Wednesday, July 22, 2009

SHOCKING news:(Pick No. 3)

Edit: Cassie's reasoning for picking Lundqvist. Good stuff, Raw Charge folks.

(It's a pun, you see.)

With the #3 pick of the Re-Draft, Cassie of Raw Charge takes ...

Henrik Lundqvist to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Cap Hit: $6,875,000

20 comments:

Dani said...

Wow....so totally did not see this coming

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

It's totally fitting that Tampa made this pick.

Joe said...

whoa and a half

cant believe she passed on malkin here, when i think he shouldve been #1

Rj said...

Hey how long has TB been suffering under poor goaltending, I can see why a fan would make this pick. You have to remember the first round is about picking who you want to be the face of your franchise. Besides Lundqvist and Luongo who else is a 30yr or younger elite goaltender who you can build around for at the very least 7 years. (Yes I know the league is only gonna be one year but it helps make my point) Honestly in this new NHL a premier goaltender is harder to find then any other position. See where they go with the second pick to see what kind of team is being built then pass judgment. Im not saying I would have made the same pick but it doesn't mean it was a bad one.

Chris Kontos said...

I agree. I think this is a great pick. Here is a young goalie signed to a decent contract. You gotta build out when you put together a good team. Just ask the Kings for the last 15 years.

Mr. Plank said...

Just wait till my selection...

Ed Belfour's still coming out of retirement, right?

Joe said...

I'm all for solid goaltending, and I think Lundquist and Lou are by far the top two choices there, but there's been an awful lot of work done in examining the differences between the best goalie in the league versus an average one, and the differences are quite slight.

When James initially posed the question of who would you take first in a fantasy draft, having never had a true franchise goalie on the Wings during my time as a fan either, I was highly tempted to go with Lundquist, but when you consider the difference between Lundquist and someone who is a merely above average goalie instead of an elite one, that difference isn't very big, especially compared between the elite forwards and above average forwards.

Rj said...

Its all about interpretation and what kind of team you want to build. Following Cassie's model, making the same pick she did here at #3, which means she will have the #34 I know who exactly I'd pick who I feel pretty good about still being on the board. A player who I believe is an elite forward, and who already wears the "C" for his own team and that's Mike Richards. He's arguably the best all around forward in the league, a guy who can put up 80 points and be a Selke finalist every year. Not to mention I'd have him Captain my squad over Crosby any day of the week. Just like they say in every draft finding great players in the middle rounds matter. With a goalie like Hank, a forward like Richards, and maybe a good top defenseman in the 3rd round, maybe Jay Bouwmeester sneaking down. And then finding some forwards who can put up 50-60 points for the season. Maybe another offensive defenseman and the rest d-men with good shots who are known to have great positioning in there own zone. And finding a solid backup to spell Lundqvist for 20-25 games over the year. All while staying cost efficient and under the cap by a few million just in case you need to make a trade come the deadline, Cassie's Lightning would be a team to be reckoned with. And you could probably only have maybe 2 elite forwards on your team, Id take 4 or 5 above average forwards over just those 2 any day.

The Puck Stops Here said...

A bad pick. Lundqvist might be a good goalie, but I wouldn't argue he is the best one in the league. He didn't get nominated for the Vezina this year and has never been closer than third in any season. However, you do have multiple players available who are the best in their position.

Rj said...

Mate as a Rangers fan, Lundqvist has had one of the worst bluelines this past season in front of him in the League. When your best defenseman on your team is 21 years old and your paying your supposed top defensive pair over $11 a season (Redden/Rozsival) playing the way they did, I can understand him having a down year. Yet he still managed to win over 30 games and take his team into the playoffs. And being nominated for the Vezina means your one of the top 3 goaltenders in that season. Even being #3 is an accomplishment.

The Puck Stops Here said...

Being the number three goalie in the league is an accomplishment - but its not a big enough one to warrant being the number three pick (first goalie selected) in this draft.

Rj said...

Im not saying it was or I would have made the same choice, but I can understand why it was done.

Cassie said...

oh, i have reasons. lots and lots of reasons. and you can read about those here:

http://www.rawcharge.com/2009/7/23/958965/and-the-third-pick-in-the-cls-re

Rj said...

Cassie I do like your pick and your reasoning. Personally I would have like to trade down for more picks ;)

Cassie said...

RJ - it's scary that you actually understand me. but i appreciate it. thanks!

Rj said...

No worries love, Im a Rangers supporter so, I can understand first hand just how worst the Rangers would have been if they had virtually any other goalie then Hank. Not to mention all the flak that your getting is really harsh and premature. You still have at least 19 spots to choose from. Its a team sport and you only have 1/19 of your starters selected. Not to mention I believe choosing that high in a draft is really tough. Like I said before I would have traded down for more picks if possible. Keep your head up General Manager.

Cassie said...

exactly - it's just one guy. but i expected people to find it a controversial choice, to say the least. whatever. i have a plan and i'm sticking to it. besides, this is dragging more people in to this little project and creating more interest. and that's a good thing.

Scotty Hockey said...

And here I was hoping to get him at 20 ...

Tom said...

It's not an unreasonable pick and I like that Cassie has a rationale to what she is doing.

But here's where it fails to compute for me: Tampa is picking #3, which means their next pick will be #58. A huge gap between your best player and your second-best.

You want your goalie to be your best player, since he's out there for 60 minutes. But even if he's only average, you can still build a very good team and win with him -- see this year's Finals. So by waiting till the 58th pick to get a goalie, you might get stuck with, let's say, Kiprusoff. But then your next pick is only 6 spots later and you probably pick up your top dman... let's say Markov. So you've got a lineup of Malkin-Kiprusoff-Markov. Not a bad start.

By taking Lundqvist first, now you're waiting till #58 to pick your top skater. If you're lucky you might get a guy like Stastny or Gomez that late. Now you've got a lineup of Lundqvist-Stastny-Markov. That's... kinda mediocre. Especially for a team with the #3 overall pick.

Maybe it'll work out ok for Cassie, but this is a risky move unless a star falls far down the draft order.

Cassie said...

in any draft, you take your chances. sometimes you're lucky, and sometimes you're not. that's just the way it goes.