Washington Capitals' Nicklas Backstrom, right, of Sweden, celebrates with teammate Alex Ovechkin (8), of Russia, after scoring a goal against the Atlanta Thrashers during the first period of an NHL hockey game Friday, April 9, 2010, in Washington. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)Luis Alvarez/The Associated Press
Bit of a light-hearted post for a Friday morning.
Playoff season is also pool season if you're a hockey fan, and I was looking over the rosters in a few fantasy pools I'm in last night just to see who the top picks are this year.
The main pool I entered is like a lot of others out there: You select 20 players -- which can include as many as two goalies -- and get one point for goals and assists and two for a win. It's really straightforward (a good thing given the number of hockey writers in it).
Here are the 25 most popular picks in my pool, one that I think reflects who people are picking generally (with the percentage of teams which picked them listed):
|
.......... |
Player |
Team |
% |
|
1 |
Crosby |
PIT |
93% |
|
2 |
Backstrom |
WAS |
93% |
|
3 |
Green |
WAS |
93% |
|
4 |
Ovechkin |
WAS |
93% |
|
5 |
Semin |
WAS |
93% |
|
6 |
Malkin |
PIT |
86% |
|
7 |
Datsyuk |
DET |
79% |
|
8 |
Zetterberg |
DET |
79% |
|
9 |
Kane |
CHI |
71% |
|
10 |
Toews |
CHI |
71% |
|
11 |
Hossa |
CHI |
64% |
|
12 |
Keith |
CHI |
57% |
|
13 |
H.Sedin |
VAN |
57% |
|
14 |
Franzen |
DET |
50% |
|
15 |
Laich |
WAS |
50% |
|
16 |
Lidstrom |
DET |
43% |
|
17 |
Parise |
NJ |
43% |
|
18 |
D. Sedin |
VAN |
43% |
|
19 |
Sharp |
CHI |
36% |
|
20 |
Howard |
DET |
36% |
|
21 |
Kovalchuk |
NJ |
36% |
|
22 |
Gonchar |
PIT |
36% |
|
23 |
Heatley |
SJ |
36% |
|
24 |
Marleau |
SJ |
36% |
|
25 |
Thornton |
SJ |
36% |
A lot of Capitals -- no surprise given how many goals Washington scored this year. Even Brooks Laich was a popular choice, and he's not really a household name outside of D.C.
The "art" -- if you can call it that -- in these things is getting as many players who advance deep into the playoffs as possible. The more games played, the better -- and especially so for goalies.
I picked the Blackhawks and Sabres to go the distance this year, so both Ryan Miller and Antti Niemi are on my team. Here's the rest of the gang: Roy, Hossa, Kane, Keith, Toews, Datsyuk, Franzen, Zetterberg, Crosby, Malkin, Heatley, Marleau, Thornton, Backstrom, Green, Laich, Ovechkin, Semin.
Yes, fell for the Sharks...
It's going to be mighty interesting in fantasy hockey this year if there ends up being a lot of upsets because from the looks of draft lists across a lot of pools, very few went with underdogs. Buffalo was as close as I came, and they won their division.