NHL Fantasy Focus: Andrew Hutchinson

Jes Golbez — 2008-07-09T15:06:00 00:00

Filed under: General NHL, Lightning, Fantasy Hockey, NHL Free Agency

Looking for a potential Fantasy League steal next season? How about Andrew Hutchinson, the ultimate power play specialist "defenseman" that the Tampa Bay Lightning just signed to a two-year free agent deal.

With Dan Boyle traded to the Sharks, the Lightning are woefully short of blue-line talent that can produce offensively. Filip Kuba led all Bolts' d-men with a whopping 31 points last season. That ain't gonna cut it, sister!

Hutchinson is clearly going to be given a chance to quarterback the Tampa power play, and after spending last season in the AHL (64 points in 67 games), he'll be a very cheap pick-up in any fantasy league you're in.

In 95 career NHL games, Hutchinson has put up 33 points, with 20 of those being on the ice during mad-advantage situations. Consider the fact that Hutchinson averaged just 12:13 of ice time per game, and you realize that the boy knows how to put points up on the board at an efficient and effective rate.

Yes, Hutchinson has many warts in his game, but Tampa has loaded up their forward corps with many offensive talents to feed the puck to. A team that features Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, Mark Recchi, and Vaclav Prospal front is going to, potentially, do a lot of damage on the Power Play.

Jump on this guy while you can.

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Lightning sign Holmqvist, But Still Have Goalie Issues

Jes Golbez — 2007-05-21T12:09:00 00:00

by Jes Golbez

Filed under: General NHL, Lightning, Eastern, Fantasy Hockey

The Tampa Bay Lightning managed to squeak into the playoffs, but were held back by their lack of quality goaltending.

After dealing for Marc Denis last off-season, the Bolts thought they had solved their goaltending problems. Why they thought a goalie that even COLUMBUS didn't want was going to help them, I have no idea.

Anyway, Denis faltered and was injured, so backup Johan Holmqvist managed to step in and provide the Bolts with a warm body for the majority of the season.

For his service, Holmqvist was rewarded with a one-year contract:

"As we said at the end of the season, Johan Holmqvist is one piece of the puzzle for us in net, and it was one of our top priorities this off-season to get him re-signed at a number that made sense for us," Lightning general manager Jay Feaster said in a statement.

"By signing a one-year deal, Johan has demonstrated that he intends to build on last year's performance and firmly establish himself - once and for all - as a legitimate No. 1 goalie in the NHL."

So, the Lightning think Holmqvist is a #1 goalie in the NHL, do they?

While Marc Denis had the worst SV% (88.3%) among qualified goaltenders, Holmqvist was not much better, with a 89.3SV%. This was 'good' for 6th worst in the NHL.

Yes, Holmqvist was better than Denis, but he wasn't very good at all. If the Lightning are going to put their eggs in Holmqvist's basket, they are not solving the real issue of poor goaltending that hurt them all season.

Not only are the Lightning pinning their hopes on a poor goaltender, but they are still stuck with Marc Denis and his contract that counts $2,867,000 towards the cap for each of the next two seasons.

The Lightning would have been better off saying "Thanks for the help, but we need somebody better."

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NHL Fantasy Focus: Andrew Hutchinson

Lightning sign Holmqvist, But Still Have Goalie Issues