WHL (World Hockey League) - Settings / Inaug.Draft / Discussion

[GoNucks]

I am thinking having 2 number one goalies will be a big advantage in a daily start league, not many teams have two strong #1 goalies. Hoping that being able to start a goalie almost every day should net out a lot of extra points with Anaheim playing on so many "off nights" too. Plus it gives me flexibility to trade one goalie if another team has interest.

[rataylor22]

I am thinking having 2 number one goalies will be a big advantage in a daily start league, not many teams have two strong #1 goalies. Hoping that being able to start a goalie almost every day should net out a lot of extra points with Anaheim playing on so many "off nights" too. Plus it gives me flexibility to trade one goalie if another team has interest.

Agree. Same reason I jumped on Lack.

[GoNucks]

Yes Lack should take over from Ward pretty quickly there, Lack is the real deal and Canucks should not have moved him, he is technically a better goalie then Miller and has a great mentality to play that heavily criticized position.

[newfcollins]

Long post, as I pretty much broke it down pick-by-pick for my team.

My strategy is win-now. It always is, until I'm pretty much out of it during a season. But I really liked my team with the exception of one pick, and a group of guys at the end.

To start, I had the 13th overall pick. I don't go into drafts with a strategy, as I don't like to be tied down to a specific type of player, or a position, or whatever. Just take whoever fits my team best at that point.

So while watching the first 11 picks, I watched Malkin drop. And drop. And drop some more. I was getting very excited about picking him at 13th, as I originally thought I would have no chance for an elite player 13th. But alas, it was not meant to be as McMakeral took him 12th. So I traded one Band-Aid boy for another, and went with Hall, who has twice been a point-per-game player and is now playing with McDavid.

In the second round, I figured there were so many good forwards gone, so when my pick came, I thought a goalie was the best player available. Fleury was the best one left. He's very underrated in pools because of his bad playoff performances. Last year he was the fifth best goalie in our settings, and the Penguins couldn't win in the last 30 days of the season or so. The season before, he was the eighth ranked goalie, and before that was 10th. He's always healthy, plays for a powerhouse team, and should pile up the wins. To have a consistent top-10 goalie in this league is a steal.

After that, my third round, I went with Letang. He's great when healthy, and is worth the risk in my eyes.

At this point, it's always who I think is the best player available or filling needs on my team, but I focused a lot on forwards.

Fourth round: Sharp, playing in Dallas with the likes of Benn, Spezza and Seguin.

Fifth round: Bjustad, great young player who is cap friendly.

Sixth round: Hamilton. Surprised he was still there at this stage, personally.

Seventh round: Krejci. Can be a 70-point guy, and last year was his first injury-plagued season, so I am hoping that was a blip instead of the start of a trend.

Eighth round: Wanted a backup goalie that could be a top goalie in case Fleury goes down. So I went with Craig Anderson, who is a number one goalie in Sens-land. (By the way, this goes against my own personal philosophy of never drafting a Sens or Bruins goalie, as I can't cheer for them to win in real life, so it will conflict with my fantasy squad. I will need to hope for a lot of 50-save, 1-0 shootout losses).

Ninth round: Iginla. Colorado as a whole (MacKinnon, Duchene, etc.) should rebound. He'll benefit.

10th round: Tanner Pearson. Can start the season in the minors for my team, but he's had a good start to his career.

11th: Matt Moulson. Has proven that he can play with a superstar centreman. Now Buffalo has Eichel.

12th: Patrick Eaves. Played with Seguin and Benn last year, averaged 1 fantasy point per game last year. He's my pick for a breakthrough player this season.

13th: Bozak. Someone has to score on Toronto, and he's the team's number one centre.

14th: Chris Neil. My only mistake of the draft. I was thinking like a traditional league for some reason, and was thinking I needed pims and hits. As soon as I made the pick, I remembered it's fantasy points per player, and it doesn't matter how you get them. So it was way too early at this stage for someone like Neil in our setup.

15th-16th: Franzen, Dupuis. Hoping for rebound seasons.

This pretty much settled my forwards for the season. I selected nine prospects and seven defencemen with my next 19 picks.

