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Thread: Draft strategy in a new league

  1. #1
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    Default Draft strategy in a new league

    Just joined a league with the following settings:

    1 yr 12 team H2H categories league
    Counting G, A, PPP, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW, W, GAA, SV%, SO

    2 C, 2 LW, 2 RW, 4 D, 2 G, 2 Util, 4 Bench

    Never played in a league counting FOW, Blks, or with Util spots.

    Using Dom's spreadsheet, almost all the top players by VORP are centers.

    I'm used to prioritizing wingers but with FOW and 2 Util position should I focus on elite centers at the start of the draft?

    Are Util spots always occupied by forwards? Would it make sense to roster 5 defencemen to win blocks?

    Any other draft strategies I should consider with these settings?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Draft strategy in a new league

    1st Rule: MOST Important: H2H Playoffs.
    To move on in H2H Playoffs, you need to beat your opponent by winning half+ categories. You have 11 categories: 7 skater cats, 4 goalie cats. If you take all skater cats, you win. Period. Most important rule of fantasy H2H leagues. Don't forget it.
    And, if you take 6-7 H2H categories weekly, you'll make playoffs.

    2nd Rule: The highest stat-count categories are most dependable to win every week: SOG, HIT, BLK, FOW. That's 4 cats off the bat. If you target these, you'll win them... but... that said...

    3rd Rule: Do NOT overinvest in Hits, Blks. These cats are ALWAYS on the wire. You can add a guy for HIT, BLK, if you need them... which means...

    4th Rule: Draft OFFENSE, OFFENSE, OFFENSE: G, A, PPP, SOG, FOW. These are the categories you draft, go heavy, heavy on these categories.

    5th Rule: When in doubt, get FOW from a wing-eligible player. FOW-heavy-C players are important, but a team that has 1000-800 from 2C can get beat by a team that has 700-600 from 2C and a 600 FOW-guy slotted on their wing. Yes? So, this makes Leon Draisaitl, far and away, the #2 pick in FOW leagues. (McDavid still #1, don't ever overthink that).

    6th Rule: Where Util - those should be used for forward slots... and most often, get FOW from them - so usually centers.

    7th Rule: Don't care too much about goalies. Most leagues have a minimum # of starts per week required from goalies. Get that minimum, pray you win GAA, SV%. SO will be a 0-0 tie most weeks, so don't worry about it. Drafting high-end goalie for Wins and SO is biggest mistake teams make in H2H. Wins is ONE CAT. And every goalie shits the bed from week-to-week. On bad outing from a good goalie and you are toast in GAA, SV% that week... which is why goalies just don't pay off in H2H.

    8th Rule: GP Maximizing is advanced-strategy you want to master sooner rather than later. 4starts from a 60pt player is more output than 3starts from a 75pt player. Don't forget this. So, when you are rostering players for the near future... do think about how many games you can get out of that player. If you can get a player playing 6gp in the next 10nights... do it, that's great... Better than another player doing 4gp in those 10nights.

    9th Rule: Save a transaction for Sunday - the last day of standard weekly H2H matches. Scratch and claw for every category you can take by end of Sunday. This is the difference between making & missing playoffs with an "average" roster. And hey, injuries happen - and maybe your league drafted better players. I assure you, you can make playoffs with an inferior roster. I've done it for years in some leagues simply by winning the cats I can with trying to target a category on Sat/Sun at end of H2H week.


    That's it.
    As a rule of thumb, in these leagues, I'm drafting forwards in 6/8 rounds to start. 1D, 1 solid G. Don't draft a goalie in first 4 rounds.
    Draft your D at the end of the draft for HIT/BLK... and get guys who play a lot of games in your first two weeks of H2H matches.
    Use two roster spots to swap guys out with good GP density, usually those HIT/BLK D. They're almost always on the wire, somewhere, somehow.
    Then swap those guys out throughout the season.
    Don't get too attached to your full roster - because then you can't stream guys in.

    Summary:
    Offense heavy. Good SOG,HIT,BLK,FOW team. Scratch and claw for category wins on Sat/Sun.
    Disregard the feeling that you "need" a good goalie, you do.not.
    Do that, you'll be a winner. I guarantee.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Draft strategy in a new league

    I don’t even play H2H, but I can recognize that Penguin is blowing minds and taking names. I’ll be leaving him REP just for being awesome!
    12 Team Keep 6: G/A:1 W/SO:2
    C - McDavid, Matthews, Schiefele
    LW - Draisaitl, Fiala, Meier
    RW - ​​Marner, Barzal, Zuccarello
    D - Dahlin, Morrissey, Dunn, Matheson
    G - Skinner
    B - Marchessault, Caufield, Teravainen, McCann, Montour, Jones, Saros

    12 Team Keep 10 (& 5 Minors)
    : G/A/OTL:1 W:2 SO:3
    '24 Picks (16 Rounds) - 1,1,1,1,1,2,2,3,3,3,5,5,6,6
    F - ​McDavid, Rantanen, Point, Aho, Nylander, M. Tkachuk, Guentzel, MacKinnon, Pavelski, Duchene, Farabee, Henrique
    D - Bouchard, Dobson, Matheson, Andersson, Letang
    G - Vasilevskiy, Markstrom
    B - Joseph, Schenn, Nyqvist, Roslovic, Duclair, S. Jones, Korpisalo, Quick, Rittich
    M - Cooley, Michkov, Rossi, Hutson, Mateychuk

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Draft strategy in a new league

    Quote Originally Posted by Rockies & Hockeys View Post
    I don’t even play H2H, but I can recognize that Penguin is blowing minds and taking names. I’ll be leaving him REP just for being awesome!
    100% agree with this sentiment. Follow Peng's advice and you'll be a contender!

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