This is part one of my three part series on fantasy hockey. I love talking fantasy sports and the use of blind resume's excites me in a way that only attending a Justin Bieber concert can. I'M JOKING, but seriously I have a lot of Beliebers following me on twitter and, because I #Followback, occasionally their obsessive tweets show up in my timeline. It's creepy. I think using blind resume's in fantasy sports will always help put things into perspective. Some of these may be brutal if you were an owner of the Lindstrom's and Luongo's. For my first article in the series I will give 10 random blind resume's and my outlook on each player heading into the 2013 season.



Blind Resume #1
Goalie A: 31 wins - 91.9 save% - 2.41 GAA
Goalie B: 38 wins - 93.0 save% - 2.21 GAA

Goalie A was selected, on average, 10th overall entering this past season. Goalie B was a 20th round selection. Give up? Goalie A is Vancouver's Roberto Luongo and Goalie B is Phoenix's Mike Smith. Smith finished as the 4th best goalie on the ESPN player rater while Luongo finished as the 13th best. I think that this season was a coming out party for Smith who will immediately make the climb into the top 10 goalies (I have him as my 7th best) entering 2013. Luongo did have somewhat of a down season but I think he'll bounce back next year (I have him 6th best).



Blind Resume #2
Goalie A: 35 wins - 92.0 save% - 2.36 GAA
Goalie B: 35 wins - 92.9 save% - 1.95 GAA

If your a frequent visitor to the site you'll know who Goalie B is right away. Goalie B was a 9th round pick compared to Goalie A who was a late 2nd round pick. Goalie A is Jonathan Quick from L.A. and Goalie B is Tim Thomas from Boston. I'm a big time believer in Quick and I believe he is worthy of top 2 goalie (top 20 overall) consideration entering next year. Tim Thomas is still solid and will offer great value next season as long as he isn't drafted in the first 4 rounds.



Blind Resume #3
Defender A: 19 goals, 59 assists, +16, 42 PIM
Defender B: 11 goals, 23 assists, +21, 28 PIM

Defender A was, on average, a 16th round pick entering last season. Defender B was a top 50 overall pick. Player A is Ottowa's Erik Karlsson who had a monster breakout year in his third season as a pro. I think Karlsson is the real deal and is worth a top pick next season. I have him ranked as the number one blue liner heading into 2013. Defender B is veteran Nicklas Lindstrom from Detroit. I believe Lindstrom has started to fall off and, at age 42, retirement may be his next move. Moral of the story: Be careful drafting veterans high.



Blind Resume #4
Defender A: 19 goals, 19 assists, +4, 30 PIM
Defender B: 3 goals, 4 assists, +2, 6 PIM

This one is a little different so hang in there with me. Player A is Player B. The first line, 38 points, is Patrik Berglund's line throughout 82 regular season games while the second line is his production in 9 playoff games. This is a player who stepped up his production as postseason play began. The hope with this resume is to remind you entering next season that players that improve in the playoffs are always potential breakout candidates next year. If the Blues are going to have another solid year they'll need 50 plus points from their 23 year old future star.



Blind Resume #5
Defender A: 12 goals, 40 assists, +33, 86 PIM
Defender B: 10 goals, 32 assists, +21, 34 PIM

Player A is Boston's Zdeno Chara while player B is Pittsburgh's Kris Letang. Chara was a top 20 pick and he put his money where his fantasy value was, finishing as the second best defender in fantasy hockey last year. Letang was a top 30 pick and despite only playing in 51 games he still managed to be a top 15 fantasy defenseman. Moral of the story: High end players can pay of if you do your homework (Chara stands 6'9" and is about as consistent as they come).



Blind Resume #6
Player A: 37 goals, 46 assists, -9, 33 PIM
Player B: 40 goals, 41 assists, +6, 87 PIM

Two pretty similar lines right? Player A was a top 20 pick while player B was taken about 94th overall. Now player A finished as the 6th best forward on ESPN's player rater which doesn't mean that he had a bad season, it's just that the value you got from taking player B in the 10th round far exceeds that of player A. If you had player A you weren't disappointed this year it's just always nice to find the "diamond's in the rough" in the later rounds. By the way player A is Ilya Kovalchuk and player B is James Neal.



Blind Resume #7
Player A: Has 161,553 twitter followers
Player B: Has 25,465 twitter followers

Player A is Steven Stamkos from Tampa Bay and player B is Patrick Sharp from Chicago. Does this mean you have to have over 160,000 followers to lead the league in goals? Evgeni Malkin would say yes (182,267 followers) while James Neal would say no (68,043 followers). Look, I just got bored and wanted to talk about twitter. Follow me @Awies28

@Malkin71_
@RealStamkos91
@Jneal_18
@10PSharp



Blind Resume #8
Player A: 26 goals, 35 assists, +16, 49 PIM
Player B: 19 goals, 48 assists, +21, 14 PIM

Player A is Chris Kunitz from Pittsburgh who was a 16th round draft pick entering last season. Player B is Pavel Datsyuk from Detroit (a top 10 pick last year). Datsyuk is a finalists for the Selke Trophy this year but in terms of his fantasy rank he was just inside the top 30 forwards. Kunitz finished a few spots ahead of Datsyuk this year on the player rater. I think that Pavel will bounce back next year and have a solid season (about 75 points or so). I'm expecting Kunitz to regress but still have solid value as a 7th round pick.



Blind Resume #9
Player A: 35 goals, 27 assists, +24, 24 PIM
Player B: 29 goals, 28 assists, +17, 28 PIM

Every now and then you find a late round gem. In the case of player A they go undrafted. Radim Vrbata from Phoenix was just that this year going undrafted and still putting together a top 25 season from the forward position. Also every now and then you get the opposite and if you drafted player B 10th overall you had just that happen to you this year. Player B is Jonathan Toews from Chicago and although he put up decent numbers, the value you got in return for drafting him in the first round was not acceptable. I think Toews will drop to the 3rd round next year and Vrbata will climb into the 5th or 6th rounds.



Blind Resume #10
Player A: 51 goals, 58 assists, +15, 71 PIM
Player B: 32 goals, 34 assists, +20, 31 PIM
Player C: 8 goals, 29 assists, +15, 14 PIM

Player's A,B and C are all Sidney Crosby. It's Crosby's last three seasons starting from 2010 up to last year. Crosby has seen his production drop due to the amount of games played (2010: 81 games played, 2011: 41 games played, 2012: 22 games played). I know I've knocked on Crosby a lot on our radio shows but if he's healthy he can put up top 10 numbers. The question is: where do you feel comfortable taking the risk of drafting him next season?

- I'd take Crosby in the 3rd or 4th round if he's available but I'm a risk adverse fantasy player. He's only 24 years old.





Check back in later this week for the second part of the series. If you have any more questions hit me on twitter @Awies28

Alex Wiesner