It was a busy off season and I just wanted some feedback on how I did and where I need to improve. 22 team league- details in sig. Heres a breakdpwn of my moves, trades, and draft picks along with some musings...
Oiginal Team:
C- Crosby, Kopitar
W- Kovy, Parise, Nash, Hossa, Sellanne, J. Jokinen Hudler, PMB
D- Chara, Green
G- Fleury, Crawford
4th, 4th, 5th, 5th, 6th, 7th
Need to cut two before the draft.
I hate giving up assets for free so I started "working the phones" trying to either land a 2 for 1 to improve my keepers or land some draft picks for marginal keepers to replenish my decimated draft choices. In this regard I was really pushing to package Crawford- as we only start one goalie daily and due to our format (only have 2 goalies on our roster at one time) there always seems to be both short term solutions and even bonafide stars that pop up on waivers every year. I love CC but I shopped him hard with Fleury as my starter rather than leaving alll those points on the bench half the time. I came pretty close to accepting an offer of Varlamov/Booth/1st for Sellanne/Crawford. I ended up opening up a dialogue with Malkins owner though and we worked out a deal pretty quickly as he had a TON of C depth an no starter:
My Nash/Crawford/4th
for Malkin/2nd
I love both players I gave up but this helped my draft and netted me Malkin. I talked to the owner who had offered the first deal to let him know I had moved CC in a seperate deal and we started talking about Sellanne. We went back and forth and we got something I liked enough to do:
My Sellanne/Jokinen
for Giordano/Booth
A few things to note on this one. I was content to ride Sellanne til the wheels fell off but Ive still got to consider his negligible keeper value. Second- there was virtually no D depth in our draft and landing a 3rd productive D-man helped me sleep a lot more comfortably at the end of the day. Lastly- I had wanted to work in a decent pick coming back-2nd and we were leaning towards that way-but I got a bit antsy with the draft coming up (and a few wobbly pops) and ended up just accepting without the pick. I think Booth is an underrated player here as our system rewards quite a bit for sogs but in the end I may have lost this deal especially considering my trade partner and I are both in contention. Love having Gio though. Still had 13 guys though and needed to cut one before the draft.
My Hudler
for a 4th
I still havent lost faith in Huds- lol! I was originally asking a 2nd. Last minute I shopped him to a few teams with keeper holes for a 3rd. One countered for a 4th- accepted. I think Hudler can bounce back in a big way this year but I didnt have a lot of choices. In the end a 4th is better than losing him for nothing.
Right before the draft we can make submissions for the comish to consider in terms of an eligibilty change. I used the info on a thread here to argue that Malkin should have W status. I was more than willing to have him listed as a C but figured it was worth a shot. He accepted. I feel a bit dirty though cause Im not sure the other owner trades Malkin if hes a winger. It sucks but Ive been burnt by this too in leagues where comish determines eligibilty. I just went through a draft that had 6 C to W changes post draft. Anyways back on point- so heres my roster going into the draft:
Going into the draft I had a few basic strategies. First off- I wasnt going to draft a goalie until my last pick for the same reason I traded Crawford- there would be a plethora of backups, injury call ups and more obscure names that could be stremaed in through free agency to cover my secondary starts. Second- wingers are much harder to procure in this league but I had a major jole at my 3c spot and 4d spot so Id have to be careful who I draft early. In the end it broke down like this:
2nd (44th overall)- Tyler Kennedy- Love this pick! Tons of sogs, emerged last season and still has room to grow if he can solidify a spot on a scoring line which I truly believe he can. Wingers are in tip top shape now.
4th (77th overall)- I hum and haw over a d-man but in the end I see three I like- White, Seidenberg, and Girardi as a failsafe- but only one really servicable and reliable center. I take Bolland here and cross my fingers that a d-man will fall.
4th (88th overall)- In ten picks Seidenberg and White go leaving only Girardi. White was especially painful falling right to 86th- ouch! At this point my active roster is drafted with kennedy on the bench. I start combing through the garbage for a 4c. Utter shock hits- Dalpe is still available and its my pick next!
5th (98th overall)- I could cry. This is right out of movie- I cant even make this up. 22 teams, keep 12, in the 5th round means that 361 players have been picked from the player pool- and Dalpe goes right before me. My universe is rocked- the humanity! All draft Ive had Huselius in the back of my head. I feel like my team will be competetive til he becomes healthy at which point he will be exponentially better than most other available options. Its worth noting that I passed on Kopecky and Markstrom here. Markstrom in particular would have been a great 2g.
5th (104th overall)- Wow not much left here. I still need 2 cs. Ive got no idea- I grab Cal O'reilly mostly because he was on my squad last year and I did a lot of research on his upside/situation. Not loving his situation this year though. Passed on Luke Adam- yikes! He really wasnt on my radar though. Also could have grabbed Langkow who could be a solid 50 point plug as the topline C in Phoenix.
6th (126th overall)- In years past owners were less knowledgable and there would be quite a few boom/bust rookie picks in these rounds but this year things have tightened up considerably. I grab my first and only real blue chip (kind of) young gun in Jacob Josefson. See how that one pans out.
7th (148th overall)- Need a goalie- junk, junk and more junk. Took Gustaavson over guys like Lindback, Clemmenson
So that was that- I like some of my picks- didnt really swing for the fences but I think I gave myself a shot- good complimentary pieces for a strong core. In the ensuing days after the draft there is a fair bit of waiver moves. In a draft this deep people second guess themselves on a few players, adapt to cuts in camp and some are even trying to repair damage done by a poor autodraft. I capitalized on two moves I think-
Dropped Gustaavson for Nabakov- Sure its a gamble- but at this point the risk is absolutely nil and the reward could be pretty big at least this year. Love this snag!
Dropped O'reilly for Perrault- Johanesson was the big ticket draftee but Perrault may have a shot on that second line. Again this is more of a gamble- but over Cal O'Reilly Im pretty happy with it:
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