Now 34 or so games into the season, I thought I would do another segment on SHL fantasy to make it three seasons in a row, where I go through the biggest surprises in fantasy this season, for both positive and negative reasons.
The Good:
Poopity Scoop ( )
Scoop has been a total phenomenon in fantasy this season. It's been several seasons now where fantasy owners have taken a gamble on the roughhousing blueliner in the hope that he could be the perfect two-way defenceman for fantasy, and this season he has finally lived up to that. 7 goals and 29 points thus far, plus enough hits to put him on pace for just short of 200 and a decent amount of blocked shots puts him at 216.4 fantasy points right now, good for 5th overall.
Viktor Marius ( )
The old king of fantasy is back in action, as Marius has, like Scoop, put up a stellar season so far consisting of solid point production (10 goals, 29 points) coupled with well over 200 hit pace and 17 shots blocked, very high for a forward. Marius' numbers have him 4th overall in fantasy points, sitting on 221, just under 5 points ahead of Scoop. In several leagues he was a 2nd or 3rd forward taken for teams, and in four leagues he is still unclaimed, so he has represented immense value.
Alex Winters ( )
The 'Nicholas Williams' of this season, Winters has had an exceptional season for the surging Manhattan Rage thus far, as he has put up 15 goals and 44 points in 34 games. Only having 17 hits, Winters hasn't shown much for physicality, but his skill on the offensive side has still earned him 209.9 fantasy points so far, good for 9th among all skaters. Only owned in six leagues at the moment, Winters was a very largely ignored fantasy option, hence why he's right here on the list.
Ensio Kalju ( )
One of the forgotten defenceman among fantasy leagues this season, Kalju wasn't quite the popular choice he once was in S52. However, he has shown he's still got it in style despite New England's struggles, currently leading all defencemen in points with 10 goals and 35 assists. Moderate hits and shot blocks prevent him from being quite as good as the top dmen of this season like Kirkby, Murphy, McIntyre and Scoop, but his point total of 202.3 still ranks him a very solid 12th league-wide among skaters.
The Bad:
Tor Tuck ( )
Oh man this was a rough one. Following an incredible outing with Edmonton last season that earned him an undisputed Scott Stevens trophy and a Ron Mexico nom, Tuck had much hype in fantasy, and was generally a first round pick in about every league. To say that he has not quite lived up to the expectations had is an understatement, as with two goals and 19 points so far, the offensive production is lacking. He has also surrendered much of his hitting to linemate McIntyre, meaning his high shot block count is about all that he currently has going.
Nicholas Williams ( )
Nicholas Williams, like Tuck, was also a Ron Mexico nominee after a fantastic season with a dominant New Orleans team, but this season has taken a step back from the hype of S51. Still putting up decent numbers with 10 goals and 27 points, Williams not doing much hitting or shot blocking has his overall fantasy score sitting at the lowest of all players currently available in five or fewer leagues. A hot streak to end the season could cure a lot of woe over Williams, but so far our two bad column players are great examples of why it's a bad idea to pick based on point production alone.
DeMaricus Smyth ( )
Another player generally very popular in fantasy for his checking and overall consistent point production, Smyth has not quite matched his impressive 60-point S51 this time around. He currently has 12 goals and 23 points on the season, and has not seen much for checking this time around, because you don't get that big a piece of the hitting pie when you share the ice with Lil Manius. Smyth is currently owned in all but two leagues, and has a score slightly below Tuck's
Mikhail Lokitonov ( )
Lokitonov's fall from fantasy grace has been incredibly sudden, as he went from largely considered the only way one could win their group in S50 to essentially irrelevant this season, having just over 133 fantasy points currently. Likely a byproduct of now being just a cog in a system in LAP, rather than the system itself like it was in Toronto, Loki is still doing alright in point production with 13 goals and 27 points, but has a measly one single hit all season, and just four blocked shots.
That concludes this season's edition of my fantasy series, to those in the bad column, it's nothing personal and I'm going purely off the fantasy sheet for my picks. Except for @ml002 (Hey ML, remember when Loki was good and not some dying bum?).
Gwdjohnson
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