It’s July 10th, so what is it time for? A nap, maybe? Nope. Instead, Sportsnet and ESPN have filed sets of power rankings and fantasy power rankings, respectively.
Sportsnet’s Luke Fox figures that it’s not too early to assess teams’ off-season moves…
Steve Yzerman has taken a more patient approach to his first summer with his new/old franchise than we imagined. His big free agency purchases were 35-year-old Valterri Filppula and 27-year-old Patrik Nemeth (two years, $6 million each). Eleven Red Wings are set to come off the books in 2020. That should be the Summer of Stevie, when the full-scale renovations begin.
(we’ll ignore the fact that Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi all require raises as restricted free agents in 2020)
And ESPN’s Sean Allen lists fantasy hockey player rankings–250 of them–via specific team-by-team criteria:
Detroit Red Wings: A patient rebuild will give emerging fantasy assets such as Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi and Andreas Athanasiou another chance to advance their position. The same is true for less-proven commodities like Filip Zadina, Michael Rasmussen and Evgeny Svechnikov. … Who is going to play the point on this power play? The Red Wings have no new options and Dennis Cholowski‘s nine power-play points topped the squad last season.
As such, Dylan Larkin cracks the top 50 player rankings at 41st overall, Anthony Mantha follows at 130th, Andreas Athanasiou is ranked 216th, Tyler Bertuzzi is ranked 226th, and Michael Rasmussen is ranked 238th.
This feels like christmas in July George! Thankyou for your effort.
They lost all credibility when they ranked Rasmussen not far behind AA and Bert. What a joke. The guy isn’t even ready for the NHL.
Yes.. #230 must be the line between 1st line talent and 3rd line pp tip artist. Still think Mr. Rasmussen will be better than that, just not yet!
Hronek didn’t make the top 250 despite being a lock to make the roster and likely to see plenty of time on the PP.
But Rasmussen is ranked. Just behind AA. But it’s ESPN. They don’t know hockey.
I have not been a Ras fan at all. Watching the WHL up here in Canada, Ras had to be one of the softest or not competitive. Yes ESPN sucks. HSJ predicting the Wings roster 3 months ahead of the season. Just a waste of a Wings post.
I like Veleno but he is not a Larkin , Cholo not sure, Zadina should get a shot, sadly not sure about him, even the German D Man will be in GR next yr or a German league.
Hronek should be a lock for a D Man with a bit of Offense.
Now I am starting to sound like HSJ but I didn’t use her crystal Ball(s).
Ras scored a bunch of goals from the slot where he was a beast size playing against a bunch of skinny teenagers. Once his size advantage disappeared playing against men, his offense disappeared too. And he’s not even projecting to play center anymore. Basically we wasted a top 10 pick on a slow 3rd line winger. Terrible.