Fantasy Rewind: The 2007-08 season

By
Michael Finewax,

By
Michael Finewax

Published April 19, 2020 08:19 PM

The 2007-08 season was the ‘Year of the Russian’ as three players from the country finished one, two and four in scoring. Only Jarome Iginla managed to invade that space as he finished third in points, behind Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, and just ahead of Pavel Datsyuk.

The NHL started its downward trending in scoring, as there were only two players who managed to get 100 points this season. It stayed about even for three seasons and then there was a big downturn in scoring, culminating in the 2014-15 season (the year after the shortened season due to the lockout) where Jamie Benn led the NHL with only 87 points.

You are not going to see Sidney Crosby on this list this season despite his 1.36 points per game average, the second best in the NHL, behind only Ovechkin’s 1.37. Crosby had 72 points in 53 games but he suffered a high-ankle injury on January 18 and missed 21 games and then re-aggravated the injury a week after his return and missed another seven contests.

Let’s look at the best from 2007-08.

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Best Fantasy Center

This one was so tight between a couple of Russians as Evgeni Malkin just edged out Pavel Datsyuk by the slightest of margins. Malkin was better offensively with 47 goals and 59 assists and scored 17 power play goals but his big edge was in penalty minutes as he had 78 minutes in the sin bin to Datsyuk’s 20. Malkin had 272 shots on goal and his slight edges everywhere except in plus/minus where he was a creditable plus-16 to Datsyuk’s NHL-leading plus-41. But it was not enough to put Datsyuk into the top spot among fantasy centers.

Honorable Mention:

Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit) – 31 goals, 66 assists, plus-41, 20 penalty minutes, 10 power play goals, 40 power play points, 264 shots on goal.

Joe Thornton (San Jose) – 29 goals, 67 assists, plus-18, 59 penalty minutes, 11 power play goals, 37 power play points, 178 shots on goal.

Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit) – 43 goals, 49 assists, plus-30, 34 penalty minutes, 16 power play goals, 36 power play points, 358 shots on goal.

Best Fantasy Right Winger

The Flames’ Jarome Iginla had as fine a season as he would have in his Hall-of-Fame career as the scored 50 goals for the second and last time in his career in the National Hockey League. Iginla chipped in extremely well everywhere else as he was a plus-27, had 83 penalty minutes, with 15 power play goals and 33 points with the man-advantage. Iginla had 338 shots on goal to lead all right wingers as well as he was terrific all season for the Calgary Flames.

Honorable Mention:

Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa) – 40 goals, 49 assists, plus-15, 34 penalty minutes, nine power play goals, 25 power play points, 217 shots on goal.

Alex Kovalev (Montreal) – 35 goals, 49 assists, plus-18, 70 penalty minutes, 17 power play goals, 47 power play points, 230 shots on goal.

Marian Gaborik (Minnesota) – 42 goals, 41 assists, plus-17, 63 penalty minutes, 11 power play goals, 24 power play points, 278 shots on goal.

Best Fantasy Left Winger

Alex Ovechkin dominated the NHL in 2007-08 as he won the Rocket Richard Trophy with 65 goals in what to date is a career high, won the Art Ross Trophy with 112 points and was named the winner of the Hart Trophy as well as the Lester B. Pearson which are the MVP and the most outstanding player in the league voted by the writers and the NHLPA respectively. But that was not all. He led the NHL easily in shots on goal with 446 and did well everywhere else with a plus-28, 40 penalty minutes, 22 power play goals and 37 power play points. If he was on your roster in fantasy, you should have done very well.

Honorable Mention:

Dany Heatley (Ottawa) – 41 goals, 41 assists, plus-33, 76 penalty minutes, 13 power play goals, 25 power play points, 224 shots on goal.

Brenden Morrow (Dallas) – 32 goals, 42 assists, plus-23, 105 penalty minutes, 12 power play goals, 28 power play points, 207 shots on goal.

Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta) – 52 goals, 35 assists, minus-12, 52 penalty minutes, 16 power play goals, 30 power play points, 283 shots on goal.

Best Fantasy Defenseman

Nicklas Lidstrom continued his dominance (this is a regular occurrence) as he led all blueliners in points with 70 and plus/minus with a plus-40. Lidstrom scored 10 times and added 60 assists while picking up 40 penalty minutes. He scored only five times on the power play but also had 29 assists with the man-advantage. Lidstrom managed 188 shots on goal and third straight James Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman. He just beat out Dion Phaneuf who has his best fantasy season of his career as seen below.

Honorable Mention:

Dion Phaneuf (Calgary)– 17 goals, 43 assists, plus-12, 182 penalty minutes, 10 power play goals, 33 power play points, 263 shots on goal.

Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh) – 12 goals, 53 assists, plus-13, 66 penalty minutes, eight power play goals, 46 power play points, 173 shots on goal.

Mark Streit (Montreal) – 13 goals, 49 assists, minus-six, 28 penalty minutes, seven power play goals, 34 power play points, 165 shots on goal.

Zdeno Chara (Boston) – 17 goals, 51 assists, plus-14, 114 penalty minutes, nine power play goals, 25 power play points, 207 shots on goal.

Best Fantasy Rookie

Patrick Kane came into the NHL as the league’s top pick in the 2007 Entry Draft and was awarded the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie. Also coming into the NHL this season was Jonathan Toews as he was selected third overall in 2006 by Chicago and the duo would eventually lead the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup wins in the next decade. Kane had 21 goals and 72 points with a minus-five rating. He also had 52 penalty minutes, scoring seven times on the power play with 21 assists and managed 191 shots on goal. It was just the start on what will be a place in the Hall of Fame upon his retirement.

Honorable Mention:

Nicklas Backstrom (Washington) – 14 goals, 55 assists, plus-13, 24 penalty minutes, three power play goals, 25 power play points, 153 shots on goal.

Jonathan Toews (Chicago) – 24 goals, 30 assists, plus-11, 44 penalty minutes, seven power play goals, 22 power play points, 144 shots on goal.

Peter Mueller (Phoenix) – 22 goals, 32 assists, minus-13, 32 penalty minutes, seven power play goals, 22 power play points, 201 shots on goal.

Best Fantasy Goaltender

This was a tight one between Evgeni Nabokov and Martin Brodeur. Nabokov had two more wins as he led the NHL with 46, and a slightly better GAA with 2.14 but his save percentage was only .910 while Brodeur’s was .920. Both played in 77 games as San Jose and New Jersey really did not put much use in their backup goaltenders. I am going to go with Nabokov this season as the best as he did manage two more shutouts than Brodeur as the San Jose netminder had six. This one will have a lot of debate but I’m giving it to Nabokov by the slightest of margins.

Honorable Mention:

Martin Brodeur – (New Jersey) 44-27-6/2.17/.920.

Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers) – 37-24-10/2.23/.912.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere – (Anaheim) 35-17-6/2.12/.922.

Miikka Kiprusoff – (Calgary) 39-26-10/2.69/.906.

2006-07 LEADERS

Points

Alex Ovechkin – 112

Evgeni Malkin – 106

Jarome Iginla – 98

Pavel Datsyuk – 97

Joe Thornton – 96