Prospects: Ho-Sang, Haydn Fleury, Kempe, Pakarinen, Ferraro, Cousins, Garland, Jokipakka, Quine.

Defence: Methot, Hamhuis, Braun, Kindl, Smith, McBain, Cowen.

My other three:

23rd: Greiss. Wanted another goalie for spot starts if needed, and I have no faith in Halak starting more than 55 games.

29th: Grabner. Could be a 20-goal guy, but a bench guy for now.

32nd: Richardson. Just wanted another centre, and he was the best left.

My biggest regret was taking four Sens players. For someone who hates the Sens, I have four too many for my liking.

So a lot of older players, and I'm hoping for a lot of rebound and healthy seasons. But overall, I'm pleased with my squad.

[rainydrinkwater]

I was very surprised at the ratio of teams that went uber young. I was one of the teams drafting for year one contention but I still think I did a decent job of sprinkling some youth in the lineup (team in sig) with guys such as Mackinnon and Dumba and not going overly old, Jagr and Boyle not withstanding.

[Lemmy]

I really like the way my team worked out, I try to never focus too much on planning for these because anything can happen and you lose more players you want than you gain.

The one plan I did try and stick with was try and pick guys close to or coming into there prime but not vets to build around and I feel I did the best I could with such a diverse group of GMs who all know there hockey and had different plans.

My team can compete this season and with minor moves can be competitive without a rebuild for a while. I am excited to get the season started to see if my team is as good as I think.

Thanks for the template Pen.

[GoNucks]

Ya my strategy changed on the fly....after having 3 rounds happen where the guy I wanted went immediately before I picked (Doughty, Spezza, Kadri) my team would have looked much more immediately competitive then long term, and getting those 3 would have influenced me to make different decisions the rest of the way. As it is I am very happy with a team 2-3 years away with a pretty loaded prospect pool coming up too. Adapting on the fly is key in a 24 team draft for sure and was very impressive that there really no bad picks, very knowledgable GMs will make this challenging & fun, looking forward to it!

[InForAPenny]

My strategy more or less was in flux from the beginning. It was such a knowledgeable group of GMs that I found it hard to establish a rhythm as to how late/soon to take some players. Overall I think I'm happy with my team, but we'll see how much I have to change it up. On to my team:

Round 1(22) - I had intended to target wingers in the early draft given scarcity, but PK dropped to me and I figured him for best available (relative to other D)
Round 2(27) - Pacioretty was a target that I considered in the first (before the draft started - gut pick) so was happy to take him in round 2 even though I figured the goalie run would leave me behind
Round 3(70) - Nyqvist, ok the winger plan is back on track. He's been a favourite for a while now and while I would like a shot at winning at some point, I did want some players I could cheer for
Round 4(75) - This was perhaps a reach, but given the length of time before my next pick I didn't think Ehlers would last. I was really high on him half way though his draft year and he's another one to cheer
Round 5(118) - Luongo. I finally joined in selecting a goalie. He should get me some points as Florida likely improves, but I still have a hard time taking a goalie.
Round 6(123) - Dubinsky. I like him for a bounce back and while not a scoring type, in this set up he should score fairly well
Round 7(166) - Happy to see Plekanec sitting there. Plenty of face-offs and a steady point guy
Round 8(171) - My first prospect D. I have a slight addiction to drafting defencemen and am happy I was able to nab Pouliot.
Round 9(214) - Coyle, hopefully he breaks through this year or next. That's my Centers and I'm pretty happy even though there's not really a flashy name
Round 10(219) - Kassian. I hope to hell he actually looks like a motivated player soon or this is a wasted pick. Potential is there, not my favourite pick though
Round 11(262) - Streit. Fills the top D unit with PK for me and should provide some offence for a few years yet
Round 12(267) - R.Murray is a kid I liked coming out of junior and regardless of some pundits knocking him back owing to injuries, I like the gamble that he'll be a good top 4 D
Round 13 & 14 - Picked up B.Connolly and Bailey to round out the wings for me. I like Bailey here and hopefully Connolly puts it together (I might be saying that too much...)
Round 15 & 16 - Milano for the farm for hopefully a skill guy to join and O'Connor for my future in G
Round 17 & 18 - Fehr to the bench and Y.Weber to my D. After a good start with PK, not sure I like Weber in the top 4, but with Bieksa gone there is space on the 2nd PP in Van and he does have a bomb...
Round 19 & 20 - Vesey to the farm and Read to the bench. Trying to get some prospects that are close to being ready and bench players that can slide up and down the line up.
Round 21 & 22 - Alzner to round out my top 4 (rarely misses time although not flashy) and Nosek
Round 23 & 24 - Bolland (as a Canuck fan I still cringe typing his name), but I have cap space and he could be reasonably productive at this point, Sam Morin - hopefully future top 4 all around sort

