Draft strategy is dependent on factors such as league size, type, categories, etc.
As far as league preference, I mostly just play one years. I don't want to bother with prospects and rebuilding - no thank you.
Hey all,
Draft season is in full swing, and I am curious to see what your winning draft strategies are.
I play in 1 year leagues, with the same group of friends for 15+ years. We keep it simple to points only, but for the purpose of this conversation I don't think categories make too much of a difference.
Personally I like to ensure I have at least 1 elite goalie, and try to get 2 goalies I like so that I don't have to check too often on who's starting, or need to decide between 2 mediocre goalies for any given night.
Next, i like to have strong wingers. I am a firm believer that a 70 pt winger is much more valuable to me than a 75-80 pt center, just because the center position is so deep. This has slightly been ruined in the last few years due to Yahoo's excessive dual eligibility on players.
I tend to ignore my defense and just draft 40-50 pters typically speaking. But if a guy like Hedman is around when 70 pt wingers can be drafted I sometimes tend to reach for the D as well.
I really try to avoid goalies until round 4 or 5 so that I have 4 or so elite talent on my team.
It doesn't always work out, depending on draft position, but I have been finishing top 3 the last 5 years or so.
Another thing I try to do is avoid any and all players of my favorite team. That way I can draft with my head and not my heart. Being in Alberta, and most buddies are flames fans, the flames players tend to go higher than they should providing opportunities for draft steals.
What is your strategy? What position do you reach for, what do you ignore?
I try to improve my draft strategies this year and I would love to see what others are doing.
Draft strategy is dependent on factors such as league size, type, categories, etc.
As far as league preference, I mostly just play one years. I don't want to bother with prospects and rebuilding - no thank you.
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i know you not going to like this answer but i think best draft strategy is to be able to adjust as draft goes...some say that you need to be ridged in your approach...i say you need to be able to adjust to your opponent...
also all the factors Invictus listed need to be considered together with draft slot you get....
14 Teams H2H Dynasty, 28 roster spots (8 bench), 15 minors under 100
Weekly Matchups - Daily Lineups
Skaters: G/A/Pt/PIM/SoG/STP/H+B/ToI/Corsi
Goalies: W/GAA/SVs/SV%/SHO
C: Eichel, Kadri, Mcdavid, Sodeberg, Schenn
LW: Ehlers, Landeskog, Meier, Debrusk, Foegele, Lee
RW: Pastrnak, Marner, Palmieri, Terry, D. Brown, Bailey, Granlund
D: Krug, Josi, Ekholm, Faulk, Muzzin, Karlsson, Cernak,
G: Hellebuyck, Biship, M Jones
I don't really have a draft strategy and I don't think a strategy can exist when there's 10+ other people affecting your choices that you typically can't account for. It's more important to draft based on value (there's a term for comparing the drop-off of the next best tier of players that I'm forgetting) until your starting roster is filled, in my opinion.
I also prefer to adapt on a round by round basis. If it's round 4 and there's 2 goalies I like at this pick but they're taken before my pick, I may wait to draft a goalie next round because the value isn't as good anymore. There's some in my league who disagree with me, but I value PPG dmen highly - comparable to a forward who will score 90 points because I believe it's easier to find 90 point forwards than it is to get a PPG dman.
Anyway, value (and in H2H, luck) is king. Not strategy.
14 team, H2H, daily start, min. 3 goalie appearances, 3 Keepers (round drafted+3) with 1 Goalie max.
G, A, P, PPP, +/-, PIM, SOG, Hits // W, SV, GAA, SV%, SHO
3C: Norris, Danault, Barbashev (LW)
3RW: Tippett (LW), Roy, Frederic
3LW: Knies, Ehlers, Foegele
4D: Dobson, Gostisbehere, Orlov, Power
2G: Lyon, Husso
1Util: M. Foligno (LW, RW)
4Bench: Brossoit, Werenski, Marchenko, Rossi
2IR: Zegras
Keepers: Dobson (6th), Tippett (11th), Norris (14th)
I agree value is important. But how do you seek out value? I like certain underappreciated names compared to name value players. However, that tend to make things difficult when you're crafting trades because people (for example zuccarello) are not valued in my league, yet they are really solid players to have in the bottom half of my roster.
I agree with flexibility being key.
I find draft slot has a greater affect in Football then it does in hockey.
Positional scarcity.
Value ties into strategy. The two go hand in hand. You can't have a good strategy without realizing good value.
To add something... I'd say I rarely get sniped for a player. Player gets taken, I just go to the next one on my list and it's whatever.
The time when sniping occurs is in the later rounds of deeper leagues - when there's a player you think will fall further and you try and get extra value out of him, but gets snagged. That's the risk you take though when you play the ADP game.
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A couple generic things:
1. Know your league inside and out and the players it values and does not value.
- head-to-head vs. year long vs. roto have huge implications
- points only vs. categories vs. "scoring points" has implications as well.
- As does roster makeup (depth) and number of teams (number of teams particularly for goalies).
