2 Duds.....Hoping they turn into studs?

[Chico Resch]

Hoping to get the opinions (from people more versed than I) on two guys who never lived up to hype.

Cam Fowler and Erik Johnson.

Can anyone assess their play?

Will they be relevent?

[JAMZ]

See this earlier thread for thoughts on Fowler. I would tend to agree with the general sentiment that Fowler is promising and certainly disagree that he's a dud. Patience! He has a great rookie season when the ducks were good. He has a bad sophomore slump which also coincided with an inexplicably crappy Ducks season, then this year he has been not entirely horrible, while battling injuries. He is a young guy and D take a while to fuly develop. Nevermind that Anaheim let Visnovsky go to give Fowler the PP reins on that team. Nothing has changed since then, so don't lose hope on this guy.

http://forums.dobbersports.com/showthread.php?t=150376

As for Erik Johnson, well, that's a few more years in the NHL for him, a worse team, and absolutely no good fantasy track record to speak of. In this case, I say patience won't help anyone.

[The Comish]

As for Erik Johnson, well, that's a few more years in the NHL for him, a worse team, and absolutely no good fantasy track record to speak of. In this case, I say patience won't help anyone.

EJ is difficult to get a read on. I watched him live at the WJHC in Sweden back in 2007. He was absolutely dominant; calm, cool under pressure, he made all the plays look easy. He had 10 points in 7 games.

He had 33 points in 69 games in his rookie NHL campaign (39 pt pro-rated to 82 gp). Then he wrecked his knee in that golf cart accident and missed an entire year, but he came back to following year with a 39 point season. So all was good, right? Well, after that season, he was dealt partway through his next season and recorded 29 points between Colorado and St Louis. He had 26 points last season.

I thought maybe it was something stemming from his knee injury - anything that keeps you out of the lineup for an entire year has to have lingering/long-term effects, no? I've read that his inconsistent play has kept him in the doghouse. He has talent for sure and he's only 25 years old, so he's far from washed up.

For me, it would depend on my league make up and how many keepers I can keep. If it's a limited keeper, I drop him back in the pool and try to redraft, hoping that things click. Otherwise, I still believe in this former first overall pick.

[Kofax]

EJ seems to have been in constant decline and hasn't really shown much improvement anywhere. I would cut bait on him.

Fowler hasn't been around quite as long and I think the jury is still out. I would give him more time to show what he can do.

[PrairieDog]

EJ seems to have been in constant decline and hasn't really shown much improvement anywhere. I would cut bait on him.

Fowler hasn't been around quite as long and I think the jury is still out. I would give him more time to show what he can do.

My thoughts exactly - too early for Fowler (but not encouraged), but EJ is not going to put up big points.

[Pengwin7]

I concur with everything above.
Fowler could go *POP* again and be a 50pt player, given PP1 time.

EJ is EJ. His offensive upside just isn't NHL-level.
Some junior players can absolutely dominate at that level and then get to the NHL level and not be able to step it up anymore.

Say we give players a rank of 1-100 (like in "video games").
EJ is a 65 (range 62-68).
A 65 player could dominate at a junior level where players are 50s & 60s.
But a 65 player might not do anything at NHL level where players are 70s & 80s.

[ntrspctv]

I just replaced johnson with niskanen. he should be filling in letangs spot while injured