Forensics takes a look at the virtues of Duncan Keith and why he may not regress this season.

Last week, as many of you are aware of by now, the gang of columnists here as DobberHockey engaged in our annual Experts League Draft. It was quite the intense draft as the player pool has trickled down by drastic portions from last season to a shallow 264 total (11 GMs x 24 spots) from a whopping 416 pool last season (16 GMs x 26 roster spots). So very naturally, FAR less room for error was afforded to us as well lessened room to make your mark in the deeper rounds with sleepers, prospects, etc.

We knew going in that we absolutely needed to hit on our picks. So I went all in with less sexy selections in the first half dozen rounds, staying away from 2014-15's risers/trending picks, opting to jump all over Duncan Keith notably. I took him as my first defenseman, in the 5^th round, 57^th overall. Moreover, he was the 7^th blueliner taken until that point (after Erik Karlsson, P.K. Subban, Shea Weber, Dustin Byfuglien, Dion Phaneuf & Drew Doughty).

My colleague, Steve Laidlaw, lambasted me in the DobberHockey Ramblings a couple days later in his extensive Draft Review segment, in lieu of passing on Victor Hedman to take Keith when I did. His reasoning was rather fair, insofar as identifying Keith as being averse to hitting (a category of ours) and the fact he adjudges Hedman to be on a meteoric rise to uber-elite status, amongst rearguards.

I'll admit I may have overlooked the lack of hitting to a degree. After all, Keith abysmally averaged less than one hit every two games last season! However, it didn't cause me to resist the temptation, fully knowing how incredibly valuable his overall fantasy package is.

Let me make my argument for Duncan Keith not only being worthy of selection in the seven slot for Defensemen, but how he may well have been a slight steal at the 57^th pick overall, for our format.

First of all, last I checked, Mr. Keith was awarded a pretty darn substantial accolade this past summer in Las Vegas, if you recall. Of course, I'm not numb to the fact that elements going into consideration for the Norris Trophy differ in several ways from consideration for fantasy appeal. The defensive awareness, responsibility, dependability in the clutch of a player, etc. are all moot points in fantasy hockey by most respects.