Twistin’ By The Pool

my 2015-16 fantasy team

My executive director stuck his head inside my office on Wednesday. “Got a minute?”

“Make it fast,” I replied. “The pool draft starts in twelve minutes!”

He stepped over the threshold and dropped his voice. “I’ve done f*** about my picks. Can you resend me the link?”

I gaped at him. “Are you kidding me? I worked on mine for three hours last night! Oh—and Phil Kessel is with Pittsburgh now.”

My über-boss, who has a framed Leafs jersey signed by Wendel Clark hanging in his office, nodded. “I’ll probably pick him anyway. Just send me the link.”

I flashed it at him, our respective doors closed, and the games began.

A couple of years ago, before he took over the division’s helm, he drafted Claude Giroux before I could. I have not forgotten that, apparently, because when I saw that he had eighth pick over my seventh, I thought, Ha! No Giroux for you, buddy! All I had to do was fret through the first six picks, but I was able to nab my top guy.

We have a couple of rookies in the pool this year. I’m a veteran by now, the first female to join in 2010-11 and now comprising maybe a third of fifteen members for the 2015-16 season. Word has spread—and my old nemesis, the wire-and-fake-fur-Flyer fan, is back in the fold after a brief stint with another ministry. Figures that he drafted Jake Voracek and Ryan Kesler just when I was planning to click the button behind him.

Of course you know that this means war.

Or would do, except that the bulk of my roster features more players than not who made my list the day before the draft. Okay, so Nazem Kadri made it from sheer desperation, though I deliberately gunned for James Van Riemsdyk. I’ve got two young defencemen, one going into his second year which often results in a slump, but I’m hopeful that his talent will prevail. If not, veteran BC boy Brent Seabrook will come off the bench to replace him.

If my top five stay healthy, I have as good a chance as any—and better than the poolie who drafted Martin St. Louis and Daniel Briere. It had to have been one of the rookies. ESPN gaffed by leaving these guys on the list, but anyone following the sports news would have known that both players retired in the summer.

Easy pickin’s? Meh. It’s more fun to watch the stats and participate in the chirping. As I emailed when the draft was done, and in keeping with my reputation for choosing photogenic faces, “May the best-looking team win!”