7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens Fantasy Hockey Players

POGS ... Surely one of the most chilling chapters of American history

When I began putting this post together, I actually imagined it could fit reasonably in one post. If/once you browse through these excessive articles, you'll agree that was a theory fit for The No Spin Zone.*

Anyhooters, I decided to break this mammoth thing down as such: the Cliff Notes version is here in this post...but for those of you who prefer specifics over theory, I have links to a very early version of a blog I'm working on.

(Expect the occasional bit of shameless self-promotion on that in the coming weeks/months/years. Please excuse some of the typos as I wrote that thing in one fatigue induced sitting)

Naturally, this is still a huge post and there's some pretty simple rules here. At the same time, I'm confident if you keep these things in mind and a Cheat Sheet with you ... you probably won't suck too bad.

With all that, here's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective - and Lowly Laid - Fantasy Hockey Mangers" (and their corresponding links)

1. (and this is huge) Know your categories

This shouldn't be difficult, but man oh man is it crucial. For one thing, there's categories that make or break some players.

The dark horse PIM guy is Phoenix's Daniel Carcillo. He could be had very late in many not so savvy drafts. And although he actually has some respectable offensive skills, it must be known that he's probably only worthwhile in a league with PIM.

Seriously, 300+ PIM. That's craziness.

For a rarer stat like faceoff wins, take a look at which wingers get FW ... and do yourself a favor and draft Rod the Bod. Sure, he looks like Joe Camel - but that can just give you the incentive to re-name your team "the Cameltoes."

(You know, if you're a douche)

But the most important thing to consider with categories is Goalies. If your league has anywhere near a 50-50 split in offensive stats and goalie stats, it's better to pay premium prices for the Jiggy-Brodeur-Nabokov's instead of rolling the dice with Bryzgalovs.

Otherwise, the general rule is to get offense first and goaltending in the middle rounds. (Although I usually go for a premium goalie and a sleeper to be honest)

2. Know who's injured

Nothing hurts your team - but most importantly, makes you look like kind of an idiot - more than picking a guy who was recently injured.

Havlat and the IR - like a bizarro world peanut butter and chocolate.

The best sources are news sites such as TSN, ESPN and so forth. Of course, the blogosphere can provide you answers too(albeit in our patented scatter-brained way).

3. Think economics - scarcity rules (aka Centers are a dime a dozen)

Judging supply and demand can allow you to get more of your favorite choices than you might think. As a general rule, high scoring wingers, power forwards and elite defensemen are the rarest commodities in fantasy hockey.

In my three drafts, my first picks were Alex Ovechkin (#1 pick) and Henrik Zetterberg (twice, late picks). I even had the dilemma of Joe Thornton vs. Z, but chose Hank because of his position - and, let's be honest, he DOES look like Jared Leto.

Even though I think Jumbo Joe might put up more points and is less injury prone, I chose Z because there just aren't many high level LW. The gamble paid off as I was able to get Olli Jokinen and Ryan Getzlaf later on in the draft.

Again, every league is different, so consult rule #1.

4. It's good to be cold hearted, with a mercenary instinct.

Todd Bertuzzi is a piece of shit. But I draft him EVERY year. It's like some awful tradition. Think Thanksgiving Dinner for the Jackson family.

5. Still, being a mushy fan is OK - in the later rounds, at least. Sometimes.

Nothing's more groan inducing than a homer who runs out of players he/she knows and starts picking bit players from their favorite team. (Seriously, someone picked Jeff fucking Halpern!!!)

But as much of a handicap as that can be, it actually can accomplish two goals: 1) getting you a late round steal and b) giving you just that much more rooting interest.

Think of rules 4 and 5 as something of a Yin and Yang.

6. Get yourself a Cheat Sheet or two

The Yahoo! drafts can be a high pressure situation with its 1:30 countdown clock. Sure, you could probably draft a solid team with Yahoo's snazzy interface, but its rankings are good but not perfect.

For instance, it greatly underrates guys such as Joe Sakic and Teemu Selanne because of injuries.

Unless you're in a BoC draft, guys like S. Niedermayer, Marleau and Selanne are steals

If you use/read nothing else, the Cheat Sheet I put together is the most useful thing of all. The links there have rankings for goalies and an overall top 100 from a fantasy expert who actually knows what he's doing. It is HIGHLY recommended.

