Just read some of the “2009 Outlook” comments and you will see why ESPN is actually better off forgetting that Hockey exists.
A quick example, He says that Crosby will be hurt by Malone leaving, but never says anything about Malone being gone in Malkin’s comments. Why is this dumb? Well Ryan malone played on the “Steel City Line” which included himself, Malkin, and Sykora. No crosby. So why would Crosby lose points and Malkin have no change thanks to Malone leaving?

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 08/21/08 at 08:52 PM ET

Wow, that’s a bold pick with Jose Threeorfour at 7. Nabakov should easily be above him, and Price, and Huet, and Turco, and Miller, and…

Other than that, I’ve got no major Issues.

Posted by Nate A from metro Detroit on 08/21/08 at 10:23 PM ET

Um ya.  Some of these predictions are abolutely ludicrous.

Take this one, # 91. Andrew Raycroft.  Whoever researched this should be fired for even mentioning his name in the top 100 rankings.  For starters, they think he played in Boston all of last year...are you kidding me?  Secondly, the guy had equal opportunity in Toronto for 2 years to be a a starter yet failed miserably, the latter year being his worst ever. 

They have him ranked higher than Backstrom (101), Manny Legace (114), Toskala (141), Mika Kiprusoff (146), Pascal Leclaire (158)...?!!?

And the list goes on.  I don’t think whoever put him there even knows who Raycroft is, they must have him mistaken for someone else…

Madness!

Posted by Neal from New Brunswick on 08/21/08 at 10:30 PM ET

Anyone that uses that for their fantasy hockey is going to lose. Why do they have people making projections about teams they don’t follow?

Nathan Horton “but with no Olli Jokinen and a very young Panthers team behind him, a plus-15 might be asking a lot. Horton needs to find chemistry with a whole new crew this season”

Wrong. Horton plays with Weiss and Booth. They have great chemistry. Panthers have a new coach but it would be a mistake to breakup the best line Panthers had last year. The reason Horton is a plus is because he didn’t play with Jokinen.

Then on Cory Stillman they have him projected to play with Horton which as already stated probably won’t happen, he will play with Shawn Matthias and possibly Zednik.

Saw similar errors with other teams. I wouldn’t recomend using their projections.

Posted by Bo from FL on 08/22/08 at 12:08 AM ET

Pavel Datsyuk.

That is all.

Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 08/22/08 at 12:12 AM ET

I’m from the USA so I don’t know the answer to this, but doesn’t a Canadian sports network put out fantasy projections? Because i would love to compare the two.  These idiots at ESPN really need football to start so they can go back to ignoring other sports. Just wait until football and baseball playoffs are going on at the same times, ESPN won’t talk about anything else and we will be free from these idiotic articles.

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 08/22/08 at 11:05 AM ET