The Hockey News: Fantasy Pool Look Column: Fantasy Pool Look: Islanders, Rangers off-season report

Fantasy Pool Look: Islanders, Rangers off-season report

Bryan Berard and Michal Rozsival battle for the puck. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

Darryl Dobbs
2008-08-07 10:55:39

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 the two New York teams.

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.

New York Islanders
Gone – Aaron Johnson, Rob Davison, Miroslav Satan, Josef Vasicek, Ruslan Fedotenko, Bryan Berard, Shawn Bates, Wade Dubielewicz.

Incoming – Doug Weight, Mark Streit, Yann Danis, Joey MacDonald.

Ready for full time – Coach Ted Nolan is now out of the mix, which means a lot of kids will see a lot of ice time. Kyle Okposo will see first-line duty and Jeff Tambellini will finally be given the responsibility he has earned. Blake Comeau is also ready.

Jack Hillen is a highly-touted rearguard coming out of college and is a decent dark horse for both points and penalty minutes.

Between the pipes, a lot of people have ordained MacDonald as the backup, but I think it’s Danis, who has more potential and should win that job in training camp. This could be important in fantasy leagues, given Rick DiPietro’s injury history.

Fantasy Outlook – Other than Mike Comrie, there probably won’t be a player on the Islanders’ roster to reach the 60-point mark this season. Okposo should get into the 50s, while youngster Sean Bergenheim will surprise with some added responsibility. Don’t expect much this campaign, but there are a lot – a lot – of promising kids in the pipeline so there is hope for the future.
Fantasy Grade: D (last year was C-)

New York Rangers
Gone – Jaromir Jagr, Sean Avery, Brendan Shanahan, Martin Straka, Jason Strudwick, Ryan Hollweg, Fedor Tyutin, Christian Backman, Marek Malik.

Incoming – Markus Naslund, Wade Redden, Dmitri Kalinin, Aaron Voros, Patrick Rissmiller, Dan Fritsche, Nikolai Zherdev.

Ready for full time – Lauri Korpikoski is ready to make the jump, but he will have to steal a roster spot. If he does, it could be at the expense of Petr Prucha, who is coming off a very inconsistent and unproductive season. Artem Anisimov is also on the cusp of making it to the NHL, but he must have a monster camp given the team’s depth at center.

Fantasy Outlook – From a fantasy standpoint, the Rangers’ productivity rides on the shoulders of Zherdev. If he builds on last season, his 80-point potential will make this team a very promising one to build your keeper league on. If he reverts back to the Zherdev of 2006-07, the Rangers will struggle to have a 70-point producer now that Jagr is gone.
Fantasy Grade: B- (last year was B+)

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 Thursday through the 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.

COMMENTS (10)

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Naddad Posted
(2009-04-30 06:47:03)

Zherdev will have a major problem with Renney if he doesn't comply with the coach's wishes. Whether you like Renney or not, it's clearly his team now. And lest anybody forget that Prucha, who scored 30 goals as a rookie, fell out of favor with Renney for reasons unknown. (I say reasons unknown because all I ever see Prucha do is hustle and for a smaller guy, he sure does try to hit.) If Zherdev does what he wants, he and, realistically speaking, the Rangers are screwed.

Sam Schneider Posted
(2009-04-30 06:46:25)

"whoever columbus' coach is" Umm...do you mean that one Ken guy who won a cup in Dallas?

potvin sucks! Posted
(2009-04-30 06:46:22)

it is no secret that zherdev and whoever columbus' coach is, didnt get along, which is probably the reason he was so up and down. he obviously has the potential to be a 70 point player, its a matter of coaching and motivation. if he and renney don't clash, he will be putting up 70 points, easily.

brian (rangers) Posted
(2009-04-30 06:45:22)

i agree that zherdev is the best chance for the rangers to have a 70+ season, but as the rangers have shown (and as most teams show), even with the players, its all about chemistry. look at the first part of the season. they tried to put all their big names together -gomez jagr drury shannahan. turns out, dubinsky and jagr (end of season) made the best pairings. and it turned out that avery and shanny played well together. now, the last two aren't (maybe just one) on the team anymore, but my point is that its all about how fast naslund, gomez, zherdev, prucha, and drury mesh with eachother. dubinsky i think will step up and have a 50+ season, dawes will prove himself with a 40+, and hopefully prucha will get out of this slump and step up and attach some numbers to his skills. go rangers.

Craig Boden Posted
(2009-04-30 06:45:19)

It will be a long year for Wang's squad, has anyone seen Yashin?

Dobber Posted
(2009-04-30 06:45:19)

Jim - I hear you, but in the NHL a one-way deal doesn't mean tooo much if it's for the minimum. Jason Krog in Vancouver is on a one-way, but he'll probably go to Manitoba. It's their way of securing a big contract in the minors - by getting paid in NHL dollars. RedToronto - you are correct, but my point is that if Zherdev falls back and gets 50-55 points, then Gomez's numbers will suffer (perhaps 65-69 points). However, if Zherdev steps up and gets 70 points, then Gomez will do much better (perhaps 75-79 points). That was what I was getting at.

Ralph Posted
(2009-04-30 06:45:15)

Lundqvist?

RedToronto Posted
(2009-04-30 06:45:13)

Rangers struggle to have a 70-point player if not Zherdev...I think Gomez has a better chance at 70 than Zherdev does.

Jim Posted
(2009-04-30 06:45:03)

It's very doubtful Danis wins the job. The whole reason Dubie was let go was because MacDonald has a one way contract. He will really have to falter to get sent down to Bridgeport. Also, I don't see Jack Hillen making the team. They already have 7 defenseman on one way contracts. Injuries may get him on the team at some point during the season, but probably not out of training camp.