Draft advice for a beginner

[mrgrieves]

I am new to fantasy hockey and have taken over a (previously poorly managed) team in an established keeper league. Hoping to get your advice for general drafting strategy.

This is a 10-team keeper league with 22 roster spots including 10 keepers. The league is fantasy points (G, A, +/-, PIM, SHG, SHA, GWG, SOG, HIT, BLK) with the following positions: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 5D, 2G, 6 Bench. Keeper selection already took place and I may have already made an error. I used HockeyPoolGeek and essentially kept the 10 highest value players I had:

Henrik Sedin C
Pavel Datsyuk C
Ilya Kovalchuk LW
Jarome Iginla RW
Dustin Brown RW
Mark Streit D
James Wisniewski D
John Carlson D
Carey Price G
Jonathan Quick G

As you can see I ended up with 3 D and as I should have probably predicted the other teams kept almost no D-men. As a result there is a glut of top tier D-men available for the draft and slim pickings for top forwards. Based on my HPG rankings the top picks available look something like:

Duncan Keith CHI D
Jaroslav Halak STL G
Dion Phaneuf TOR D
Ryan Whitney EDM D
Brent Seabrook CHI D
Jamie Benn DAL LW
Alex Goligoski DAL D
Daniel Briere PHI RW
Mark Giordano CGY D
Brent Burns SJS D
Tyler Myers BUF D
Erik Karlsson OTT D
Tobias Enstrom WPG D
Jonas Hiller ANA G
Brian Campbell FLA D
Erik Johnson COL D
Alex Pietrangelo STL D
Nikolai Kulemin TOR LW

...and down from there. My question is, what should my strategy be going into the draft? Unfortunately even though my team finish dead last in the previous season I only managed to get the 5th position in the draft lottery. I traded away my 2nd round pick to try and fix things up a little bit. Should I just be picking the top value player in each round (which would probably mean more D)? Should I fill in forwards first (i.e. LW)? Should I grab one of those top goalies if they are still there (e.g. Halak), even though my G is pretty solid? I know these are probably pretty basic questions but I am a total amateur! Thanks for any advice you can provide.

[Killer67]

I'm not sure it was an error as 5 D makes them a valuable asset. Not knowing what you dropped for them, I'd say it's not bad. Your team looks good and I'd probably go for Benn or Briere if they're still around.

Your goalies are nice so I'd wait to grab a 3rd until a couple rounds in.

The HPG resource is nice but you still have to determine your needs before taking the best player they project. Love that Draft Guru though, genius!

[Magicstew]

Benn
Briere
Keith
Halak - trade bait
Myers
Enstrom
- these are the guys you should pick - the goalie can be traded for a top forward.

you have a pretty solid team, with some great forwards.

[ovi42]

agreed; look at this as a solid. You'll have the luxury of having dmen depth while the other guys are scrambling and can make a trade for a top tier forward at some point.

I would take the best player available approach with this and take Briere or Benn. I don't think you can go wrong there. You have a nice line-up; especially for a poorly managed team! good luck!

[newper114]

Henrik Sedin C
Pavel Datsyuk C
Ilya Kovalchuk LW
Jarome Iginla RW
Dustin Brown RW
Mark Streit D
James Wisniewski D
John Carlson D
Carey Price G
Jonathan Quick G

first off you did great with your keepers. not knowing what you dropped is hard to judge but overall still good. your dmen will be in question. wiz on a new team (possible suspension), streit back from injury, carlson behind green but with those stats i wouldnt be worried. dmen have value in your league and if noone kept dmen then they need to waist early picks on them while you dont.

with the goalies you have you can easily wait until the 4th or 5th ground to grab a #3. even a guy like dubynk if not taken will be a great later piece to add as a third insurance goalie but yes make sure you get that 3rd goalie and maybe even a 4th later on.

that is a great list of players. to me i would probably look to draft a LW with that 5th overall but theones your showing i am not sure they are 5th overall worthy picks. but then again i dont think you need to draft a top dman either. i would double check the list of players available. maybe they wont rank in the top 15 with those stats but you might want to draft someone who can get you the most overall points (g,a,SOG, GWG) and worry about the hits and blocks at a different time.

i really like a LW here. if your pick comes up though and hiller wasnt taken i might go with him. he is a star and will add some sick goalie depth for you. i know i said you can wait until later but then saw him and with him you could use him as amazing trade bait to land something AMAZING upfront.

sorry so many options here. you need to judge your team and think what will be best. to me its a LW. like i said hiller is hard to pass up.

[mrgrieves]

Great advice, thanks! I think I was on the right track. I'm not sure that the other guys in my pool value D-men enough to pick up more for trade value. I had my eye on Benn as my first choice if he is still around by 5th pick, otherwise I think I will grab the top forward available (with preference to LW) or Hiller/Halak if they are still around.

[MacLiii]

I think you did fine with your keepers. That being said, if he's available, Benn Should be your first pick off the board from the list you gave. After that, I might actually consider Keith as your number 2. Then probably Briere and the up and coming Kulemin since LW is a need on your list and I think 30 Goals is acheivable again this year with more seasoning under his belt and chemistry with his line mates. Then probably Myers, Phaneuf, Karlsson, Goligoski. Good Luck