I've renamed my team.
Didn't have many fun names to work with... but Creature from the Black Lagoon is an oldie/goodie.

Creature ==> Couture
Black ==> Blocks
Lagoon ==> Goon

COUTURES BLOCKLAGOON
(formerly P7s team to be named)
.
.

Final standings predictions sponsored by the Witch's Cauldron Shoppe of Potions and Spells

1. Doan of the Dead - 117
2. Oglethorpe - 116
3. dyzfunctioned - 111
4. Army of Subbans - 108.5
5. Ville of the Damned - 106.5
6. Maaaaa-chete - 106
7. A.Niityville Horrors - 101
8. House of 1000 Orpiks - 95.5
9. Recchident Evil - 89.5
10. Coutures of the Block Lagoon - 88
11. Phaneufenstein - 86
12. Nightmare on Helm St - 84
13. Hillers Have Eyes - 78
13. Briere Witch Project - 78

__________________
Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

Interesting draft - I managed to get a few that I wanted but I also had some wtf picks due to someone picking the one I wanted soon before me or the computer was playing up. All in all, not too bad. Here's my squad by position:

Yahoo, one-year roto, daily lineups, no max moves/82 games max per position
G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,SOG,FOW,HIT,BLK,W,GAA,SV,SV%
3C,3L,3R,5D,2G,5BN,2IR

C: Backstrom, Zajac, Brassard, Berglund
L: Neal(R), J.Staal(C), Moulson, Tanguay
R: Iginla, Parenteau, Alfredsson, Kulemin(L)
D: Edler, Giordano, Girardi, E.Johnson, Robidas
G: Bryzgalov, Varlamov, Harding, Giguere

I think I have decent balance in most categories, though likely a bit light in PIM. I need Colorado to have a good season - if there is one.

__________________
All I've got...all I've got is insane!

You might get your wish Brandon, I think the Avs are a team on the rise. Would certainly make a big difference to your numbers if they play well. Another good year out of Landeskog wouldn't hurt my feelings at all.

__________________
Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

Aside from goals and maybe assists I think I'm way off the mark. Actually hits may be my strength. Aside from those areas I feel like I'm way off the mark.

I really struggled all through this one. I just can't dial up in my mind who brings what to the table. As an example, I can't say to myself I need, let's say PPP, and then start naming off players off the top of my head who will give me that.

I wish I had access to some draft tracker software so I can keep tabs on what I have and what I need. Plus it would be awesome to be able to see a players full stats all in one spot, not having to scroll through 3 or 4 categories at time to see everything.

Don't get me wrong, I had fun, but I do feel like I didn't do a very good job on this one.

__________________
You know it's going to be a good day when you open up your mailbox and find out the previous tenant was a playboy subscriber

Dallas Stars Team Coverage
Dallas Stars Prospects Coverage
Friday Night Studs And Duds
Common Sewer of good beer

Yeah, when I ran all the teams through HPG team evaluator, it definitely lent credence to the concerns you have - your team doesn't translate well to the task at hand - I actually thought it would.

Actually the HPG draft guru does what you want it to do - as you draft a player and update it, you get a read on how you are filling the leagues cats with each player you add. You have a choice of what data set you want to use as well - dobber projections, historic 1 year, 2 year, 3 year or you can customize your projections. The guru then operates off the ranking you create.

The ranking also has the complete set of stats for the league you are drafting for so it is easy to take a look at a particular player you are interested in.

The only problem with using the draft guru in the yahoo draft machine is the time needed to update it and analyze it. I only update my picks in it and not other teams so I have that info about category filling against the projected league standard to win the cat.

I look forward to a day when my yahoo draft picks are automatically send to HPG to update the draft guru.

__________________
Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

I was hoping HPG had something like that. From your description that's exactly what I need to help guide me through the draft. I have the season toolkit, but unfortunately the draft would have to happen right when my account there went all wonky. They have been working on it, but I still can't access the site. They should have it going again for me before the Dobber entry draft hopefully.

I know rotowire has, or used to have, one as well but I wasn't impressed with it. If nothing else, just being able to scroll down the list of players and see each and every stat all at one time would be a lifesaver. Yahoo's draft interface is just too clunky. Once you draft a player you can't review his stats, so unless you have them committed to memory your in trouble.

__________________
You know it's going to be a good day when you open up your mailbox and find out the previous tenant was a playboy subscriber

Dallas Stars Team Coverage
Dallas Stars Prospects Coverage
Friday Night Studs And Duds
Common Sewer of good beer

Thought it would be worth sharing our own observations of the draft, whether it's our take on reaches/value players/runs/strategy etc.

I'll just touch on goalies first. Not surprisingly goaltending was a focus in the early rounds. 17 were drafted in the first three rounds (5,6,6), which included an incredible eight goalie run at the end of the second and beginning of the third. Those without two starters may struggle at the outset, but depending on team strengths/needs, injuries, trades etc nothing is guaranteed.

Opening the floor to add to this discussion.

