Lord Stanley's Pool 2010 - Final Analysis

An exciting, historic Stanley Cup Playoffs has come to a close, with major upsets, incomparable comebacks, and the longest Cup drought coming to an end. It was great hockey to watch, even if the pool suffered from so much improbability.

The consensus in the East, quite understandably, was that Washington or Pittsburgh, or both, would be the top teams, so their first and second round eliminations dealt a major blow to the competitiveness of the pool. In the West, poolies were split among Chicago, San Jose, and other teams and the battle there lived up to expectations - ultimately becoming the deciding factor.

The pool winners emerged in the second round as Chicago's top players started pouring it on. Sean Hammond ($1182) was in the top ten from the start, climbed into the top three in round two, and bided his time until the Hawks victory raised him into first place. Aaron Allard ($591) took a lead in round two that would stand until the final game, dropping to second only because he hadn't picked the Chicago for the Cup bonus. Mike van Steendelaar ($197) had the distinction of having the only Flyers pick in the pool, which along with Chicago's second round shutouts, put him into contention.

Picking three Chicago players was certainly a must this year if you wanted to make it onto the podium. Beyond that, any combination of solid picking could have been enough. The top two picked Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Detroit, and those were solid picks even though two of those teams went down in round two. San Jose picks were nearly as good as Detroit. In the end you really just needed Chicago, Sidney Crosby, and an assortment of solid picks for the rest of the entry. For example, Mike picked Chicago and Crosby, and finished third despite picking players from five different teams for the remaining picks. A little more focus, such as Chris Pronger instead of Tyler Myers, would have easily made the difference between third and first.

In the latest example of the need to pick for the long term and not just for the easy first round points, only one player from the top ten after round one remained in the top 20 at then end. Pool winner Sean Hammond started in eighth and stayed in there, but the others, including all of the top seven, played Humpty Dumpty, with a great fall - to as low as 116th in the end. On the flip side, some first round longshots made their way up to the upper reaches - Blair Miller, 67th to 4th; Ruth Beder, 107th to 5th; Russell Bobbie, 102nd to 7th; Georgia Strachan, 117th to 9th; Kevin Boomer, 130th to 11th; and Shadd Dales, 107th to 11th.

It is rare for unpicked players to make it onto the dream team, let alone being the top player in the pool. Usually someone will take a flyer (no pun intended!) on most teams' stars. Danny Briere, with 30 points, was the most valuable player, pool points wise, to be had and no one took him. It is the first time since 1998, the first year of the pool, where nobody took the MVP. In 1998, there were only 16 entries and the unpicked MVP was goalie Olaf Kolzig. With so many more entries now, it makes it that much more unusual to have happened.

Only one player returns from last year's dream team, making it three years in a row for Sidney Crosby. One Chicago player (Brent Seabrook) made it last year, but played a different role this year and thus didn't make it even though his team came all the way through. Duncan Keith had more points and was a pool favourite but didn't make it because three other Hawks had a stronger claim. The story this year is the number of players who were not pool favourites: the three from Philadelphia were not picked at all, Michael Cammalleri only once, and Antti Niemi, the top goalie, only seven times.

Goalie
Antti Niemi, Chi, 26 pts. (7 picks)
Defense
Chris Pronger, Phi, 18 pts. (no picks)
Dan Boyle, San, 14 pts. (39 picks)
Forwards
Daniel Briere, Phi, 30 pts. (no picks)
Jonathan Toews, Chi, 29 pts. (57 picks)
Patrick Kane, Chi, 28 pts. (96 picks)
Mike Richards, Phi, 23 pts. (no picks)
Michael Cammalleri, Mon, 19 pts. (1 pick)
Sidney Crosby, Pit, 19 pts. (118 picks)
Team: Chicago, 10
Dream Team Score: 216 points
Winning Score: 164 points

After a record first round where a whopping 71 people smashed the record high for round one (set in 2001), increasing it from 63 to 78, the upsets in the East took much of the wind out of the pool's sails and no other offensive records were set. The individual entry records for both most and least points from defensemen were approached (31 vs 33, 3 vs 2), but they were not broken. The Dream Team's maximum score matched last year's high but the pool's point totals were about 20 points back of last year's pace. Here is the full list of records for this pool:
- Highest round 1 score: 78 - Jay Dart, Dennis Clayton (prev: 63, 2001/2004)
- Maximum score (Dream Team): 216 (ties: 216, 2009)