Inaugural Draft Strategy

[Blues_fan1000]

in a keep 5 im not sure i'd be choosing hughes or laffy super early in the draft as you'll likely still have to wait a few years for them to payoff. mackinnon took about what 4-5 years to break through?

if you always go young youll never compete and keep looking out the outside of the playoffs. its easy to rebuild in a limited keeper. draft the best team, mix of young and old, and if you are on the outside looking in come playoff time, sell your assets for picks and youll be set up for the following season. no need for lengthy rebuilds here

[Invictus]

Sorry what I meant was the point difference of 118 seemed really low.

[saucelife90]

Seems like you are confusing my pieces of advice.
Sorry I stopped in to try to help.
I'll see myself out.

If I'm confusing your advice, that's on me. I thought I understood what you meant which is why I calculated the point projections for the replacement level player. Your advice has me straying away from my initial thoughts of drafting D early because it looks like the gap isn't as big as I expected. The G gap however, I think, solidifies my thoughts of its being an important position to lock down early. So thank you.

Sorry what I meant was the point difference of 118 seemed really low.

Ahhhh sorry, yeah I thought so too tbh. FWIW, Carlson was projected #1 with 283 & Orlov was #49 @ 165 points.

[skinnypete88]

4 moves/week.



I hear you P7, but you can't stream QBs in the sense that you can play 3-4 a week and capitalize on those massive point totals. If you could, I almost guarantee those RBs plummet in the draft while QBs are all taken before round 8. In this scenario you can.

Projected Point Difference from 1 to replacement player is as follows.
C - 211
LW - 178
RW - 152
D - 118
G - 192

Pengwin7's point about relative difference is that yes the goalies put out massive point totals, but the relative difference of Vasilevksy to the goalie you can stream off the waiver wire is less than the difference between McDavid and the best available centre on the waiver wire.

It falls in line with the ZeroG strategy cited in recent ramblings, the actual value returned from goalies is not typically worth the early round investment given that by the end of the season, the relative difference between the top drafted goalies and the guys who went undrafted is not great. Whereas the difference between McDavid and a waiver wire centre is a chasm.

Why spend precious draft capital on great goaltenders when someone who streams off the waiver wire will be close to equal or potentially even better than you on a given week?

[Invictus]

Pengwin7's point about relative difference is that yes the goalies put out massive point totals, but the relative difference of Vasilevksy to the goalie you can stream off the waiver wire is less than the difference between McDavid and the best available centre on the waiver wire.

It falls in line with the ZeroG strategy cited in recent ramblings, the actual value returned from goalies is not typically worth the early round investment given that by the end of the season, the relative difference between the top drafted goalies and the guys who went undrafted is not great. Whereas the difference between McDavid and a waiver wire centre is a chasm.

Why spend precious draft capital on great goaltenders when someone who streams off the waiver wire will be close to equal or potentially even better than you on a given week?

You can't feasibly stream all your goalies during a week under all the constraints. You will have at least one static goalie, which Vasi has the greatest value over replacement to anybody not named McDavid (in the year the stats were calculated). Not saying to draft him 2nd overall though...

"the actual value returned from goalies is not typically worth the early round investment"

Typically being the keyword here. This league setup isn't typical and in this case goalies can be worth the investment. Well at least Vasi is imo.

[skinnypete88]

You can't feasibly stream all your goalies during a week under all the constraints. You will have at least one static goalie, which Vasi has the greatest value over replacement to anybody not named McDavid (in the year the stats were calculated). Not saying to draft him 2nd overall though...

"the actual value returned from goalies is not typically worth the early round investment"

Typically being the keyword here. This league setup isn't typical and in this case goalies can be worth the investment. Well at least Vasi is imo.

It's not about streaming ALL your goalies. But if you draft a static goalie as you say like Binnington or Jarry in the 8th round, how much worse than Vasilevksy are those two than say Boeser to MacKinnon? I say typically but if you read the article (Zero-G is THE Draft Strategy Until Further Notice – Apples and Ginos (wordpress.com) the evidence is actually more than typically.

[Invictus]

It's not about streaming ALL your goalies. But if you draft a static goalie as you say like Binnington or Jarry in the 8th round, how much worse than Vasilevksy are those two than say Boeser to MacKinnon? I say typically but if you read the article (Zero-G is THE Draft Strategy Until Further Notice – Apples and Ginos (wordpress.com) the evidence is actually more than typically.

