2019-2020 Fantasy Hockey Draft Recap
I had the 3rd overall pick in a 12 team league. I thought this was a perfect spot as there seems to be a clear top 3 and then a (small) step down to the rest. I would be getting one of Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, and (1.3) C Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon was actually ranked 2nd on ESPN ahead of McDavid. Kucherov went 1st, McDavid went 2nd, and I got MacKinnon in a league where shots on goal is a category. He led the league last season and the Avs are a team on the rise so I’m very happy with that pick.
I was mapping out who would be around at the back half of the 2nd round where I picked next. Leon Draisaitl and John Tavares were the two guys I pegged as options. It turned out that they both went in the two picks immediately before mine. It caught me off guard a tad, but the name that caught my eye was (2.10) C Jack Eichel, another very young, shot generating center on a team showing signs of improvement. Look for him to have the age-23 breakout this year that MacKinnon had last year. 70 goals and 600 shots right off the hop between the 2.
After just missing out on Tavares and not getting Auston Matthews, I still needed to get a piece of the Maple Leafs offensive abilities. I held my breath for 4 picks and then pressed “Draft” as fast as possible on (3.3) RW/C Mitch Marner. That was my quickest selection of the night besides my first overall pick where the decision was really made for me. The Leafs will be among the league leaders in goals scored and this playmaking extraordinaire is a huge reason why.
I had my sights set on a #1 defenseman with the next pick but the two I was looking at (Victor Hedman and John Carlson) were taken even amidst a run on goalies. Erik Karlsson was still on the board but injury concerns scared me away. I glanced at Morgan Rielly and envisioned all the PPG goal sequences of X – Marner – Rielly I would benefit from. I ended up going with (4.10) LW Jamie Benn off a down year. The Stars struggled mightily to score last year at 5v5 (it was really a defensive/Ben Bishop story that propelled them to the playoffs) and Benn was a part of it. I think there’s huge bounceback potential here, though, where Benn gets back to 200+ shots and brushes up near a point per game. The Benn/Tyler Seguin/Joe Pavelski or Alexander Radulov line could really bury teams in their defensive zone and the powerplay might see a further boost. It’s also a hits league, plus he’s been incredibly durable throughout his career. Not a guy I had circled going in but happy to get him.
I ended up leaning into the “build a forward group juggernaut” even with #1 defensemen still on the board. I snagged a 23 year old shot generation monster in (5.3) RW/LW Timo Meier. He should see an uptick in ice time with Joe Pavelski and Gustav Nyquist gone. If his minutes go up to ~20 per game, 40 goals is in the cards with a boost from the talent around him. In a shots league, the guys who shoot and score should be a tad more valued than the passer types.
Another extremely young shot generator for good measure, (6.10) LW/RW Andrei Svechnikov. Like Meier, Svechnikov should see increased ice time with high end players in an opportunity he should relish.
I tried to get a defenseman in the 4th round and didn’t end up getting one until the 7th. (7.3) D John Klingberg was the pick here. There was an injury last year that tamped down his overall numbers but he’s the #1 guy on a top-10 powerplay. His game is robust enough to push for the Norris Trophy, as well. Safe option here.
I went back to the well for a winger who shoots the puck a lot. The Predators tend to be more of a defensive team but (8.10) RW/LW Viktor Arvidsson is one of their main offensive threats. He’s slated to play with Ryan Johansen as his center and the top-9, in general, is high quality. He only has 12 powerplay points over the past 2 seasons despite getting ~2:30 minutes per game there. The team will use a 4F1D format with PK Subban gone so the powerplay might improve (new assistant coach for PP and addition of Matt Duchene too) and Arvidsson could get 12 powerplay points just this season alone with his little jump screens in front of the net. He ran into some injury problems last season but this is a guy who gets to the net with the puck and should have a decent +/- as the team is solid. He also has shown some scoring ability while shorthanded which might help me snake that category a few weeks this year.
Nothing fancy here but got my second offensively-minded defenseman in (9.3) D Torey Krug. He should clear 40 assists again no problem with the offensive deployment (PP1 and O-zone starts) he’s seen in the past.
I was keeping an eye on the potential PP1 defensemen left and the list really started to dwindle fast. Because of that, my next pick was (10.10) D Dougie Hamilton. There was a tense moment at pick 10.9 where the guy took most of his time to pick and has had Hamilton in the past so he knows what he does. Instead, he took his former teammate, Justin Faulk, who’s now with the Blues. I thought for sure he would take Hamilton. It was an interesting back-to-back picks because both Carolina and St. Louis are balancing their 2 powerplay lines instead of loading one up. Right now, Faulk is on PP1 with Alex Pietrangelo. Hamilton is the lone defenseman on PP2 (they also brought in Jake Gardiner). Hamilton should see more PP time this year than in the past, though, precisely because Faulk is gone. Hopefully it ends up being the most among defensemen on the team. We’ll see who produces the better season between Faulk and Hamilton.
