The first annual Rotoworld Playoff draft took place on Monday night with the following participants:
Michael Finewax (Rotoworld)
Brian Rosenbaum (Rotoworld)
Corey Abbott (Rotoworld)
Ryan Dadoun (Rotoworld)
Brett Lockwood (Rotoworld)
Kevin Brown (Rotoworld)
Marc Lapierre (Rotoworld)
My Cousin Vinny
Two to Tanguay
Freiguy88
Stickler
strohsbeer
Cannons
GoLeafsGoeh
Soloy
The format is as follows:
5 Forwards
1 Defenseman
3 Forwards/Defensemen
1 Goaltender
Points are awarded in the following manner.
Goal: 2
Shot on goal: 0.1
Assist: 1
Plus/Minus: +/-.5
Save: 0.1
Goal Allowed: -1
Win : 4
Loss:-1
Shutout: 5
We used the fantasy site
Fantasypostseason.com and found it to be outstanding. The site is also available for Basketball, Football and Baseball and I can definitely recommend it.
Round One1.01 (1) Ryan Dadoun:
Alex Ovechkin, Capitals
1.02 (2) Marc Lapierre:
Sidney Crosby, Penguins
1.03 (3) Stickler:
Tim Thomas, Bruins
1.04 (4) Cannons:
Daniel Sedin, Canucks
1.05 (5) My Cousin Vinny:
Roberto Luongo, Canucks
1.06 (6) Strohsbeer:
Michal Neuvirth, Capitals
1.07 (7) Two to Tanguay:
Antti Niemi, Sharks
1.08 (8) Brett Lockwood:
Henrik Sedin, Canucks
1.09 (9)
Kevin Brown:
Ryan Kesler, Canucks
1.10 (10) Michael Finewax:
Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins
1.11 (11) Freiguy88:
Nicklas Backstrom, Capitals
1.12 (12) Soloy:
Sergei Bobrovsky, Flyers
1.13 (13) GoLeafsGoeh:
Jimmy Howard, Red Wings
1.14 (14) Corey Abbott:
Ryan Miller, Sabres
1.15 (15) Brian Rosenbaum:
Dwayne Roloson, Lightning
Marc: There's always someone at every draft who sees his chance of winning a fantasy title go down the drain with a ruined auto-pick. Well this time, that someone was me. I had the second overall pick and wanted to draft
Roberto Luongo but had some technical issues with the computer and ended up with Crosby instead with the auto-pick. The plan was to load up on Vancouver players afterwards. Oh well. Draft over.
Michael: I really had my eye on
Henrik Sedin and
Ryan Kesler, but unfortunately they went right before my selection. I like the Penguins this season, especially if Crosby returns, so I took
Marc-Andre Fleury.
Round Two 2.01 (16)
Steve Stamkos, Lightning
2.02 (17)
Pavel Datsyuk. Red Wings
2.03 (18)
Alexander Semin, Capitals
2.04 (19)
Jeff Carter, Flyers
2.05 (20)
Patrick Marleau, Sharks
2.06 (21)
Alex Burrows, Canucks
2.07 (22)
Pekka Rinne, Predators
2.08 (23)
Milan Lucic, Bruins
2.09 (24)
Joe Pavelski, Sharks
2.10 (25)
Mike Richards, Flyers
2.11 (26)
Corey Perry, Ducks
2.12 (27)
Carey Price, Canadiens
2.13 (28)
Logan Couture, Sharks
2.14 (29)
Henrik Zetterberg, Red Wings
2.15 (30)
Dany Heatley, Sharks
Omar (Two to Tanguay) Joe Pavelski. Had a hard time with the pick because I was contemplating picking Briere (I think he'll burn his for team in the first round). But I have the Sharks going far and Pavelski was a beast in the playoffs last year (9G, 8A, +6), so hoping he does the same this year. He also had a great playoff beard.
Stuart(Strohsbeer): Mike Richards I am hoping to cash in on first line pp and another run by the flyboys.
