Play-off Pool Picks

It's time for a little self-indulgence.

I recently took part in my first "live draft" hockey pool. Of course, I've played in a lot of online hockey pools in the past - largely free ones against strangers - so Im both a veteran and a rookie at this sort of thing.

The rules governing this one were simple - 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 2 goalies chosen through the "snake draft" format (1-2-3-3-2-1). Draft position was determined through a random number draw. Goals and assists worth 1 point each, goaltender victores worth 2. Winner take all pot.

I was lucky enough to get the 3rd (out of 8) draft position in this particular pool. The following are my players, listed in the order I drafted them, as well as some of the reasoning behind my choices.

1.) Joe Thornton - Heatley was actually my first choice, but he went #1 overall. While I don't like Big Joe's chances of advancing deep into the play-offs, his Art Ross regular season was hard to ignore (play-off demons or no play-off demons).

2.) Daniel Briere - Some people might be surprised I took Briere so high. Consider, though, that Daniel put up 58 points in just 48 games during the season. Not to mention, his team is playing a Flyers squad backed by Robert Esche that can't kill penalties...and Buffalo had the 2nd best powerplay in the league. His 2 points and 14 shots on net on Saturday night put to rest any worries I had about him.

3.) Niklas Lidstrom - At this point in the draft, some people were starting to take 2nd and 3rd line forwards. I was the first to take a defenseman, but I think it was the right choice. Lidstrom lead the league in terms of points by defensemen during the season and is on the ice pretty much all the time. There's a high probablity that he'll advance deep into the play-offs as well.

4.) Paul Kariya - I know, I know. The selection of Kariya contradicts my Thornton pick. I've basically guaranteed that one of my top 4 will be eliminated from the post-season in the first round. However, the draft was already starting to get thin at this point - and I didn't want to pass on a top minutes type player. Keep in mind, this pick also guarantees that a top forward WILL ADVANCE to the next round.

5.) Teemu Selanne - A lot of people will call me a turn-coat for this pick. Rightfully so...however, Selanne was the only 40 goal scorer left in the draft by the 5th round. Heck, people were starting to select 20 goal scorers and 40 point defensemen by this point. Of course, the reason Selanne lasted this long is because he's matched up against the offensive-nullifying Flames in the first round. My thinking is that he probably still has more of chance to gather some points in the first round relative to some 3rd line, 20 goal man. I guess we'll see.

6.) Jere Lehtinen - I was surprised Lehtinen lasted this long. Jere is playing on the heavily favored Dallas stars and gets lots of ice time because he plays on both the PK and the PP. He was also a 30 goal scorer during the season.

7.) Rod Brind'amour - Rod "the Bod" plays on the offensively-minded Hurricanes. And he plays A LOT. He was in the top 5 in ice-time for forwards during the regular season I believe. His 30 goals certainly don't hurt either.

8.) Tim Connolly - Grabbed Connolly for a lot of the same reasons I picked Briere (because they are playing Philly, basically). Connolly is a fixture on Buffalo's powerplay and manages to pot the odd highlight reeler here and there. Might be a late round steal.

9.) Andrej Meszaros - I used my last 2 picks on defensemen. Unless you are able to snag the odd point per game d-man (like Lidstrom) earlier on, Im of the "dont waste a high pick on a blueliner" school of thought. Especially in a pool that only counts goals and assists. I chose Meszaros because he plays 2nd line PP minutes for the high powered Sens. He'll probably be in the play-offs for awhile and might garner me some assists here and there.

10.) Sandis Ozolinsh. The Draft had thinned out severely by this point. For me, it was between Ozolinsh and JM Liles of the Avalanche. I chose Ozolinsh because I figured neither he nor Liles had much of chance to make it out for the first round...but at least he'd be playing with Jagr on the PP a lot (DOH!).

Goalies were chosen in a seperate draft round. The draft position for each player was kept the same (so I was 3 of 8 again). The first 2 netminders chosen were, of course, Kipper and Brodeur. That meant I had to choose between Turco and Miller (I felt they were the 2 best puck-stoppers left available)...

I chose Turco (despite his history of play-off failure) because I like Dallas' chances. Of course, he promptly sucked-balls in the first game against the Av's. I really, REALLY hope he turns it around.

In contrast, my second goalie choice, Huet (I was stunned he was still available when the draft came back around to me - other people were picking back-ups at this point) looked like a world beater in his first match. Yes it contradicts my Brind'amour pick, but getting any starting goaltender this late was a bonus.

That's about it. So far a couple of my picks have performed well (Briere, Connolly, Kariya, Huet) some average (Thornton, Selanne) and some not-so-well (Lidstrom, Lehtinen, Brindamor, Turco). Im hoping characters like Lidstrom and Lehtinen will be in play-offs long enough to turn it around and start garnering some better point totals in the long run...

PS - any comments, complaints, questions or critiques of my draft strategy (for next time) would be appreciated.