By Ray Flowers
August 22, 2008 6:01pm CDT

Admit it, you love the summer days spent on the beach starting at gals in bikinis and men in speedos, but you really long for the change of the seasons that signals hockey is on the way. While the leaves might not have changed colors and fallen from trees just yet, we at Fanball have been diligently applying ourselves to the study of the upcoming NHL season, as we prepare for the sound of a blade sliding across a sheet of ice and the sound of the boards shaking after a thunderous check. To that end, we are proud to announce the release of our 2008-09 Fanball NHL Fantasy Draft Kit.

In what follows, we will offer a quick synopsis of the offerings in the Draft Guide, one that has been produced by some of the best minds in the fantasy hockey universe, men who are so addicted to hockey that one of them, without naming names, actually sleeps with a hockey stick before his team has a big game. Yeah, we’re that serious about what we do.

Here are some of the features that will allow you to dominate the competition in your fantasy league this season.

PLAYER PROFILES: At the heart of any draft guide are the player profiles, and this guide posts a fantastic section of 300 NHL skaters broken down by position (LW, C, RW, D, G).

2008 PROJECTIONS: In addition to reviewing each player’s production the past handful of seasons, we have also provided a series of projections for the upcoming season to give you an idea of what we expect out of each performer.

STRATEGY ARTICLES: Have you never played fantasy hockey before? Would you like to learn how? Or if you have played before but would like a little refresher course, we have an article for you to brush up on Fantasy Hockey 101.

IN-DEPTH FEATURE ARTICLES: Which players should you target as sleepers? Who is overvalued and should be avoided? Which rookies figure to make an impact? Moreover, which second-year players are ready to take the leap to fantasy greatness? Which teams have battles in net that you should be concerned with? The answers to all these questions are presented in our Analysis section.

IMPACT REPORTS: Besides the 300 player capsules, we also have in-depth articles discussing some of the most interesting players of the coming season. In a series of articles, we break down a handful of players at each position in extraordinary depth with names like Stastny, Getzlaf, Bouwmeester and Vokoun being discussed.

CUSTOMIZABLE CHEAT SHEETS: Does your league use traditional scoring methods or does it move beyond the traditional to a more custom approach? No matter. We give you the tools to customize our player rankings based upon the rules your league employs.

DEPTH CHARTS: Which player has been bumped to the checking line this year, causing his value to drop? Who is that hotshot rookie skating with? What about that injured stud? Who is going to take his spot on the top defense pairing? We have all that covered in our Depth Chart section.

TEAM REPORTS: No draft guide would be complete without a breakdown of the teams. Our Team Reports section touches on how each team did last season and what should be expected in the coming year. We take a look at the forward and goalie ranks, the battles in net, who flopped in 2007 and who will likely enjoy a breakout in 2008.

Have we hooked you yet? If we haven’t, we’re sure that the crazy low price of $5.95 will certainly close the deal.

Click this link to purchase the NHL draft kit now!

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