Re: Byram for 1st pick
Typically I am inclined to go with the player who is further along the development curve than the ones who are not IF the level of talent is somewhat similar. However, in this case, as others have already stated, this is all about opportunity and unfortunately for Byram he is currently buried in the Avs system and it sure seems like that is not about to change anytime soon unless he is traded. So that's a concern. I don't think any of the top ranked D in this years draft are better than Byram. That said, there are some damn good prospects here and I'm not at all certain Byram is significantly more talented and has higher upside than a few of these guys. Others may not agree, but I am high on Power. You cannot help but be impressed with his body of work in this years Worlds. Clearly Coach Gallant was. Simply put, Power demonstrated that he could take on big minutes and play a key role on the World stage playing with the big dogs (ya watered down a bit, but still, I think you get the point). In short, I think Power is a player than can significantly shorten the NHL learning curve and be fantasy relevant in 2 years. Again, my opinion only, but I'd rather take my chances on Power making his mark in a relatively short time period rather than waiting for something to "break" for Byram to be afforded a similar opportunity.
So, to specifically answer the question, I'm holding that first overall. I'd probably draft Power with that pick (:
14 Team Roto; Keep 25; 12 F, 6 D, 2 G; 10 Farm; 5 Bench; 5 IR;
Salary Cap - 102.5 Mil
Scoring Cats: G, A, Pts, PIM, Hits, BS, SOG, F Points, D Points; Win+Ties+SO, GAA, SV%
Keepers
F: Aho, Larkin, DeBrincat, Vrana, Bennett, Scheifele, Kakko,Tolvanen, McBain,
D: Heiskanen, Fox, Toews, Lundqvist
G: Swayman, Andersen, Copley
Drops
F: Gaudreau, Terravainen, Puljujarvi, Kravstov, Zary
D: Brannstrom, Cernak, Alexeyev
G: Korpisalo, Merzlikins
FARM: Rossi, Berggren, Holtz, Savoie, Clarke, Tarasov, Wolf