Opening Pool Analysis

In a league with so much "parity", it is amazing to see such clear favourites in each conference for this year's pool. Never has there been such a clear concensus on who which players are essential in the pool, or which team to pick.

Joe Sakic was picked in 38 out of 40 pools. If this isn't enough evidence that he should be named MVP this year, I don't know what is. With Sakic picked so heavily, it practically negates his effect on the pool. Instead, it puts pressure on the two poolies who didn't pick him: Tim Smith and Camilo Cipriano. Interestingly, they were the two people who picked Pierre Turgeon.

Heavy Betting on Colorado and New Jersey
Along with Sakic, fully half the pool took Peter Forsberg and Rob Blake. In all, Colorado garnered 109 player picks, with 27 of 40 people picking them to win the Cup.

New Jersey is a close second, with 98 player picks and 10 to win the Cup. Patrick Elias and Martin Brodeur were the most popular picks.

Strangely, while 27 people picked Colorado to win and 10 picked New Jersey, 27 picked Brodeur as their goalie, and only 7 took Patrick Roy.

Mario Lemieux was, not surprisingly, the other most popular pick.

Pressure On the Little Guys
With so many similar entries, the difference in the pool will likely be determined early on, by the players picked only once or twice. A prime example of this is Chris Osgood, who got a shutout Saturday for Steve Follwell.

Other potential darkhorse picks are Doug Weight, Pavol Demitra, Owen Nolan, and Sergei Zubov. See Player Stats and Team Stats for more details on who was picked how many times.

Common Pool Card:
Joe Sakic, Col
Peter Forsberg, Col
Patrick Elias, NJ
Mario Lemieux, Pit
...two other forwards
Rob Blake, Col
...another defenseman
Martin Brodeur, NJ

Colorado to win