Fan In Van

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not

So far, I’m sitting in 6th place in my Yahoo! Fantasy Pool of a league consisting of 13 managers. And while it’s not the results I’d like, I’m still confident in the ability of my team. Henrik Lundqvist, whom I took in the first round, ninth overall this year, has been the gem I expected him to be. Ales Hemsky is playing well and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the numbers of Andy McDonald. That being said, Cristobal Huet has underperformed for fantasy managers, myself included, and Dustin Byfuglien is definitely not at where I expected him to be.

With all that being said, let’s take a look around the league at the players who have surprised and those who have disappointed a dozen games into the NHL season.

Who’s Hot

Thomas Vanek - Taken one pick behind me (I regretfully took Danny Briere), Vanek has lit the lamp 11 times and in the process has two shorthanded goals and two game winners. He has five powerplay points and is among the league leaders in shots. What a fantasy stud.

Alexander Semin - If you took Ovechkin and passed on Semin, I bet you’re kicking yourself right now. Semin has 8 goals and 16 points while Ovechkin has two goals and five points. Semin has really come into his own this year after finishing with an abysmal 42 points last season.

Shea Weber - He’s the leading goal scorer among NHL defencemen with five and has 12 points in the process. We all kind of knew he’d be good for somewhere around 40 to 50 points (He had 40 two seasons ago) but Weber has shown signs of emerging as an elite NHL defenceman.

Niklas Backstrom - The Wild goaltender has easily been worth the price of admission with a sparklin 7-1 record with a shutout to his credit. A lot of people suspected the Wild would take a fall after losing Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra to free agency and with Marian Gaborik in limbo, but the Wild are perched atop the Northwest standings because of Backstrom’s play.

Honourable Mentions: Brandon Dubinsky, Mikko Koivu, Joe Pavelski

Who’s Not

Marian Gaborik - After a career-high 83 points last season, a lot of poolies expected Gaborik to perform even better. But with his contract status and desire to stay in Minnesota in question, he’s conveniently been “injured” and the Wild refuse to divulge the details. He’s got one goal this year. Big ouch.

Jonathan Toews - Many forecasters pegged Toews for as high as 90 points last season. So far he’s on pace for half of that. And while he’s a young kid, you shouldn’t expect him to stay in this funk for long. But boy has he disappointed some managers so far.

Sam Gagner - Another young buck, after his rookie campaign of 13 goals and 49 points, combined with the maturation of the Oilers forward corps, many had Gagner scoring around 60 to 70 points this season. But so far he has two. TWO! And they’re both assists! Here’s a kid who’s really starting to battle the famed ’sophomore jinx’…

Marty Turco - Turco has normally been a fantasy stud, with around 33 to 38 wins a season and a few shutouts, but so far has seen goal after goal after goal squeak past him. He’s 3-5-2 and has an eye-gouging 4.34GAA and .837 save percentage. That’s enough to drive any fantasy manager crazy.

(Dis)Honourable Mentions: Martin St. Louis, Zdeno Chara, Nicklas Backstrom