Comments for Not With a 10-foot Pole (2010): Recap at http://hockey.dobbersports.com , comment 1 to 12 out of 12 comments http://hockey.dobbersports.com Fri, 24 May 2013 20:02:45 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13771 Don't get me wrong, I'll definitely take your suggestion on board for this year's column. I just wanted to give an explanation as to why I didn't already do just top 100 players... - Ryan Ma Wed, 04 May 2011 12:40:23 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13770 Keep in mind that if you look at standard pools the 10th player still makes a difference. If you think in terms of 2 C, 2 RW, 2 LW, 4 D, 2 G. It still ends up being one of your rosterable spots, so your 10th player drafted is still your 2nd RW, 3rd D, 2nd goalie... which is still pretty significant to fantasy leagues. Obviously they're not going to be the huge massive factors since they're taken so late. I completely agree with you about writing about "more significant" players. The problem for me is that a lot of those things are very hard to call and if I do make a call it's very very hard to justify based on the way I interpret "effective" players. The top 100 generally are the ones that get significant overall ice-time every game. They're generally the top-3 of a team. Take a decent amount of SOG and usually play a lot of PP time. For me there's only 2 factors that really derail their production. Injuries or competition. I can sort of predict competition, but injuries I can't. Another reason why I don't just do the top 100, is that even though they might have a down year, it still ends up being pretty significant. Very rarely do we see a top 100 player, barring injury, go from producing say 70-75 points then the next suddenly plummet to 30-35 the next season. What you might see is a 70-75 point player drop down to 55-60. A small drop off like that isn't massive that would completely ruin your season. Compared to say someone going into the drafts thinking JBo is the man, I remember him in FLA days and he was a 50-point threat on a better team... they go out and grab him, he stinks it up for another year and pots say 28 that's a much bigger detriment. Also keep in mind that this is 1 of 3 articles that I put out in succession. There's the Undervalued and Underappreciated one and Enlightened You Shall Be. Plus the numerous other things like the Pre-Season guide, and other articles that you should be pretty well covered prior to your drafts. - Ryan Ma Wed, 04 May 2011 12:34:12 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13765 Yes, I suppose it would be pretty impossible to call Heatley's or Gabby's bad years. But, in looking at the average draft position, that's exactly the point I was trying to make. Most Yahoo leagues probably consist of about 10-15 teams. That means guys taken in the 100s, 150s overall, are like the tenth player you pick for your fantasy team. Most leagues, that's just riding the bench. They're the guys that end up getting dropped and added and re-dropped and re-added all season long. They're rarely big factors. I think this list would be a lot more insightful if it was written in regards to players who are more relevant to your fantasy team. For example, maybe try doing it with only guys who average in the top 100 in yahoo? cause that's what REALLY counts in fantasy leagues, and what makes you lose-- bad picks in the early rounds. Next year, if you can tell me who to steer clear from when I'm debating who to pick as my second center, or second or third winger, then I think that would help a lot more. Either way though, not taking anything away from the article. You did a damn good job with pretty much all of these players... which is precisely why I want more ;) - T Wed, 04 May 2011 09:33:09 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13744 [b]RE: Called out players[/b] The problem is I generally give reasons and do a lot of research into picking the the players I call out. What I mean by not with a 10-foot pole is exactly that. It means that they are players that I will [b]NEVER[/b] have on my fantasy team. Heading into the season, Heatley and Gabby had great stats and great opportunity which I couldn't justify putting them on a list when I didn't truly believe it. Also to be fair, not a lot of people saw it coming as well. I mean it's easy to say well you shoulda had the balls to make "bigger" calls, but we're also looking at it from a hindsight point of view where it's always 20/20. If you had the foresight to head into the season predicting Heatley and Gabby would drop down to 36th and 105th respectively in league scoring, then you certainly have way better foresight than me! Also these are the average draft positions based on Yahoo! draft lists, so I mean it's not like I picked guys like George Parros... Lupul 153 JBo 119 Campbell 101 Anderson 