Note: The Rotoworld 2012 playoff pool's results and explanations ended up exceeding column length limits, so I decided to put full results here. Enjoy!
Gus Katsaros
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 1 | Sidney Crosby | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | AUTO |
2 | 20 | Kris Letang | D | Pittsburgh Penguins | AUTO |
3 | 21 | Henrik Zetterberg | F | Detroit Red Wings | AUTO |
4 | 40 | Andy McDonald | F | St. Louis Blues | AUTO |
5 | 41 | Alexander Steen | F | St. Louis Blues | AUTO |
6 | 60 | T.J. Oshie | F | St. Louis Blues | AUTO |
7 | 61 | Rich Peverley | F | Boston Bruins | AUTO |
8 | 80 | Jason Spezza | F | Ottawa Senators | AUTO |
9 | 81 | Mike Fisher | F | Nashville Predators | AUTO |
10 | 100 | Martin Erat | F | Nashville Predators | AUTO |
11 | 101 | Chris Kelly | F | Boston Bruins | AUTO |
12 | 120 | Artem Anisimov | F | New York Rangers | AUTO |
13 | 121 | Jannik Hansen | F | Vancouver Canucks | AUTO |
14 | 140 | Mikael Samuelsson | F | Florida Panthers | AUTO |
15 | 141 | Tuukka Rask | G | Boston Bruins | AUTO |
16 | 160 | Matt D'Agostini | F | St. Louis Blues | AUTO |
17 | 161 | Colin Wilson | F | Nashville Predators | AUTO |
18 | 180 | Ian White | D | Detroit Red Wings | AUTO |
19 | 181 | Kyle Quincey | D | Detroit Red Wings | AUTO |
20 | 200 | Martin Biron | G | New York Rangers | AUTO |
My thoughts: Gus’ team is auto-drafted and heavy on contenders. Scary stuff, but goaltending might just be his undoing, with two backups. (Rask could make things interesting if something happens with Tim Thomas, though.)
Corey Abbott
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Type |
1 | 2 | Evgeni Malkin | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
2 | 19 | Jimmy Howard | G | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
3 | 22 | Pascal Dupuis | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
4 | 39 | Chris Kunitz | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
5 | 42 | Brian Elliott | G | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
6 | 59 | Kevin Bieksa | D | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
7 | 62 | Kevin Shattenkirk | D | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
8 | 79 | Shane Doan | F | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
9 | 82 | Tyler Kennedy | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
10 | 99 | Niklas Kronwall | D | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
11 | 102 | Patrik Berglund | F | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
12 | 119 | David Clarkson | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
13 | 122 | Dustin Brown | F | Los Angeles Kings | MANUAL |
14 | 139 | Dave Bolland | F | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
15 | 142 | Jakub Voracek | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
16 | 159 | Mike Green | D | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
17 | 162 | Danny Cleary | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
18 | 179 | Jordin Tootoo | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
19 | 182 | Johan Hedberg | G | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
20 | 199 | Arron Asham | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
Corey’s explanation:
“I went into the draft with Penguins on the brain and when I saw had the second overall pick, which would mean I could get Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, I wanted to select complementary players to go with them. Goalies went fast so I chose Jimmy Howard, and a few other Red Wings, even though I have my doubts about their success against Nashville. My final eight picks were mostly value-based, as this is a deep draft and there aren't enough players to go around. I was pleased to get Dustin Brown in the 13th round. In addition to him, Mike Green in the 16th round, 159th overall, and Daniel Cleary, 162nd overall, have the ability to produce as well and could bring some late-addition scoring to my squad.”
Jared Ostroff
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 3 | Henrik Lundqvist | G | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
2 | 18 | Brad Richards | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
3 | 23 | Zach Parise | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
4 | 38 | Ray Whitney | F | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
5 | 43 | Radim Vrbata | F | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
6 | 58 | Patrick Kane | F | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
7 | 63 | Marian Hossa | F | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
8 | 78 | Keith Yandle | D | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
9 | 83 | Martin Hanzal | F | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
10 | 98 | Valtteri Filppula | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
11 | 103 | Duncan Keith | D | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
12 | 118 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | D | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
13 | 123 | Jiri Hudler | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
14 | 138 | Scott Clemmensen | G | Florida Panthers | MANUAL |
15 | 143 | Antoine Vermette | F | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
16 | 158 | Gilbert Brule | F | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
17 | 163 | Viktor Stalberg | F | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
18 | 178 | Brandon Prust | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
19 | 183 | Maxime Talbot | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
20 | 198 | Ruslan Fedotenko | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
My thoughts: Jared has a strong team that follows the “pick teams and run with it” model. The only issue might be that the Blackhawks and Coyotes might cancel each other out. Then again, with free agency, he can fill some of the holes.
