LAST Month in Fantasy Sports -- December

Sorry this regular feature has been delayed, but you know...Caribbean...

So for those of you DYING to know about how my hockey pool has been going, fret not, I'm here to report on that to sate your burning desires. As you may (or more than likely don't) recall, my roster at the end of November was as follows:

C - LeCavalier, Jokinen, E, Staal, J. Carter,
RW - Jagr, Radulov, Knuble, Goddard, Lupul
LW - Holmstrom, Brown, Chimera, Prospal
D - Rafalski, Campbell, Redden, Aucoin, Schneider
G - Nabokov, Budaj, Price


Also, Further reminder that every day you can dress 3 each of C, RW, LW, G, plus 4 D, and 2 other Forwards. Also, that skaters get points as follows: 1 G, 1 A, 0.75 +/-, .5 PPG, .5 PPP, .5, SHG, .5 GWG. .5 PIM, and that goalies get 2 points for a win and 3 for a shutout.

Over the course of December I made the following changes: (note: I made a few changes since January started, but I'll cover those when I talk about that month)

Drop - Add

RW Lupul - C/RW Hudler
LW Chimera - C/LW Straka
C/RW Hudler - RW Pominville
C/LW Straka - LW Carcillo
Place LW Carcillo on IR - RW Guerin

So not as many moves as in previous months, and to be honest my moves were rather erratic. Also, like last month, it seems that I have centered my transactions around a handful of players who remain on my periphery, as I change between a few of them.

First off, I cut Lupul for Hudler and Chimera for Straka in order to get a bit more flexibility out of duel position players. However, I really messed up since Lupul went on a huge tear almost immediately after I cut him. Ahh well, live and learn, eh?

I noticed that other players had cut Pominville and Carcillo, and I decided that I needed to add both of these players for a few different reasons. First off Pominville was going through a bit of a slump, but he is easily a 75-90 point player, who sees some power play time, so I was expecting better results out of him than Hudler. Carcillo on the other hand, is far and away leading the league in penalty minutes, so I added him, despite his injury. In our pool, with the loaded scoring for penalty minutes, he is among the top scoring players, at the current moment he is 5th in the total points (Sydney Crosby is 6th....), so I added him, placed him on Injury Reserve, and then added my previously rejected Bill Guerin.

So I guess the moral of my story is to pay attention to the waiver wire! Some people make some questionable decisions (myself included as someone could have cleaned up with my dumping of Lupul, before he got hurt) and you have to be ready to capitalize on them, I guess I just lucked out this time.

At one point during December I seemed to be on pace for my Christmas wish list as I had over a 110 point lead on 2nd place in my pool!!! However by the end of that month it shrunk to somewhere around 75 points, due to some good moves on Iggy's part and that pesky injury to Tomas Homlstrom seemed to be conspiring against me. As January has started, I currently sit with my smallest lead in months, as Iggy has closed to be within 65 points. I have made a few moves at the start of this month, and Holmstrom has just returned, also I'm looking forward to a return of Carcillo in order to really help me boost my lead.

Also last month, I talked about how I was happy that I rejected an offer to trade Price, but now I find out today that he has been sent down to the minors...there goes that rotten luck again.

That's pretty much all that I have to add for this edition, I didn't pay as much attention to my pools this month due to the holidays and such, perhaps that's why my lead shrunk so much. I guess now I have my priorities set again, no more need to worry about relaxing or the spirit of giving, it's all back to the most important thing, bragging rights.

Take care and happy pooling!!!

Until next time,

G