Fantasy: 5 players to target on the Boston Bruins
With your fantasy draft just around the corner, theScore's Ian McLaren and Darren Kritzer take a look at 5 players you should consider drafting this season.
Top Targets
Tuukka Rask
According to theScore's goalie composite rankings, Rask isn't only the top goaltender in fantasy hockey, he's also a consensus top-10 player overall, easily making him the biggest Bruins draft target.
Rask, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, led all goalies (minimum 1,000 minutes played) with a .943 even-strength save percentage last season. He also led the NHL in shutouts (seven) and ranked fourth in wins (36), a number that might rise after veteran backup Chad Johnson left town and gave way to rookie Niklas Svedberg.
With Boston set to remain at or near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, Rask appears to be in line for another monster fantasy season.
Patrice Bergeron
For all the talk of David Krejci being the Bruins' number-one center, Bergeron finished 2013-14 in a tie for the team lead in goals with 30 (one shy of his career high) and added 32 assists. He also finished first on the team in shots (243), and led the entire league in even strength Corsi For with an astonishing 61.2 rating.
General manager Peter Chiarelli expects to see even more from the 28-year-old, envisioning a 35-goal season sooner than later.
As per our composite forward rankings, Bergeron is the 30th-ranked center and 53rd-ranked player overall, and should be valued even higher in leagues that count faceoffs.
Proceed With Caution
Milan Lucic
Two things you need to know about Lucic heading into the new season:
- He's still recovering from offseason wrist surgery, and was limited in terms of summer workouts.
- Lucic scored 24 goals on 153 shots in 2013-14, good for a shooting percentage of 15.7. For his career, Lucic averages 20 goals in an 82-game season, with an average shooting percentage of 14.9.
In sum, as a player who scores 20 goals with a well above-average shooting percentage (league average is approximately 10 percent among forwards), Lucic could be hard pressed to produce if playing with a potentially nagging wrist injury.
Zdeno Chara
While the composite rankings have Chara as the 12th-highest defenseman in fantasy hockey, his actual numbers reflect a slightly lower valuation. Chara finished last season with 17 goals and 23 assists, ranking him 23rd among defensemen, and his 168 shots slotted him 20th.
Chara will also turn 38 towards the end of the season, and may find himself seeing less ice time in an attempt to save the big man for the postseason.
He remains a good option for fantasy owners, but not as the first defenseman selected on your team.
Take A Flier On
Loui Eriksson
Eriksson's first season in Boston was hindered by concussions, but the veteran forward appears set to skate on the team's first line, and as the club's third-best possession forward at even strength last season (58.6 percent), he should help create some offense.
In four seasons with the Dallas Stars between 2008 and 2012, Eriksson averaged 29.5 goals and 40 assists. While no one should expect that kind of production, a key role alongside Krejci and Lucic might just be what the doctor ordered for the 29-year-old forward.