The one that you let go...

[The Bottlenecker]

Inspired by an earlier thread that asked the question: "who have you owned that was a big bust?", I got to thinking about players I could have drafted, but took someone else instead. Not that who I took has stunk, but the guy I chose not to take has done better and probably will continue to do so.

Here is mine:

Couple years ago, I had the 1st pick and the 6th pick. I had a young team, and took MacKinnon first overall. No brainer and still happy with my choice. By the sixth pick, Drouin, Barkov, Nichuskin and Jones were also gone, so I selected Elias Lindholm over Sean Monahan. I still think Lindholm can be a 60 point guy, but Monahan already is and should only get better, maybe even 80 points a season. Looking back, I may have blew that call.

So who should you have taken at a draft, and didn't?

[c00per67]

Here's the decision that keeps me up at night - My league was having an expansion draft, so I had to choose 5 players from my team to leave unprotected for the new GM. I was torn on who the last one to unprotect should be, and since Martin Frk was coming off a crazy good season in Halifax playing with MacKinnon and Drouin, I decided I should hold on to him and put up Nikita Kucherov instead. I'm still kicking myself over that

[The Bottlenecker]

Here's the decision that keeps me up at night - My league was having an expansion draft, so I had to choose 5 players from my team to leave unprotected for the new GM. I was torn on who the last one to unprotect should be, and since Martin Frk was coming off a crazy good season in Halifax playing with MacKinnon and Drouin, I decided I should hold on to him and put up Nikita Kucherov instead. I'm still kicking myself over that

Ouch, there ain't no band-aid that is going to fix that. Thanks for sharing.

[YzermansLegacy]

Not a draft story but a beauty nonetheless.

At the beginning of 13/14, I had grabbed both Hedman and Josi as my final 2 d (of 6). Neither had broken out in the NHL at all, but Josi had just had that insane WC and I'd be a huge fan of Heds for years.

Well, a few weeks in, Josi goes down with a concussion and so I drop him (we didn't have an IR spot at that time) and call up Ryan Murphy from my farm. A short while later, I land Wisniewski in a deal and need to make space for him.

It's looking more and more like Carle will be the PP1 guy in Tampa and Murphy is actually getting PP1 time in Carolina... so... I drop Hedman. To make things worse, I could have dropped Gonchar, but was convinced he'd run the PP in Dallas!

Fast forward to now and I had to pay a pretty penny to reacquire Hedman after giving him away for nothing... just so I could not cringe every time he lit it up as "the one I let go". Not a proud moment in my fantasy GM history lol.

[brakli]

Two seasons ago I had to let go of one of my young players not protected as a prospect. I didn't have to decide until after the preseason. My choice was down to Tyler Johnson and Craig Smith. Johnson started the season in the AHL and Smith was playing on the second line. I kept Smith.

Johnson sat on the WW until he was called up a couple weeks in and was scooped up by another team. Smith put up 52 that year and Johnson put up 50. Then this year happened...

[FinnishFlash]

I let Josi go.... for nothing.

Also let Okposo go for pennies on the dollar a few years back.

[Jordyr77]

Drafter Malkin first instead of Crosby after Malkin won the Hart. Thankfully I acquired Crosby two years later and am happy I did because Malkin has been nothing but a pain in the butt. I also traded Jamie Benn++ for PIetrangelo LOL.

[brakli]

I let Josi go.... for nothing.

Also let Okposo go for pennies on the dollar a few years back.

Completely forgot- did this as well. Lost patience with him and got rid of him for a 2nd Rd pick

[Slug]

Dropped OEL during an extended cold streak in 11/12 for...........Stefan freakin Elliott

[mojavedesert]

A few years back I had J Bernier, who was at that point touted to be LA's starter. The Quick owner offer me Quick and I turned it down.

[yougo]

In my league's inaugural draft we actually two draft. One for players over 100GP, and one for players under 100GP (Prospects). I punted the goalies in the pro draft because they all went very early. So I made some deals to land two top10 prospect picks. Took Braden Holtby at pick #3, but with pick #6 I took Jakob Markstrom.... Weeks later, Tim Thomas signs in FLA....

With pick #6, I could have drafted Yakupov,Taranseko,Galchenyuk,Lehner,Bishop,Barkov, Allen..... Let's just say that it set me back a little bit.

[The Bottlenecker]

In my league's inaugural draft we actually two draft. One for players over 100GP, and one for players under 100GP (Prospects). I punted the goalies in the pro draft because they all went very early. So I made some deals to land two top10 prospect picks. Took Braden Holtby at pick #3, but with pick #6 I took Jakob Markstrom.... Weeks later, Tim Thomas signs in FLA....

With pick #6, I could have drafted Yakupov,Taranseko,Galchenyuk,Lehner,Bishop,Barkov, Allen..... Let's just say that it set me back a little bit.

That may be one of the worst I have seen so far. Tough luck, yougo!

[2014olympicgold]

Once Seguin was traded to Dallas I went after the Seguin owner for a trade. It was just through the Yahoo app really so communication was making me mad. I would send him an offer (Skinner+Erik Johnson+4^th round pick (10^th round with keepers involved)) but he would send back a ridiculous counter (at the time) of like Stamkos++. So trade talks broke down and I was never able to pull the trigger. A week later the GM trades Seguin for MSL+Marchand. I let that trade slip through my grips.

Players I have dropped in the past 2 yrs early in the season:
Bobrovsky, Hedman, Monahan, Perron, Dubnyk (1 week before he was traded).

Worse pick I can remember:
Picked Henrik Sedin in the 2^nd round of our initial draft. Couple of things tho, I was late for the draft so it was autopicked, and prior to the season I traded Sedin for Rask.