Which lower ranked (dark horse) team has the best chance to go deep?

[everfeb]

Hi guys. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

18 team, 10 players per team, draft, coming up. Skater points...G-1, A-1. Goalie...W-1, SO-1 (individual goalie, not team).
We pick 16th then 21st. By the time our 1st comes around the big guns from most of the top 8 teams will be well picked over.
Some will be left. Historically, the winner of this draft has several players from a team that goes deep into the playoffs.

Would we be better off (a) picking remaining decent players from a couple top 8 teams? OR (b) should we focus on top players from a couple of
dark horse teams. If (b), what dark horse team are you betting on?

Thanks for your thoughts. Will REP who I can.

p.s. This draft has nothing to do with information in my signature.

[tobias]

While it count be a recipe for a very early exit, I kind of like Philadelphia here, if you're looking to predict a first round upset, and ride it deep.

a) People are very high on the Penguins, as they should be. Therefore, the Girouxs, Voraceks, Ghostisbeheres, etc. should be readily available at those picks, and likely when it swings back again. Those are some big time produces had at discount prices in your draft.

b) If Philly can get past Pittsburgh, I wouldn't be as worried about playing Washington/Columbus in the second round as I would be for the Jets/Wild against the Predators, or the Leafs/Bruins/Lightning against the Leafs/Bruins/Lightning.

My other pick is pretty much any of the four teams from the Pacific, where things feel like they truly are up in the air. If people are still hesitant about betting on the Knights, they have a lot of players who could produce points for you. I don't want to disrespect the Kings and their core veteran experience, but they don't feel as daunting to beat as, say, the Penguins, Predators, or Lightning. I'm also not seeing many people making the case for the Kings, Ducks, or Sharks to be Cup favourites, so why not bet on the Knights?

Those would be my two teams. Good luck.

[Eskimo Brother]

While it count be a recipe for a very early exit, I kind of like Philadelphia here, if you're looking to predict a first round upset, and ride it deep.

a) People are very high on the Penguins, as they should be. Therefore, the Girouxs, Voraceks, Ghostisbeheres, etc. should be readily available at those picks, and likely when it swings back again. Those are some big time produces had at discount prices in your draft.

b) If Philly can get past Pittsburgh, I wouldn't be as worried about playing Washington/Columbus in the second round as I would be for the Jets/Wild against the Predators, or the Leafs/Bruins/Lightning against the Leafs/Bruins/Lightning.

My other pick is pretty much any of the four teams from the Pacific, where things feel like they truly are up in the air. If people are still hesitant about betting on the Knights, they have a lot of players who could produce points for you. I don't want to disrespect the Kings and their core veteran experience, but they don't feel as daunting to beat as, say, the Penguins, Predators, or Lightning. I'm also not seeing many people making the case for the Kings, Ducks, or Sharks to be Cup favourites, so why not bet on the Knights?

Those would be my two teams. Good luck.

Those are the same two I ended up targeting in our Dobber draft here on the forums, so I can't fault the logic

[everfeb]

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply and taking the time TOBIAS. Your "recipe for a very early exit" comment is spot on. Several years back we went with most of our team from the lowly seeded Rangers. Think they went out in 4 straight and we ended up out of the pool after the 1st round with the fewest # of points in the history of the pool lol. On the other hand, last year the Preds were last seed in the West, one of the teams in our pool picked almost all Preds and they ran away with 1st. So yea, gotta be lucky to pick right.
Thanks again. Got some some time to mull this over.

[everfeb]

EB, now that the adrenalin rush of the draft is over and you've had a bit of time to reflect about your choices, how you feeling about those 2 teams NOW? I looked at that draft's thread when it was about 1/2 done. I'll have to check it out now and see if I can spot some trends. Thanks for replying.
EDIT: oops, thought I saw a few days ago a list of players on each team in your draft, guess it was some other thread/pool as you guys are still drafting.

Those are the same two I ended up targeting in our Dobber draft here on the forums, so I can't fault the logic

[chuckcouples]

My only NHL playoff pool is to either finish first or dead last. This means that you need to take chances to win it all. With a last 1st round pick, you should have an idea what teams your opponents are targeting. Stay away from those teams and load up on a darkhorse.

This year, I would look at Minnesota. No one will be touching them as they have to beat Winnipeg and Nashville to get to the conference finals. They are also without Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon has missed the past 10+ games.

[Eskimo Brother]

EB, now that the adrenalin rush of the draft is over and you've had a bit of time to reflect about your choices, how you feeling about those 2 teams NOW? I looked at that draft's thread when it was about 1/2 done. I'll have to check it out now and see if I can spot some trends. Thanks for replying.
EDIT: oops, thought I saw a few days ago a list of players on each team in your draft, guess it was some other thread/pool as you guys are still drafting.

I think I would have preferred Preds/ Pens, but I like my odds with what I drafted.