Round Two Brings a Goalie

July 29th, 2009 | Category: NHL Re-Draft, The Blogosphere

Cam Ward

With my second pick in the NHL Re-Draft, I decided to try and give the Sens some long-needed stability in goal in the form of Cam Ward. Why Cam Ward? Well,

  • He hasn’t had a lot of trouble with injuries in his career. No offense, Pascal Leclaire, but the fake Sens wanted someone who could probably be counted on to play about 60 games per season. (And now that I’ve said that, he’ll probably get hurt this year. Sorry Canes fans.)
  • Playoff experience. As you can see, he’s won the Cup. He was also pretty much a machine for the Canes in the 2009 playoffs. He gives me confidence.
  • Salary. I looked at the list of goalies still available, and my decision came down to Ward or Ryan Miller. (I just don’t trust Marc-Andre Fleury.) When I realized Ward’s cap hit is a very reasonable $2.667 million, compared to Miller’s $6.25 million, I felt the choice was obvious. Also, this is the last year of Ward’s contract so he’s bound to play well.
  • Age. Have you ever wondered why Ward looks so young? In fact it’s because he’s technically still a child: having been born on February 29, 1984, he’s only celebrated his birthday six times. If he can play this well at such a young age, imagine him when he actually becomes draft eligible.

At some point I’m going to follow Double Edged Sabres’ lead and make a depth chart of the fake Sens. For now, our team consists of only Ward and Rick Nash. Good building blocks, I hope. It’ll be a while before I pick again, so where do I go next? What would your strategy be?

6 comments

6 Comments so far

  1. Lewy July 29th, 2009 8:14 pm

    Once again, solid pick. I doubt many people will be able to find fault with this one. At the risk of sounding like I want the Ottawa Blue Jackets, though…was Mason not available?

  2. Meaghan July 29th, 2009 11:07 pm

    He was not. The Panthers took him a few picks ahead of me. I definitely had him on my list of goalies too (and I see no problem with building the Ottawa Blue Jackets).

    Glad you like the Ward pick!

  3. will July 30th, 2009 11:11 am

    who would be available when you select again in the third round? Maybe you should consider drew doughty

  4. Meaghan July 30th, 2009 11:42 am

    It’s hard to know who’ll be left. Doughty is a good suggestion though. I like that kid. I was kind of hoping I might get Jason Spezza in the third round but he’s been taken by Columbus today.

  5. B July 30th, 2009 11:43 am

    Build from the back out and get a solid top pairing defensemen! (Chara, J-Bo, Campbell, Green, Stall)

  6. Meaghan July 30th, 2009 5:46 pm

    Good plan, although Chara, Bouwmeester and Green have all been taken already. Hopefully there’ll be a couple of strong d-men left by the time I pick!