Early points race prediction

As the first quarter of the 2007-2008 season comes to a close, its time to make an early, inaccurate, yet educated guess as to who will come out on top in this seasons point race. I will give names and point totals arbitrarily, but I sort of know what I'm saying...I think.

1. Sidney Crosby, 133 Pts
2. Evgeni Malkin, 129 Pts
3. Joe Thornton, 123 Pts
   
4. Dany Heatley, 120 Pts
5. Henrik Zetterberg, 120 Pts
6. Jarome Iginla, 118 Pts
7. Alex Ovechkin, 117 Pts
8. Vincent Lecavalier, 115 Pts
9. Daniel Briere, 113 Pts
10. Ilya Kovalchuk, 112 Pts
11. Jason Spezza, 111 Pts
12. Daniel Alfredsson, 110 Pts
13. Jaromir Jagr, 110 Pts
14. Marian Hossa, 108 Pts
15. Martin St. Louis, 107
16. Paul Kariya, 107 Pts
    
17. Paul Stasny, 107 Pts
18. Marc Savard, 105 Pts
19. Pavel Datsyuk, 104 Pts
20. Daniel Sedin, 104 Pts
21. Patrick Marleau, 100 Pts
22. Joe Sakic, 99 Pts
23. Thomas Vanek, 97 Pts
24. Scott Gomez, 96 Pts
25. Mats Sundin, 95 Pts
26. Eric Staal, 93 Pts
27. Ryan Smyth, 90 Pts
28. Ray Whitney, 89 Pts
    
29. Marian Gaborik, 88 Pts
30. Brad Richards, 84 Pts
31. Daymond Langkow, 83 Pts
    
32. Justin Williams, 83 Pts
33. Michael Nylander, 80 Pts
34. Milian Hejduk, 77 Pts
35. Mike Cammaleri, 74 Pts
36. Rod Brind'Amour, 74 Pts
37. Patrick Kane, 72 Pts
38. Chris Drury, 72 Pts
    
39. Kristian Huselius, 72 Pts
40. Ryan Getzlaf, 71 Pts
41. Rick Nash, 69 Pts
42. Alex Tanguay, 68 Pts
    
43. Jonathan Toews, 67 Pts
44. Jason Blake, 67 Pts
45. Corey Perry, 67 Pts
46. Vaclav Prospal, 67 Pts
47. Nathan Horton, 66 Pts
48. Milan Michalek, 66 Pts
49. Vyacheslav Kozlov, 65 Pts
50. Derek Roy, 65 Pts
    

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How about them sleepers?

Let's revisit my sleeper picks for this season. I'll have to mention that I've been a Leclaire supporter since last season - I had drafted him in the last round as a sleeper. He was up on my list because I believed that if he was healthy Columbus would be more than happy to make him their starter. The rest are iffy (save Khabi, who is Chi's only option anyways) but have definitely proven their potential.

1. Carey Price, MTL - Projected Round - 3/4 to completion
2. Manny Legace, STL - Projected Round - 3/4 to completion
3. Mike Smith, DAL - Projected Round - 2/3 to completion
4. Pascal Leclaire, CLB - Projected Round - Undrafted
5. David Aebischer, PHX - Projected Round - 3/4 to completion
6. Dan Sabourin, PIT - Projected Round - Undrafted
7. Nikolai Khabibulin, CHI - Projected Round - 2/3 to completion
8. Jose Theodore, COL - Projected Round - Undrafted
9. Martin Gerber, OTT - Projected Round - 3/4 to completion
10. Jean-Sebastian Aubin, LA - Projected Round - Undrafted

Pretty pretty good. Those guys are definitely of more value than they were on draft day.

1. Duncan Keith, CHI
2. Carlo Colaiacovo, TOR
3. Mark Streit, MON
4. Brent Seabrook, CHI
5. Ian White, TOR
6. Adrian Aucoin, CGY
7. Niklas Kronvall, DET
8. Fedor Tyutin, NYR
9. Thomas Pock, NYR
10. Cam Barker, CHI

Pretty pretty bad, but then again its really hard to see a defenseman 'break out'. The season is still young.

1. Niklas Backstrom, WSH
2. Lee Stempniak, StL
3. Jiri Hudler, DET
4. Alexander Steen, TOR
5. Drew Strafford, BUF
6. Andrew Ladd, CAR
7. Jonathan Toews, CHI
8. Gilbert Brule, CLB
9. Scottie Upshall, PHI
10. Phil Kessel, BOS

Toews is playing incredibly well. Backstrom is auditioning for biggest bust already. I'm sure he's played well, but where are the headturning plays we expected? Also, keep an eye on Kessel. With Bergeron out, Kessel's offensive presence should increase.

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