Round Three 3.01 (31)
Joe Thornton, Sharks
3.02 (32)
Johan Franzen, Red Wings
3.03 (33)
Nathan Horton, Bruins
3.04 (34)
Christian Ehrhoff, Canucks
3.05 (35)
Daniel Briere, Flyers
3.06 (36)
Martin St. Louis, Lightning
3.07 (37)
Claude Giroux, Flyers
3.08 (38)
Patrice Bergeron, Bruins
3.09 (39)
Mikael Samuelsson, Canucks
3.10 (40)
Kris Letang, Penguins
3.11 (41)
Mike Green, Capitals
3.12 (42)
Ville Leino, Flyers
3.13 (43)
Alexander Edler, Canucks
3.14 (44)
David Krejci, Bruins
3.15 (45)
Dan Boyle, Sharks
Jason (Freiguy88): Green. I decided to take a chance on his health. If he gets back to a point a game then this will work.
Michael: Kris Letang. Although he has been slumping of late, the power play seems to rule in the playoffs and he led the Penguins in time and points.
Round Four 4.01 (46)
Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning
4.02 (47)
Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Wings
4.03 (48)
Brooks Laich, Capitals
4.04 (49)
Lubomir Visnovsky, Ducks
4.05 (50)
Ryan Getzlaf, Ducks
4.06 (51)
Ryane Clowe, Sharks
4.07 (52)
Zdeno Chara, Bruins
4.08 (53)
Daniel Cleary, Red Wings
4.09 (54)
Bobby Ryan, Ducks
4.10 (55)
Mike Knuble, Capitals
4.11 (56)
Chris Kunitz, Penguins
4.12 (57)
Simon Gagne, Lightning
4.13 (58)
Thomas Vanek, Sabres
4.14 (59)
Brian Rafalski, Red Wings
4.15 (60)
Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks
Omar: Bobby Ryan. It was either Ryan or Knuble, but I love how Ryan plays with Getzlaf and Perry and the fact the he's a goal scorer. If the Ducks make it in the 2nd round, I think it's a good pick, but that's a tough one to call. If I could do it again though, I would probably pick Knuble because I have the Caps going deep and Knuble also plays with Ovie and Backstrom.
Stuart: Knuble. It's time to pile on the Caps. If Ovechkin takes off, so should Knuble.
Round Five 5.01 (61)
Patrick Kane, Blackhawks
5.02 (62)
John Carlson, Capitals
5.03 (63)
Drew Stafford, Sabres
5.04 (64)
Jason Arnott, Capitals
5.05 (65)
Michael Cammalleri, Canadiens
5.06 (66)
Devin Setoguchi, Sharks
5.07 (67)
Scott Hartnell, Flyers
5.08 (68)
James Neal, Penguins
5.09 (69)
Tomas Kaberle, Bruins
5.10 (70)
Jordan Staal, Penguins
5.11 (71)
Ilya Bryzgalov, Coyotes
5.12 (72)
James van Riemsdyk, Flyers
5.13 (73)
Mason Raymond, Canucks
5.14 (74)
Patrick Sharp, Blackhawks
5.15 (75)
Teemu Selanne, Ducks
Marc: I think the Caps have a great chance to make a deep run this time around and Carlson is quickly developing as a second potent offensive defenseman for Washington. He could lead all defensemen in playoff scoring.
Michael: Jordan Staal. With Crosby and Malkin out of the lineup, Staal is their best forward.
The first annual Rotoworld Playoff draft took place on Monday night with the following participants:
Michael Finewax (Rotoworld)
Brian Rosenbaum (Rotoworld)
Corey Abbott (Rotoworld)
Ryan Dadoun (Rotoworld)
Brett Lockwood (Rotoworld)
Kevin Brown (Rotoworld)
Marc Lapierre (Rotoworld)
My Cousin Vinny
Two to Tanguay
Freiguy88
Stickler
strohsbeer
Cannons
GoLeafsGoeh
Soloy
The format is as follows:
5 Forwards
1 Defenseman
3 Forwards/Defensemen
1 Goaltender
Points are awarded in the following manner.
