Fantasy Hockey

 

Hello there Mr. Karlsson, you look good in that Ottawa Senators jersey, mind coming to the Oilers and play with fellow country man Jonathon Ericsson? No? Hmm, well you have no choice. 

 And by no choice I mean that tonight is the rookie draft for my fantasy team, the Edmonton Oilers of the National Fantasy Hockey League. 

Since the start of the league my team has finished last and 5th last in the league. Meaning last year I would have had the 1st overall selection in the Rookie Draft. Who did I pick? Stamkos? Nope. Mason? Nope. For some reason I decided that the first round pick packaged with Roman Hamerlik was worth Marian Gaborik, T.J. Hensick, Jonathon Ericsson and to move down 21 spots to the 22nd pick. Who did I pick then? None other than the Oilers own Jeff Deslauriers. Did I foresee Stamkos leading the league in goals? Not a chance. But I did get Gaborik out of it, so it's not all bad. 

Having Gaborik leaves me with a top 6 that boasts such talents as: Scott Hartnell, Patrice Bergeron, Martin Erat, David Legwand and Jakub Vorachek. The would be no room for Stamkos in that top 6. 

The defense doesn't look too bad either with Josh Gorges, Tom Gilbert(I know what will be said but he was top 4 in the league in assists), and Jonathon Ericsson, they should keep the puck out of the net right? Right? Not when you have the superb goaltending tandem of Deslauriers and Biron. 

With this team will I be keeping the cup out west(Vancouver and Calgary won the first two cups) or will I be gunning for Hall, Eberle etc.? Only time will tell. 

Mid Summer Musings

Remember when we had him? (Smyth not Lupul) Those were the days. I remember being at the game where Smyth beat one of Gretzky's Oiler records for fastest 3 goals(You can see the video here). Boy was that magical. Well the fine people on the internet were suggesting that there was a possibility of the mulleted one returning to Edmonton. My take on it? I would prefer taking someone like Stoll back. Looking at the Oilers depth chart on LW(Hall, Paajarvi, Penner, JFJ?), the Oilers simply don't need another LW, especially at a cap hit of $6.5 million a year. 

Souray?

One of the more intriguing story lines of the off season is where Souray will end up. No one quite knows the answer. If it was up to Souray, he shuts his mouth and plays the season in Edmonton. If it's up to Tambi, Souray is playing in the ECHL. Should be fun to watch.

Khabibulin

It seems like a wonky back and dehydration issues were the least of his worries this past season. There was the matter of the whole driving 70mph in a 45 zone, and having a BAC of .164, twice the legal limit. He has two options for his trial, either he can have the judge act as jury and have a trial at the end of August or he can have a jury trial at the end of September. His lawyer says these both interfere with his off season training, but wouldn't make sense to get it over ASAP? You'd think but apparently they need to clear that through the Oilers.

Should make for an interesting couple of months.