2021 Dobber Expert Stanley League

[zaz2712]

This was my first time in the Expert league and I could see the difference right away! I knew I would have to reach for some of the players I wanted but got burned several times. Live and learn, I guess. Having the 3rd overall pick meant I was going to wait a while between picks and I let opportunities pass on some players because of that.
Going into the draft my plan was to get at least 2 starters on good teams in the early rounds and try to handcuff the tandem to try and max goalie GP. At least I managed that with the PHI and BOS tandems.

1. (3) Leon Draisaitl (EDM, C/LW) - MacKinnon went 1st, I've considered Ovechkin, but opted for Draisaitl in the end.

2. (22) Carter Hart (PHI, G) - As I saw the high workload goalies slowly getting off the board, I decided to go with Hart, I prefer is situation to Andersen and Price. I also considered Guentzel there for his multicat coverage, but I was worried all three goalies would be picked by my next turn. As it turns out, Yellow Dogs picked him right after my pick...

3. (27) Victor Hedman (TB, D) - I like to draft a top D in the early rounds

4. (46) Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA, LW) - There Miller, Pacioretty, Schenn, M. Tkachuk, Rantanen, Landeskog are all in my queue only to see them snatched before my pick... So I opted for Huberdeau, a bit light on hits but one of the top PPP players over the last few years.

5. (51) Tukka Rask (BOS, G) - My plan was to have two goalies by the 6th round. With all the high workload goalies gone, I chose Rask, which I think will offer the best stats if I can handcuff Halak (which I did). I've considered Shesterkin and Samsonov there but with 12GP and 26GP respectively, I felt safer with Rask.

6. (70) Dylan Larkin (DET, C) - With Schenn, Meier, Connor off the board I go for Larkin which I think will rebound A little concern about +/- here, but it should be better than last season.

7. (75) Ivan Provorov (PHI, D) - I wanted a D here, Seth Jones was taken and has he was the D I felt was the less likely to make it to my next pick.

8. (94) Filip Forsberg (NSH, LW) - In retrospec, I am not sure about this pick... Maybe I should have gone with Pulock, Petry, Wilson or Hoffman (which I did not realized was still on the board until he was picked after my 9th round pick). I hope he can rebound a little from last season, he's still shooting and providing decent hits.

9. (99) Anders Lee (NYI, LW) - My plan was to get two of Pulock, Petry, Marchessault, Palmieri, Lee. Got Lee at 9th, underated player and good value at the 100 pick limt I think.

10. (118) Kyle Palmieri (NJ, RW) - See above. Got two wingers providing both goals and hits.

11. (123) Charlie McAvoy (BOS, D) - Good across the board production, maybe I should have waited another round... I left good value on the board in Kaprizov, Fiala and Kreider...

12. (142) Alexander Radulov (DAL, LW/RW) - With Kaprizov, Fiala and Kreider gone, went with Radulov.

13. (147) Jaroslav Halak (BOS, G) - I wanted to have two goalie tandem and was starting to worry Halak would be picked up soon. First team goalie handcuff, done.

14. (166) Anthony Cirelli (TB - C) - Good value at this point in the draft. Completely forgot about Suzuki there, which was taken a few picks after.

15. (171) Tyler Bertuzzi (DET - LW/RW) - Happy with that pick there. I see him improve his numbers (if the +/- can improve as well)

16. (190) Alex Edler (VAN, D) - Does not produce offesively as he used to, but still provides decent numbers in every cats.
17. (195) Evgenii Dadonov (OTT, LW/RW) - Not a sexy pick, decent numbers, a bit light on hits, but should be on PP1 in OTT.
18. (214) John Marino (PIT, D) - I was hoping Cernak, Buchnevich or Anderson would slide to my pick but they didn't. Went with Marino, hopefully he can build on last season.
19. (219) Roope Hintz (DAL, C/LW) - Decent Hit production, dual position and I see him improve his numbers.
20. (238) David Krejci (BOS, C) - Needed a 4th C and I felt it was the best option at that point.
21. (243) Esa Lindell (DAL, D) - Across the board contributor.
22. (262) Brian Elliot (PHI, G) - Philly goalie handcuff
23. (267) Jared Studnicka (BOS, C) - Projected to be on first line with Bergeron and Marchand until Pastrnak returns (I see this morning he his N/A... Couldn't find any info...)
24. (286) Jonathon Quick (LA, G) - Fifth goalie to make sure I can max out goalie GP.
25. (291) Olli Maatta (LA, D) - Projected to play with Doughty, plenty of TOI to go around and might result in more secondary assists and hits.

