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Top Sleepers 2007/08

September 15, 2007

Jonathan Kinney

Every year we identify a few players around the league that we think will be sleepers - players who will slip down the draft lists of other GMs. It might be because they had an injury that knocked them down the stat list in the previous year; it might be because they are finally getting a chance to shine with a new team, new linemates or a new coach. Or increasingly, they might be young guys who due to cap issues, are finally getting a chance to play a regular shift. Last year we did pretty well with some of our projections (Nathan Horton, Taylor Pyatt, Matt Carle, Dustin Brown and Zach Parise) and made a few missteps too (Jan Bulis, and Ed Jovanovski). We're going to start with three potential sleeper goalies and then move onto the skaters.

Pascal Leclaire, G, Columbus - Here's a guy who suffered through an injury-plagued 06/07 campaign after putting up solid SV% numbers in the previous year. He has three things going for him this season. 1) He's healthy. 2) He's only 24 with two NHL seasons under his belt and 3) The "Hitchcock Factor" - with Ken Hitchcock as the coach of the Jackets there will be a focus on team defense. And while these three factors don't guarantee a lot of wins, if your league uses GAA and SV%, he could be a very good late pick.

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