The remaining rounds I alternated between filling out bench spots and going prospect hunting. I picked up Chad Johnson and Linus Ullmark as I'm not sold on Lehner as a starter so hopefully can pick up some goalie starts there. With the additions of Schmaltz, Vanelli, Mueller, Morin, Murray and Pouliot I think I have a good shot at several top 4 D-men down the road. I may need to pick someone up short term, but will wait and see. At forward I liked picking up Beck as someone's going to get ice time in Toronto, and he at least gets a chance for decent minutes, worth the shot. Trying for a homerun with Malgin in the last (perhaps the scores will just say his name wrong...)

All in all there were a lot of guys I just missed out on by thinking they would make it back to me, but I think my team will be mid-pack perhaps the bottom of the middle the first year with a good shot at being steady in a few years, depending on drafting and prospects improving.

I did think of going old and productive given that I would miss out on the studs at the front of the draft, but my team in my other keeper is built that way and to be honest I wanted to switch it up and have my top end guys entering their primes with nearly there prospects to back them up. Fingers crossed, I look forward to competing with you guys. That was a fantastic draft, with a ton of swearing (at least from my end) and even more enjoyment.

Cheers

C.

[Loch]

These write-ups look like fun!

18 Toews C. The goalies I wanted early were gone, I like the consistency he brings.
31 Johnson C. The cat weighting means scoring is still king, that's what I'm looking for here. Still higher than I like the remaining goalies.

66 Toffoli RW. Well, there was a goalie rush and all that's left are, um, not great. Tyler offers good multi-cat performance and youth at a weak position. Sold.
79 Cam Talbot G. Huh... hitching my wagon to a goal-tending experiment in Edmonton. This'll work just fine! (This is the point at which alcohol consumption started. It lasted nearly 2 weeks.)

114 Doughty D Sweet. Happy with this one.
127 Zibanejad C Speaking of picks I was happy with. Although this means I have 3 C in my first 6 picks, which in no way resembles my original strategy.

162 Burokovsky LW Young, plenty of upside. A lot of drafters going young moves him up in the proverbial draft queue. Hope he pans out.
175 A. Larsson D. Sooo... that just happened. I mean, I think he could be the next Hedman... maybe. But this was a reach, Miller and Luongo were both there as insurance for Gamble Talbot. I need to drink more. Or less.

210/223 Callahan & Palmieri RW Couple of solid multi-cat RWs. Given that RW is usually the weakest forward slot I'm happy to have 3 guys already.
258 Henrique. Drafted as LW, fully aware that he may end up back at C. Wait, this is my 3rd NJ Devil? That can't be righ.... oh, oh dear. Alcohol consumption going back up.

271 Franson. He scores, he hits, he blocks shots, he.... signs a contract? Thank god I'm not sober for this.
306/309 Rychel & Bjorkstrand A couple of (I think) solid forward prospects, who hopefully aren't too far off contributing. Good feelings are no longer purely ethanol based.

354/367 Nesterov & Dvorak More prospects, yay! At this point of the draft it has become clear that decent NHLers are going to last longer than decent prospects. The WHL's new motto is 'we like em young'.
402/415/450 Roussel, Bouma, Gerbe Middle six production ftw! Gerbe and Roussel both suffered from god-awful +/- numbers last year, but there's reason to believe that will turn around. No, that reason is not (exclusively) the fact I've been drunk for days now.