In fact, here it is again in case you have some sort of scrolling disease.

7. Ultimately, it's still your choice

It's not clear how well this post will be received, but if a lot of people follow this advice and lose I expect some bitching. In writing this, a sobering thought came to me:

There probably was an expert (possibly expertS) who recommended POGS as an investment.

So, remember, if you consider yourself a John McCain-ian Maverick, then bring your turkeyneck down to the draft in whatever way you want. This is a free country, so don't blame me if you end up with Markus Naslund.

The full guide can be seen here. Hope you guys find this helpful...


*-This, in my mind, might be the most politically correct way to refer to something as "retarded."

Draft like the pros, Part III

Just like last year, and the year before, I participated again in James Mirtle's super-deep Blogger Invitational fantasy draft this past weekend, one that includes a huge list of blogger know-it-alls. Dr. Mirtle, Matt of BoA, Puck Daddy, the Forechecker, Spector, Chris! of CiO, Kent of Five Hole Fanatics, Japers Rink, Pension Plan Puppets, Islanders Army, and even PJ of Sharkspage all took 2 1/2 hours of our Saturdays to prove once again the nerdly depth of our hockey knowledge.

All told, it was 18 teams each drafting 20 players -- a grand total of 360, 60% of the NHL's available positions. And if you think that's deep, this year represents a step backwards! The previous two years, this league has been played with 20 teams. On a general level, though, the rules are the same as before (head-to-head):

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

There are a few twists, though. One, it cost me money this year, which theoretically I could win back, but I'm not banking on that. Two, it promises to cost me money next year, too, because I'm allowed to keep two players for next year's team. Personally I feel like I'm a shell of a fantasy player; I managed to go this whole offseason without even seeing a fantasy guide. Still, without revealing too much about "who was available", here's how I managed this year, with some draft notes below:

Rd - Pick - Player
1 - 4 - Evgeni Malkin, C PIT
2 - 33 - Thomas Vanek, LW BUF
3 - 40 - Ryan Miller, G BUF
4 - 69 - Peter Mueller, C PHX
5 - 76 - Simon Gagne, LW PHI
6 - 105 - Teemu Selanne, RW ANA
7 - 112 - Manny Legace, G STL
8 - 141 - Drew Stafford, RW BUF
9 - 148 - Chris Kunitz, LW ANA
10 - 177 - Jiri Hudler, RW DET
11 - 184 - Jason Labarbera, G LAK
12 - 213 - Sergei Samsonov, LW CAR
13 - 220 - Joni Pitkanen, D CAR
14 - 249 - Brendan Morrison, C ANA
15 - 256 - Douglas Murray, D SJS
16 - 285 - Devin Setoguchi, RW SJS
17 - 292 - Shane O'Brien, D TBL
18 - 321 - Loui Eriksson, LW DAL
19 - 328 - Nathan Gerbe, C BUF
20 - 357 - Steve Montador, D ANA

C - Malkin, Mueller, Morrison, Gerbe
LW - Vanek, Gagne, Kunitz, Samsonov, Eriksson
RW - Selanne, Stafford, Hudler, Setoguchi
D - Pitkanen, Murray, O'Brien, Montador
G - Miller, Legace, Labarbera

One thing to stress about this league is the scarcity and importance of goaltenders. Each year some team realizes too late that goaltending decides a lot of standings points in this league, and with "saves" as a category, the need for starters is pretty critical (though it's only a 2 GP minimum). If you do the math, 18 teams means there's not enough starters in the league so that each team can get two. While my trio of Miller, Legace, and Labarbera may not seem overwhelming, the fact that it may represent three starters could prove huge for the Battlebots.

In terms of forwards, Mirtle's league has enough F and Util spots that it's not too important to worry about specific Yahoo! positions -- as long as there is some balance among the positions it's not too hard to get nearly everyone's GP in. Still, I tried to keep a focus of getting many of my scorers from the east, even though it's a conference I don't follow very well. I just went on the basic tenet that goals are easier to score in the east, and hoped for the best. I got a few light remarks on my picks of Simon Gagne and Drew Stafford, and probably I deserve them, but overall I was happy that none of my picks were openly mocked.

