Oleksiak to debut this Friday!
 

http://www.rantsports.com/nhl/2013/01/30/defenseman-jamie-oleksiak-to-make-nhl-debut-for-dallas-stars/

Articles like this one (http://www.defendingbigd.com/2013/1/...tars-nhl-debut) put this guy firmly on my radar for a waiver claim on our weekly waivers this past Friday. So when I read that he'd been called up I held my breath! I was pleased that I managed to get him. He's played a couple of NHL games now, neither of which I was able to watch. Any reviews from those who did?

He see that he was named AHL rookie of the month for January 2013. I believe he was initially thought of more of a project, but any time a guy who is this big starts putting up points in the AHL as a 19 year old (he just turned 20 in December), I pay attention!

Would he be a good pickup in a dynasty league?

My D are Edler, OEL, Fowler, Larsson, Hamilton and Souray.

Snatch him up as soon as you can. This kid is an absolute beast and will be a dominant player in the NHL for a long time. I had never heard of him until I heard that he was making his debut in Dallas so I did some research and he is the real deal. 6'7" 250+ pds defence man that can skate don't come around very often. You'll be the envy of the league once more people hear about him and wish they'd picked him up first.

How have you never heard of him? He was a top 15 pick a couple years ago....Im still not sold on this guy as he never put up 'good' numbers in juniors...He was considered to be a shut down minute muncher when he got drafted, and in my opinion nothing has changed.

At the expense of any of those guys, I wouldn't. The only one to consider would be Souray, but Souray has been doing much to well to let loose.

I just picked him up yesterday...

But remeber... have realistic expectations of what this player is and who he is...

He is a 'Beast' but that does not equate to the next big thing in Fantasy Hockey...

He is one of those D men you covent and want and demand on your real hockey team, but fantasy wise there are many better options...

What you should expect:

A growth in points - Likely will start his career off slow, may get 10 points in this shortened season and be around 20ish points for a few years... then start moving forward, a ceiling of like 45-50 points, but more an average in the 30-35 range...

He is going to hit - starting out he will hit everything building a repuation, but over time the rate of hits will decrease as the lg becomes aware, but he will still have well above average totals...

Blocked shot - this total will be impressive, logging big minutes and seeing Short handed time clearing bodys, many pucks will hit him... this total should eventually be one of the top 25 in the NHL...

Minutes - Dallas has several solid D there and are trying to find their next offencivve weapons, his time will likely be in the 10-15 min range as he gets use to the lg then rise steadily... his 30+ minute games likely wont come for 3-5 years from now...


If your in a dynasty/keeper league where 30 point D are difficult to get and you can wait 3-4 years for him to fully develop, he is a very good pickup... I see him much like Jay Bouwmeester/Jovo Cop but with less offensive flair, but better shot, he also might be the smoothest skater of the 3... but he is not a pure or polished offensive threat...