Fantasy Pool Look: Panthers, Kings off-season report
Teddy Purcell finished third in AHL scoring with 83 points in 67 games this season. (Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images)
Darryl Dobbs
2008-07-11 14:07:23
As the number of keeper league hockey pools increase each year, fantasy junkies are becoming more active in the off-season as they prepare for the coming year. Rebuild? Retool? Tweak? Whatever your intentions, it helps to get all the information you can about your players. FPL will look at a pair of teams each week and give you the fantasy lowdown. This week, we’ll look through our fantasy hockey goggles at the outlooks for Detroit and Edmonton.
Also – don’t forget to send your off-season questions to the THN Fantasy Mailbag, which is posted the last Wednesday of each month during the summer.
Florida Panthers
Gone – Olli Jokinen, Jozef Stumpel, Branislav Mezei, Steve Montador, Jassen Cullimore, Magnus Johansson.
Incoming - Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton, Chris Beckford-Tseu, Cory Stillman, Rory Fitzpatrick, Peter DeBoer (coach).
Ready for full time – With the loss of Jokinen, the Panthers could use an injection of offense from their youth. Judging by his cup of coffee a year ago, Shawn Matthias seems ready to take on the No. 2 or No. 3 center job. The Cats also hope skilled winger Michael Frolik is ready to take the next step. Michal Repik will also get a long look.
Fantasy Outlook – The good news is that DeBoer is a successful and proven coach at the junior level. The bad news, for fantasy owners, is he has his troops play a conservative team game. Couple that with Jokinen’s departure and you won’t see as many goals as you would like to. However, there are several young Panthers on the cusp of (finally) breaking out, such as Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss and the newly rich Rostislav Olesz. All three will need to surprise for Florida to get a sniff of a playoff race.
Fantasy Grade: D (last year was C)
Los Angeles Kings
Gone – Michael Cammalleri, Lubomir Visnovsky, Rob Blake, Jon Klemm, Ladislav Nagy, Scott Thornton, Brian Willsie, Dan Cloutier.
Incoming - Jarret Stoll, Matt Greene, Brad Richardson, Denis Gauthier.
Ready for full time – Teddy Purcell may have won the American League scoring title this season had he not been recalled to the big club. He impressed in his recall and will impress you as a rookie in your fantasy league. Look for him to play on the top six.
Another potential hotshot is defenseman Peter Harrold. He posted nearly a point per game for Manchester (AHL) and was a plus player in 25 NHL games. With Visnovsky gone, the Kings need a quarterback and Harrold, 25, fits the bill.
Big pivot Brian Boyle is also ready to make the jump, but he will probably need to start out on a depth line due to the numbers game. Checking winger Lauri Tukonen is ready for fourth-line duty.
Last, but certainly not least, Drew Doughty, the second overall pick in last month’s entry draft will get a long look in camp, but may be better served with one more year in junior.
Fantasy Outlook - Last summer I stated in this column that the Kings have everything in place for a powerhouse team of the future and I gave them an “A-” rating. I said they would not make the playoffs, but if you didn’t scoop up their players right away, it would be difficult to do so in the future. Here we are a year later and the Kings did miss the playoffs (for which THN gave GM Dean Lombardi a rather poor rating in their annual GM review), but look at their potential roster a year from now:
Forwards:
Patrick O’Sullivan – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Alexander Frolov – Brian Boyle - Teddy Purcell
Kyle Calder – Michal Handzus – Lauri Tukonen
With Trevor Lewis, Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds on the way.
Defensemen:
Jack Johnson – Drew Doughty
Thomas Hickey – Peter Harrold
Matt Greene – Colton Teubert
Jonathan Bernier is their goaltender of the future.
This does not reflect the fact they will be picking up free agents next summer, which they will certainly be able to afford. Los Angeles is well on its way to being a league power. They’ll contend for a playoff spot next year, but likely fall short. A year from now, however, they will sail into the post-season easily. They have youth, depth and skill at every position, which makes me wish I were a Kings fan. In a way, I guess I am now… A team to build your fantasy squad on, no question.
