(Art Vandelay)

Forwards

Marleau-Backstrom-Voracek
Kovy-Tavares-E.Cole
Semin-Kesler-Havlat
Carcillo-Konopka-Marcus Foligno

Extras: R.Johansen, M.Johannsson, C.Atkinson

Defence:

Wisnieski-Garrison
Faulk-Hedman
Cowen-Gudbransson

Extra: Pronger

Goalies

Hiller
Varlomov
T.Thomas

Going into the draft I had the 12th pick overall. My first instinct was that I wanted to grab an elite goalie (Rinne, Rask). But, soon those options had disappeared and Tavares had dropped into my hands. The 2nd round saw a total of 10 goalies taken. Next thing I know I had to quickly take a goalie in the 4th round. I had to choose from Hiller, Luongo, Anderson, and Niemi. So I decided on Hiller and took Varlomov as my backup. Overall, I tried to go with a strategy of filling the offensive categories with strong forwards and then fill out the other categories with Defencemen like V.Hedman and J.Cowen. We will see how that works.

Favorite Pick: Marcus Foligno, I would have to say based on where he was chosen in the 3 other ‘Dobber Leagues’. I got him 19th round (282nd pick). I feel like he has a lot of value in our league that accounts for HITs & PIM’s. He could be a great depth player for me.

Pick I Regret: Erik Cole coming off his 35 goal campaign could be a bust in 2012/13. I selected him 10th round (139th overall). I regret not getting Brent Seabrook (144th overall).

A Player I Wanted: Obviously the aforementioned Seabrook because of his contributions to +/-, hits, & PIMS. Another guy I would have liked was Travis Harmonic 13th round (188th overall). Specialty guys like Luke Schenn & Orpik were also on my wish list.

Draft Day Risers: Anders Lindback (27th overall) taken in front of proven goalies such as Jimmy Howard, Jaroslav Halak, and Mikka Kipprusoff, Hiller & Luongo was a mild surprise. Who knows Lindback could get the ball and run with it in Tampa Bay and be successful.

Draft Day Fallers: Obviously very surprised to see Datsyuk fall as far as he did. I had to do a double-take because I couldn’t believe he was still available in the 7th round. Corey Crawford falling to the 8th round (116th overall) was a surprise too.

Best/Worst Team Drafted: Its hard to tell which teams will succeed and fail. A team like ‘Hall Me Maybe’ looks to have a good balance of all categories and could be a favourite. Everybody looks to be competitive and it should be a good year if we can soon get our season started.