One Year Hockey Pool Draft Results!

So far, my goal of updating this place with any sort of regularity is a massive failure. But we'll keep trying.

A couple of weekends ago I had both of my hockey drafts. The afternoon was my regular one year pool, while in the evening was my keeper pool. You'd think that a day full of hockey drafts and pizza and X-Box and Entourage would be one of the greatest days ever, but after the dust had settled I was completely beat.

Anyways, I wanted to go over my thought process on my one year pool to share some ideas on strategies and the whatnot.

Since last year my team trainwrecked out of the gate (I was stifled by Semin, Demitra, McCabe, Justin Williams and Kevin Bieksa's ability to stay healthy early on, combined with the inability for Kipprusoff and Backstrom to not suck between the pipes) but finished fairly strong, I won the consolation round and, as per league rules, had the option to pick where I selected in the draft. I did take something away from last season, which is to never underestimate the value of depth.

I immediately thought of taking one of the top 2 picks to get Crosby or Ovechkin. Then I thought about maybe taking a mid-round pick and grabbing Brodeur or Heatley and having a better pick in the 2nd round. Then I toyed with the idea of drafting last and getting back to back picks of elite players. Ultimately I decided to map it out and see what kind of talent drops there were. I found that there were about 19 players I liked as first round type talents. That made it very easy and I decided to take the 2nd pick. This ensured me one of the big 2, while also guaranteeing I got one of my guys with my 2nd pick as well. It also solved the dilemma of having the first pick: Crosby or Ovechkin. They're fairly equal in my books, though I'd slightly prefer Ovechkin in our pool format (LW and he gets lots of shots).

So lets take a round by round look at what happened:

First Round: Sidney Crosby (C) - I was hoping Crosby would go 1st overall so I could nab Ovechkin due to his left-wingedness, but alas Ovie was selected first overall (after the guy tried trading the first overall pick in order to move up in the 4th round....which didn't seem to make any sense to me). I quickly grabbed Crosby, who is obviously the next best player in the league. I hate grabbing centres early but...well....its Crosby.

Second Round: Joe Thornton (C) - Uhh....what did I just say about centres? I was totally set on taking a goalie with this pick and the 2nd goalie on my board (Lundqvist) just about fell to me (taken just before my pick). After Lundqvist was gone, my first tier goalies were all gone so I quickly browsed the other positions and noticed that, for some reason, Joe Thornton was still available. Since Thornton is a 90-100 point player and since I'm a huge Thornton fan, I completely abandoned my centre dodging mantra and scooped him up. I mean...hey...it's Joe Thornton with the 19th pick in the draft!

Third Round: Marty Turco (G) - I definitely had to grab a keeper here because it was going to be a long wait for my next pick. Turco was the top goalie in my 2nd tier and was a pretty obvious choice. I really like the looks of the Dallas team this year and Turco is a workhorse that has stayed healthy, so this is a pretty safe lock for 35 or so wins and solid rate stats.

Fourth Round: Mike Green (D) - This was my mistake of the draft. I made a quick mental error, not taking enough time to think about what I was doing and it might end up really costing me. I wanted to grab a 2nd goalie and top D-man. Green was at the top of my 2nd tier of d-men, while Carey Price was at the top of my 3rd tier of goalies. Except I didn't really consider Price a 3rd tier goalie...I considered him somewhere between a 2nd and 3rd tier goalie. I took Green, not realizing that the guy that had back-to-back picks before my next one HAD to take a goalie and sure enough he took Price. Don't get me wrong, I like Green, but there isn't much difference between him and Brian Campbell and I surely would have gotten one of those 2 in the fifth round.

Fifth Round: Brendan Morrow (LW) - I thought of grabbing my 2nd goalie here, but noticed that my third tier of goalies was long and a pretty interchangeable bunch so I decided I could wait and still get one with my next pick. Morrow is probably one of the more underrated players because he's going to get 70-80 points, but also help out a bunch in PIMs and +/-. He also helps fill a tough-to-fill LW slot.

Sixth Round: Teemu Selanne (RW) - Selanne surprisingly got very little love this year in either of my pools. He's still an 80 point player and to get an 80 point RW at this stage in the draft is a steal. Right wing is pretty shallow this year and if you don't get in on them soon enough, you'll suffer from the severe drop in talent after the first 12 or so. This might be my favorite pick of the draft.

Seventh Round: Andrei Markov (D) - I planned on taking a goalie here but goalies were staying on the board and I had enough third tier goalies left on my list that I was pretty sure I could wait for things to come back around to me again. Making this decision easier was the fact Markov was still around, who I had ranked up there with Green and Campbell. Nice pick here, but also makes my Green pick look even that much poorer.

Eighth Round: Nathan Horton (RW) - I was going G/RW with these next two picks and noticed the guy with back-to-back picks between my picks already had two goalies so I felt pretty safe passing on Cam Ward here (the last third tier goalie on my list) and taking Horton. I love Horton this year because he's going to be the go to guy in Florida and I think he can handle it. He also adds some PIMs to the mix and helps shore up that last RW slot for me before the perilous RW talent drop.

Ninth Round: Cam Ward (G) - As mad at myself as I was about the Green/Price fiasco, I couldn't have really asked for a better plan B. I'm not huge on Ward but I don't think he's that much different from the Nik Backstrom's and Jose Theodore's of the world and I was able to nab him as late as I possibly could have. I think Carolina will have a solid team and he should rack up enough wins to make my goalies good enough.

