
Waiver Draft Order is Set!
It was a pretty interesting week, as there was a little bit of shuffling done throughout the standings, as we come to our final resting spot for the Waiver Draft. Doug has the first pick in the draft (see the draft here), where he is expected to snag Steven Stamkos and try and make that push for some respectability in his finish.
Ryan V., Stuart and Leo round out the top four, all of which hold spots in the bottom group in the pool, as Leo is 27 points behind 20th place, Tony, which could be a tough gap to close. I'm not saying its impossible, but getting back into the top 20 might be all they can aspire to do.
The real intrigue will come from what happens at the top of the standings, as we've got all kinds of teams in the hunt for all four prize spots in the standings. A couple top end picks could take you from 7th to 1st by the end of the final 10-week segment.
The Lead Shrunk Again
If you thought Grant was going to run away with the lead after Week Fourteen, if you were mistaken. Grant had an 18-point lead going into Week Fifteen, but that was quickly closed up and his lead (over Chris) had fizzled down to 3 points after Sunday night. Everyone in the top 10 made up points on Grant, who nearly finished in the Basement for the week, which again, makes this pool all the more interesting.
Grant finished with 372 points, followed by Chris (-3), Stacey C. (-10) and Derek Wilton & Stacey M. (-11). The tighter this pool runs, the more exciting it is going to get.
One More Week for the Second Jersey
As we run through the second Waiver Draft of the season, we wind down the second segment of the year, which means we're almost ready to give away another prize.
Derek Wilton currently holds the top spot in the second segment, as he has 195 points through Week Fifteen, followed by Cindy (-4), Clayton (-10), Chris & Ryan M. (-12). Derek has had a hot team of late, so he might be tough to catch, but as we've seen with Grant above, a hot team can fizzle out and be caught in the blink of an eye.
Ups and Downs in the Segments
How has the second segment stacked up against the first with a week to go? Eight teams have already eclipsed their first segment total, while a couple of teams have already equaled that total. Three teams are more than 30 points away from their first segment total, which likely means they'll fall short, while most should make it close in the end.

This is only the second 10-point effort of the year, the other belonging to Ben Scrivens, who did it in Week Seven.

On Monday, Tavares broke out with a hat-trick and a pair of assists in a 7-3 win over Dallas, followed up by a 3-assist effort against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday in a 5-3 win. On Friday, Tavares was shut out on Friday against the Avalanche, but his team was still able to post a 2-1 overtime win. There was a little concern that Tavares may lose out on the Player of the Week nod, but he cemented it with a 2-assist game against the Stars again on Sunday in a 4-2 win.
With the 10-point effort, this has lifted Tavares up to 4th in overall pool scoring, having 21 goals and 35 assists in 46 games for the Islanders. He is currently scoring at a 1.22 points per game pace, which has to excite Derek Wyllie, who could see a big lift in the standings in the third segment.

Wilton's team has now registered 100 points in the last three weeks, 17 points better than anyone else in that same time frame and has forced his way into the prize conversation with both elbows, shoving other teams over in the process.
The big week was stacked up from super efforts from Ryan Getzlaf (5 points), Cam Atkinson (4), Andre Benoit (4) and three players had 3 points each. Two players on his active roster finished with donuts in the week and one of them was injured, the other is a back-up goalie, so he has some reasons for those donuts, at least.
Also during this monster stretch, Wilton's team has moved into the conversation for the top team in the goal scoring department, as they now sit in 2nd place, only 4 goals behind Brenda for the overall lead, not that there is a prize for it, but maybe one year there will be.
On the bright side for everyone else, Wilton did lessen his Waiver Draft picks with another huge week, dropping three spots and giving some of the teams that he has passed, a chance to pass him right back, starting in Week Seventeen.

Seven players on his active roster finished with donuts, thanks in large part to injuries to Pascal Dupuis, Tomas Hertl, Drew Stafford and Cam Ward. The first two are likely going to be his drops in the second Waiver Draft this week, as they are not expected back any time soon to their NHL rosters.
Benson's team was last in skater games played in the week and as you can see by the injuries above, that shouldn't come as a surprise. Benson's team was among the pool elite in health around Week Eleven, but since then, the injuries kicked in and now his team is only slightly above-average in the statistic.
NEWS AND NOTES












Link to the Injury/News Page
HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA













The only American team in the Hockey Day's coverage is the New York Rangers, as they head to Ottawa to play the Senators in one of the two early games, while the other will be the Edmonton Oilers visiting the Winnipeg Jets in some basement Western Conference action. The 5pm MT game will see the Montreal Canadiens play their long-time rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The late game, 8pm MT, will see the Calgary Flames head to the West Coast for a division rivalry game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Eight teams are being highlighted from this weekend, which means lots of players, 98 picks, in fact. Of those 98 picks, we have one in the minors, seven players currently injured, but some may be back by Saturday. We've got all sorts of goalies, so there will be some on the bench, for sure. We also have 30 picks here that have been selected to go to the Olympics, as well.
Leading the group of players in scoring are Carey Price of the Canadiens (48 points), Taylor Hall of the Oilers (42) and Erik Karlsson of the Senators (41). Leading the group of available players for the Waiver Draft playing this weekend, Mats Zuccarello of the Rangers (32), Christopher Higgins of the Canucks (25) and Cam Talbot of the Rangers (22).
Enjoy the day, hopefully we'll be done the Waiver Draft by then and I can enjoy it as well.
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