Goal: 2
Shot on goal: 0.1
Assist: 1
Plus/Minus: +/-.5
Save: 0.1
Goal Allowed: -1
Win : 4
Loss:-1
Shutout: 5
We used the fantasy site
Fantasypostseason.com and found it to be outstanding. The site is also available for Basketball, Football and Baseball and I can definitely recommend it.
Round One1.01 (1) Ryan Dadoun:
Alex Ovechkin, Capitals
1.02 (2) Marc Lapierre:
Sidney Crosby, Penguins
1.03 (3) Stickler:
Tim Thomas, Bruins
1.04 (4) Cannons:
Daniel Sedin, Canucks
1.05 (5) My Cousin Vinny:
Roberto Luongo, Canucks
1.06 (6) Strohsbeer:
Michal Neuvirth, Capitals
1.07 (7) Two to Tanguay:
Antti Niemi, Sharks
1.08 (8) Brett Lockwood:
Henrik Sedin, Canucks
1.09 (9)
Kevin Brown:
Ryan Kesler, Canucks
1.10 (10) Michael Finewax:
Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins
1.11 (11) Freiguy88:
Nicklas Backstrom, Capitals
1.12 (12) Soloy:
Sergei Bobrovsky, Flyers
1.13 (13) GoLeafsGoeh:
Jimmy Howard, Red Wings
1.14 (14) Corey Abbott:
Ryan Miller, Sabres
1.15 (15) Brian Rosenbaum:
Dwayne Roloson, Lightning
Marc: There's always someone at every draft who sees his chance of winning a fantasy title go down the drain with a ruined auto-pick. Well this time, that someone was me. I had the second overall pick and wanted to draft
Roberto Luongo but had some technical issues with the computer and ended up with Crosby instead with the auto-pick. The plan was to load up on Vancouver players afterwards. Oh well. Draft over.
Michael: I really had my eye on
Henrik Sedin and
Ryan Kesler, but unfortunately they went right before my selection. I like the Penguins this season, especially if Crosby returns, so I took
Marc-Andre Fleury.
Round Two 2.01 (16)
Steve Stamkos, Lightning
2.02 (17)
Pavel Datsyuk. Red Wings
2.03 (18)
Alexander Semin, Capitals
2.04 (19)
Jeff Carter, Flyers
2.05 (20)
Patrick Marleau, Sharks
2.06 (21)
Alex Burrows, Canucks
2.07 (22)
Pekka Rinne, Predators
2.08 (23)
Milan Lucic, Bruins
2.09 (24)
Joe Pavelski, Sharks
2.10 (25)
Mike Richards, Flyers
2.11 (26)
Corey Perry, Ducks
2.12 (27)
Carey Price, Canadiens
2.13 (28)
Logan Couture, Sharks
2.14 (29)
Henrik Zetterberg, Red Wings
2.15 (30)
Dany Heatley, Sharks
Omar (Two to Tanguay) Joe Pavelski. Had a hard time with the pick because I was contemplating picking Briere (I think he'll burn his for team in the first round). But I have the Sharks going far and Pavelski was a beast in the playoffs last year (9G, 8A, +6), so hoping he does the same this year. He also had a great playoff beard.
Stuart(Strohsbeer): Mike Richards I am hoping to cash in on first line pp and another run by the flyboys.
Round Three 3.01 (31)
Joe Thornton, Sharks
3.02 (32)
Johan Franzen, Red Wings
3.03 (33)
Nathan Horton, Bruins
3.04 (34)
Christian Ehrhoff, Canucks
3.05 (35)
Daniel Briere, Flyers
3.06 (36)
Martin St. Louis, Lightning
3.07 (37)
Claude Giroux, Flyers
3.08 (38)
Patrice Bergeron, Bruins
3.09 (39)
Mikael Samuelsson, Canucks
3.10 (40)
Kris Letang, Penguins
3.11 (41)
Mike Green, Capitals
3.12 (42)
Ville Leino, Flyers
3.13 (43)
Alexander Edler, Canucks
3.14 (44)
David Krejci, Bruins
3.15 (45)
Dan Boyle, Sharks
Jason (Freiguy88): Green. I decided to take a chance on his health. If he gets back to a point a game then this will work.
