By Hockey Guru
Welcome to the first annual Sports Talk NHL Entry Draft Pool, brought to you by STP Inc. and our platinum sponsor, Bud Light.
The format will be similar to the Final Exam, in so much as there will not be a live draft. Each entry will be submitted directly to the draft board (cbsbaseball2002@yahoo.com) and all entries will be posted to the draft table, making them official.
Fantasy Draft Round #1: 25 Points: Who is the first overall pick?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: Tyler Seguin = 0 points
STP: Taylor Hall = 25 points
Hell Lions: Taylor Hall = 25 points
Muff Divers: Taylor Hall = 25 Points
Fantasy Draft Round #2: 10 Points per correct answer
-5 Points per incorrect answer
Which teams will make trades on draft day (i.e. if you believe Hartford will make 3 trades - that equals three guesses - if they make 1 it is worth 0 points, 2 would be worth 10, 3 worth 20).
Sunnyvale Shithawks: Florida = 10 points, Atlanta = 10 points and Columbus (-5 points)
STP: No trades speculated
Hell Lions: Chicago = 10 points, Toronto = 10 points Minnesota = 10 points Calgary (-5 points), Philadelphia (10 ponts), Florida (1o points)
Muff Divers: Boston (2 trades) = 20 points, Edmonton = 10 points, Toronto = 10 points , Montreal = 10 points, Ottawa = 10 points, Buffalo (-5 points) , New York Rangers = 10 points, New York Islanders = 10 points, New Jersey (-5 points), Washington = 10 points, Pittsburgh = 10 points, Philadelphia = 10 points, Atlanta (2 trades) = 20 points, Carolina = 10 points, Florida = 10 points, Tampa Bay (-5points) Los Angeles = 10 points, Vancouver = 10 points, San Jose = 10 points, Anaheim = 10 points, Minnesota = 10 points, Nashville (-5 points), Colorado = 10 points, Phoenix = 10 points, St. Louis = 10 points, Chicago = 10 points, Columbus (-5 points) Calgary(-5 points), Dallas = 10 points, Detroit (-5 points)
Fantasy Draft Round #3: 20 points for each exactly correct pick
10 points for each correct pick
-10 points for each incorrect pick
What is your "mock" draft order (teams not required) for picks 2-10?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: 2- Taylor Hall (10) 3- Erik Gudbranson (20) 4- Cam Fowler (-10) 5- Brett Connolly (10) Mark Pysyk (-10) Brandon Gormley (-10) Nino Niederreiter (10) Derek Forbort (-10) Alexander Burmistrov (10)
STP: 2nd - Seguin (20) Gormley (-10) Gudbranson (10) Fowler (-10) Connolly (20) Niederreiter (10) Johansen (10) Forbort (-10) Granlund (10)
Hell Lions: Seguin (20), Gormley (-10), Gudbranson (10), Fowler (-10), Johansen (10), Connolly (10), Nieberreiter (10), Skinner (10), Campbell (-10)
Muff Divers: No response provided
Fantasy Draft Round #4: 25 points: What is the lowest draft position that will be traded?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: 27th Overall Pick = 0 points
STP: 210th Overall Pick = 0 points
Hell Lions: 5th Overall Pick = 10 points (closest)
Muff Divers: 1st Overall = 0 Points
Fantasy Draft Round #5: 25 points: How many goaltenders will be drafted in Round 1?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: 1 Goaltender = 0 points
STP: 2 Goaltenders = 25 points
Hell Lions: 2 Goaltenders = 25 points
Muff Divers: 2 Goaltenders = 25 points
Fantasy Draft Round #6: 25 points: How many defensemen will be drafted in Round 1?
7 Defensemen Were drafted
Sunnyvale Shithawks: 8 Defensemen = 10 points (awarded for being closest)
STP: 10 Defensemen = 0 points
Hell Lions: 9 Defensemen = 0 points
Muff Divers: 10 Defensemen = 0 points
Fantasy Draft Round #7: 25 points: How many forwards will be drafted in Round 1?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: 21 Forwards = 25 points
STP: 18 Forwards = 0 points
Hell Lions: 19 Forwards = 0 points
Muff Divers: 18 Forwards = 0 points
Fantasy Draft Round #8: 25 points: How many Canadian-born players will be drafted in Round 1?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: 12 = 0 points
STP: 12 = 0 points
Hell Lions: 0 points
Muff Divers: 15 = 25 points
Fantasy Draft Round #9: 25 points: How many American-born players will be drafted in Round 1?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: 0 points
STP: 11 = 0 points
Hell Lions: 7 = 0 points
Muff Divers: 10 = 25 points
Fantasy Draft Round #10: 25 points for correct answers, -10 for incorrect
Which players ranked in Central Scouting's Final Top 50 NAS Rankings will not be drafted in the first two rounds?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: Curtis Hamilton (-10 points) and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc = 25 points
STP: No players will fall that far
Hell Lions: Biega = 25 points, Melchiori = 25 points, Gauthier-Leduc = 25 points
Muff Divers: No answer provided
Fantasy Draft Round #11: 10 points: Who gets booed louder - Gary Bettman or the Anaheim Ducks Organization as they take the podium for their first selection?
