Re: 2024/25 Rocky Horror Roto Show - Season 14
I selected the 10th pick because I had a top tier of 10 guys, and I figured I would be able to get my 8th or 9th guy anyways. Also, it put me a little earlier in round 2 where I had a tier end at pick 14, and that would slot me at 15. Odds were I would get a guy within that set, mainly because someone would pick a goalie in there and I didn't have one rated that high. That's as far as I planned ahead with the draft draft.
Round 1 - Cale Makar
Not sure I've actually ever owned him, but he was 9th on my list and that pick allowed me to just take the best forward available for the next number of picks.
Round 2 - Kirill Kaprizov
Him and Crosby were the last two of my top 14, and I figured I could replace Crosby more easily than a do it all 100+ pt winger.
Round 3 - Timo Meier
I knew with this group that I would have to grab Meier with this pick or my next pick if I wanted him, and I saw plenty of similar Cs to green one of them at my next pick.
Round 4 - Aleksander Barkov
Barkov was actually my 15th rated player, and it the draft didn't go well for me that's who I was taking in round 2. To get him in round 4 feels like a coup.
Round 5 Jack Eichel
One of the last 90-point guys, and he doesn't hurt much across the rest of the board either. Might lose on more faceoffs than I would like from a C2, but still feels worthwhile here. Was sure Gabe was going to take him the puck before me.
Round 6 Adrian Kempe
Didn't like this pick, but didn't have much time to pivot around managing babies and having my top three in my queue go in the four picks between mine. I like Kempe, solid floor/upside, and great category coverage.
Round 7 Linus Ullmark
Goalies were getting depleted, and it was down to four starters or so that I figured had 50+ game potential without being awful on peripherals. If I didn't take a goalie in this short end around the turn, then the long gap between Round 8 and 9 would probably have the rest of them disappear. Hopefully he does well with more volume in Ottawa.
Round 8 Vince Dunn
I needed my D2 and Dunn was the best combo of category coverage left available. In hindsight this pick works as I got a bargain on Montour later and the combined PPPs from them give me one PP1 and one PP2 guy, both with excellent peripherals.
Round 9 Darcy Kuemper
Goalies really getting shallow now and this might be the last 50 game starter on a playoff team left. Hopefully the down year in Washington was a blip on a lesser team.
Round 10 Brandon Montour
As I mentioned before, he works as a combo with Dunn to make a solid D2/D3 tandem. I don't think he's a 65pt Dman overall, and definitely not in Seattle, but he might have even been the last 50+ point Dman left, and especially the last one with any kind of peripherals.
Round 11 Lucas Raymond
After four rounds on D/G, I'm back to forwards to mop up some of the point per game guys that are left. Raymond is going to take another step here and be a top-75 Fantasy player this season, this feels like one of my favourite picks.
Round 12 Martin Necas
This is one of the many picks where I heard the alert go off, looked at the top name on my queue, and just pressed the button while I was managing a baby feed/burp/spit-up/diaper. I'm hoping it's one step back two steps forward for Necas who looks like he should be back on PP1.
Round 13 Nikolaj Ehlers
Continuing the run of trying to milk out some point per game players after pick 100, Ehlers comes in finally seeing some time on PP1. At this cost, worst case scenario is he's a 65-point forward with mediocre peripherals. Best case scenario he finally explodes over 80 points and the added ice time bumps the peripherals as well.
Round 14 Neal Pionk
Goalies weren't moving too quickly now and there were still a few guys I liked, but defence was starting to get very shallow in the guys I considered worth being at least the D-5 on my team. Pionk covers a ton of volume in the peripheral categories, and adds some reasonable scoring as well. I'm hoping with the new coach that his offensive usage goes back up a bit too.
Round 15 - Ryan Hartman
I had one minute here around babies where I thought "Oh I should look for some faceoffs from the wing". Hartman's name popped up and I grabbed him as a high floor guy who hopefully plays most of the year with my second round pick Kaprizov again.
Round 16 - Tristan Jarry
One of the last goalies left who at least comes in as the favourite to be the starter and his team has a shot at the playoffs. He might get some selective benchings from me, but he felt like a worthwhile gamble here.
Round 17 - Mikhail Backlund
I'm not sure which part I question more: why I selected a 35 point player here, or why a guy with 700+ FOWs is LW eligible. Regardless, maybe not my best pick, but hopefully he's at least valuable enough to keep rostering.
Round 18 - Max Domi
Ideally he lines up with Matthews again, but third line centre wouldn't hurt too much either.
Round 19 - Pavel Mintyukov
Maybe the PP guy in Anaheim, and at least the option with more peripheral upside. The +/- will hurt, but he cans be replaced as D-5 if it'shurting too much.
Round 20 - Arber Xhekaj
Looking quickly at my team I was pretty happy with the overall coverage, but noted that PIMs would probably be lower. Filtered by that and he was the top option that made sense to roster. Hopefully he plays regularly, but this being Roto it's okay if he doesn't.
Round 21 - Anton Lundell
Another full-time C with wing eligibility. Hopefully his offence takes the step forward that others are thinking he will.
Round 22 - Jake Allen
As much as Jacob Markstrom is the easy workload starter, Jake Allen is an NHL starting goalie in his own right, and could take more starts than people expect. New Jersey is going to be a very good team, and that means Allen's starts should be valuable ones.
Round 23 - Anton Forsberg
I don't really think he's a great goalie, but I missed the handcuff on Kuemper and didn't want to miss the OTT one too.
Round 24 - Kaapo Kahkonen
Kahkonen's numbers on the season disuse how good he was when playing behind an actual NHL team in NJ after being traded from the Sharks. He's going to have some great numbers behind Hellebuyck, and no one seems to see the value there.
Round 25 - David Jiricek
This is a dart throw on a young multi-category defenceman, and I felt that between Xhekaj and Jiricek, one of them should hit this year.
Summary: Overall I feel okay with the team. Strange to come out with only two single position Cs, but I should be able to sort that out as well as hit my goalie max games. Across the board I feel like I covered categories pretty well, but the actual stats will be the real indicator there once games are underway.
Just trying to get through this year then I can get back to feeling a little more on top of the draft next year.
Team name: Jack the (shot) Ripper for the Jack the Ripper movie and Jack Eichel, who was scarily almost taken the pick ahead of me, and will come back to haunt Gabe for not taking him.
Good luck all, it was a fun draft!
Associate Editor for DobberHockey (Wednesdays). Click that Ramblings button on the the menu bar!
(No I don't have a hockey problem...)