The Classic: A New One-Year League

[Shake]

Would love to see a breakdown of the draft results!

[Pengwin7]

Here's the top 8 (4F/2D/1G +1 more) for all 20 teams:
POINTS-ONLY LEAGUE: G=1,A=1,W=2,SO=3.
Roster Positions (Daily): 6F/4D/1G + 3BN
There is a max GP = 48... so

In order of #1 pick to #20 pick:

Hull & Oates: Stamkos/Hartnell/Lucic/Granlund + JJ/Wiz + Howard/Varly
S.H.Montoya: Malkin/MSL/Benn/Pavelski + Goli/OEL + EDM Platoon
Vesa Toskala: Crosby/RNH/Ribs/Stepan + Suter/Phaneuf/Schultz + Mike Smith
Led Zelepukin: E.Kane/Semin/Marchand/Okpo + Weber/AP + Lundqvist
BollRome Bitz: Kessel/B.Rich/Duchene/Skinner/Yak + Markov/Bogo + LA Platoon

SweetChara: Ovechkin/Kopitar/MaxPac/Moulson + Gio/Pitkanen + Ryan Miller
Simon & Buff: Giroux/M.Rich/Brown/J.Williams + Doughty/Voynov + Niemi/Harding
Nolan Stones: D.Sedin/Z'berg/Heatley/Backes + Timonen/Garrison + Price
Stepanwolf: JTavares/JToews/JThornton/Ryan + Burns/Ehrhoff + Luongo/Brodeur
BobMarleau: C.Perry/Getzlaf/Perron/JVR + ShattenK/M.Green + Lehtonen/Lindback

LaBarbO'Reilly: Iginla/M.Koivu/Wheeler/Flash + Karlsson/Streit + Bryz/Hiller
Kiss AC/DC: J.Neal/Eberle/Eriksson/J.Staal + J.Faulk/Josi + Kipper/Anderson
CareyOnSon: Parise/Kovy/Gaborik/Landeskog + Gonchar/McDonagh + STL Platoon
CrosbyStaalNash: H.Sedin/Datsyuk/Hossa/J.Carter + Keith/Kronwall + NBack/Neuvirth
HighwayToHelm: E.Staal/Hall/Marleau/Stastny + MDZ/Wideman + Rinne/Theodore

HARTbreakers: Spezza/Vanek/Voracek/Callahan + Letang/Kulikov + Holtby/Crawford
FehrReaper: N.Backs/P.Kane/Selanne/Lupul + Boyle/Soupy/Subban + Nabby & the 3 Backups
BlueOvieCult: Sharp/Pominv/Purcell/Simmonds + Buff/Hamonic + MAF/Schneider
TragicallyYip: Burrows/Kunitz/Booth + Yandle/Edler/Carle/Carlson + Ward/Rask
KubaMissile: Nash/Seguin/Couture/Briere + Chara/Myers + Pavelec


Personally, I think the top three are:
1. Stepanwolf
2. LaBarbera O'Reilly
3. CareyOnMyWaywardSon

Considering these are some of the best team names too... it might be fitting if they did well!

Amazing draft.
20 teams x 14 players = 280 picks in just 1hr 30min.
That's a pick rate of under 20 seconds per pick!!!

[Bnhershy]

Definitely a quick and exciting draft. The inevitable goalie run kinda messed me up. Couldn't pass on Datsyuk in the 2nd round. Agree that Stepanwolf and my buddy CareyOn... had very solid drafts, but I don't see what's so great about Labarbera O'Reilly looking at his full roster, a large chunk of the team is relying on bouncebacks and breakouts.

[horrorfan]

Definitely a quick and exciting draft. The inevitable goalie run kinda messed me up. Couldn't pass on Datsyuk in the 2nd round. Agree that Stepanwolf and my buddy CareyOn... had very solid drafts, but I don't see what's so great about Labarbera O'Reilly looking at his full roster, a large chunk of the team is relying on bouncebacks and breakouts.

