Simply we took this straight from our 2010-11 fantasy preview on Ilya Kovalchuk, our #1 Fantasy Turkey Of The Quarter. What better day to do this than on Black Friday right?
2. Ilya Kovalchuk (NJ Devils)
Why?: He still can just do things that not many on this Earth can with a hockey stick. Yes it is a shame that we still do know if he will still be in New Jersey, but he is learning bit by bit to work with less. Put Kovalchuk with some more talented players and he likely averages over 90 points a year easy and potentially pots 50 goals.. As it is 85 points (despite a trade) is not too shabby. ·The 290 shots on goal and 21:28 ATOI are also nice cornerstones for fantasy leagues.
Skinny: He can get 100 points this year. Question is will he? I happen to think no only because whatever contract he signs will cause an immense amount of pressure to be thrust upon him considering the saga that has come forth.· However, the Devils (IF he signs there) will be better on the man advantage this season and that should translate to near 50 goals and a little over 90 points which means maybe 15-20 PPG’s if the price is right.
WE WERE WRONG! The questions then becomes how wrong were we? Well Kovalchuk ranks around 190th in the league in scoring with 10 points. He is also a -10 with only two points on the man advantage in 21 games. The shots on goal at 57 is also a decent amount below his norm. The .49 points per game is so low that not even Jarome Iginla was at that pace during his slump last year. His lowest point was .58 by the way just for perspective and that was 35 games in.
There is a level one gets at where a guy has achieved very good fantasy numbers over a period of time that this would not be an issue. The reality is when you sign a 15 year 100 million dollar deal that was grandfathered in, you become a target by many whether one wants that attention or not. Is Kovalchuk gripping the stick too tight? Many believe he still is and today was an indication of that when he had Rick DiPietro dead to rights and shot it too low hence not in the net. It is unacceptable to think that DiPietro could get a shutout and definitely Kovalchuk’s disappearing act today did not help his cause.
Too many of these “disappearing acts” have occurred. Yes it is a product of teams targeting him but a superstar caliber player overcomes that. Sidney Crosby does it. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg do it. The Sedin twins find a way too. Surely the awesomely bad play of the Devils has rubbed off on every player and some will say coaching strategy has a role but Ilya Kovalchuk has to produce. For many fantasy GM’s, it has to happen now. Many wasted a very early pick on this guy and they want to see some returns here.
Excuses are for sissies in these leagues and the quotes from #17 have been well documented but at some point it becomes go time. The question really is what does trigger a revival. Better yet, does it come at all this year? The scary concept is that Kovalchuk may never bounce back to the over a point a game player this season. Hell he may not even come close to that.
What will transpire over the next 19 or 20 games may tell us a lot about Ilya Kovalchuk in New Jersey. He will be the face of this franchise as other players see their careers set. The key becomes who will come back from injury and help the fastest. antasy owners turn their NJ eye on Kovalchuk. So what will it be Kovy? Turkey or golden egg?
