Fantasy Hockey Draft 2009

This week the Fantasy Factor held its first ever fantasy hockey draft consisting of myself, PG Webmaster Jody Farr, PG online graphic artist and creator of the IceHouse Jonathan Bieda, my brother Mike and a few of my loyal FF readers.  With any draft I was very excited to get it started.  Also, a lot of people emailed me asking to join before I even made mention of the league, so a lot of the readers were anxious to get going as well.  Unfortunately one player dropped out a couple hours before the draft, dropping our points based league down to just nine teams.

I was home with just my one year old son Caleb when the draft order came out.  I instantly looked to the far right (the back of the draft order) to see just how far back I would be picking and I couldn't find my Xtreme Machine avatar.  I was genuinely confused and I thought to myself, "Did I change it to something else?  Where am I?"  I scrolled through the rest and found myself sitting in the 3rd spot!  My streak of picking last has finally been broken!  Here's how the rest of the order went.

Draft order:

1.  The Flying Hellfish (Jonathan Bieda)
2.  Putting on the Foil
3.  Xtreme Machine
4.  KevinZuk
5.  Mike Tomlin
6.  Moe's Mashers (Mike Fruscello)
7.  Sensible Leopards (Jody Farr) 
8.  Theo Fleurys Sponsor
9.  Zalapski Fan Club

First Round:
First up was The Flying Hellfish and unfortunately his computer couldn't get him into the draft room on time so the computer picked for him.  It didn't matter though because it picked who he would've picked and that was Alexander Ovechkin.  POTF was next and he went with the Art Ross trophy winner, Evgeni Malkin.

Secretly, I was hoping POTF would've taken Sidney Crosby and not because I wanted Malkin, but because then I wouldn't have to pick him.  I considered my options while carrying Caleb down the basement steps, watching him crawl back up and carrying him down again.  "I really want to go with Heatley but its too early and he's pretty far down the Y! rankings, so he might be missed.  I'd love to draft Datsyuk or Zetterberg, but not with the third overall pick.  If I pick Datsyuk, there's a chance Z will be available in the 2nd round when its my turn.  No wait, Jody will pick twice before I go again and he picked Z last year.  What about Marty Brodeur or Luongo?"  As my legs got tired from carrying Caleb down the steps over and over again and my draft time was about to expire the logical / unbiased part of my brain slapped me across the face and said, "Do you want to win?  Quit screwing around and pick Sidney Crosby already!  You can cheer for your Wings in the playoffs when it matters."  So for the second straight year, Sid the Kid will lead the Xtreme Machine into the fantasy hockey season.

Next up was long time reader and commenter KevinZuk.  None of the big three were available to him so it was interesting to see where he went with his pick.  He ended up selecting young NJ Devils superstar Zach Parise who had a breakout year in 08-09.  Mike Tomlin (I'm assuming its just a team name and not the actual man) selected Thrashers goal machine Illya Kovalchuk with the 6th pick.

Now for my brother.  The guy lives and breathes hockey year long and is the biggest die hard Pens fan in the world without question.  I was very interested to see who he would select in the first round.  "Moe's Mashers select forward Pavel Datsyuk".  What?!  What kind of bizarro world do we live in when a Wings fan picks Crosby and a Pens fan picks Datsyuk.  Great pick at number 7 though.

The Sensible Leopards went with the same player he went with last year in the first round and drafted all time goalie wins leader, Martin Brodeur.  The next pick was a bit of a surprise.  Theo Fleurys Sponsor picked 46 goal scorer Jeff Carter.  Don't get me wrong, Carter is a good player with a terrific shot, but I don't think he's first round material yet.  The last pick in the round went to Zalapski Fan Club who selected Jarome Iginla and is hoping he can return to 50 goal form with Jokinen on his line for a full season.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Second Round:
Coming into this round I was surprised to see Heatley still on the board, but there was no way he was getting down to me.  Evgeni Nabokov went to Zalapski, TFS made a strong second round pick with Ryan Getzlaf, Sensible Leopards, as predicted, took Henrik Zetterberg.  My brother offered me Corey Perry and Datsyuk for Crosby and my second rounder, but my focus was on Heatley.  Mike Tomlin took the first defenseman with Mike Green and KevinZuk was elated to get Rick Nash.  Wow!  Heatley still on the board.  Hellfish told me earlier in the day that he would be a 2nd or 3rd rounder, but I never thought Heater would drop this far now that he's on the Sharks.  Dany Heatley has played on every single one of my fantasy hockey teams, except '06, since his rookie year.  My franchise player was back for another year.

