Drop the Puck

Sleeper Pick Pt.2 - Goalies & D-Men

John Grahame, G, Carolina Hurricanes – Grahame had a golden opportunity last season to be the number one goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning, but that opportunity was blown, and the Lightning barely made the playoffs. Grahame not only lost his job, but also found himself on a new team during the offseason; however, signing with Carolina might be a blessing in disguise for Grahame. First of all, he will not have to be worried about being publicly criticized by his coach like he was last season, as he and Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette have a longstanding relationship. Secondly, Grahame will be in the number two role behind last year’s playoff MVP, goaltender Cam Ward. Although Ward was fantastic in the playoffs, he was not too impressive during last year’s regular season as a backup goalie. Grahame has done great in the backup role in previous years, and since Ward is new to being a number one goalie in the NHL, expect Grahame to get more starts than usual backup goalies (maybe 30-35 games). If Ward stumbles during the regular season, the Hurricanes may move John Grahame into the starting role.

Chris Osgood, G, Detroit Red Wings – Osgood, kind of like Grahame, will be the number two guy entering the season behind Dominik Hasek. Detroit has quite a bit of faith in Osgood though; he has played a lot of years in Detroit and has been a starting goalie for the majority of his career. I mainly bring up Osgood as a sleeper because Hasek is one of the most injury-prone goalies in the NHL today with his constant groin injuries, at the age of 41 he is not able to handle a 60-70 game season like he did when he used to dominate the NHL. Anytime Hasek is injured Osgood will come in and take his place, that could be for a couple of strings that are 7- 10 games, or it could be for 20+ games. Osgood’s numbers weren’t exactly eye-popping last season with his .897 save percentage and 2.76 goals against average, but those numbers can be overlooked considering his record was 20-6-5 in 2005-06. If you plan on taking Hasek in your pool I would suggest keeping Osgood on your bench just in case Hasek goes down with a serious injury. Regardless though, Osgood is a good pickup, as Detroit will be cautious with Hasek until playoff time (meaning Osgood will get more playing time).

Marc-Andre Bergeron, D, Edmonton Oilers – Bergeron will most likely be a liability in the plus/minus department this upcoming season, he is not good defensively and neither will the Oilers in general next season. One thing they still do have is some young players that could put the puck in the net l. Bergeron happens to be one of those guys, and even though he is a defenseman, he can still light the lamp. Bergeron had 35 points last season, maybe not all that eye-popping, but he did manage to score 15 goals, very solid for a defenseman. These 15 goals were also scored while Chris Pronger was in the lineup, now with him out of the picture, Bergeron will be the main guy form the point on the Oilers power play, and should get plenty of opportunities to improve on his 15 goals from last season.

Kim Johnsson, D, Minnesota Wild – The former Philadelphia Flyers defenseman was signed by the Wild during the offseason to not only add some offensive punch to their defense corps, but also to quarterback their power play. Johnsson is coming off of a season in which he was bothered by concussion injuries, but during his years with the Flyers he was a consistent 40-point guy. The Wild have never been looked at as a team with a lot of offensive depth, but they tried to change that during the offseason by adding forwards Pavol Demitra and Mark Parrish (on top of already having Marian Gaborik and Brian Rolston). The Wild’s power play should be much more dangerous this season, and Johnsson should be able to put his good playmaking skills to use. The Wild are also a better team defensively than the Flyers, and as a result Johnsson should also get a good +/- rating, as he will be logging 20+ minutes a game.

Christian Ehrhoff, D, San Jose Sharks - Ehrhoff did not really do much during the regular season to really prove that he can be a good offensive defenseman in the NHL. Ehrhoff only had 5 goals and 18 assists in the 2005-06 season, but come playoff time Ehrhoff emerged with 8 points in 11 games, 3^rd best on the team. Ehrhoff impressed me late in the season as well as playoffs with his offensive skills, and showed he could be a threat on the power play. During the offseason San Jose decided to trade their top offensive defenseman from last season, Tom Preissing, for Mark Bell. The Sharks did not sign any defensemen to replace Preissing during the offseason, and will have a very young defense corps, as a result, the Sharks will look to a defenseman like Ehrhoff to provide them with not only more ice-time, but also power play time (the same power play that could include Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Patrick Marleau).

Sami Salo, D, Vancouver Canucks – Well first off, this guy has a bomb from the point, Salo may have one of the hardest shots in the NHL today. Salo is coming off of a great year in which he tallied 33 points in 59 games, if it was not for an injury to his shoulder; he would have most likely scored over 40 points last season. Salo is excellent on the power play, scoring 9 of his 10 goals with the extra-man last season, and could find himself among the leaders in goals by a defenseman next season. With the loss of star defenseman Ed Jovanovski, the Canucks will give Salo more responsibility. Salo is also great defensively, and usually has good numbers in the +/- department.

Honourable Mentions: Roman Hamrlik, Paul Martin, Brett Clark, Jaroslav Spacek, Joe Corvo, Duvie Westcott (those are all Defensemen)