Welcome to the 2018/2019 Hockey Draft Pool

We're ready to flip another page on the calendar over and that will finally bring us to October and we all know what that means... hockey season is starting!

Thanks to all that made it out for another great hockey pool draft on Saturday, a third straight year of 25 teams competing for that glorious trophy... and some cash, too.  Don't forget about the cash.  I will be working on the payout for prizes here in the next couple of days, first I want to be sure that the website is rolling for when the season starts on Wednesday and then we'll have the big money announcement shortly there afterwards.

Some new faces joined the pool this year, welcome to Jesse and Chelsea... and a hearty welcome back to John P. and Scott, John returns after a two year absence and Scott missed out on last year's pool, by way our a brief stint out in Ontario.  There were rumours that a few more people would have come to join, but that wasn't to be, but a return to 25 teams is just fine by me.

The mini-games are back and we have two new ones and a returning game this year, all of which should make things a whole lot of fun.

First, the returning game and it will be the rookies taking centre stage again in the pool.  We had 20 rookies taken during the draft and they are spread out over 15 of the 25 teams, four of those teams have multiple rookies, Clayton leading the way with three freshmen (Pettersson, Donato & Cholowski).

Next up on the list is the shootout goals, which is a brand new mini-game and I'm still working on how that will be presented on the website this year, but it is an interesting stat, which has no bearing on the overall scoring, since shootout goals don't count in the player stats, but they still decide wins and losses in the league, so there you go.

Talk about deciding wins and losses, game-winning goals, usually a playoff pool staple, will now be kept track of in the regular season and teams will be hoping for those clutch goals in-game for some mini-game points.  Last year, if this was a mini-game, our pool champion Stuart, would have won it with 52 game winners and that was 7 goals better than his nearest competitor.  I'm sure this will prove to be an interesting game.

Alright, that should do it for the welcome post... I better get back to figuring out how to track the shootout goals for everyone.  Good luck to all and have a fun hockey season!

2018 Hockey Pool Draft Day Announced!

The announcement is coming a little bit later than normal, but that's okay, we're still weeks away, so there was still no real rush to get it out.  Nevertheless, the hockey pool draft has been booked and locked in, so the countdown begins!

Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 1pm

We're going to be rocking the Beagle14 for this year's event, one of my local haunts in the Kensington area.  They've got a separate section, which isn't really closed off like some of the other spots, but it's still segregated enough that we should have a good time.  Click here for their location on Google Maps.  They already have some pretty good specials on Saturday, like a $10 steak sandwich, so if you're in for lunch, you'll be taken care of.

So, more importantly, nothing has changed for the coming year.  The game remains the same, playing for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place money, the trophy and we'll have three mini-games (determined by the wheel o' mini-games after the draft has concluded).

The format shall remain the same, in terms of team sizes and scoring... why mess with a good thing?  14 players, which will include eight forwards, four defensemen and a pair of goalies.  The scoring will be as follows:

• goal - 1 point
• assist - 1 point
• win - 2 points
• shutout - 2 points

The NHL season gets started on Wednesday, October 3rd, so the draft is the last Saturday before puck drop, which should have already provided us some full NHL rosters, with most of the cuts already been done.  

In terms of player swaps throughout the year, the preseason concludes that weekend, there will be games both Saturday and Sunday, which does have a risk of injury, so there will be a preseason Waiver Draft, in the first come, first serve function.  Everyone should start the season with a healthy team.  There will be two mid-season Waiver Drafts again this season, at the one-third and the two-thirds mark of the season, dates will be announced at the draft.  So, don't worry... you'll get to move some injured players (eventually).

Stuart is our reigning champion and if you would like his contact info before the event, I would be more than happy to give it to you, just to make sure he doesn't forget the trophy.  We all want something to drool over, before the event, right?

Okay, I think that sums it all up... spread the word, friends of friends are always welcome!  We'll see you soon.

Welcome to the 2018 Playoff Pool

A hearty welcome, one and all, to the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs hockey pool... boy, you take a year off and everyone leaves ya, eh? It's a thin pool this year, after taking a year off, the pool only managed to return with 23 teams, less than half of the participation of the 2016 pool.  I guess that should be expected.

I've weeded out the weaklings, right?  Right.

Winnipeg, Tampa Bay and Nashville are your favourite teams in the pool, all finished with over 60 selections.  The maximum amount of selections any one team could have this year is 69 and Winnipeg finished with 67 to lead the way.  Did a couple people forget to take a Jets player or what?

New Jersey and Colorado are definitely not supposed to make it out of the first round.  The Devils have five selections to their name and the Avalanche only have three.

Jets forward Patrik Laine was this year's favourite pick... the Box 3 forward was taken 13 times to lead all players.  Mark Scheifele of the Jets, Sidney Crosby of the Penguins and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning were also popular, each taken 12 times.

Two boxes on the sheet had at least one selection for all eight players, Boxes 21 and 22, Eastern Conference defensemen.  With that being said, that's 23 teams in the pool... no duplicates!  It's hardly as impressive this year, given that there are less teams, but we're still without a duplicate in many, many years.

So, 23 teams... $230 pot... winner take all!  That's the plan.  Good luck everyone!

2018 Playoff Pool Sheet is Ready!

I did have a playoff pool sheet done for last year's playoffs, but I just wasn't feeling the work that had to go into it, so the hiatus was, in fact, on for last year and it was a much needed break, I'd say.  But how good would that year have been in the pool, since very few people had the Pittsburgh Penguins to go back-to-back?

