[ad_1]
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Are you ready? We’re back to the 82-game regular-season format, which means more joy and also more pain. It’s a roller coaster of emotions every season, because there are always surprises, and the good ones can make us feel like geniuses while the bad ones feel like they are collapsing their stomachs in an empty pool.
But we’re all hungry for punishment, so you might as well stay as informed as possible to explain later why the gods of fantasy hockey hate you. Yes, they specifically hate you.
Here is your fantastic outlook for the 32 teams. The annual pool guide is available now and also look Matt Larkin’s 250 best players for the coming season.
—–
Fantastic Outlook 2021-22: Tampa Bay Lightning
Last season: What more can you say about the back-to-back champions? After some clever maneuvers from general manager Julien BriseBois, Nikita Kucherov came back just in time for the playoffs and didn’t miss a beat, leading the team in scoring with 32 points in 23 games. They finished eighth in the regular season standings, but that was no longer the goal after a Presidents’ Trophy win in 2019 resulted in a first-round exit.
They were a solid team throughout, with three players scoring at least 40 points and five others scoring over 30, but lacked an elite scoring option with Brayden Point only finishing 34th in the league. The fantastic managers who bet on Steven Stamkos at the end of the first or second banking round reaped only moderate rewards; the Lightning captain played at almost a points-per-game pace, but only appeared in 38 games. The ultimate gem was Andrei Vasilevskiy, and there is little debate that he is currently the best goalkeeper in the league.
Best option: Andrei Vasilevskiy, G
Kucherov has a chance against Art Ross, Victor Hedman a shot against the Norris, and Steven Stamkos and Point are reliable scorers, but no Lightning dominates his position like Vasilevskiy. He led the league in wins for four consecutive seasons, totaling 149 in 211 starts (0.706% wins) and is second in save percentage (min. 100 GP) and seventh in GAA. Of course, Kucherov is a good choice in the first round, but he is one of a handful of players who can easily score over 100 points – THN’s pool guide sets him at 104 points this season – but Vasilevskiy is the favorite of the Vézina. , and the only other goalkeeper in his class is Connor Hellebuyck, who still sits in a separate second place. All of the other goalies are at least a lower tier, which makes Vasilevskiy an interesting first-round pick, especially when you consider how risky goalkeepers are in the fantasy.
Hidden Gem: Anthony Cirelli, C
Yanni Gourde led all of the Lightning’s forwards in last season’s faceoffs with 649 as his go-to save center, but he’s now with Seattle and that creates a pretty big void in the middle. Stamkos will make face-offs depending on the situation, but he has been deployed to the wing quite often over the past few seasons, and in order to extend his career after a string of injuries it seems like the safe and smart thing to do. to do.
This means Point and Cirelli will be heavily relied upon which should increase Cirelli’s fantastic value, especially in leagues that feature faceoffs. He is an all-situation type player and last season he ranked. third on the team for shorthanded wins, fourth for power play wins and third for even-matched head-to-head wins, and he’s going to take on a lot more responsibility without Gourde. , Tyler Johnson and Barclay Goodrow. The only area of concern will be its offensive production; He’s just finished a slightly disappointing 22-point season, but he managed to score 44 points in 68 games the previous season and at just 24, he’s yet to truly peak. If Stamkos lines up on his wing it will give Cirelli a big boost in attack, although the reverse is not necessarily true. Don’t forget Cirelli in the intermediate laps.
Goalkeepers: It’s Vasilevskiy’s net with Brian Elliott coming to give him a break when he needs it, and also don’t forget the added burden of the Olympics, where Vasilevskiy will play for Russia. Vasilevskiy is the rare goalkeeper you can count on for over 60 starts, but that workload might be too much to handle. Elliott has averaged 29 games over the past three seasons with the Flyers and his ability to handle a constant workload was likely one of the reasons the Lightning preferred him over the generally ineffective Curtis McElhinney as a substitute. That being said, Elliott is a very game-dependent goaltender; even with a winning record, he finished his tenure with the Flyers with a cumulative average of 2.86 and 0.902 Sv% and played eight games in which he allowed four or more goals.
Outlook: The expansion draft and the salary cap have taken a huge bite out of their depth, but having a healthy Kucherov for the entire season will surely help stem some of those losses. They’ll expect many of their AHL hopefuls to graduate and land full-time roles, including Alex Barre-Boulet, Ross Colton, Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh, but for the most part, they will build on still on their veteran core, which now includes Corey Perry.
Depth of defense could be their highlight now with Zach Bogosian and Andrej Sustr returning for their second tour with the club, but the real highlight is Mikhail Sergachev’s continued progress. The 23-year-old rearguard played behind Hedman and Ryan McDonagh on the depths chart, but he had a very strong 2020-21 campaign and – at worst – will be their third option. they should feature prominently in the winning teams.
[ad_2]
Source link