This is the fourth update in the draft experiment series, for the Defense 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 stacking the defense before worrying about the other positions. Ironically, this team ended up having the 2nd overall pick and so had to grab Sidney Crosby rather than a D-man. This was a preferable strategy than taking a d-man with the high pick and then continuing on. Four great defensemen were still drafted as it is.
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The first two rows are the rankings in each category for the top 2 teams (this is a roto league) and the second two row is the total year-to-date accumulation for each category.
As of this moment, this defense team is in a dead heat for the championship with one other team. All the other teams in the league are well behind in terms of standings points.
Here is the roster:
The defense is the best group in the league, naturally. Mike Green, Dan Boyle, Brian Rafalski, and Sergei Gonchar are the blue liners here and even just two of these guys would beat out pretty much all the other D squads in the league. On top of this, there are some pretty strong forwards to go along with them. Sidney Crosby was the first rounder in this draft, as mentioned above, and is doing his fair share at C. The other C slot is occupied by recent pick-up David Krejci. Krejci went through a slight dry spell a few weeks back and some impatient manager ditched him.
The wingers are decent, with Gagne and Booth holding up the points production end at LW and Carcillo being grabbed for PIM production. At right wing, Brad Boyes is having a weaker year compared to last but he’s still producing decently. His +/- is awful but the other players on this team make up for it big time in that category, as the team is 1st overall with a +83 on the season. If not for Boyes, it would be that much higher. Dustin Brown is at the other RW slot and there is no bench RW.
The goalie group is headed up by Pekka Rinne, in terms of statistics. Rinne has been hands down the best goalie since he was picked up early in the season. The rest don’t even compare overall. Cam Ward has been doing better lately, as the Canes have been hot. Giggy, Vokoun, and Huet have all been splitting starts, which is never a good situation for your goalies. When they do play, they get decent production but it’s much better to have a full time starter in roto play.
At this point in the season, it’s a wait and see game. There won’t be too many more transactions (if any) unless there are major injuries. However, once it gets down to the wire and game usage numbers get close to running out, there may be some sacrifices made. It remains to be seen who may be dropped but right now there are no plans to drop anyone.
In keeping with the early goals/rules of the draft experiment, there have been zero trades made and not that many transactions. A good portion of the initially drafted players still remain on the team. Some were dropped due to injuries and whatnot but really this team has been pretty good from day 1 of the season.
Defense emphasis team max games numbers
This team is behind in every single player slot but it’s manageable. As things get closer to the end, every player will be slotted in every single game no matter what in order to get as much production as possible. There is no threat of maxing out games early, just the opposite.
Opposing team’s max games numbers
Luckily, the only other team who is in the running for first place has less games to use in comparison. This is a very good situation. As they max out, there will still be games to use to catch up while they see stagnation in production. The only stats where it will be unrealistic to catch up at is in the goalie categories. The opposing team has a strong group that is first place in ALL the goalie categories. Skaters stats will be the battleground for the next couple weeks, while attempting to hold ground in net.
The next couple weeks will simply be jockeying for position at the top. There is only one other competitor at this point and it is extremely tight. Obviously the worst that can be achieved here is 2nd place but 1st is certainly within grasp and it would be disappointing to not take the win. Hopefully the max games situation plays out positively and having games in hand helps grab some points that are not attainable for the other team due to the game limits.
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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