While fantasy hockey owners who selected the likes of Mike Green, Duncan Keith, and Drew Doughty as their top defenseman this year have been largely disappointed, those who thought a bit more outside the box and selected Anaheim's Lubomir Visnovsky are being handsomely rewarded.
With three weeks to go in the NHL season Visnovsky is tied with Phoenix's Keith Yandle---another steal on draft day for fantasy hockey owners---for most points among defensemen in the league with 56, one better than the rejuvinated Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit.
Of late, no other d-man in the league has been more productive than Visnovsky, who has five goals, five assists, and ten points in his last six games. In that stretch were two monster performances---a three-goal, four-point gem against Dallas on March 4 and a two-goal, three-point, plus-five night against the Rangers last Wednesday.
Though he has long flown under the radar, that Visnovsky is capable of providing such offensive numbers for his fantasy hockey owners should not come as a huge surprise. This is a defenseman who scored 17 goals and added a career-high 50 assists for a career-best 67 points in 2005-06 with the Kings, and then followed that up with a career-high 18 goals to go along with 58 points in 69 games a year later in LA.
However, heading into the fall of 2010 many fantasy hockey owners were overlooking Visnovsky as a high-end pick because he had missed 41 games due to injury the past two seasons, though his production had remained decent while playing for Edmonton and Anaheim.
The fantasy hockey owners who were able to snag Visnovsky have been rewarded with high-end consistent production from the blueline all season long. Visnovsky's 42 assists this year rank 10th among all skaters, not just defensemen, and he is finishing strong for an Anaheim team fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot out West. Even his plus/minus, usually a negative fantasy hockey stat for Visnovsky, is a decent plus-eight this year.
At 34 years of age, Visnovsky, at least for this season, has surged past the young studs like Green and Doughty as far as fantasy hockey value.
Send your fantasy hockey questions and comments to Jim at jimcerny@gmail.com.