The Hockey News Ultimate Pool Guide for 2011-'12

Generally, the middle payday of August means that I've gone out to find the new hockey pool guides and fortunately, the The Hockey News Ultimate Pool Guide for the 2011-'12 season has been released and I usually like to go over them to try and find the most interesting tidbits.

It's kind of funny, this is the first year that I've posted something about one of the pool guides before I have even booked the day for the draft this year.  How strange.

Nevertheless, we're still a good few weeks until the regular season starts and it will be in the two weeks leading up to the season when we'll have the annual draft, so there is plenty of time to study, if you're like me and study all year around.  (NOTE: Studying all year around does not necessarily make you into a better poolie, it may just keep you out of trouble more than anything)

The Hockey News' love affair with the Pittsburgh Penguins continues in the new edition of the poolie guide, as Sidney Crosby has returned to the top of the heap, projected to pick up 117 points in 75 games, including 55 goals.  That will be one hell of a feat for the Penguins' captain, one a lot of people may also think could happen.   Crosby is also the only forward slated to reach the 100-point mark, but since there was only one 100-point player in 2011, you could reason with that to a point.

Alex Ovechkin comes in at number two, expected to make the leap back into the forefront, chasing down his old nemesis in the scoring race.  Ovechkin is also scheduled to score 50 goals, but fall short of triple-digits by a couple, projected to come in at 98 points.  Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, Henrik Sedin, Nicklas Backstrom, Corey Perry, Daniel Sedin, Evgeni Malkin and Ryan Getzlaf all finish in the top 10 among forwards, with Malkin and Getzlaf rounding out at 87 points each.

Expectations have increased for Avalanche forward Matt Duchene, as he has been slotted in at 11th with 86 points, while the Islanders' John Tavares isn't too far behind at 18th with 82 points.

The defensemen situation is expected to return to its 2010 season form, Mike Green is projected to lead all NHL blueliners with 73 points in 78 games, which is far and away the best of the bunch, with Drew Doughty (pending a new contract) coming in at 60 points in 80 games.  If the Capitals are going to return to their scoring ways, Green will be there racking up points.  Kris Letang, Lubomir Visnovsky, Alex Goligoski, Mark Streit, Dan Boyle, Keith Yandle, Andrei Markov, Shea Weber and Nicklas Lidstrom all round out the top 11, with Weber and Lidstrom tied at 52 points.

In goal, the Hockey News is high on the Buffalo Sabres as well, as they have put Ryan Miller among the tops in goaltending, expected to win 40 games, 5 by shutout, which would work out to about 90 points, give or take an assist or two.  The Sabres spent a lot of money, but the application of all this new talent may have it's fair share of growing pains.  Henrik Lundqvist is also expected to pick up 90 points, 37 wins and 8 shutouts, so he'll be giving poolies something to think about when they make their first goalie selection.  Carey Price, Roberto Luongo, Marc-Andre Fleury, Pekka Rinne, Martin Brodeur, Tomas Vokoun, Miikka Kiprusoff, Ilya Bryzgalov and Corey Crawford are all projected for over 80 points by the Hockey News.

The rookie class is another one to take a close look at, when should you be looking to draft a rookie or two?  Well, like most players, you really want to be picking them where you project them to finish in the scoring race.  The Hockey News has the Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins leading all rookies with 55 points in 2012, which would put him in around the top 100 in pool scoring, just outside of the 3rd round.  Brayden Schenn will start a new life with Philly, projected to pick up 50 points with the Flyers, while Ryan Johansen will jump onto the scene with 45 points.  I wouldn't be in a huge rush to pick up the rookie class, they haven't proven to be great sleepers over the last few years, turning out to be bigger busts than most players.

The checklist feature of the projections is a very handy tool and I know many of my poolies use this guide to get them through 14 rounds of player selections and last year the draft went pretty well.  I think there is plenty of information at your fingertips, so I would recommend this one, like I do most years.