[4T2's Towel Rack] Surprised and Disappointed - Northeast Division

[4T2]

It's Wednesday morning, you log on to see how your fantasy team did the night before only to see that the only thing Corey Perry contributed to your team was two lousy PIMs. You curse yourself for drafting him in the first round and wish you would have listened to everyone at Dobber Hockey who said he wouldn't repeat last year's numbers. You scroll further down and end up spitting coffee all over your screen when you see that Brad Marchand (your last pick in round 15) netted you three goals and 2 assists which clinched your head-to-head matchup for the week.

Oh, the highs and lows of fantasy hockey. While we should be used to it by now, sometimes you can't help but be absolutely surprised or ready to scream in disappointment at the performance of your team. It has been a year full of surprises as both teams and individual players seem to be playing well above their heads, while others struggle despite being ripe with talent.

Approaching the half-way point of the season, now would seem to be a good time to analyze the biggest fantasy surprises and disappointments of the season to date. Let's start by having a look at the Northeast division.

Boston Bruins
Biggest Surprise -
Brad Marchand
Love him or hate him, hate being more likely unless you are an owner or a Bruins fan, Marchand has been a huge success for Boston and an even bigger success for his owners. On average, this pest was drafted 165th overall in Yahoo. He is currently on pace for 35-goals, 70-points, plus-56 and 140 PIMS. Not too shabby for a 15th round fantasy draft selection.

Honorable Mentions -
Tyler Seguin
Did anyone see him stepping into such a huge role on a very deep Bruins team this quickly? It's even more surprising given his lack of playing time last season.

Rich Peverley
When playing, he has been scoring at a .8 point-per-game pace, behind only Marchand and Seguin on the Bruins.

Biggest Disappointment -
Nathan Horton
Horton is only on pace for 52-points this season. While that may be down only 10 points from his career high, many picked Horton to finally breakout this year given the effort he showed in the 2011 playoffs. The fact that he is minus-2 on a team that has a plus-55 goal differential is a little shocking as well.

Dishonorable Mention -
David Krejci
After leading the NHL in points in the 2011 playoffs, Krejci has followed up by posting only 23-points in 32-games to start the season. Along with Horton, Krejci is the only other Bruin to currently sport a negative plus/minus at minus-1. Krejci has the potential to hit 75-points if he can stay healthy. Unfortunately, it does not appear that will happen this season.

Buffalo Sabres
Biggest Surprise -
Jason Pominville
2007/2008 was the last season that Pominville even approached point-per-game status. Most wrote that season off as an anomaly in what was otherwise a steady 60-65-point player's career. But with 40 points in his first 39 games, Pominville is providing an offensive spark on what is overall a mostly disappointing Sabres team.

Honorable Mentions -
Thomas Vanek
Some may argue that Vanek's 39-points in 39-games is exactly what is expected of him, however, his previous 4-seasons have indicated that he was becoming a perennial under-performer. His 34 PIMs have been a pleasant surprise to owners that count that category as well.

Biggest Disappointment -
Ryan Miller
Ryan Miller is an elite NHL goaltender and was drafted as such in fantasy leagues this year. On average, he was the 5th goaltender chosen at 20th overall. That places him as the #1 option on most fantasy teams. One could forgive him for only posting 10-wins in 23-games if he was posting his usually stellar peripherals. However, a .900 SV% and 3.05 GAA are nowhere near forgivable.

Dishonorable Mentions -
The entire remaining Buffalo Sabres roster other than Luke Adam
While most of the Sabres are not under-performing by a huge margin, they should all be slightly better off than they currently sit. Stafford, Roy and Ehrhoff are all performing just below their career averages and could turn it around with a hot streak. Gragnani was picked by many as a dark horse for a breakout rookie season. Myers and Ennis have both been hampered by injuries, but even before the injuries were not performing up to expectations.

The obvious name missing from this list is Ville Leino. The expectations placed upon him this season, due to his new contract, were way too high to begin with. Poolies ate it up though, often drafting him in a late round as a "steal"�. While it helps to mitigate the disappointment, chances are there were better options left on the waiver wire.

Montreal Canadiens
Biggest Surprise -
Tomas Kaberle
Since coming over in the trade with Carolina, Kaberle has posted 7-points in 10 games as a Canadien. While he is still on pace for a career-low of 34-points, it appears that the change of scenery has helped him rediscover his game.

Honorable Mentions
David Desharnais
He went from almost completely fantasy irrelevant, to being a viable option in deep leagues. Desharnais is on pace for 50-points. Being one of only four positive plus/minus players on the Canadiens makes him one of the more valuable Habs to own.