Third Round:
At this point, I knew it was going to be a quick turnaround back to me and Heatley's center, Joe Thornton was still on the board.  Could I really get both Heatley and Thornton?  Really??  Roberto Luongo, Tim Thomas and Patrick Kane all were drafted after my Heatley selection.  One more to go... Putting on the Foil selects forward Joe Thornton.  UGH!!  So close too!  *SIGH*  Suddenly it was my turn now and the remaining forwards were not in the same class as Thornton.  I considered Alexander Semin, but he's whiny and disappeared in the playoffs.  I considered my other franchise player Marian Gaborik, but I've been burned by his injuries too many times already and he's dealing with a groin problem in camp.  Vincent Lecavalier was dreadful for me last year.  Its too early to go after Mike Richards.  What was left in the goalie department?  The elite goalies were gone, but there were some pretty strong goalies left and I picked one of them.  Henrik Lundqvist has been pretty stable and consistent for the Rangers over the years and now that they have a little more goal scoring, he should break the 40 win mark.

Fourth Round:
Well at this point I had my top goalie, but now almost all of the top remaining forwards were disappearing.  Semin, Gaborik, Staal, Lecavalier, and Mike Richards were gone by the time it was my turn to pick.  Olli Jokinen however was still on the board and I'm really excited to see how well he'll do on the Flames for a full season with Jarome Iginla.  He was a former 35+ goal scorer on the Panthers with pretty much no help and he looks good in pre season.

Fifth Round:
There were still several very good defensemen out there and I was going to snatch one up before I had my long wait for my next couple picks.  Nicklas Lidstrom would've been ideal and was next in my que.  However, Hellfish knew he wouldn't get another chance at Lidstrom and drafted him last season with a lot of success.  Chris Pronger fell off the board two picks later and suddenly the elite defenseman I was looking for were not there.  The best player available at this point was goalie Niklas Backstrom of the Wild.  He won't record a ton of wins, but he's a good bet to finish with the most shutouts, he should have a nice GAA and save percentage and in my opinion was one of the best fantasy goalies last season.  I had a lot of success with him last year before trading him for Zetterberg.  Maybe this year I'll hang onto him.

(Photo by AP)

Sixth Round:
More forwards, more top defensemen and a couple goalies came off the board, but buried down the rankings list was Sergei Gonchar.  I was hoping for Brian Rafalski, but he was taken and Sarge will do just fine.  He only played in 25 games last year, causing his ranking to drop quite a bit but Gonchar with the 7th pick in the sixth round is a steal.

Seventh Round:
I could have gone back and picked another good defenseman, but I felt like getting just one really good one and concentrating on forwards was a good move.  Forwards get more points than defensemen and it would be silly to take a Scott Niedermayer or Andrei Markov when I could get a forward that would score more points.  I really considered Bobby Ryan, but I thought he would still be on the board in the eighth round.  Too bad KevinZuk picked him right after me.  Instead I got "homerish" and let my fandom get the best of me.  Johan Franzen has 40 goal potential and will be on a line with Pavel Datsyuk this year.  I smell a career year for the Mule.

Eighth Round:
I was still shaking my head over the miss on Joe Thornton.  So close.  I then decided to get a little risky.  Thornton and Heatley will be dynamic, but there will be a third member of that line and right now its shaping up to be Devin Setoguchi.  He scored 31 goals in his first full season with the Sharks playing alongside Thornton.  With Heatley he can only get better.  Why is this a risky pick?  There's no guarantee that Setoguchi will remain on that top line, especially if that's the only line producing.  Seto's big value lies with him remaining on the top lines and leeching off the success of Thornton and Heatley.

Ninth Round:
This next pick I surprised myself.  Ray Whitney has always been a solid and quiet producer of points.  In the 9th round, a guy that's glued to Eric Staal's line and a lock for 20 goals and 50 assists, plus a ton of shots is pretty nice.

Tenth Round: 
There were a lot of players on the board that could go either way in production this year.  However none of them had as big of an upside as Alexei Kovalev.  He's never been as great as he was in Pittsburgh, but I think a change in scenery from Montreal to Ottawa will do him good.  He has a ton of talent and he'll be inserted into Heatley's old spot and probably play with the same linemates.  Two years ago in Montreal he scored 35 goals and 49 assists.  If he can get around that this year, I'll be satisfied with that out of my 10th round pick.  

Eleventh Round:
Go ahead and call me a sucker for the old timers, but Teemu Selanne still has a pretty nice shot and this year he'll be on the second line with fellow countryman Saku Koivu.  This reunion of Team Finland's top line should give both Selanne and Koivu a much needed boost to their NHL careers.  Considering Selanne struggled last year, he still lit the lamp 27 times in 65 games.  Those numbers will be better with Koivu setting him up.

