1. Why does everyone hate Nickelback?…sorry, wrong list.
Trusting the Process
A few folks have asked about the writing process. In general, I’ll come up with a topic after conferring with Nate and or the other contributors. After that, it’s just about trying to establish some sort of starting point and seeing where that leads. Usually it’s a multi-day tossing and turning through the night operation of tinkering, tailoring, and soldiering until a submission hold is administered. While this may seem a bit crackers, I like that I’m never quite certain where things will end up.
For this piece, these Burning Questions are ones that just came to mind. While we won’t be rediscovering the Rosetta Stone, we should have some fun.
And as a caveat, I’m going Zero B-dard with this piece.
Now, on to the Top Ten Burning Questions or A Life of Allusion because…well, you’ll see.
1. Spelled with a K or a C
Maybe it’s because I’m allergic to yellow jackets, but for whatever reason, I’ve never been one to roster many Penguins. And while I fought long and hard to pull off a trade last year for Karlsson with a K, for this upcoming year, I’m going with Carlson with a C. I’m thinking that John Carlson will get overlooked a smidge, which is fine with me as most will be paying too much attention to what’s going on in Pittsburgh with Karl and Kris. I do like the whole French Fries on the sandwich move when you’re Dahntahn though.
2. G Thing
What if just about everyone in your league is in on Zero G? What then?
I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that whenever Walt Disney came up with a new idea, he’d ask around to see what people thought of it. Once he found ten people who thought it was crazy, he’d put that idea into practice.
Employing some of that philosophy, at least in my mock drafts up to this point, it appears that Nate’s brainchild of Zero-G has established a pretty firm foothold amongst the fantasy hockey cognoscenti. In most of the mock drafts I’ve conducted, goalies are being “faded” until somewhere in the 10th Round and later. So I’ve tried both approaches, i.e, fading goalies (employing Zero G) and drafting them higher (non Zero G) on Yahoo.
Keeping in mind that the mocks I’ve participated in are Category Leagues, I’ve found that by looking at the “Standings” of the teams after each mock draft, I could not establish any noteworthy differences between these two drafting strategies. Granted, those results are all hypothetical and represent preseason predictions. But it leads me to believe that things could go either way on draft day and that the pudding can’t be sampled until the season unfolds. Ah, the machinations of fantasy hockey.
If that’s the case then, what if I grabbed one or more of the so-called studs before anyone else? Especially in a Points League. I mean after all, I had Shesty, Sorokin, and Otter for most of last season and they represented somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 points of my team’s almost 9k points for the season. Could I replicate near that production with say a Markstrom/Vanecek/Schmid trifecta or by constantly streaming Band-Aids?
While it was nice rolling last year with these high-volume start goalies, I agonized over who to sit when all three played on the same night. Nothing short of having an empty roster spot drives me more crazy than having to roll the dice with sit/start conundrums.
At a minimum, if I do decide to roster three goalies this year, one of them will have to be the backup to one of my starters.
Anyway, I need ten (more) folks to tell me I’m crazy.
3. First Class or Under the Radar
Look, everyone gets to fly first class in round one of any draft. But it’s how you get home that often makes the difference. My favorite somewhat under the radar stack? I don’t know about you, but I’m riding shotgun with Billy Ray Cyrus’s barber in Rat Patrol Redux. I’m targeting Clayton Keller early and will overpay for him in this year’s upcoming draft. I’m fairly certain that, once again, Nick Schmaltz will go rather unnoticed, so my plan (shhh) is to scoop up Schmaltzy either late or through the waiver wire to stack them up. I’ve run long and hard with these two for the past couple of seasons and these guys are my GPS guides on the back roads.
4. Will the Devils Make Me Do It
Can’t believe I’m going there (here), but the contrarian in me fears that NJ is being over-hyped. And that’s coming from a Devils homer. Have I mentioned how much I Dig Dug Timo? And the rest of their top six? Seriously?! But what if… Being from there (here), is sometimes what makes this happen. Things are just different in Jersey. Nonetheless, this glutton for punishment is still all in for some Devils take out. My order: Timo (duh), Jack, Nico, Jesper, Tyler, and Dawson.
5. Island Goals
With arguably the best goaltender in the league, imagine if the Islanders could score a few more goals? In the mock drafts I’ve conducted, I’ve been hard pressed to find many managers and or auto-drafters willing to spend much draft capital (I can’t believe I’m talking like this now) on Mssrs. Horvat, Barzal, Dobson, and Nelson. And that sort of got me thinking, two roads diverged in an Orange and Blue wood…and maybe, just maybe, that may make all the difference.
6. Tuch and Roll
For the past two fantasy seasons, I’ve secured some combination of Alex Tuch, Tage Thompson, and Jeff Skinner, even rostering all three at times last year. Once again, I won’t hesitate in the least to try to secure any of Buffalo’s top line. If getting Tage is a tall order and Skinner is a short order, Tuch rests nicely in between. An argument could be made that this trio represents one of the top lines in real hockey, or more importantly for our collective souls, fantasy hockey. I’m a huge fan of Tuch especially considering the fact that he is still sort of under-appreciated. I’m happy to be stuck in the middle, so I’ll continue to try to roll with Tuch.
7. Flame In Jon
Munson: “His name is Johnny, Gilda.
Gilda: “Oh, I’m sorry. Johnny is such a hard name to remember and so easy to forget.”–Gilda (1946). As an aside, it could be one of all-time lines from any movie. Dude. So good.
Most of you are probably thinking, “I have a bad feeling about this,” but if you haven’t ever seen Gilda, it’s well worth your time. It may not be GTA 9: San Juan Capistrano’s Fault or whatever the kids are playing nowadays but…The game has passed you by Professor.
O.k. back to biz.
Imagine having Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadr, MacKenzie Weegar, and or Jacob Markstrom on your fantasy team? If it were two years ago, you probably crushed it. Last year? Not so much. What the heck happened? No one, especially me, seems to know. What I do know is that Calgary has a new coach and it is a new year. Bounce back? Again, who knows, but I’m willing to take a shot again and hope that last year was just a Flame out.
8. (St)-Ehler’s Wheel
It’s a philosophical question I know, but can someone please tell me: what the heck is going on in Winnipeg that Nikolaj Ehlers can’t seem to get more deployment? I mean, you’re killing me here Bowness. I’ve rostered him at various points over the years and whenever he plays he’s really good. Why isn’t he on the ice more? And the back and forth between PP1 and PP2? I don’t get it. Is he a problem in the locker room? Does he not play D? I mean, he is really good right?
9. Knocking Three Times
Scouring the A&G Discord the other day, I came upon a question regarding the merits of rostering three (or even more) top players from one team should one be so fortunate. Some respondents suggested that it was a good idea while others argued that it’s a bit risky because there’s always the chance that that team might lay an egg on any given night. Here’s my take: it’s not a bad gig if you can get it. As mentioned above, I actually had Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson, and Alex Tuch during a portion of last year’s season. When they were rolling, it was luda. When the Sabres had an off night (which wasn’t too often), not so much. Eventually, I ended up dropping Skinner and was more comfortable with just the two-man “I stopped short” stack.
10. “The hair.”
Saving the most burning question for last, who’s the Cream of the Crop when it comes to beauticians: Big Kuzy (Andrei Kuzmenko) or Boone Jenner? When it comes to rostering simply in terms of coiffure, I’ll go for Boone in a Cats League and Big Kuzy if it’s Points. Either way, these two are no beauty school dropouts because that show ain’t no good.
Thanks for reading!
Mike@Fantasy Hockey Professor
Apples and Ginos 