Biggest Disappointment -
Let me preface this pick by saying that Scott Gomez does not count. You cannot be disappointed by someone of whom you should have no expectations in the first place.

PK Subban
Subban has all the talent in the world and should blossom into an elite defenseman in the NHL someday. Many expected his second full season with Montreal would be a breakout. While he is showing signs of turning it around, his 35-point pace is not what poolies expected when drafting him on average 70th overall.

Dishonorable Mentions -
For a team that is currently dwelling in the basement of the Eastern Conference, Montreal does not have many disappointments on their roster. Players are performing on par with their usual numbers. Plekanec, Cammalleri, Cole, Kostitsyn and Gionta are all where you expect them to be. Carey Price's win totals are down, but that can't be blamed on him as his peripherals are right on par with his career totals. This is a team full of under-performing players that have the talent to take it to the next level but consistently fail to do so.


continued on next post...

[4T2]

Ottawa Senators
Biggest Surprise -
Erik Karlsson
Everyone knew that Karlsson was going to be a top defenseman in the league, but few expected him to reach that level so quickly. With 37-points in 40-games, He should eclipse his total from last year (45-points) in another 8 games. He could very-well be the first defenseman to break the 75-point plateau since Mike Green in 2009/2010.

Honorable Mentions -
Milan Michalek
Before going down injured, Michalek was actually leading the league in goal-scoring. After two disappointing seasons with the Senators, he could finally be returning to the 55-60 point player that he was in San Jose.

Daniel Alfredsson
Believe it or not, a player that has averaged .96 points-per-game over his NHL career went undrafted in a lot of leagues this year. While he is in the twilight of his career, Alfie should still be able to provide 60-65 points for your team this year. Pretty good for a waiver wire pick up.

Jason Spezza
The biggest reason he gets a mention as a positive is that he has stayed healthy through the first half of the season. 40-points in as many games put Spezza in a class of only 17 other regular NHLers this season to be currently at the point-per-game level.

Biggest Disappointment -
Craig Anderson
If you don't count peripherals in your league, then you can ignore this statement. Anderson was the 23rd goalie drafted overall in Yahoo this season. The fact that he has a winning record is an excellent surprise to most. However, allowing over three goals per game and failing to stop at least 90% of your shots is a tough pill to swallow for any fantasy owner.

Dishonorable Mention -
Unless you were one of the last people holding on to the shred of hope that Nikita Filatov would find his game in the Canadian capitol, then you really can't be disappointed with any member of the Senators this year. Peter Regin? No, everyone gave up on him last year.

Toronto Maple Leafs
Biggest Surprise -
Joffrey Lupul
While Kessel is tied for the league lead in points; on average he was drafted 56 spots higher than his teammate in Lupul. In fact, Lupul is arguably the biggest fantasy surprise in the entire NHL this year. He is currently on pace for 91-points. While it is doubtful that he reaches that level, his production would have to fall off significantly for him to fall below the point-per-game plateau.

Honorable Mentions -
Phil Kessel
Of course he gets a mention. Nobody could have predicted that Kessel would be tied as the leading scorer in the NHL at the halfway point of the season. After three consecutive 30+ goal seasons, Kessel should finally crack the 40-goal mark and could even challenge for 50.

Tyler Bozak
After a slightly disappointing sophomore season in 2010/2011, Bozak looks poised to shatter his career high of 32-points. The kid has 25 through his first 35-games and is finally looking like a viable third center option for your fantasy roster.

Biggest Disappointment -
James Reimer
After a stellar rookie campaign, Reimer started the season with the #1 job in Toronto and actually gave some hope that last year was not a fluke. After spending the end of October and all of November on IR, Reimer returned to the lineup but has failed to recapture the magic. He managed to post only 3 wins in 11 games through December and his play has been streaky at best.

Dishonorable Mentions -
Much like the other Ontario based NHL team, the Leafs do not have very many disappointing players this season. Almost every player on this team has either met or exceeded the expectations placed upon them this season. Unless you are that delusional manager who drafted all Leafs and expected them to go on to shatter the all time scoring records, while leading you to your fantasy championship. In that case, the only cure for your disappointment is to rejoin the rest of us in reality.

[TK12555]

Great write up man. Well done.

[bondon]

Great job Gabe, awesome read.

Seems like Krejci gave your article a read eh? Haha, since you posted this he's gone postal with 3G and 3A in three games. Wanna do me a favour and write an article about how disappointing Cam Ward has been or something haha.

[GMGates]

This really is a beauty of a read.

Hope to see coverage on all 6 divisions!