Now, I'm coming back with a vengeance and this playoff pool sheet is looking pretty good, if I do say so myself.  A few people have been asking for it, I know a few people have been quietly waiting to see if it will happen again and indeed, it will.

With no further waiting, click this link to see this year's playoff pool entry sheet!

We already know that Nashville, Boston, Vegas, Washington, Tampa Bay, Winnipeg and Toronto have all punched their tickets to the dance, while Calgary, New York, Long Island, Chicago, Edmonton, Detroit, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Arizona and Buffalo have all been mathematically eliminated.  Those eliminated teams have been stricken from the sheet already, leaving three teams that still could yet be eliminated and they'll be the land mines for you to avoid.

The regular season officially ends on April 8th with one game between Florida and Boston, a game that may still have some bearing on who is in and who is out.  Who knows? 

The deadline for submission is the opening puck drop on April 11th, which will likely be 5pm MT.  It's $10 to enter again, because it's a quick sprint to the finish line and there's no sense in paying too much.  The same rules apply, you can only take a maximum of three players (including goalies) from any one NHL team and the scoring is pretty basic and included on the sheet. 

Most points in the pool wins, tie-breakers goes goals, wins and then the bonus points... game-winning goals!

Details of the 2018 Men's Olympic Hockey Pool Draft

Well, everyone... I got enough interest to go ahead with the Olympic draft and we'll do it this weekend!

So, let's break it down.  It's this Saturday, February 10th, at the Grand Slam Golf Academy (see map here), start showing up into their lounge at 1pm MT.  It is a licensed venue and they do have some food there, so grab a bite and a beer, have peek around the venue for you golfers, pay your $20 entry fee for the pool and then we'll proceed to do some drafting.

The tournament doesn't actually get started until the 14th, but we do want to have some time to do this and get it sorted out beforehand.

I have a list of every player that is on each and every roster, so I can either send you one right away or I should have some printed out for us at the draft this weekend, so it's up to you.

Depending on the number of people who come out to join us, I am expecting about 8-to-10 in total, maybe more, maybe less, but about there.  We'll probably pick in the realm of 12 players, no goalies (for the crap shoot that those will be).  In all likelihood, I would say that there would be no limitation to the forwards of defense anyone can take, we'll try to maximize our offense.  Scoring will be more like the playoff pools, with bonus points going towards game-winning goals.

This will be a great crap shoot, to say the least... come for the laughs, stay for the luck! 

Oh yes, the golf.  The Grand Slam Golf Academy, owned and operated by former (and hopefully soon-to-be returning) poolie, Larry, offers simulated golf at his location, which works out to be $50 per person for 18 holes (on one of dozens of courses) around the world.  It's pretty good fun, but he does wish for us to book ahead of time, since Saturday is a busy day.  Myself and the Sr. Sherpa are going to do 18 holes when we conclude the draft and if you'd care to join, let me know ASAP, so I can adjust the booking.

Excellent!  See you on Saturday!

The Rules of the Waiver Draft

Well, I was thinking about moving this pool to a weekly waiver system, but moving away from the traditional waiver draft was not only going to be a little more time consuming, but it did lend itself to controversy and trouble that I wasn't prepared to really deal with. So, the Waiver Draft is back, but I wanted to make sure that I had something a little more tangible on the blog site to say, this is what we're doing and how we're going to do it. The process really doesn't change, it just gets laid out properly moving forward. This could very well be the post that I turn to every year and make changes to, as the years go by.

First, let's go over the dates.  The 2018 season is 27 weeks long, which is perfect, when we divide this year into three segments.  Officially, the Waiver Draft would start on the Monday of Week Nine, we'd go through the drops and picks through the week and then all that has been changed would go live on Monday of Week Ten.

This season, Week Nine begins on Monday, November 27th and that mean's that players dropped and picked up will assume their new position on Monday, December 4th, the start of Week Ten.  With that being said, there is one late game on Sunday, November 26th, Edmonton in Boston, but if we're fairly clear on what the first few picks may look like in the standings, we might start early.

The second Waiver Draft, officially begins on Monday, January 29th and players go live on Monday, February 5th, but the end of Week Seventeen is also the NHL All-Star Weekend.  Unfortunately, the players taken in this Waiver Draft won't count in the All-Star Game mini-game, but last season, there were 44 players going to the All-Star Game 3-on-3 tournament and they were all taken in the pool after the first Waiver Draft last year, so I won't really have to make any changes, because all the players going, should have already been picked.

Next up on the things to know, the available players!  I currently run a list (click here for the list) of the top 200 available players that were not taken in the original draft.  This number could increase, if necessary, but at the moment, it's only 200 players in all three position levels.  If you haven't started your research into who is playing well and who might take the place of some injured, demoted or underachieving players, then your team is probably doing quite well.

Then it is all about the draft itself. The format, this has evolved over the years, but the most important point of the Waiver Draft is to either make your team more competitive, get your team into a good position in a mini-game or just to get healthy and have a full compliment of players to watch.  So, how we go about doing this is two guaranteed rounds of drops and picks, the order determined on Monday morning after the weekly statistical audit and the order will go from last place (25th) to top spot (1st) for both rounds... last to first, last to first.

