Dobber Hockey Experts Draft

[blayze]

It's really close.

I voted for Eastern Edge - solid balance of firepower, grit, etc from top to bottom. If Bishop/Elliott hold up, I think this team will be a leading contender for sure.

[RizzeeDizzee]

Oh dear, where to start? Rizz, you think my worst pick was Palat at #79 overall? I'm guessing you think he will regress, which is a definite possibility, but I feel otherwise. The guy had 23g, 59 pts, was a +32, had 146 hits and 11 ppp last year while finishing 51st in league scoring. TB is a team on the rise and Palat is one of the reasons why.

I really like my goaltending: Bishop and Elliott, with Andersen (ANA) providing what I hope will be awesome GAA and Wins totals with a reasonable amount of saves. May not be the top group, but it's close.

I don't believe anyone can match my defence: Byfuglien, Hedman, Chara, Giordano, Josi and Myers. Okay, while I think Myers will rebound offensively, I also think his +/- will stink. The first five D are multi-cat beasts in this format. I should dominate from the backend.

Centers: Backstrom (44 ppp last year), Little, M.Koivu, Stepan, Bonino and Scheifele isn't the strongest group, but after taking Backstrom in the 3rd round, I didn't take my next one until the 12th round (Little). Scheifele could surprise

LW: Palat (Rd 8), Schwartz (13th), Saad (14th), Kreider (19th) and Jenner (21st) and Tatar (22nd) offer multi-cat numbers along with value. Kreider and Jenner (once he's back) will provide a nice combination of offense with hits.

RW: Giroux, Voracek, Saad and the under-rated Hudler (for points at least) match up well against most teams in this league.

While I don't think I will run away with this league, I do feel like I aced an exam. I came away from the draft thinking, man, I got some great players. In one year leagues, I rarely take any rookies or even young unproven players. The only guys I have some questions on are Tatar, Bonino, Jenner, Scheifele and Myers; the rest I think are locks to perform as advertised. The proof will be in the pudding when the season gets underway.

I just need you to clarify one thing - which side of your back did you pat most while writing this.....

As for Palat, yes his jaw-droppingly high PDO is a concern, but it was more so about where other proven guys were grabbed. Will Palat be that much better than Callahan, or Lupul, or Franzen, or Brouwer? I'm guessing at least two of those four pan out better, and each was selected at least four rounds later.

[Pengwin7]

By the way... next year we need a "Champion's League" with the top 3 finishers from several leagues.
No FHG allowed.
Live draft - no tools (no computer, phone, even papers).
Las Vegas.
Video feed the whole thing for Dobber Hockey, live event.

Who's in?

[JagrBomb]

By the way... next year we need a "Champion's League" with the top 3 finishers from several leagues.
No FHG allowed.
Live draft - no tools (no computer, phone, even papers).
Las Vegas.
Video feed the whole thing for Dobber Hockey, live event.

Who's in?

as much as i love drafting, i think it would be the last thing i'd want to do if i was in vegas. unless of course we had strippers serving us drinks

[RizzeeDizzee]

as much as i love drafting, i think it would be the last thing i'd want to do if i was in vegas. unless of course we had strippers serving us drinks

Don't be so sure - Vegas has embraced fantasy players and hotels have packages available to cater to guys coming there to draft and experience "other enjoyments" the city has to offer.

[ericdaoust]

and then everyone would wake up the next morning and find out that Dobber went missing...

[The Comish]

I just need you to clarify one thing - which side of your back did you pat most while writing this.....

As for Palat, yes his jaw-droppingly high PDO is a concern, but it was more so about where other proven guys were grabbed. Will Palat be that much better than Callahan, or Lupul, or Franzen, or Brouwer? I'm guessing at least two of those four pan out better, and each was selected at least four rounds later.

lol, I knew I would come away sounding a little smug! I'm pretty sure I popped my shoulder patting myself on the back! Jeez, so Canadian, I can't even like my own team without catching flak! lol

PDO be damned, Palat is the real deal - I watched too many games where he was simply a player. I'll say right here that Palat outperforms all four of Callahan, Lupul, Franzen AND Brouwer in our league settings (I think FHG can verify after the numbers are in after the season?).

As for holding a live draft in Vegas, I'd be all over that except that I would prefer to have my Top Secret draft list. I'm still old school and use a pen and paper when I draft. Hard to give that up, but if we're doing this by memory, I'm old and have (far, far too) many years of fantasy hockey pool experience to draw from. Pretty sure we'd eventually find Dobber with a Mike Tyson face tattoo, a new wife and a tiger.

[austeane]

The idea of the whole system was that the winners would move up tiers and the losers would move down. That hasn't happened this year, but I think a champions league would be cool.
4 entrants from the experts league, 3 from the pro league and 2 from each of the entry leagues.
I'm not sure ill be able to make to Vegas! That being said, a no lists and no tools draft would be cool. We could all Skype in to show that we aren't looking at anything else, and have a live YouTube/hangout feed.

[horrorfan]

The idea of the whole system was that the winners would move up tiers and the losers would move down. That hasn't happened this year

Last year's Pro winner didn't get invited up to the Expert?

[Shoeless]

Last year's Pro winner didn't get invited up to the Expert?

No big deal, we catch and release X-spurts in the Rocky Horror Roto Show.

[ericdaoust]

Last year's Pro winner didn't get invited up to the Expert?

This year the Experts League suffered a bit from a late start and also from corruption. We refuse to let any newbies in.

[Pengwin7]

4 entrants from the experts league, 3 from the pro league and 2 from each of the entry leagues.

I like it.
We can even give Dobber a free invite the first year.
We could also consider inviting the winner of the Rocky Horror Roto Show and the UHL.
12-14 teams.
Best-of-the-best.
(+ it puts even more weight on results this year to be a part)

2015-2016 Champion's League Invite List
1. Dobber (or *Previous Champions League Winner* after Year 1)
2. Expert League 1st place
3. Expert League 2nd Place
4. Expert League 3rd Place
5. Expert League 4th Place
6. PRO League 1st Place
7. PRO League 2nd Place
8. PRO League 3rd Place
9. Tier III Norris 1st Place
10. Tier III Norris 2nd Place
11. Tier III Smythe 1st Place
12. Tier III Smythe 2nd Place
13. RHRS Champion
14. UHL Champion

And... we make the draft annually on the night before NHL hockey season (so, it would've been a Tuesday this year).
As for the Vegas part, we'll have to work on that.

(as an expansion - we might even need to make two leagues to be crowned King of Fantasy Hockey - one H2H, one ROTO. Top combined standings is "King"... for the year.)

[metaldude26]

It's gonna be really greasy when I take home two entries for this league after winning the UHL and the Experts League.

[JagrBomb]

It's gonna be really greasy when I take home two entries for this league after winning the UHL and the Experts League.

i'd be surprised if carcillo loses this year. i guess anything can happen in playoffs but he essentially has the same team + a healthy tavares.

[austeane]

Sounds good to me. Maybe no vegas this year, but no lists either.
And regular season champs or playoff champs make it?