Michael: Kris Letang. Although he has been slumping of late, the power play seems to rule in the playoffs and he led the Penguins in time and points.
Round Four 4.01 (46)
Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning
4.02 (47)
Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Wings
4.03 (48)
Brooks Laich, Capitals
4.04 (49)
Lubomir Visnovsky, Ducks
4.05 (50)
Ryan Getzlaf, Ducks
4.06 (51)
Ryane Clowe, Sharks
4.07 (52)
Zdeno Chara, Bruins
4.08 (53)
Daniel Cleary, Red Wings
4.09 (54)
Bobby Ryan, Ducks
4.10 (55)
Mike Knuble, Capitals
4.11 (56)
Chris Kunitz, Penguins
4.12 (57)
Simon Gagne, Lightning
4.13 (58)
Thomas Vanek, Sabres
4.14 (59)
Brian Rafalski, Red Wings
4.15 (60)
Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks
Omar: Bobby Ryan. It was either Ryan or Knuble, but I love how Ryan plays with Getzlaf and Perry and the fact the he's a goal scorer. If the Ducks make it in the 2nd round, I think it's a good pick, but that's a tough one to call. If I could do it again though, I would probably pick Knuble because I have the Caps going deep and Knuble also plays with Ovie and Backstrom.
Stuart: Knuble. It's time to pile on the Caps. If Ovechkin takes off, so should Knuble.
Round Five 5.01 (61)
Patrick Kane, Blackhawks
5.02 (62)
John Carlson, Capitals
5.03 (63)
Drew Stafford, Sabres
5.04 (64)
Jason Arnott, Capitals
5.05 (65)
Michael Cammalleri, Canadiens
5.06 (66)
Devin Setoguchi, Sharks
5.07 (67)
Scott Hartnell, Flyers
5.08 (68)
James Neal, Penguins
5.09 (69)
Tomas Kaberle, Bruins
5.10 (70)
Jordan Staal, Penguins
5.11 (71)
Ilya Bryzgalov, Coyotes
5.12 (72)
James van Riemsdyk, Flyers
5.13 (73)
Mason Raymond, Canucks
5.14 (74)
Patrick Sharp, Blackhawks
5.15 (75)
Teemu Selanne, Ducks
Marc: I think the Caps have a great chance to make a deep run this time around and Carlson is quickly developing as a second potent offensive defenseman for Washington. He could lead all defensemen in playoff scoring.
Michael: Jordan Staal. With Crosby and Malkin out of the lineup, Staal is their best forward.
Round Six 6.01 (76)
Steve Downie, Lightning
6.02 (77)
Ryan Malone, Lightning
6.03 (78)
Christopher Higgins, Canucks
6.04 (79)
Patric Hornqvist, Predators
6.05 (80)
Chris Pronger, Flyers
6.06 (81)
Kevin Bieksa, Canucks
6.07 (82)
Martin Erat, Predators
6.08 (83)
Brad Marchand, Bruins
6.09 (84)
Kimmo Timonen, Flyers
6.10 (85)
Shea Weber, Predators
6.11 (86)
Keith Yandle, Coyotes
6.12 (87)
Teddy Purcell, Lightning
6.13 (88)
Rich Peverley, Bruins
6.14 (89)
Valtteri Filppula, Red Wings
6.15 (90)
Marian Hossa, Blackhawks
Jason: Pronger: What's better than 1 injured D-man? Two! Again, huge Philly fan and he is good for a point a game.
Stuart: Weber. I'm gambling on the Predators . Hard stats lie; they've been scoring a ton as of late.
