It was in a long-term pool – a “keeper” – that I made my worst mistake, by far. The franchise I held the reins of had always had problems in front of the net. Questionable choices? Absolutely. No, Anders Lindback didn’t become an overachiever when he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Bad luck? Of course. Thanks for nothing to Tim Thomas who, acquired at a high price, announced his surprise retirement from hockey in 2012. So my problems were numerous and incessant. A digression here: in this pool, at that time, goalkeepers had disproportionate value since they accounted for a third of the ranking points. So, giving up a first-round pick for an ordinary doorman was not out of the norm. So I didn’t think too long when I was offered Jonas Hiller for a first-round pick in the summer of 2014. Having just been hired by Calgary, he certainly wasn’t going to make my case worse at that position. In fact, he was pretty good in 2014-2015. The same cannot be said for the rest of my team. So I finished among the last in the general classification, maybe even last, I don’t remember. And the GM to whom I traded my choice won the lottery. So yeah, Jonas Hiller cost me Connor McDavid. Just for that, I should never be allowed to participate in a pool again.
I was as proud as a peacock, about fifteen years ago, to include in my annual group of poolers a man who had been linked to the National Hockey League for several years. I told my friends that they needed to prepare well for their draft session because our rookie, who wasn’t really one, was going to take our group to another level. Ten participants had already made their choice when the time came for my distinguished guest to speak. My friends, still a little impressed, and I were all ears. Since it was a pool where you could keep certain players over the years, Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and company were already selected. But there were still big names on the board, including Anze Kopitar, Phil Kessel, Henrik Sedin, Brent Burns and rookies Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos. “Peter Regin…” our distinguished guest said. There was a dead silence in the room. ” Who ? », I asked, taken aback. “Peter Regin,” our man repeated, most seriously. I laughed bitterly. The others looked at each other, wondering if they had just missed one. Peter Regin has remained a well-kept secret. He played in 11 games for the Ottawa Senators that year and 56 in the American League. He remained in the NHL for a few seasons, in an obscure role, before returning to Europe, where he is still playing at age 37. My pride took a hit. I had invited a fantastic talent developer on the ice, but not a great pooler…
I don’t have a very good memory for things like that, but I’ve been in a lifetime pool for about fifteen years. It appears that the commissioner of this pool is Jean-François Chaumont, a colleague who writes for the Journal de Montréal and to whom I speak occasionally. And said Chaumont keeps the pool archives with the discipline of a magistrate of the Roman Empire. In short, our archives reminded me of our fall 2019 rookie draft. I hold the 7th pick of a year that is billed as a good vintage. In my turn, the 5th pick of the “real” 2019 draft, Alex Turcotte, is still available. If he slipped that far, it’s because Tremblay and Rasta tried their luck with Nikita Gusev, who arrived from the KHL, and Moritz Seider, taken in 6th place. So when it was my turn, I jumped on this Turcotte, who some recruiters even saw going 3rd. The problem: Trevor Zegras was still available, while Turcotte has as many points as I have in the NHL so far, but in 12 more games. Hats off to Bouchie. At least I got my act together in the 3rd round by drafting Drake Batherson.
In a long-term pool, I traded 23-year-old Jarome Iginla for Boris Mironov. Not strong, not strong. At least Mironov was in my championship team that season. However, I am unable to justify why I kept hopeful Igor Grigorenko on my team for four years. Number of career NHL games: zero…
In 6th grade, I organized the hockey pool at my primary school, with my friend Guillaume (not Lefrançois). The rules were simple: a complete roster according to certain categories, but with the only prohibition on choosing two players from the same team. Guillaume and I registered, completed and approved each of the forms by hand. Out of a hundred pools, we obviously passed too quickly on that of someone called Jasmine. Who knew absolutely nothing about hockey. And she had the nerve to choose two Sharks players: Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle. She ended up winning the pool, beating me by one position at the end of the year. So I was never able to get my hands on the precious $25 gift card from the now legendary Carrefour du Nord given to the winner.
Let me tell you the story of Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros. I drafted him into my pool, telling myself that Pekka Rinne would eventually confirm his retirement and retire. What he refused to do. So I protected Saros for a year, then two years, then three years, without it being of any use to me for my final ranking. Then one year, Rinne got injured, and Saros didn’t take advantage of it. His numbers as number one were lackluster, and I lost my patience. Two wires touched in my head. I let him go on our mid-season waivers, unable to tolerate any more. He barely lost again after being kicked off my team, then finished sixth, third, and fourth in succession in the Vezina Trophy the next three years. Hat.
