Somewhere under the radar - skys are .....

[Shoeless]

What a difference a year makes - we have added so much depth and quality to the users on these forums - I am slavering at the opportunity to pick so many more good hockey minds, as I prepare for my drafts.

I am a self-proclaimed 1 year league dog. (Let\'s not get into an argument over 1 year vs keepers - I love the thrill of the ride in 1 years and that\'s that.)

Here is my question - \"I think this year, perhaps more than any other year, there are bonafide under the radar types that can be identified - who are they?\"

I am not much interested in deep sleepers or maybe kinda guys - who IS most likely going to bring a load and is probably, in most formats, under the radar or undervalued?

The flip side of this of course is identifying overvalued players - but that\'s for another thread.

[smack]

Not sure if this is too deep of a player for you but I think Kessel will bust out very big this year and could be got for very little. After his benching he was just a totally different player and I\'m thinking he\'ll continue that on a pretty good Bruins team. Top 6 minutes for sure this year for him. You should be able to get him cheap.
I don\'t know if you guys have a rookie requirement but watch out for Kulemin, I think this guy in terms of rookie impact.

[smack]

Oh yeah and Zherdev, too!

[FrozenPond]

I agree with both sleeper calls on Kessel and Kulemin. I do agree with Zherdev but don\'t see him as much of a sleeper as the other two.

Some other guys that I see as potential sleeper for 08/09 could be: Cogliano, Val Filppula, Ryder, Jason Williams.

And maybe some deeper sleepers are: Drew Stafford, Alex Steen, Nilsson.

Just a few off the top of my head....

[Shoeless]

Taking notes here - actually the Horcoff thread was the one that triggered me to go here - I simply think he is going to be a deal to be had.

In a medium sized one year league where there are about 280 players taken I think there are opportunities to strategically manage choices knowing you have deals later in the draft to offset things.

Here are some guys I am wondering about but can\'t decide if they will be had cheap or not and of course produce value.

Gerber
Elias
Gagne
Letang
Afinogenov
Sekera
S Koivu
Higgins
Antropov
M. Bell
C. Armstrong
Ju. Williams
Samsonov
Prospal
Boyes

And so on - there are probably about another 10 guys that I might put on my debate list.

Good stuff so far guys and gals.

[mbice]

From my experiences with 1 yr 12 team H2H pools, these following players, while not \'sleepers\', tend to get undervalued and thus get drafted later than they should:

G - Rick DiPietro - take him for what he\'s worth. Not too many W\'s, but solid for the other cats. Makes for a great depth goalie that can then be pawned off to a GM in need of goaltending.

D - Tomas Kaberle - maybe cause he\'s a Leaf? he always seems to drop in my pools, but he\'s always good for 50+ pts.

LW - Ray Whitney - sure he\'s getting older and becoming injury prone, but he\'s good for almost a PPG and for a LW, that\'s good stuff in the later rounds.

C/RW - PM Bouchard - I tend to shy away from Minny players, but somebody\'s gotta score on that team and PM is one of those players. A lock for 65pts and I see could see 75 next yr.

[Shoeless]

I am with you on Kaberle and Bouchard for sure this year - Whitney scares me but the bugger sure can produce ppp - hate his glass groin is all.

[Nunezilla]

Maybe this is too obvious, but what about Satan? I think alot of people have forgotten about him and he\'s going from being stuck on the Isle to likely to be playing on Crosby\'s wing.

[Shoeless]

I think Satan may not go as a sleeper because so many guys watch Crosby\'s potential wingmen, he may in fact go overvalued but he sure as heck should be on the watch list during the draft in case he doesn\'t go where he should. So a worthy addition to my mind.

[FrozenPond]

I think guys that will command top value out of that group are players like: Gagne and Elias. However, I think both of their values are known.

I see guys that are in the middle of the pack with decent value and on the rise being: Ju. Williams, Boyes, Higgins and Koivu.

Guys like Samsonov, Afinogenov,M.Bell, Gerber and Antropov are guys that I have always tried to avoid due to their abilities to drive a fantasy owner crazy by being all over the map.

And Finally I think that guys who are only going to rise in value in the near future are: Letang, Armstrong, and Sekera. I think talent wise Letang would be #1 out of the three but opportunity wise Armstrong and Sekera are both in situations where they are going to be given a better chance to have success.

[Shoeless]

I think you live pretty much where I do on these guys Frozenpond. In a one year league I wonder if Gagne\'s injury might decrease his value and with Elias - he is kinda a forgotten guy - were things I was thinking about.

[FrozenPond]

Ya I think we are going in the same direction with this Shoeless. While we are on the topic of injuries affecting a guys status for this upcoming year where do you see Bergerons value for 08/09?

[Shoeless]

Oh man - the million dollar question. He really got his jug rocked and in my experience the road back is not easy and I wonder in his case if it truly is possible.

I personally am going to stay away from him - that might be wrong but I will take my lumps. I don\'t see his value falling to a level where I would be prepared to take on the risk - I am guessing on average he will go somewhere in the 100-150th pick. Generally fantasy hockey GM\'s tend to be optimists and there will always be someone who says - wow! Bergeron is really talented (he was and may still be, but...).

I think there may be as much of a psychological factor in play for him this season as there is a physiological one. You get smoked like that and it is always on your mind - been there - not fun thinking about the next time.

[NYR9394]

Petr Prucha. The guy didn\'t score 30 goals for nothing. He just got a really raw deal last season.

[Shoeless]

Ahh now there is a name I hadn\'t thought of NYR9394 - bears looking at for sure. There is a guy who deserves to play with Crosby for a while.