My team
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 4 | Roberto Luongo | G | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
2 | 17 | Ilya Kovalchuk | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
3 | 24 | Alex Pietrangelo | D | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
4 | 37 | Corey Crawford | G | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
5 | 44 | David Krejci | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
6 | 57 | Danny Briere | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
7 | 64 | Michael Del Zotto | D | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
8 | 77 | Erik Karlsson | D | Ottawa Senators | MANUAL |
9 | 84 | Jaromir Jagr | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
10 | 97 | Alexander Semin | F | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
11 | 104 | Patric Hornqvist | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
12 | 117 | Chris Stewart | F | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
13 | 124 | Mike Richards | F | Los Angeles Kings | MANUAL |
14 | 137 | Sergei Kostitsyn | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
15 | 144 | Sergei Bobrovsky | G | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
16 | 157 | Brent Seabrook | D | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
17 | 164 | Sean Couturier | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
18 | 177 | Dennis Wideman | D | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
19 | 184 | Jamie Langenbrunner | F | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
20 | 197 | Tomas Holmstrom | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
Michael Finewax
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 5 | Marian Gaborik | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
2 | 16 | Jaroslav Halak | G | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
3 | 25 | Martin Brodeur | G | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
4 | 36 | Ryan Callahan | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
5 | 45 | David Backes | F | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
6 | 56 | Alexander Edler | D | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
7 | 65 | Carl Hagelin | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
8 | 76 | Ryan Suter | D | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
9 | 85 | Ryan McDonagh | D | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
10 | 96 | David Booth | F | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
11 | 105 | Jason Arnott | F | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
12 | 116 | Travis Zajac | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
13 | 125 | Mason Raymond | F | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
14 | 136 | Sami Salo | D | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
15 | 145 | Zack Kassian | F | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
16 | 156 | Marc Staal | D | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
17 | 165 | Nicklas Backstrom | F | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
18 | 176 | Kris Russell | D | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
19 | 185 | Maxim Lapierre | F | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
20 | 196 | Mike Rupp | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
Finewax’s explanation: My draft strategy was to get one of Henrik Lundqvist or Roberto Luongo as I thought the Canucks and Rangers are going to meet in the Cup finals. When that didn't happen, I went to Jaroslav Halak and Martin Brodeur in the second and third rounds as I thought that hopefully having two goalies go past the first round was good strategy. My best value pick was Nicklas Backstrom in the 17th round (165th overall), especially since Alex Ovechkin went 54th overall. I have six Canucks, six Rangers and four Blues. If two of those teams go to the Cup final, I'm sitting pretty.
Editor’s note: Backstrom has to be the steal of the draft.
Jimmy Hascup
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 6 | Claude Giroux | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
2 | 15 | Jonathan Quick | G | Los Angeles Kings | MANUAL |
3 | 26 | Mike Smith | G | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
4 | 35 | Jonathan Toews | F | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
5 | 46 | David Perron | F | St. Louis Blues | MANUAL |
6 | 55 | Shea Weber | D | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
7 | 66 | Anze Kopitar | F | Los Angeles Kings | MANUAL |
8 | 75 | Logan Couture | F | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
9 | 86 | Braden Holtby | G | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
10 | 95 | Brandon Dubinsky | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
11 | 106 | Brian Campbell | D | Florida Panthers | MANUAL |
12 | 115 | Drew Doughty | D | Los Angeles Kings | MANUAL |
13 | 126 | Jeff Carter | F | Los Angeles Kings | MANUAL |
14 | 135 | Dan Girardi | D | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
15 | 146 | Brian Boyle | F | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
16 | 155 | Justin Williams | F | Los Angeles Kings | MANUAL |
17 | 166 | Brayden Schenn | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
18 | 175 | Kyle Turris | F | Ottawa Senators | MANUAL |
19 | 186 | Anton Stralman | D | New York Rangers | MANUAL |
20 | 195 | Paul Gaustad | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
My thoughts: Jimmy’s roster is chock full of value – especially if the Pacific Division teams handle themselves well in the postseason.
