4th overall - toughest pick in this year\'s draft

[LeMatt]

Hey all,

One of my pools just drew names for our draft order. I landed the 4th overall pick which i have decided is the hardest pick in the draft this year. The consensus is that Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin should go 1,2,3 (1yr pool, G,A, PPP all worth 1 pt) but after that it is a little more of a crap shoot. Some of my options are:

Joe Thornton: Mr. Consistency, probably guaranteed 90-95pts. Not sure how the rookie head coach will affect him. Adding a bonafide PP QB is Boyle won\'t hurt him either. Has the potential to breaK 100 PTS this year is Cheechoo stops being ******ed

Zetterberg/Datsyuk: The new elite in the NHL. Datsyuk is probably more durable, plus one of them (if not both) will be playing with Hossa which is an upgrade over Franzen/Holmstrom/Cleary. Again both guys are 90+ point players that might flirt with 100.

Iginla: Again, very consistent and Cammalleri should be a slight upgrade over Tanguay on the PP. But will it be enough to make Iggy a 100 point player?

Heatley/Spezza/Alfredsson: One of this trio is always a a threat and they all can rack up the PP points which is huge in this type of pool. Spezza might finally crack 100 points if he can stay healthy for 80 games. Can\'t say I like their chances compared to a Thornton or Zetterberg though.

Lecavalier: A stud, but with all changes in T-Bay is he going to break 100 points? Can\'t say I have a lot of faith in Melrose.

Anyways give me your thoughts. I think I\'m leaning towards one of the Detroit duo but Thornton is in the back of my mind. He could explode if McLellan can bring some of his PP magic over from Detroit and Boyle gets comfortable early.

[Zorro]

I would go Joe Thornton..

[Katharsis]

How many teams and what are the cats for goalies (if you draft them at all)?

If goalies are needed, Luongo comes into play here.

[LeMatt]

Katharsis wrote:

How many teams and what are the cats for goalies (if you draft them at all)?

If goalies are needed, Luongo comes into play here.

Goalies do come into play, 2pts for a win, 4 pts for a SO. Last year in this same pool I actually had 3rd overall and took Luongo. That didn\'t work out so well for me. With the extra point for every PPP, goalies only get up to about 110 pts (high end) where as forwards can get up to 150-160 fantasy points. Plus you can always grab a guy like Turco, Osgood or even Bryzgalov in the mid rounds that should provide good value in net.

[Katharsis]

LeMatt wrote:

Katharsis wrote:

How many teams and what are the cats for goalies (if you draft them at all)?

If goalies are needed, Luongo comes into play here.

Goalies do come into play, 2pts for a win, 4 pts for a SO. Last year in this same pool I actually had 3rd overall and took Luongo. That didn\'t work out so well for me. With the extra point for every PPP, goalies only get up to about 110 pts (high end) where as forwards can get up to 150-160 fantasy points. Plus you can always grab a guy like Turco, Osgood or even Bryzgalov in the mid rounds that should provide good value in net.

OK, that makes sense. If top end goalies are that far behind, I\'d go with Big Joe here as well. Like you said, mediocre goalies for good teams (ie. Osgood) will still be available in the later rounds.

[NYR9394]

Thornton. He\'s an assist & PP point beast. I was having a similar dilemma when creating my big board but you really gotta go with that \"money in the bank\" pick in the first round. Thornton is that guy IMO.

[Shoeless]

I think you have to take Joe. He should be clear of the rest of the field by a small margin at least. Don\'t worry about Cheech - he will be there!!!

[tml4everpz]

jumbo joe here but if any of the other 3 slip through the cracks snag\'em. Thornton is the most consistent and there are no injury concerns like with zetterberg, spezza, or alfie.

[mbice]

How many teams? Positional requirements?

I like Heatley/Iginla here. I like getting the stud winger out of the way. There\'s going to be a lot of good C\'s left in the next couple rounds (Staal, Kopitar, Getzlaf --> all of them should be close to 85PTS, 35PPP type production)

[Veritas0Aequitas]

If positional requirements come into effect (also GWG and SOG) I\'m totally taking Heatley here. I think people underrate him after he got injured this year. The two previous years he was a 50g 50a 70+ PIM guy.

How can you argue with that?!?

[LeMatt]

mbice wrote:

How many teams? Positional requirements?

12 teams, pos requirements: 6 F, 4 D, 1 G and 2 or 3 bench.

So there are no issues surrounding C vs. RW. I do like taking an elite d-man early but I think 4th overall is a little too early to take Gonchar or Lidstrom.

I\'m thinking I\'ll grab Thornton at 4th and use my 2nd and 3rd round picks to grab some elite d-men (hopefully someone like Green, Boyle, Phaneuf, Whitney, Pronger, etc.)

[littleranger]

Sorry about changing the topic but JESUS CHRIST...im looking at mbice\'s roster and practically poopin myself!!!!!

[the_mash]

\"Senators power play goal, scored by number 15, Daaaaaanyyyy HEEEEEEEEEATLEYYYY.\"

Assist to number...