I went awfully light on defensemen, as I tend to do in this league (my first year I only drafted three defensemen). I think at the rate that players disappear off this draft board, it's better to focus picks on goaltending and scoring forwards, but we'll see. I can say that I wasn't the only person to wait until the 13th round to select a defenseman. I should point out that a lot of this advice pertains specifically to this league: in general I still value goaltending very highly but I'm more liberal picking defensemen. And generally in Yahoo! leagues I do pay more attention to LW/RW/C distinctions.

I will just add a general note that it's very cool to do a Yahoo! draft with Puck Daddy, and not only for his mid-draft banter. It's actually quite hilarious to have a Yahoo! employee, who has nothing to do with the fantasy technology at all, to yell at when things go wrong. Also, you can give him stupid orders. "Puck Daddy, tell the boys upstairs to give Peter Mueller LW eligibility, pronto!"

Anyways, I'm always a sucker for the BoC. I ended up with 4 Ducks, 2 Sharks, a King, a Star, and a Coyote. That brings my 3-year Mirtle draft total to 12 Ducks, 10 Sharks, 10 Kings, 2 Stars, and 2 Coyotes. I don't claim to be any master draft schemer (O'Brien's here for that), but it has landed me a 4th and an 8th finish out of a mean 20 the last two years. Oh yeah, that reminds me, here's PJ's team:

Rd - Pick - Player
1 - 2 - Evgeni Nabokov, G SJS
2 - 34 - Brian Rafalski, D DET
3 - 38 - Ilya Bryzgalov, G PHX
4 - 71 - Dan Boyle, D SJS
5 - 74 - Patrick Marleau, C SJS
6 - 107 - Ryane Clowe, LW SJS
7 - 110 - Dustin Brown, RW LAK
8 - 143 - Marco Sturm, LW BOS
9 - 147 - Jochen Hecht, C BUF
10 - 179 - Radim Vrbata, RW TBL
11 - 182 - Tomas Holmstrom, RW DET
12 - 215 - Tobias Enstrom, D ATL
13 - 218 - Nikolai Khabibulin, G CHI
14 - 251 - Matt Cullen, C CAR
15 - 254 - Christian Ehrhoff, D SJS
16 - 287 - Jonas Hiller, G ANA
17 - 290 - Niklas Hagman, LW TOR
18 - 323 - James Wisniewski, D CHI
19 - 327 - Brooks Laich, C WSH
20 - 359 - Steve Sullivan, RW NSH

C - Marleau, Hecht, Cullen, Laich
LW - Clowe, Sturm, Hagman
RW - Brown, Vrbata, Holmstrom, Sullivan
D - Rafalski, Boyle, Enstrom, Ehrhoff, Wisniewski
G - Nabokov, Bryzgalov, Khabibulin, Hiller

Now there's some BoC pride (whoa, and some pride for crazy Russian goalies, too!). Way to go, PJ.

A banner month for fake hockey

It's been a while since I posted on the 'ol BoC, but things are cranking up now. You know when the beauty of the NHL season is about to shine upon us when people start drafting fantasy hockey teams and the annual video games come out.

Tune in soon as I examine: is NHL 09 the best hockey video game ever? (Not certain if I'll get a definitive answer on that but I definitely think it's the most addictive NHL game ever)

Warning: do not play if you plan on being productive with your time

Anyway, I thought I should make note of my intensely BoC leaning fantasy hockey team in the first draft I've done this year.* Here's the Pacific Division guys who made my roster, with super duper in-parenthesis asides for no extra charge:

Ducks:
J.S. Giguere (expect a HUGE year without Breezy stealing a bunch of starts and the team not dealing with as much drama)
Chris Pronger (get those PIMs but don't get suspended Stompy!!!)
Scott Niedermayer (got him way late because of his semi-retirement 2007-08 stats)
Corey Perry (I really wanted Ryan Getzlaf, but I guess Corey flopping Perry'll do)

Sharks:
Evgeni Nabokov (couldn't choose between Jiggy and Nabby so I got 'em both)
Dan Boyle (seriously, my defense is frickin' stacked: Pronger - Niedermayer - Boyle - Wade Redden - Jay contract year Bouwmeester)
Milan Michalek (it would be pretty sweet if he'd finally have that Joe Thornton osmosis/Sergei Samsonov effect this year)

Sadly, no Stars, Kings or 'Yotes (although don't tell anyone, but I might pickup Phillippe Boucher if he looks healthy this year). But 7 of my 24 players are in the BoC. That's a lot of eggs in one BoC basket!

