Would like input as to who to draft in inaugural draft

[NewGarbageGoal]

The scoring is kinda different (H2H, points based):

Assists - 2
Face-offs Won - .15
Goals - 3
Shootout Goals - .25
PIM - .05
SOG - .15
Saves - .1
Wins - 4
Shutouts - 5

So there's an importance on centers and especially on centers who shoot and win face-offs a lot. Also an importance on goal scorers over play-makers. High shutout goalies as well as goalies who face lots of shots against are valued highly too. My question is who I should pick in the inaugural draft at third overall and who I should aim for in general? The draft rankings, according to fantasy points earned last regular season, are like this for the first fifteen draft eligible (anyone at 82 or less regular season career games played isn't eligible):

Stamkos
Niemi
E. Staal
Giroux
Toews
Tavares
Lundqvist
Crosby
Howard
Nabokov
Bobrovsky
Datsyuk
Backstrom (MIN)
Pavelec
Duchene

In my queue I have Stamkos, Crosby, Giroux as my top three in that order. Any suggestions?

[rataylor22]

If Crosby is there I feel you have to take Crosby. He's head and shoulders above everyone in Fantasy. My league has the same values for Goals/Assist and Stamkos still doesn't come close to Crosby.

[rataylor22]

I would also put Tavares ahead of Giroux.

[bizzl]

Pretty sure mine would go Crosby, Stamkos, Tavares, if you're looking for goal scoring, face-off winning centers. Malkin is obviously a great pick as well. After that I wouldn't draft a C for several rounds. Other GMs will probably go a bit crazy drafting C's and leave a ton of prime wingers for later rounds. I'd try to grab a good goalie in the 2nd (Rinne would be a great choice) and then stock up on wingers in the next 2-3 rounds. After that it would be BPA. It depends on what happens in the draft, of course. That's what I'd look for going in, though.

[rataylor22]

I agree with most of this. Quick, Rinne, are both good options. Maybe Schneider too. Tough to say but he tied for the lead in shutouts last year with five.

[metaldude26]

I'm not sure I'd go after a goalie with this scoring. There's no penalty for bad goaltending in this league so you can just grab a lesser-named workhorse on a mediocre team and still pick up 30ish wins, hopefully a good number of shutouts and always get 20+ saves a night. Look at Niemi, no way he was a top five goalie before last year and yet finished as the best in your league. I'd be hunting for the next Niemi.

[NewGarbageGoal]

Right after I posted this the scoring was altered a bit and the draft started today actually. The scoring now is:

Assists - 2
Face-offs Won - .05
Goals - 3
Shootout Goals - .25
PIM - .025
SOG - .05
Shutouts - 10
Wins - 5

The Saves category is gone completely but the shutouts and wins values are way higher so it balances out and puts more of an emphasis on winning then just getting shot on a lot. The peripheral skater stats like SOG and PIM and FOW were lowered by like half to put an emphasis on scoring for skaters and make centers more even with wingers. This didn't alter the rankings a lot but it did a little. Goalies are more spread out now and the skater rankings are a bit different now.

Here's how the draft has gone thus far:

1. Ovechkin
2. Stamkos
3. Crosby (my pick)
4. Toews
5. Giroux

I'm amazed at the results thus far frankly. I thought for sure that Stamkos-Crosby-Malkin was the top three and likely in that order. Malkin still isn't even picked yet at six. Toews was kind of out of left field but the person who picked him felt that he would do well in this sort of scoring so I can see why he did it. The league is almost all Flyers fans so the Giroux pick makes sense for multiple reasons. Other then Malkin, he's as good or better then everybody left on pure scoring, he's multi-position eligible, and like I said his trade value is probably inflated because the league if full of Flyers fans.

Do any of you think differently now? Right now, unless Malkin magically falls to my next pick at 22nd overall (maybe Tavares too) I'm going with an elite goalie I'm thinking. My top three goalie ranking right now is Lundqvist-Rask-Price since people will probably forget about Schneider for a bit. With my third pick I'm going with a forward presuming I take a goalie with my second pick then fourth pick I'm going back to get another starter. That's what I'm thinking anyhow.

I have three general rules I follow in regards to fantasy hockey unless the scoring is very odd (which I don't think it is for this league). Firstly, draft d-men last even after reserves, secondly avoid drafting anyone 30 or over for the most part, and lastly always take a forward with your first pick in an inaugural draft, then an elite starting goalie, then draft a second reliable starter (not necessarily elite) soon after. That's why I'm thinking of drafting that way.

[metaldude26]

I'd be trying to trade up right now to land a Tavares or Malkin.

[NewGarbageGoal]

I'd be trying to trade up right now to land a Tavares or Malkin.

Can't trade up. It's the inaugural draft plus even if it weren't there's no draft pick trading as it's a free league with no premium features (draft pick trading is a premium feature).

[metaldude26]

Oh, and I still wouldn't be in a hurry to land an elite goalie. So long as there's no penalty for sucking you can make do with workhorses on mediocre teams. I'd invest my resources into high end skaters.

[metaldude26]

Can't trade up. It's the inaugural draft plus even if it weren't there's no draft pick trading as it's a free league with no premium features (draft pick trading is a premium feature).

Well, you could still "trade" picks just do it behind closed doors with a gentleman's agreement.

[NewGarbageGoal]

Oh, and I still wouldn't be in a hurry to land an elite goalie. So long as there's no penalty for sucking you can make do with workhorses on mediocre teams. I'd invest my resources into high end skaters.

I agree which is why I'm thinking about going for forwards first completely (and Karlsson who most will likely have forgotten about) but it's hard to separate from my general "rules" that I have always done well with in one year leagues.

For what it's worth I plan on trading Crosby as I am a Flyers fan so owning him rubs me the wrong way. Especially since I always end up with him somehow.

[metaldude26]

I agree which is why I'm thinking about going for forwards first completely (and Karlsson who most will likely have forgotten about) but it's hard to separate from my general "rules" that I have always done well with in one year leagues.

For what it's worth I plan on trading Crosby as I am a Flyers fan so owning him rubs me the wrong way. Especially since I always end up with him somehow.

That's a really crappy reason for trading Crosby.

[NewGarbageGoal]

Also for what it's worth, here's how the rankings looked before and after the stat changes:

Before:

Stamkos
Niemi
E. Staal
Giroux
Toews
Tavares
Lundqvist
Crosby
Howard
Nabokov
Bobrovsky
Datsyuk
Backstrom (MIN)
Pavelec
Duchene

After:

Stamkos
Niemi
Staal
Crosby
Ovechkin
Toews
Howard
Tavares
Giroux
Bobrovsky
Nabokov
Rask
Datsyuk
St. Louis
P. Kane

[NewGarbageGoal]

That's a really crappy reason for trading Crosby.

Doesn't matter what the reason is as long as the return is good. I don't plan on trading him unless I get a reasonable return. Besides, that concussion history makes me iffy.