Steve, great analysis on your blog. As the guy who made the head scratching Johan Hedberg pick, I thought I'd explain. It wasn't a pick I was excited to make, and the only reason I made it was because I had Brodeur, against my better judgment. I didn't want Marty, but as goalies came off the board he seemed to be my best option for my second tender.

When it came time to pick my third goalie, there were a bunch of mediocre choices on the board. I had a couple of them ranked above Hedberg, most notably Gustavsson, but as I was feeling uneasy about Marty, I preferred the security of getting his partner over the other options that were out there.

Overall, my goaltending didn't go according to plan at all - though I think a lot of guys can say that. I really wanted one of Lundqvist, Quick, Rinne or Rask with the 11th pick. Once they were all taken, I had another 6 goalies lumped close together, so I waited till round 2 to get one of them. Price was actually one of the lowest ranked guys in that cluster for me, but he was the only one left when it got to me. Crazy run!

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The Airborne Attack (GFHL - 14 Team Keeper League, Two-Time Defending Champion)
F: Stamkos, Backstrom, Perry, Kopitar, Kesler, Benn, Carter, M. Richards, Callahan, Berglund, Tlusty
D: Pietrangelo, Del Zotto, Giordano, Robidas, Boychuk
G: Luongo, Rinne
Farm: Coyle, Bjugstad, Conacher, Frattin, Shore, C. Smith, Stone, Colborne, Tatar, Zucker, Ellis, Murphy, Markstrom, Lack

Pengwin - nice break down, very fair.

I had to roll the dice on some of my offensive forwards, so lots of potential fluctuation there. I think the Isles take another step forward, so if Nabokov stays healthy then I have three Top 15 goalies, giving me a position of strength to trade from and solidify another area.

I wanted Tim Thomas with my last pick. Bouchard was my backup plan. Because if Thomas doesn't come back, I can use the waiver wire to grab Bouchard or someone else. That was the thinking, anyway.

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

Steve - nice write up and I agree with your logic. Karlsson was quite literally 10th on my list, behind four goalies.

All four goalies were taken, plus six big forwards. I didn't want to be stuck with Karlsson, but I was. Do I think he'll regress? Of course I do. Will that regression be 10 points or more? No way. He'll still beat all defensemen by 10 points. If healthy, Green and Letang will get close to 70. Karlsson also is a safe 80-game pick.

You disagree with my pick. I disagree with my pick too. But nobody can disagree with the fact that I didn't have a choice. I saw the goalies left:
Fleury, Kipper, Bryzgalov, Ward, Smith. I next picked eight spots away. My preference was actually Bryzgalov, then Ward, then Fleury, then Kipper. But since the Big 4 were gone, frankly I didn't give a damn which one of these five I got.

So I had to decide. Karlsson wasn't getting back to me. But one of those five will. So I made the call - I got Karlsson and I got one of the five. And because Kipper wasn't someone who overly made me feel warm inside, I made certain to pick up two other starters with 32 win upside and 25 win likelihood.

Don't be hard on me, I knew what I was doing!

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

The picks that were "stolen" within four spots of when I would pick.

Steve -

Rinne
Brown
Pacioretty
Thomas


Glen -
Zubrus


Angus -
Wideman
Jokinen, Olli



And this was 10 picks ahead of me late in the draft, but I was disappointed when Lord of the Rinks took Gagner on me. I really did think he would slip. He lasted 16 rounds, why not another 10 picks?

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

Laidlaw - Heatley hater lol.

My one pick I'd like to take back: khudobin vs. Vermette. Though, like mentioned, trade block includes depth g for a rw.

Great breakdowns thus far and thanks for the support P7!

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Gates Imbeau
Assistant Manager - DobberSports.com
Writer - Fantrax.com
Regular Guest - The York Report via NextSportStar.com
Email: gates@dobbersports.com
Twitter: @GM_Gates

Was this on "auto-draft" or what fella's??

2. (30) Jaroslav Halak (StL - G)
3. (35) Brian Elliott (StL - G)

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Zorro says "vote for Dobber"
Angus is my best friend at dobberhockey..
Bruins believer since BIRTH..
Fav player: Cam Neely..

This was going on all night. Matt Hackett might as well have been picked in the top 10.

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UHL Calgary Flames
24-team H2H (roto G, A, GWG, SHP, PPP, PIM, +/, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW, W, SV, SV%, GAA, SO)

Capped article archive

Montreal Canadiens coverage

Twitter:@DH_EricDaoust.

More like Heatley realist.

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Understandable, you have to defend your turf. I still don't like the pick but I totally get where you are coming from.

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Well if you've got Kipper in that second tier group of yours then your process makes sense. I may not agree with Kipper being a second tier guy but that's another argument. The fact that Fleury, another guy you have ranked in the second tier also fell to your pick in the second tells me that you were pretty safe in making that Karlsson pick.

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