- Know in a "generic sense" what type of player is valued, and also the top "steals" given the league makeup
2. Be prepared with you player predictions and values.
- if you are not prepared with this knowledge you cannot find those players values come draft time.
- I generally have a short list of players who I think will fall and I am targeting but if someone not on the list but great value falls I know enough to grab him.
3. Adapt on the Fly
-Try not to get married to a strategy, especially later on and look for value where it is presented.
This becomes much easier when you have done 1 and 2 which allow you to find value.
4. Have some fun, its Fantasy Hockey.
12 team H-2-H 1 year league, daily roster changes, 3 goalie start minimum/week
2xC, 2xRW, 2xLW, 4xD, 3xUtil, 2xG, 5 Bench
G, A, P, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, W, SV%, GAA, SVs
C: C. Keller, C. Mittelstadt, B. Nelson, R. Strome,
LW: K. Connor, B. Tkachuk, J. Gaudreau, J. Marchessault, E. Rodrigues, A. Lafreniere
RW: K. Fiala, J. Bratt, T. Jeannot V. Arvidsson
D: R. Josi, J. Trouba, E. Gustafsson,
G: L. Thompson, F. Gustavsson, V. Vanecek
NO IR
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My draft strategy and my "winning" draft strategy tend to not always align lol...
In a one-year league though, I typically wind up shifting my strategy EACH YEAR. (Or at least in any leagues with really high-end GMs in them). With positional elig's shifting on each platform, plus tandems/etc. emerging, I feel like each year I need to analyze it with what's being 'given'. Then I can build a draft strategy around those insights.
One year, I might jump early on G's, the next year, I'll hold off til the late rounds. Same for most cats/positions. All depends on how much depth I think there is.
And that's maybe the BEST advice I can offer - make your OWN draft list/tiers (based on your specific league settings as mentioned). And then follow it.
Well that and the 4. Have Fun advice too... that's maybe the best reminder for all of us!
RHRS, Yahoo, 12-team, Roto
PQMC, Yahoo, 12-team, Keep 11, H2H
Taro Tsujimoto Draft League, Fantrax, 6-team, pts-only (*2018 draftees or later only)
Hanson Bros., Fantrax, 10-Team, Keep 8, weighted scoring
Black & Blue, Fantrax, 12-Team, Dynasty, H2H weighted
The Dream Team League, Fantrax, 14-Team, Dynasty, H2H
On Frozen Ponds, Fantrax 10-Team, Dynasty, Roto
"When I do not know who I am I serve you, and when I do know who I am, you and I are one." - Hanuman-ji
I'm leaning toward zero C strategy this year.
In standard redrafts, I'm all about maxing value per pick. But some quick thoughts:
- Waiting on C's (unless top-5 pick) tends to always work out well.
- I want to get a solid G somewhere in rounds 4-5. I've noticed #1 G's tend to gain value and are tough to trade for in-season.
- In terms of position scarcity for Skaters this season: RW, D, LW, C.
- I tend to have options A, B, C for players I target per round. That way, I don't panic when sniped.
- This one's a bit harder to describe, but I need to remember to trust my research and not get too cute on the fly.
For this season don't bother drafting centers early. Wingers are far more scarce and there tends to be alot of reasonable options at center later in the draft.
16 team Pts only dynasty league
G, A, PPG, SHG, GWG, Svs, SO's, W's
Pro Roster Starters: 9 F, 6 D 1 G
FWD: Hertl, Forsberg, Quinn, Rantanen, Debrincat, Couturier, Dach, Trocheck, Larkin, Seguin
D: Chychrun, Grzelcyk, Trouba, Burns, Walman, Karlsson, Graves
G: Kahkkonen, Keumper, Reimer
Farm (notables):
F: Pekarcik, Dellandrea, Cowan, Puistola, Halttunen, Simoneau, Bolduc, Nadeau, Stankhoven
D: Brzustewicz, Alexeyev, Jiricek, Reinbacher, Minnetian
G: Fedotov, Tarasov, Kochetkov, Skarek, M. Gibson
Have you ever done it? Its actually fun as hell in a limited keeper. My keep 5 league I inherited the worst team in the league in 2015, drafted McDavid and I spent all year playing the waiver wire, grabbing kids who looked like they were breaking out, offering multiple players to upgrade a keeper, and getting draft pick upgrades.
I think I had more fun wheeling and dealing that year than any other years i ever played Fantasy hockey
#1 Yahoo Keep 5, 14 teams
C, C, RW, LW, F, F, D, D, D, Uti, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN
G, A, P, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, FOW~W, L, GAA, Sv%, saves, SO
McDavid C, Kadri C, Zibanejad C, Mackinnon C, Boldy LW/RW, Backlund C, Duchene C/RW, Fantilli C, Batherson LW/RW, Forsberg LW, Zegras C IR, Mintyukov D, Dunn D, Seider D, Hellebucyk G, Kochetkov, Bobrovsky G
Nope.
I'm not big on making trades. Nor do I know much about prospects outside say top 3. I don't have the aspiration to either.
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