Who’s Hot: Lone Star Heat
The Dallas Stars’ hot start to the 2009-2010 season has calmed the fears of many in the Lone Star State that last year’s nosedive was the start of ugly things to come. With their 4-3 OT win against the Leafs on Wednesday, the Stars are now off to a 6-2-4 start and rank eighth in the league in scoring. Especially refreshing is the balanced scoring that this team has received – there are five players with 11 or more points in the team’s first twelve games. As such, there are several Stars players on our “Who’s Hot” list:
Brad Richards, Dallas – After breaking into the league as a promising rookie in 2000, Brad Richards has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success: a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe trophy in 2003, a 91-point season in 2004 and a spot on the 2006 Canadian Olympic hockey team. 2008-2009 was a difficult season for Richards as he missed 26 games, many of them due to a broken right wrist. This year however Richards looks to build on his impressive resume and has one of the best starts of any player in the league: 15 points in 11 games, and most notably a plus-7 rating, which is encouraging given his dreadful minus-19 and minus-26 ratings in 2006 and 2007. Although he’ll never give you more than 20-30 PIM and may not be the best plus/minus source he’s off to a scorching start and barring any injuries, should be a lock for 70-75 points as your #2 center.
James Neal, Dallas – Neal is in his sophomore year with the Stars and is off to a terrific start: 14 points in 12 games, a shorthanded goal and a game-winning goal. Oh, and throw in a plus-7 rating while you’re at it. Although he’s yet to prove he can sustain this kind of scoring pace (he had 37 points as a rookie), what is impressive is his shooting percentage: 14% in 2008-2009 and 17.5% thus far. The fact that he was able to achieve such a high shooting percentage last year and continuing into this year as well, suggests that this year’s hot start may not be such a fluke after all. He’s getting a lot of ice time alongside a great playmaker in Brad Richards and with his demonstrated propensity to bury the biscuit he should be in line for a solid season. If you’re in a deep league looking for a breakout winger, this might be your guy.
Loui Eriksson, Dallas – Go and get this guy. If you’re looking for some goals, Eriksson is quietly poised to be the league’s next 40-goal scorer this year. Having potted 36 goals on a underachieving Stars team last year, Eriksson has picked up the pace in recent days with 6 points in the past 4 games and is flirting with a 40-goal pace. He possessed an unreal 20.2% scoring percentage last year and has improved on that thus far, scoring at a 22.7% clip. He may not have registered on most people’s radar quite yet and therefore you may still have a chance at snagging this guy in a trade, or perhaps even as a free agent in 8-team leagues.
Craig Andersen, Colorado – Is this for real? 10 wins, a miniscule 1.97 GAA, a staggering .940 SV% and two shutouts. Playing for a team that everyone expected to contend for a lottery pick, Andersen is the top rated goalie according to Yahoo! player rankings and has propelled the Avalanche to first overall in the league. Furthermore, Andersen looks to be the real deal – he’s reeled off save percentages of .935 and .924 the past two years, which is why the Avalanche gambled and made him their number one goalie in the off-season.
Jon Quick, Los Angeles – He may not be Craig Andersen-esque in terms of his stats (2.59 GAA, .905 SV%), but Jon Quick has reeled off 8 wins thus far, challenging Marc-Andre Fleury and Craig Andersen for the league lead in wins. He put in stellar back-to-back road efforts on Wednesday and Thursday against the top teams in the West, San Jose and Vancouver, but lost both games 2-1 as his offence let him down. This guy could be a great number 2 or 3 goalie on your team, and based on last year’s solid number (2.48 GAA, .914 SV%) he’s still got room to improve. The Kings are a young team on the upswing with Kopitar, Smyth, Doughty and Brown leading the way and Quick looks to be the beneficiary of a great nucleus of players.
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles – Doughty has outperformed the likes of Mike Green, Scott Niedermayer, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Pronger. With 12 points in 14 games, Doughty is certainly off to a hot start and living up to his 2nd overall picking in the 2008 draft. Playing on a unit with one of the league’s top scorers in Anze Kopitar has helped as well. Despite the Kings’ and Doughty’s hot start though, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to sustain this pace – if you can package him with another overachiever in a trade for a more reliable defenceman that may be underperforming or is injured (eg. Sheldon Souray, Nicklas Lidstrom) you might end up ahead in the end.
Dustin Penner, Edmonton – Just when you think this guy is going to come back to Earth, he lights up the defending Western Conference champs with a 4-point night. Penner is playing absolutely out of his world with 19 points in his first 13 games and is clicking on all cylinders with linemate Ales Hemsky. As good as this guy is though, he may be playing over his head – when you account for the fact that 9 of his 19 points came in just two games, his stats are a little less flashy: 10 points in 11 games. Still good, but not screaming good. Add to that the fact that he’s scoring on 23.7% of his shots, which is well above his career average of approximately 12%, and you can start to see cracks developing in his fantasy armour. Take advantage of his hot start and deal him for a more predictable, reliable player who’s simply off to a slow start.
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