Roto Exclusive : Guest Contributions and Featured Articles

y Evan Hotham
The 2011-2012 Ottawa Senators season was one filled with many surprises. Virtually every player on the
roster exceeded the expectations set out for him before the campaign began. With basically no player
underachieving last year, the odds suggest that there will surely be some letdowns in this year’s
campaign. Even then, there will always be players who overachieve, which is always a plus for fantasy
managers looking for value picks.
In this piece, I hope to predict which players may surpass expectations during 2012-2013, and which
players may leave some fantasy managers with a sour taste in their mouth at season’s end.
Surprises
Jared Cowen - D
While Cowen had a great rookie year playing in a defensive role
next to Sergei Gonchar, I would expect him to have a larger impact
offensively this season. With the departure of Filip Kuba, Cowen has
the potential to play with Norris winner Erik Karlsson on the first
line or on the PP. If there is a shortened season, Cowen will get
huge minutes down in Binghamton to further develop his game and
dominate offensively. I do not think a 30 point season is out of the
question if he gets a boost in offensive minutes.
Mika Zibanejad - LW/RW
It may not seem like a surprise to expect the sixth overall pick from 2011 have a nice rookie season, but I
feel he is being overlooked due to the huge seasons enjoyed by fellow prospects Jakob Silfverberg and
Mark Stone. With his combination of size, speed, and NHL-ready shot, I would not be surprised to see
him post 15 goals and 15-20 assists in his rookie campaign if he makes the team out of camp. In
addition, Zibanejad would contribute very nicely to the shots -- he averaged 6 shots per game at the
WJC and loves to shoot from anywhere on the ice -- and hits categories.
Zack Smith - C
Recently signed to a four-year contract extension, Smith is virtually locked into the #3 center position
and should see an increase from the 26 points he put up last season. During the first three months of
2011-2012, Smith was producing at a clip of 0.5 points per game before hitting a wall offensively in the
second half. This was likely due to the fact that he played over 100 games combined in the NHL and AHL
in 2010-2011. With a longer off-season, Smith should become more consistent offensively, especially if
he gets some better wingers to play with. I see Smith as having 40 point upside one day, which may
come as early as this season if all goes better than expected.
72