3rd pick...who to take?

[mav]

Hi all, I've got the 3rd overall pick this yr in my keeper league....
I need a rookie counter and want to know who to take..
My conundrum lies with the uncertainty of Jones...
I assume McKinnon will go first...but the guy who picks 2nd, also picks 4th...If he takes Drouin 2nd, should i take Jones or Barkov?
....if he takes Jones or Barkov with the 2nd, then i willtake Drouin.....

What do the rest of u think?...and thx!

[CT-Chill]

I personally wouldn't take Jones no matter what. I'd be eying up Barkov or Nichushkin. Both players would be on my radar before deciding to draft Jones as a project on D.

But that's me, what is more important is what you need most, forwards or D?

[mav]

Yeah, i need forwards more...
but will Jones not be a Lidstrom, maybe even Byfuglien??...

[franklin]

I would take Drouin or Barkov.

It will probably take 3-5 years to Jones to become fantasy relevant. You will be able to acquire him for less than a 3rd overall pick.

[Bass56]

Hi all, I've got the 3rd overall pick this yr in my keeper league....
I need a rookie counter and want to know who to take..
My conundrum lies with the uncertainty of Jones...
I assume McKinnon will go first...but the guy who picks 2nd, also picks 4th...If he takes Drouin 2nd, should i take Jones or Barkov?
....if he takes Jones or Barkov with the 2nd, then i willtake Drouin.....

What do the rest of u think?...and thx!

Picks 1 and 2 will be MacKinnon then Drouin.

No chance Drouin is there for your 3rd pick IMO. That being said, I love Jones and I think he can be an important player for his NHL team, but given your depth at D and your limited scoring categories, I would try to land Barkov instead with your pick.

[TheZamboniGuy]

Drouin and mack will probably go 1st and 2nd then Nichu or Barkov have to go !! Drafting a D, habitually take several years before it pay !

[Axeman33]

First off, is your fantasy draft before or after the actual NHL draft.

If it's after, then I would wait and see who goes where and use that as part of my decision making procedure.

I agree with others that MacKinnon and Drouin will go 1-2 in your draft unless something weird happens. If not, then your choice is pretty easy IMO.

Assuming MacKinnon and Drouin DO go 1-2, then I would wait and see where guys like Barkov and Nichushkin go in the actual NHL draft and make my choice based on that.

I also would not take Jones with the 3rd pick no matter who goes where. Take a forward as they have a tendency to make a quicker impact on fantasy numbers then a D does.

[Zorro]

Totally agree with the Axe33 here.. If you can wait and see what the actual NHL draft looks like, then you can get more of a clear picture as to who will be a more valuable asset going forward..

I also wouldn't take a d-man with my 1st round pick, especially at 3rd overall.. The guy taking Mack and Drouin 1-2 is going to love that you left him Jones at 4, but thats fine.. I have a feeling Barkov will be a Nashville Predator when the dust settles, so that may not be your best option, but who knows.. Carolina taking Nichushkin, might bit a little more intriguing, but you have to worry about the Russian factor a little.. It all depends on what you think once the draft is over and you start to see how each player may fit into his new home and what their roles will be..

Goodluck going forward..

[havanablast21]

I would take Drouin or Barkov.

It will probably take 3-5 years to Jones to become fantasy relevant. You will be able to acquire him for less than a 3rd overall pick.

Couldn't have said it better myself. It's usually takes long enough to reap the rewards of a Highly Taken D (guys like Doughty/Myers don't come around all that often and usually you don't know how they will fair until they start the season).

Plus...even when these Highly touted D finally do start to contribute, it may not be in a fantasy relevant way (depending on your cats). L. Schenn was a hitting machine...and Steady Defenceman in T.O. but my league didn't count hits, which rednered him essentially useless.

Look how long it's taken OEL to start to even be considered living up to the Lidstrom references.

Much like Colorado...and especially if you need the OFFENCE...focus on the young snipers. They usually pay dividends sooner and are not as oftenly traded in my experience.

Myers has bounced around from team to team and will start the season as a Waiver pick in my league. Doughty has also played on 4 of the 10 teams availalbe in my league.

Can't say the same for Stamkos, Seguin, Hall, RNH and I'm still hanging on to Yakupov.

Drouin is your man.

[Pengwin7]

This was the first round of my fantasy league draft:
G/A/+-/PIM/PPP/SOG/FOW/HIT/BLK for skaters:

Round 1:
1. Chicago (Cgy) - Nathan MacKinnon
2. Detroit (from Van) - Jonathan Drouin
3. New York (from Bos) - Aleksander Barkov
4. Colorado (Mtl) - Valeri Nichushkin
5. Los Angeles (Atl) - Seth Jones
6. Philadelphia - Elias Lindholm
7. Buffalo - Sean Monahan
8. Toronto - Zach Fucale
9. Dallas - Max Domi
10. New York - Hunter Shinkaruk
11. Washington - Alexander Wennberg

[Rodgort]

If your draft is after the NHL draft wait for that to choose. I wouldn't choose Jones as like everyone has said D take a while to develop.

It is really a choice between Nich and Barkov, I personally would pick who Nashville doesn't take. But in case your draft is before I would take Barkov if you are scared of Russians returning to KHL, if you aren't scared really just flip a coin both will be great, but I would argue Nich has the higher upside as I see Nashville not taking him

And you never know Stevie Y loves the guys he is set on so he may take Nich at 3rd over Drouin who then may be available at your pick. In which case take him.

[agoodburn]

i would target Mackinnon or Drouin. Assuming they are the top two i would take Nichuskin over barkov, but I agree with rogort though. whoever ends up on Nashville goes on the do not acquire list

[Fighting moose]

Hi all, I've got the 3rd overall pick this yr in my keeper league....
I need a rookie counter and want to know who to take..
My conundrum lies with the uncertainty of Jones...
I assume McKinnon will go first...but the guy who picks 2nd, also picks 4th...If he takes Drouin 2nd, should i take Jones or Barkov?
....if he takes Jones or Barkov with the 2nd, then i willtake Drouin.....

What do the rest of u think?...and thx!

Is it a prospect draft only? Do you have a separate draft for the non-keeper players? The only reason I ask is because the league i'm in we have 1 draft of all eligible players (non-keepers and prospects).

[fungchen3]

First off, is your fantasy draft before or after the actual NHL draft.

If it's after, then I would wait and see who goes where and use that as part of my decision making procedure.

Exactly right. If Jones falls to Tampa his fantasy value gets a nice spike, as opposed to Barkov in Nashville.

[mav]

Exactly right. If Jones falls to Tampa his fantasy value gets a nice spike, as opposed to Barkov in Nashville.

Thx guys, our draft is an Entry draft like real. It is also AFTER the draft....so im getting a better feeling on who to draft depending on how the NHL draft goes!!