2007/2008 CP Fantasy Hockey Points Pool

[Eddie Bronze]

Totally overlooked Azure's goalies.

I still see Josh Harding, Mike Smith and Ilya Bryzgalov on the list of available players (a few other decent ones there still as well), I think these guys are better options than any of the four they have. Sorry guys!

IFF, Vermette is a guy I have on my pool list as potentially breaking out this year. With Peter Schaefer gone, he could end up on the second line in Ottawa. He's a possible 50 point scorer this year.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

IFF, Vermette is a guy I have on my pool list as potentially breaking out this year. With Peter Schaefer gone, he could end up on the second line in Ottawa. He's a possible 50 point scorer this year.

I hope you're right--I've always liked what I've seen from him--though truthfully, he just seemed like a better option than Taylor freaking Pyatt, when it came right down to it!

It is weird that Pekka Rinne and Dany Sabourin got picked but Josh Harding didn't. I'd guess that Harding will see more action than either.

[Eddie Bronze]

12 goalies were drafted in the first two rounds. So you'd have either taken the first guy on your own list, or the 13th. Puts it into perspective a bit. I always have and always will maintain drafting first sucks. I'd always rather be right in the middle because you are not watching so many players get taken from one pick to the next.

[SebC]

I like the look of Suave's and Cerebral's teams.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

12 goalies were drafted in the first two rounds. So you'd have either taken the first guy on your own list, or the 13th. Puts it into perspective a bit. I always have and always will maintain drafting first sucks. I'd always rather be right in the middle because you are not watching so many players get taken from one pick to the next.

Yeah, but 23 forwards were taken in those two rounds... I'd estimate the difference between Crosby and the 24th ranked forward at 50 points, and the difference between Luongo and the 13th ranked goalie at about 25 points, so Crosby is still by far the better pick. I think #1 is the best spot to be because Crosby could easily be 20 points better than the #2 pick... although two picks in a row does kind of suck because it's hard to prepare for your 2nd of the two picks, especially when the draft moves as quickly as this one did.

[Eddie Bronze]

I can't argue that Crosby is the guy you should take first, but I'm trying to help IFF feel a bit better about his pick! Haha!

[SebC]

Man... looking at last years team:

Place 15th/20, and with Jagr and Briere.

But then:

Berard: 3 points
Meyer: 8 points
Samsonov: 26 points
Jason Williams: 32 points
Leclaire: 9 points

If anyone on my team this year finishes that low, it will either be because of a totally unexpected injury, or either Mueller or Erik Johnson doesn't get the minutes I'm hoping. But the chance of having five players under 35 points? Slim to none. We'll see how this team compares.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

I can't argue that Crosby is the guy you should take first, but I'm trying to help IFF feel a bit better about his pick! Haha!

I know you are, and I'm not helping!

Nobody wants Brent Burns?

[SebC]

Just curious: what do people think of my Mueller and E. Johnson picks in the final two rounds? Will they play enough and score enough to be worthy choices?

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally Posted by SebC

Just curious: what do people think of my Mueller and E. Johnson picks in the final two rounds? Will they play enough and score enough to be worthy choices?

Johnson is a good pick because of position. I think a lot of those d-men that got taken at the end won't be getting guys more than 20ish points, maybe 30 if some of them are lucky. So if he gets some ice time on that Blues PP, you never know. Worth a risk for sure.

Mueller I'm kind of surprised by but I tend to stay away from guys on teams like the one he's coming in on. Such a mess around him. I probably would have went for more of a safer pick like Peter Schaefer or if I was going for a younger guy who could break out I'd have went for Clowe in SJ or Stafford in Buff. Just my opinion though!

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by SebC

I like the look of Suave's and Cerebral's teams.

I took a few pretty big risks that could either pay off or result in my losing (unless I can find some decent waiver wire players). Both Connolly and Havlat have major injury concerns but they also both have the potential to finish near the top of the league in scoring. Connolly in particular could light it up this year now that Briere and Drury are gone.

Originally Posted by SebC

I know you are, and I'm not helping!

Nobody wants Brent Burns?

I'm debating between him and Ranger right now.

Originally Posted by SebC

Just curious: what do people think of my Mueller and E. Johnson picks in the final two rounds? Will they play enough and score enough to be worthy choices?

Mueller is damn talented offensively but it's tough to get a read on what will happen in Phoenix. He has the talent to have a Stastny-like season but it could depend on just how bad Phoenix is.

Erik Johnson could end up being a great pick, he's lighting it up in a prospect tournament right now with 3 goals in 2 games. You don't often see big defencemen like Johnson put up big offensive numbers in their first season but the opportunity could be there on the powerplay with Weight, Kariya and Tkachuk as a potential first unit.

