Atlanta Thrashers' 2009-10 Fantasy Hockey Preview

We are now less than a month away from the start of the 2009-10 NHL regular season, and I think it's a great time to start publishing my fantasy preview articles for each NHL team.

When looking at a player and predicting how he will fare offensively this season, there are a many things to consider. Is the player at an age where he will improve or decline? Is he playing with new linemates this year? Did his team acquire some players who may push them down the depth chart?

Those are just a few of the questions needed to be asked and I believe I can accurately predict a player's point totals for the upcoming season. Of course, things like injuries are impossible to predict, so these are best case scenarios.

2009-10 Depth Chart

Forwards

Ilya Kovalchuk—Nikolai Antropov—Bryan Little
Slava Kozlov—Todd White—Rich Peverley
Evander Kane—Marty Reasoner—Colby Armstrong
Eric Boulton—Jim Slater—Chris Thorburn

Defense

Pavel Kubina—Zach Bogosian
Ron Hainsey—Tobias Enstrom
Anssi Salmela—Boris Valabik

Goalies

Kari Lehtonen
Johan Hedberg

Sure Bet: Ilya Kovalchuk

A pure sniper, Kovalchuk is the best goal scorer in the league after fellow countryman Alexander Ovechkin. He is playing for a big contract after this season and many people are wondering if he will be in Atlanta next year.

Dark Horse: Evander Kane

Will he even make the team? I'm guessing that the Thrashers will give him his nine game "try-out" at the very least. What happens beyond that is anybody's guess, but one injury among the top six forwards and he could flourish.

2009-10 Scoring Projections

Player                     GP-G-A-P
1. Ilya Kovalchuk      82-50-46-96
2. Bryan Little          78-27-34-61
3. Nikolai Antropov   74-26-34-60
4. Slava Kozlov        77-20-34-54
5. Rich Peverley        80-15-37-52
6. Pavel Kubina         80-10-35-45
7. Todd White          82-17-26-43
8. Zach Bogosian      77-13-29-42
9. Evander Kane       74-15-23-38
10. Colby Armstrong  81-13-24-37
11. Ron Hainsey        82-9-28-37
12. Tobias Enstrom   76-6-29-35
13. Marty Reasoner   79-10-15-25
14. Jim Slater            72-8-13-21
15. Chris Thorburn    78-5-9-14
16. Anssi Salmela      71-2-10-12
17. Eric Boulton        79-1-9-10
18. Boris Valabik       80-1-6-7

Goalies

1. Kari Lehtonen 31-22-6/.919 SVP/2.62 GAA
2. Johan Hedberg 9-11-3/.898 SVP/3.19 GAA