Kukla's Korner Hockey
My Fantasy Draft Aftermath
by Hippy Dave on 10/01/09 at 02:20 PM ET
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Good god nothing is so draining as crawling back from a 10 hour work day to throw a draft party, but damn it, I did it. Now comes the deep introspective reflection… “Did I do well?” I think so.. if only the Zamboners would have stopped talking my ear off during my picks… “Could I have done better?” Shoot after looking at WhoFarted IceMelted’s roster I sure know so; the guy drafted only players who score the most power play points, and with that strategy his team looks monstrous. Though I believe beating the perennial favorite Filth and last year’s cup winner The Fargin Iceholes are well within my sights.
The important thing to realize here is not to have buyer’s remorse following a draft. I don’t know about you but I love to work the wire, but you can’t go jumping ship after your draft trying to second guess yourself. My league allows 30 wire moves during the season and I run out of all 30 about 2 weeks before the playoffs start. That’s how I roll. But bide your time and see how your instincts pay off for the first few weeks.
It seems there are three basic tacks you can take during a draft: Pick up proven performers, pick up young guys who promise to bust out this year and next, or pick up guys who were injured last year and can be monsters this year if only they’ll stay in shape. I took a mix of the first and the latter this year. I feel about as confident as a Disney lemming right about now, but in three months, things will be different.
So, what do you think? My fantasy roster for the year:
The Raging Hippies:
Stats: %Started-G-A-(+/-)-PIM-PPP-SHP-GWG-FW | Wins-GAA-SV%-SO
C Ryan Getzlaf
(Anh - C) CBN 96% 25 66 5 121 37 0 2 566
C Marc Savard
(Bos - C) CBN 92% 25 63 25 70 30 2 5 643
C Mikko Koivu
(Min - C) CBN 45% 20 47 2 66 26 6 3 857
LW Michael Cammalleri
(Mon - LW) LWBN 94% 39 43 -2 44 34 0 6 222
LW Brenden Morrow
(Dal - LW) LWBN 44% 5 10 -4 49 5 0 0 3
LW Ville Leino
(Det - LW) LWBN 5% 5 4 5 6 0 0 1 7
RW Shane Doan
(Pho - RW) RWBN 87% 31 42 5 72 25 2 4 160
RW Jamie Langenbrunner
(NJ - RW) RWBN 76% 29 40 25 56 17 3 7 10
RW Jason Pominville
(Buf - RW) RWBN 60% 20 46 -4 18 24 1 2 25
D Mike Green
(Was - D) DBN 97% 31 42 24 68 38 1 4 0
D Tomas Kaberle
(Tor - D) DBN 44% 4 27 -8 8 19 0 1 0
D Cam Barker
(Chi - D) DBN 57% 6 34 -6 65 29 1 1 0
D Ryan Whitney
(Anh - D) DBN 23% 2 21 -14 28 11 0 0 0
D Joni Pitkanen
(Car - D) DBN 47% 7 26 11 58 14 0 3 0
D Brent Seabrook
(Chi - D) DBN 55% 8 18 23 62 8 1 1 0
BN Derick Brassard
(Cls - C) CBN 18% 10 15 12 17 7 0 1 161
BN Bryan Little
(Atl - RW) RWBN 24% 31 20 -5 24 20 0 4 93
BN Danny Briere
(Phi - C) CBN 28% 11 14 -1 26 10 0 0 68
BN Daniel Carcillo
(Phi - LW) LWBN 13% 3 11 -15 254 3 0 0 12
G Martin Brodeur
(NJ - G) GBN 95% 19 2.42 .916 5
BN Pekka Rinne
(Nsh - G) GBN 63% 29 2.38 .917 7
BN Jonas Hiller
(Anh - G) GBN 35% 23 2.39 .919 4
Getzlaf, Green, and Brodeur were my keepers (we get 3). I think I freaking locked down the goalie stats this year, which account for 4/12 stats in our league. Rinne is a starter, and Hiller will be. All players have a GAA and a SV% within miniscule decimal points of each other. In this category I will crush. Plus when the creme rises to the top I’ll have some great trade bait.
As far as the forwards go, I think snagging Savard in our “first” round was a steal, though I’m already looking at Patrick Kane sitting pretty on another guy’s team and feeling the remorse. I’m thinking a contract year and getting snubbed by Stevie for the Canadian Olympic Team is going to spark this kid into an even higher gear.
Cammalleri was next. Good ol’ Michigan boy. Those damn French Canadians better not soften him up on poutin, batard, and fromage, damnit. It’s only a matter of time.
Shane Doan was third; he’s been a solid performer for years now, scoring across all stat categories, and this year he’s a roving winger with time to spare finding those sweet spots. Plus he’s a PIM guy. But mainly pick him up to piss of the guy in my league who’s drafted him every year, and won the most cups. That’s what you get for poaching Loui Eriksson from me, damn you.
Mikko Koivu and Brendan Morrow. I believe the former is set to have his premiere year as Minnesota’s first line center. But who will be his Gaborik now? Brendan Morrow I have a good feeling about…. sorta. Our league judges PIMs as good, so I think he’ll be the most effective PIM logging high-scoring forward—if his thigh stops hurting him and he learns to drink from something other than a sippy-cup between periods.
My favorite late-round steals were Pominville, who had a crushing year two years ago and relapsed a bit this year, Briere in the 17th round, a center who is on wing, technically now, Kaberle in the 16th, who everyone forgot about as usual, and Brassard, who showed so much promise last year before getting injured and now finds himself on a dream line between Nash and Huselius.
Props also to Bryan Little who I think is going to grow three sizes this year.
I had to pick up a Red Wing, so I went with Leino, my sleeper for the year (yeah yeah, “he’s not a sleeper,” - the definition of sleeper changes based on league and roster depth so if you don’t agree with me here, bite me). I probably made a bad choice taking him ahead of better players, but at least now I have something extra to root for when he scores. I think you need that in any fantasy team. So long as you don’t go too overboard picking the homers.
All in all I did the same thing I do every year—not focus enough on power play points and goals. That is going to cost me and I’m going to be wheeling and dealing all year to make up for it. But hey, par for the course, I’m comfortable here.
Your thoughts?
Now drop the damn puck.
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