[SebC]

My reasoning with the Mueller pick is that he could potentially be on the top line with Doan and Reinprecht, say, and if he does then I've hit a home run with my last pick. If he isn't going anywhere... then I can drop him onto the waiver wire and pick up one of those free agents. And I'm second in waiver priority. Upside of the move is that he could outperform those guys by 20ish points. Downside is that the guy I'd take of waivers instead gets taken by the guy who's first in waiver priority for some reason and I have to take my second choice, so maybe 3 points? The way I see it it's actually a low risk move, because he's easily replaceable if I need to drop him. The biggest danger is actually that I hold onto him too long expecting him to improve and he doesn't.

Just checked and St. Louis really lacks right-shooting defensemen. EJ will very likely be on their top PP.

[SebC]

Oh man... there's still a defenseman there who could be a waiver-wire steal. Also, Azure and VFF should have paid more attention when drafting their goalies!

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by SebC

My reasoning with the Mueller pick is that he could potentially be on the top line with Doan and Reinprecht, say, and if he does then I've hit a home run with my last pick. If he isn't going anywhere... then I can drop him onto the waiver wire and pick up one of those free agents. And I'm second in waiver priority. Upside of the move is that he could outperform those guys by 20ish points. Downside is that the guy I'd take of waivers instead gets taken by the guy who's first in waiver priority for some reason and I have to take my second choice, so maybe 3 points? The way I see it it's actually a low risk move, because he's easily replaceable if I need to drop him. The biggest danger is actually that I hold onto him too long expecting him to improve and he doesn't.

Just checked and St. Louis really lacks right-shooting defensemen. EJ will very likely be on their top PP.

Your analysis in terms of Mueller seems fairly sound. To be honest, you should get a pretty good idea of how he fits in during training camp. He'll likely get an audition on the top line with Doan and it will remain to be seen how he plays in that role. He's a damn good young player (easily one of my favorite prospects out there) and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he puts up some decent numbers this year.

Johnson definitely has a chance to line up on the top powerplay unit. St. Louis is loaded with older veteran players (who are always difficult to assess) but they have the pieces to have a very good powerplay this season.

Originally Posted by SebC

Oh man... there's still a defenseman there who could be a waiver-wire steal. Also, Azure and VFF should have paid more attention when drafting their goalies!

Is that Kuba that you speak of?

I was debating between him and Ranger and ended up settling on the youngster.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Cerebral

Is that Kuba that you speak of?

Nope. Someone much less well known.

As for Mueller, I'm having second thoughts. Trying to decide what his upside is. Can he hit 70, given that Doan has never done it? Unlikely. Because if his upside is in the 50 range, might as well go for somebody who I know will hit that mark.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

I can't argue that Crosby is the guy you should take first, but I'm trying to help IFF feel a bit better about his pick! Haha!

Well, thanks for trying!

I'm curious--a lot of people seemed to be seeing their top choices disappear before they got to pick. For you guys, who's the player you most wanted that someone else picked before you had a chance? For me it was Briere--I have a sort of feeling he's going to put up some pretty big numbers in Philly.

[Eddie Bronze]

IFF, I wasn't even that psyched on picking Briere because I'm always scared by guys who just signed big deals like he did. A dip in production for the first year of that deal is seeming to become the norm. But he should be playing with Gagne and he's got the 8th best PPG rank since the boys came back from the lockout. Of the top 25ish of that group though, he's the only one on a new contract.

I would say, considering Marian Hossa is playing for a new contract and was taken one spot ahead of me, I was really hoping he would slip one more spot, so he was the one I wanted once we were far enough into it.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

IFF, I wasn't even that psyched on picking Briere because I'm always scared by guys who just signed big deals like he did. A dip in production for the first year of that deal is seeming to become the norm. But he should be playing with Gagne and he's got the 8th best PPG rank since the boys came back from the lockout. Of the top 25ish of that group though, he's the only one on a new contract.

I would say, considering Marian Hossa is playing for a new contract and was taken one spot ahead of me, I was really hoping he would slip one more spot, so he was the one I wanted once we were far enough into it.

I suppose in that case you won't think much of my taking Vanek in the third! I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope, though.

If you don't want Briere, I'll give you Vermette for him...



Re: VFF's goalies--it sounds like they were picked automatically for him by the computer, since he wasn't there... tough break. At this point, he might want to switch it up a little, though--there are better choices amongst the remaining backups, I think.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

who's the player you most wanted that someone else picked before you had a chance?

Suave grabbed Nylander three picks before I would have. No idea if Abandonded and Monkey would have grabbed him but he got close enough I started hoping.

Abandonded also grabbed Cam Ward 2 spot ahead of me, but Kolzig could have a decent year with an improved team around him and since GAA is a non factor in this league he's a decent second goalie.

Army grabbed Radulov when I had him around the top of my list but I highly doubt he would have made it through everyone to me.

[Pagal4321]

DFF Grabbed Giguere RIGHT before I was going to grab him. I let out a few curse words. Langkow was also taken a few spots before I was going to grab him.