Second Round Rolling Along

We've continued to mosey along in the Waiver Draft, making great headway in the second round. Once the first round was completed, we managed to snake our way through ten of the seventeen picks necessary to complete the second round, which was made even easier with two early passes. Grant gave the quote of the year when he passed his second round pick, "In continuation of my bad judgment this year . . . I will PASS and think my team is now fixed." Next in line was Dennis and he also chose to keep the remainder of his team intact for the duration of the season.

Joining the addition of Manny Fernandez to Dale B.'s team, he added some more veteran presence with the likes of Bill Guerin, who has been enjoying a bit of a bounce-back season on Long Island. Guerin came into the Waiver Week with 32 points in 47 games, which ranked him fourth among forwards available for the Draft. That makes a pretty productive Waiver Draft for Dale, who also picked up the second ranked goaltender.

For Larry and his injury-riddled team, it should come as no surprise to see him drop Sergei Zubov, after being patient with him for so long. In his stead, Larry decided to stay in Dallas and pick up an All-Star, Stephane Robidas. Robidas featured in the All-Star Game for the Western Conference, his first appearance at the mid-season classic. He came into the Waiver Week as the sixth best defenseman available.

Chris decided to stay with the aged ones in the Waiver Draft second round, as he took Brendan Shanahan to go with his first round selection of Mats Sundin. He scoffed at the idea that both players were left for him in th Waiver Draft and was quick to snap them up when he could. On the way out for him is Steven Stamkos, who has been a rookie season bust for the Lightning this year.

Jason Blake makes a triumphant second round return to the hockey pool draft, as Don picked him up to take Daniel Briere's spot on his roster. Blake has 14 goals this season for the revamping Leafs and has shown some flashes of his old 40-goal self, but the team around him has not been able to help him flourish. Unfortunately for Don, Briere just couldn't get his act together this season and is unsure of his health for the remainder of the year.

Wes decided to take a chance on the return of Andy McDonald to the Blues line-up for his second pick in the Waiver Draft. McDonald is on the verge of returning from his broken leg. McDonald has reportedly returned to the ice at practice and will try to return to his 1.13 ppg average.

The veteran presence continued to pile up in the Waiver Draft, as Derek took the next best available forward in Mark Recchi. Derek was getting no production from Mike Fisher in Ottawa, who has been having a very disappointing season for the Senators, but who hasn't really? Recchi has seen some success playing as a veteran depth player in Tampa, actually being one of the bright spots on a team that is mired in the Eastern basement.

The Lee Stempniak experiment for John P. is over and his replacement comes from Stempniak's old team in St. Louis., Patrik Berglund. Berglund starred in the YoungStars game over the weekend, picking up three assists in the youth contest and has a shot at the Calder Trophy at the end of the year. He entered Waiver Week ranked 12th in the forwards column and now he's the taken in the 26th spot. That's a pretty good bargain.

For Dale C., it became a matter of upgrading his defensemen and the second ranked defenseman was still available for selection. Dale grabbed Denis Grebeshkov, who has flown under the radar in Edmonton, picking up points here and there, averaging half a point per game this season. Grebeshkov has been hot of late, having 4 points in his last 5 games for the Oilers, which likely increases his potential for the rest of the season.

Now, there's only six selections left to check out, as John B. will likely pass his last pick as well. Stay tuned for the remainder of the Draft.