Round 1, #3 overall: Sidney Crosby – You can’t go wrong with Sid the Kid after Ovechkin and Malkin are off the board. No brainer here.
Round 2: Zach Parise – Parise basically fell into my lap. I was expecting an Iginla here but he was taken with the 4th. When 94 pts and +30 with a LW comes to you, you can’t pass it up. Here’s to a repeat and not a Jacques Lemaire anemic offense.
Round 3, Evgeni Nabokov – Bobby Lou was off the board, perfect time to dip into the goalie pool and lock up some wins. Brodeur and Kipper also went later in the round.
Round 4, Alexander Semin – Serious secondary and powerplay scoring threat on the wing in Washington.
Round 5, Mike Richards – 80 pts, +22, new Philly lineup with a vengeance… Yes, please. Not wasting a pick on a defenseman, yet. Forwards are still too good.
Round 6, Marc Savard – 88 points and in a contract year. Too underrated. Note: Boyes 22 Men took Phaneuf and Boyle back-to-back and I STILL don’t want a D-man.
Round 7, Devin Setoguchi – Playing with Heatley and Thornton, expectations for him have never been bigger.
Round 8, Ryan Miller – Rounding out my starting goalies with a looking-to-prove-something-this-year goalie in Ryan Miller. Weber, Lidstrom and Chara were taken in this round.
Round 9, Johan Franzen – There’s going to be a lot of goals going around in Detroit and Datsyuk is certainly going to set Franzen up with enough chances to get them.
Round 10, Thomas Vanek – I’m expecting big things from Buffalo this year… starting with their best scorer.
Round 11, Scott Hartnell – PIMs PIMs PIMs PIMs PIMs PIMs PIMs PIMs PIMs. (Should have taken a D-man)
Round 12, Ray Emery – Jay Bouwmeester was stolen right from my grasp! Philly has put it all on Emery this year and minus some unfortunate loss of composure, he should be able to rise to the challenge.
Round 13, Brian Campbell – Took me 13 rounds but I finally filled a D spot! I really wanted Marc Streit though (could cost me about 10-15 points).
Round 14, Dennis Wideman – His stats last year actually look better than Campbell’s. Fluke year or for real?
Round 15, Anze Kopitar – Center #4, LA top line. LA swears they will be playoff contenders this year and I believe it. Thought about taking Kessel here but Scratch would have cried.
Round 16, Jason Pominville – Hopefully he finds the net on the second line. If not, he’s my first candidate for the waiver wire. RW #4
Round 17, Alex Tanguay – Took a flier. PLEASE REMEMBER HOW TO SCORE. Vinny should help… if he remembers how to score too. Passed on Zajac and Stamkos.
Round 18, Niklas Kronwall – Do I get fantasy points for huge hits?
Round 19, Ryan Suter – Huge shot will translate into some great powerplay opportunities. Preds’ ice-time leader but -16 scares me.
Round 20, Joe Corvo – 8 powerplay goals is a career best. Look for a rejuvenated Hurricanes PP unit quarterbacked by Corvo.
Round 21, Derek Roy – 70 points is not out of the question for the Buffalo top-liner and my fifth C.
Round 22, Erik Cole – Saw a complete transformation when he returned to Carolina. Here’s to hoping that chemistry continues.
Round 23, Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Ehrhoff gone to the Canucks? Enter Vlasic. Huge upside playing on a strong San Jose powerplay.
Round 24, Justin Williams – Last pick in the draft. Came down to either Williams or Kristian Huselius… I took the guy playing with Ryan Smyth over the guy playing with Rick Nash.
Well, what do you think? The obvious weaknesses are on the blueline but I think I assembled some good potential talents in the later rounds. Points shouldn’t be a problem and most everybody will see significant powerplay time. Only problem is I see a few fragile names on my roster that I’ll need to cross my fingers for (Crosby, Kopitar, Tanguay, Williams, oh boy).
