I thought I’d take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Dup’s Troops team of 2007-08. The team, seen above, finished the regular season atop league standings, a remarkable feat, yet failed to live up to expectations, being upset in the first round of the playoffs by a lowly 6th seeded team. In completely unrelated news Dup’s Troops is proud to announce the signing of draft pick and San Jose Sharks centerman Joe Thornton.
Opening Day Roster:
Dany Heatley – Joe Thornton – Shane Doan
Brendan Morrow – Paul Stastny – Martin Havlat
Milan Lucic – Daniel (I refuse to call a 32 year old man Danny) Briere – Ales Hemsky
Paul Kariya – Mike Ribeiro – Teemu Selanne
Alex Burrows – Steven Stamkos – Jamie Langenbrunner
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Mike Green Shea Weber
Lubomir Visnovsky Sheldon Souray
Sergei Gonchar Drew Doughty
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Martin Brodeur – Marc-Andre Fleury – Steve Mason
Draft Notes:
- Drafting in the 5th spot out of 6th I took Mike Green at number 5 knowing that there would be only two more picks before my next picks and there would be many high caliber forwards to take, so why not lock up the best defencemen (I don’t recommend this strategy in leagues with more teams).
- In a league consisting of such deep teams (24 roster spots) and only 6 teams, going into the draft I figured goalies would be the difference and thus drafted Brodeur and Fleury back-to-back in rounds 3 and 4 and then rookie sensation Steve Mason in round 6.
- Im expecting big things from the duo of Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley and was very surprised to see Thornton still available at 29th overall.
- If he can stay healthy Paul Stastny could be the steal of the draft at 68th overall.
- Should do ok in PIMs category with the likes of Burrows, Souray, Weber, Morrow, Doan and Lucic. Even Heatley will contribute.
- If Drew Doughty can improve on his rookie totals, I may have the best defence in the league with a couple of high point/high pims guys in Souray and Weber, Gonchar, Visnovsky, and of course Mike Green (the defencemen that produces like a forward).
- All in all I’m pleased with my forwards, but I think it wil be my defence and goalies that will set me apart from the other teams.