Round Seven 7.01 (91)
Marco Sturm, Capitals
7.02 (92)
Jiri Hudler, Red Wings
7.03 (93)
Jason Pominville, Sabres
7.04 (94)
Tomas Holmstrom. Red Wings
7.05 (95)
Kris Versteeg, Flyers
7.06 (96)
Sergei Kostitsyn, Predators
7.07 (97)
Tyler Kennedy, Penguins
7.08 (98)
Pascal Dupuis, Penguins
7.09 (99)
Tyler Ennis, Sabres
7.10 (100)
Dan Hamhuis, Canucks
7.11 (101)
Brian Gionta, Canadiens
7.12 (102)
David Legwand, Predators
7.13 (103)
Mark Recchi, Bruins
7.14 (104)
Tim Connolly, Sabres
7.15 (105)
Saku Koivu, Ducks
Omar: Tyler Kennedy: I see the Penguins beating the Lightning with more experience and better goaltending, even without Crosby and Malkin. And if the Penguins are to win 4 games, someone has to score for them and I like Kennedy to do that. He has been pretty hot in the past month or so.
Jason: Gionta: I didn't have any Boston players so I defaulted to Montreal even though I don't think the Habs stand a chance without Halak this year.
Round Eight 8.01 (106)
Cam Fowler, Ducks
8.02 (107)
Brad Boyes, Sabres
8.03 (108)
Eric Fehr, Capitals
8.04 (109)
Blake Geoffrion, Predators
8.05 (110)
Matt Carle, Flyers
8.06 (111)
Raffi Torres, Canucks
8.07 (112)
Michael Ryder, Bruins
8.08 (113)
Todd Bertuzzi, Red Wings
8.09 (114)
Tomas Plekanec, Canadiens
8.10 (115)
Marcus Johansson, Capitals
8.11 (116)
P.K. Subban, Canadiens
8.12 (117)
Justin Abdelkader, Red Wings
8.13 (118)
Ian White, Sharks
8.14 (119)
Niklas Kronwall, Red Wings
8.15 (120)
Shane Doan, Coyotes
Marc: The Red Wings and Kronwall are going to fight to the death to defend their Western playoff success of the past few seasons. The Swedish defenseman is best known for his brutal open-ice checks, but he is capable of providing some offense as well.
Stuart: Johansson. More Caps going for the ride. He will regain form and take advantage of Ovechkin double shifting and cash in on second PP time with Backstrom and Knuble.
Round Nine 9.01 (121)
Andrej Meszaros, Flyers
9.02 (122)
Corey Crawford, Blackhawks
9.03 (123)
Dennis Seidenberg, Bruins
9.04 (124)
Jason Blake, Ducks
9.05 (125)
Jannik Hansen, Canucks
9.06 (126)
Brent Seabrook, Blackhawks
9.07 (127)
Justin Williams, Kings
9.08 (128)
Jon Quick, Kings
9.09 (129)
Marian Gaborik, Rangers
9.10 (130)
Alexei Kovalev, Penguins
9.11 (131)
Mark Letestu, Penguins
9.12 (132)
Ryan Suter, Predators
9.13 (133)
Dustin Brown, Kings
9.14 (134)
Brandon Dubinsky, Rangers
9.15 (135)
Duncan Keith, Blackhawks
Marc: Corey Crawford: The Canucks have been knocked out by Chicago in two consecutive years now. They could make a run again this year.
Jason: Letestu. Someone from Pittsburgh has to score right? Actually I was going to take Kovalev, but you know who took him!
Round Ten10.01 (136)
Vaclav Prospal, Rangers
10.02 (137)
James Wisniewski, Capitals
10.03 (138)
Ryan Smyth, Kings
10.04 (139)
Mike Fisher, Predators
10.05 (140)
Ray Whitney, Coyotes
10.06 (141)
Sami Salo, Canucks
10.07 (142)
Derek Stepan, Rangers
10.08 (143)
Johnny Boychuk, Bruins
10.09 (144)
Nikolay Zherdev, Flyers
10.10 (145)
Dennis Wideman, Capitals
10.11 (146)
Drew Doughty, Kings
10.12 (147)
Jeff Tambellini, Canucks
10.13 (148)
Radim Vrbata, Coyotes
10.14 (149)
Darren Helm, Red Wings
10.15 (150)
Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers
Omar: Here's a guy that has been playing with Giroux and Carter lately and I think he can have a big playoffs with his talents. I wanted a high upside player with my last pick and was happy to get Zherdev.