The draft will be conducted via phone, text messages or e-mails, however I have you listed in my database, so be on the lookout for those sorts of reminders.  If I only have one mode of communication with you, that's the way I'm going to do it.  Let's make it work, people!  Once the pick before has been made, I am making it a rule that the next pick only has 24 hours to complete their selection, hopefully with more than enough notice.

I have also implemented bonus rounds, if we finish the Waiver Draft before the end of the night on that Sunday, this would be the time where you could swap out injured players, if you had some remaining or you suffered a major injury in that week, you would at least have the chance to swap out that player for a healthy body.  This may be used as an advantage in some ways, so it is advised to choose your drops and picks carefully.  The bonus round will be first come, first serve for players, so after the second round is complete and you're itching to make one more move, I would try to be on top of things, just to make sure you get who you want.

I think that should just about do it.  Stay tuned to the blog, I will usually post a mock Waiver Draft, just for shits and giggles.  It usually helps me, when people haven't been watching and they'll just take whoever I had chosen for them, if they are still available.  Beware of land mines!  Mwah ha ha!

Welcome to the 2017/2018 Draft Pool

It's October!  That means that it's hockey season... finally!

A big thank you to everyone who showed up on Saturday afternoon, we're running another solid 25-team pool again this year, which will mean that the prizes will be very similar to last season, where the winner took home $750 for their troubles.  As for the actual prizes, I will have a post published on the blog here in the next few days, explaining the payout structure again here.

This season, we welcomed a few new faces to the pool, so we'll see how they fare in their first year... a big hello and good luck to you three, Steve, Chris and Scott.

We'll have three mini-games this season, like we have had the last couple of seasons and the wheel fell on the goalie survivor pool, a plus/minus pool and the All-Star Game as well.

The goalie survivor pool is a pretty easy premise... the weeks are Monday to Sunday in the regular season and your goalies will need at least one win to stay in the competition for another week.  If your goalies fail to win one game in between Monday to Sunday, you're eliminated from the mini-game.  Last season, Stacey M. won her money back after John S. fell out of the running in Week Twenty-Two of the season.  Stacey's team didn't register a win in every week of the year, failing to do so in the final week of the season.

The plus/minus stat is a new mini-game for us this season.  Your forwards and defensemen will have their plus/minus numbers counting this season and you will be able to see an updated number every Monday, after the weekly statistical audits are done.  This will be a hard game to adjust for in the Waiver Drafts, but it should be a wide open competition, regardless.

Last season, I did keep a tally of the plus/minus in the hockey pool and if it was a mini-game last year, Marcin would taken his money back,  as his team ran away with the statistic, having a +102 rating.  The entire pool was on the positive side of the ledger, finishing with a combined +135 rating for the year.

The last mini-game will revolve around this year's All-Star Game, which will go in Tampa Bay in February.  It has been already announced that they will go with the 3-on-3 tournament again, which means there will be three games played and the points will count exactly the same as they would in the regular season for those three games.  Most points on the day will win their money back.

Of course, I kept track of this one too last year and Marcie would have won her money back in this one, if it was a go, as her team combined for 11 points from four players in the mid-season classic.

There are 27 weeks in the season, so the two Waiver Drafts will go on Weeks Nine and Eighteen, with the players going live on Ten and Nineteen.  Once we have some scoring in the league, there will be an updated list of available players for you and you'll be notified by e-mail or text that the Waiver Draft is getting started.

I think that's about it for now... stay tuned to the blog!  All the posts on there from here on in is all going to be related to the pool players, so keep a close eye here.  Everything that happens passes through these digital pages.

2017 Hockey Pool Draft Day Announced!

It's that exciting time in the summer again, where we are watching all of the major free agent signings in the NHL tail off, prospect camps for teams have already come and gone and now we continue to enjoy the warm weather in the summer and quickly mark our calendars for this year's hockey pool draft.

This year, we have the benefit of not having a preseason tournament, like the World Cup of Hockey, delaying and compacting the 2017 regular season and it also forced the hockey pool draft day, which I like to have done on the last Saturday before the regular season, to fall on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

This year, we're heading back to the same location, but it has a different name... what was Nicastro's last year, it is now North On Centre Public House and we should be in for a much better event this year.  You can find the location, here on the map.  If you weren't with us last year, North On Centre has a great upstairs room, which has a projector, tons of seating and another bar for us.  They will have their regular Saturday specials on, which include $3 tacos and $6 pints of Caravel Brewery beers, a good local brewery.

So... when is this awesome event, you ask?

September 30, 2017 at 1pm

The NHL regular season gets started on October 4, so teams should be all set to rock and roll by that Saturday, possibly still with a couple of cuts to make, but otherwise some full rosters.

The format shall remain the same, in terms of team sizes and scoring... why mess with a good thing?  14 players, which will include eight forwards, four defensemen and a pair of goalies.  The scoring will be as follows:

• goal - 1 point
• assist - 1 point
• win - 2 points
• shutout - 2 points

Dale B. won last year's pool with 668 points, taking home the trophy and the $750 1st place prize, narrowly beating Brian from down under.  That's a pretty sweet prize for a $60 buy-in, wouldn't you say?

Prizes were paid down to 3rd place and let's not forget about the mini-games, where there will be three more games during the year for teams to try and win their money back.  Last season, we had the goalie survivor pool, the penalty minutes pool and the outdoor games pool, all of which will be on the mini-game wheel, when we give it a few spins, once we conclude the draft.

