I've come a long way, maybe....

In the 2006, I joined an NHL Keeper Pool as an expansion team. For those of you unaware of the awesomeness that is a Keeper Pool, I shall summarize: It’s a hockey pool where you keep the same players year after year. You’re permitted to keep 15 plus 2 rookies, and have to drop the rest, and there’s a 5 round draft at the start of each season. (Draft rookies, or anyone else not selected.) Your top 8 forwards, 5 D and 2 goalies count for you, and if you trade a player to another poolie, he gets that players accumulated points, and you lose them. I point per goal and assist, 2 for a goalie win and 3 more for a goalie shutout.

Anyways, I was brought in as an expansion team in 2006-07, and as an expansion team, I was to select from a pool of players that were made available to me by the other 11 players in the pool. It was slim pickin’s. Here was my team:

FORWARD
Mike Ribeiro
Mike Comrie
Brendan Morrison
Mike York
Mike Johnson
Trent Hunter
Fredrik Modin
Jeff O’Neill

DEFENSE
Adrian Aucoin
Roman Hamrlik
Nick Boynton
Tom Poti
Patrice Brisebois

GOALIE
Marc Denis
Dan Cloutier

As one of the poolies said to me, "Welcome to the pool, Matt. Your team sucks."

In the draft lottery for that year, I was awarded 2nd pick in each round. Oh the regret. With 2nd pick overall I chose Martin Gerber, who was coming off a career year with the Canes, and was coming to an environment in Ottawa that made Patrick Lalime look awesome. (Our pool does not include playoffs). I chose Gerber, I’m sorry to say, over Ryan Miller and Cam Ward.

Anyways, flash-forward to now, a month from the trade deadline in the 2008-09 season. I’m still mired in last place, but through a TON of wheeling and dealing, and what I like to consider pretty good drafting, I like to think my team has improved significantly. Check it:

FORWARD
Patrick Kane
Jonathan Toews
Phil Kessel
Nikolai Zherdev
Peter Mueller
Tuomo Ruutu
Andrew Cogliano
Jakub Voracek
Marek Svatos
Dustin Penner

DEFENSE
Erik Johnson
Cam Barker
Andrej Sekera
Alex Pietrangelo
Matt Carle
Kris Russell
Chris Campoli

GOALIE
Carey Price
Rick Dipietro
Tuukka Rask
Ondrej Pavelec

Still in last place, but not by much, and with a deep draft coming up in September (guys like Tavares, Hedman in the rookie department, plus undrafted guys in our pool like Mason, Versteeg, Setoguchi, etc) there's definitely room to get better.

Anyways, this is just to give you an overview of my Keeper Pool, so when I update any trades I make, you’ll know what the hell I’m talking about. If you wanna see the pool in it’s entirety, there’s a link to our website on the right.

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