Overall Comments:
Daric Harrison (Sticklers) : With such a deep draft (15 teams) and a goalie requirement, I felt compelled to go goalie in the first round if I had a top 10 pick. I picked third overall and went with Thomas over Luongo or Niemi, mainly because of the increased likelihood to get shutouts (worth 5). In order to win these things you typically have to commit to 1 or 2 teams but this draft was so scatter-shot with most guys seemingly picking best player available for most of the way I was only able to get 3 other Bruin players to go with Timmy. I am happy that I was able to get the top 3 scorers for the Sabres as goals are worth 2 and I see them coming out of a reasonably high scoring series. If I can get 10+ games out of those 3 guys I think I stand a good chance. After it was all said and done I realized how heavy I ended up on the East between Boston and Buffalo, with only 2 Sharks and a Coyote otherwise. Not ideal, but if the East final is somehow Buffalo-Boston I think I'll be in a great position.
Mike Leah (GoLeafsGoeh): Well I drew the #13 overall pick, I didn't mind it I thought I would be able to get 1 of the top goalies and a stud forward on a top 4 team. Wow Goalies flying off the board...all of the top ones are gone by the time it reaches me so I grab
Jimmy Howard even though I'm nervous about Detroit...My strategy is to load up on 2 teams from each conference that I think have a good chance to go deep...with my next pick on the way back down I grab Semin; high risk, high reward kinda guy, he could light it up if Washington goes a few rounds...for my next 2 picks I grab Edler from Vancouver and Semin's line mate Laich...Searching for a 2nd Eastern team I don't like who's available so instead I loaded up on depth Canucks Raymond and Higgins...I'm happy to get Recchi at the end of the 7th round and I grab Fehr from Washington to give me a strong Capitals group...My plan all through the draft was to pick up a few Detroit players to go with Howard but they kept getting picked just before I was going grab them and the next guy on my list I decide to wait till my next pick and he gets grabbed..also wanted to pick another Boston player or two but again they got snagged so for my last couple picks I decided to load up on a weak team that hadn't been picked from...So I grabbed
Dustin Brown and
Ryan Smyth from LA...who knows SJ has choked before lol....Only problem with that is LA would probably play my Vancouver guys in round 2.....So I end up with 3 Wash, 3 Van, 1 Det, 1 Bos and 2 LA....Not exactly my pre-draft plan of 2-3 players from 4 top teams...but if Vancouver and Washington meet in the final and if Detroit and LA win a round or 2 I could have a shot to win the pool.
Gordie Gallant (Cannons) : Was happy to see
Daniel Sedin available picking 4th overall, but with 15 poolies picking, and only 16 goaltenders, everyone started picking them early which derailed my plans. I took Price with my 2nd pick, I know he can win a series by himself and elected to go with my defenseman with my 3rd pick and elected to go with Ehrhoff. I have the top forward and top d-guy of a team who is touted as the favorite. Did go with 2 top 6 forwards from Tampa Bay which I think will go far in the playoffs this year. You can't go wrong with Detroit, they always play at least 2 rounds, so I was happy to get Holmstrom and Abdelkader late in the pool. So, if Tampa Bay and Vancouver go deep, I'm in good shape.
Corey Abbott:Picking up a good goalie off the bat was important because each team requires one to fill out the roster and having a good one benefits your squad tremendously due to the point structure of the pool. I had the 14th overall pick in the opening round, so my options started to dwindle for a strong netminder.
Ryan Miller was one of the best goalies available and the Sabres stand a legitimate chance of upsetting the Flyers, so I went with him. After that I tried to select players that can provide offense and possibly get into the second round. In the end, I chose a few players from underdog teams, like the Rangers, Blackhawks, Canadiens and a couple more Sabres, because I wanted to put an emphasis on acquiring talent rather than third- and fourth-line maybes on favored teams. All and all, I'm satisfied when I look at my pickups but I'll need some upsets to make any noise in this fantasy league.
