Mock Waiver Draft

It's almost Waiver time and it's getting to be a nailbiting time, deciding on whether or not to drop some of your least productive players. Going over all 17 teams in the pool, there are some pretty tough decisions out there to be debated upon, but I thought I would have my hand at what the results may be come the end of next week. The picks are not perfect and they may not be what these teams actually do or think... but meh... it's my blog and I can mock if I like.

For the first round, I thought I would use the Standings, as of Friday afternoon, to make up the drafting order... see below.

Team	Dropped	Picked
Grant	Ryan Malone, TAM	Devin Setoguchi, SAN
Derek	Claude Giroux, PHI	Derrick Brassard, CBJ
Benson	Rick DiPietro, NYI	Ty Conklin, DET
Chris	Nikita Filatov, CBJ	Joe Pavelski, SAN
Dennis	Jason Blake, TOR	Ryan Clowe, SAN
Jeremy	Alexander Radulov, NAS	Kris Versteeg, CHI
Dale B.	Marian Gaborik, MIN	Slava Kozlov, ATL
Wes	Andy McDonald, STL	Brian Little, ATL
Ryan	Mikael Tellqvist, PHO	Brian Boucher, SAN
Don	Joffrey Lupul, PHI	Mikael Samuelsson, DET
Marcus	Curtis Glencross, CAL	Matt Stajan, TOR
Peter	Martin Brodeur, NJD	Joey MacDonald, NYI
Larry	Tim Connolly, BUF	Doug Weight, NYI
Clayton	Brad Stuart, DET	Marc-Eduoard Vlasic, SAN
John B.	PASS
Dale C.	Randy Jones, PHI	Keith Ballard, FLA
John P.	PASS

Of course, the prized possession of this Waiver Draft will be Devin Setoguchi of the San Jose Sharks and if Grant wants to climb out of the basement, Setoguchi would be his meal ticket out. Setoguchi is currently tied for the team lead in points with 22 and leads the team in goals with 11. He has been found on a line with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau this season, so it would almost be silly (to the point of madness) to pass over him. Setoguchi is the Sharks' 2009 version of Jonathan Cheechoo, who is suffering mightily with only 7 points in 16 games.

There are some pretty easy decisions to make... like Jeremy dropping Alexander Radulov, Chris dropping Nikita Filatov and Derek dropping Claude Giroux, but who they pick up becomes the difficult decision... unless they like someone in particular who is available. There are some difficult decisions to make as well, namely... does Dale B. drop Marian Gaborik? Does Peter wait the last 12-14 weeks on Martin Brodeur?

As you can see by the first round of mock drafting, you might have also noticed that there isn't much for goaltending available on the list. You could possibly take Joey MacDonald right about now, but when Rick DiPietro gets back, doesn't that mean that MacDonald will be back to riding the pine? Of course it does! Fortunately for MacDonald, his guess is as good as mine as to when DiPietro will be 100% again. There your gamble there.

Let's see how the second round plays out...

Team	Dropped	Picked
Grant	Ryan Whitney, PIT	Alex Goligoski, PIT
Derek	Chris Mason, STL	Erik Ersberg, LOS
Benson	Drew Stafford, BUF	Brandon Dubinsky, NYR
Chris	Radim Vrbata, TAM	Mike Modano, DAL
Dennis	Dustin Penner, EDM	Jason Chimera, CBJ
Jeremy	Sergei Gonchar, PIT	Kevin Bieksa, VAN
Dale B.	Patrice Brisebois, MTL	Mike Commodore, CBJ
Wes	Mike Smith, TAM	Dwayne Roloson, EDM
Ryan	Matthew Lombardi, CAL	Michal Grabovski, TOR
Don	PASS
Marcus	Ruslan Salei, COL	Mark Giordano, CAL
Peter	PASS
Larry	Jere Lehtinen, DAL	Trent Hunter, NYI
Clayton	Kari Lehtonen, ATL	Michael Leighton, CAR
John B.	PASS
Dale C.	Brett Clark, COL	Keith Yandle, PHO
John P.	PASS

The wildcard goaltender available in the Waiver Draft has to be Dwayne Roloson. He may not even last to the second round, but he does make for an interesting scenario. Currently sitting in the three-man goaltending rotation in Edmonton, Roloson is a prime candidate to fill in on a team that needs a short-term solution for starting goaltending. Will he or won't he? That'll be the question you'll have to bat around if you're thinking about picking him up, because the three-man rotation does have it's limits when it comes to minutes played.

Defensemen and depth forwards are also on the docket for the second round, as people only needed to fill one major spot on their roster, if necessary. The appearance of Mike Modano is quite curious, he may not last through the first round either, but people have forgotten about him to a certain degree.

It's time to fill some gaps in the Waiver Draft... good luck!