Week Eighteen Waiver Draft (Feb 6)

There was a bunch more head way made in this week's Waiver Draft, but it is looking less and less likely that we'll get to see a bonus 3rd round, as there are a lot of passing teams dragging their feet or indulging in gravy soup.  Not naming any names.

We'll kick off where we left off, the logical starting point, as Dale B. made a second move this week, dropping forward Matt Moulson of the Sabres and picking up Jesper Fast of the Rangers to replace him.  Dale's team has taken a good kicking in the second segment of the season, so his team needs a miracle-type boost to get back up close.

Derek W. also thought to make another improvement on Friday, picking up the dropped forward Mikhail Grabovski, taking the Long Island player in place of Troy Brouwer in St. Louis, who hasn't quite found the scoring touch among a pretty talented team in the Central.  Maybe Derek knows something that John R. doesn't, although John was looking for goons this time around.

The third pick of the day went to Dale C., who thought a quick swap of defensemen would help his cause, even just a little.  Out goes Rangers blueliner Kevin Klein, who has been battling injury for most of the second segment and in came Devils regular, David Schlemko.  It's not the most ground-breaking move of the bunch, but it could help.

There were no more rookies of interest for Ryan this week, so he decided to pass on his 2nd round pick on Friday, which led to Scott's pick-up and he went to the mock draft for a little inspiration, picking up Vincent Lecavalier, who is finding his legs again with the Kings.  He dropped Matt Read of his beloved Flyers to make room for the cagey veteran, a good gamble move, I would think.

Brian's team is stuck between a scoring and penalty minute-hard place, as his team has some roots in both races this year, but there wasn't another move to be made by his team this week, unlikely to improve his team significantly in either race or both, for that matter.

Troy, on his way to Mexico, threw up a prayer for a big money payday with his 2nd round move, dropping Jason Zucker of the Wild and picking up Joseph Blandisi of the Devils, who was recalled in the last few weeks and made a little bit of noise this week, as he played in front of some friends and family in Toronto this week.  He has 8 points in 13 games in a couple of recalls, so if he sticks, he might have some traction.

In the last move made in the evening on Friday, Eric figures he'll have a bit more luck with Brendan Smith of the Red Wings on his blueline, rather than Oscar Klefbom of the Oilers, who was diagnosed with a leg infection this week, which will keep him out of the lineup for another indefinite period of time.  Something is better than nothing, especially when you'll open Saturday only 18 points back of the money.

That's as far as we've come and now we continue to wait... for Kristy & Don.  Their "great debate" on whether to keep or drop Philadelphia's Sean Couturier for the stretch run.  Tick-tock!