Inaugural draft

[pumpkinxyz]

Joining a new league and we will have our inaugural draft soon.

Not all details are known yet, but it will be a keeper points only cap league. We should be 6-7 GMs so would love to know what your 7-14 first picks would be to cover the first 2 rounds!? If positions are simply Fs, Ds and Gs, what position would you try to fill in the first few rounds?

I'm currently in 1 similar league running 4 years, and the first year I drafted last out of 7 GMs in a snake draft and got Crosby and Holtby followed with Josi in round 3. So 1 at each position and that played out pretty good. What would your strategy be?

Thanks!

[5hole]

Honestly , with only 7 GM's just take the best player available...lol

[pumpkinxyz]

Honestly , with only 7 GM's just take the best player available...lol

It's a cap league. The best player option isn't necessarily the best player available. For example it's been a debate I've seen a few times on these boards... who do you pick 1st oa? McDavid or MacKinnon? EBs capped list also has Makar as the #1 guy to own in a cap league.

Asking people for their top 7 to 14 in a new cap keeper to see if there is a clear consensus or not.

[Eskimo Brother]

Makar is the number one value, but not the guy you draft first as you could get him later, and his value is heavily focused in year one (before he re-signs).

Top 14 (not in a specific order)
MacKinnon
Draisaitl
Pastrnak
Kucherov
McDavid
Barkov
Huberdeau
EP40
Lafreniere
Svechnikov
Hamilton
Makar
Hughes
Dahlin

Rounding out the top 20 (again no specific order)
Marchand
Crosby
Vas
Hart
Shesterkin
Scheifele

[als_revenge]

What makes this hard to answer is not knowing your strategy going into this.

Most managers over focus on youth with new dynasty drafts, with a heavy focus that seems to be 3 years down the road.

Others draft to win in year 1, and find great value in older/established players.

For me, picking between McDavid and MacKinnon in a cap, points only pool depends on whether I'm trying to win in year 1 or 2, or take the "I'll have a dynasty team for 10 years approach"

FWIW, I usually try to win right off the bat.

[pumpkinxyz]

Thanks EB. Appreciate the input and I think that's about how I see things. Depending on what position I draft, my instinct is to draft one of MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Pastrnak or Huberdeau. Great contracts with still a few years term. After that I think I'd lean towards McDavid or EP40. If I draft McDavid I'd probably scramble to get one of the cheap contract options to balance out in the second round (Makar, Q. Hughes etc.)

@als_revenge : My strategy is to try and win every single season. I am in a similar league with 7 GMs and I don't think you ever need to do a full rebuild as there are always good players available from year to year (although new league will be a bit deeper). I've always tried to adapt my strategy depending on how others draft and think knowing your league is the most important thing year to year but not applicable in a new league with new GMs.

[stevegamer]

When will you know the format?

I agree with the never rebuilding concept, unless you take over a team that is complete crap

[pumpkinxyz]

When will you know the format?

I agree with the never rebuilding concept, unless you take over a team that is complete crap

Should know the format this week...I hope. Its a new league so not taking over a crap team.

Reason i'm asking about 7-14 player strategy is it's kinda new for me. Been in a keeper league 4 years (+ 3 years testing concept) with real life friends, but this is a new league with people I don't know so don't know quite what to expect.

[Pengwin7]

In most cap leagues - and where the waiver wire is always full - you can use a High/Low theory to balance your cap.
McDavid is my #1. (and yes, this includes Draisaitl at $8.5m)

Allocate $14m, say to a group of 3 players.
$12.5m McDavid
$0.7m WaiverWireHotStreaker
$0.7m WaiverWireHotStreaker

Because you only have 7gms, there will be good discount players on the waiver wire CONSTANTLY.
There will constantly be ELC rookies you can churn into spots.

If you told me the roster was 20 players and $100m... I'm taking the top 7-8 players in NHL, statistically... even if it brings me to $90m.
I'll patch in 12-13 ELC/waiver players... there's tons of these guys, constantly coming in/coming up.

One thing you definitely don't have to worry about in 7-team league: Goalies.
Soon to be 32 team NHL has WAY enough goalies for you, so just stream them in as you see a good match-up.

IDK... for me... cap leagues just don't work at 10-teams or less.
The best cap leagues have lots of teams so that you really, really feel that cap crunch.

[Magicstew]

7 teams and McDavid on board - I pick him, he may explode for 150+

[stimperi]

We did

Pos	Team	Player	Pk	Ov	Type
F		Nathan MacKinnon - COL	1	1	LS
G		Andrei Vasilevskiy - TB	2	2	LS
F		Leon Draisaitl - EDM	3	3	LS
F		Connor McDavid - EDM	4	4	LS
F		Auston Matthews - TOR	5	5	LS
F		Nikita Kucherov - TB	6	6	LS
G		Connor Hellebuyck - WPG	7	7	LS
F		Sebastian Aho - CAR	8	8	LS
F		David Pastrnak - BOS	9	9	LS
F		Brady Tkachuk - OTT	10	10	LS
F		Andrei Svechnikov - CAR	11	11	LS
F		Elias Pettersson - VAN	12	12	LS
G		Carter Hart - PHI	13	13	LS
F		Jack Eichel - BUF	14	14	LS

[pumpkinxyz]

We did

Wow I'm surprise Vasilevskiy went so high in a cap league. What are the goalie cats counted?

I'm with Pengwin7 when it comes to goalies. I tend to wait on them especially since we're seeing less and less quantity starts and more time shares.

[pumpkinxyz]

League setup has been determined. It's a weekly head to head counting G=1, A=1, Pts, +/- and save %

Have never played head to head or anything with +/- and save%. How much adjustment should I expect compared to a yearly pure points only league?

Does it change player value much? (I'd expect the +/- to affect somewhat. Someone like Hronek comes to mind.)

[Eskimo Brother]

Don't bother accounting much for +/-. You can bump some players up or down a few slots if they're on the top or bottom 5 teams, but that's about it. It seems dumb to have it included, but I guess that's not the question

Even worse though is only having sv% for goalies. Draft Jaro Halak and Chris Dreidger and you have the best tandem in the league.

[pumpkinxyz]

Don't bother accounting much for +/-. You can bump some players up or down a few slots if they're on the top or bottom 5 teams, but that's about it. It seems dumb to have it included, but I guess that's not the question

Even worse though is only having sv% for goalies. Draft Jaro Halak and Chris Dreidger and you have the best tandem in the league.

My reaction exactly when I saw rules. Asked are we really counting +/- ??? And are we not counting wins (and SO)?

I've been looking a while for a league to join so guess I can't be toi picky. Haha

Checked the boards but apparently everyone plays cats leagues these days