463 Nick Paul There's a lot to like about the youth in Ottawa, and I have high hopes.
498/511 Bieksa/Vlasic. I subscribe to the conventional wisdom of if in doubt, go with the San Jose blueliner nick-named 'Pickles'

546/559/594 B. Boyle, De La Rose & M. Carle. The good, the bad, and the ugly.... plus De La Rose and Carle.

607 Keith Kinkaid Oh God. To be clear, after about round 8 I started actively hating all goalies, my own most of all. This pick is basically me trying to hurt myself. That said, if Talbot fails I am driving to New Jersey and Tonya Harding-ing Schnieder's knee.
Fun fact: someone cursed me in the draft chat for this pick. The only person who should yell at the one drafting Kinkaid is the one drafting Kinkaid.

642/655 Korpikoski & Kruger Just to fill my gaping hole in my bench with the same unsatisfying hollowness that the alcohol is using to fill the hole in my heart. Umm... go team?

Now to the prospects!
690/703 Zach Hyman and Andrew Copp Yep, that'll do. Decent chance of making the show, not too long of a wait (in all likelihood).
738 Robert Hagg If you're gonna draft a Philly d-man and you can't get Streit you really are better off going for one who isn't yet in the NHL

751 Ilya Sorokin Yeah... so this is plan C should Talbot AND Kinkaid fail. Can we restart the draft please?

I finished off with Lindell, Rod, and Lehkonen, in that order... the first two I like, the last one I just faked so that I could roll over an go to bed.


Good times... you no good thieving charlatans!

[SeaDawg]

Great draft, everyone. I'm still busy travelling for work/pleasure, but will be back to the usual grind and at my desk more regularly in September, so I'm looking forward to getting into some trade talk!

[Savvy1982]

So here's where it fell for me -

Pre-draft: Okay, so this is a super-intimidating league, wish the Guide had come out before we started drafting, ran the league settings through FHG, took some deep breaths, went for a run; came up with a strategy: "Okay Savvy, You always take goalies too early, just don't take a goalie in the first round, and you should be fine".

Round One: Carey Price (G): Okay, McDavid and Crosby - thought that's how it would go, then Tavares... Okay. Somebody take Price.... Seriously - this isn't funny. SOMEBODY TAKE PRICE... <Sweats Profusely> Stamkos goes Seventh... ****!... <Drafts Price> <Pours a double Scotch>

Round Two: Ryan Strome Wow - that Snake Draft sure takes a while to get back to me... Ugh... Monahan, Duchene... Dobber has Strome at 21st - right between Johansen and Eichel.... I guess I swing for the fences?

Round Three: Filip Forsberg: Well, after that Strome pick, it appears I'm building for a youth movement - maybe not exactly what I intended, but that's fine. Really like Forsberg, really liked the elder Forsberg. Draft Chat is already talking about Winger scarcity... It's between him or Klngberg.... Sure. Why not?

Round Four: Tyson Barrie: Oh man, Klingberg is still there! I'm gonna get both my top guys! I can't beleive he's lasted 34 picks since my last one! <Brosive Drafts Klingberg immediately before me> ****!!!! Lousy Tyson Barrie..... ****ing stupid Avalanche...

Round Five: Dylan Strome: In for a Penny, in for both the Stromes. Or something. I've been drunk pretty much continuously since that Klingberg pick. I'm making this pick after my third hungover brunch Bloody Mary, while trying to figure out how to mail Anthrax to Brosive...

Round Six: James Van Riemsdyk: Hate the Leafs, don't trust JVR - but damned if he wasn't the best player left on the board. Happy to get him this late.

Round Seven: Travis Hamonic: Possibly my least sexy pick so far, but he's 24, quietly puts up points, Hits, PIMs, and Blocked Shots. He's no John Klingberg, but then, who is?

Round Eight: William Nylander: Hooray! I drafted another Leaf! At least I really like Nylander - the prospects in this pool are going insanely fast!

