It's crazy... but I've actually learned a lot about the NWHL simply from researching for this draft.
I even found the "Ice Garden" site on SB Nation - which looks like the only opinionated/reader sourced area for discussing teams... and listened to one.whole.podcast!
In a Nutshell:
1. The BOSTON PRIDE... are... by far... the NWHL's top team. And they have... by far... the NWHL's top goalie. They'll probably go 5-0 in round-robin play and sweep playoffs, which makes Lovisa Selander good for 7pts via wins + maybe some shutouts. Had I known this in advance of my round 2/3 picks... I would've drafted her with one of those picks. (She was taken with the 2nd pick in round 3, by PenguinHunter - which will end up showing as a great pick). Apparently the Pride traded a bunch of picks to get the #1 overall - and took local Sammy Davis. Question is... how much playing time and points are available for the entire group.
2. The Minnesota Whitecaps and the Metropolitan Riveters are the next two. Last year it was Minnesota, but looks like the Riveters have added some firepower (Babstock) and a goalie (Sonjia Shelly). Slick move by somebody in researching that Shelly had switched from the lowly CT Whale (2 wins last season) to the Rivs. I decided to double up on the 2nd/3rd top Rivs forwards, hopefully that wins me the draft if the Rivs go to the finals. [But taking Selander would've been smarter move with my 2nd/3rd picks]
3. The Buffalo Beauts and the CT Whale bring up the 4th/5th spots. Didn't really want to touch any of these players... but I'm hoping #2 overall pick (CDN: Friesen) gets big ice-time for the Whale. Colton Orr is the coach of the CT Whale!!!
4. The Toronto Six are the expansion team... who traded away the #1 overall pick (Davis) for a stockload of picks. They probably realized that Davis wasn't going to join a team in Canada... and they might as well load up on picks. So... this team should (I believe) be a disaster in the tournament. Even though "Toronto" = Hockey... I think they'll have a serious problem putting up points against more developed teams.
5. Given that goalies are drafted from the top 3 teams... I'm probably punting goalies... I don't see more than 2wins for each of the bottom 3. 2pts, nah. Round9. I missed the boat on the good goalies.