Overall, for a first time in the expert league, I think I did OK. I think I might be in the lower tier in G and SOG, but hopefully my goalies will allow me to avoid relegation. Lesson of the day: REACH for the players you want in this league.

My team: Give 'Em enough Roope
C: Draisaitl (C/LW), Larkin, Cirelli, Krejci, Studnicka
LW: Huberdeau, Forsberg, Lee, Hintz (C/LW)
RW: Palmieri, Radulov, (LW/RW), Dadonov (LW/RW), Bertuzzi (LW, RW)
D: Hedman, Provorov, McAvoy, Edler, Marino, Lindell, Maatta
G: Hart, Rask, Halak, Elliot, Quick

[horrorfan]

I didn't realize until after draft that I didn't even draft 4 forwards with center eligibility... I have three!
So if you see a decent positional swap - let me know. I'd prefer to have at least 5 at each F position to balance same-night play.

I also forgot (totally!) to consider same-night-goalie play.
My 3 goalie tandems (CAR, WAS, MIN) don't jive great... so considering offloading one tandem.

Not sure if you are interested at all in those two items.

Ok thanks for letting me know. I'll take a look. Feel free to do the same.

[duntroon68]

I drafted this team on my phone while trying to put my kid to bed. I like the Yahoo phone app for drafting just fine but you have limited access to information because all of the information is on different screens and the list of available players you can see is just shorter. I like to use my computer with my draft list on paper and my phone and tablet available to quickly check news or stats, if I have any questions. Weirdly, the phone might have been helpful. I was still lugging my list around but I had limited opportunities to check it. Ultimately, you are only drafting 25 players and sometimes you are trying to get them as late as possible. You draft players you don’t really want while hoping to get the guys you do want later. Then someone else reaches for them and you miss out. I wound up just taking guys because I knew I wanted them without any real knowledge of what round I was even in, once we were past the 7^th.

My plan, such as it was, was to keep shots and hits in mind. Draft points and shots in the first 3- 5 rounds. Get shooty-hitty D, hopefully with PP time. Draft a lot of late back up goalies. Try not to draft early goalies. For simplicity's sake, I totaled players’ shots and hits and referenced that number. Any numbers I mention will be an 82 game pace.

I find that I drafted either players that were really good last year and so, I completely trust that they will be at least as good this year or they were really bad last year but were good before so, they must be due to bounce back. Mix in some younger players that will clearly get better and some ‘Meh?’ What I mean is that I have reasons to like them all but I am aware that I could be really wrong.


Yellow Dogs

1. (2) Connor McDavid (Edm - C) I would have taken McDavid over MacKinnon. I am not convinced that would be correct but I feel that McDavid’s point upside is higher.

2. (23) Jake Guentzel (Pit - LW,RW) I was hoping for Guentzel here but I wasn’t expecting it. Guentzel checks all my boxes. Paced for 90 points, 267 shots and 97 hits last year.

3. (26) Patrick Kane (Chi - RW) I have drafted first overall twice in this league and I find there is always a player that slides to the 2-3 turn because people are moving up goalies, D or hits. I have never drafted Kane and wasn’t planning on it this time but he is exactly what I was hoping would fall to me here. 90+ points and 300+shots.

4. (47) Kyle Connor (Wpg - LW) I was thinking about Connor here ahead of time. I never felt sniped in this draft. Horrorfan was auto-drafting inside my two picks but I cannot recall one time that he took the player I wanted on the way back. Many players that I wanted were taken but they were never really surprises and they tended to happen at the other end of the snake. The player I would have taken here if he had lasted four more picks would have been Lehner. Otherwise, Tavares, Hall, Malkin, M. Tkachuk, but I wasn’t expecting any of them to be available. Connor is 24 and paced for 84 points and 276 shots last year.

5. (50) Kris Letang (Pit - D) I am a sucker for the good pace, injury risk guys. Hall, Malkin, Letang: every time. Letang has a three year 82 game pace of 64 points, 249 shots and 142 hits. He sneaks in some PIMs and decent blocks if you are counting those, as well. Well after the fact, I have regretted not taking RNH. I think, like others do, that he might score a lot this year.

