Karlsson

[jhonny]

Hey guys,

How much of a hit does his point total take with the loss of Spezza? Is there some plan to restock at forward to help this team score?

I've been waiting for this thread to start, so I figure I'll ask the question...

Cheers!

[kovalchuk17]

I actually think it won't be dramatically affected. The loss of spezza is countered by the heavier increasing of reliance and touches karlsson will get. The downside is that other teams will now just key in on him and rough him up but I think hell overcome it and produce. Definitely at least 65 with heavy sogs IMO

[Shiva Blaster]

He'll be just fine

[Vanek! at the Disco]

I wouldn't worry too much about Karlsson, he makes those around him better not vice versa

[PrairieDog]

Like the others said, Karlsson creates his own offense - I wouldn't worry about him.

[CHunter]

He'll stay a 60-65 pts D.....he generates more offense than 3/4 of his entire team.....

[HockeyProphet]

No change to him at all I would think.

[austeane]

He could end up with a terrible +/-
Could Ottawa be a Tank it for McDavid team?

[doulos]

He could end up with a terrible +/-
Could Ottawa be a Tank it for McDavid team?

This. I'm not sure his point totals will take too much of a hit, but that team doesn't look to great right now, so his overall +/- could be even worse than last season, which was a -15.

[plug]

Heck, as bad as speezas season and plus minus was, I wonder if Karlssons could improve.

[doulos]

Only if the Senators hold the line as a team. If they really struggle then I'm not sure how Karlsson's numbers could really get much better.

[jhonny]

Thanks everyone!

My gut* tells me we are looking at a tank season... and a line for Karlsson that will end up like this:
14G, 41A (only 55pts)... -38 (this because he will need to concentrate on leaving responsibility to try and help the team score more than 1.5 GPG) UGH.

I only see 2 or 3 worse teams in the league, and that is hoping Bobby Ryan doesn't pout or get hurt right away!

Can someone out there (perhaps other tan BigEv convince me otherwise?)

* this feeling is based in my history of fantasy luck - which baaaalows... I'm runner up every year it seems and can never win these damn things...

[doulos]

That's a huge drop (20 points) over what he has been doing. Even if the Senators struggle (which I think they will), the outcome should be that he might get scored on more. He should still get the same powerplay time and he had 31 points there last season. I think you're really underrating him at 55 points.

[mounD]

Ho-hum ... I'd expect 70+ points like you've come to rely on with Karlsson. He's just so dynamic with his skating, puckhandling, vision, playmaking, and getting pucks through to the net. 15-20 goals / 50-55 assists. That's what I'm expecting, as Karlsson doesn't need to rely on anyone but Karlsson to create offense.

[2014olympicgold]

I would expect 65, but 70s are his norm. Spezza and Karlsson were heavy assist guys, so the loss of Spezza wouldn’t change Karlssons output too much. With a better 2-way forward in Turris getting a bigger role and a healthy 1^st line Bobby Ryan I wouldn’t be surprised to see another 0.9ppg or 1ppg (73pts - 82pts) season.