Beards, Backups, & Breakouts: A Sleeper Smorgasbord

As the calendar has just flipped to October, we wave goodbye to the summer and begin to embrace the fall time. With that comes our favourite time – fantasy hockey draft season. Drafting can be like a high school dance – everyone is staring at the popular first and second round picks, while the real fun happens later on in the corners or behind the auditorium curtains (where no one’s paying attention). Let’s take a closer look at three “undervalued” players you may be able to snag later in your drafts.

BRENT BURNS 6G 23A +7 SOG 174 Yahoo ADP 170.9

For Dozy’s 1^st delivery of the day, a player that some would refer to as the most interesting man in the world. The big bearded bastard from Barrie, Brent Burns. He eats canned mussels for breakfast, refuses to enter the rink before he pets three stray cats, and most outrageous of all -  he thinks people can actually change. Burns is joining a high octane offense, after inking a 1 year deal in Colorado this offseason. He’s been muttering under his breath “feed me some points Nate Dawg, nom nom nom” 2 hours a day for the last 3 months.

He’s as durable as they come, having not missed a game since the 2013-2014 season. Even as he begins his age 40 season (this will be his 22^nd NHL season – he missed a year due to the 04/05 lockout), he should still see around 20 minutes a night (ATOI 20:57 last year) with some PP2 deployment. Expect Mr. Burns to Monte up this season, making him a tasty late round target. Stay thirsty my friends.

KEVIN LANKINEN 25-15-10 2.62 GAA .902 SV% 4 SOs Yahoo ADP 174.9

Goalies are kind of like Tinder dates – 50% will ghost you, 25% will catfish you, 24% will break your heart and the remaining 1% falls into the “other” category. Well, count Lankinen in the 1% - he may just be the reliable 2^nd date you didn’t know you needed. Let’s take a closer look at the Canucks goaltending situation this year. Thatcher Demko (Band-aid boy) and the Lank-man will share the crease in Van City after Lankinen was inked to a 5-year extension. The Canucks probably envision a 60/40 split between Demko and Lankinen in an ideal world.

However, Demko does have a significant injury history and the Canucks will also likely employ some “load management” strategies with him. This all results in considerable playing time upside for Lank-daddy. Not to mention he actually had the better stats of the two goaltenders last season. If Demko should hit the IR look for Lankinen to mark his territory in the crease – pissing all over the posts to establish himself as the alpha dawg in Vancouver.

ANTON LUNDELL 17G 28A +17 SOG 158 Yahoo ADP 167.5

After undergoing knee surgery several days ago, Aleksander Barkov is expected to miss the next 7-9 months of action. This is horrible news for the Panthers and especially bad news for those poolies who drafted this Selke winner in the early rounds of your drafts. Enter Anton Lundell (aka baby Barkov), who plays a strikingly similar all-round game to his fellow Finlander. With the Barkov injury, expect Lundell to be thrust into a much larger role this season, with a coincidental spike in point production. He should have no problem passing his career high of 45 points this season.

Now with the bump up the depth chart and increase in his all-around deployment, this definitely has the makings of a breakout season. Hire some extra prison guards because it’s going to be a challenge keeping this guy locked up all year. His ADP is rising quickly. In fact, Lundell’s stock is rising quicker than my heart rate after one beer league hockey shift.

In summary, Burns is the grizzled cowboy who refuses to ride into the sunset. Lankinen is the backup goalie who could swing a week when you least expect it. Lundell is the baby Panther poised to claw his way into fantasy stardom.

Stay sleepy zzz