Kevin Brown: Like everyone, my goal is typically to accumulate players on teams that I think will go deep in the playoffs, which explains why I grabbed a couple of Canucks early and two Bruins a little later. As we got later into the draft, I decided to grab the top scorers on teams that I think offer some value rather than draft role players from the top teams. If the Predators or Rangers make a Cinderella run to the Cup final I'd like to think I stand a good chance of winning. Since the draft format required that everyone take at least two defensemen, I didn't want to be in a position where I had to reach for a blueliner. I'm happy to say that I grabbed Chara and Kaberle at times when I thought they were the best player left on the board regardless of position.
Brian Rosenbaum: Picking 15th, my choices were limited as all the goaltenders, especially
Roberto Luongo, I thought were worthy of selecting were gone. I thought that Tampa Bay could go a few rounds so I selected
Dwayne Roloson and
Steve Stamkos as my top two picks. I wanted to go to San Jose out west and did grab
Dan Boyle but by that time most of the good forwards were gone. I then went after Anaheim as they are certainly capable of going on as the fifth seed in the East. I am really relying on Tampa Bay and Anaheim so if there are a couple of upsets, I'll be okay.
Mike Soloy: I had the 12th pick in the draft and I decided to build around the Philly rookie and grabbed Bobrovsky with my first pick. I then sniped Carter, Leino and James van Riemsdyk to round out my team from the East. Onto the West where I saw a bunch of Ducks still kicking around so I grabbed Visnovsky with the intention to take Ryan and Selanne next. Seven picks later those guys were gone and so was my Anaheim plan so I switched gears and loaded up on the Preds. Hornqvist, Fisher, Suter,Legwand and Geoffrion rounded out my squad.
Brent Lockwood: My strategy coming into the draft was to target players on the four teams I thought would make it to the Conference Finals: Vancouver, Detroit, Boston, and Pittsburgh. Quickly after
Tim Thomas and
Roberto Luongo were drafted I knew I wouldn't be able to land a goalie I wanted. Waiting for a goalie late was OK with me as I came away with
Jon Quick. I had my eye on
Henrik Lundqvist but decided last second that the Kings have better matchup than the Rangers. I was fortunate to get
Henrik Sedin at the 8 spot, thinking I would have to settle for
Ryan Kesler. The rest of the draft went quite easy as I simply took the best ranked player available on the four teams. If Boston goes far, I will be golden with their main snipers on my side. Both Mike and Kevin stole my picks near the end as I wanted either
Raffi Torres or
Michael Ryder. Alas
Todd Bertuzzi will have to do. All in all my team is balanced, scores lots of goals, and can put the puck on net, which is rewarded in our pool.
Ryan Dadoun: I had the first overall pick, so I took the best player on the team I think will win the Stanley Cup,
Alex Ovechkin. After that things got predictably messy. My next pick was the 30th overall and by then most of the desirable Capitals players had been taken. In addition, almost every team had selected their goaltender at this point, so I decided that I would simply choose from whatever was left in the last round. That being said, I like the San Jose Sharks chances this time around, so I snatched up
Dany Heatley and
Joe Thornton. My timing was apparently good because the better Sharks players were scooped up before the draft snaked its way back to me.
Building my team entirely with Capitals and Sharks players was not viable, but one team that still remained relatively untouched was the Chicago Blackhawks. Although, I predicted that the Vancouver Canucks would defeat Chicago in seven games, I decided to roll the dice on a collection of star players who could go far, rather than stock up on bottom-six forwards on teams I was more confident with. So in a move that will probably make or break my team, I took
Jonathan Toews and
Patrick Kane in the fourth and fifth rounds.
Marian Hossa was still available when the draft made its way back to me so I grabbed him and the Capitals'
Marco Sturm in the sixth and seventh rounds.
With the 120th overall pick I selected
Shane Doan and, because I still hadn't taken a blueliner, I used the 121st pick on
Andrej Meszaros. I had the last overall pick and
Henrik Lundqvist was the only guaranteed starting goaltender left. I considered taking
Semyon Varlamov on the chance that
Michal Neuvirth falters and Varlamov runs with it, but I ultimately decided that four to seven starts from Lundqvist, with the outside chance of more, was ultimately better than risking getting no production out of my goaltending spot.