I think that's pretty much everything.  I am hoping to get 25 teams (or a few more) again for the coming season.  With the inclusion of the Vegas Golden Knights, we'll have a couple more goalies to pick from, which is usually a position of contention in the draft, so the more players will make the draft a little merrier.

We'll see you at the end of September!

2018 Regular Season Openers Set

The NHL is really taking care of business these days, as last night saw the new Adidas jerseys unveiled for every team and Wednesday is also a big day, which has now started with the announcement of every home opener for all 31 teams.  This is an exciting announcement for me, the Opiated Sherpa, as I can start putting together a plan for the hockey pool draft, which I will try and lock down the date here soon, so you can get it into your calendars.

The season gets started on October 4th, a Wednesday, making it a short Week One in the hockey pool, yet again, but it will be a busy start, one would imagine.  Tomorrow, the entire schedule will be released and we'll see just how busy it gets.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will open their back-to-back Cup defense against the St. Louis Blues, likely raising their Cup banner on the same night, making a big production of the whole thing.  The Penguins will likely be a popular team at the draft, so a lot of teams are going to start getting their fill of points in this one.  Expect a great goalie battle here, as Jake Allen and Matt Murray should get the green light to start this season.

The league might be awaiting their next crop of superstars to get drafted this week, but they will quickly remind us that the 2016 draft has already given us a couple of big names and they will go head-to-head on opening night, as Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs will open in Winnipeg, taking on Patrik Laine and the Jets.  Both players will be pretty high draft picks this year, I would imagine.

How about a Battle of Alberta on opening night?  That sounds like a good plan.  The odds on favourite to go number one in this year's hockey pool draft, Connor McDavid, will get another taste of the provincial rivalry, when Johnny Gaudreau and the Flames invade Rogers Place.  Both teams are going to be popular in the draft again, so this will give some teams a good head start, I'm sure.

Finally, the Philadelphia Flyers open the season on a California road trip, by the look of things and their first stop will be the Shark Tank in San Jose.  The Flyers will get to showcase who they took with the 2nd overall pick, assuming they keep it, against a Sharks team that should have a completely different feel to it, although, I'm sure Brent Burns will be more than happy to give their new kid a proper NHL welcome.

Welcome to the 2016/2017 Draft Hockey Pool

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone! I really hope that the technical problems didn't put too much of a damper on your enjoyment of the draft. I know that I have been able to do it a whole lot faster than what we had seen this year, but some things just were not going the right way.  Of course, thanks for the patience of the three/four online guys... you guys must really wanted to be there, if you're going to take the time out of your out-of-town holiday to spend it with us and Brian, you're a champ of the online selection process, but you've had lots of practice, so far... keep up the good work!

It's a 25-team league this year, which is awesome!  Sure, it's two less than last year, but the overall scope of the pool may have improved, thanks to a few less goalies getting picked up and thinning out the talent pool.  A warm welcome to a couple new faces, Marcie and Marcin, both joining the draft for the first time, hope you guys really enjoy yourselves.

So, thanks to the World Cup of Hockey, the schedule has been compacted a week and it is starting a little later than usual, which was the cause of most of the scheduling problems for the draft, as it were.  It didn't help us at all, as we all would prefer to have most of the team rosters set before we all sit down and draft, which is why the draft landed on the long weekend, unfortunately.  It was still a good turnout, which is fantastic.

Instead of a 27-week season, which is the norm, it is a 26-week season and I usually like to split this season up into thirds, so we have the Waiver Drafts in even segments, but this year won't be the case.  Since a lot of people are in a hurry to move their players early on in the season, the first segment will be the shortest of the three, so I will conduct the first Waiver Draft in Week Eight this season and I will be e-mailing reminders to everyone about that and updating the blog accordingly.

Also, if there are injuries leading up to opening night, teams will have until puck drop (5pm on Wednesday night) to swap out an injured player for a healthy player and be 100% healthy for the start of the year.  You're not going to get a great player, but if it is a long-term injury, you could be in better shape.

Next up, we have the three mini-games, as selected by the wheel at the conclusion of the draft and they are as follows: the PIM pool, the goalie survivor pool and an outdoor games pool.  There is no rookie pool this year, much to the chagrin of some, but the wheel wanted what it wanted and that's what we've got this year.

We all know about the PIM pool, the most combined penalty minutes in the season from your team is the winner.  According to the draft numbers, Kristy & Don are the early favourites for this mini-game, as their team combined for 612 minutes in penalties last season, followed closely by Cam at 601 minutes.  The all-rookie setup of Scott's team didn't register much of anything last season, so they are at the bottom of this list, coming in at 217 minutes in penalties.

Last year's champ, Derek B., finished the year at 762 minutes in penalties and made a few changes through the season to achieve that number.  The record has been set!

The goalie survivor pool is a fun pool, I think and makes for good writing on the blog... every team starts in the survivor pool and in order to stay in the pool, your goalies must register at least one win, in the Monday to Sunday week.  Having one starting goalie is good, having two is great!  Having none... well, you're not paying attention to this one.

One of this year's departures, Allan, won his money back last year with the best goaltending setups in the pool, which included Ben Bishop of the Lightning and included a Waiver Draft swap of Jeff Zatkoff of the Penguins for Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets mid-season, and his team never faltered all season, registering at least a win in all 27 weeks.

