Originally Posted by
Pengwin7
My team: KINGS LANDING
Round 1(13)/2(16): Jimmy Howard (DET) & Antti Niemi (SJ)
I had these guys ranked as #3 & #4 on my goalie list (behind Lundqvist/Rask and ahead of Fleury/ Crawford/ Quick/ Luongo/ Rinne/ Price). As the Red Wings are my 2nd favourite team, I'm ecstatic to have these two guys who should give me 35+ Wins each and project to a top three finish in all three goalie categories (W, SV, GAA). I really believe this is the #1 goalie tandem in this league.
PICK SCORE: 10/10 [Absolute best values at this spot.]
Round 3(41)/4(44): Anze Kopitar (LA) & Henrik Zetterberg (DET)
Kopitar is perhaps the most consistent (yearly stats) player in the NHL. Zetterberg finished 8th among skaters with these settings last year. Great start to my offensive stats.
PICK SCORE: 9/10 [I passed on Byfuglien/ Weber, Bobby Ryan, and Spezza here... who might finish higher]
Round 5(69)/6(72): Ryan Callahan & Zdeno Chara
I was praying to get one big hitting forward at this turn... and I started worrying when Brown, then Backes, went off the board a few picks before my turn. I'll take Callahan, who ranked 24th last year among skaters in this format. I debated between Chara/Doughty for my D-man. Doughty actually finished higher by rank last year, but only because Chara only managed 4 PPP. With Iginla/Eriksson, that BOS PP should be much better.
PICK SCORE: 9/10 [I passed on Doughty, Ladd, Sharp, and Voracek here.]
Round 7(97)/8(100): Pascal Dupuis & "King" Joffrey Lupul
Dupuis actually finished 16th in this format last year. I like Dupuis because I have always known he was a good all-around player since watching him live in Atlanta. "That guy is no throw-in", I told my buddies when PIT got him & Hossa for a stretch run. He'll also be a big + player w/Crosby. Lupul is a top 20 fantasy player by "per game" stats over the last two years. I'll play him while healthy and replace him if/when he goes down.
PICK SCORE: 9/10 [I passed on Pavelski, B.Richards, PAP, Kadri, Pominville]
***Unfortunately, my mens' league team had a hockey game and I raced out the door at 9:37pm Eastern time, arriving at the rink at 9:41pm for my "already-in-progress" game. We were down 0-1 when I hit the ice and sadly... we got beat... badly. Yeesh.***
***AUTO-DRAFTED PICKS (which I tried to pre-rank)***
Round 9(125)/10(128): Patrice Bergeron (BOS) & Justin Williams (LA)
Well... this was a fine surprise when I checked my roster. Bergeron may be in line for career numbers lining up with either Iginla or Eriksson and always has a dynamite +/-. For anybody that has owned Justin Williams, he is just a model of production and I have NO idea why he is ranked so low. People like sexy... but these guys were EASILY the best player available at this pick.
PICK SCORE: 10/10 [Passed on J.Staal, Hartnell, Elias, Shattenkirk, JJ, Soupy]
Round 11(153)/12(156): Chris Stewart (STL) & Tomas Plekanec (MON)
PICK SCORE: 7/10 [Passed on Vrbata!, O'Reilly, Brassard, Tlusty, Gonchar, Markov]
Round 13(181)/14(184): Francois Beauchemin (ANA) & David Perron (STL)
PICK SCORE: 7/10 [Well... really, these were good picks considering what had just been taken off my queue.]
Round 15(209)/16(212): Lee Stempniak (CGY) & Martin Hanzal (PHO)
PICK SCORE: 5/10 [I would have preferred Clarkson or Cammalleri over Hanzal].
Round 17(237)/18(240): Chris Phillips (OTT) & Luke Schenn (PHI)
PICK SCORE: 8/10 [Roman Josi & Ryane Clowe were two guys I would've considered]
Round 19(265)/20(268): Mark Fraser (TOR) & Mark Stuart (WPG)
Had I been live, I would've been all over Nik Kulemin, Curtis Glencross, and especially Bryan Bickell (an INCREDIBLE value pick).
PICK SCORE: 1/10 [Just awful, awful picks.]
Round 21(293)/22(296): Chris Neil (OTT) & Justin Abdelkader (DET)
PICK SCORE: 9/10.
Round 23(321)/24(324): Chris Kreider (NYR) & Matt Greene (LA)
PICK SCORE: 6/10 [Nichu & Scheifele would've been better "risks" this late.]
Round 25(349): Jay Harrison (CAR)
PICK SCORE: n/a
OVERALL GRADE: A, forecasted finish: 2nd
Really please with this draft, especially my live 8 picks.
The only thing keeping me from giving this draft an A+ is the overload of HITS in mid-late draft and missing out on Radim Vrbata. But my players are all on good teams (takes care of +/-), I have lots of forward scoring (G,A,PPP,SOG) and enough HITS on defense. I think this will be an incredibly good team and I'm expecting a top five finish (90% conf IF no-major injuries) and possible top three finish (50% conf IF NMI). I'm always impressed with temek's draft & horrorfan's autodraft. They'll be good competition. I thought Chinny, Rimouski, and Renegade also drafted very good teams. Timbrrr's got a shot if Elliott emerges as #1.