Excellent companion thread.
The most critical thing for people to keep in mind is "categories".
Categories in different leagues will be... different.
So - every draft will have different weighting based on different league categories - and context in discussion of entry draft prospects is critical.
In my league's draft (League Post #1) in that thread, we include HIT/BLOCK/FOW.
The FOW aspect puts a greater weight on players that might take some faceoffs.
And with the HIT/BLOCK aspect, it means that a lot of the league teams use their D slots for defensemen that HIT/BLOCK.
I remember selecting Ryan Murphy in this league a couple years ago based on the overwhelming support from this community.
Well... Murphy might still be a 40pt defenseman someday, but he ain't going to HIT or BLOCK much... and I think he was a poor 1st round pick.
Ekblad slipped to #8 overall in our pool, which isn't that surprising.
I took Ekblad... I had to because I grew up playing defense at that same Belle River rink that Ekblad grew up playing at.
But... I'm really not expecting any fantasy-relevance from Ekblad for maybe three-four years.
Defensemen... especially the BIG ones... can take a long time to develop and may simply not be worth it.
(Nik Ehlers was on the board, and my head wanted Ehlers... but I went with my heart and took Ekblad.)
This will be our league's 6th season, and here is a review of some past 1st round entry draft Defenseman picks:
2009 (2nd overall): Victor Hedman. Well, Hedman wasn't really a fantasy giant until THIS past season... his 5th in the NHL. [Somebody could have picked: Evander Kane (4th), B.Schenn(7th)]
2009 (9th overall): Ryan Ellis. Ellis still isn't fantasy relevant, and even when he is... he's not getting PIM/HIT/BLK - where other defensemen might be.
2009 (10th overall): Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Probably one of the few defensemen to pan out.
2009 (11th overall): Dmitry Kulikov. He's had flashes, but still mostly a bust in fantasy leagues.
2010 (3rd overall): Cam Fowler. Puts up some points, but not much peripherals AND poor +/- mostly. [Somebody could have picked: R.Johansen(11th), Skinner(12th)]
2010 (7th overall): Derek Forbort. BUST.
2011 (6th overall): Adam Larsson. If there's one D-man that has scared all us fantasy GMs from drafting a D-man early... it's this guy. [Somebody could have picked: Baertschi(10th)]
2011 (7th overall): Ryan Murphy. I made this pick - and even if he starts putting up points, he's not helping me in HIT/BLOCK/PIM/+-
2012 (6th overall): Matthew Dumba. TBD... but seems still quite aways from fantasy relevance.
2012 (7th overall): Ryan Murray
2013 (5th overall): Seth Jones. I thought this was a pretty fair slot for S.Jones.
Anyways, that's a review of the last five years (previous to this one) of D-men drafted first round in entry draft.
Very hit & miss.