It looks like Cam and Kristy & Don are aiming for mini-games here as well, as they have the best goalie tandems, based on last year's points, out of the draft.  Cam's two goalies, Marc-Andre Fleury and Roberto Luongo, while the pool's first duo has Jonathan Quick and Semyon Varlamov (again!), both putting up good arguments for the mini-game.

Finally, the outdoor games pool... this one is fairly straight-forward.  The NHL will have four outdoor games this year, starting with the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg here soon, the Centennial Classic in Toronto, the Winter Classic in St. Louis and then the Stadium Series game in Pittsburgh.  The cumulative amount of points from your team in these games, from the Oilers, Jets, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Blackhawks, Blues, Flyers and/or Penguins, will win.  This one will be decided at the end of February, so that's kind of neat too.

Now, the relationship of mini-games to the Waiver Draft was contentious last season, as the move to change strategic focus in the hockey pool caused quite the stir last season and it shifted the competitive balance to a point that was deemed unfair.  So, with that being said, a rule change has been instituted for the Waiver Draft... any player dropped will not be made available until the start of the next round.

The idea for this will at least allow the basement dwelling teams a shot at strategically dropped players ahead of the winning teams, if they so choose to stay in the race, instead of move towards the mini-games.

As for the prize money, I am still going to work through the year's budget and then determine what our prizes will be, I should have something by early next week.  I am still waiting on a number of teams to pay, it is $60 this year, for those who have forgotten... but I have also put a PAID/NOT PAID spot on your team page, as a gentle reminder.

Have fun everyone... let me know if you have any questions or any player moves before the season starts!

Welcome to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey Pool

Well, it wasn't the awesome event that I was hoping for, but for those of you to show up, all seven of you, I hope that the pool makes the tournament a little more interesting for you, I am pretty sure it will for me!

So, for a quick recap of how the draft actually went, I have posted the results on the website, which you could access through the standings page, but I will include a link right here as well.

Everything was posted online last night, having only eight teams made the process really easy and not quite as time-consuming as a 27-team draft, so that's good.  The diversity of the teams and their strategies, if there were any, was very interesting to watch and it should make for a very entertaining couple of weeks.

The tournament officially gets started on Saturday and we'll have a few more pre-tournament games to be played this week and it will all be covered with a slant towards the pool, of course.  Our 8-team pool, taking 15 players each, will cover 120 of the 184 players that are playing in the tourney, so the better part of everyone will get some good coverage.

It was $20 a head to join, so we'll make it a winner-take-all contest... a cool $160 for our winner, no expenses taken from this pot... that's the regular season's job!

Good luck everyone... we'll see you again in a few weeks!

The Mini-Game Wheel

Hey all you poolies out there!  Here is the announcement you've all been waiting for!

Okay, if you've really been waiting for this announcement, there's a good chance that this has been one of the longest summers ever for you.

Last season, the mini-games were somewhat of a success and the goal this off-season was to find a way to make them a little bit better.  I was thinking good and hard about it and there was a part of me that thought that announcing what those mini-games were ahead of the draft took the spontaneity out of the competition, as Ryan picked four rookies through the draft and pretty well went wire-to-wire, pretty well guaranteeing his money back, at the least.

This year, I am going to put that spontaneity back into the mini-games with the Mini-Game Wheel, which will make its first appearance at the big hockey pool draft on October 8th.  After the draft has been completed and we all have our teams, we'll have one more small event, spinning the wheel to choose our three mini-games that we'll play.  When a game is selected, it will be removed from the wheel and we'll add a new game, just so we have three unique games through the season.

The six games, if you can make them out on the wheel there, include the three we had last season, the rookie pool, the PIM pool and the goalie survivor pool, and then I added the outdoor games, a plus-minus competition and shorthanded points, just as examples.

The intention is to make sure everyone is paying attention to the draft itself, as we go along and the mini-games are to be that bonus.  There is no stopping a team from taking four rookies again through the draft, nor is there any reason why you couldn't load up on teams that will be playing an outdoor game (Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto, St. Louis or Chicago), but you're taking a pretty good gamble, assuming that that slot will stop on the wheel.

I was hoping that the mini-games would be a good add for those teams who are not necessarily in the money and give them something to play for and I hope with the addition of this wheel, it will certainly bring a little bit more excitement to the season.

2016 Hockey Pool Draft Date Announced

And what's one draft announcement without another?  Of course, when I'm booking dates, I am going to do it all at once, it would be kind of silly to do it any other way.

As you may have noticed, the location for the World Cup draft wasn't the same as previous years, as the Voodoo Lounge appears to have changed owners and format, so it didn't look like it was going to be the right place to get the draft done, so on the recommendation of Tony, one of the pool regulars, I had checked out Nicastro's Public House up on Centre Street North and they have a great venue for this sort of thing, so we're going to take the party up to them.

I am certainly hopeful that the kinks about going to a new venue are all sorted out for the World Cup draft, that would be ideal, since this is the big event on the Opiated Sherpa calendar.

This year, with the World Cup taking place, the NHL season will get a little bit of a later start, which means we'll get a bit of a later start on the NHL draft, giving everyone a little extra time to do their homework.  Let's not forget about some of that advanced scouting, since players like Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine will be participating in the World Cup and their performances will greatly affect where they are taken in this year's draft.

