A couple of days ago over at John's in South River, our Fantasy Hockey Draft was held. The SRFFFHL (South River Flat Fee Fantasy Hockey League) enters another year with eight participants ready to take aim at the trophy. Yes. There actually is a trophy. My name's been engraved twice. Ironically, 10 years apart with my second run to the title in '09-10.
Unfortunately, I sacrificed a plethora amount of picks to edge my brother, Justin and suffered a cruel fate last year. You guessed it. From first to worst. With a better draft, can I recover and go all the way? It's sure to be competitive. This year's defending champ John, who also won it all in '08-09, had a similar downfall before turning it around. That's the price you pay to win. Early contenders could come from league commish Harry, Jim/AJ and perhaps newcomer Marc, who is the only Devil fan in a Ranger-esque league. Though there always is the entertaining Big One, my best friend Brian, who seems to have taken this Terry Pegula thing $eriously as evidenced by the four Sabres (Tyler Myers, Ville Leino, Tyler Ennis, Nathan Gerbe) on his roster.
So, how does my roster stack up? For starters, it was nice to have most of my picks, including a couple of Bri's early on which I used to reconstruct one of the worst bluelines. Even though I had the choice of James Wisniewski or Erik Karlsson as part of my five protects, I opted instead to keep Jamie Benn, who should play a pivotal role in Dallas with the departure of Brad Richards. With an emphasis on goaltending, I kept Carey Price and Jimmy Howard while living up to my Centercessssssed mantra by retaining centers Henrik Sedin and John Tavares along with Big Benn, who is shifting to center. If only he qualified. :P
In past years, I put together an extensive list. However, this time I did it differently by doing a round by round look filled with players on my radar. For the most part, I actually stuck to the script. My main objective was to go heavy on D and scoring wings. However, when Brian kept Cam Ward over Ryan Getzlaf, he was too good to pass up with the first overall pick. Being that I had a second pick, I was hopeful Bobby Ryan would still be there but Patrick scooped him up. Instead, I went for Jarome Iginla, who had a huge second half last year, nearly pushing Calgary into the postseason. Hopefully, the Flames' all-time franchise scoring leader can have a repeat of the 43-goal, 86-point season he put together.
After grabbing Iginla, I went D back-to-back with Keith Yandle and Duncan Keith. Joining my improved corps is Chris Pronger and newest Shark Brent Burns. Up front, I did a solid job grabbing Benn's teammates Loui Eriksson and Brenden Morrow while beefing up with Dustin Brown and Centercessssssed fixture Steve Downie. As with Pronger above, I took risks going for Martin Havlat and Jaromir Jagr. Both Czechs are on new rosters and could benefit if things break right. Want youth? Super soph Taylor Hall provides that along with Logan Couture, who joins a strong batch of pivots featuring H. Sedin, Tavares and Getzlaf.
Perhaps the only area I'm concerned with is goalie because I waited till Round 14 to select vet Miikka Kiprusoff. One of the reasons I am skeptical is because in a league that emphasizes GAA and Save Percentage, Kipper isn't the best choice. However, the Finn should win 35-plus and post a few shutouts. The hope is that Calgary is competitive again and Howard takes the next step with powerful Detroit. If that happens, I should be okay. If not, that's why there's 20 Free Agent moves. We'll see.
