Okay I have a couple-few more busts to go over and don’t forget, the season starts in 2 1/2 days! I might be reaching a little bit with some of these guys, but I already identified my top busts here… Oh wait, that’s for my personal column. My top hockey busts are here. But before I get to that, we still need 6-7 more people for the last remaining RCL League. Here is the information – League ID: 53273 / PW: drive425. And for those of you too lazy to do it yourself, click here and enter the league ID and Password into the sections on the left of the page. And I don’t want people who are already in another RCL League you hear? This is for new entrants ONLY. And just to set the record for number of “here’s” in an opening paragraph – HERE HERE! Now, onto some more busts…
Jordan Staal – C (Pit): Every year it seems like Staal is a prime candidate to “bust out” but every year he either gets hurt or ends up back on the #3 line as the defensive stopper. It’s not necessarily his fault though, he is stuck behind 2 of the greatest Centers in the world and the Pens really are a better team with him anchoring a shutdown 3rd line. Still, we are in the business of production and I just don’t trust Staal to do anything more than the 49 Points (only 5 PPP’s) he got 2 years ago in his best NHL season.
Jimmy Howard – G (Det): I’ve always said the only good thing about Jimmy Howard is that he plays for the Red Wings. If he were Jim Howard, starting goalie for this year’s Ottawa Senators neither you or I would want to draft him. He’d be ranked somewhere behind Semyon Varlamov and ahead of Rick DiPietro.. But I think this year he struggles even more than last year (when he had a sub-par 2.79GAA and .908SV%). Part of the reason is just gut feeling, but I also think the loss of Draper and Rafalski to retirement is going to hurt the Red Wing Defense.
Danny Briere – C/RW (Phi): I still like most Philly players, but I think Briere is one of the guys who will be affected by the loss of Carter & Richards. He’s the top dog in the city of brotherly hate now and opposing coaches will be focusing on stopping him (well at least until they realize Giroux is the better player). Plus he’s overdue for an injury. Put all that together and you see that last season was easily his career year (excluding his Buffalo contract year of course).
David Backes – RW (Stl): I still like St. Louis in general this year, but I’ve never been that high on Backes as a fantasy player and my view of him hasn’t changed this year. Lets face some facts: In his career, he has 102 Goals and 116 Assists in 364 Career games. He had career highs last year in every category (except PIM’s) but I saw it as more of a peak season than a harbinger of a huge breakout this year. I’m expecting a drop in every category so buyer beware…
Mark Streit – D (NYI): Yes I’ve said before I love the D-men who double as Power Play quarterbacks and Streit is one of them. HOWEVA, people are going a little nuts in regards to his ranking. I’ve seen him in the Top 10 Defenseman more than once – which is crazy. I just don’t trust him to stay healthy and no way I’m taking him over guys like Goligoski or Keith or Pietrangelo.
So there are 5 more busts to add to the 5 I already did. Now watch them all go out and have career years… Seacrest OUT!
