An excerpt from Hockey News writer Darryl Dobbs who rates the Minnesota Wilds and Montreal Canadiens hockey pool potential. Here are his thoughts on the Canadiens. How times have changed for our beloved Habs!!!:
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Gone – Mikhail Grabovski, Michael Ryder, Mark Streit and Yann Danis.
Incoming – Georges Laraque, Shawn Belle, Alex Tanguay, Alex Henry and Marc Denis.
Ready for full time – Kyle Chipchura, Maxim Lapierre and Ryan O’Byrne will all be full-timers this season. Of the three, O’Byrne is the only one with big fantasy value as the rearguard could post 25 points and 120 penalty minutes.
The Habs recently signed Max Pacioretty, but the power winger will need one year in the AHL. When he gets to the NHL in a year or so he’ll probably need a few seasons to round into form. He has high upside, but most power forwards are usually in their mid-20s before you see a breakout.
Fantasy Outlook – It’s amazing what one player can do to an entire team’s offense. I’m not suggesting the Habs would have had trouble scoring last season. In fact, last year I correctly predicted the likes of Andrei Kostitsyn making an impact. However, for Alexei Kovalev to bounce from 47 points to 84 points…it had repercussions throughout the lineup.
The result of that explosion probably gave Mark Streit, Andrei Markov and Tomas Plekanec an extra five to 10 points. Had I known Kovalev still had that in him, I certainly would not have given this team a C+ fantasy grade last summer. Now that we know he is still a star and that the other youngsters have been brought along (not to mention goaltender Carey Price’s ascent), it’s hard not to like this team. A nice, young, deep club to build your fantasy squad around. Fantasy Grade: A- (last year was C+)
