Welcome to the Thursday ramblings once again. I’ll get into a little bit of quick thoughts before I go over one of my drafts that is technically not complete but I want no more picks as I have no more room on my roster.
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You know I could give my fantasy grades for the draft but I am going to wait a little bit as right now I am sure everyone is overloaded with other people’s opinions on the matter. Some quick notes on it though are:
What a weird draft for some teams with reaches all over the place
LOL at Montreal, Arizona and Ottawa passing on the better player for team needs
I was surprised NYR picked Kravtsov over Wahlstrom (who you may see me write as Wahlman every once and a while haha)
No idea why MIN picked Filip Johansson in the first round
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So as of last week I had pick #3 BUT in a crazy turn of events I traded up to get #1 pick. The trade was somewhat even with me receiving #1, Heponiemi, Montour, Brossoit, Walman, Mrazek and Mason for #3, Demko, Markstrom, Faulk, and a 2021 1st round pick. This is the 16 team, keep 13 league, with 20 prospects, positions (LW, C, RW, etc.), H2H and scoring categories I have already described.
My thinking is that my team is going to be bad for another season (in goaltending) but by 2019-2020 I should be able to compete again. I have goaltending assets I can flips as goaltending is a premium in our league, defense with high upside, and the best skater in the trade, who I drafted first overall. Let’s get to that, and you know what I will list out all the picks until I was done drafting!
#1 (Me) – Andrei Svechnikov, RW: Easy choice as defense take longer to develop and the kid should step right in and score.
#2 – Rasmus Dahlin: You pretty much have to take Dahlin
#3 – Filip Zadina: He is the third best player in the draft no matter how far he dropped in the NHL draft
#4 – Oliver Wahlstrom: Could be a reach here but it could also be the right pick as he just appears to have a higher ceiling than both Kotkaniemi and Tkachuk
#5 – Brady Tkachuk: In the setup of our pool he could wind up being a fantastic pick, but I have a lot of question marks myself on his upside
#6 – Jesperi Kotkaniemi: The Habs will give him every chance to be the #1 centre on their team in the near future… unless they decide he isn’t one and ship him off to a team for a winger that doesn’t score goals
#7 (Me) – Vitali Kravtsov, LW: Let me start by saying I am one of the few fantasy GMs that thinks the “Russian Factor” is dumb and if a player has high upside they are worth the wait. I believe Kravtsov has the ability to be better than both picks 4-6 in this draft so I took him (I am also a little biased towards Russian players)
#8 – Adam Boqvist: He could become the best offensive defensemen in this draft, between him and Hughes it is more preference than anything in fantasy
#9 – Quinn Hughes: See above
#10 – Evan Bouchard: Bouchard and Dobson are on the same level as well, both have high scoring upside (but not as high as the prior three) but can be better in multi-category leagues than the other two.
#11 – Grigori Denisenko, LW (Me): Likely the next best scoring forward and I had no need for defense as my team has some good ones already. Denisenko has top six upside with a mean side to him, and also is considered a LW, and there are not many top LW’s in fantasy leagues these days
#12 – Noah Dobson: See what I wrote on Bouchard
#13 – Joel Farabee: This is a good spot to take him as the LW can eventually become a top six LW for the Flyers
#14 – Barrett Hayton: If he becomes as great as the Coyotes seem to think he can be this could be a steal of a pick
#15 – Joe Veleno: The biggest faller of the draft. Now did he fall because there is something wrong with him and he won’t pan out or did he fall because NHL teams felt they had better options. Only time will tell but this could end up being a fair spot for him
#16 – Ty Smith: Was the pick I was deciding between (as I had the next pick) and this GM made the decision for me. I am a Devils fan so I wish I was able to pick him but I am fine with the next player. Smith is a safer defenseman to make the NHL who has a good upside as well.
#17 – Ryan Merkley, D (Me): I thought with my last pick I would take the biggest boom/bust pick of the draft. If Merkley can learn to play defense he could be the best scoring defenseman from this draft and if he continues to look so last then he will never make it. I will end this part by saying “attitude problems” are a dumb thing to ever focus on as these people being drafted are kids, you really don’t think they’ll grow up?
A couple picks later, as Bokk, Kupari and Kaut went, I tried to sneak back in for five picks in a row but no GM’s budged and eventually someone got the guy I wanted in Jonatan Berggren.
Well that wraps up another successful ramblings, find me here: @FHPQuinn
And remember: Don’t shop smart, shop s mart