Four More Waiver Draft Picks

This second draft is painfully slow this year, which may mean that some time restrictions may have to be implemented for the 2011 season. This is brutal. Already at Wednesday and I've only got seven picks done. Nevertheless, I suppose we have to keep on keeping on for the time being.

Up now are the next four picks that I've received already and we'll see how the previous occupants of their draft position fared as well.

Up first was Peter, he decided to switch up one of his defensemen in order to capitalize on the value of Marc-Andre Bergeron from the Habs, who is having a pretty good season so far. Peter dropped Brent Burns of the Wild to do so, since he's been suffering from another long-term injury this year. Burns has had so much potential but has been terribly unlucky with injuries. Bergeron, a waiver pick-up by the Habs, has enjoyed some success on the team's power play.

From the 14th position in the second Waiver Draft, Larry stayed in 14th in 2009, but failed to make up any head way on the lead, dropping from 93 points behind to 140. In 2008, Marcus dropped down to 16th position, losing even more ground, from 140 to 215 behind.

From the 13th position, Stuart was really keen on picking up Martin Erat of the Predators, dropping the concussion-ridden David Booth of the Panthers. Erat has been a hot hand of late for Nashville, picking up numerous goals in games, so his pick was pretty solid. Booth didn't make it very far into the season, but is slowly making his way back into the fold in Florida, but not soon enough for Stuart. This looks to be a solid move.

The 13th position does seem to be more of a stagnant position. Both Chris and Dale C., in 2009 & 2008 respectively, both stayed in the position at the end of the season, but both had to deal with fair-sized gaps in order to move up. Right now, Stuart is in a pretty good race, so there is likelihood of change by the end of the year, especially with an offensive pick.

From the 12th spot and the 6th pick, Chris decided to go off the top 23 board a bit and pick up a newly-healthy, first round dropped, Simon Gagne of the Flyers, in order to get ahead of some pool rivals and stay ahead. For Gagne, Chris decided to move out veteran forward, Cory Stillman of the Panthers, who has also returned from injury recently, but doesn't hold quite the value of a Gagne, who plays top line with some potent Flyers linemates.

The 12th spot hasn't done badly in the past, moving up two spots in 2009, as Don gained a bit of ground on the leader of the pack. He came in 80 points behind in 12th and finished the year in 10th, only 71 points behind. It's small, but its something. In 2008, Jeff didn't do quite as well, but he didn't drop in the standings at all. The gap down was just too big, so he stayed in 12th, but went from being behind by 103 to being behind by 169.

Finally, a Wednesday morning pick from Stacey, as he dropped Ales Hemsky, who is done for the year in Edmonton and picked up R.J. Umberger of the Jackets, who was the top available forward at the time. Umberger has seen a fair bit of time on the top line for Columbus, but hasn't scored at the pace he should while playing there. Anything will be a step up from the injury to Hemsky and Umberger has proved that he is the better pick among the bunch this season, so hopefully he can keep that up.

The 7th pick from 11th place in the standings is another stagnant pick, as it doesn't really get to move much in the standings. There is a bit of a gap again up to 10th place, but nothing that cannot be overcame, but there is a lot of teams chasing down the 11th spot, which are all in striking distance. It will be key that this pick doesn't lose him any ground to those teams. Both Wes (in 2009) and Don (in 2008) stayed in 11th and both lost significant ground. A good pick for Stacey could reverse those fortunes a little.

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