A plethora of first NHL goals and reflecting our our scouts' Prospect Draft in this Sunday Ramblings…
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Because I have a soft spot for the topic, I want to open this Ramblings with some NHL firsts. These kids worked incredibly hard to get to the NHL and are now being rewarded.
Vincent Hinostroza got his first NHL goal) against the Canucks last night, working hard to get his own rebound.
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First career goal for Vinny Hinostroza (Notre Dame). 6th round pick in '12 <a href="https://t.co/gSAu87UY6z">https://t.co/gSAu87UY6z</a></p>— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) <a href="https://twitter.com/Buccigross/status/800203796437733376">November 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
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In his first NHL game, Drake Caggiula also got his first NHL point last night – a beauty assist against the Stars.
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With a perfect saucer pass on the 2-on-1, <a href="https://twitter.com/drakecaggiula">@drakecaggiula</a> has himself his first point in his first game. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHLFirsts?src=hash">#NHLFirsts</a> <a href="https://t.co/HW0d1GrFwk">pic.twitter.com/HW0d1GrFwk</a></p>— #HockeyFightsCancer (@NHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NHL/status/800146101491924992">November 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Mikko Rantanen finally has his first NHL goal, he has looked good so hopefully this opens the floodgates.
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Kevin Labanc netted his first NHL goal this week as well. This is why you always put the puck on net fast.
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Pontus Aberg showed us his wrister for a memorable first NHL goal of his own:
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pontus Aberg shows off his wrister for his first career NHL goal. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Preds?src=hash">#Preds</a> <a href="https://t.co/v4ZCwke69i">pic.twitter.com/v4ZCwke69i</a></p>— Mark Harris (@MCHisTweeting) <a href="https://twitter.com/MCHisTweeting/status/799435706439499776">November 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Less flashy but still just as important – William Carrier deflected home his first NHL tally.
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fedun let the shot go from the point & has his 2nd point in his 2nd game as a Sabre. Carrier the deflection. <a href="https://t.co/1faqOqp3CR">pic.twitter.com/1faqOqp3CR</a></p>— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) <a href="https://twitter.com/BuffaloSabres/status/800133454398570496">November 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Hindsight is always 20/20, but its good to look back on what we've done to realize our strengths and avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Prior to the season, I posted Ramblings covering the DobberProspects Fantasy Hockey League (DPFHL) – an incredibly deep pool that included a thorough prospect draft. You can find the draft lists in my old Ramblings HERE. I thought I wold take a look back at this draft list and see who are standing out so far as draft steals (in my opinion, its too soon to call anyone a dud).
As a recap, here'e how the first round shook out for our scouts:
| 1: New Jersey Devils – Auston Matthews | 13: Buffalo Sabres – Matt Murray |
| 2: Montreal Canadiens – Jesse Puljujarvi | 14: Arizon Coyotes – Christian Dvorak |
| 3: WInnipeg Jets – Patrick Laine | 15: Chicago Blackhawks – Matt Barzal |
| 4: LA Kings – Mitch Marner | 16: Columbus Blue Jackets – Zach Werenski |
| 5: Florida Panthers – William Nylander | 17: Colorado Avalanche (via CGY) – Thatcher Demko |
| 6: Washingston Capitals – Dylan Strome | 18: Ottawa Senators – Nick Ritchie |
| 7: San Jose Sharks – Matthew Tkachuk | 19: Calgary Flames (via COL) – Jon Gillies |
| 8: Tampa Bay – Sebatian Aho | 20: Toronto Maple Leafs – Shea Theodore |
| 9: Dallas Stars – Kyle Connor | 21: St. Louis Blues – Stephen Johns |
| 10: Pittsburgh Penguins – Mikko Rantanen | 22: San Jose Shaks (via CAR) – Timo Meier |
| 11: Edmonton Oilers – Pierre-Luc Dubois | 23: Minnesota Wild – Pavel Zacha |
| 12: Vancouver Canucks – Ivan Provorov |
24: Nashville Predators – Jakub Vrana |
– Getting Laine third overall was ridiculous, but in the long term Puljujarvi may narrow the current gap in dividends on that move.
– There's no way Werenski would fall to 16th if this draft were repeated today, this was an excellent pick that I know all of us in that area of the draft order were hoping we could make.
– Lots of picks expected to have immediate impacts haven't done so yet, so owners selecting Strome, Barzal, Theodore, and Vrana may be slightly disappointed at this point in the season. Long-term these owners probably wont regret anything, since these are very talent players and solid picks.
Onto the second round:
| 25: Nashiville – Brett Ritchie | 37: Vancouver – Jakub Chychrun |
| 26: Minnesota – Mikhail Sergachev | 38: Edmonton – Jake Bean |
| 27: Carolina – Clayton Keller | 39: Pittsburgh – Travis Sanheim |
| 28: St. Louis – Julius Honka | 40: Dallas – Brandon Montour |
| 29: Toronto – Lawson Crouse | 41: Tampa Bay – Travis Konecny |
| 30: Columbus (via COL) – Esa Lindell | 42: San Jose – Tyson Jost |
| 31: Ottawa – Mike Matheson | 43: Washington – Ryan Pulock |
| 32: Calgary – Brock Boeser | 44: Florida – Logan Brown |
| 33: Columbus – Alex Nylander | 45: LA – Anthony DeAngelo |
| 34: Chicago – Olli Juolevi | 46: Winnipeg – Michael Dal Colle |
| 35: Arizona – Colin White | 47: Montreal – Juuse Saros |
| 36: Buffalo – Oliver Bjorkstrand | 48: New Jersey – Malcom Subban* |
– Travis Koneckny is the obvious steal here and would probably go in Round 1 in retrospect. Immediate production and looks like a lock to stay in the top-six for a long time.
– Mike Matheson is another absolute gem here in terms of immediate production, our Managing Editor Peter Harling gets to gloat about that pick.
As for the later rounds:
– I snagged Jimmy Vesey in the 3rd round which I am very happy with so far, as well as Connor Brown in round four who paid dividends earlier this week
– Joel Erikson Ek also fell to the 3rd round, but looks to have NHL-ready hockey senses already
– Anthony Beauvillier was taken in round 4 by our ever-shrewd Pens scout and Associate Editor Mark Allan
There you have it, even us nuts who spend most of our days following and scouting fantasy hockey leave room to sneak the occasional diamond in the rough past us, which is just fine by me. What's the fun in drafting if everyone already knows the future?
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As always, thank you for reading and best of luck in your fantasy leagues of all sorts.
Hayden Soboleski
@soboleskih