(Need the answer provided as Guru missed most of the draft)
Sunnyvale Shithawks: Bettman
STP: Bettman
Hell Lions: Anaheim
Muff Divers: Anaheim
Fantasy Draft Round #12: There are 4 California-born players ranked in the top 100 by Central Scouting. For 10 Points per correct slot (160 total points are available in round 12) - what is the order that they will be drafted (points are doubled if the correct round is provided and doubled again if the correct team is named) (If selecting player will not be drafted = maximum of 40 points). NOT GRADED YET
Sunnyvale Shithawks: Beau Bennett (1st of the Four = 10 points) will go 36th to Florida, Jason Zucker will go 48th to Edmonton, Jacob Fallon will go 72nd to Tampa Bay and Tyler Aronson will go 95th to NY Islanders
STP: I'll go with Etem, then Bennett, then Fallon, then Aronson. For the bonus points, I'll take Etem and Bennett in Round 1, with the other two guys going in Round 3. For further bonus points, I'll say that Etem goes to Anaheim, Bennett goes to the Kings, with Fallon going to Anaheim and Aronson going to the Kings. [Ed. Note: Going off the board, but still correct - STP burns himself as Bennett goes prior to Etem - he can still score points with Fallon (Anaheim) and Aronson (Kings)].
Hell Lions: There are 4 CA born players:draft order – Bennet (Round 2) = 10 points, Zucker (Round 2), Fallon (Round 3), Aronson (Round 4)
Muff Divers: No response provided = 0 points
Fantasy Draft Round #13: 100 points: Will the Sports Talk Pool Blogsite be able to handle the traffic created by this pool, or will the site crash?
Sunnyvale Shithawks: The Blog will survive the Draft traffic = 25 points
STP: Having access to the actual traffic numbers, it may be unfair for me to score these points, but I gotta say that our server should be able to handle the load - no crashing = 25 points.
Hell Lions: The site will handle all poll traffic as well as any potential traffic driven to site by additional photos of Diaz, Liu, or Barrymore = 25 points
Muff Divers: There's no way with the anticipation of this draft and word circulating throughout not only the hockey community but the world (as this draft transcends sport) = 0 points
Final Totals - PENDING - THE JUDGES HAVE CALLED FOR A PHOTO:
Sunnyvale Shithawks: points
STP: points
Hell Lions: points
Muff Divers: Points (picking every team to make a trade helps)
Enjoy the rest of the draft and thanks again to our platinum sponsor, Bud Light.
Absolutely love it.
ReplyDeleteWe'll need to tweak a few cats, if we're using NHL Central Scouting as the baseline, because they don't merge the four types of prospects - domestic skaters, domestic goalies, international skaters and international goalies.
We could either change the phrase the top 20 of the Central Scouting's Final draft rankings, to the phrase the Top 20 domestic skaters from last month's Central Scouting rankings, or else we could merge the four cats prior to making our own picks, or we could go with ISS rankings, or even merge those findings with Central Scouting's to establish a Master List.
What I love most about this idea, is that the possibilities are endless. Now, how to pitch the idea to the masses ....
With a month before the draft - we should be able to fine tune these details in the next couple weeks. The "Top 20" was intended to mean both the top 20 NA and top 20 Int'l - making the "top 20" actual a list of 40 (leaving goalies excluded from the "top 20").
ReplyDeleteAlternatively we could use a "mock" draft list as the list.
I'm not married to anything - I just wanted to create the idea - as it would create a little added interest to the event.
One thing becomes clearer and clearer to me every time - a pitchman I am not.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't sell water to a thirsty man in the desert, or whatever that expression is.
That 12th question is creeping me out a little.
ReplyDeleteYou haven't, by any chance, been witness to my Grappler-esque war of words over Etem that I've been engaged in today, over on some other blog?
Grammar police, open the door!
