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We haven’t been publishing prospect ramblings during the month of July all that often because so much of our time has been used on the 31-in-31 series – remember to check them out on a daily basis. But I had a little bit of free time, so I figured I’d share the results of my second fantasy prospect draft of this summer. It’s good to remember that we play fantasy hockey just like all of you most likely but we have to put our money where our mouth is – when I draft a prospect, you can be sure I’ve done my research.
That doesn’t mean they’re sure things, though, because prospects never are. Often times, I draft guys with high upside even when there’s a lot of risk. My belief is that depth players are easy to find elsewhere, so I target high-end upside, especially after the first round. If they end up being busts, I move on to the next guy – because the next guy is already waiting.
The league in question is a 20 team H2H salary cap dynasty league with deep rosters and farm systems. The players available are mostly just the most recent draftees but European imports are also available in the draft. The stats that are counted for skaters are: Goals, Assists, Plus/Minus, Power Play Points, Short Handed Points, Penalty Minutes, Hits, Blocks, Shots On Goal and Faceoff Percentage.
Here’s how the first round went:
- Andrei Svechnikov, RW (CAR)
- Rasmus Dahlin, D (BUF)
- Filip Zadina, LW (DET)
- Brady Tkachuk, LW (OTT)
- Oliver Wahlstrom, RW (NYI)
- Quinn Hughes, D (VAN)
- Jesperi Kotkaniemi, C (MON)
- Noah Dobson, D (NYI)
- Vitali Kravtsov, RW (NYR)
- Adam Boqvist, D (CHI)
- Ty Smith, D (NJ)
- Evan Bouchard, D (EDM)
- Dominik Bokk, RW (STL)
- Joel Farabee, LW (PHI)
- Ilya Kovalchuk, LW (LA)
- Mikko Koskinen, G (EDM)
- Valeri Nichushkin, RW (DAL)
- Ty Dellandrea, C (DAL)
- Grigori Denisenko, LW (FLA)
- Barrett Hayton, C (ARI)
I had the 12th overall pick in this draft. The first nine names from my draft board went ahead of my selection as expected but the three names left on my top 12 were defenseman Evan Bouchard and wingers Grigori Denisenko and Dominik Bokk. I didn’t really expect Bouchard to be there but he happened to fall because other managers ahead of me preferred Noah Dobson and Ty Smith. I’m not a huge fan of Bouchard because I think there’s some risk with him. But at number 12, he was just too good to pass up.
The Oilers were ecstatic he dropped to them at number 10. Bouchard likely needs another season in junior to improve his all-around game but his offensive game is very good already. Once he cracks the Oilers’ roster, he’ll be running their top power play unit soon after. I really like the idea of Bouchard playing on the power play with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He may not become a top-pair defenseman but he can be a great fantasy hockey player regardless of that – he’ll make his living on the power play. But his all-around game should improve enough that he can become a middle-pair guy.
Here’s how the second round went:
- Ryan Merkley, D (SJ)
- Martin Kaut, RW (COL)
- Rasmus Kupari, C (LA)
- Joe Veleno, C (DET)
- Jonatan Berggren, RW (DET)
- Liam Foudy, C (CBJ)
- Jake Wise, C (CHI)
- Isac Lundeström, C (ANA)
- Serron Noel, RW (FLA)
- Kirill Marchenko, RW (CBJ)
- K’Andre Miller, D (NYR)
- Jesse Ylönen, RW (MON)
- Jay O’Brien, C (PHI)
- Ruslan Iskhakov, C (NYI)
- Rasmus Sandin, D (TOR)
- Jakub Skarek, G (NYI)
- Filip Hållander, C (PIT)
- Bode Wilde, D (NYI)
- Ryan McLeod, C (EDM)
- Akil Thomas, C (LA)
With the 32nd selection, I went with Finnish winger Jesse Ylönen. The Canadiens drafted him at number 35, and they seemed to be very happy he was still available at that spot. Ylönen will spend this upcoming season in the Finnish Liiga but it wouldn’t be shocking if he pushed for a spot on the NHL roster after that. He has upside to become a goal-scoring top-six winger, and his playmaking has been improving as well which means he’s not just some one-dimensional shooter.
And here’s how the third and final round went:
- Calen Addison, D (PIT)
- Nicolas Beaudin, D (CHI)
- Jared McIsaac, D (DET)
- Niklas Nordgren, RW (CHI)
- Gabriel Fortier, LW (TB)
- Albin Eriksson, LW (DAL)
- Olof Lindbom, G (NYR)
- Zdeno Chara, D (BOS)
- Jack McBain, C (MIN)
- Jack Drury, C (CAR)
- Olivier Rodrigue, G (EDM)
- Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, C (TOR)
- Slava Voynov, D (LA)
- Alexander Alexeyev, D (WSH)
- Evan Rodrigues, C (BUF)
- Justus Annunen, G (COL)
- Mattias Samuelsson, D (BUF)
- Scott Perunovich, D (STL)
- Antti Suomela, C (SJ)
- Ivan Morozov, C (VGK)
I had two picks in the third round. With the 46th overall pick, I took Swedish winger Albin Eriksson. The Stars drafted him with the 44th selection. Eriksson needs a bit more time but his offensive upside is very good, and there’s some potential for penalty minutes as well because of his discipline issues. He has top-six upside as well but there’s more risk compared to Ylönen.
With the 52nd overall pick, I took a gamble and drafted Russian center Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. The Maple Leafs drafted him with the 76th selection. SDA is a long way out from playing in the NHL but his offensive upside is very high. He needs to add a lot of weight to his 5-10 frame and start using his shot more but he has high-end vision and playmaking skills. He’s very much a boom or bust type prospect but I liked his top-six upside and decided to ignore the risk this late in the draft.
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And that’s all for now. Feel free to add comments below. Follow me on Twitter @JokkeNevalainen.
Images used on the main collage courtesy of NHL.com, MontrealGazette.com and HockeySverige.se