Playoff success trending positively into next regular season?

[dunkthefunk]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to toss this out for conversation:

What are poolies insights into players that have a quiet to reasonable regular season, then are very solid performers (all things considered) for the playoffs..how do you treat those players heading into next season's drafts for keeper leagues? Say points only, no salary implications

Thinking of the following types players:

- Haula (Minny)
- Bourque (MTL)
- Bennett (PIT)
- Sutter (PIT)
- Eller (MTL)
- Niederreiter (Minny)
- R. Smith (Bos)
- Jenner (Columbus)

And by 'types' I mean players of varying ages and skill sets and name factors..but all seem to make more of a name for themselves in a playoff run.

Do any of these guys move up your 'darkhorse' type charts for next year's regular season draft boards based on a previous run?

Dunc

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

The younger guys with an offensive tilt to their game do, for sure. Bennett, Niederreiter, Smith, Jenner, Eller. Not that I'm "expecting" a jump from those guys next season, but they have the talent so any time you get some extended production from them it can't hurt their long-term prospects.

Guys like Bourque.....just not interested. Maybe he can turn this playoff run into some extra opportunity and not be a total waste of a roster spot, but I'm not going to be hoping for 50+ points or anything. Maybe he scores 35 now with decent hits and PIM and fills your last forward slot.

[STONE.]

Fernando Pisani, Bryan Bickell, Chris Kreider, Darren Helm, etc.

Seen it before. Don't get too excited.

[jcairns]

Fernando Pisani, Bryan Bickell, Chris Kreider, Darren Helm, etc.

Seen it before. Don't get too excited.

Yeah. And guys like Jack Johnson who have 19 points in 18 playoff games. It's pretty crazy how much things can change in playoffs.

[glorybe23]

I personally don't associate playoff performance with regular season, it really is a different animal.
Ville Leino comes to mind on that Flyers playoff run a few years back. He lit it up, was the talk of the playoffs, he went 2nd round the next year in my one league. Ridiculous.

Others like Quick, and Bickell seem to find a switch to be incredible in the playoffs and well pretty subpar for the regular season.

With your league setup without a farm team, I would just keep tabs on most of these young guys on your list, snatch them up on the wire when they get hot - ala Ryan Johansen this year. Reilly Smith and Lars Eller would be guys to target later in your draft however in a points only league.

[Hoochie Coochie Man]

I find the players of teams who make the finals generally are overvalued in the next years drafts. These teams make the finals because of large groups of players performing at peak levels, which is going to tend to lead to a corrction over time. The playoffs are about who can play the best for the few weeks they run, drafting fntasy players is about who can play the best over an 82 game schedule.

[austeane]

I think you can look at it as any small stretch, no more and no less.

If Bickell scored 17 points in 23 games to end an otherwise mediocre year in which the Hawks missed the playoffs, how much would that change your projections of him?
Probably not that much.

I think it can be informative, but I generally give only minor bumps in value. Johnson scoring at a point per game pace over 19 games is interesting, but combine it with 20-30 points the rest of the year and my expectations will still only be moderate.

For example, Jussi Jokinen is having a surprisingly good postseason, which to me is just a hot streak in a surprisingly good season. He has scored six goals, and is shooting more than four times a game in the postseason after only shooting twice a game in the regular season. That is a pretty cool hot-streak that isn't even based on luck, but I don't think it changes his value except that it continues to validate his 57 point season.

[suvojitde]

I think 1 guy who can surprise (in a positive way) is Gaborik, if (and a very big if) he can stay healthy and stay on Kopitars wing. They seem to have developed good chemistry together. The question is - does he stay in LA AND can he stay healthy, but the signs are there.