6. (71) Neal Pionk (Wpg - D) I had a short list of D that can hit and shoot. Everyone likes these guys and I wanted more than my fair share. I took Pionk simply because he was earlier in the Yahoo rankings, hoping the other guys would last longer. It’s been pointed out that he may have room to be better than last year.

7. (74) Juuse Saros (Nsh - G) Last year, I tried to take a lot of backups who were closer to tandems than the rankings would have you believe. This year, most of those are ranked a lot higher. I suddenly thought I needed a goalie and Saros was the one that I saw. I have no good nor bad feelings about him. Nashville plays a lot of low scoring teams and Saros might see a higher proportion of starts than some taken later.

8. (95) Ryan Pulock (NYI - D) D who shoots and hits. Some other options I might have taken are long gone and others are still out there. Pulock might see more PP time this year as well with Toews gone.

9. (98) Jeff Petry (Mon - D) D who shoots and hits. Hopefully, I’m typing that six times. Petry has been manning the point on the same PP as Weber in a shooting role. 204 hit and 182 shot pace last year.

10. (119) Pierre-Luc Dubois (Cls - C) I was looking at my team and noticed that I had one centre. There are lots of wingers I would be happy with later on but centre is not as deep as people think, IMO. I know PLD hits and I know he was showing off in the playoffs, giving hope this could be a big year. This is a pick that I was happier about after the draft than while I was making it during.

11. (122) Anthony Mantha (Det - LW,RW) I really wanted Mantha and I keep missing out. I was busy reading bedtime stories at this point and decided to just take him. I had no idea what round it was. 72 point, 93 hit, 261 shot pace last year. Glad to have him.

12. (143) Jaden Schwartz (StL - LW) When I chuck players into a queue, I mostly do it to keep them in mind. I’ll run down the player list and click all the interesting names and then pick from the short list for a while. I don’t organise it very often. Most of the time the top names are all the late round guys that are down in the 900’s that I have tracked down before the draft starts. Which is to say, Schwartz was in my queue. I was running out of time. I am not sure if I accidentally hit the “Draft” button while trying to scroll or if I timed out but I didn’t mean to draft him. Still, he paces for 55 points, 200 shots and 70 hits and that’s fine.

[duntroon68]

13. (146) Vincent Trocheck (Car - C) I wasn’t really happy about the range of centre options available to me and Trocheck is exactly the kind of player I will keep drafting. This year, he is settled in in Carolina and is starting off as 2C with Svech on his wing and number one PP time. At his best, he is a hitting, shooting monster. Worth a try.

14. (167) Sergei Bobrovsky (Fla - G) Florida plays a bunch of low scoring teams. Bob’s contract gives him leash. Last year, everyone thought he was a first round pick. I am not confident but I’m hoping for mediocre volume and praying for a Vezina.

15. (170) Colton Parayko (StL - D) The D I am happy with are running out. Ellis, Muzzin and Spurgeon were just drafted. I had been looking at my last two empty D spots for five rounds.

16. (191) Blake Coleman (TB - LW,RW) I honestly thought he’d go sooner so I hadn’t really considered getting him. He lacks points but he paced for a combined 485 shots and hits last year. He lost some TOI in Tampa but the playoffs gives me hope that he might get some more time. Hopefully, some Tampa +/- magic as well. I just wasn’t sure where I was sitting in shots and hits and I hoped that my first four picks points could support this pick.

17. (194) Jakob Chychrun (Ari - D) One of my last emergency D picks. 194 shot, 98 hit pace last year. He’s young but about the right age to break out. The team wants OEL gone. There is a chance he’s really good. Or he gets 40 points, 200 shots and 100 hits and I am fine with that. Injuries willing.

18. (215) Brock Nelson (NYI - C) I found myself sweating this one. I would have taken him 21 picks earlier but I wanted to finish off defence. He was good last year. I spent a bunch of FAB on him and was happy with it. I was happy to get him here.

19. (218) Tanner Pearson (Van - LW) He’ll get you 50ish points and 300 shots and hits. Essentially, holding his own.

