Predicted Top 13 Picks

My top 12
This list is preliminary and will be revised without notification - but here is a quick guess at how things will shape up in our first round;
Bob releases Scott Niedermayer - D Van and declares that he will take a new FP (I have no inside knowledge he will do so, right now it's an educated guess based on some conversations and his acquisition of Richards-C Tbay RFA from me).

1. Dogs: Lemieux-C Pit, the Dogs need scoring help everywhere, and former FP Lemieux looks poised to take a run at the Art Ross despite being in his 40's.

2. Knights Templar: Bertuzzi-R Van, he has the biggest potential impact of any player available other than Lemieux.

3. Great Whites: Lecavalier-C Tbay. The Finheads need forwards. Recchi is safe, solid, reliable, and likely to feast on the Pens powerplay. Palffy may have more upside, but he is way more injury prone. St Louis is a possibility, but Dan prefers players with longer track records. In the end, he picks big Vince, his need at centre trumping the other possibilities.

4. Highlanders: Palffy-R Pit. Doug needs a top end player at all the forward positions except centre, and Palffy gives him a high-end presence on a wing that needs his scoring punch. With Bertuzzi gone, and no comparable quality LW in the mix, he takes Millbury's village idiot over Recchi and St Louis.

5. Bladerunners: Gonchar-D Pit. Corey will have been salivating that he would slip further, but I see no chance Gonchar leaves the top 5 unless Brian blows a gasket and bids on Richards (someone who at this point would definitely not be matched). I do see him forcing Dan's hand by bidding on Havlat so that Dan has to match in rnd 2.

6. Ramapithicines: Niedermayer-D Van. Corey takes the best D-man available, just like every other year for the past 6.

7. Severed Heads: Recchi R-Pit. And then I laugh my most evil laugh.

8. Shadowmen: Martin St Louis-R Tbay (new FP). He's just won a scoring title, and his post-season performance was superb. He's still under 30, and his team will have lots of weapons. He's good.

9. Wolves: Leetch-D Bos. The Wolves don't need forwards, and they've seen two of the best defensemen go off the board already, so they take the next best guy at that position. My list says Leetch (15 pts in 15 games with the Leafs), but he could also elect to take Blake here.

10. Personal Vendetta: Lang-C Det. Solid totals the last two years, he's in his prime, strong team, good wingers, etc., and he fits the PV's needs for a centre behind Foppa.

11. Barbarians: Weight-C St Louis. The Not-Greek's GM needs a centreman more than anything else, and Weight is the best left available. He might try a finesse, but I think he plays it safe and just takes him.

12./13. The Edge: Demitra-C LA and Fedorov-C Ana. Collin solves his weakness at pivot, and positions himself to have a strong group of scoring forwards. Sure, the common thinking is that Collin takes defensemen early, but he'll get two very decent defenders on his next wraparound at the end of 3 start of 4.