Oh, and the real justification for this post:

Fantasy Hockey Gary Bettman:

And with the 8th pick in round 24, The Avery Rule selects....

Todd Bertuzzi!!!!

Big Bert did not take well to being selected last overall in a 24-round draft

* By the way, this league had spots for the usual (C, LW, RW, D, G) as well as Wingers - Forwards AND Utility spots...I drafted 24 fucking players in this behemoth!!! Thank goodness for the Yahoo! Live Draft timer, btw - had no idea what I got myself into. Always read league settings kids.

Also, I dig the new yahoo draft setup, but I fear this will help some of the idiots in the league I always have with my old college buddies. I guess that's it for the days of getting Teemu Selanne type guys in the 10th round (sad panda face).

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.

Fantasy secrets part 2: the beauty and majesty that is the contract year

Sometimes it is just difficult for a professional athlete to give the proverbial 110 percent. Sure, it sounds illogical that someone who earns more than $1 million per season would have motivational problems, but think about it this way: teams cannot change that fact. Yes, they can buy out a player, but he still gets that money.

There’s one exception that gets players on the exercise bikes that much more…that spurs them on in drinking “protein shakes” and choking down “supplements”…that gives them that Eye of the Tiger.

That exception, simply, is when they have only a single year remaining on their contract. You can call it despicable or human nature or whatever you want.

I call it one of the main tidbits of information that casual fantasy hockey players don’t think about. And these facts – coupled with a player you know could make an impact if he cared just a little bit more – can net you fantasy hockey gold.

I know TSN.ca had a good source of this info early last season, so I'll keep my eyes open for a good listing. Anyway, here are two really good examples of the contract year:

Martin St. Louis

St. Louis is a great story. He’s a runt. He went undrafted, passed up by every team – in every round. And what does he do? He wins a Hart Trophy and helps the Tampa Bay Lightning win the last Cup of the pre-Lockout Era. And he did it all right before he was ready to sign a meaty new contract. Here’s a look at his stats, with his contract year in bold…in case the drastic boost itself isn’t enough:

2002-2003 Goals: 33 Assists: 37 Points: 70 Plus-minus: +10

2003-2004 Goals: 38 Assists: 56 Points: 94 Plus-minus: +35

2005-2006 Goals: 31 Assists: 30 Points: 61 Plus-minus: -3

As you can see, he had a decent year the year before his contract year. Then he had a monster year during his contract year. Then once he got his cushy, blockbuster deal he loafed with a whopping drop in more than 30 points in plus-minus and points. Keeping in mind the fact that St. Louis would conceivably be one of the NHLers who would most benefit from the open ice and the contract year law applies.

Chris Drury

Drury and St. Louis show just how consistent the contract year rule is. Not only does it apply to NBA jackasses like Tim Thomas, whose self-interest is jarringly obvious. Drury and St. Louis are good guys and good players who "just so happen" to have their best years when their payday is coming up.

So far, Drury has 10 goals in 11 games. To compare that, Drury had exactly 1 goal through his first 11 games last year. Sure, it's a small sample, but Drury might be the best example of contract year awareness this season.

Anyway, there's a million examples, so feel free to share your amusing contract year stories in the comments. Before I go...

The formula of contract year picks goes as follows:

1. The year right before the contract year should be above average, but not a glaring anomaly.

2. The contract year, barring injury, could go through the roof if it's a talented but a) inconsistent b) not very motivated c) oft-injured or d) all of the above players.

3. Even for great players, you might see a boost in stats.

4. If you have to choose between a no-brainer superstar (like a Crosby, Ovechkin, Thornton, Kovalchuk) and another no-brainer superstar, keep in mind who signed a contract recently. Many players take a year off once they get their big payday.

More fantasy tips soon...

Fantasy Hockey Tips: Some of the best info available

Despite the fact that the response was, well, not-so ecstatic, I've decided to give it a go and provide a few priceless nuggets of fantasy hockey knowledge for you.

In case you were wondering, I'm still quite BoC-heavy, with the San Jose goalie platoon, Mark Bell for the Sharks and Selanne, Niedermayer (Scott) from the Ducks.