Marc Lapierre
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 7 | Marc-Andre Fleury | G | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
2 | 14 | Pekka Rinne | G | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
3 | 27 | Jordan Staal | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
4 | 34 | Antti Niemi | G | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
5 | 47 | Steve Sullivan | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
6 | 54 | Alex Ovechkin | F | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
7 | 67 | Joe Thornton | F | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
8 | 74 | Craig Anderson | G | Ottawa Senators | MANUAL |
9 | 87 | Matt Cooke | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
10 | 94 | Paul Martin | D | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
11 | 107 | Matt Niskanen | D | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
12 | 114 | Michal Neuvirth | G | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
13 | 127 | Dan Hamhuis | D | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
14 | 134 | Adam Henrique | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
15 | 147 | Petr Sykora | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
16 | 154 | Andrei Kostitsyn | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
17 | 167 | Brooks Laich | F | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
18 | 174 | Craig Smith | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
19 | 187 | Marcus Johansson | F | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
20 | 194 | Mathieu Perreault | F | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
Marc’s explanation: This might seem about as basic as it gets but it’s essential to know the unique characteristics of your league's scoring system as this will affect not only how you draft and who you pick but also how you set your lineup. NHL playoff pools are more about picking teams than players, but with our scoring system and league configuration, I decided to load up on goaltenders and hopefully take advantage of the daily transactions setting to accumulate a lot of points early between the pipes. Like everyone else participating tonight, my other goal was to target players on teams that I think will go deep in the playoffs and decided to go Pittsburgh in the East and Nashville in the West.
Brian Rosenbaum
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 8 | Tim Thomas | G | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
2 | 13 | Pavel Datsyuk | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
3 | 28 | Zdeno Chara | D | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
4 | 33 | Milan Lucic | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
5 | 48 | Johan Franzen | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
6 | 53 | Nicklas Lidstrom | D | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
7 | 68 | Joe Pavelski | F | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
8 | 73 | Patrick Marleau | F | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
9 | 88 | Dan Boyle | D | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
10 | 93 | Martin Havlat | F | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
11 | 108 | Ryane Clowe | F | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
12 | 113 | Brent Burns | D | San Jose Sharks | MANUAL |
13 | 128 | Todd Bertuzzi | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
14 | 133 | Dainius Zubrus | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
15 | 148 | Ray Emery | G | Chicago Blackhawks | MANUAL |
16 | 153 | Marek Zidlicky | D | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
17 | 168 | Brian Rolston | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
18 | 173 | Alexei Ponikarovsky | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
19 | 188 | Dennis Seidenberg | D | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
20 | 193 | Darren Helm | F | Detroit Red Wings | MANUAL |
My take: Boy, that’s a formidable team, isn’t it? Rosenbaum loaded up on quality players from quality teams, with the only conceivable issue being perhaps that Ray Emery might not bring much value as a second goalie. How many people have a full rotation of netminders anyway, though?
