Sorry about slowness, again... had the lovely blue screen of death again tonight when I was about to start working on something; stayed up until now making sure everything was okay.
Quick review of the picks... Callahan & Berglund are great value at this point. Both're tenacious & quality players. Berglund had a bit of a down year last year, but only because a couple other people emerged for St. Louis. Callahan, meanwhile, is pretty much a perfect 2nd or 3rd-line RW. Good at defense, physical player. I think in a few years he'll break down, but not this year.
Markov is interesting. He is a great offensive defenseman. However, he is a pretty poor defender. If protected, he'll do great as a power play quarterback & a passer from the back. But like in the Olympics, he can be exposed pretty easily at times.
Varlamov's a solid goaltender, but like Mikey & a few others have said, I think there's another 4-5 goaltenders in his class that're quality & definitely good enough for this league. But I do think Varlamov's the top of that group.
And finally, my pick. Was bouncing around 5 different players; however, I decided to bring Staal back into a 3rd-line center role, where he excelled most in his career thus far. The massive pressure of being one of the leaders of the team, like in Carolina, won't be here; instead, he can go back to being the rugged 3rd liner. He's got the size and physicality (did you know he had 194hits last season? That seems weirdly inflated), plus enough skill. A very good faceoff man as well, to help my push for possession. He was also the only one I was considering that I felt would go in the next 11 picks as people started to snatch up their 2nd/3rd line centers. Finally, he has played wing as well, so he can be versatile when necessary. Will not be asking him to follow behind his older brother in this team; will just ask him to use the body & shut down opposing players.
Also, moar centers. And moar Staals.
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)