Week Eighteen Waiver Draft (Jan 29)

It was the first official day of the Waiver Draft yesterday and we made some head way, but not without some of that good ol' fashioned waiting around.  We nearly made it out of the opening round, which was a soft goal for the pool on Monday, but we should be able to make some really good progress on Tuesday, since everyone has been paying some attention over the last few days.  Let's see how well Monday went then, eh?

Jesse kicked off Monday's action in the Waiver Draft with a defenseman swap, hoping that Niklas Kronwall will be dealt from a beleaguered Red Wings team to a contender and that he has an impact wherever he ends up.  Frankly, anyone was going to be better than Dan Hamhuis of the Predators, who he dropped for the swap.

Another season-long injury will come off the books next week, as Ryan's team parted ways with Nick Schmaltz of the Arizona Coyotes, who suffered a major knee injury.  Ryan was able to snag Colorado Avalanche forward J.T. Compher, who has been having a decent sophomore season with 20 points in 34 games, not a bad scoring rate at all.

A couple of weeks ago, Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal did take to the ice before a practice, but a concussion has set him back a little bit further and there doesn't appear to be a timetable for his return, so that made him an easy drop for Troy's team.  His replacement, Vancouver Canucks forward Sven Baertschi, trying to snake a Canucks player out of the list before a certain Canucks fan's pick.

Clayton's team is walking the fine line between the big leagues and the minors once again, as he dropped Drake Batherson, rookie forward for the Senators, now in the AHL, and picked up AHL All-Star and recent NHL scoring star, Brandon Pirri of the Vegas Golden Knights.  Pirri was a late call-up this season, due to the depth of the Vegas team, but has impressed since coming up and it looks like he may stay up as well.

Those Nashville Predators look to be a pretty strong club again this season, so Steve is going to stick with them as much as he can, dropping Austin Watson, who has been a bit of a disappointment, but picking up quite the opposite in Colton Sissons, who has turned it on in the middle portion of the season.  An upgrade up front is hardly ever a bad thing.

The last swap actually made on Monday belonged to Wes, as he mulled over his move for the better part of the afternoon/evening and finally ending up on Blake Coleman of the New Jersey Devils, who had been passed over nearly 20 times in this pool, coming in as one of the top ranked forwards available.  Coleman picked up a goal and an assist last night, not that they actually counted, but not a bad sign for Wes' team, which is in the running for the money.  He dropped Mark Jankowski of the Flames to pick him up.

We almost closed up the opening round, as three of the top four teams were ready to take a pass on this round, Kristy & Don, Stacey M. and Grant all opted to move through this opening round, since they don't really have much for holes in their lineups at this point in the year.  Unless they have a crystal ball that can foresee injuries, they are likely to live and die by the players they have.

Our pool leader, Stuart, has been mulling over goalie options, but he'll have to wait for the 2nd round before he can touch any of those that were dropped in the 1st round.