Cage Match Tourney – The Biggest Risers/Fallers Week 3

Rick Roos

2015-07-22

TylerJohnson

 

Projecting the two biggest risers and two biggest fallers in this year’s Yahoo! draft rankings...

 

We're heading into the home stretch of the summer 2015 Cage Match Tournament, with your votes this week determining the final two NHLers who'll battle in next week's championship! Let's start with a quick rundown of the rules, before moving onto observations on week two results, and then finally laying out the four combatants in this week's semi-finals.

 

What You're Voting on, and Quick Rehash of Key Things to Know/Remember

 

As a reminder, you're deciding which NHLer's Yahoo fantasy draft position will increase the most in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15, as well as that player's counterpart, namely who'll see his Yahoo draft position drop the most. In the end, we'll match against each other the players you voted as biggest riser and biggest faller, to see who'll have the biggest Yahoo draft position change among all NHLers.

Tyler Johnson – 177.5 average draft position – 77 games, 29G, 43A, +33, 17 PPP, 64 Hits, 203 SOG

Before voting, take a moment to do a side-by-side comparison between his stats and Tarasenko's. We can see Johnson more than held his own, even doubling Tarasenko's Hits output. Beyond that, Johnson is likely to retain dual position eligibility, as both a C and RW, which is highly coveted in many Yahoo leagues. And don't forget that Johnson was picked – on average – 18 spots below Tarasenko in last season's Yahoo drafts, so he wouldn't need to climb as far as Tarasenko in order be a bigger riser.

However, although we know from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin that a team can have two centers who get drafted early, right now the mindset of the Yahoo poolie probably hasn't embraced Johnson as truly comparable to Steven Stamkos; and it might take another season of top production before that could happen.

Click here to vote for bracket #1

 

 

Bracket #2 –Fallers

 

Chris Kunitz – 25.7 average draft position – 74 games, 17G, 23A, +2, 16 PPP, 211 Hits, 170 SOG

After barely squeaking into round two, Kunitz gained momentum and nearly captured first place in the fallers bracket. On the one hand, it's hard to see how he'd slip too far in Yahoo drafts for 2015-16, since he does have a great deal of name recognition. Plus, when push comes to shove, poolies will likely be reluctant to keep passing over a guy in their drafts who still might end up playing with Sidney Crosby. But we also can't forget that his fall from grace last season was well publicized and probably cost more than a fair share of fantasy teams their titles. As such, and with Kunitz turning 36 before the puck drops on the 2015-16 regular season, there could be concern that he'll do even worse than 2014-15.

 

Alexander Semin – 119.9 average draft position -57 games, 6G, 13A, -10, 4 PPP, 30 Hits, 93 SOG

At this point, I'm wondering whether Semin remaining unsigned is causing him to surge in the polls. But voters should remember that not being signed as yet could actually be a benefit to him, as it means he still could land on a very good team, in which case Yahoo poolies probably would be inclined to take a flyer on him not too far below where he was selected in 2014-15 drafts.

All that having been said, there's no disguising that Semin played terribly last year, and that's when he did manage to play. And the difference between now and 2012-13, when Semin entered the season on a one year deal having to prove himself, is the $25M deal he pocketed in summer 2013. With that payday in the rear view mirror, it's justified to wonder if he'll be able to get motivated to succeed, in which case why should poolies use a top 200 selection on him?

Click here to vote for bracket #2

 

Voting for both brackets will close on Sunday July 26th, so make sure to cast your ballots in time. Next week it's time for the final – see you then!

 

 

Cage Match Tourney Week 2 – The Biggest Risers/Fallers      
Cage Match Tourney – The Biggest Risers/Fallers      
Sidney Crosby vs. Connor McDavid (Part 2)      
Sidney Crosby vs. Connor McDavid (Part 1)      

 

 

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Mar 28 - 19:03 OTT vs CHI
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