With a player like Brad Boyes, how do you not name the team Boyes 22 Men? Not that a fancy name’s going to help the somewhat-thinner goaltending of Backstrom/Huet/Vokoun when stacked up against the likes of Brodeur/Fleury/Mason or Luongo/Ward/Thomas, but I’m pretty confident in the top-to-bottom consistency of my team.
Iginla’s my star player, but besides that I’m pretty happy that the entire team can perform pretty consistently on a nightly basis. In a 6-team league, every team’s stacked, but with my weakest link players being Gionta, Frolov and Ponikarovsky, I’m pleased with the depth of this team.
Boyes 22 Men Opening Day
D. Sedin • P. Datsyuk • J. Iginla
P. Marleau • E. Staal • Daniel Alfredsson
M. Michalek • H. Sedin • B. Boyes
A. Frolov • T. Zajac • B. Gionta
–––
D. Phaneuf • D. Boyle
N. Lidstrom • J. Bouwmeester
K. Timmonen • B. Coburn
–––
N. Backstrom • C. Huet
J. Staal • A. Ponikarovsky • B. Seabrook • T. Vokoun
Draft Notes
• I was definitely looking for players who would be pretty much a lock to gain a point or two every couple games, without too much of an injury record
• I took Daniel Sedin a little early, but having him and Henrik in the same team is a plus as they seem to always score off each other
• Bouwmeester, Zajac and Timonen all fell further than I expected them to. Nice surprises there.
• The goaltending’s a bit weak, but Backstrom plays 90% of Minnesota’s games and Vokoun’s coming off a good year, so long as Chicago doesn’t get shelled and Florida doesn’t go backwards 3 steps in their 15-year rebuilding plan, the goaltending shouldn’t be terrible.
• Jordan Staal is a nice player to have on the bench. He’s stuck on the third line permanently, but I have a feeling this is the year he might start doing some real damage.
• Snagged both the Sedin Sisters and the Staal brothers.
• Sure hope Michalek clicks in Ottawa, ideally with Alfredsson and Spezza
