Right off the bat it doesn’t look like David Backes had a bad season: 24G/30A/17PPP/+15/101PIM/234SOG…. Well actually, on second glance, that is a pretty good season… “Why do you hate David Backes?” I don’t hate David Backes VTB. In fact I’m not even sure why I thought my preseason “bust” prediction for him was accurate…. Aaaahhh, I see. Here is what I wrote: “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…” First sentence? Correct. 3rd Sentence? Will prove to be correct. Last Sentence? Mostly correct (He improved in PIM’s by 8 and SOG’s by 23)… And that, my friends, is C.Y.A. 101….
Mark Streit – D (NYI): Here’s another “meh” pick from me. There was some good, some bad, some toast, some butter….mmmmmmm….. sorry I like to have breakfast food late at night… Back to Streit: On the positive side, he had 40 Assists. On the flip side of positive, which I think is un-positive. Or is it non-positive? Either way along with those 40 Assists Streit had a measely 7 Goals and was an abysmal -27. If his +/- were a temperature, it would be the coldest day in America this year. It got so bad that the Islanders installed an up-to-the-minute chart above the scoreboard showing Streit’s +/- versus the National debt…
Dan Boyle – D (SJ): “Meh” pick #3 (I’ve spoken to Grey about making “Mr. Meh” the official mascot of Razzball. Just take off the hat and the uniform and Voila!)… And yeah Dan Boyle had a decent year but much like most of his teammates, the decline is in full effect.
James Wisniewski – D (Cls): “Wizzy wizzy wizzy, can’t you see? You’re more injury proned than Sidney Crosby…” And there is my rapping debut. I will now retire…
Mike Richards – C (LA): I live very close to Los Angeles, so believe me I’m fully aware of Richards’ season. He is so unpopular right now if he ran against Kim Kardashian for Mayor of Glendale he’d lose in a landslide…
Jeff Skinner – C/RW (Car): I’d like to think that after his awful season (and a real step back from his ROY season) Jeff Skinner will be fawned over as a bounce-back or “sleeper” next pre-season. I say hogwash. He’s just not that good. And he hasn’t been properly motivated. If I were running the Hurricane’s I’d fire the head coach and hire this guy.
Roberto Luongo – G (Van): So what can I say? Sometimes you just have to just pull a huge name out and imagine a scenario where he doesn’t perform…. Maybe I was confused back in September and thought playoff stats counted this year…
Danny Briere – C/LW (Phi): Actually if I had Briere in the same post as Luongo then I knew playoff stats didn’t count… The real question now though? Can Briere’s post-season awesomeness overcome the Penguin title wave bearing down on Philadelphia? I say no. Penguins win 4-3. You heard it here 101st!
