stars saw
Page 39 and 40: Sharks - The San Jose Sharks histor
Page 41 and 42: y Eric Daoust Surprises • Viktor
Page 43 and 44: y “Bomm Bastic” Will This is do
Page 45 and 46: Foligno will not begin the season o
Page 47 and 48: Three players to back away from: Ja
Page 49 and 50: 3DOWNS Alex Semin Tale of the tape:
Page 51 and 52: TRENDING DOWN Andrew Shaw - Shaw ca
Page 53 and 54: Paul Stastny A lot of people in Col
Page 55 and 56: y NoWayOut I'm going to break thing
Page 57 and 58: y Eric Daoust Surprises • Gustav
Page 59: Jeff Petry Another RFA that resigne
Page 63 and 64: y uofmehockey Every season the same
Page 65 and 66: Matt Hackett - Goalie, Houston Aero
Page 67 and 68: y uofmehockey As everyone who follo
Page 69 and 70: Down (cont.) : Adam Henrique I am a
Page 71 and 72: Down (cont.) : Brad Boyes It’s no
Page 73 and 74: y Evan Hotham The 2011-2012 Ottawa
Page 75 and 76: y Kevin Schulmeister RISERS Jakub V
Page 77 and 78: y Keith Veronese In this roundup of
Page 79 and 80: y Derek Reese 3UPS : 1. James Neal
Page 81 and 82: y Tim Graveline Murky Waters and Fe
Page 83 and 84: Man Down 1. Patrik Berglund Berglun
Page 85 and 86: Decliner : Martin St.Louis Let me s
Page 87 and 88: Potential, but Just Very Risky The
Page 89 and 90: “At our farm!” he exclaims. “
Page 91 and 92: “Sure, dude” “Well, with all
Page 93 and 94: y Anthony Capocci The Winnipeg Jets
Page 95 and 96: SURPRISES Paul Postma If you’re l
Page 97: Who are the Black Aces? NHL Team Co
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