Draft Experiment: Goalie Update 1

Goalie Emphasis Draft – Update 1

This is the first update in the draft experiment series, for the Goalie Emphasis draft. If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, go back and read the original post: the great draft experiment.

This team was specifically drafted with an emphasis on having a strong netminding squad and then following up with a balanced forward and D group, while holding off on drafting centers until a bit later, due to their depth in the draft pool. Essentially, I used my first two draft picks to draft goalies rather than take any superstar forwards, regardless of draft position or who was available when it was my pick. After that, I attempted to balance out my other positions, especially wingers, so I drafted accordingly after the first two goalie choices. This specific draft strategy is actually closest to the one that I personally use in leagues that I actively participate in, so I had no problem executing it.

As you should already have seen, the first update–to the best player available draft–was posted yesterday. The other two remaining drafts (defense and forward emphasized) will be posted in the next two days.

Click on the image to view its full size (opens in separate window).

No doubt, you’ve been wondering if this team is doing as poorly as the BPA team. As you can see from the graphic above, it definitely is not doing as poorly. This team is in first place in the standings and very manageable in terms of max games used up (graphic below), which means it’ll be tough to catch. I can say with confidence that this team should finish at least in the top 3, barring multiple injuries. Obviously, many things can change as the season goes on, though, so I hesitate to say this team is a lock to win 1st place.

As you can see from the roster image, the team is pretty strong from top to bottom, hence its place in the standings. I have Nabby and Lundy as my anchors in net and a pretty decent Khabibulin as a bench goalie. Max games wise, I’m behind because of Nabby’s injury and also ‘Bulin’s been out for stretches, and he’s not a full time starter either. All in all, though, there is no other team in this league that can come close to trumping my goalie group as a whole. My biggest weakness in net is the lack of shutouts. There’s really nothing that can be done about that. I already have two of the best goalies in the entire league, including Lundy who was the league leader last season in shutouts, but I only have amassed ONE total, so it will simply be a waiting game for that category. They’ll come in time.

I have two young rookies in Backstrom and Brassard who are both playing fantastic so far this season. Brassard is a rookie so he’ll have his ups and downs, but overall, he has been great. I also have Daymond Langkow as a bench C but it’s unlikely that he’ll be getting slotted in for many games, as he’s not doing as well as the other two.

I have an extremely strong winger group, both at left and right. Vanek, Semin, Perry, Gagne, Hemsky, Havlat have all been pretty damn good so far this season. In fact, I frequently have to bench two of them simply to manage the amount of games being used up and also due to matchups. Overall, they have all been producing quite nicely, as evidenced by the team’s 2nd ranking in goals and 3rd in assists in the league. This is pretty good considering the offense is lacking a true upper echelon forward in the mix because both the top picks were used on goalies.

Danny Boyle is certainly pulling his weight as the top D-man while Scott Niedermayer has seemed to have lost his touch the past couple seasons. It’s unclear if Nieds can regain his elite position in terms of scoring from the blue line, but there aren’t any better potential guys out on free agency anyway, so there’s nothing to contemplate at this point (remember, no trading for any of these experimental teams). Kuba had a lightning quick start to the season and Timonen has been coming around lately so there isn’t much to complain about here.

Overall, in terms of the roster, there aren’t any glaring holes. The strength of the team really shines when looking at the goalies. They’re just getting started, too, as far as I’m concerned. Nabby and Lundy should be chipping in more shutouts as the season progresses. The only real category that this team is weak in is in the PIM department. That is easily fixed by grabbing a goon or two later in the season and boosting up the category that way. I’ve done it in the past and it works well. No need to try to take 1st in that category, as long as it can hover in the middle of the pack, rather than at the bottom like it is now, the trade-off for forfeiting games from a point producer should work out positively when the season is over by catching up in penalty minutes.

Total transactions for this team comes to 4. If you look closer, you can see that there was an add and then drop for two players, Letang and Sanford. Had there been more patience exercised on my part, then it would only probably have been two additions total. As you can see from the transactions list, both top centers were grabbed from free agency. Both are doing quite well, too. Part of the initial draft strategy was to wait to draft Cs because they truly are so plentiful. An impatient manager couldn’t handle sophomore Backstrom’s extremely slow start and decided to cut him loose. Their loss has been my gain since I was willing to give Backstrom the benefit of the doubt and take him on even in the midst of his slump and it has worked out fantastic so far. Erik Johnson’s injury was simply bad luck (it was an earlier draft) and you can’t do much about that besides move on.

So far, so good, for the goalie emphasized draft team. First place in the standings, not too bad on the max games front, and solid roster up and down the line. This team has been in the top 2 since the first couple weeks of the season, in fact. It’ll be interesting to see if it can stay there and for how long.

Check out the original post: The Great Draft Experiment and also the main page with links to all the teams: http://saucerpass.com/draft-experiment.