Drafting the Flames (Or How to Make the ASG Less Depressing)

Written by Arik Knapp | 30 January 2011

Ohhhh buddy- it's All-Star weekend. The one weekend where no meaningful hockey is played, and instead we're subjected to watching players we'd do unmentionable things to have on the Flames. This year, it's compounded by the fact that Jarome Iginla, for whatever reason (officially his grandma, unofficially...rumors I won't repeat), has decided not to play, leaving the Flames as what I'm pretty sure is the only team with nobody representing them at the All-Star game.

Thankfully, the game isn't terrible this year. In a shocking development, the NHL tried something both new and brilliant: having 2 captains drafting the All-Stars on to their teams. In honor of this momentous occasion, Justin and I decided to draft the Flames and Abbotsford Heat onto two different teams, with us as coach/managers. I'm not going to post the full draft, just the highlights, and then we'll talk about our respective teams a little bit, and why my team is better than his.

To avoid Justin always getting the 2^nd best players we did a snaking draft, were I picked 1^st overall, then he got two, I got two, and so on, until I was left with Mr. Irrelevant.
The first overall was Jarome Iginla to my team. Justin followed with Giordano and Bouwmeester. I still haven't forgiven him for that.
Kipper went in the 5^th to my team also; Justin got Karlsson a round later. I should've screwed him over by taking all four goalies.
With Gio and JBo gone, I was forced to take Regehr in the second with Bourque.
It was entertaining seeing players like Nemisz (me), Wahl (Justin), and Bouma (me) go in the 6^th round while Jokinen went a round later
Mr. Irrelevant, of course, was Steve Staios. Could it be anyone else, really? I suppose and argument is to be made for Chucko, but Justin wanted him as he'll explain below.

The Teams

Justin's Team: The Allegorical Lames

Tanguay Stajan Hagman

Backlund Conroy Glencross

Kotalik Morrison Jokinen

Meyer Wahl Cameron

Chucko

Gio Jbo

Sarich Babchuk

Brodie Mikkelson

Pelech

Karrlson

Keetley

Gio & JBo: I knew I wouldn't be able to get both of them unless I gave Arik the top pick, which I did. Basically, I selected these two to screw him over. Look at his defense! IT'S SO BAD. Secretly I was hoping he would select Gio with the top pick so I could get Iggy and JBo instead of having to settle for Tanguay. Beyond that, there's a pretty strong case of separation when in comes to the best players on the Flames: Iggy, Reggie, Tanguay, JBo and Gio are pretty far ahead of everyone else, so grabbing two of the five was a no-brainer.

Tanguay: 2nd on the team in points, and I needed a top line forward. Once again, selected with the reasoning of the top 5 dichotomy.

Backlund: I've really been impressed with Mickis this year, being able to outplay his opponents on a consistent basis. He's also creative and I think he will be a good match with GlenX's speed.

Stajan: A good centreman, and if I hadn't taken him here my top line centreman would have been Mickis-as good as he has been, top line centre he's not.

Why my team would beat Arik's:

I have 3 NHL lines as well as 6 NHL defensemen. Karlsson has shown on a game to game basis he can be good, and as we aren't concerned about 82 games here, I have no worries about the potential for fatigue. To be honest (<- thats for wi), I had no intention whatsoever of picking Kipper and it allowed me to flesh out my second line nicely.

Aside from Jarome, (whom Gio and JBo should be able to contain) and Bourque (who will suffer a high ankle sprain when he steps on the ice), he doesn't really have any scoring threats. Sarich and Babchuk might be a weak combo, but they aren't much worse then Reggie and Pardy-who happen to be Arik's top pairing. Brodie and Mikkelson are fast, which will allow them to make mistakes and still be able to cover in the D zone. Pelech is more then capable of filling in for the bottom 3.

My forwards are strong defensively and are able to move the puck up the ice. We have a couple of legit finishers in Glencross and Hagman, and some excellent setup guys in Tanguay and Backlund. The top line will dish and finesse the puck into an easy goal. The 2nd line will shut down anything he throws at me, and the 3rd line will feast on his AHLers. My 4th line is fast, young and has a nose for the net.

One note on Chucko-I picked him specifically so I can scratch him. He doesn't deserve to play, even if he is/was healthy. Jesus Christ, Darryl. How could you screw up that badly?

Arik's Team: The Calbotsford Feet

Bourque Nemisz Iginla

Kostopoulos Moss Jackman

Keith Bouma Rheault

Armstrong Stone Bancks

Patterson

Regehr Pardy

Seabrook Chris Breen

Gord Baldwin Meyers

Staios

Kipprusoff

Irving

My first 5 picks:

Iginla: Having the first overall pick put me in a pretty bad spot. I knew Justin would take Gio and Jbo second, but I couldn't risk giving Justin the top offensive player alongside a top defenseman.

Bourque: Bourque is the only other pure goalscorer on the Flames, and with Justin neglecting to take someone on offense with one of his top two picks, I was able to put together a pretty great top 2/3 of a line.
Reggie: Justin may have the two best moving defensemen, but Regehr will laugh at any attempt at offense coming from the other side. If he can regularly shutdown top players in the league, he should be set to shutdown much worse top lines like Justin's.
Jackman: Is there a guy who's been trucking it more than Jackman lately? He might not dazzle, but he's a hardworker, a rough player, and he generates a decent enough amount of offense that I'd throw him out against any of Justin's lines.
Pardy: I just needed a good defenseman really. I had Regehr and nothing else. Sarich was out of the question, and I didn't want Babchuk at any cost, so Pardy worked well enough for me.

Other thoughts

I'm really happy with my second line. Keeping Mossman+Kostopoulos together was pretty key.
The bottom six of my team is pretty much terrible. Just...awful.
There came a point in the draft where I gave up on talent and just started drafting the...angriest players. The guys who will hit everything and fight anything.
Look at Justin's goaltending! It's so bad! Ha!

Why my team will beat Justin's

To start with, he has no real scoring. He might have defensemen that can move the puck north, but where does it go from there? Tanguay- that's it. Backlund in a couple years, but certainly not now, and not playing with Craig Conroy and Curtis Glencross.

After about 2-3 rounds, I realized there was no way to construct a team from Calgary Flames players that can win on anything resembling finesse or fine skill. At that point I decided to build a shitty version of the 2007 Anaheim Ducks: basically an incredibly caustic, aggressive and terrifying team. And with players who will on average hit 64 PIMs this season, I feel like I did a pretty good job.

Just as important, I got ¾ of the Flames “best” goalscorers. That's not saying a whole lot, since it's the Flames, but it could be worse. I could have Tangs and nobody else...

There might not be much quality defense on my team, but they won't need to shut down too much offense from Justin. Regehr-Pardy could handle the top line incredibly well, and the rest won't need a whole lot. But really, what it comes down to for my team, is the hope that Justin's team will be too injured or frightened to return to the ice for periods 2 and 3.