Week Nine Waiver Draft (Dec 5)

We did it!  The Waiver Draft is done before Friday.  Oh, you sweet loveable group of rascals, you did it.  I wish I had a little bit more to give you, because I would, if I could.

I know some of you have been asking to have more than two moves and I am thinking, if the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft goes at the same pace as the Week Nine version did, I think I would be open to offer a final days free-for-all, where teams that want to change a couple more players before the end of the week, they would be able to, only after the first two rounds were complete.  Something that resembles the Preseason Waiver Draft, which we did between the draft and puck drop.

I will keep you all informed, especially as we move closer to the draft.

Anyways, let's finish off the recap of the Week Nine Waiver Draft, since there were only a few picks left to recall and then I can start applying the draft to our team pages, so we're all ready to go on Monday.

When we left yesterday's post, Troy had just selected Joe Colborne of the Flames and the next drop/pick was to go to Stacey M..  Well, she decided against any more changes, as she was fairly confident in the rest of her team, only making one move in the end.  Her team is still right in the thick of things and she didn't think she could improve upon an injured Marian Gaborik, so we'll see how that works out for her through the next nine weeks.

Next up was Tony, who has had his share of injuries in the first segment of the season, but remarkably didn't address any of the current injuries at the Waiver Draft.  He did, however, use his second pick, re-acquiring forward Boone Jenner, for whom he dropped at the Preseason Waiver Draft and dropped Milan Michalek in the process.  Jenner has been playing well since his return from injury in Columbus, while Michalek has been almost invisible in Ottawa this year.

Clayton got all sneaky, keeping his eye on the return from injuries, snapping up newly-healthy forward Michael Grabner from the Islanders, who was returning from off-season hernia surgery, and made his season debut on Thursday night against the Senators.  On the flip side, Clayton dropped Devils forward Patrik Elias, who hasn't been enjoying a great start to the season and came away with a groin injury in Week Nine in the process.  Trading a healthy player for an injured player is the way to go.

The last move in the Waiver Draft was Dale C. dropping suspended defenseman Vyacheslav Voynov, who can't really see the light at the end of the tunnel on his domestic violence case, and he picked up Jakub Kindl of the Red Wings to take his spot.  If Voynov can't get out of this predicament that he is in, he isn't going to play much more this season or possibly ever again.

And as expected, just like the opening round of the Waiver Draft, both Grant S. and Kristy & Don both passed up chances to take on lesser players to fill in gaps in their roster.  The only injury between the two teams in the pool is Kristopher Letang, who belongs to the duo, and there was not going to be any replacement for him, especially since he's only expected to be out a couple more weeks.  No sense in making that change, since they likely won't get anywhere near the same amount of points from a replacement.

So, that's it.  All players will go active on Monday morning and we'll start accumulating points from there on in.  Good luck to everyone, I think we're in for a fun middle segment!