Anyway, as a first post, I thought I'd share some of my "secrets." By secrets I mean some of the sites/features I go to when I have a fantasy waiver wire or trade conundrum. This might not necessarily be the most comprehensive list available ... in fact, feel free to leave some of your favorites in the comments and this post can keep rearing its ugly but helpful head.

Great feature: SLAM! Sports' Chris Nichols

Link

For the first month of the season, I went back to the way it was in the bad old days: I made panic moves without a voice of reason. What, like you expect me to trust OTHER TEAM OWNERS?

Thankfully, Nichols is back and he's here to answer (pretty much) all of your fantasy hockey questions. Brevity is the key, as you only get 500 letters (including spaces, so paragraph breaks be damned!). Still, this guy answers just about every question you can think of. While a lot of fantasy hockey writers will answer one question or five questions in a mailbag format, I genuinely cannot remember Nicholls NOT answering one of my inane questions.

Plus, according to his mini-bio, he's currently residing in Southern California. Awesome.

Great feature: Yahoo's Matt Romig's "NHL Skinny"

Link

If you're in Yahoo! leagues, you probably already know about this feature. At least, I hope. There are definitely times in my league where I say: "God, I hope all of the league's owners are too busy talking about designer handbags to read these little breakdowns."

It's a nice thing because it's a good read, the "Goalie Hot Seat" is FANTASTIC, and it has a little bit of everything for overworked fantasy poolies.

Great site: FOXSPORTS/ROTOWORLD/Brian Rosenbaum

Link for Rotoworld

At first, I was foolish enough to think that Foxsports.com deserved all the credit for their (suprisingly) effective fantasy hockey coverage. So naturally, I read a little deeper and realized that their content comes from Rotoworld.com. It has great features, including it's waiver wire that gives letter grades for hot topic-waiver pickups. Not only does it say "Possible Pickup A" is good, it gives you context into whether or not "PP A" is better than "PP B."

I also love the week ahead, which gives you a great resource to plan your week, especially if you have a limit on starts per position (a headache I've gladly avoided).

Brian Rosenbaum seems to be responsible for some of the best stuff. With Rotoworld, there's certain features that you have to pay for. That goes for a lot of these resources - only pay if you WANT to.

Great site: Hockey Informer

Link

When I used to write weekly Injury Reports for Fantasyhockey.com, Hockey Informer was one of my five favorite sources for information.

But beyond injury reports, this site is the bible for goalie starting questions. If you have three goalies (possibly) playing on one night and only two goalie slots, this will help you know which goalies might be starting.

It's also a very nice resource for something even more important: the heartbeat of which goalie will ultimately keep the starting job. Hockey Informer takes a bunch of newspaper previews/reports and gives you a one-stop source for that consistently annoying question. Even if you have a goalie platoon like I do, it still helps – why waste your two goalie spots when only one will start?

Naturally, it's not 100 percent accurate, but it's more than 90. That's a whole lot better than throwing a dart at a trading card, or whatever you normally do to decide which goalie to start.

Other sites I might write more about later
ESPN.com - damn Insider straight to hell, but Tristan Cockroft is good. Even if I think that's not his real name.
Rotowire.com - great site, too much exclusive stuff though.

More to come soon...

Kathy Lee...you're my sexual fantasy (hockey player)

After a response from Finny, I thought I'd throw out a little question: would anyone want mayhaps a weekly fantasy hockey post?

Granted, I'm not saying that I'm THE expert or anything like that. At the same time, with my current job, my Kings viewership will be mainly limited to: Versus appearances and Dallas Stars games. So, in order for me to write bad jokes and entertain the masses, I think that fantasy hockey advice would be the best route until ... oh, mid December or so.

Credentials, you ask? Well, I did write for fantasyhockey.com last year (I wrote LA Kings reports and a weekly "IR" report). I also reached an unfathomable level of fantasy hockey dominance when my team (Team Pants) was #1 for a full year in the last season before the lockout.

I should have won last year, if not for the dual shutout fluke that was Crystal ball Huet. My team included: Cheechoo, Heatley, Spezza, Gomez, Lundqvist, Elias, Eric Staal and Rob Blake to name a few.