Fantasy Grade: A (last year was A-)
Darryl Dobbs’ Fantasy Pool Look is an in-depth presentation of player trends, injuries and much more as it pertains to rotisserie pool leagues. Get the edge in your league - check out the latest scoop every Monday and Friday (only Friday's during the playoffs and off-season). Also, get the top 300 roto-player rankings on the 1st of every month in THN’s Fantasy section.
Do you have a question about fantasy hockey? Send it to the Fantasy Mailbag?
Want more fantasy insider information or to contact The Dobber? Check out dobberhockey.com.
Hockeefanatic (Posted 2008-07-24 22:52:58)
Sorry Dobbs, normally we are in agreement but not so with the Kings. And I have been a King's fan since 1970 before you were even born. Kopi is the only legit futurestar. In fact I rate him even with Malkin as an overall talent..defense, passing, and no Crosby. The Kings and the Leafs will fight it out for the number one pick next year. Brown is a very good supplemental player if he plays with talent i.e. Kopitar and Cammaleri. Boyle looked completely lost out there with the NHL's speed. Bernier still is at least 2-3 years away (Ersberg is competent however). Defensively the Kings will give up the most goals........I agree with Ike it takes at least 4 years for D men to round into form (Phaneuf being the exception).
The same equation was given to the Sharks when Lombardi was there.....how many cups did they win?
Scottkmlps (Posted 2008-07-17 20:34:06)
It's okay Dobber, you don't need to explain yourself. In a couple years all these people will be kicking themselves for not taking players such as Kopitar, Brown, O'Sullivan, Johnson, Doughty, Bernier, Hickey, Boyle, Purcell, Martinez, shall I go on?
I see results with the Kings this season like we saw with the Oilers and Coyotes last season.
Ike (Posted 2008-07-15 01:59:05)
The Kings will be far worse this year than last. There is next to no verteran presence. IF you talk about fantasy gold....well maybe brown and Kopitar but look at defence. Ya they may have a ton of potential but even two years from now their most experienced Dman will be green at 25 and hes going to be the third pairing. Bernier has potential too, but in two years he'll be 20. Look what happened with Fleury, it almost ruined his career, some how he turned it around but it took more than two years. The average age on that team will be somewhere around 24. I would say more like 4-5 years the kings will have all this young talent matured-only if they dont rush it all-while bringing in at least a few vertern players. Pittsburg did have a 2-3 year turn around but they have/had a ton of verterans in Recchi, Roberts, Leclair, Gonchar etc....But look at the bright side Kings fans, your going to get Tavarse to add to your "Fantasy Gold"
Robbie Willoughby (Posted 2008-07-14 21:24:06)
Rory Fitzpatrick, and the rest of those no names are for the minor league system. Not for the actual team. What an idiot!
Andrew (Posted 2008-07-13 21:48:52)
The L.A. Kings will be even worst than last year if they dont sign free agents
Raist (Posted 2008-07-13 03:00:30)
LA doesn't deserve an A, you cannot compare Penguins from two years ago with this LA squad, Crosby and Malkin are generational talents capable of elevating the game of everyone on the ice.. LA's strength in the future will be their backend. Kopitar and the rest are good talents, but their style will not be as wide open as the penguins are going to be, they are in a tight west too, where defense is supreme. NO WAY will they be in the same league fantasy-wise as the pens, who can prey on the southeast. They derserve a B+ for building a strong team, but a strong team do not always translate to fantasy gold, Dobber you should know this.
cashmoney (Posted 2008-07-12 15:21:02)
LIES LIES LIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dobber (Posted 2008-07-12 08:51:38)
Just to clarify the ratings - it is a rating of a team to build your fantasy squad around. Example - two years ago Pittsburgh was coming off a horrible season, but they got an 'A' in my summer review. Today you see why. Los Angeles is where Pittsburgh was two years ago, except no Crosby/Malkin but far more skill in other areas. In fantasy leagues, it's almost impossible to snag a Penguin today. By next year or the year after, it will be equally difficult to grab a King. LA is fantasy gold.
Matt (Posted 2008-07-12 08:42:16)
How is L.A. rated A this year? They're young for sure which is good but really they aren't thet good. They have some good young forwards in Kopitar, Brown and Frolov but their defence is weak and their goalie isn't a proven goalie yet, though he is a good goalie. I'd maybe give them a B-.
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