ReplyDeleteOkay, maybe more of a legal language cop, but whatever.
Question 8: Is this a trick question, or did you mean Canadians, not Canadiens? Because most, if not all of the Canadiens have already been drafted.
Questions 8 & 9: This should maybe read Canadian-born and American-born, so as not to confuse the identities of guys like Tinordi or other ex-pat brats.
Question 10: It should be clarified that you meant the Top 50 North American skaters, otherwise we're talking about a Top 140, as per your May 23rd comment.
Okay, you're free to go now. Nothing to see here, move along.
Great Poll questions re: Hall of Fame Snubs - would love to see a STP post with Youtube goodness on that one.
ReplyDeleteI knew I was forgetting something this weekend. I had intended to do a preview of who I thought would get the nod.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned it twice, in passing, first during my January mid-season awards (remember me picking Rask back then for the Crozier?), then again in my year-end awards post.
I don't mean to brag (yeah, right), but I fuggin' nailed the Ciccarelli and Angela James nominations, when even as recently as yesterday, no hockey experts were hip to those old-timers being the best candidates.
To be fair, I also whiffed on my predictions of:
- four players getting the nod
- a solitary builder getting in
- Burns, Nieuwendyk and Belfour getting in on their first ballots
I shoulda included Belfour in the poll question, or even guys like Pierre Turgeon or John LeClair.
I agree that such a post would make for great reading / viewing. Lately, I've had a few decent ideas for stories.
Unfortunately, my Guru-like ability to dream up good ideas has recently been paired with my Trish-like level of activity in getting them out of my head and onto this page.
After having skipped the Miss Matchup for the month of May, I promised myself that I would produce one more edition this week, celebrating the achievements of our All-Stars and All-Scrubs for the halfway point in our season.
Look for that tomorrow. (Translation: maybe several days later, if at all).
No seriously, I already made the picks, but loathe doing the data entry. So tomorrow night it is, then.
My brush with greatness:
ReplyDeleteI attended college alongside HHoF memeber, and renowned TSN panelist knob-polisher, Cammi Granato.
My uncle lived in the neighborhood and his childhood friend served as Concordia's women's team head coach, so the two of us attended almost every game Cammi played.
I hit on her on more than one occasion, but obviously I didn't look as good as Ray (which made two of us), because for all the money I spent buying her pitchers, I was about as successful as the Yankees after buying C.C. and Burnett.
Anyway, we knew then that she was in a class of her own (I think it was Classic Lit or something), and had you told me then that the HHoF would be inducting women, I would have picked her ahead of Cassie or Hayley or Manon Rheaume every time.
Fast-forward 15 years and I went with Angela James as the woman to break the gender barrier (non-Lady Gaga edition), but we were both right - the mid 90's me and the early 2010 version. That's my Freedom 55 moment of hockey awesomeness.
Even Ron McLean himself would cringe at the sheer volume of lame puns in the above passages.
ReplyDeleteThat was awesome.
ReplyDeleteAnd the draft itself was mildly entertaining as well.
You know, when I was answering these questions, I thought to myself, "Who cares who the lowest draft pick to be traded will be. I may as well choose the final (and lowest) pick and guess 210th.
Next year, I'll try not to be so dense.
As for the California kids, I hereby move that Zucker be interchangeable with Etem.
ReplyDeleteEven though Zucker was born in Vegas, baby, I had re-worded the question from its original, "California kids", to the less ambiguous "Cali-born", though by that point, the other guys must have already made their picks.
So putting aside how both my opponents failed to notice that the Snoop Dogg lookin' muthafucker hailed from the LBC, I take responsability for forging the Guru's signature when signing off on last-minute changes to the wording.
If Zucker did indeed go ahead of ahead of Fallon, I move that the pick be valid. Of course, if I were Guru, I'd argue that Etem was the highest-ranked among them, and that he should never have been ignored.
On the other hand, since Will did include Etem in his Mock Draft, it could be argued by him that he wasn't ignoring the guy - he was treating him as a WHL player an not a California kid.
Either way, I'm just grateful to be honourably mentioned for correctly calling Etem to Anaheim in Round 1, even if its worth zero points.
Fo shizzle, my niggas.
Side note:
ReplyDeleteJust how many kids born in Long Beach in 1992 do you suppose look just like Snoop?
I'd set the over/under at 365 if I wasn't so convinced that many of those 1991 nights involved Doggystyle threesomes.
p.p.s.
ReplyDeleteForgot that 1992 was a leap-year, so adjust your over/under accordingly.