This is where it gets interesting. I was prepared to get my 3rd defenseman in a row. For some reason, (11.3) RW/LW Jakub Voracek kept lingering on the board and when he got to me I couldn’t pass him up. He’s more of an assist guy (among league leaders a few seasons ago) but still racks up a healthy amount of shots. He’ll play with quality players and is part of a powerplay that has the pieces to be top-10. He’s also shown extreme durability like Benn.
Taking Voracek caused me to miss on the 2 remaining defensemen I really wanted, Cale Makar and Josh Morrissey, as they were both gone by the time this pick came around. This caused me to punt defense for the time being even though I needed to add 2 more. The pick is (12.10) LW Max Pacioretty who has had 2 straight down years amidst injuries. It’s a buy low opportunity as his line with Mark Stone and Paul Stastny, the nominal 2nd line on the Knights, should spend copious amounts of time in the offensive zone allowing Patches to shine and the chance to hit the 30 goal mark again if healthy and all goes right. Pacioretty was taken before both William Karlsson and Reilly Smith.
Another buy low opportunity presented itself in the 13th round with (13.3) LW Jaden Schwartz who suffered from a very low 6.0% SH% last season. It started to correct itself in the playoffs as he scored many big goals on the road to the Stanley Cup. He’s playing with Vladimir Tarasenko and they seem to have great results together. If his SH% bounces back up to around 12%, this could be a steal. There is an injury history with him.
I got back around to filling out the defense and bought more shares in the Flyers powerplay with the addition of (14.10) D Shayne Gostisbehere. Last year was a difficult season for him but he still has a great shot from the point and will be back on PP1. Just 2 seasons ago, he had 65 points. I’m hoping the performances of Scoreacek and Ghost Bear make it so I totally forget about missing on the two defensemen mentioned earlier.
Now it was time to get 3 goalies in a row. (15.3) G Cory Schneider first. Some people are ready to give MacKenzie Blackwood the job but Schneider shouldn’t be going away just yet. He’s had an interesting career in that he was stuck behind legends in both Vancouver and the start of his New Jersey career. He did well in his first 2 seasons as full-time starter in New Jersey but then performance declined once he turned 30. It stinks. When he performed well, he was blocked. When his performance slipped, people are kicking him to the curb. I hope we haven’t heard the last from him and he can turn in a ~.920 even if it’s a 50/50 split with Blackwood. The skater group in front of him also made some additions so that should help.
(16.10) G Juuse Saros was next. He’s the clear goalie of the future in Nashville, just waiting for his opportunity. Pekka Rinne is 36 and at some point that transition will occur. It won’t necessarily be this year but it’s an upside play worth making. Saros will still see a handful of starts and his talent level combined with the Predators stout defense should make them high quality.
(17.3) G Darcy Kuemper is the final goalie selected. He filled in admirably for Antti Raanta last season and was a key reason the Coyotes pushed for playoffs as the offense didn’t score many goals. Raanta is back and there is speculation that he will get the net back but Kuemper just got a new contract worth $10M over 2 seasons. He’s going to play meaningful minutes and he gets the start opening night. I snagged him off the waiver wire last year and he solidified my goaltending down the stretch. It’s better to find the next Kuemper instead of paying for the old one but since I got him in the 17th round, the cost was more than fine. Anything prior to round 12 or so would be nuts right after his career season. None of my goalies are unquestioned #1s as those guys aren’t really available after the first ~5 rounds. But they all have the ability to excel in a timeshare or if an injury arises. If it’s not working out with one of them, there’s little regret in cutting them for a new guy as I only used a very late draft pick on them.
My last pick was (18.10) D Nick Leddy. He’s penciled in to be PP1 defenseman right now but that could change. Ryan Pulock’s booming shot is across from him and Matthew Barzal’s puck-handling ability will be out there too. Maybe Leddy falls into some points. In reality, Leddy is unlikely to remain on the Islanders (trade) or my fantasy team (drop) for the whole season.
Recap: I usually load up on centers but I really leaned into young, shot-generating wingers. MacKinnon and Eichel are my only 2 true centers while Marner has eligibility. I ended up with 2 players that I didn’t really have circled going in but am comfortable with them coming out (Benn and Voracek). I have a lot of multi position players (LW+RW) that should provide flexibility throughout the season. I ran into a problem last year where I had 1 too many LW onlys and was required to bench a player some nights. My 1 possible regret might be missing out on Makar and Morrissey. The goaltending situation is fluid by design. I also surprisingly don’t have a player from the Jets or Lightning, 2 teams I think will have great power plays and score a lot of goals. Tried to get Hedman and Morrissey. Also had my eye on Patrik Laine but he got snatched up.
Jamie Benn – Nathan MacKinnon – Timo Meier
Max Pacioretty – Jack Eichel – Andrei Svechnikov
Jaden Schwartz – Mitch Marner – Viktor Arvidsson
Jakub Voracek
Torey Krug – John Klingberg
Shayne Gostisbehere – Dougie Hamilton
Nick Leddy
Cory Schneider
Juuse Saros
Darcy Kuemper