Hello all.

I have the 3rd and 12th overall picks in my upcoming draft. Scoring system is as follows

g = 1
a = 1
Goalie Save = 0.04 (25 saves = 1 point)
Goalie Win = 0.5
Goalie Loss = -0.5
Shutout = 2

We can dress 3c, 3rw, 3lw, 3 forward (any pos) 6d and 1 goalie with 6 bench spots in total.

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My Team at the moment looks like this

(Positions are what Yahoo has them at in 06/07)

Centers

Thornton (Joe)
H Sedin
Kopitar
Hudler
Connolly

RW

Cole
Hemsky
Vrbata

LW

Tanguay
Semin
Erat
Sturm

D

Campbell
Weber
Corvo
Ranger
White

G

Nabokov

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Given the relative weakness of my D compared to the rest of my team, I know a quality D man is something I need to pick up with 1 of those two picks.

So, my question to you folks would be....which of the following do you think has the best short and long term upside?

Taking Backstrom 3rd overall and grabbing Barker with the 12th pick.

Or...

Taking EJ 3rd overall and grabbing Mueller with the 12th pick.

While I cant be 100% sure that the above will work out, generally speaking, the people in my pool are not that knowledgable when it comes to prospects/young players, so I do think that one/both of the above scenarios will be available.

Thoughts?

Post edited by: Therrian, at: 2007/09/16 13:09

__________________
Herd World Order - 4 Life

Points Only League
C - Thornton, Sedin, Kopitar, Connolly, Oshie, Gagner
RW - Hemsky, Verbata, Erat, Hudler, Laich
LW - Tanguay, Semin, Cole, Sterling
D - Campbell, Corvo, EJ, Barker, Weber, Goligoski, Harrold
G - Nabakov
Farm - Hodgson

Mueller shouldn\'t be available at #12.

If this was a trade in this league, I would prefer EJ and him because you need 6 D and they are hard to come by.

Backstrom is the best player IMO but C\'s are easy to come by.

Give us a list of guys available. I think of Mueller as a top 5 pick.

__________________
08-09 (Before Ownership): DHL Stars
Fisher, Fehr, Hagman, Stoll, Dubinsky, Zubrus, Brule, Boyd, Stempniak, Bergeron, HIggins, Nylander, Langkow, Bourque, Burrows, Pyatt, Crombeen, Hunwick Ohlund, Salo, Bergeron, Thomas, Quick, Ersberg, LaBarbera, Raycroft

12-13 (Present): DHL Capitals
Heatley, Semin, Vanek, Roy, Ribeiro, Kessel, Couture, Turris, Kopitar, Marleau, Hossa, Pominville, Conacher, Nyquist, Silfverberg, Rajala, Arcobello, Karlsson, Green, Enstrom, Wisniewski, Ellis, Elliott, Murphy, Brennan, Benoit, Fleury, Bryzgalov, Elliott, Nabakov, Lehner

I dont know who\'s available in the draft but I have a hard believing that Mueller will be available with the 12th pick, The Backstrom and Barker option seems a lot more plausible than the other option. Having said that if you\'re confident that he will be go with EJ and Mueller. EJ will be better than Barker, more points and the difference between Mueller and Backstrom wont be that great. Furthermore the longer Barker takes to develop the less of a certainty he becomes.

Hard to give a list of players available, as there are quite a few, but in addition to all the rookies coming in this year, some guys like Lupul, Martin (Paul), Toskala, Mason, Khabibulin are still available, and in general, some of the people in this draft just have no clue about players that haven\'t been in the league for at least a year. There are also a fw players that NEED G and D (don\'t have enough to field a team...one guy had Joseph and Belfour as his two goalies last year, lol), so they will probably be scrambling to pick up those positions, leaving some of the better forwards available later in the round then they should be.

There is a decent chance that Backstrom will go #1, which means that Toews will go #2 leaving me with EJ...Or the reverse with Toews going #1 Backstrom going #2, though the #2 guy seems to have a thing for Kane at the position, which is why I think Backstrom may slip to #3.

I think the smart choice is probably taking EJ and trying to get Mueller in the 12th pick, but something is just pushing me to take Backstrom at all costs.

However, the same thing almost happened last year where I had a major thing for O\'Sully and ended up with Kopitar...so I am beginnging to think that maybe 2nd choice really is best, heh.

Post edited by: Therrian, at: 2007/09/16 13:24

__________________
Herd World Order - 4 Life

Points Only League
C - Thornton, Sedin, Kopitar, Connolly, Oshie, Gagner
RW - Hemsky, Verbata, Erat, Hudler, Laich
LW - Tanguay, Semin, Cole, Sterling
D - Campbell, Corvo, EJ, Barker, Weber, Goligoski, Harrold
G - Nabakov
Farm - Hodgson

I\'d go with EJ and Mueller.

So you guys were right, someone did grab Mueller early, and it was one of the people who generally knows nothing about prospects.

Its ok though, ended up with EJ and Barker, so the back end gets a good boost for the long term.

Top 4 of Campbell, Weber, EJ and Barker should be good for some time

__________________
Herd World Order - 4 Life

Points Only League
C - Thornton, Sedin, Kopitar, Connolly, Oshie, Gagner
RW - Hemsky, Verbata, Erat, Hudler, Laich
LW - Tanguay, Semin, Cole, Sterling
D - Campbell, Corvo, EJ, Barker, Weber, Goligoski, Harrold
G - Nabakov
Farm - Hodgson