Fantasy Fare: Martin Marincin making an unintended early impact
Yahoo! may have found the perfect way to discourage fantasy hockey owners from letting the website do their drafting for them. Martin Marincin. The Maple Leafs minor-leaguer, somehow, was the 27th-ranked defenceman available in Yahoo! online drafts. Despite having played in only two NHL games the past two seasons, and with another year in the press box or on the AHL Marlies awaiting him, Marincin was ranked ahead of the likes of Flyers’ Ivan Provorov, Wild’s Ryan Suter and Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall draft pick of the Sabres. We can only hope it was an oversight and that no one at the website actually believes the lumbering 26-year-old is that good, even if you factor in hits and blocks. However, as live drafters steered clear of Marincin, eventually his name appeared at the top of the availables list and Yahoo! automatically assigned him to an absentee owner when his/her turn to draft came up. The mere fact that the veteran with 25 career points in five years showed a 58% ownership rate heading into opening night on Wednesday tells you either how many poolies were on autodraft and/or had no idea who Martin Marincin was.
