2nd Half Stars & Stinkers

This is typically one of our more popular posts (see last year's) as we get a lot of people asking us about guys that typically go north or south during the 2nd half of the season...

2nd Half Stars

These are the guys who make a habit of turning it up after the All-Star break... we won't ask them what they were doing in the 1st half. Here's our All 2nd Half Stars Team:

F - Pavel Datsyuk - career ppg: .95 pre AS break, 1.05 post AS break. He starts slow (career .83 combined in Oct/Nov) but finishes insane (career 1.07 after November).

F - Brad Richards - career ppg: .88 pre AS break, .98 post AS break. His numbers have increased post break in seven of the past nine seasons... but not last season.

F - Jason Spezza - career ppg: .97 pre AS break, 1.07 post AS break. Over the past three seasons he is .77 before the break and 1.11 after.

Honourable mention amongst the forwards goes to Jason Pominville (.78 pre, .83 post, increased in each of the past five years), Thomas Vanek (.79 pre, .89 post, his career post AS break s% is 19.6% versus 13.6% prior), Jarome Iginla (.88 pre, .95 post, he was 18+10=28 in 18 March & April games last year) and Sam Gagner (.51 pre, .87 post, production has increased in each of his first four seasons).

D - Mark Streit - career ppg: .53 pre AS break, .72 post AS break. His numbers have increased post break in each of the four seasons prior to missing all of 2010/11.

D - Ryan Whitney - career ppg: .51 pre AS break, .68 post AS break. Prior to missing the 2nd half last year, his numbers have increased post break in each of his first five seasons.

Honourable mention amongst the dmen (note: Mike Green would be a Star choice but his season has been a hot mess and who knows if he'll return) goes to Nicklas Lidstrom (.72 pre, .76 post, increased post break in four of the past six seasons), Tom Gilbert (.33 pre, .57 post, March & April are the two best months over his career) and Alex Goligoski (.49 pre, .62 post, 15 points in 23 games after joining Dallas in February last season).

G - Cam Ward - last four seasons: 2.75 gaa & .911 sv% pre AS break, 2.37 gaa & .922 sv% post AS break. His numbers have improved post break in each of the past four seasons.

Honourable mention amongst the goalies goes to Henrik Lundqvist (2.33 & .919 pre, 2.16 & .923 post, his numbers have improved post break in four of the past five seasons), Pekka Rinne (pre: 2.42 & .919, post: 2.24 & .925) and Antti Niemi (pre: 2.39 & .915, post: 2.28, .919).

Stinkers after the jump...

2nd Half Stinkers

Here's the guys that always seem to go south after the All-Star break and smart fantasy GMs should consider unloading these guys soon. Here's our All 2nd Half Stinkers Team:

F - Dany Heatley - career ppg: 1.03 pre AS break, .97 post AS break. His numbers have decreased post AS break in each of the past six seasons.

F - Martin St. Louis - career ppg: .93 pre AS break, .89 post AS break. His numbers have decreased post AS break in five of the past six seasons (last year was the exception).

F - Joe Thornton - last four seasons: 1.15 pre AS break, .90 post AS break. His numbers have decreased post AS break in each of the past four seasons.

Honourable mention amongst the forwards goes to Patrick Kane (1.03 pre Jan1st, .85 post), Phil Kessel (.75 pre, .64 post) and Evgeni Malkin (1.22 pre March, 1.09 Mar/Apr).

D - Shea Weber - career ppg: .60 pre AS break, .47 post AS break. His numbers have decreased post break in each of the last five seasons.

D - Tomas Kaberle - last three seasons: .67 pre AS break, .34 post AS break. His weak finishes have been morphing into slow starts lately as well.

Honourable mention amongst the dmen goes to Kris Letang (.52 pre, .35 post, way down the past two years), Dan Boyle (.64 pre, .56 post), Zdeno Chara (.47 pre, .40 post) and Dan Girardi (.39 pre-Jan1st, .25 post).

G - Tim Thomas - career numbers: 2.35 gaa & .926 sv% pre AS break, 2.65 gaa & .916 sv% post AS break. Hard to complain but his numbers have dropped post break in each of the past four seasons.

Honourable mention amongst the goalies goes to Ryan Miller (career: 2.54 & .915 pre, 2.68 & .912 post) and Jonathan Quick (career: 2.28 & .918 pre, 2.43 & .913 post, numbers have worsened post break in each of his first three seasons).