Tenth Round: Bryan McCabe (D) - I bounced back and forth on whether McCabe was a 2nd or 3rd tier D this year, so to get him this late is a nice little roll of the dice. If he stays healthy, he should be okay manning the Panthers power play (it can't be any worse than Toronto!) and he also contributes in the PIM category, which is important considering the players I was targetting in later rounds. If he busts...meh...I'm only out a 10th rounder.

Eleventh Round: Patrik Elias (LW) - I wanted to grab a LW here just to shore up my starting line-up. Left wing is actually much deeper this year than it has been in the past and there were a lot of similar type players here. I ultimately went with Elias becuase he does have 80 point potential still and last year he struggled and still put up 55 points. He also might end up leading my team in shots.

Twelfth Round: Kristian Huselius (LW) - Speaking of similar type left wings....I was really surprised to see Huselius slide to this spot. I'm not entirely sold on him but he did put up 66 points last year despite spending an awful lot of time in Mike Keenan's doghouse. The move to Columbus won't kill his stats because he'll be lining up with Rick Nash and he'll probably get alot more ice time. A very nice third left wing to have.

Thirteenth Round: Mats Sundin (C) - At this point in the draft it gets very hard to predict what will happen and there begin to be ALOT of similar type players. It makes a lot of sense to grab a risky player with a ton of upside that people have been avoiding at this point. I grabbed Sundin because he was easily the most talented player on the board and he also seems, to me anyways, the most sure bet of all the question marks that were out there. And with Crosby and Thornton, I don't NEED Sundin to play anytime soon, though he would slot very nicely into a UTIL spot.

Fourteenth Round: Andrej Meszaros (D) - There were still a handful of decent defensemen available and I needed a fourth one so I nabbed Meszaros here. I think he's a lock for about 40 points and some PIMs, but he also has the potential for about 50 points manning a pretty good Lightning power play.

Fifteenth Round: Brian Gionta (RW) - With Selanne getting up there in age, I wanted a solid back-up right wing and Gionta scored 40 goals just a couple of years ago. He was mediocre last year but I really think Elias and Gionta are going to have bounce back seasons.

Sixteenth Round: J.M. Liles (D) - I had Liles just behind Meszaros on my rankings and figured here was as good as time as any to grab a back-up d-man. Especially considering Liles would be a starter on a lot of teams. He suffered through a horrible season last year and still managed 32 points.

Seventeenth Round: Patrice Bergeron (C) - From everything I've read, Bergeron is pretty much back 100% from his injury last season. If so, its hard to argue with grabbing a 75 point player in the 17th round.

Eighteenth Round: Patrick O'Sullivan (C) - Sully should probably pick-up LW eligibility at some point, which gives him even more value. He seems primed for a breakout season this year after a strong finish last year and 65-70 points aren't out of the question. Another great late-round value pick if you ask me.

Nineteenth Round: Kris Letang (D) - This was an educated sleeper pick. I knew Whitney was out for a few months and it looked like Gonchar was going to miss a bit of time. With Gonchar now out for 4-6 months, Letang is an absolute steal here. He'll be quarterbacking a power play unit that includes Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and with that might actually be my third or fourth best d-man.

Twentieth Round: Drew Stafford (RW) - Never a bad idea to stock up on solid right wings this year and Stafford should be in line for about 50 or so points, with potential for more if he makes a leap this year.

Twenty-first Round: Ty Conklin (G) - Osgood's owner dropped the ball by letting Conklin go undrafted to this point. With Ward and Turco being pretty consistent and healthy in the past, I put off drafting a third goalie. Conklin was a player I was quietly targetting because Osgood always seems to battle injuries and/or struggle with play and it would not be out of the question for Conklin to pick up quite a few starts. And when those starts are for Detroit, Conklin could become a top 15 goalie.

Twenty-second Round: Josh Harding (G) - Funny thing....I was also quietly targetting Harding because there is a good chance he could get alot of starts this year and Minnesota is a nice team for your goalie to be starting for. It also so happens that the Osgood owner in our league owned Backstrom as his other goalie....so now both of his handcuffs (and arguably the two most important ones in the league this year) are on my roster. This was a great pick based solely on bargaining power on a future trade, let alone Harding's potential.

Twenty-third Round: Fabian Brunnstrom (LW) - I really liked my team for the most part and I also liked my depth so I decided to take a chance on the highest upside player left. I don't anticipate much from him, but you never know and my roster is set up such that I can afford to drop him for someone else if need be. (Which I ended up doing after someone dropped Chris Higgins).

Recap

Centre - Thornton, Crosby, Sundin, Bergeron, O'Sullivan

Easily the best in the league. And if Sundin returns....WOW! The nice thing is we have two forward slots and a UTIL slot, so Bergeron will be in the starting line-up along with Sundin, if he returns.

Left Wing - Morrow, Elias, Huselius, Higgins

Not an elite group, but also not too bad and there is some depth here. I really like Morrow and am hoping Elias or Huselius has another big season left in them.

Right Wing - Selanne, Horton, Gionta, Stafford

Selanne is just about as good as any RW not taken in the first round and I really like Horton's prospects this year. If Gionta can regain his form this is another very strong unit.

Defense - Green, Markov, McCabe, Meszaros, Liles, Letang

This isn't a really flashy unit, but I think it might end up being one of the top units in our league. I really like Green and Markov as top of the line guys and I'm left with four very good options to plug into the last two slots. This gives me lots of match-up options each week and will also cushion the blow of any potential injuries.

Goaltender - Turco, Ward, Conklin, Harding

Turco is one of my favorite goalies this year because of the strong Dallas team in front of him, but having Ward here still bugs me. Turco/Price had the potential to be the best goalie tandem in the league, whereas Turco/Ward is merely average. Oh well....I still really like this team and think that my incredible depth will pay off nicely down the road.