The new JFH

Welcome to the return of Just Fantasy Hockey. After some considerable time away from the blogosphere I have been working on a slow but calculated return.

The goal for Just Fantasy Hockey is to offer you, the reader, the highest quality Fantasy Hockey advice around the web.

There are a few high quality fantasy hockey websites but they are purely informative websites belonging to the industries high end companies. Just Fantasy Hockey’s main aim is to offer an interactive user experience.

The new features coming soon are going to be very exciting and FREE!!! The JFH hockey forecaster will return on July 1st. A very popular product in its infancy, the forecaster will once again feature an in-depth, up to date, projection of all 30 NHL teams and players to key in on come draft day. This unique product will offer quick and easy navigation, realistic player projections and key sleepers to focus on. The key feature is that it will remain current as the NHL draft and free agent season is under way. All for the low, low price of FREE!!!

Also coming within the summer months some key feature that I use as a fantasy hockey competitor and commissioner. Projected starting goalies for the 2014-15 season with Twitter confirmations. A draft pick chart of picks traded for upcoming NHL draft, a quick look to see what picks your favorite NHL team owns as well as conditions on those picks. A week by week calendar of how many games each NHL team has. And finally, a JFH hockey pool, newsletter, forums, general site upgrades and logos.

A very ambitious project, but with some time, a key website that you will return to for your daily fantasy hockey info.

Mark

Does Becoming a UFA Equal a Career Year?

There is a myth out there that professional athletes bring their “A” game in their contract year. Somehow they push that little bit more when there is money to be made. Taking a look at the UFA list for 2010 there are some big names (see below for the list).

So, the million dollar question (or multi-million dollar question) is:

Should you expect more from a player in their contract year?

First we should look at the UFA list from 2009 and see how they fared over their past two seasons:

Player – Age – 07/08 GP – PTS – 08/09 GP - PTS
Sundin - 38 - 74 - 78 - 41 - 28
Kovalev - 36 - 82 - 84 - 78 - 65
Spacek - 35 - 60 - 32 - 80 - 45
Sullivan - 34 - 57 - 60 - 41 - 32
Koivu - 34 - 77 - 56 - 65 - 50
Ohlund - 32 - 53 - 24 - 82 - 25
M. Samuelsson - 32 - 81 - 40 - 73 - 40
McDonald - 31 - 82 - 52 - 46 - 44
M. Hossa - 30 - 72 - 66 - 74 - 71
Gionta - 30 - 82 - 53 - 81 - 60
Cole - 30 - 73 - 51 - 80 - 42
Tanguay - 29 - 78 - 58 - 50 - 41
Franzen - 29 - 72 - 38 - 71 - 59
Antropov - 29 - 72 - 56 - 81 - 59
Zetterberg - 28 - 75 - 92 - 77 - 73
Havlat - 28 - 35 - 27 - 81 - 77
D. Sedin - 28 - 82 - 74 - 82 - 82
Connolly - 28 - 48 - 40 - 48 - 47
H. Sedin - 27 - 82 - 76 - 82 - 82
Gaborik - 27 - 77 - 83 - 17 - 23
Cammalleri - 27 - 63 - 47 - 81 - 82
Bouwmeester - 25 - 82 - 37 - 82 - 42

There is a definite pattern. Players over 32 had arguably better years a year before their contract year. Age certainly could be a contributing factor in the decline in productivity, however the fact they were in a contract year and didn’t even sustain their previous years levels proves the contract year hype is a hoax.

While no player under 32 had a huge spike in their numbers compared to the previous year, they as a group had better seasons then the year before. Zetterberg was the only glaring exception where his point total went substantially down, which I believe was an anomaly.

Below is a list of 2010’s high-profile UFAs, including their age:

Lidstrom (39), Ray Whitney (37), S. Neidermayer (36), Gonchar (35), Kariya (34), Nabakov (34), Turco (34), Demitra (34), Savard (32), Marleau (30), Jokinen (30), Tanguay (29), Ponikarovsky (29), Frolov (27), Plekenac (26) and Kovalchuk (26).

Fantasy impact:

Again look for the trend to continue. Players under 32 should improve on the previous years totals. As for players over 32, you shouldn’t be hoping for any special simply because they are in a contract year.

Brian