Round Nine: Jori Lehtera: Okay, this is my first Centre, I kinda need one here - Waiting til the 9th round for a Centre was NOT part of the plan. Make sure he's healthy, make sure he's all set. Yep. Looks good. <15 Minutes Later: Jori Lehtera will miss 6-8 weeks>

Round Ten: Robby Fabbri: Haha what? Really? I took Fabbri in the tenth? I am terrible at fantasy hockey...

Round Eleven: Cam Fowler: Wow - I'm REALLY happy with my D - Klingberg or no, having Barrie/Hamonic/Fowler in a league this deep is pretty damned good... ALMOST makes up for Fabbri in the 10th...

Round Twelve: Scott Darling: Eat it Brosive.

Round Thirteen: Brett Ritchie: Wait... I think that was supposed to be Nick Ritchie? <Sees Nick Ritchie get drafted 3 picks later> Sigh... ****...

Round Fourteen: J.T Miller: : ...and with Jori Lehtera hurt, the notoriously low-scoring Rangers' 3C is my best Centre option... <Cries a single tear>

Round Fifteen: Brandon Pirri: Actually kinda like Pirri there. He counts as a Centre too... God knows I need help down the middle...

Round Sixteen: Michael Raffl: Please play with Giroux, pleases play with Giroux, please play with Giroux...

Round Seventeen: Alec Martinez: Again, not a bad 4D for this team, loving my (sadly Klingbergless) Defence.

Round Eighteen: Ty Rattie: Sure - Lets just take ALL the Blues prospects...

Round Ninteen: Dustin Tokarski: I'm not getting Brosive'd - Better take the handcuff - probably too early, but better safe than sorry.

Round Twenty: Oliver Kylington:: Kylington is still there ten rounds after DeAngelo was taken? I'll take it.

Round Twenty One: Johnathan Marchessault: Undersized high-scoring AHL players ALWAYS translate well to the NHL. Right? RIGHT???

Round Twenty Two: Colton Sceviour: Damn. The RWs thta are left are GRIM....

Round Twenty Three: Brendan Lemieux: I have no internet, I'm trying to do research on my phone... Don't want to hold up the draft... Isn't Claude Lemieux's kid a prospect? I think so... Sure, let's go with that...

Round Twenty Four: Niklas Hjalmarsson: Still happy with my D - Hjalmarsson might not be a sexy pick, but he looks like he'll be somewhat valuable in this league.

Round Twenty Five: Tobias Lindberg: Picked him out of the Prospects Guide - Literally never heard of this guy before.

Round Twenty Six: Trevor Lewis: Well, the farm team's pretty much full - Time to start picking awful, awful roster filler so I have something to put on the ice...

Round Twenty Seven: John Mitchell: Just 13 rounds after I "stole" the Rangers 3C, I snag the Avs 3C. This team is going to be a dumpster fire...

Round Twenty Eight: Sebastian Collberg : No prospect quite like a bust prospect to round out the farm team...

Round Twenty Nine: Vernon Fiddler: Sigh... Vernon Fiddler... So it's come to this...

Round Thirty: Kyle Clifford: Between Clifford and Lewis, I've got 2/3 of the King's 4th line! Hooray!

Round Thirty One: Jordie Benn: Remember all those nice things I said about my defence? Jordie Benn will be a starter for me. Pretty much undoes all the good work...

Round Thirty Two: Braydon Coburn: I seriously have no memory of drafting Braydon Coburn.... Did this really happen?

Round Thirty Three: Roope Hintz: Apparently he plays for Dallas? Haha... Roope...

Round Thirty Four: Mark Jankowski: Still available in the 34th round of this nightmare. That's a strong scouting team you've got there Calgary. Great use of a first round pick!

Round Thirty Five: Drew Miller: It's over! Thank God it's over!

[Pit Bulls]

Great read Savvy...I think this draft pushed us all toward more than a few cold ones!

[InForAPenny]

That's a great write up Savvy. It’s great when you start laughing in the lunch room and people just look at you. Thanks for that.

[GoNucks]

That is fantastic, simply fantastic write up haha.

[havanablast21]

Awesome Saavy!