For question # 2, I would obviously had picked the Isles had I known that Ari Gold would be involved in the backroom negotiations that "E" got to announce.
ReplyDeleteNext year, every team should hire a celebrity to make their 1st round pick.
It would make for much better speeches than the usual, "I'd like to say hello to everyone watching back at Billy-Bob's BBQ Hut, back in Nashville .... with the 18th pick, we are proud to select Austin Watson".
Think Vince Vaughn proclaiming just how "money" Kevin Hayes is, or Alyssa Milano casting her spell on us as she detailed the charms of Forbort, or Carrie Underwood announcing the oddest trade of the day.
2nd place again. Dammit. Oh well, at least it got me thinking more about hockey than I ever have before in June.
ReplyDeleteActually, I prematurely retitled the Guru's post, when in fact, the Results were far from Final.
ReplyDeleteJust think of how many points the Guru will lose on teams who never made a trade on draft day #2.
Then there's the whole Bettman or Anaheim question, not to mention question 13, where we all get an extra 75 points for not having the funniest joke.
If you're asking for our scorecards, then the Ottawa judge scores the bout as follows:
ReplyDeleteQ4: Were Hall and Seguin "high" draft picks or "low" draft picks? [grumble, rumble, rumble]
Q8: According to the precedent set in Q6, shouldn't Muff Divers only score 10 points for being the closest? I count 16 Canadian-born players (if he gets the full 25 points on Q9, based on Cam Fowler not counting as the 11th American-born player, then he should get only 10 points here with Fowler being the 16th Canadian). Of course, scoring depends on Hell Lions having chosen more than 17 Canadians.
Q9: 25 points to the Guru, provided Sunnyvale guessed 11 or more Yanks - Fowler counts as a hoser.
Q12: This question is all messed up. The original wording had "4 California kids" ranked in the Top 100, with a link to an L.A. Times story that glossed over Etem to profile what it implied were "several California-born-and-trained players".
To me, the hyphenated "born-and-trained" implies both born and trained, but their piece featured Zucker (NV) and Fallon (TX).
I had already read that Zucker was from Vegas, so I omitted him from picks, but included Fallon. It was at this time that I re-worded the question to read "Cali-born", without checking on Fallon's birthplace.
So my question to the Times is, why not call those two immigrants Cali-trained? I mean, was Miley Cyrus born-and-trained in L.A. just because she was a child when she moved there?
Anyway, Fallon went undrafted, so nobody scores points on Aronson (just like me with Etem).
It boils down to there being only 3 Cali-born players in the Top 88 NAS (or 5 Cali-trained), with Nevada's Zucker slotting in at 3rd of 5.
Bennett is worth only 10 points to Sunnyvale and Hell Lions (wrong round), so should Zucker be worth 20 points for being a Round 2 pick that came before Aronson and Fallon, or zero points for being 3rd behind Etem?
I say 20 points, as the three of you seem to have ignored Etem based on the Times' lazy article.
Q13: As crazy as it sounds, the three of us should score an additional 75 points for resisting making a good joke. Hey, we're not the ones who offered up 100 points and then threw those points away to make a funny.
Question about question #2:
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find all that info? I can't find any list of draft day trades beyond the 5 that occured on Friday night.
You have at least 13 trades listed (23 different teams, with Boston and Atlanta down for at least two apiece, meaning 25 half-transactions, or 12.5 total transactions, minimum).
Your strategy of taking every team seems to have paid off, but if you had to spend an hour scouring a million web pages to prove your win, was it worth it?
I counted five deals on the Friday, involving 9 different teams, but that didn't count any Boston or Atlanta deals.
I wasn't even thinking about roster-player deals when I chose to abstain, so the Sobotka deal might be one of those two Boston trades.
Either way, for the work that must have gone into finding all that info for all 30 (or 23) teams is worth whatever you scored on the second question.
As for the case of Bettman v. Anaheim (not to be confused with the case of Bettman v. Glendale), it's tough to call.
YouTube has a video of the Fowler pick, as shot by someone's hand-held in the upper deck, but since you can't even hear Fowler's name being announced, I'd hardly call that video a good measure of volume.
The Alyssa Milano video montage shows Anaheim announcing their pick at the 3:30 mark, but I imagine the crescendo of boos had levelled off by that point.
If this were the 2004 Sports Talk Entry Draft Pool, I'd suggest the question be scored a tie, but what do we do now? Pick a winner and award an OTL point to the loser?
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ReplyDeleteNHL 66