Roto Exclusive : Guest Contributions and Featured Articles

Dustin Byfuglien
The most valuable position to own a superstar as far as fantasy owners are concerned is defense. With
that, Dustin Byfuglien is as superstar as it gets when it comes to fantasy hockey. In a season in which he
missed 16 games due to injury, Byfuglien was still able to put up 12 goals and 53 points last season. The
defense may not be there just yet, but the offensive side of his game should never be questioned.
No, his 2011-12 season with the Atlanta Thrashers wasn’t a fluke. Byfuglien posted 20 goals and 53
points that year and than many people jumped ship the following season thinking it wasn’t going to last.
However, it lasted, and Byfuglien would have set a new career-high in points with ease if he didn’t miss
the 16 games. There is no doubt that Byfuglien will still be one of the best fantasy defenseman in the
entire league.
LETDOWNS
Alex Burmistrov
This one is tricky. Alex Burmistrov is a very talented young center with skills to become a nice fantasy
player one day. But for now, it seems the Jets are relying on Burmistrov to be more of a defensive-type
center even though he’s already shown glimpses that he can be a great one. There’s no questioning his
ethic and his desire to compete. I’d like to think there’s no questioning the potential he has on the
offensive side of things, but I have to question it based off of management decisions.
Until Burmistrov is seeing time with capable players around him, he’ll have to be written off for fantasy.
It’s not a knock on him or the players that he’s playing with, but let’s face it, Burmistrov is not going to
excel as a threat on the third and fourth line. For his first two seasons as an NHLer, Burmistrov’s put up
decent numbers. But until the Jets figure out with they’re going to do with him, he can’t be trusted as a
fantasy producer.
Zach Bogosian
Kyle Wellwood
Kyle Wellwood had a very impressive season in 2011-12 setting a careerhigh
in points with 47, and tying his career-high in goals with 18. However,
if you have any expectations for him to match or succeed what he did last
season, you’ll be in for quite the disappointment. Wellwood is a capable
NHLer, but unless he really found himself in the past year, he’ll go back to
being a 20-25-point player at best.
Just as it looked like things were starting to come along, Zach Bogosian will be sidelined for at least four
months after a successful surgery on his wrist just a couple of weeks ago. When Bogosian eventually
returns to action at some point down the road, there will be the “unknown” factor. And many fantasy
players dislike the unknown.
This doesn’t mean to give up on Zach just yet. To be honest, Bogosian still has plenty of time to live up to
his potential of a third-overall draft pick. It just won’t come this season, unfortunately. Bogosian was
coming off of a 30-point season which was a new career-high for him.
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