The date has been chosen, we will draft our hockey pool teams on...

October 8th, 2016 at 1pm

I have confirmed with Nicastro's that this is a very social event and that we'll be eating and drinking, so they were kind enough to waive the room rental fee, but it would be very good for everyone to confirm whether or not they will be attending and if you'll be bringing anyone new, just so we have a head count and that they can make sure we get the best service possible.  If you can possibly RSVP by the 1st, that would be greatly appreciated.

Last season, we hit new highs with 27 participants and we did it in record time, which was awesome!  There were a few concerns about the draft format itself and the pool, which will be looked at going forward, I do want to make sure that this pool is enjoyable and fun for everyone, especially given the cost and the time invested by everyone to join us and play.

Scoring won't change at all for the coming year, the formula has worked year over year and there's no reason to change that part of the pool.

• goal - 1 point
• assist - 1 point
• win - 2 points
• shutout - 2 points

The roster size will also remain the same, we'll keep it at 14 players, regardless of how many people are going to show up, but the restrictions may change, due to the amount of participation.  For the coming season, if we have 25 teams or less, the breakdown will remain the same, eight forwards, four defensemen and a pair of goalies.  There is an element to the drafting strategy that keeps everything exciting and I would like to keep that, but if we exceed 25 teams this year, we'll move to only one goalie and add a forward and get a little deeper into that pool of players.

I'm sure, once Las Vegas joins the fold for the 2018 season, we'll readjust those numbers again, due to having two more goalies to choose from, in theory, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

We will have mini-games again this year, keeping the pool entertaining for those who may have fallen out of contention for the big money, but we won't know what they are until the day of the draft and there will be another announcement in regards to that in the coming days.

For those wondering, there will be a remote option for those out of town, please get yourself onto Google Hangouts, add me as a contact, if you haven't already, opiatedsherpa@gmail.com, and we'll get you all signed in for the draft and you can do it from your location.  I know we should be having at least one or two remotely, which will keep things interesting, I'm sure.

If you have any more questions, please drop me a line... but please do RSVP!

World Cup Draft Date Changed, With Location

The 2016 World Cup proceedings are not very far away, as the pre-tournament games are to get started on September 7th, which means the short training camps will likely start congregating at the end of August, so it's time to really get thinking about this.

On Tuesday, I was able to secure a date and a location for the World Cup draft, but I wasn't quite able to secure the actual date that I had wanted, but I had come as close as I could, with the schedule I have at the moment.

So, save the date, we'll be picking our World Cup teams on...

September 11, 2016 at 1pm

Nicastro's Public House, click here for a map

Just a reminder about the format... this will be a free-for-all draft, a very quick one, since we are only dealing with eight teams in the tournament.  We will draft all of the players to the point where all the teams will have an even amount of players and there will be no positional restrictions.  You can take as many forwards, defensemen and/or goalies as you wish, but there will certainly be some landmines out there, when it is all said and done.

Scoring will be very much the same as the regular pools, 1 point for goals and assists, 2 points for wins and shutouts and I am leaning towards the bonus point for game-winning goals, like the Playoff Pool.  More points for more fun, right?

Looking at the tournament schedule, it is important to note that the finals of this tournament will be a best-of-three series, so there will be a couple extra games for the two teams that make it that far.

Feel free to pass this information along, I would like to have at least 12 to 15 teams at $20 a head, but if we get more, that's great too.  The teams will get fairly small after that mark, but it's a little something to keep this tournament interesting.  I don't think there are any sure things out there, so it has some real potential for fun.

2016 World Cup of Hockey Draft Date

The World Cup of Hockey will face-off on September 17th and we should be seeing camps open for all the announced rosters in the couple weeks before that.  That should give us ample time for us poolies, however many there may be, to scout the teams and prepare a list for drafting.

The beginning of September is usually quite the busy time for the ol' Opiated Sherpa, so we'll have to stage a mid-week draft, for those who are interested in doing a little bit of pre-NHL season gambling.  The best day to go will be the Thursday before puck drop, September 15th.  By then, we'll know who will be playing with who, who hasn't conditioned themselves very well and got hurt in camp and who will have replaced Slava Voynov for the Russian team.

The location will be determined on the premise of how many people will be taking part in this draft, I have a couple of places in mind, so we'll work on that closer to the date.  If you are interested in taking part, please let me know one way or another, so I can get a solid count.

This draft will go, no matter how many people want to get involved and it will be a little bit of a free-for-all draft, where the expectation is that we'll draft until there are no more players left to take and there will be no positional limits.  Player lists and all the necessary information will be provided and hopefully our location will either have screens or a projector for easy viewing.

2016 World Cup of Hockey Pool

This week, we saw the announcement for the final rosters for the World Cup of Hockey, which will take place in September, which will give a selection of the world's best players a chance to get up to game speed with a short tournament, featuring six individual countries, a continental mish-mash and the future of North American hockey players.

By no means, should this tournament be considered as a measuring stick of international hockey, but it will give us all an extra glimpse at our favourite players, in an exhibition tournament, where just about anything can happen.  Oh yeah, don't forget the money.  The NHL and NHLPA, the organizers of this tournament, are set to make a killing on this one.

So, if they're set to make a killing at this, why can't we, right?  At some point during the Summer, for those aching to get a little bit more hockey into their lives, I will put together a hockey pool, to which I am thinking an absolute free-for-all pool.