Twelfth Round:
Maybe I jumped on this one too quick, but I was very impressed with what I saw out of Andy McDonald last year during the regular season and in the playoffs.  He was the only member of the Blues to show up in their 4 game sweep loss to the Canucks.  He scored 44 points in just 46 games and was a powerplay point machine when he was healthy. 

Thirteenth Round:
Watching defensemen continuing to fall off the board, I kept on trucking with the forwards.  With the McDonald pick still fresh in my mind, I decided to pick up his linemate, Paul Kariya, who was also off to a great start before getting injured.  I've always been a big Kariya fan, too bad he never played for any teams I liked.  He's gotten the label of being "injury prone" however before last season Kariya played in all 82 games in 5 of the last 6 seasons.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Fourteenth Round:
Moe's Mashers picked up a gem in Patrick Sharp.  Not sure how I missed him.  I must have turned a blind eye to the Blackhawks or something.  In 05-06, Scott Gomez played on a line with Brian Gionta and the two of them posted career numbers in points and goals.  The two are back together in Montreal and have a pretty good third linemate with Michael Cammalleri.  In the 14th round, I'm not banking on a return to glory, but I do think Gomez will post his typical 40-50 assists and score close to 20 goals once again.

Fifteenth Round:
Once again I was considering building up my defense and once again, the defenseman I was looking at got drafted.  Niklas Kronwall got snatched up two picks before my turn.  Back to forwards I go.  The Columbus Blue Jackets have been trying really hard to find a top line that clicks with Rick Nash.  They finally have one with Nash, Brassard and Kristian Huselius.  The Jackets should treat this line like an expensive piece of glass.  Don't move it, don't bump it, don't even breathe on it.  Just leave it alone.  If they do this, Huselius has 30 goal, 40 assist potential.

Sixteenth Round:
Heading into this round I found another hidden gem sitting at the bottom of the Y! rankings.  Paul Stastny, the top line centerman for the Avs, was injured last year and was ranked out of place.  "What a steal he would be in the 16th round", I thought to myself.  Almost as if he could hear my thoughts, my brother Mike drafts him three picks before its my turn.  UGH!  Damn Mashers!  I turned this round into the risky pick round.  Jean-Sebastian Giguere was 2nd in my goalie rankings last year, but after a slow start to the season and the passing of his father, he lost his focus and his starting job.  Coming into this season, Jiggy is in competition with Jonas Hiller for the starting role.  His salary is $6 million, so he'll either start on the Ducks or get traded to another team and start there.  He's too expensive to have sit on the bench and I think he's too talented to have another down year.

Seventeenth Round:
At my brother's bachelor party a few weeks ago, for some reason everyone got into a "Who's better?  Chris Drury or Alex Tanguay?" discussion.  Mike was very adamant about Drury being the better player in fantasy and real life.  He sold him very well.  So well, I went for it.  Rangers coach John Tortorella also really likes Drury and puts him out there a lot and may be Marian Gaborik's center.  If that's the case, Drury may have a huge year.  If not, no big deal, he's starting on my bench anyways.

Eighteenth Round:
With the forwards pool drying up, now was the time to complete the defense.  There wasn't a lot whole to pick from, so I was going to have to take a chance on someone returning to their glory years.  Tomas Kaberle is a 50 point defenseman in most seasons.  He didn't reach that number last year, but he only played in 57 games.  Their was a lot of trade rumors surrounding Kaberle last year.  If he does get traded, he could be one of the more productive defensemen in the league, but on the other hand if he plays in Toronto and doesn't get injured, he could still have a solid 50 point season.

Nineteenth Round:
I completed my defense with a guy that did get out of Toronto, Bryan McCabe.  With Jay Bouwmeester off to Calgary, McCabe will be the guy the Panthers rely on at the blueline.  Like Kaberle, he has a good shot at 50 points each year, but his plus/minus will probably be lousy.

Twentieth Round:
Just three more picks to go.  I had mentioned earlier how Selanne and Saku Koivu were going to be linemates.  Its not Heatley and Thornton, but that could be a very dynamic duo this season.

Twenty First Round:
At this point in the draft, you're just hoping for something.  You don't want to waste your pick.  Get a guy that has at least some potential to do something.  In this round I found Steve Sullivan.  He's been plagued by injuries his entire career, but when he plays, he puts up big points.  He had 60 points in 57 games in 06-07, missed the entire 07-08 season, and came back last season to score 32 points in 41 games.  Great late round pick.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Twenty Second Round:
Like I said, these late rounds are all about gamble picks and who has potential to do something big.  Entering the final year of his contract, Kari Lehtonen could be trade bait this year.  The Thrashers have their hands full with trying to resign Kovalchuk long term and there were rumors about Lehtonen leaving for Philly or Detroit last year.  On Atlanta, he has virtually no fantasy value, but if he can get traded to a team with a defense, a goaltender with his kind of talent could go a long way.

