S68 Sterling Labatte Favourites; Part II

[McWolf 3,115]

Part 2 of 2. You can read Part I here.

 

Brady Stropko Jr.

Since his career started, BSJ has pretty much always been in the shadow of better defensemen. Malenko, Kovalchuk, heck, even Elasmobranch Fish played better than Stropko last season. This is his season though. The Wranglers may have added Leph Twinger on the blueline and he should step in a big role straight up, but Stropko is young and he's still developping, so there should be a great distance between him and the other defensemen on the team by season end. He'll have a ton of opportunities, we'll see if he takes them and run.

Projected statline: 10 goals, 60 assists, 70 points, 200 hits, 100 shots blocked.

 

Sidney Crosby

Crosby has been near the top of the league for so long, but he never was a clear favourite to win an award. Helsinki has been on an amazing run these past few seasons, so it helps with production all over, but Crosby has the same kind of problem Werbenjagermanjensen could be having throughout the season, he got another similar-TPE defenseman to share his points with; Jesse Wilson. Still, Crosby's usually been the one with better stats of the two, so an award come season end is never out of the question.

Projected statline: 15 goals, 60 assists, 75 points, 200 hits, 125 shots blocked.

 

Vladimir Pavlov

The sophomore had a rough rookie season, playing a depth role for the Russian powerhouse, but Paolo Nano isn't getting younger and his better days are behind him, so the Pavlov show can start now. He's easily the defenseman with the least TPE on this list, but he's set to be the best defenseman on what will be an amazing team once again, and he'll improve throughout the season so it's possible he comes home with the Labatte in the next offseason.

Projected statline: 20 goals, 50 assists, 70 points, 150 hits, 150 shots blocked.