Fantasy Draft
One of the main sticking points of the NFL's Madden franchise for the X-Box and PS2 is the 'owner mode,' whereby you draft your team from a pool of every available player in the entire league, simultaneously acting as owner, president, general manager, coach, quarterback, staff sargeant, waterboy and fire marshall. The world is your oyster as you start your own team from scratch. Some have posited that this should be a national day off for men-- kind of a yearly occurrence that makes up for never having the privilege of maternity leave.
Essentially this is what's happening in the NHL right now. 400+ free-agents all vying for their own slice of a salary-capped pie in a brand new untested market. Conventional wisdom (i.e. my own) tells you, as a player, to act soon, before teams fill up their cap room. Waiting until the market sets itself could mean a substantial paycut and/or a ticket to play in a hockey dead zone like Nashville. Yes, that's right, Nashville. God I hate saying that. (Author's note: I am not in any way saying Nashville in itself is a bad city, I'm just saying that as a choice for a professional hockey team, well... it's kind of like putting a roulette wheel in a monastery-- it just doesn't fit with the culture).
Some teams around the league had as few as 4 players under contract for the upcoming season (for all you hockey newcomers, pro teams carry between 20 and 25 players, so that leaves a fairly substantial gap to fill). Mind you, this isn't just former NHL'ers looking to extend or get a new contract. This includes the last 3 draft classes, minor leaguers, and the myriad players in overseas leagues (mostly in Europe) who've established themselves this past year playing against 'real' NHL stalwarts. And even if a player had been under contract for the 05-06 season, their respective teams had the option of buying out those contracts, freeing up cap-room and giving those guys their walking papers. Yikes.
So while companies like Cingular and Verizon should be making a killing with the NHL execs' abused 'anytime minutes,' fans get to sit back and quite literally watch their favorite teams get built from the ground up. Large market, big spending teams like Detroit and Toronto watch next year's Cup chances float away as their veterans leave for greener pastures. Small market, small spending teams like Atlanta get to lure free agents with their extra cap room, blending pricey talent with a young, inexpensive (yet inexperienced) core. And large market, foolish spending teams like New York get a much needed mulligan on the last ten years and can finally start their rebuilding effort. Thank God.
The signing period began Monday, 8/1 and already the big names are starting to sign. Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts in Florida. Glen Murray resigns with Boston. Holik to Atlanta (best move so far with guys like Kovalchuk and Heatly already there). Blueliner Foote's now a Bluejacket. Philly signed three 6-foot-5 defensemen (Hatcher, Therien and Rathje) in an apparent move to bring back the glory days of the Broadstreet Bullies. And if you've been trying to follow the moves on ESPN.com, just stop now and go to their Canadian counterpart, TSN.ca. Don't ask questions just trust me.
And for all you on-the-fencers out there who have even the slightest inkling of following hockey this season-- play the fantasy leagues. You're not going to find much front-page news or televised game coverage this season, but if you're in a fantasy league, it'll track you down instead. The good ones (like Yahoo!) are free. You've got nothing to lose except productivity at work. And frankly, who's going to miss that? You're already wasting time by reading blogs (Author's note: This does not in any way mean that you should stop reading blogs... especially this one).
posted by BJC @ 3:24 PM
Your thoughts (7 so far)
7 Comments:
I am on pins and needles hoping that we don't lose Marcus Nasland...if he goes then Todd Bertuzzi might want to go too...It would be interesting though to see if Naslund and Forsberg could be as dominant as Forsberg and SAkic have been over the last few years...tsn.ca is a great site as well as sportsnet.ca....my daughter is laughing at me cause she foresees my Canucks crumbling, I hope she isn't right cause I would have to hex her Av's....
I've been reading that Forsberg and Naslund are packaging themselves together, which means they might only be able to be signed by a small-market team with cap room. Which would suck for all parties.
They're not like Roberts and Nieuwendyk (I hate typing that guy's name almost as much as John Vanbiez-- Vanbees... you know, the goalie) since they're so much younger and more valuable.
I was never very good at video games, but last year I bought my ex and Xbox for his birthday and loved Madden football.
It took about three months to get the thumb eye coordination down, but once I did it was great. In fact, I miss Xbox a lot.
As for hockey, I am say sad to say that this MT girl never learned the rules of the ice. But since I know a lot of people that love it I hope that get their stuff together soon.
Abra,
There's no need to miss X-box as long as you keep it in your heart. Or head down to Best Buy or something.
Alison,
Yeah but it's so freakin cold there in the winter.
By the way, Michelle- You got your wish. Naslund resigned. Congrats.
YAY I just read that...now Buttman just needs to reinstate Bert and my team can get working
Who says I want to stay in Albany?
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