Here's a complete breakdown of my 2011-12 Centercessssssed roster:
G Carey Price
G Jimmy Howard
G Miikka Kiprusoff
D Keith Yandle
D Duncan Keith
D Chris Pronger
D Brent Burns
D Alex Pietrangelo
D Kevin Bieksa
D Kimmo Timonen
C Henrik Sedin
C John Tavares
C Ryan Getzlaf
C Logan Couture
C Jason Spezza
C Zenon Konopka
W Jamie Benn
W Jarome Iginla
W Loui Eriksson
W Dustin Brown
W Steve Downie
W Martin Havlat
W Brenden Morrow
W Jaromir Jagr
W Taylor Hall
W Jakub Voracek
Starter Breakdown
4 C
8 W
6 D
2 G
6 Bench
Total: 26
Unfortunately, I sacrificed a plethora amount of picks to edge my brother, Justin and suffered a cruel fate last year. You guessed it. From first to worst. With a better draft, can I recover and go all the way? It's sure to be competitive. This year's defending champ John, who also won it all in '08-09, had a similar downfall before turning it around. That's the price you pay to win. Early contenders could come from league commish Harry, Jim/AJ and perhaps newcomer Marc, who is the only Devil fan in a Ranger-esque league. Though there always is the entertaining Big One, my best friend Brian, who seems to have taken this Terry Pegula thing $eriously as evidenced by the four Sabres (Tyler Myers, Ville Leino, Tyler Ennis, Nathan Gerbe) on his roster.
So, how does my roster stack up? For starters, it was nice to have most of my picks, including a couple of Bri's early on which I used to reconstruct one of the worst bluelines. Even though I had the choice of James Wisniewski or Erik Karlsson as part of my five protects, I opted instead to keep Jamie Benn, who should play a pivotal role in Dallas with the departure of Brad Richards. With an emphasis on goaltending, I kept Carey Price and Jimmy Howard while living up to my Centercessssssed mantra by retaining centers Henrik Sedin and John Tavares along with Big Benn, who is shifting to center. If only he qualified. :P
In past years, I put together an extensive list. However, this time I did it differently by doing a round by round look filled with players on my radar. For the most part, I actually stuck to the script. My main objective was to go heavy on D and scoring wings. However, when Brian kept Cam Ward over Ryan Getzlaf, he was too good to pass up with the first overall pick. Being that I had a second pick, I was hopeful Bobby Ryan would still be there but Patrick scooped him up. Instead, I went for Jarome Iginla, who had a huge second half last year, nearly pushing Calgary into the postseason. Hopefully, the Flames' all-time franchise scoring leader can have a repeat of the 43-goal, 86-point season he put together.
After grabbing Iginla, I went D back-to-back with Keith Yandle and Duncan Keith. Joining my improved corps is Chris Pronger and newest Shark Brent Burns. Up front, I did a solid job grabbing Benn's teammates Loui Eriksson and Brenden Morrow while beefing up with Dustin Brown and Centercessssssed fixture Steve Downie. As with Pronger above, I took risks going for Martin Havlat and Jaromir Jagr. Both Czechs are on new rosters and could benefit if things break right. Want youth? Super soph Taylor Hall provides that along with Logan Couture, who joins a strong batch of pivots featuring H. Sedin, Tavares and Getzlaf.
Perhaps the only area I'm concerned with is goalie because I waited till Round 14 to select vet Miikka Kiprusoff. One of the reasons I am skeptical is because in a league that emphasizes GAA and Save Percentage, Kipper isn't the best choice. However, the Finn should win 35-plus and post a few shutouts. The hope is that Calgary is competitive again and Howard takes the next step with powerful Detroit. If that happens, I should be okay. If not, that's why there's 20 Free Agent moves. We'll see.
Here's a complete breakdown of my 2011-12 Centercessssssed roster:
G Carey Price
G Jimmy Howard
G Miikka Kiprusoff
D Keith Yandle
D Duncan Keith
D Chris Pronger
D Brent Burns
D Alex Pietrangelo
D Kevin Bieksa
D Kimmo Timonen
C Henrik Sedin
C John Tavares
C Ryan Getzlaf
C Logan Couture
C Jason Spezza
C Zenon Konopka
W Jamie Benn
W Jarome Iginla
W Loui Eriksson
W Dustin Brown
W Steve Downie
W Martin Havlat
W Brenden Morrow
W Jaromir Jagr
W Taylor Hall
W Jakub Voracek
Starter Breakdown
4 C
8 W
6 D
2 G
6 Bench
Total: 26
