This is the second update in the draft experiment series, for the Best Player Available (BPA) draft. If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, go back and read the original post: the great draft experiment.

This team was drafted with a best player available strategy. The strategy for a BPA draft is outlined best in the initial posts of the draft experiment, but can be summed up by the following: to draft the “best” player, regardless of position, when it is your turn to make a selection. Now, a lot of people do use this strategy, usually going off name value of players, but it can be really tough to work, due to the nature of the roster structuring, the categories, and the inherent uneven depth of talent at each position.

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

The first row is the ranking in each category (this is a roto league) and the second row is the total year-to-date accumulation for each category.

So, the first thing you will notice is that this team is up one spot from last update. That doesn’t sound that significant, and it’s really not, but it is something positive. The 11th and 12th place teams are several points down in the standings so there is a bit of cushion now. The rest of the way up will be the real challenge.

The roster has not changed since last update:

The return of Ryan Whitney has been hit and miss thus far on defense. Defense and goaltending are the biggest problems so far throughout the season. Letang has underachived big time and Kaberle is simply not putting up the kind of numbers that he has in the past. The obvious beacon of hope in this group is Dan Boyle, probably one of the best defensemen going forward for the season.

As for the wingers, Naslund is doing ok. Zetterberg is underperforming a bit this season, to be perfectly frank. Even Hossa and Dustin Brown are as slacking, too. For the centers, Jokinen took a chunk of time off due to injury, which really puts a dent in the max games usage, as you’ll see below. Horton himself missed some time and is just started to get it going offensively. Once Briere returns from injury, someone will have to be dropped and it could make for a tough decision, as everyone on the squad right now is pretty needed. It is highly likely that Halak will have to be cut loose, as Price is returning tomorrow (Jan 20th) and thus will relegate Halak back into backup goalie status. However, Letang is also a candidate for being let go. These decisions will be made shortly after All Star weekend, most likely.

Midway through the season, the best player available draft is having the most trouble. This is not unexpected, though, especially because of the weak goaltending from Turco and Biron to start the season. Turco continues to struggle and really is looking like a huge mistake thus far. Other Turco owners can relate, I’m sure.

The toughest part about it all is the fact that the draft strategy itself may not be to blame at all. There have been struggles with major injuries to a few of the players on the current squad, which surely does not help production. On the other hand, the other draft experiment teams have also experienced injuries and are still doing much better. The trouble comes back to the goaltending again, which is rather salient when looking at the standings graphic towards the top of this post. This team is dead last in GAA and also in SV%. That is pretty terrible. Still, as you will find from the max games graphic below, there are lots of games to be played, so hopefully the second half performances will be much better. They absolutely have to be in order for this team to climb out from the gutter of this league.

As listed above the roster graphic, there has been no change in the roster since BPA Update 1. Therefore, a transactions graphic will not be posted for this update, as there have been no transactions to speak of.

Being -14 in projected games at C and -25 at G is actually a good thing at this point. It means there is ample opportunity to make up ground. It is just like having games in hand when teams in the NHL chase others ahead of them for playoff berths.

Due to being behind, that means certain categories can be targeted more specifically. PIMs in particular are good for this type of short-term strategy. Picking up a goon or two for stretches and playing them for maybe 10-15 games, if done right, can yield huge returns in that category. Have one guy get thrown out of a game with some misconducts and you can shoot up the standings. The bottom line is, there is still a lot of season to play and roto can be a patience game moreso than head to head, where it is much easier to tell where you’re at.

The next draft experiment posts will be posted in succession just like last update. Just like last update, all three other experiment teams are doing much better than this BPA team, although there hasn’t been much change in their standings either.

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.