Week Eight Waiver Draft (Dec 2)

Well, I won't lie.  This Waiver Draft has gone exceptionally poorly.

I will shoulder some of the blame, as Thursday was a bit of a wash, since I wasn't anywhere near my computer for the better part of the day, but the plans that were made were assuming that I would have been much farther through this than we are at the moment.

When I last did a post, I had left off with Eric's pick, which was 7th overall.  Three days later, when I started this blog post, I had only seen 11 picks and one pass.

Unfortunately for Grant, he was the pass, as he was unable to get in touch with me (and still hasn't) for a move and that was a 24-hour pass.

Jeremy kicked off the actual drafting again on Wednesday, picking up Tampa Bay forward Valtteri Filppula, trying to take advantage of his increased ice-time, thanks to the injury to Steven Stamkos.

Derek B. was able to scoop up the first defenseman in the Waiver Draft, taking Rangers rookie defender Brady Skjei, a very good up-and-coming prospects for New York.  He has already been doing quite well, under the radar there.

It took a little while to get Stacey M.'s pick secured, but she finally came around and she joined the Rangers bandwagon, nabbing Michael Grabner with the 11th pick in the draft.  He has been a goal scoring machine, so far... can he keep it up?

Clayton was next up and he opted for Flyers rookie forward Travis Konecny, trying to offer up a few more points and penalty minutes to possibly climb both ladders, if possible.  It's a bit of a stretch in most categories for Clayton, but he's also a player that will be playing outside in the New Year, so there's that too.

The Rangers continued to be a popular team to choose from, as Stuart picked up Brandon Pirri from Broadway as well.  It was almost like the Rangers were untapped at the opening draft.  Pirri has been another one of those guys that has been quietly putting up points under the bright lights.

The second defenseman of the Waiver Draft was taken by Dale B., who is obviously happy with his forwards and goalies, taking John Moore of the New Jersey Devils.  Moore has been seeing more regular time in the swamp and that has been translating into points.

Mike went all the way to Brooklyn to pull Josh Bailey out of the Islanders lineup and into his team.  Bailey has been trying to make up for some of the under-performing players that the Islanders have been rocking and the pool has been dropping and doing okay at it.

Stacey C. was quick to scoop up Mr. Underwood, Mike Fisher of the Predators.  The team's newest captain has been leading by example and now he's back in the hockey pool for another go-around.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have exploded for some big scoring games already this year and Cam is going to try and pull in some big points from Sam Gagner, who is on pace for a career year in Ohio.  Teams were skipping by the streaky scorer, but this is the sort of pick that can win a pool.

Ryan is also getting in on the act of teams that are playing outside this year, picking up Richard Panik of the Blackhawks.  His side is playing the St. Louis Blues at the Winter Classic on January 2nd, so there's an opportunity for more mini-game points with this pick.

The Penguins are finding ways to score with their depth and that includes forward Conor Sheary, who has been fairly impressive, especially of late.  Wilton has decided to add him to his side, since there is nothing wrong with adding a forward from an offensive juggernaut team.

And then finally, this morning, John S. pulled over to the side of the road to snag Brandon Sutter, right under Scott's nose.  John claims he did not get any of the notices about the Waiver Draft, but it was on the standings and the blog... and the e-mail!

Marcie is running in two races, both the overall points and the penalty minutes and she did well to opt for Patrick Maroon of the Oilers.  Maroon has seen some time on the line with Connor McDavid and I would have to think that he would go back from time-to-time.  This could be a very shrewd pick.

I thought Scott would have had his replacement pick by the time I finished this post, but I told him to take his time.  I already have Marcin's pick and Brian is probably asleep down under, so again we'll probably wait.  At least we're moving somewhat again.