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Fantasy Spins
March 16, 2004 As we near the end of the season, it’s always fun to look back on your draft, see the order of your league’s picks and choose the big winners and losers for the year. Were you lucky (or smart enough) to grab Robert Lang, Pavel Datsyuk or David Aebischer in the later rounds? Were you unlucky (or dumb enough) to draft Mike Modano, Dominik Hasek or Teemu Selanne early? It is time to have a look back and award the deserving and the undeserving with the first ever Brady Awards. We kick it off this week with the year’s biggest losers. Omitted from this list are players who were injured (Mario Lemieux) or had external factors (Danny Heatley) derail their season. These are the fantasy busts; Players who, for whatever reason, failed to live up to the expectations of the managers who drafted them.
Mike Modano
“Hey…Wha Happen?” I’m not sure which movie that grammatically challenged quote is from, but its sentiment fits Mike’s season to a tee. Modano was as close to a sure thing as could be entering this season. Few players, if any, have been able to match his production over the past few years. Going into this season, he was a sure fire 80 pt. player who would finish above +20 while getting decent power play points. Even better, Modano was one of the few players who would balance his scoring totals with 30 some-odd goals and 50 some-odd assists. Sounds great right? Wrong. Modano has been a complete waste of time. Not only has failed to put up the point totals that were expected of him. His plus/minus has been in negative territory all season long. Compounding the problem, Modano is traditionally a slow-starter. Managers who were aware of this went after him with a vengeance, hoping to get him at a discounted price. Unfortunately, in trading for him, the only discount his managers received was in the form of declining point totals. Perhaps the worst part about the situation is that Modano is so good a player, his owners have been afraid to drop him, forcing them to keep a roster spot for him while he has warmed their bench. It is only with the coming of March that many have finally lost their patience. His Linda Blair imitation has sickened fantasy managers to the point that many have dropped him to waivers. Even as recently as a few weeks ago, I argued that Modano was worth trading for if he could be had at a reasonable discount. I stand corrected. As I said last week, with only a few weeks to go in the season, Mike might be worth scooping if you can get him for free but I wouldn’t offer anything of any real value for him at this point. What are the reasons for his poor season? Many say he was unhappy with management’s commitment to build a winner in Dallas. Others have cited a financial investment that went awry. In any event, it doesn’t really matter why Mo’s season has been so pitiful, the bottom line is that he is the year's biggest bust. Right now Pierre Turgeon probably has more fantasy value than Modano does. That’s really something to cry about.
J.S. Giguere
Olaf Kozig can thank Giguere for stealing this honour away from him. Sure, he's been decent lately but Giggy was a first round pick in most pools this year and people expected more from him. Buoyed by last year’s stellar playoff performance, many managers valued him a top ten selection. First round picks should have more than 14 wins by the time March rolls around. Add to that a Goals Against Average in the neighbourhood of 2.60 and you’ve got yourself a disastrous season. His performance was so poor that at one point, it appeared as though Giguere was going to lose his starters role to backup Martin Gerber. Fortunately for Giggy, Gerber’s performance was reminiscent of the baby food that is his namesake and J.S. was able to keep his job. Thankfully however, the news isn’t all bad. Giguere has picked it up as of late and is probably worth adding to your team if you can land him. Moreover, he’s young and he will probably bounce back next season. Don’t let his poor season scare you off in 2004-05. For those who drafted him this year however, his recovery is too little, too late.
Darryl Sydor
The good news here is that most of Sydor’s problems stemmed from the fact that he was playing with a very poor Columbus club. At -17 with lagging points totals, Sydor’s season was on pace to be a total right off. Fortunately, his salvation came in the form of a trade. Since being dealt to the Lightning last month, he has returned to form and managers should expect a decent season for here on in. Hopefully, you were able to land him just before or after the deal to Tampa Bay. If not, you’re stuck with a -13 rating and poor point totals for the season.
Simon Gagne
Pssst… Simon wake up! You’re supposed to be the next Guy Lafleur. Hey Simon can you hear me? Simon! Somebody get this kid an alarm clock.
Teemu Selanne
And then there was NO COMING BACK! At the beginning of the year, I urged managers to draft The Finnish Flash early. Sure, he had underperformed over the last few years, but all that was about to change. He was going to the Avalanche after all. He was going to play with his old pal Paul Kariya and Joe Sakic. Moreover, I reasoned that with Rob Blake and Peter Forsberg on the team, Teemu could trip over the blue line and score 90 points. I argued that he was a bargain if you could get him in the fourth or even the third round. Unfortunately, his season went sour right at the beginning of the year when it was discovered that he was having problems with his coach. Something about Selanne not paying enough attention to defense and yada, yada, yada… Quicker than you can say “Tony Granato is a big meanie”, Teemu turned into The Finnish Flush. As those who drafted Selanne watched his season go down the drain, we wondered aloud: “I wonder if I can sucker someone into giving me Modano for him”. So much for that strategy.
Marian Gaborik
Maid Marian should have done fantasy owners a favour and just sat the year out altogether. He has been pathetic since returning from his holdout. If only Donald Trump were his boss so we could hear the words: “You are fired!” Looking Ahead to Next Week Ahhh, now I feel better. Hope you weren’t stuck with any of these lemons on your roster. Of course there were a great deal more fantasy busts out there this season, but I will leave them to the message boards. Next week we will have a look at the other side of 2004, the year’s most pleasant surprises. Matt Brady is the Fantasy Hockey content manager for FantasyRef.com, a FREE Fantasy Sports site designed by the guys at FantasyAsylum.com. Questions or comments?: slapshotscores@yahoo.com
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