We just had the inaugural draft for our first keeper league. Been doing hockey pools for years but never a keeper league.

Format: Points only. 13 teams with 18 players

Only count points from Top 6 Forwards, top 4 D-men, top 2 Goalies, and 1 Goon-(PIM\'s only).

I picked 8th overall and it went like this:

1. Lundqvist
2. Nabokov
3. Gonchar
4. Alfredsson
5. T. Kaberle
6. Gagne
7. Semin
8. Kariya
9. Ward
10. Beauchemin
11. Koci (goon)
12. Nagy
13. Rolston
14. Hainsey
15. Prospal
16. Hlinka
17. Handzus
18. Hensick

Top goalies were going quickly early on and I wanted to make sure I was solid in the goalie and defense categories. I obviously didn\'t get any premium forwards but I still think I did okay. I noticed that some of the teams who didn\'t pick goalies early got stuck with some guys who are pretty crappy. I\'m thinking that I can use Cam Ward as some trade bait later on. Hensick was definitely a gamble. I don\'t know what it is but there\'s something alluring about picking that guy who is under the radar and surprises everyone. Not sure what I\'m going to do with him. If you have any comments or advice feel free.

Anyway it was definitely a fun draft and the guys seem really excited about the new pool. I just wanted to say another thanks to all those (Dobber, Commish, etc) who answered all my questions this past month regarding keeper league rules, etc.

This website rules! Can\'t wait till Wednesday.

Damn man that looks pretty good for this league - your goalies are awesome - your D is scary too - two of the top 3 in points this year - wow. You made some really solid picks otherwise - Handzus being one of them.

I think you should be very satisfied - never rest of course - pour over FA and scrutinize the other teams like a hawk for a chance to upgrade.

Have a great year!

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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

Shoeless said it, pretty good goalies and dmen. I would add to this that your LW are good and you have decent RW. Your only week spot seems to be your C. Good luck!

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24GMs Dynasty (G A +- PIM PPP SOG W SV GAA / 4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 1G)
Cap hit: $1188 out of $1250

C-Malkin $157,Schwartz $5,Granlund $5,Shaw $5,Rinaldo $5,Cervenka $5,Schroeder $5,Galchenyuk $5
LW-Hartnell $136,Nash $115,Leino $29,Kulemin $49,Gagne $32,Paajarvi $5,MFoligno $5,Joensuu $5
RW-Brown $115,Jagr $14,Grabner $40,Gallagher $5,Knight $5,Radulov $5
D-Karlsson $105,Edler $83,McDonagh $18,Bogosian $27,Mitchell $22,REllis $5,Salvador $5,Hamilton $5
G-Halak $127,Montoya $24,Bishop $5,Fasth $5,Allen $5

My only comment is that you might have left picking a 3rd goalie until later to get another scoring forward. Otherwise solid. There must have been some crazy rush on goalies early for you to pick that way, but that\'s the mystifying nature of draft day!

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Full Keeper Team, straight points, no PIMs:
C Staal, Datsyuk (LW), Kopitar, Backstrom (IR)
LW Marleau (C), Parise, McDonald (C), Heatley
RW Iginla, Kessel, Gaborik, Giroux (C), Hudler
D Kaberle, Phaneuf, Visnovsky, J. Johnson, Hamhuis
G Kiprusoff, Bryzgalov, Thomas
Farm Tatar, Strome, Radulov, Gerbe, Elliott (Col)

Chadosaur wrote:
Yes, I think almost all the Top tier goalies were gone by the end of the second round. Many of the guys kept saying \&quot;I can\'t believe everyone is picking goalies so early!\&quot;

It kind of got me thinking about early draft strategy. Doesn\'t it make sense to be the guy leading the rush on positional requirements (ie. goalies, d-men)? So when everyone is scrambling to get their \&quot;top guy\&quot; before they are gone, you can be the one picking up all the best 2nd and 3rd tier Forwards.

Anyhow thanks for the kind words. We\'ll see how it goes.