Are you criticising my team? jk

Fair points - there is some risk and I did that on purpose. As I was going, if I had a position I did look for safer players but sometimes tried to focus on players that would have prime ice time/opportunity on their respective clubs to do well (e.g. not as buried by depth etc). If most pan out and stay healthy, then I hope to contend. But you never know.

Things I need / would like from my players:

- Karlsson to have as good a season as last year, to offset my weaker depth
- Iginla not to start slowly and click with Tanguay
- Koivu to stay healthy
- Streit to be the Streit of old
- Wheeler / Flash to show that last year was no fluke
- Ennis / Zajac to be number one centres (or on top line) for most of the season, which ensures top PP time
- Johnson to improve to 35 points full season pro-rated
- For Zidlicky to bomb so Larsson can get better PP minutes
- For Philadelphia and Anaheim to have limited schedule conflicts so I can maximise my goalie games without too much decision making on whom to start

That's all.

[STONE.]

Stepanwolf: JTavares/JToews/JThornton/Ryan + Burns/Ehrhoff + Luongo/Brodeur
Kiss AC/DC: J.Neal/Eberle/Eriksson/J.Staal + J.Faulk/Josi + Kipper/Anderson
CareyOnSon: Parise/Kovy/Gaborik/Landeskog + Gonchar/McDonagh + STL Platoon

Personally, I think the top three are:
1. Stepanwolf
2. LaBarbera O'Reilly
3. CareyOnMyWaywardSon

Considering these are some of the best team names too... it might be fitting if they did well!

I agree that these are solid teams. All three, if I remember correctly, waited quite awhile to get their goalies too. Although every starting goalie (and more) were grabbed, there was still pretty good value later in the draft. Good gamble by these three squads.

[horrorfan]

Here's my full squad for info:

La Barbera O'Reilly

F: Iginla, M.Koivu, Wheeler, Fleischmann, Ennis, Zajac, Brassard
D: Karlsson, Streit, E.Johnson, Larsson, Robidas
G: Bryzgalov, Hiller

Generally happy with how the draft went and who I wanted to pick (other than a few queue adjustments). I took a few risks but it's a fun league so what the heck. One regret was picking Fleischmann instead of getting my third D, with Giordano still available. Plenty of decent forwards were still available but productive defensemen were starting to thin out. Oh well, time will tell.

[NoWayOut]

Here's what I came away from the draft table with...

F- E.Staal/Hall/Marleau/Stastny/Filppula/Morrow/Galchenyuk
D- MDZ/Fowler/Wideman/Girardi/Niskanen
G- Rinne/Theodore

I made up my mind from the minute I signed up that I was just going to come into the draft and wing it. As HF mentioned in an earlier post, I too want to do good in this league. But at the end of the day I see this as fun and casual so no need to get all anal about draft prep like I do with more serious leagues.

That said as the draft unfolded I noticed some patterns that I was using. Hall, Stastny, Fowler, Wideman, and Niskanen are all players I have on my UHL dynasty team. Staal, Rinne, and Marleau are all players who have been common denominators in lots of one year leagues for me over the years.

If there's one pick I truly regret now, it's Theodore. I missed the earlier run on second goalies so I missed the boat on having a top shelf backup, and Nabby was still on the board when I made that pick. Not the end of the world but certainly could come back round to bite me.

Gally was my shot in the dark, hail mary, final pick. May be something comes of it right out of the box if not no biggy, catch and release to use a fishing metaphor.

The other noticeable theme here is all the guys that could be in line for a rebound or ready to take a step forward. Staal has more weapons around him, the question now is how much he benefits. Morrow has been my favorite late round flier this season as he's been written off after last years dismal season. Stastny and Fowler should be primed to rebound, and with no +/- to worry about Fowler isn't near the liability he might otherwise be. If Hall beats the injury bug he should be huge. MDZ could potentially step it up another notch.

The long and short of it, my team is going to be boom or bust. It's either going to succeed big time or flame out spectacularly.