__________________
All I've got...all I've got is insane!

Based on a quick scan I see the following:

- early focus on goalies as per your post
- strong focus on multi-cat guys in early-ish rounds (Backes, Lucic, Brown, Callahan, Hartnell) and/or #1 centres who are strong on the face off
- d-men, other than the big names (Chara, Letang, Buff, Weber) taken failry late in my opinion (would have thought a few more household names would have come down a bit earlier)

I really enjoyed the draft as you had to be on your toes with the number and variety of skater categories.

__________________
14 team roto(3C,3RW,3LW,5D,2G,5B,1IR-82 max games)
Cats-G,A,+/-,PPP,PIM,SOG,HITS,FOW,BLKS,W,SV%,GAA,SAVES

C-Toews,B. Richards,Hanzal
RW-Voracek,Stewart,Versteeg
LW-Benn(C),Clowe(RW),Pacioretty
D-Pietrangelo,Doughty,Burns,Ehrhoff,Gonchar
G-Rask,Lindback
B-Emery,Havlat,Coburn,Atkinson,Fiddler

7 team roto(3C,3RW,3LW,4D,1U,2G,4B,3IR-86 max games)
Cats-G,A,P,+/-,PIM,PPP,SHP,GWG,W,SV%,GAA,SO

C-Crosby,E.Staal,Pavelski(RW)
RW-Iginla,Clowe(LW),Wheeler
LW–E.Kane,Pacioretty,Semin(RW)
D–Letang,AP,Subban,Shatty
U-Getz
G-Rask,Ward
B–Kipper,Voracek,Moulson,Burns

Well, for my team strategy, here is how I approached the draft.

Team: Coutures Blocklagoon

Pre-Draft Planning:
1. I'm expecting the NHL to have a short season, if any.
2. Win high-quantity categories. This is SOG/PIM/Hits/Blocks/FOW.
3. Stream where the streaming is good.
4. Use +/- as a tiebreaker.

Application
1. Goalies
I didn't take part in the goalie run (to be explained) and nabbed my lower-tier goalies in consecutive rounds 6,7,8 by snagging Pavelec, Anderson, and Nabokov. That's 81 wins (cat) & 4600 saves (cat). Teams that drafted only two elite goalies are unlikely to get those totals. Also, goalie stats fluctuate and I grabbed three guys with pretty poor years by GAA & SV%. The Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Isle bluelines are all young and improving - which means these goalies are unlikely to do as poorly. In a short year, there is even better randomness of being better than poor... so I liked this strategy. I basically drafted 3 #1 goalies so I could finish top half in W/SV. LAST YEAR, their GAA & SV% would probably place me last in both those categories... but knowing those categories fluctuate, I think it's better than redrafting a Lundqvist/Rinne/Quick and expecting those GAA & SV% to repeat.

Possible regrets:
i) I passed over Niemi in round 4/5 to take Nash (LW) in 4.
ii) I passed over Varlamov in round 5 to take Couture (C/LW) in 5.

2. Forwards
My leagues last year tought me that high-quantity categories (SOG,PIM,FOW,BkS,Hits) are consistent and easy to win if you just dedicate yourself to drafting them. The easiest to win is FOW, by slotting top tier centres in your wing spots. With Zetterberg (C/LW), Couture (C/LW), and Vermette (C/LW), in addition to Tavares/E.Staal/O.Jokinen - I believe I'm a lock to be top 3 in FOW. I drafted 4 big goons in Dorsett/Konopka /Lapierre/Clarkson and that should give me a top 3 in PIM. (+ Konops and Lapierre rake FOW). Also, by drafting forwards in 13 of the first 16 rounds, I stocked 8 players with over 220 SOG, which is likely among the best in the league.

3. Defense
I drafted all five of my defensemen in the last 5 rounds and intend to stream these guys all year. The league has unlimited transactions & daily lineups, which means I'll be throwing new Hits/BkS guys in daily on D. Other teams that drafted scoring defensemen will be forced to hold them out of fear of having them plucked if dropped. If I roster a 100 hit/100 BkS D-man every day, it's the same as having a 200 hit/200 BkS D-man play every other day. So, really... adding up the quantity totals of my D-men in a predictive model is highly skewed, because I'll do much much better than the guys that are there now.

4. Good players on good teams.
Whenever I had a choice to make between two skaters, I hedged towards the one on the better team/line. People see +/- with a lot of randomness, but good players on good teams are going to do well in +/-. Eric Staal's (2nd round pick) is not going to be -20 this year and Rick Nash (4th round pick) will likely be a big PLUS player as well. Olli Jokinen's +/- should even be much better playing a top 2C spot in Winnipeg. I even drafted several tough guys on solid teams like Lapierre in VAN, B.Boyle in NYR, Clarkson in NJ. My biggest goon is Derek Dorsett on CBJ and that could hurt bad... but with a depleted CBJ team, he may even see top 6 minutes!!

Yesterday I gave my team a C-... but after looking it over, I like it quite a bit.
I'd give myself a B and expect to finish 3rd-5th out of the 14 teams.