Shooting Percentage is a new weekly feature on Breaking the Trap. Here I will do the one thing that most fantasy forecasters never do, admit when I'm wrong, and the thing that they are best at, brag about how right I was.
I WAS WRONG ABOUT VANEK... HE'S BETTER THEN CAMMALLERI
Thomas Vanek and I have a bit of a rocky history. Back in 2005, when I was just obsessed with hockey and not writing about it, Thomas Vanek was on my radar. Everyone was talking about Ovechkin and Crosby but I was looking for the under the radar pick. I found him in Buffalo's 2003 5th overal pick Thomas Vanek. He had good size and scouts said he had good speed and hands and a head for the game. I knew he wasn't someone worth drafting that season, per se, but I put him on my watch list and I think even had him on my team for a few stretches here and there.
The next season. I drafted him as the third to last pick. My very own Mr. Insignificant. Vanek would go on to have an amazing season notching 43 goals and adding 41 assists while being an astounding +46. He still wasn't shooting the puck enough or getting the powerplay time he deserved but Vanek was a legitimate fantasy superstar. There was only one problem... I dropped him less then two weeks into the season after watching the Sabres dominat the New York Rangers. Vanek notched only 1 shot on goal in the Sabres 7 goal outburst, wasn't receiving much ice time and had only a 1 goal and two assists through 5 games. I got jumpy and second guessed myself and dropped him for a player I refuse to name in this space. To my chagrin, he turned it on almost immediately, scoring 4 points in his next game. I went to pick him up but found that I was too late. My brother had already snagged him.
The next year I wouldn't be deterred. Though I knew Vanek would dip some as a result of the loss of Chris Drury and Daniel Briere I drafted him in the 4th round, thinking it a steal. After half a season of mediocre play I traded Vanek at a loss... at which time he proceeded to turn it on again and finished the season with respectable numbers.
I MAY have underestimated Vanek in my player rankings. Looking back he certainly should have been above Michael Cammalleri, who isn't playing with Iginla and isn't getting powerplay time by the by, and perhaps Semin and Sedin as well. Ovechkin, Zetterberg, Heatley, Morrow, Nash, and Kovalchuk however I refuse to believe won't finish ahead of Vanek in fantasy value. That said... I was wrong about Thomas Vanek. He's having an incredible start to this season and for the sake of you Vanek owners I hope it continues.
FACT: Now that I have gushed about Vanek he will stop scoring.
BUT WHAT ABOUT SHEA WEBER!!!?!!!?!
You guys that listened to me and drafted Shea Weber high, and or waited until late and snaked him like I did, have to be pretty happy with that pick right about now huh? 3 goals, 4 assists, +4, 8 PIM, 1 PPP and 15 shots on goal through 6 games!!! As of this morning Shea Weber was ranked third amongst all defensemen on Yahoo sports behind only Andrei Markov and Mike Green. While I think the likes of Phaneuf, Pronger, Lidstrom, et al will eventually pass him his BTT ranking of 12th is looking pretty solid.
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