Originally Posted by
Kofax
After winning the expert league Pengwin7 wasn't in, albeit in a tie that came about on the final day (thankfully the top two from each Pro Division was promoted eliminating the need for any tie-breaker!), I was happy to find myself in the expert league.
Again, similar to Pengwin7, my ultimate goal is to stick and not get relegated! And temek's projections give me hope I should at least find myself sitting in the middle of the pack if not making a run of it.
I ended up with the 5 spot, which I was ok with, as I'm drafting near the top while not having to wait exceptionally long before being able to pick a second time. I was flanked by Lord of the Rinks at 4 and Jobbers at 6, which is important, because I was yelling at them a couple of times throughout the draft.
1-5: Sidney Crosby - I found the 5-spot tough, as I wasn't entirely sure who to target. I expected McD, OV, Kuch and Crosby to go 1-4 so I found myself thinking I should target a D, and I think Hedman would have been my choice as I'm a little leary of how Burns and Karlsson might affect each other and I like to be safe with an early pick (mind you I highly doubt Burns or Karlsson will see decreased production, but there was just something I didn't like there). I was surprised to have Crosby fall and switched gears off the bat.
2-20: Brad Marchand - I was hoping to target one of the top goalies here, and was extatic to see Hellebuyck dropping, only to have him sniped by Jobbers right in front of me (#1). That was the end of my top teir for G, so I decided to wait and hope Andersen or Holtby would last 8 picks. I took the top winger on the board in Marchand as I remember last year the wing thinned out pretty quick. Pretty happy with my top 2 selections.
3-29: Drew Doughty - So Andersen went right after my Marchand with Holtby a pick later and I wasn't extatic with the goalies left at this point so I decided to grab one of my favourite defenseman who contributes across the board in Doughty, who became my teams namesake.
4-44: Devan Dubnyk - There was a large run of goaltenders as I awaited my next pick; Rask, Quick, Jones, Fleury, Murray Gibson, so it was definitely time to take a goalie and I was happy to grab Dubnyk here. Although not in love with Minnesota as an ageing team, I do think they are good defensively and Dubnyk is a relatively consistent starter who I rode to victory last year.
5-53: Artemi Panarin - I wanted to focus on points early and worry about any peripherals I was lacking later in the draft Panarin fit the bill and also being an elite winger. I was fairly happy with how things were going up to this point, but figured I needed to target some more D with my upcoming picks.
6-68: Jake Allen - All the D I was targeting were disappearing quickly, culminated by the last one in my Queue, Dumba, once again by Jobbers, right in front of me (#2). I scrambled here an ultimately took my second goalie. I don't love or even like Allen, but St. Louis as a team should be decent, so I figured I'd have to target his backups as well given his injury history (I managed to nab Chad Johnson, but missed on Husso who was a waiver pickup by temek, a miss by me). The first pick I'm not all that happy about. A RW like Voracek who went right after may have been better.
7-77: Torey Krug - I needed to take a defenseman here, and Krug was the call. I considered OEL or Ristolainen as better options, but as much as I hate the +/- stat, I find it sinks my team more often than not when I ignore it, so part of my strategy was to focus on players from teams likely to be on the + side of goal differential. Far from an exact science though.
8-92: Morgan Rielly - I was still thinking D here but was waffling on the pick. Barrie was at the forefront of my mind, but ultimately the talk of Toronto's PP1 and Rielly having a spot on it plus my slight bias towards the ML, I was happy to select Rielly. Barrie went with the next pick.
9-101: Viktor Arvidsson - RW was the target at this point, and naturally, my queue of Keller, Radulov and Kovalchuk disappear right in front of me. I had to pick one though, and Arvidsson was the scramble selection. I'm hoping he was the top RW at this point, but I don't love the pick. Hoping he continues to perform on a strong Nashville team.
10-116: Ryan Ellis - At this point I noticed Backstrom remained on the board, and not having a second C yet, I was ecstatic watching him continue to fall down the board, with Hoffman as a backup plan. Hoffman goes at 114 followed by Backstrom at 115 by the Jobbers (#3). Scrambling I ended up with Ellis. I didn't love the remaining C at this position nor the RW, so I took another D in Ellis.
11-125: Jayden Schwartz - RW was still the target, but I didn't love any of the options at this spot. I considered Atkinson (who went right after) and Konecny and Simmonds, but I had small concerns with each, so I picked Schwartz, who obviously has concerns of his own, but when he's in the lineup, he produces. I love my 3LW at this point, happy with my 4D, ok with my 2G and realize I need to focus on C and RW over the next few rounds.
12-140: Sam Reinhart - Was completely focused on RW at this point, and Reinhart may be a round or two early here, but I like him as a breakout target this year and needed a RW.
13-149: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - I was entirely focused on Galchenyuk with this pick, but he was taken two picks in front me (thankfully not Jobbers for once). I liked some of the D on the board, but I was sitting with 4 strong D already so I picked RNH. I like him as a player, it's just hard to count on him for a full season, and with Schwartz already in the fold, I was hesitant to add another potential injury. Ultimately I like the pick, probably even better than Galchenyuk.
14-156: Nico Hischier - I was targeting another C as I liked the value available. O'Reilly, Johansen, Kadri were all in the queue, and all taken with picks 4, 3, 2 just ahead of me. I swore Jobbers was going to take Hischier, but I lucked out with him grabbing a defenseman.
15-173: James Reimer - Not sure I love this pick, but I don't trust Allen to be workhorse and I like Florida as a team. With an ageing Luongo, I thought this was a good bet to add some starts and hopefully W.
16-188: Bo Horvat - Looking for a C here who can score some goals with some PPP, Horvat should be able to give me 20 and 10-15.
17-197: Hampus Lindholm - Was looking for a D who could add some hits.
18-212: Mats Zuccarello - Needed a RW and again looking for PPP potential. I acknowledged the minus here but thought I was in good enough shape to absorb it. Looking back, not my favourite pick as Buchnevich might have been the better choice.
19-221: Jakob Silfverberg - Again looking at RW.
20-236: Dion Phaneuf - Solid D who will add to hit totals.
21-245: Nick Schmaltz - Decent winger with upside at this point in the draft.
22-260: Tyler Johnson - Decent production hopefully with some upside albeit with injury risk.
23-269: David Backes - Mainly looking for some hits here.
24-284: Kevin Labanc - Probably should have taken Chad Johnson and Ville Husso with the last two picks instead of just Johnson.
25-293: Chad Johnson - Allen Handcuff, see above.
Overall I was happy with my draft. I felt like I was getting sniped left and right, but going back through it, it wasn't too bad other than 2 or 3 instances where I was really flustered. I think overall it was just due to each and every manager having a game plan and being well informed, making it a challenging one. I feel like I have a solid lineup at each position with solid stat coverage, which should at least keep me in the middle of the pack, pending a devastating injury which would likely have to happen to my goaltending. Drafting is only half the battle though, with another part being luck in hitting on a few picks and then using the waiver wire to your advantage.