In Canada, we have two seasons: summer and hockey. As much as I lament the end of summer, I am more than happy to see that the NHL is kicking off its 2009-2010 regular season tonight. You know that I’ll be cheering on my hometown Vancouver Canucks, but I’m also taking a slightly more active role as well. This is in addition to my virtual season in NHL 2010
on the Xbox 360.
I am participating in a fantasy hockey league with some friends, just as I did last year. We decided to use the Yahoo! Sports fantasy system, so this means that we get to re-draft our teams each season. I know that Ed Lau prefers the format of “keeper” leagues, but that kind of system wouldn’t really work with my friends since the people that participate change each year. This is another opportunity for me to learn what it takes to be a winner. Last season, I was off to a very slow start, but I was able to finish in the top third or so (I don’t remember exactly). My goal is to come in first this year.
For the 09-10 season, we have 13 teams participating, so getting first will not be an easy feat. We held the fantasy draft last night and it was in a “snaking” format, so the person who gets the first pick in the first round gets the last pick in the second round. I drew number eight, so I was in the middle of the pack throughout the draft. Here is my team.
Center
- Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit)
- Patrik Elias (New Jersey)
- Mikko Koivu (Minnesota)
Left Wing
- Dany Heatley (San Jose)
- Milan Michalek (Ottawa)
- Sergei Samsonov (Carolina)
Right Wing
- Jamie Langenbrunner (New Jersey)
- Jason Pominville (Buffalo)
- Milan Hejduk (Colorado)
Defence
- Christian Ehrhoff (Vancouver)
- Marek Zidlicky (Minnesota)
- Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia)
- Fedor Tyutin (Columbus)
Goalie
- Cam Ward (Carolina)
- Nikolai Khabibulin (Edmonton)
Utility and Bench
- Martin Erat (Nashville)
- Andrew Brunette (Minnesota)
- Mike Modano (Dallas)
It’s not the ideal team, but I’m reasonably happy with the fantasy hockey team I drafted. I hope that Heatley is able to perform in San Jose and Elias should be recovering from his injury soon. For this league, points are only given out for goals and assists (wins and shutouts for goaltenders), so that’s why there is no focus on getting an “enforcer” as part of my team.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to the NHL hockey season too? Are you participating in any fantasy leagues?
Note: If you want to play NHL 2010
Here’s my team:
Centre:
Jason Spezza
Danny Briere
Derick Brassard
David Krejci
Left Wing:
Michael Cammalleri
Milan Michalek
Loui Eriksson
Daniel Carcillo
Right Wing:
Martin Havlat
David Backes
Teemu Selanne
Bryan Little
Defense:
Kevin Bieksa
Ed Jovanovski
Marek Zidlicky
Erik Johnson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Goalies:
Roberto Luongo
Martin Brodeur
This year I wanted to make sure I had the best goalies possible, so I never have to worry about that position. Hopefully my sleepers perform!
so you love hockey..at my country Indonesia.. hockey is not a popular sport .. football is…so i didn’t know so much about this sport, such as the rule , etc
You left out, Chris Pronger, Jeff Carter and Ray Emery. Of course they are all Flyers and I’m biased to them, but Carter had a breakout year last year, Pronger is one of the best D no matter his age and Emery outplayed Cam Ward (in your list and I don’t know why) the other night and last night major league made Martin Brodeur look like an AHL goaile.
Well, it was a snaking draft, so I didn’t exactly get pick of the litter throughout. Given the option, I obviously would have grabbed Crosby, Malkin, and Ovechkin. I think I had the option to pick up Carter at some point, but I took Zetterberg and Heatley instead. The pool that I’m in doesn’t reward +/-, so D-men aren’t as valuable.
I’m not sure how good Heatley is going to be. He forced his way out of Ottawa and I’m too keen on his ability to mesh with his new teammates. Zetterberg is a good choice if you had to pick over Carter, but I think Carter is going to have an even better year this year as he develops with Mike Richards and Danny Briere being back after being injured last year.
This looks like it will be a very exciting race to the Cup. Like always, anything is possible come the finals!