Post the numbers as it pertains to this league and prove your point.
I'm not interested in numbers from some other league with likely different league settings.

[saucelife90]

1.	(4)	Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB - G)
2.	(21)	Jonathan Huberdeau (Fla - LW)
3.	(28)	Andrei Svechnikov (Car - LW,RW)
4.	(45)	Brady Tkachuk (Ott - LW)
5.	(52)	Elias Pettersson (Van - C)
6.	(69)	Dougie Hamilton (NJ - D)
7.	(76)	Anze Kopitar (LA - C)
8.	(93)	Elias Lindholm (Cgy - C,RW)
9.	(100)	Shea Theodore (VGK - D)
10.	(117)	Calvin Petersen (LA - G)
11.	(124)	Tom Wilson (Was - RW)
12.	(141)	Kevin Fiala (Min - LW,RW)
13.	(148)	Bo Horvat (Van - C)
14.	(165)	Tony DeAngelo (Car - D)
15.	(172)	Rasmus Dahlin (Buf - D)
16.	(189)	John Gibson (Anh - G)

Here's the results if anyone was interested. Thanks for all the input!

[Invictus]

That looks really solid. You managed to get Vasi plus Huberdeau and B. Tkachuk who were both in P7's top 12.

P7 also listed Svechnikov and Hamilton who you got. Petterson also fits this theme nicely. Lindholm arguably CAL best player.


I wouldn't have drafted Vasi has high as 4, but time will tell on that. You will definitely have a tough decision or two on the last keeper spot.

[Rockies & Hockeys]

Besides going for Vas at 4 (I'd have gone Matthews), that's a GREAT team! And it's not like Vas was a terrible call by any means. Excellent work!

[TheBends]

I'd nab 4 top skaters then a G in the 5th. Then fill out your sqaud. In a keep 5 every team should be competitive. The key to success is being the most active on adds and drops. That's where you win championships

[Pengwin7]

That looks like a really good team.
Well done on that draft!!!

[ross10019]

1.	(4)	Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB - G)
2.	(21)	Jonathan Huberdeau (Fla - LW)
3.	(28)	Andrei Svechnikov (Car - LW,RW)
4.	(45)	Brady Tkachuk (Ott - LW)
5.	(52)	Elias Pettersson (Van - C)
6.	(69)	Dougie Hamilton (NJ - D)
7.	(76)	Anze Kopitar (LA - C)
8.	(93)	Elias Lindholm (Cgy - C,RW)
9.	(100)	Shea Theodore (VGK - D)
10.	(117)	Calvin Petersen (LA - G)
11.	(124)	Tom Wilson (Was - RW)
12.	(141)	Kevin Fiala (Min - LW,RW)
13.	(148)	Bo Horvat (Van - C)
14.	(165)	Tony DeAngelo (Car - D)
15.	(172)	Rasmus Dahlin (Buf - D)
16.	(189)	John Gibson (Anh - G)

Here's the results if anyone was interested. Thanks for all the input!

Beauty team, and a killer D corps! I'd package one of those guys with Gibson to get a solid upgrade in nets to supplement Petersen, but otherwise terrific team.

[Pengwin7]

Out of curiousity - can you post the first six full rounds?
I'm stunned that Dougie could be drafted in the SIXTH round. That is INSANE VALUE.

If I had to guess, the Vas pick at #4 triggered a goalie run... and all 12 teams felt a need to get their 2 goalies by end of round 5.
If so, this plugs up 24/60 picks in the first 5 rounds.
32-34/36 remaining picks are probably forwards, with Makar, Fox... who else?!?... going for D.
And then there's another 8 picks from 61-68... and Hamilton is still there... at 69?!? Wow. Eyes popping.
That means that teams in draft spots 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12... they ALL passed on Hamilton in BOTH rounds 5,6... W.T.F.

I mean... Hamilton has got to be the 3rd or 4th D man off the board this year in multi-cat or keeper multi-cat leagues.
At #69!?! I'd bet there isn't another league out there that has Hamilton going at later than 69. C-R-A-Z-Y.


[edit: Side Note. Thinking... this is when your leaguemates don't understand "relative difference". I'm guessing they were only looking at the top point-players, by projections or last year's stats... leaving high-end (albeit lower-scoring) D-men on the board.]

[Invictus]

Not sure if this team is going to tank much... lol