[Vancityguy]

Ug, my unorthodox strat doesnt work if schnieds is on the bench, i must have forgot to click update and he gets a shutout. isnt that always the way it happens, sigh.
I'm still on top but reaaaallly needed that 5 points, not sure why the update didnt take.

[Pengwin7]

After 1 week:
League ranks added.

T-6th: Hull & Oates: Stamkos/Hartnell/Lucic/Granlund + JJ/Wiz + Howard/Varly
1st: S.H.Montoya: Malkin/MSL/Benn/Pavelski + Goli/OEL + EDM Platoon
T-8th: Vesa Toskala: Crosby/RNH/Ribs/Stepan + Suter/Phaneuf/Schultz + Mike Smith
T-14th: Led Zelepukin: E.Kane/Semin/Marchand/Okpo + Weber/AP + Lundqvist
13th: BollRome Bitz: Kessel/B.Rich/Duchene/Skinner/Yak + Markov/Bogo + LA Platoon

T-11th: SweetChara: Ovechkin/Kopitar/MaxPac/Moulson + Gio/Pitkanen + Ryan Miller
Last: Simon & Buff (renamed as "Dwight Kings of Leon"): Giroux/M.Rich/Brown/J.Williams + Doughty/Voynov + Niemi/Harding
T-8th: Nolan Stones: D.Sedin/Z'berg/Heatley/Backes + Timonen/Garrison + Price
4th: Stepanwolf: JTavares/JToews/JThornton/Ryan + Burns/Ehrhoff + Luongo/Brodeur
T-6th: BobMarleau: C.Perry/Getzlaf/Perron/JVR + ShattenK/M.Green + Lehtonen/Lindback

T-14th: LaBarbO'Reilly: Iginla/M.Koivu/Wheeler/Flash + Karlsson/Streit + Bryz/Hiller
T-18th: Kiss AC/DC: J.Neal/Eberle/Eriksson/J.Staal + J.Faulk/Josi + Kipper/Anderson
3rd: CareyOnSon: Parise/Kovy/Gaborik/Landeskog + Gonchar/McDonagh + STL Platoon
T-11th: CrosbyStaalNash: H.Sedin/Datsyuk/Hossa/J.Carter + Keith/Kronwall + NBack/Neuvirth
10th: HighwayToHelm: E.Staal/Hall/Marleau/Stastny + MDZ/Wideman + Rinne/Theodore

16th: HARTbreakers: Spezza/Vanek/Voracek/Callahan + Letang/Kulikov + Holtby/Crawford
T-4th: FehrReaper: N.Backs/P.Kane/Selanne/Lupul + Boyle/Soupy/Subban + Nabby & the 3 Backups
2nd: BlueOvieCult: Sharp/Pominv/Purcell/Simmonds + Buff/Hamonic + MAF/Schneider
17th: TragicallyYip: Burrows/Kunitz/Booth + Yandle/Edler/Carle/Carlson + Ward/Rask
T-18th: KubaMissile: Nash/Seguin/Couture/Briere + Chara/Myers + Pavelec


Personally, I think the top three are:
1. Stepanwolf (T-4th)
2. LaBarbera O'Reilly (T-14th)
3. CareyOnMyWaywardSon (3rd)

Updated, Jan 29th.

[butch]

I'm inching my way out of the basement and into mediocrity

[pmorrow]

Haven't lived up to my #1 billing just yet, but I'm hanging up there at the top! Burns and Kesler on the way too which should provide a nice boost. (Stepanwolf)

[STONE.]

Spezza killed what were alrready iffy chances for me. Ugh.

[horrorfan]

Glad I'm living up to your projections Pengwin.

Who knows, once some of the numbers normalise and Iggy goes on a tear I might be able to crack the top third, even top five. Oh and Philly to start winning!

[JagrBomb]

how does it feel everyone, vesa toskala is in first place. muahah

[Pengwin7]

how does it feel everyone, vesa toskala is in first place. muahah

Your forwards are +33 games over pace and this is a maximum games played per position league. You'll finish no higher than 5th.
Enjoy it while it lasts.