Checking in on my VHFL team

[scoop 3,426]

Last season, I won my VHFL group rather comfortably, scoring 1477.3 points compared to 1393.8 from the second-place JCarson. Not even realizing it until just now, I ended up with a similar roster for this season. I have three of the same players, and some of those players who I didn't bring back were in my mind again as possible selections. The players who I won with last season who I wound up taking again were Sirdsvaldis Miglaskems, Brian Payne, and Nico Pearce. The newcomers to the team are Perry Laperriere (replacing Henry Eagles as my third forward), Biggie Cheese (replacing Mo Probert as my second defensemen), and Cole Pearce (replacing Clueless Wallob as my goalie).

 

Just as he was a season ago, Sirdsvaldis Miglaskems was the first forward selected to my S89 team, though I picked him in the first round this time as opposed to the second. While not the best possible selection at this point, Miglaskems has been doing even better than he did a season ago. He offensive capabilities (18 goals, 43 points) and his physical game (125 hits) have him currently as the sixth-highest scoring forward. Although most of the forwards who are ahead of him were still available for me at this time, I'm not disappointed in this pick.

 

Last season, Brian Payne was my first selection, but I waited until the second round to pick him up this season. Payne is a very reliable fantasy player because he is someone you can count on to at least rack up hits and shots blocked. Even if he has a relatively down year offensive, he can still easily be in the top ten among defensemen. With 44 points in 33 games, offense has not been an issue for Payne, and his all-around great play has him as the highest scoring VHFL player at the moment. This was a home run of a pick, and I consider myself lucky that even with three defensemen being taken between my first and second picks, I was able to get Payne on my roster.

 

After I selected Payne, six straight defensemen were taken, meaning it was a great time for me to take a forward. There were still several good ones on the board, and a couple of my opponents were already full on defensemen, so I knew I could finalize that spot later. I settled on Nico Pearce, who has actually been a bit of a disappointment for my roster despite having 21 goals on the season. That speaks more to how well my team is doing, but Pearce's assist numbers are down this season, and he has a negative plus-minus rating.

 

In the fourth round, while I did have the option to take Henry Eagles available to me, I went with Perry Laperriere, and this is right up there with Payne as my best pick. Laperriere currently leads the league in points with 50 (25 goals, 25 assists) to go along with 136 hits. While I knew I could count on him for a lot of hits, I wasn't expecting him to be on top of the league in offensive production. He is the highest scoring forward in fantasy points, so to get him on my roster as my third forward selected is wonderful.

 

Although I almost always leave my goalie for my last pick, given that no one between my fifth and sixth picks would be taking a defensemen, I selected Cole Pearce here for my goalie slot. I had my choice of all goalies except Lachlan Summers, who had just been selected, and I was most confident in Pearce. Playing for the Bears, I thought there was a chance for a decent number of shutouts and a good number of wins. Pearce has bee the third best goalie so far, so I haven't lost out on too much with this pick.

 

For my final selection, I ended up taking Biggie Cheese of the New York Americans. Particularly when considering the look of New York's roster, I felt Cheese had a good chance to contribute at least a point per game and be somewhere in the 180 to 200 range in both shots blocked and hits at the end of the season. This was the last defensemen selected the group, and Cheese is currently the 10th highest scoring defensemen, though three of those defensemen above him were also available. This was still a good pick nonetheless.

 

About halfway through the season, I am very pleased with how my fantasy team is doing. In terms of where my individual players rank among their position, I have the following: forwards (1st, 6th, 15th); defensemen (1st, 10th) and goalie (3rd). Normally that assortment of players would probably have me sitting in first place, but currently I am actually in second to @cLoWn who has no players who rank below 5th in their position.