Week Eighteen Waiver Draft (Jan 30)

Tuesday had its snags and snarls in the process of swapping some players, so we didn't get nearly as far as one would have hoped, but we did trudge along and knock off seven swaps and three passes, so that's okay, I suppose.  We've only got 16 moves left to make before the bonus round, which does seem like a very lofty goal today, as I write this post.

We finished off the 1st round of the Waiver Draft with Stuart's swap, moving injured goalie Michal Neuvirth of the Flyers out of his lineup and inserting Anders Nilsson of the Senators in his place.  Stuart's team has done exceptionally well with very little goaltending points, ranking 21st in the pool in goalie points.  If his team finds improvement there, it will be back-to-back wins for his side.

Scott kicked off the 2nd round with a forward swap, dropping Week Nine dud Lars Eller of the Capitals and picking up Pontus Aberg of the Wild to take his spot.  Aberg has already been moved a couple times between NHL clubs this season, waived out of Edmonton to Anaheim and then traded to Minnesota.  Could he have found his productive new home, both in the NHL and in the pool?

Brenda & Seward made good on Derek B.'s drop in the 1st round, snapping up Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings for Jonathan Bernier of the Red Wings.  The duo couldn't find their way up the standings much this season, but with an upgrade to two number one goalies on their team, they could start to find their way up the standings a bit more.

If you hadn't noticed yet, Derek B. has been going all-in on the rookies, tanking some of his best players now to get the job done in the mini-game.  His team isn't about the overall standings and hasn't been since Week Nine, continuing on that pace, dropping Frederik Andersen of the Maple Leafs and picking up Chicago platoon goalie Collin Delia, trying to squeeze out any kind of points possible.  Andersen will be made available for the bonus round for any sort of injured goalie.

Chelsea is just carrying on with carrying on, doesn't have a whole lot to play for and just hoping for the best right now.  A quick upgrade of forwards, seeing Loui Eriksson of the Canucks drop out and Mikkel Boedker of the Senators climb on in was the best swap she could make out.  Her team is 19 points clear of 23rd on Wednesday morning and she aims to keep it that way.

Then there were a couple of passes on the books, as both Benson and Eric couldn't find anything that tickled their fancy or filled a gap.  Benson's team ranks 3rd in the game-winning goals mini-game and is good with his team as is to try and win it, while Eric's team is tied for 15th in that mini-game and still hasn't seen a shootout goal yet.

Neil needed a defenseman swap, as one of his Week Nine picks had failed him badly.  Chicago's Gustav Forsling was only good for 1 point in nine games since being activated, thanks to injury issues, so he was exchanged for the best defenseman available, Pittsburgh Brian Dumoulin.  Neil's defense has been bad this season, ranking last with 57 points, but a positive move like this could bump him up a spot.

Jeremy's team was another that felt that passing was in his best interest.  There were no solutions to some of his forward problems and his only injury wasn't going to be replaced by anything much better at this point.

Finally, Stacey C. was on the ball this morning, making a swap nice and early, just in time for this post.  He dropped Alexander Steen of the Blues, who has had his share of injury problems this season, picking up Bryan Rust of the Penguins to take his place.  Stacey's forwards rank 18th in the pool, as of Wednesday morning, which has led to his 18th overall ranking as well.  They kind of go hand-in-hand.