Fantasy Hockey Preview: 2008-09 Carolina Hurricanes

We are now about a month away from the start of training camp for the 2008-09 NHL season, and my hockey-crazed brother and I have begun work on our own fantasy hockey magazine, predicting the stats for every player on the starting roster of an NHL team.

We hope we can accurately predict most players' statistics, and we hope to help you with your fantasy hockey teams. A new article will be posted every couple of days at the most, and some teams will come even sooner. We will be doing this in alphabetical order.

Carolina Hurricanes

2008-09 Projected Lineup

Ray Whitney-Eric Staal-Justin Williams
Sergei Samsonov-Rod Brind’Amour-Scott Walker
Tuomo Ruutu-Matt Cullen-Patrick Eaves
Ryan Bayda-Brandon Sutter-Chad LaRose

Joni Pitkanen-Tim Gleason
Joe Corvo-Niclas Wallin
Frantisek Kaberle-Josef Melichar

Cam Ward
Michael Leighton

Fantasy Stud

Eric Staal

I have a feeling that Staal will improve on his 82-point output from last season, and inch closer to his 100-point season of 2005-06.

Watch Out For

Sergei Samsonov

After only scoring four points in 23 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Samsonov was picked up by Carolina.  He proceeded to score 32 points in 38 games, but look for him to fall back to his usual laziness again this year.

Individual Scoring Predictions for 2008-09

Player                        GP-G-A-P
1. Eric Staal                81-44-47-91
2. Justin Williams          77-35-40-75
3. Rod Brind’Amour        80-27-44-73
4. Ray Whitney            70-23-40-63           
5. Matt Cullen             75-16-40-56
6. Joe Corvo               78-15-38-53
7. Scott Walker           79-16-27-43
8. Tuomu Ruutu           77-15-26-43
9. Sergei Samsonov      72-15-20-35
10. Joni Pitkanen          75-12-20-32
11. Patrick Eaves          68-12-18-30
12. Frantisek Kaberle     82-3-24-27
13. Tim Gleason            80-5-18-23
14. Chad LaRose           72-8-12-20
15. Brandon Sutter        60-5-15-20
16. Ryan Bayda             73-7-10-17
17. Niclas Wallin            75-1-6-7
18. Josef Melichar          71-1-5-6

Goalies

Cam Ward 38-24-8 .909 SVP 2.44 GAA
Michael Leighton 4-6-2 .902 SVP 2.64 GAA