This week, the DobberProspect writers started our annual prospect draft for our fantasy league. Kevin LeBlanc wrote this article earlier which covered the first round of picks, doing a great job at figuring out who the value picks were, and why some players were taken perhaps higher or lower than pure talent would dictate. Well the gang has slowly finished the second round and I'm excited to share. This is how the website's writers valued their picks going into the second round of the draft:

Note: Eligible players include those selected in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, as well as players previously unaffiliated with any team (undrafted) who signed contracts after fantasy roster freezes took place last season (early March). 

Pick # – Team Writer – Selection

27th – MTL – Juuso Valimaki
28th – WPG – Kristian Vesalainen
29th – LA – Kailer Yamamoto
30th – SNJ – Jaret Anderson-Dolan
31st – NYI – Sebastian Aho
32nd – DET – Robert Thomas
33rd – BOS – Cal Foote
34th – MIN – Conor Timmins
35th – ANA (via trade with WAS) – Filip Chytil
36th – STL – Jesper Boqvist
37th – WPG – Josh Norris
38th – NJD – Ryan Poehling
39th – PIT – Kole Lind
40th – ARI – Maxime Comtois
41st – LA (via trade with CGY) – Henri Jokiharju
42nd – TBL – Morgan Frost
43rd – CAR – Marcus Davidsson
44th – CHI – Nic Hague
45th – TOR – Robin Salo
46th – VGK – Michael DiPietro
47th – MIN (via trade with ANA) – Andreas Borgman
48th – COL – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
49th – OTT – Calle Rosen
50th – DAL – Shane Bowers
51st – VGK* – Joni Ikonen
52nd – OTT* – Jonah Gadjovich
*Picks awarded to 2016-17 Playoff and Regular Season runner ups

TAKEAWAYS

Goaltending order set

So far, the order of goalie selections has been Oettinger (1st round) –> DiPietro (late 2nd) –> Luukkonen (lat 2nd), and this will probably be about right for most drafts you're in. I would have expected Luukkonen to go before DiPietro, which made me very happy to grab him for my bench needing some netminders. 

More defenseman picks

Our staff clearly preferred to swing for potential scoring forwards before turning to stock their defensive cupboards. In the first round, 4 d-men got grabbed up. In the second round, double that number with 8 d-men selected. So if you have spots to fill up front, you'd better do it soon er rather than later in the draft because they are most people's priority. On the flip side of that – this looks like a good year to get value picks on the back end. Guys like Timins and Hague have good fantasy upside.

Sleeping sniper

Joni Ikonen, goal scoring extraodinaire, fell in our fantasy draft as well as the real one despite being considered one of the top shooters of the draft class. He offers potential long term value, but he is a ways away from the NHL which lowers his value. 

New Leafs on the block

Swedish pickups by the Leafs Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman went near the end of round 2, these newbies to North America get more hype than most thanks to being in the Leafs system, and they were probably worth the hype given how few fantasy-relevant defencemen were in the system last season. Too bad for them Liljegren provides an extra depth chart slot to overcome. 

Roto-style players

While people swung for the offensive fences in round one and picked guys who hope to score 80 points one day, many more players contributing all all rotisserie categories got taken off the board in round two. D-men Hague and Foote will provide more hits and blocks than most first-round selections, while forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Ryan Poehling project to be grittier players than those taken before them. by no means does this make them bad picks, in fact, in a rotisserie league like the DPFHL, this extra value means alot. Dont be afraid to break from tradition draft lists if you know the rules of your league will give an advantage to certain styles of players.

***

So what do you think of the draft so far? Myself or other DobberProspect Ramblers will provide the results of Rounds 3 – 5 once they are concluded, to see if any more trends become evident. 

Hayden Soboleski

@soboleskih