So I'm up to my neck in fantasy drafts and while I don't have much faith in any Avalanche players blowing up and carrying my teams, I figured I'd put it to MHH and decide which of the guys I like are even worth drafting. Four Avalanche stalwarts are targeted in pretty much every draft, those 4 being: Stastny, Hejduk, Liles and the newly-acquired Kyle Quincey. Then there's the super sleepers that only a fan of the team would think to acquire on draft night. The notable three in that category being Chris Stewart and the two top rookies, Duchene and O'Reilly.

Sensible fantasy owners (regardless of allegiance) would wait for those guys to make some progress early in the season before jumping on them, but in the three drafts I've done so far, other owners reached for Hejduk and Liles.. and I refuse to have only one or two players from my favorite team on board. I have Stastny and Duchene on all three teams.

I feel comfortable about Duchene, and find it odd that Tavares goes so high in drafts and Duchene is generally ignored. The Avalanche have handled prospects questionably in the past.. but surely with Joe Sakic retiring and ticket sales an issue.. they won't hesitate to unleash the young guns.. will they?

As far as Stew and O'Reilly go, I have waiver claims out on them in my depest league. Dropping Justin Williams and Jonathan Cheechoo. It's not like it's a money league or anything, so I feel comfortable being a bit of a homer.. but what kind of numbers should I - and we as fans - expect from them? Is Stewart going to be a bigger part of the offense this year? Will O'Reilly even make the team? Yahoo's Matt Romig actually pegged O'Reilly as the most promising prospect of the 3 in terms of big picture, and Puck Daddy projects a reasonable 39 points from him in 09-10.

So, annnnnyway, anybody want to prognosticate these guys' fantasy potential for this season? And is there another 'lancher I'm overlooking? Could Svatos be due for an upswing?