Roto Draft Startegy

[galeblanc]

Hi all,

I have a roto league draft tonight and I'm mostly used to points only leagues. We have all the positions C, LW, RW, D, G. Which positions are shallow and I should target in the first rounds based on experience?

I'm assuming it's important to have two solid goalies?

Thanks

Gabriel

[blayze]

Depends on the scoring system and the amount of players, but generally for Roto I like to go with:

Round 1 - elite forward
Round 2 - elite goalie
Round 3 - elite forward/goalie depending on which goalies are left and scoring system
Round 4 - forward
Round 5 - open it up from here

I find guessing the elite defensemen every year is a crapshoot so why risk it when you can get a guaranteed 85-90 point guy.

LW is by far the scarcest position - center the deepest. I would only draft a C first if you can land Stamkos, Malkin or Sedin in that order, otherwise I would take a winger.

[3rtpaper]

It depends what website you are using for how shallow positions are. I use Yahoo! and it was widely believed that LW was the shallowest position. Yahoo recently added a lot more dual possition eligable players which really boosted the LW ranks. I can't find the list right now and I'm a bit to lazy to look for it but J.Staal, Sharp, Semin, and Doan all became LW eligable players.

Drafting LW's early won't give you the advantage it once did. I would say you don't want to get past the 6th round without 2 solid goalies. Also since this is your first time drafting out of a points only league be sure to keep an eye on the other stats that forwards can get. PIM, Hits, BS, SOG etc. Winning blocked shots will end up giving you just as many points as winning goals, so in the later rounds don't be afraid to pass on a 60 point player and grab a 50 point player who could get you an extra 30 PIM and 20 hits.