The Score's 2010 Fantasy Guide

Well, here we are with the last of the three fantasy hockey guides that I bought last year and I haven't seen anything else out in stores, so I'm guessing this is where I'm going to stop.

The Score and Forecaster combine together again to put together another good and thorough look at the year that is upon us, including a few seasons ahead for young players. Of course, the pull-out cheat sheet might also be a big help, especially when you're checking off players that have been picked in your pool. Make sure you get a good read though their sleepers section, there is a lot of good players that you could pick up for some extra points in the late rounds of your pool.

What I'm really after is to look at some of the top players, including the top three forwards in the pool, who all figure to be the top players in your fantasy scoring (but we'll be using my scoring, which is pretty straight forward). The Score is the only one of the three magazines to pick Sidney Crosby as their top player in pool scoring, as they have him pegged for 117 points, the highest point total among the three publications as well. Alex Ovechkin is the unanimous decision between the three as the second best pick, scoring 112 points (including 61 goals), and then the other usual suspect, Evgeni Malkin, scoring 109 points. The top three wasn't really going to change, but I have a feeling that every draft is going to be different, but you can't really go wrong with anyone of those three players.

Are there any surprises in their top ten? You bet. Jason Spezza comes in at 10th with 91 points, which could be a huge stretch. The Senators have plenty of issues with their personnel, including Dany Heatley (who is slated to pick up 85 points, according to this guide), who had wanted out of Ottawa. The acquisition of Alex Kovalev (72 points) may help Spezza out, but I can't see a top ten finish for him.

In the goaltending slots, there is a tie in points between both Miikka Kiprusoff and Roberto Luongo, picking up 94 points each, but Kiprusoff takes the title by the number of projected wins, as he is predicted to have 44 wins, where Luongo has only 40, but more shutouts. Rounding out the top three is another one of those usual suspects, as Evgeni Nabokov is set for 39 wins and 5 shutouts for 88 points. It's hard to go wrong with those three at the moment, but Nabokov's name is swirling around in trade rumours. As long as he's in San Jose, he should be okay.

Marty Turco was somewhat of a surprise in the top ten in wins, as he's slated for a 78-point season. The Stars didn't do a great job of improving their team in the off-season, which may not translate well to his win count, so I would be weary of his projected numbers. Nikolai Khabibulin winning 36 games is also kind of a stretch, saying that the Oilers are likely candidates for the playoffs, which also doesn't seem too likely.

On defense, it does look a wee bit different, but that's only the third one in the top three. Mike Green continues to lead the pack and the Score has him scoring 29 goals and 46 points for 75 points, ranking him 39th among skaters, which could be a low second or high third round pick. Andrei Markov is only listed as being 10 points behind in Montreal, listed for 65 points, but is ranked quite a bit lower among all players. In third, it's Nicklas Lidstrom who finished third in defensemen scoring, listed with 61 points in Detroit, which doesn't seem to be out of the question at all.

Looking through their list of defensemen, I did see a bold prediction, saying that Tom Gilbert of the Oilers will break out for 52 points this season. Could the arrival of Khabibulin really create more offensive chances for Gilbert? It really looks like the Score is pushing for the Oilers to finish in the 8th spot in the West.

The Score does a good job in listing rookies in their magazine and listed them by position. It's too bad they don't designate them on their cheat sheet, but we'll work with what we've got. Any idea who they have as their top rookie this year? Yeah, it's unanimous again with the selection of John Tavares. Tavares is ranked 99th among all skaters with 57 points, including 32 goals. They also predict an easy Calder win for the number one overall pick this past summer. Ville Leino ranks well again with 53 points, including 24 goals. Rounding out the top three is Cody Hodgson with 46 points in Vancouver, including 19 goals. No real surprises in the rookie race.

Finally, the last comparison is the expectation of who will be the number one goalie in Toronto will be. The Score suggests that the two goalies will more or less platoon the position, with Jonas Gustavsson getting a little more action and winning a few more games than Vesa Toskala. Gustavsson is tabbed to win 23 games, while Toskala has been listed with 19. The Pooler's Guide suggested that Gustavsson was going to take the job, while the Hockey News was saying more towards a platoon as well. Don't be in a big hurry to pick a goalie from Toronto... especially if you weren't to begin with.

The Score's guide is pretty good, especially for their youth section. This could benefit more for keeper pool leagues, especially those who keep a lot of players. I think the Score is probably my favourite of the three again, just because there was some more reasonable numbers for the goalies and they do have a better look at young players. This is the one I would personally recommend.