(Photo by AP)

Now for the part that everyone "loves".  My grades on the draft.  Again, don't get offended if you get less than you expected and don't get too confident if you get a higher grade than expected.  This is just how it looks right now.  Once the puck drops, everything changes and the grades mean nothing.

Draft Pick Grades:

The Flying Hellfish (B): Its tough not to get a good grade with you have the two time reigning MVP on your team.  In addition to Ovie, he has Patrick Kane and Daniel Sedin.  His defense is strong led by Nick Lidstrom.  Both of his goalies had outstanding seasons in 08-09 and should get more playing time this year increasing their value.  I think his bench and the bottom half of his forwards could be better.

Putting on the Foil (A-): He was getting in my way of picks all night.  He took Thornton right before me and Luongo right before Hellfish.  However, like Hellfish, he has a strong defense and two good goalies.  He's relying on some young guys like Kopitar and Stamkos to step it up this year.  If they do, he'll be a tough team to beat.

Xtreme Machine (A): I was very happy to get Heatley in the 2nd round.  It was like getting two first rounders in this draft.  Both goalies are good.  Lots of depth at the forward position with high end potential in that depth.  A lot of my depth players are injury prone, which may force me to use my bench more than I want.  Obviously my defense is a weak point with only Gonchar being a legitmate threat from the blueline.

KevinZuk (B+): I'm not exactly thrilled with his first round pick of Zach Parise, however his forward depth looks good, the defense looks solid all around and his both his goalies should do well.  Kipper has looked less like a number one goalie over the years, hopefully he'll bounce back. If not, Rinne might be the better of the two.  If Parise can duplicate last year's numbers then his first rounder is good, but the Devils have Jacques Lemaire again as their coach and they'll play a much more of a defensive system than last year which will cut into Parise's numbers big time.

Mike Tomlin (B+): A lot of depth at forward.  Kovalchuk, Semin, Lecavalier, Savard, Gagne, Briere, Roy, Gionta and Morrow.  He has Mike Green and Andrei Markov on defense, but his goalies seemd to be an after thought.  He went with last year's Blackhawk goalies, Cristobal Huet and Nikolai Khabbibulin.  Huet may get a lot of wins, but his numbers won't be good and Khabibulin plays on a team that doesn't play defense.  Lack of goaltending hurts him.

Moe's Mashers (B-): Ohhhh Mike... he started off good with Pavel Datsyuk and Corey Perry who could finally break the 40 goal mark this year with Getzlaf on his line.  I'm not optimistic about Marleau repeating his numbers without Thornton on his line.  I wasn't impressed with his forwards as a whole until towards the end when he made some strong selections with Hemsky, Sharp and Stastny.   He reached for Shea Weber in the 4th round over Lidstrom, Pronger and Gonchar.  He homered it up with Fleury and is taking a chance on Vokoun.  He's a valuable fantasy goalie on the Panthers if he plays a lot because he'll face a lot of shots, however they signed Scott Clemmensen in the off season and I don't think they did that so he would sit on the bench.

Sensible Leopards (C+):  He took Martin Brodeur in the first round and Zetterberg in the second, but is really gambling after that.  Osgood probably won't play more than 60 games, so while his numbers will be good, he just simply won't play enough to be as valuable as he could be.  Hartnell, Langenbrunner, Lupul, Bertuzzi and Prospal all have the ability to contribute big if put in the right situation, but I have a hard time seeing most of them panning out.  The defense is good and the defensemen he has on his bench is better than what I have in my lineup. 

Theo Fleurys Sponsor (B-): I was really suprised to see Jeff Carter go in the first round, but he picked Ryan Getzlaf and Eric Staal after that which are both excellent picks.  His forwards won't be at full strength until December though with Marian Hossa out till then and Phil Kessel out till November.  If Carey Price rebounds, I really like the goaltending tandem here.  The defense is okay.  Campbell is the best and he's a little questionable.  Once this team is completely healthy, they'll be tough.

Zalapski Fan Club (B): This team could really go either way.  Iginla, Gaborik, St Louis, Spezza, Havlat, Phaneuf, Turco and Nabokov have all shown that they can be very good at times.  But when they're not hot, they're ice cold.  There's no in between.  The only all or nothing player missing from his team is Rick Nash.  He also has first overall pick John Tavares who could come out of the gate like Crosby or stumble out like Stamkos.  It'll be interesting to see which way this team goes.

Alright guys, what do YOU think?  What grades do you think you deserve?  What grade do I deserve?  What was the best pick in the draft?