Draft like the pros, part II

For the second year in a row, I took part in Mirtle's name-dropping fantasy league, which had its live draft this past weekend. There's a lot of big-name participants: Mirtle, BoA's Matt, CiO's Chris!, Spector, PJ, JJ, PPP, David Johnson, Forechecker, and more--it's certainly an intimidating group! In all it comes to 20 teams, head-to-head, as follows:

Positions: C x3, LW x2, RW x2, F x2, D x4, Util, BN x4, IR x3
Categories: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPG, PPA, GWG, SOG, W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO

So basically, it was two-plus hours of us drafting 400 players--the deepest draft I've ever been a part of. Anyway, without any further excuses, here's how I did.

Rd – Pick – Player
1 – 15 – E. Nabokov, G SJS
2 – 26 – J. Cheechoo, RW SJS
3 – 55 – L. Visnovsky, D LAK
4 – 66 – R. Smyth, LW COL
5 – 95 – A. Kopitar, C LAK
6 – 106 – P. Sykora, C PIT
7 – 135 – A. Hemsky, RW EDM
8 – 146 – T. Bertuzzi, RW ANA
9 – 175 – A. Raycroft, G TOR
10 – 186 – M. Handzus, C LAK
11 – 215 – S. Bernier, RW SJS
12 – 226 – C. Ehrhoff, D SJS
13 – 255 – R. Clowe, LW SJS
14 – 266 – J. Johnson, D LAK
15 – 295 – M. Garon, G EDM
16 – 306 – C. Rivet, D SJS
17 – 335 – R. Fedotenko, LW NYI
18 – 346 – R. Ivanans, LW LAK
19 – 375 – M. Stajan, C TOR
20 – 386 – B. Radivojevic, RW MIN

C – Kopitar, Sykora, Handzus, Stajan
LW – Smyth, Clowe, Fedotenko, Ivanans
RW – Cheechoo, Hemsky, Bertuzzi, Bernier, Radivojevic
D – Visnovsky, Ehrhoff, Johnson, Rivet
G – Nabokov, Raycroft, Garon

So all in all, 12 BoC players drafted on my 20-man roster (6 Sharks, 5 Kings, and a Duck named Bertuzzi), plus this morning I dropped Radivojevic for Jonas Hiller in an attempt to pick up some goaltending stats from England.

If you recall last year, I drafted even more BoC-heavy in this league, getting 13 BoC players in a 19-player draft (7 Ducks, 4 Kings, and 2 Sharks), and then immediately traded away Kiprusoff and Sykora for Niedermayer and Pronger. That worked out well enough; I got a fourth place finish (out of 20), with a claim-to-fame that I played Dan Cloutier every game he was eligible. Now you may be wondering, "Sleek, why the change in strategy? Given up on the Ducks this year?"

To tell the truth, this year's not the fantasy draft anomaly--really, last year was. Last year, I consciously decided to break Fantasy Hockey Rule #1: Never draft with your heart. It's kind of like putting all your eggs in one basket (though this saying has never made complete sense to me--who really wants multiple baskets of eggs?). Had the Ducks suffered last year, I would have been hurting on two fronts: reality and fantasy. Fortunately, they didn't, but I'm not one to keep the same heavy gamble going year after year.

Instead, this year I went with a much more emotionally safe fantasy team--one that offsets my actual desires. That way, if the Ducks score and win a bunch, I might suffer on the fantasy front but I can at least take heart in actual results. If, on the other hand, the Ducks get pummeled in the BoC this year, I'll take a lot of heat on this blog for real-life results but damn--I'll probably be kicking ass in the Mirtle League! Besides, I think it would be nice to experience how the Sharks and Kings fans feel each year after being disappointed by their players' lackluster efforts.

Anyways, I know it's not that helpful just seeing my picks without any context, but if anybody has any comments, advice, or trade offers, the Sleek-store is now open for business.

Go me.