I am not expecting many of my poolies to be too interested in this sort of thing, but I do reckon that there are going to be a few.  With only eight teams of 23 players, 184 players in total, I am thinking of putting together a draft, likely taking all the players that are available, in a no holds barred, no position limit, depending on the number of people who decide to jump on.

If there is one great thing about this tournament, as we head into the Summer, we will get to see some good talent, before they hit the ice in the NHL, some of which will likely be picked out in this post, as we see the teams below.  There were some new signings from Europe already and let's not forget about the two draft eligible kids, they'll get good looks too.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Jamie Benn	89		Brent Burns	75		Braden Holtby	103
Sidney Crosby	85		Shea Weber	51		Corey Crawford	85
Joe Thornton	82		Drew Doughty	51		Carey Price	24
Tyler Seguin	73		Duncan Keith	43
John Tavares	70		Jake Muzzin	40
Patrice Bergeron	68		Marc-Edouard Vlasic	39
Claude Giroux	67		Alex Pietrangelo	37
Steven Stamkos	64
Ryan Getzlaf	63
Jeff Carter	62
Brad Marchand	61
Matt Duchene	59
Jonathan Toews	58

We'll kick off with Canada and of course, there are going to be plenty of names that one could argue, should be there, but isn't.  I'm not terribly interested in those arguments, because this tournament means nothing to my pride as a Canadian, since this team will be playing against other Canadians on the Under-23 North American team.

This is a straight-forward team, built to win this tournament and that doesn't necessarily mean throwing all the big guns onto the sheet and calling it a team.  No, the inclusion of a Muzzin or Vlasic to the back end, means that there are going to be some role players, who won't necessarily have to eat a bunch of minutes and play along as good soldiers.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Patrick Kane	106		Dustin Byfuglien	53		Jonathan Quick	93
Joe Pavelski	78		Ryan Suter	51		Ben Bishop	83
Blake Wheeler	78		John Carlson	39		Cory Schneider	62
Max Pacioretty	64		Ryan McDonagh	34
Zach Parise	53		Matt Niskanen	32
Derek Stepan	53		Erik Johnson	27
Ryan Kesler	53		Jack Johnson	14
T.J. Oshie	51
Brandon Dubinsky	48
David Backes	45
Justin Abdelkader	42
James Van Riemsdyk	29
Ryan Callahan	28

The Americans are aiming to be an exceptionally tough team to play against, when you stop to consider a lot of the size they have chosen, somewhat over a lot of the skill that they boast at an international level.  This side will boast quite a bit of speed and grit, two things that their brain trust believes will be an asset on the North American ice.

There are certainly some curious names on this list, especially at the bottom end of the forwards and defense, but a tweet I had seen on Saturday morning was suggesting that the Americans wanted to be a 'heavier' team, which they certainly get in Abdelkader, Callahan and the Johnson boys.  If there are holes among the skaters, they certainly have the goalies to back them up.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Johnny Gaudreau	78		Shayne Gostisbehere	46		John Gibson	51
Sean Monahan	63		Aaron Ekblad	36		Connor Hellebuyck	30
Mark Scheifele	61		Morgan Rielly	36		Matt Murray	20
Jack Eichel	56		Colton Parayko	33
Brandon Saad	53		Seth Jones	31
Nathan MacKinnon	52		Ryan Murray	25
Connor McDavid	48		Jacob Trouba	21
Dylan Larkin	45
J.T. Miller	43
Sean Couturier	39
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	34
Jonathan Drouin	10
Auston Matthews	0

Is there anyone who is not excited to see what this Under-23 team can do?

The future of the NHL is summed up in 23 players, give or take some talent that wasn't included, but this group is going to be exciting to watch.  There are 15 1st round picks on this roster today, including four 1st overall picks, and that doesn't include Matthews, who will certainly be in one or both of those categories by the end of June.

This tournament will undoubtedly tell you where Matthews should be picked in this year's hockey pool draft, especially given that he will be playing against some of the league's best players and there is an expectation that he will shine.  This tournament will certainly help a few players improve their draft position as well, so it will be the one to watch.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Artemi Panarin	77		Andrei Markov	44		Semyon Varlamov	58
Evgeny Kuznetsov	77		Dmitry Orlov	29		Sergei Bobrovsky	34
Vladimir Tarasenko	74		Dmitry Kulikov	17		Andrei Vasilevskiy	24
Alex Ovechkin	71		Alexei Emelin	12
Nikita Kucherov	66		Alexey Marchenko	11
Evgeni Malkin	58		Vyacheslav Voynov	0
Pavel Datsyuk	49		Nikita Zaitsev	0
Artem Anisimov	42
Vladislav Namestnikov	35
Nikolay Kulemin	22
Evgeny Dadonov	0
Vadim Shipachev	0
Ivan Telegin	0

Definitely, one of the more intriguing teams other than the young stars will be the Russians, who are bringing a few from the KHL.  First and foremost, this is an NHL tournament, which likely means that they will have to replace Vyacheslav Voynov from their side, since he isn't quite welcome, due to his legal issues and it could even draw more into immigration at the Canadian border as well.

Still, between Dadonov, Shipachev, Telegin and Zaitsev, there are a number of wild cards on this Russian team that some of us won't necessarily be too familiar with.  Nikita Zaitsev is already signed on with the Maple Leafs for next season, so he will definitely be one to watch.

