Mikhail Sergachev looked prime for stardom totaling 40 points as a 19 year old rookie on the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, last season was an apparent step backwards. While everyone else on his team had excellent offensive seasons en route to Tampa winning 62 games, Sergachev's totals dropped across the board, including only 6 goals and 26 assists in 75 games. So what makes Sergachev a sleeper for this coming season?
When I started looking for specific players to write about for the offseason, I wasn't really thinking about anyone on the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks were bad last season and they're almost certainly going to be bad again. That said, we saw last year that players on bad teams can still do well in fantasy, notably Stone before Ottawa traded him. Well, when I did some digging, I found that a Razzball favorite i.e. one of my personal favorites was performing at a level that even I didn't realize. So what makes Ondrej Kase a sleeper for the upcoming season?
Hello everyone! Crazy to think that this is year 5 already of me running the hockey side of things at Razzball. Now that we've reached August, I'll be posting on a regular basis again getting you prepared for the start of the NHL season, notably your draft(s). Between now and then, I'll have sleeper posts, schmohawk (bust) posts, my overall rankings, and an overview of the changes made throughout the NHL since the end of last season. Additionally, Sven will be providing a team preview on every NHL team, including their prospects. If there's anything else that you would like me to cover, please let me know in the comments section below and I'll be sure to reply to you. Now, let's get to the first post of the year!
Andrei Svechnikov was the second pick in the NHL Draft last year and had a nice start to his career, scoring 20 goals and 17 assists in 80 games. If you look at the general boxscore stats, you don't exactly see "Future Fantasy Superstar." So what makes him a sleeper for this upcoming season?
I'm taking a small break from my rankings (don't worry, I'll have a bunch of posts coming out next week) to start compiling sleeper and bust posts. Now that some other outlets are posting their rankings, I'm able to gauge who I'm going to be the high man on and who I'm going to be avoiding. Dylan Larkin is ranked outside of the top 100 everywhere else, yet I have him as the 40th best forward, which should put him somewhere between 50th and 60th overall. Maybe it's unfair to call him a sleeper, but he's certainly undervalued by quite a bit. So what makes Dylan Larkin an incredible value in drafts this year?
I've been driving the Anthony Mantha hype train for quite some time. Mantha, a two-time 50 goal scorer for Val-d'Or in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, led his team to the President's Cup totaling 24+14 in 24 playoff games. In 2013-14, Mantha scored 81 goals and 77 assists in 81 games. Does that have your attention? How about 127 penalty minutes as well? Sure, those are facts Viz, but why the hell should I care about what Mantha did three years ago in juniors? Why hasn't he established himself as an elite scorer in the NHL yet? Why is he a sleeper for fantasy hockey next season? Well, voice inside my head, I'm about to answer those questions for you.
Yes, I know that the first round of the playoffs just ended and we're six months away from next season starting. We'll talk about the second round matchups on a podcast that will drop on Tuesday. I don't believe that people will get much out of me posting notes about the playoffs so what better time to drop my first sleeper post for next year? Bo Horvat, also known as Dr. Bo in these parts, has been talked about for months as a fantasy sleeper for next season by yours truly. What can we expect from Horvat next season and why is he a sleeper?