45 Huseluis 160 Lehtonen 111 Howard 26 Khabibulin 153 Setoguchi 173 Williams 148 Burrows 71 - Ryan Ma Wed, 04 May 2011 01:48:31 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13740 I might jig your self-scoring a little but all in all I think you can lay claim to some damn fine prognosticating here. Nice work and thanks for revisiting this stuff - makes for a good read. - Shoeless Tue, 03 May 2011 12:41:16 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13739 [b]RE: Backes[/b] I think I do deserve a HIT for singling out Backes, but like I mentioned in the column, I honesty didn't think that any of the other Blues were going to be fantasy significant. McDonald, Berglund, Steen and the rest of the "fantasy relevant" Blues, pretty much ended up exactly where I expected them to around the 45-55 mark, which heading into the season wouldn't be "[b]fantasy relevant[/b]" IMO. What turned it into a PUSH for me was that statement. Because of the decline in top-end scoring this year, a 50-point player played a much more important role in fantasy teams than in the past. From the last few years those 50-point players were kind of borderline ww material, where if you have an injured player, those are the types of guys you go after. This season, you saw a lot more of those 50-point guys filling out the final spots of your roster than landing on the ww. As mentioned below, very fine line between HIT/PUSH/MISS. The self promotion side of me says damn right I hit he bang on the head! but I don't mind taking a few pushes if I wasn't 100% correct. Being bang on in 24 outta 36 is pretty decent in my eyes. If I were clutching at straws, I'd probably give myself HITs. ;) - Ryan Ma Tue, 03 May 2011 12:37:36 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13738 very nice work. although, I think I'd be more impressed if next season you did players that weren't so obvious. I'm not sure who would have ever considered any of those guys good fantasy options to begin with. some of the goalies are great calls but its pretty obvious that players like lupul, huselius, and bouwmeester aren't exactly fantasy studs. you should take more risks next season to try and step it up... for example calling out a player like Heatley or Gaborik would have been good... just not so many gimmies :) - T Tue, 03 May 2011 12:30:53 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13737 [b]RE: Lehtonen[/b] Definitely salvaged a lot of fantasy season's for people who ended up taking him as a 3rd goalie... He's always had great stats. 2.79 career GAA and .913 save percentage (playing mostly for a crappy defensive Thrashers team mostly btw), not a lot of number one goalies can boast that they have those types of numbers. The issue with him has always been the band-aid boy-ness... He could give you those stats playing 70 games, like he did this season, or 20 like in the last. This year he managed to pull off 70, but once again I'd head into this season a bit wary, while a lot of others would overreach to get him. - Ryan Ma Tue, 03 May 2011 12:23:10 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13736 [b]RE: Langkow/Injuries[/b] To me injuries are kind of an unknown factor, I mean the only way to assess the situation is through speculation and if you're dealing with speculation, it's arguing apples and oranges and there will never be a clear drawn conclusion. The self promoting side of me obviously wants to put a HIT to pad the stats, but I was thinking on the other side of the coin. If I go into the season thinking Patrik Berglund was going to be a sleeper this season, and he goes down with injury 10 games into the season, would I give myself a MISS because in the end wouldn't justify a HIT. There's a fine line between HIT/PUSH/MISS I think. - Ryan Ma Tue, 03 May 2011 12:19:50 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13732 Another great performance here. You should definitely give yourself a HIT for the St.Louis offense - especially for singling out that Backes would do well... it is essentitally TWO predictions where, IMO, you nailed both. This reminds me... I need to get rid of Brian Campbell in my salary cap pool. - Pengwin7 Tue, 03 May 2011 07:37:05 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13731 Not sure why you listed the Langkow prediction as a push, I think it was a hit. The ends justify the means, whether he was injured or would have been buried, poolies were wise not to touch him with a 10-foot pole. - Jayson Tue, 03 May 2011 07:11:36 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3658-not-with-a-10-foot-pole-2010-recap#comment-13730 Kari Lehtonen was absolutely awesome this year. I drafted him as my 3rd goalie hoping to get 20 wins out of him. 34 wins and 70 games played. He was a crucial part to my championship team. Cheers Kari! - Andrew Reichheld Tue, 03 May 2011 06:11:45 +0100