Armchair Pools Blog

I've been getting some emails regarding our choices for the free box style hockey pool. My apologies to anyone who is finding their favorite player missing from the boxes.

Now I know how Steve Yzerman of Team Canada feels.

The hottest topic has been Henrik Zetterberg. I've had a few irate Red Wings fans wondering where their star player is.

It's a cycle you can count on. Good teams go bad, bad teams get good draft picks. And with good draft picks, comes a better team. So after many years of living in the cellar, maybe doing as well as mediocrity, a team will have a breakout season. It seems to come out of nowhere and no one except for that lucky jerk in your hockey pool sees it coming. For him, it was all strategy.

It seems to come out of nowhere, but on reflection it always makes sense. Despite being near the bottom of the NHL standings in 2006/07 and missing the playoffs in 2007/08, the personal successes of rookies Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews was evidence that the Chicago Blackhawks fortune was about to change. And sure enough, 2008/09 was their breakout season, not only making the playoffs for the first time since the 2004 lockout, but making it into the third round.

Washington and Pittsburgh have also had similar turnarounds due to an influx of young talent. And while the arrival of Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby were and extreme example of good draft picks, it still shows the trend. Bad team gets good young players. Bad team gets good.

So who will get good this season?

James Murphy at NESN writes on the Bruin's acquisition of free agent defenseman Derek Morris

[Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli] thinks Morris can bring the right combination of skill and size and maybe even join captain Zdeno Chara on the club's top defensive pairing.

I know what you're thinking. He's on a new team, he's playing on the number one power play unit, he will be paired with Chara. Wait until the late rounds, pick him up as a late pick. You'll be a genius.

I will not do it.

Every poolie has that player that they always seem to get stuck with. My father-in-law loves Tom Poti. My brother-in-law expects big things from Columbus and always finds Rick Nash in the first round.

For me, it's Derek Morris.

Every year I tell myself not to make the same mistake as last year. Don't take Derek Morris. Don't do it. But every year, the rounds move on and his name starts to emerge from my crumpled, crossed out list of players. I wait and I wait until I can't take it any longer. It didn't work last year, but this year will be different. So I pull the trigger.

It's never different. No matter what round, he always underperforms.

So this year, I am not taking Derek Morris.

I swear.