20. (239) Casey DeSmith (Pit - G) The next five picks are all the same. Backup goalies with a chance to steal some time from the starter. I buy a bunch of lottery tickets here. If one hits than I don’t have to spend $30 in FAB to pick him up. Jarry is no sure thing and Pittsburgh is still a good team.

21. (242) Calvin Petersen (LA - G) Might be the starter already. LA can’t score but doesn’t give up much either.

22. (263) Alexandar Georgiev (NYR - G) Shesterkin has work load concerns.

23. (266) Jack Campbell (Tor - G) Andersen was shaky last year and a lame duck contract this year. At the very least, they are likely lightening his load. One note, the point has been made that the North division will be high scoring because the defences are poor. This seems to have translated into “don’t draft Canadian goalies because the division is high scoring.” But the division is high scoring not so much because of the offences as the defences. If you were willing to risk the defences and take a goalie in another scenario than you should be willing to risk them now.

24. (287) Jake Oettinger (Dal - G) One hurt goalie and another 34 year old with no starting resume are ahead of him. He's on a good defensive team playing against poor teams in general.There’s a chance Oettinger sees some crease.

25. (290) Craig Smith (Bos - RW) Paces for 40 points, 220 shots and 77 hits in the last three years. There are opportunities in Boston to move up if younger guys can’t do it.

My preliminary feeling is that the skaters are OK and who ever knows about the goalies. That feeling is based upon some very rudimentary math and my gut. I rarely felt sniped. HF taking the Pekka Rinne handcuff was probably my grumpiest moment, just because I really thought he’d fall to me. Every other guy I lost, I completely expected to lose and I cannot think of one time that someone was taken the turn before mine.

[Invictus]

Oh man, I totally gap'd out and forgot about fantasy hockey league starting. My yahoo isn't monitored and end of December and January I'm super busy and not ever had to draft in January.
Really sad to miss out this wacky year.
Hope you guys have a blast sorting out all the curveballs this season may bring!

[horrorfan]

I've updated posts 2 & 3 with the draft results.

[duntroon68]

I've updated posts 2 & 3 with the draft results.

Thank you. I do not know what I’m doing wrong but I keep being told I have like 24,000 characters and I’m limited to 10,000. Even if I try to post half the draft.

[horrorfan]

Early days but it's been a decent start for my squad. Of course, after I say this I'll go into free fall ha! I should've asked for a standings update for the brief time I was in first!

[Eskimo Brother]

I've been bouncing around from 2nd to 10th for the last week, it's still early and very close!

[horrorfan]

I've been bouncing around from 2nd to 10th for the last week, it's still early and very close!

Yep, and I expect it to fluctuate for awhile yet given the condensed schedule.

[tweetdrivr]

It's been amazing to me the day to day shifts in the standings in all my roto leagues. Very tight and lots of big gains and drops.

[horrorfan]

It's been amazing to me the day to day shifts in the standings in all my roto leagues. Very tight and lots of big gains and drops.

Yeah, of course when it's early it does that but this season it's going to be even more given the condensed schedule, missed games etc. Going to be a very unpredictable and interesting season in fantasy leagues.

[horrorfan]

Not sure if commish will be doing these but here's a quick, unformatted standings' update (yesterday):

1 Yellow Dogs 78.5
2 Last Resort 75
3 Samson's Mullet 70.5
4 Let The Reit ONe IN 66
5 Give'Em Enough Roope 59
6 Le KopiTzar 58.5
7 It's Grub Hour! 58
8 Lord of the Rinks 55.5
9 CCCF 55
10 Drake's Bathhouse 48
11 Greiss Burns Hertl 42
12 Skinner Jeans 36

[horrorfan]

Round 1
1 Nathan MacKinnon(Col - C) Let the Reit ONe IN (horrorfan)
2 Connor McDavid(Edm - C) Yellow Dogs (duntroon68)

So... this was clearly the wrong choice!

Oh well.

[duntroon68]

Thanks. I’ve meant to do that. It’s just that Temek was leading until a couple of days ago.

I drafted second in two Best Balls and this league. I picked McDavid in all three. MacKinnon has played fewer games. He’s 9th overall on a per game basis and only 3 first round picks are ahead of him.

When you pick McDavid, you think you’re getting points but giving up some shots and a lot of hits. This year, he’s pacing for 315 shots and 89 hits over 82 games. Honestly, one of the highlights of my winter.