Still not convinced? Here's my fantasy hockey team, pick-by-pick:

7. I. Kovalchuk
14. E. Staal
27. H. Lundqvist
34. S. Niedermayer
47. Z. Chara
54. V. Toskala
67. T. Selanne
74. S. Gomez
87. K. Tkachuk
94. C. Stillman (my dumbass realized he was injured, so consider this pick Ray Whitney. No honor in this draft. Sheesh.)
107. C. Drury
114. N. Zherdev
127. M. Hejduk
134. J. Bouwmeester
147. I. Bryzgalov
154. B. Seabrook (dropped for Henrik Sedin)

Still not convinced? Then ask someone else, you assholes. Anyway, I'll start next week if the feedback is positive...

Uh oh...now I actually might root for the Sharks and Ducks!

After a grueling and emotionally crippling draft that clocked in at almost four hours, I now have to contemplate my fantasy hockey team. And whether it was fate or just the deck that was handed to me, my team (The Lawn Pigs) is fairly loaded with BoC'ers. Sadly, due to the untimely selection of Alex Frolov, I'm Kings-less.

Here are the Californians that are on my team, pretty much in sequence of when they were picked (not counting guys on non-Cali teams):

Scott Niedermayer
Vesa Toskala
Teemu Selanne
Ilya Brzgalov

My main questions to the masses:

1. Is Vesa Toskala going to be the starter for San Jose?
2. Is Bryzgalov going to start for the Quackers?
3. Will Lightningbeard prosper with Prongher, or will he ease up with the lockbox'd Orbs?
4. Finally, will Teemu Selanne go back into hibernation after his LL Cool J-inspired (Don't call it a) Comeback?

I'd especially appreciate an answer for questions 1-2, folks. Otherwise I'll have to make one or two of my classic early panic add-drops. Last year I briefly dropped Eric Staal for Tuomo Ruutu. Yeah, that could have been bad...

Draft like the pros

Well, I don’t know if this is supposed to be a big secret or if I’m spoiling any great intro, but I did my first Yahoo draft today, as part of Mirtle’s monster league. This league might get some publicity, as it involves many ‘celebrities’, like Kukla, Golbez, Spector, BoA, Covered in Oil, Puck Update, etc., etc. I’m sure someone’s going to do a comprehensive post somewhere.

Some short specs on this mega-league, though:

20 teams head-to-head
Positions: C x 3, LW x 2, RW x 2, Util x 2, D x 4, G x 2, Bench x 4, IR x 3
Categories: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPG, PPA, SHP, GWG, SOG, W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO

So a long draft, 380 players deep. Well, here’s what I did, getting the #2 pick:

Rd – Pick – Player
1 – 2 – M. Kiprusoff, G CGY
2 – 39 – T. Selanne, RW ANA
3 – 42 – T. Bertuzzi, RW FLA
4 – 79 – J. Giguere, G ANA
5 – 82 – A. McDonald, C ANA
6 – 119 – A. Frolov, LW LOS
7 – 122 – R. Getzlaf, C ANA
8 – 159 – F. Beauchemin, D ANA
9 – 162 – D. Cloutier, G LOS
10 – 199 – P. Sykora, RW EDM
11 – 202 – M. Carle, D SJS
12 – 239 – E. Lindros, C DAL
13 – 242 – D. Penner, C ANA
14 – 279 – O. Nolan, RW PHX
15 – 282 – D. Brown, RW LOS
16 – 319 – T. Fedoruk, LW ANA
17 – 322 – J. Madden, C NJD
18 – 359 – K. McLaren, D SJS
19 – 362 – A. Kopitar, C LOS

C – McDonald, Getzlaf, Lindros, Penner, Madden, Kopitar
RW – Selanne, Bertuzzi, Sykora, Nolan, Brown
LW – Frolov, Fedoruk
D – Beauchemin, Carle, McLaren
G – Kiprusoff, Giguere, Cloutier

Strengths: strong goaltenders for a 20-team league, top-line Anaheim scorers
Weaknesses: logjam at center, not enough defensemen, too many Ducks
Solutions: a) I am fairly certain that Penner will get LW eligibility to ease the problem at center.
b) As for defensemen, I immediately will have two spots freed up, as Yahoo! Has whimsically allowed me to put Lindros and Cloutier on the IR. I got a month until the season starts to straighten out the blueline.

At any rate, I did my best to represent the BoC, and I even ended up with a player from each Pacific team.

Critiques? Opinions? Trade offers?