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I did my first fantasy draft of the season last night. I think I came away OK, although picking 14th out of 16th kind of sets you back from the get-go, but overall, I like my team.

With the release of NHL 15 and my first fantasy draft unofficially kicking off the season for me this weekend, I thought I'd post about some of the more pressing questions - at least to me - that are facing us as we think about, write about, and draft for the upcoming season.


1. How's Ovechkin's Knee?

Whether you're wondering this for hockey pool reasons or because you just like to know the NHL's most exciting player is in top form, OV's knee is of prime concern. Ovechkin hurt the knee at the World Hockey Championship this past spring after the Capitals failed to make the playoffs, begging the question of why the Capitals would ever allow him to play in such a meaningless tournament in the first place, especially in an Olympic year.

Ovechkin says his knee is 100% but what else is he gonna say? We aren't gonna know if he really is in top form until we see how he does once the season gets underway.

Pool-wise, LW is a weak position and OV - besides being the NHL's best goal scorer by a mile - has duel position eligibility which makes him even more important. Basically, outside of Crosby, he's still probably the best value pick at #2 and without the knee injury questions, that's were I'd draft him if given the opportunity. Since we do have these concerns, the knee injury seems to me to be one of the more pressing questions as we enter training camp. If he inexplicably falls below third, make sure to target all those who passed on him with favorable (to you) trade proposal as they should be exploitable players.

2. Will Tampa Bay and Dallas live up to the hype?

Both the Lightning and the Stars are popular picks to ascend to the elite level of teams like Chicago, LA, St.Louis and Pittsburgh, but can they live up to the excitement?

Dallas barely made the playoffs last year on the back of a crazy campaign by Tyler Seguin. Will he cement his status as a top 10 NHL player, or will he fall back? He's said to be really bulked up this summer - historically not a great thing to hear about a slick, fast player. He has that chronic hip thing. How's that gonna hold up? All things - especially the addition of Spezza for the second line - point up for Dallas, but do these things ever play out how they're supposed to?

Tampa finished last season with 101 points, good for third in the East, and since they did it without Stamkos for much of the season and are adding Johnathan Drouin to an already very good group of forwards, people are expecting big things. On top of all that, Victor Hedman exploded last year into one of the NHL's best defenseman and Ben Bishop performed a similar feat among the goalies.

But can those two live up to their breakouts? Hedman can and will. I have no doubt about that, he is a former top pick who has size, skill and smarts. The only thing that will prevent his ascension to elite is injury. But what about Bishop? Goalies are the hardest to project and only a few are elite year-to-year. In my opinion, Ben Bishop is one of the biggest questions going to this season. If he's the real deal, the Bolts should be Cup favorites and they'll destroy the East. If he falls back, who knows?

3. Who will score in Arizona?

The visiting team? I joke, but the Coyotes are thin up front. Thin like a hunch from Murtaugh. yes, as I've written before, they have a lot of young players who, with the chance to finally play the best minutes, stand to break out. The caveat here is that betting on a breakout is a fools errand. Anyone can predict Johnathan Drouin will be a scoring star, but once a guy - like Boedker, Gagner, Hanzal - has been in the league for four, five, six years, no matter how good they seem, or how high their ceiling may be, a breakout becomes statistically less and less likely with each season.

No one wants to move a 50 point defenseman, but whether or not the Coyotes keep Yandle has to be one of the most interesting questions leading up to the season. The Coyotes have nice pieces and there is every reason for optimism, but they desperately need a blue-chipper. Eklund has mentioned them as potential suitors for Evander Kane, and if he is available, they better be. The team has a glaring need and $11 Million in cap space, a glut of solid defenseman, some prospect capital, and a team that, from the second line on back, makes up a very good NHL team. In other words, the Coyotes are the acquisition and/or development of three first line forwards from being a contender. Even just two, if one of them is a superstar.


4.Will we see some turnover on who the elite teams are?

I think we're all getting used to the Penguins, Hawks, Kings, Bruins, and Sharks as being the favorites on an annual basis. We've seen St.Louis move into this atmosphere over the last two seasons, and we've watch the Canucks fade. Colorado and Anaheim both made a good case last year and look to take the next step, but both seem fairly primed for a fall back.

The Ducks finished so high last year riding one line and going on a crazy, luck dependent winning streak that they rode to a Best in the West ("This year, get her English Muffins!") 116 points that will be almost impossible to match this year.

The Avs defied convention and were a poor possession team that managed to have a ton of success last year, but can Varlamov do it again? Can a team lose Stastny and Parenteau and replace them with slower, older players and go from a bad possession team to a good one? Can Barrie and Holden be as good as they seemed?

I don't see the Ducks or Avs moving into the top. I do see the Blues easily replacing the Sharks though. They've done it for two years and probably have the best, deepest team on paper in the NHL.

The Blackhawks aren't the powerhouse that once had Byfuglien and Ladd as tertiary players, and it's conceivable that the both them and the Bruins could be getting a little stale. It's probably just wishful thinking on my part, but I think we'll see both of them slide down a little this year.

I like Tampa, Pittsburgh and St.Louis to pace the league this season. I think also that Montreal will be a force and that Washington will surprise everyone by moving back into the league's elite conversation.

But then again, if what I thought was in any way bound to happen, there wouldn't be so many damn questions.

Predictions: Top Five Teams: Lightning, Blues, Penguins, Blackhawks, Capitals

Cup Final: Blues vs. Penguins

Will Make the Playoffs: Toronto, Islanders, Edmonton, Arizona

Most goals: Ovechkin 70

Art Ross: Crosby 120+













Thanks for reading.