Kevin Brown
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 9 | Daniel Sedin | F | Vancouver Canucks | AUTO |
2 | 12 | Henrik Sedin | F | Vancouver Canucks | AUTO |
3 | 29 | Ryan Kesler | F | Vancouver Canucks | AUTO |
4 | 32 | Cory Schneider | G | Vancouver Canucks | AUTO |
5 | 49 | Alexandre Burrows | F | Vancouver Canucks | AUTO |
6 | 52 | Patrick Sharp | F | Chicago Blackhawks | AUTO |
7 | 69 | Derek Stepan | F | New York Rangers | AUTO |
8 | 72 | Chris Higgins | F | Vancouver Canucks | AUTO |
9 | 89 | Kris Versteeg | F | Florida Panthers | AUTO |
10 | 92 | Jose Theodore | G | Florida Panthers | AUTO |
11 | 109 | Tomas Fleischmann | F | Florida Panthers | AUTO |
12 | 112 | Stephen Weiss | F | Florida Panthers | AUTO |
13 | 129 | Milan Michalek | F | Ottawa Senators | AUTO |
14 | 132 | Daniel Alfredsson | F | Ottawa Senators | AUTO |
15 | 149 | Sean Bergenheim | F | Florida Panthers | AUTO |
16 | 152 | Andrew Shaw | F | Chicago Blackhawks | AUTO |
17 | 169 | Jason Garrison | D | Florida Panthers | AUTO |
18 | 172 | Johnny Boychuk | D | Boston Bruins | AUTO |
19 | 189 | Dmitry Kulikov | D | Florida Panthers | MANUAL |
20 | 192 | Marc-Andre Gragnani | D | Vancouver Canucks | MANUAL |
Kevin’s explanation: The strategy for playoff pools is simple - pick a couple of teams you feel comfortable with and load up as much as you can. By the time I picked in the first round, the best Penguins had already been taken so I turned my attention westward to Vancouver. After filling my roster with Canucks, I looked for value in the Eastern Conference and found the Panthers roster virtually untouched so I chose some of their top players and will now hope for an upset over the Devils, which is certainly possible given the fact they have home-ice advantage in the series.
Ryan Dadoun
Round | Pick | Player Name | Pos | Team | Pick Type |
1 | 10 | James Neal | F | Pittsburgh Penguins | MANUAL |
2 | 11 | Tyler Seguin | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
3 | 30 | Ilya Bryzgalov | G | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
4 | 31 | Brad Marchand | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
5 | 50 | Patrice Bergeron | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
6 | 51 | Scott Hartnell | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
7 | 70 | Patrik Elias | F | New Jersey Devils | MANUAL |
8 | 71 | Alexander Radulov | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
9 | 90 | Kimmo Timonen | D | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
10 | 91 | Matt Carle | D | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
11 | 110 | David Legwand | F | Nashville Predators | MANUAL |
12 | 111 | Wayne Simmonds | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
13 | 130 | Andrew Ference | D | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
14 | 131 | Benoit Pouliot | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
15 | 150 | Tomas Vokoun | G | Washington Capitals | MANUAL |
16 | 151 | Matt Read | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
17 | 170 | Lauri Korpikoski | F | Phoenix Coyotes | MANUAL |
18 | 171 | Jordan Caron | F | Boston Bruins | MANUAL |
19 | 190 | Sergei Gonchar | D | Ottawa Senators | MANUAL |
20 | 191 | James van Riemsdyk | F | Philadelphia Flyers | MANUAL |
Ryan’s explanation: I went into this draft with one goal: Draft a goaltender in the first round before all the good ones are taken. Unfortunately, I got stuck with the last pick and, knowing my competition knows the value of a good goaltender, I immediately tossed out my plan. The big four in my mind - Luongo, Thomas, Lundqvist, and Fleury - all got scooped up before my first pick, so I decided to just grab the two best players available from the two teams most likely to go far: James Neal and Tyler Seguin. From there, because it would be so long before my next pick, my basic strategy was just to see what everyone else did. At this point I was searching for two or maybe three teams I could focus on. The goalies continued to be grabbed at a brisk pace, so when I finally got to go again, I took the best one still available - Ilya Bryzgalov - as well as Brad Marchand. With Bryzgalov on my team, I instantly became a Flyers fan and drafted accordingly. My fallback teams were Boston and, to a much lesser extent, Nashville. On rare exceptions, I deviated from those three to take a player I felt had gone undrafted for too long, such as Patrik Elias with the 70th overall pick.
Overall, I'm not too unhappy with the teams I ended up leaning towards. Philadelphia and Nashville are considered risks and consequently, a fair number of their better players were available later. At the same time, they're both teams with a legitimate shot of moving forward. Boston is regarded as a safer bet, so by the time we got into the mid-to-late rounds, they had pretty much been picked clean, but I still got a couple of their better players like Seguin, Marchand, and Seguin. If playoff pools, I usually build teams to come in either first or last depending on if my primary gamble pays off. This team isn't that much of an extreme, but it does have that sort of sentiment. Overall, I'm okay with my team, but at the same time, my goaltending is a mess and that flaw will be tough to overcome.
****
Hopefully this little draft acts as a Mock Draft of sorts for you. Don't make fun of my picks too much in the comments, though.