From their NHL talent, the Russians are looking fairly stacked up front, reasonable in goal, but their defense leaves something to be desired.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Jussi Jokinen	60		Rasmus Ristolainen	41		Pekka Rinne	78
Aleksander Barkov	59		Sami Vatanen	38		Tuukka Rask	71
Mikko Koivu	56		Olli Maatta	19		Mikko Koskinen	0
Mikael Granlund	44		Jyrki Jokipakka	12
Joonas Donskoi	36		Sami Lepisto	0
Leo Komarov	36		Esa Lindell	0
Teuvo Teravainen	35		Ville Pokka	0
Erik Haula	34
Jori Lehtera	34
Valtteri Filppula	31
Lauri Korpikoski	22
Sebastian Aho	0
Patrick Laine	0

The Finnish hockey program has been on one hell of a run over the last year or two, taking all kinds of international hockey titles at various levels and they'll be out to impress at this exhibition, no doubt.

On the surface, it's an interesting mix of talent on this roster, which includes some NHL-ready talent and the projected 2nd overall pick in this year's draft, Patrick Laine.  We shouldn't be overlooking a kid like Sebastian Aho or Ville Pokka and if it came down to it, their World Championship number one goalie, Mikko Koskinen.

This roster may not be out to win many track meets, but the Finns have done a great job in assembling teams that compete hard and have that element of an offensive upside that scores those clutch goals in tight games.  Don't be too quick to count them out, if they don't meet the first impression test.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Nicklas Backstrom	70		Erik Karlsson	82		Henrik Lundqvist	82
Filip Forsberg	64		Oliver Ekman-Larsson	55		Jacob Markstrom	28
Loui Eriksson	63		Victor Hedman	47		Robin Lehner	13
Daniel Sedin	61		Mattias Ekholm	35
Henrik Sedin	55		Anton Stralman	34
Gabriel Landeskog	53		Niklas Kronwall	26
Alexander Steen	52		Niklas Hjalmarsson	24
Patric Hornqvist	51
Carl Soderberg	51
Henrik Zetterberg	50
Jakob Silfverberg	39
Carl Hagelin	39
Marcus Kruger	4

There are plenty of reasons to like the Swedish program in this exhibition tournament and a lot of that has to do with their defensemen.  Karlsson, Ekman-Larsson and Hedman and three of the best defensemen in the game right now and they are going to help form a very balanced attack through this country's lineup.

In the forward position, the Swedes are very strong in their two-way game and plenty of talent to get the job done offensively, so goal production shouldn't be much of an issue for this side, and then their goaltending does stand out, as they have three keepers that belong to underachieving teams, which don't highlight how good they are or can be.

You would certainly be wise to keep a close eye on the Swedes, when you're building your team in the pool.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
David Krejci	63		Andrej Sustr	21		Petr Mrazek	64
Jakub Voracek	55		Roman Polak	16		Michal Neuvirth	43
Tomas Plekanec	54		Radko Gudas	14		Ondrej Pavelec	28
Tomas Hertl	46		Zbynek Michalek	7
Martin Hanzal	41		Jakub Nakladal	5
Ondrej Palat	40		Michal Jordan	1
Ales Hemsky	39		Michal Kempny	0
Michael Frolik	32
David Pastrnak	26
Milan Michalek	16
Dmitrij Jaskin	13
Radek Faksa	12
Vladimir Sobotka	0

The Czechs are certainly a diverse bunch, which won't have the likes of Jaromir Jagr, who is getting a little too old for all of these extra competitions.  There were some curious selections on this team, but when you look at the Czech participation in the NHL these days, it isn't quite what it used to be and this team's management hands were somewhat tied.

Nevertheless, us poolies will get to have another look at forward Vladimir Sobotka, who is possibly going to come back to the NHL with the Blues next season, honouring his salary arbitration deal to play and the Blackhawks had recently signed defenseman Michal Kempny, so we'll get a look at him before the real hockey pool draft happens.

Goaltending is going to be a tipping point for the Czechs, since they have three goalies that can eat a lot of minutes, but they haven't reached that elite status in the league yet.  A good tournament in September would go a long way to helping their own status.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Anze Kopitar	74		Roman Josi	61		Frederik Andersen	51
Mats Zuccarello	61		Zdeno Chara	37		Thomas Greiss	49
Frans Nielsen	52		Andrej Sekera	30		Jaroslav Halak	43
Leon Draisaitl	51		Mark Streit	23
Mikkel Boedker	51		Christian Ehrhoff	12
Tomas Tatar	45		Dennis Seidenberg	12
Nino Niederreiter	43		Luca Sbisa	8
Thomas Vanek	41
Jannik Hansen	38
Tobias Rieder	37
Marian Hossa	33
Marian Gaborik	22
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	14

Finally, we have that mish-mash of every other country in Europe, thrown together to be some kind of All-Star squad from tier B nations.  There is a fair amount of top end talent on this roster, but the most interesting part about this is they won't have played in an international tournament together, unless those players are from the same country, so there could be a real period of adjustment going on here, before this team really gets to show off what its capable of.

There isn't anyone that we haven't seen in the NHL on this roster today, as they were able to fill this out rather easily with bodies that are active in the league.  Slovakia, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland are the countries that lead the way, in terms of participation, which is a great sign for international hockey, in actual international tournaments.  These programs are really coming along and the game is truly growing.