Fantasy Sports Takes Another Victim

There are myriad reasons why fantasy sports is a two billion-dollar a year enterprise — not the least of which are office boredom, urges to gamble, and the moribund dreams of millions of sports fans to one day run a franchise of their choosing. There's even an industry group, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), which claims to serve as "an official organization to help promote fantasy sports." Ostensibly, a few people care about this.

Football has been the preeminent sport responsible for countless, otherwise-productive hours wasted on fantasy leagues each day. And with more than 19 million fantasy sports participants in the United States and Canada, according to the FSTA, there are a lot of neglected TPS reports [1]. But baseball, basketball, and hockey have all developed solid on-line fantasy congregations. Even Surfer Magazine and the Association of Suring Professionals (ASP) have dropped in on the fantasy sports wave, creating a league in which players are allotted $50,000,000 to "buy" any eight surfers from the top 45, at varying costs based on past and speculative performance, for each of the 10 contests that comprise the February through December ASP tour.

I've never been interested in fantasy sports. But last year, my friend Chris and I would spend hours discussing his fantasy NHL team — who's hot and who sucks; line combinations and team depth; potential trades; the waiver wire; playoff implications, etc. (Dude's volume of sports knowledge hovers near the indescribable; he is a statistical lint-roller whose dizzying retention ability sticks to just about every sport on Earth.) And since fantasy sports have been gaining popularity each year over the past decade with no foreseeable decline, I want to test my skills and rather formidable knowledge of the National Hockey League.

Given my inherently competitive nature, I accepted an invitation to join his NHL fantasy league this season. Now this student is the enemy. I prepared my pre-draft rankings since the draft, for reasons only understood by the socially inept, was scheduled for a Saturday evening. I couldn't make it. So, I had to get solid, yet realistically attainable players in my top slots because draft positions wouldn't be publicized until well after I had closed my laptop and opened a beer. Solid goaltending is key; starts, goals against, save percentage, and especially consistency are all huge factors from week to week. But so are goals, assists, plus/minus ratings, and special teams situations. Who to take first: a goalie or a skater?

"With the number two pick in the 2007 Thunder Bay Fantasy Hockey League Draft, the AnkleBreakers select Dany Heatley: electric, game-changing forward who scores huge goals on the best line in the NHL that will lead his fantasy GM to the top of the standings," or something like that. (Who invited Gary Bettman?) Ultimately, I drafted Dany Heatley (Heater) because, on the sound advice of Chris, my comrade-turned-pinko, he can potentially earn more points based on his utilitarian ways. (Heater, apparently, plays a variety of positions that broaden his fantasy appeal.) In hindsight, perhaps my original inclination — picking Marty Brodeur — would have been better seeing as how not one of my highly ranked goaltenders made my roster.

Let me end with a quick defense of my top line (three forwards, two defensemen, and a net minder). The regular season starts on Saturday, September 29th, how many of these players will be on the ice for the 56th NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta [3]?

G – Cristobal Huet (Mon): I'll let Sports Illustrated's Allan Muir explain, "[Huet] has been anointed as Montreal's starter ... given what he's proven in this league over the past two seasons. He's [reinforced] his claim on the job with a spotless preseason mark and clearly is the best short-term option." Sounds good ... for the short-term.

C – Scott Gomez (NYR): The Mexican/Columbian Alaskan is a pure passer. Gomez has almost triple the number of career assists (334) than goals (116). His penchant for puck possession and tendency to deftly circle through the neutral and offensive zones gives his wingers time to find any open ice Gomez may have missed while tooling his defenders. And with Chris Drury by his side at Madison Square Garden, this year could be Gomez's best. There's nothing like having a division rival sign a free agent like Gomez. Well done, Lou [2].

LW – Simon Gagne (Phi): Gags had an oxymoronic season last year, or did he? His 41 goals was the second most in his career, and the highest for a Flyers club that ended 2006-07 dwelling in the basement. With Peter Forsberg no longer supplying his stealthily accurate passes and shots, expect Gags to carry the most weight of the Fly-guys' offense. The first full season sans Forsberg — although now with Flyer newbie Daniel Briere — will be Gagne's toughest; it's his team now. (Full disclosure: I'm from Philly, I'm a Flyers fan, and No. 12 is my favorite player.)

RW – Dany Heatley (Ott): Bottom line: Heater is consistent. He's scored 50 goals in his two consecutive seasons with the Ottawa Senators. Heater's a go-to guy on the power play; over 37 percent of his 105 total points last season came on the man-advantage (17g, 22a). He even had three shorties. Heater's line is still in tact (Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson) and they have an Eastern Conference title to defend (and a Stanley Cup to avenge). Expect him to continue to build on his 1.09 career points per game average.

D – Kim Johnsson (Min): On December 5, 2002, the Flyers beat the Rangers in Philly on a Michael Handzus overtime penalty shot (only the second time in history). But that's not what got me excited. It was a Johnsson end-to-end break. From behind his own goal, he skated blurrily past the blue shirts, the puck glued to his nearly arrow-straight stick blade, firing a shot past goalie Dan Blackburn that rang off the post so hard it echoed above 19,000 hollering fans. I was floored; he's been my guy ever since. His composure is unmatched by anyone not named Lidstrom, and his ability to thread a breakout pass is crucial for the Wild offense. Hopefully, Johnsson will turn that -4 to a positive anything. Another example of the Flyers losing a modern defensemen in favor of sickeningly outdated bruisers.

D – Brian Rafalski (Det): The undrafted blue-liner has taken his Stanley Cup rings from the Garden State (the Garbage State?) to his home state of Michigan. Rafalski will join a firm Detroit defensive corps lead by fellow U.S. olympic teammate Chris Chelios. Rafalski was reliable on the power play, penalty kill, and at even strength for the Devils, and is always among the top defensive scoring leaders. He's been temporarily sidelined by a hip ailment but, leaning on the side of caution, remains day-to-day.

*****

[1]: If this movie reference eludes you, perhaps you would be better served by placing your head back in the sand.
[2]: Lou Lamoriello, NJ Devils general manager.
[3]: The correct answer is all of them!