This is the second update in the draft experiment series, for the Forward Emphasis draft. If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, go back and read the original post: the great draft experiment.
This team was drafted with an emphasis on forwards first. It remains in 5th place at the moment, where it has been since November. Not much change in terms of the standings of the other teams either, both above and below this team.
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.
This team continues to do well in some of the main offensive categories, such as goals, assists, +/-, power play points, and even shots on goal. The weakest overall category remains penalty minutes and all the goalie categories as well. Steps have been taken to attempt to gain ground on the PIM leaders, but it will take several weeks to see any significant improvement. For the goalie statistics, as you will see further down, the game utilization for goalies overall is way, way behind. There aren’t any good pickups out there in free agency either, so due to the self-imposed no trading rules, catching up on goalie games will be a tough task. Even if a trade wasn’t out of the question strategically, it still would be hard to pull off anyway because good goalies are so hard to come by and not too many other competitors out there would give one up.
Here is the roster:
The forward situation probably will not change much going forward. The wingers continue to be dominant, on both wings. The most obvious change since last update will be the fact that Thomas Vanek is on injured reserve right now and won’t come off for at least a few weeks. This does clear up the logjam at LW but it is still tough to lose a solid contributor like Vanek.
On the right wing, Iginla, Hossa, and Hemsky are three of the very best RWs in terms of production in the entire NHL. However, because there are 3 of them and only 2 starting spots, Hemsky takes a bit of a backseat in terms of overall games played, unless the matchup is favorable for the Oilers. Also, at center, Getzlaf and Kopitar are doing quite nicely thus far.
The defense has absorbed two changes, with the drops of Spacek and Letang. Letang has been a healthy scratch for the past two straight games and probably will be getting much fewer opportunities to produce with the return of elite D-man Gonchar for the Pens. Spacek simply is not contributing enough in the neeeded categories so he was cut loose. Picked up were Shane O’Brien (for PIMs) and Ryan Whitney who was available in free agency due to his poor production upon return. Whitney has struggled but Gonchar’s return will certainly help Whitney’s production going forward, especially on the power play. Also, Cory Sarich was added as well, for further help with penalty minutes, a weak spot for this team.
The biggest concern, of course, is the goaltending. However, with such slim pickings out in free agency/on the waiver wire for serviceable netminders, it may be time for this team to make a short-term sacrifice and wait until further down the line in the season to see if anyone gets dropped that would be of use. Craig Anderson was dropped, as was Manny Legace, since the last forward update. Since then, Josh Harding and Patrick Lalime have been the recent pickups in net. The goalie crew as a whole is extremely weak, not necessarily in statistics but in games started. Biron has been splitting with Niitty lately, Conklin’s been platooning with Osgood all year, and Harding is a backup. Lalime is also a backup but with Miller’s recent injury–a high ankle sprain–it’s probable that Lalime will be the Sabres’ starter for at least the next few games, which is better than nothing.
As you can see from the max games graphic above, G is so far behind that it’s not even funny. The other positions are all manageable, but goalies will have to be dealt with in a couple weeks, as other teams near their max games limits themselves and rosters get changed up a bit with the upcoming trade deadline. Right now the focus for skaters is PIM, while maintaining consistent production in the other skater categories, and once that is taken care of, goalies will be the sole issue.
Depending on how things play out, some high quality forwards may need to be sacrificed to try and boost up the goalie statistics. Obviously this situation is not exactly typical because of the self-imposed no trading rule for all draft experiment teams, but it does happen legitimately for teams that max out their games early, especially when it’s after the trade deadline. We’ll see how it plays out for next update, which is the most crucial, obviously. Fifth place is likely the lowest this team will go because the 6th place team and everyone else below are way behind, so there is nowhere to go but up, if anything.
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/
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