The Rotoworld team had its second Mock Draft of the 2018-19 campaign (this one is a keeper league) and below you can find the complete results with the strategies of some participants at the end. For this draft we kept things as vanilla as possible, which means that we stuck to the Yahoo standard rules and it was your typical live, snake draft.
Round 1
1.1 Connor McDavid (Edm - C) – James O’Brien
1.2 Nikita Kucherov (TB - RW) – Ryan Dadoun
1.3 Alex Ovechkin (Was - LW) – Corey Abbott
1.4 Patrik Laine (Win - RW) – Domenico D’Amato
1.5 Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB - G) – Michael Finewax
1.6 Sidney Crosby (Pit - C) – Gus Katsaros
1.7 John Tavares (Tor - C) – Daniel Dobish
1.8 Nathan McKinnon (Col - C) – Joey Alfieri
1.9 Brad Marchand (Bos - LW) – Brian Rosenbaum
1.10 Patrick Kane (Chi - RW) – Jeff Alfieri
Round 2
2.11 Tyler Seguin (Dal - C) – Jeff Alfieri
2.12 David Pastrnak (Bos - RW) – Brian Rosenbaum
2.13 Auston Matthews (Tor - C) – Joey Alfieri
2.14 Evgeni Malkin (Pit - C) – Daniel Dobish
2.15 Jamie Benn (Dal – C, LW) – Gus Katsaros
2.16 Victor Hedman (TB - D) – Michael Finewax
2.17 Taylor Hall (NJ - LW) – Domenico D’Amato
2.18 Connor Hellebuyck (Win - G) – Corey Abbott
2.19 Braden Holtby (Was - G) – Ryan Dadoun
2.20 Steven Stamkos (TB - C) – James O’Brien
Round 3
3.21 Johnny Gaudreau (Cal - LW)
3.22 Mitch Marner (Tor - RW)
3.23 Blake Wheeler (Win – C, RW)
3.24 Erik Karlsson (Ott - D)
3.25 Jack Eichel (Buf - C)
3.26 Pekka Rinne (Nsh - G)
3.27 Claude Giroux (Phl – C, LW)
3.28 Filip Forsberg (Nsh - LW)
3.29 Artemi Panarin (Cls - LW)
3.30 Evgeny Kuznetsov (Was – C)
Round 4
4.31 Vladimir Tarasenko (StL - RW)
4.32 Brent Burns (SJ - D)
4.33 Seth Jones (Cls - D)
4.34 Phil Kessel (Pit - RW)
4.35 Sergei Bobrovsky (Cls - G)
4.36 Leon Draisaitl (Edm – C, RW)
4.37 Frederik Andersen (Tor - G)
4.38 Dustin Byfuglien (Win - D)
4.39 Tuukka Rask (Bos - G)
4.40 Matt Murray (Pit - G)
Round 5
5.41 Mathew Barzal (NYI - C)
5.42 Drew Doughty (LA - D)
5.43 Mark Scheifele (Win - C)
5.44 Roman Josi (Nsh - D)
5.45 Mikko Rantanen (Col – RW)
5.46 Anze Kopitar (LA - C)
5.47 Jakub Voracek (Phi - RW)
5.48 P.K. Subban (Nsh - D)
5.49 John Gibson (Ana - G)
5.50 John Klingberg (Dal - G)
Round 6
6.51 Martin Jones (SJ – G)
6.52 Joe Pavelski (SJ – C, RW)
6.53 Shayne Gostisbehere (Phi - D)
6.54 Nikolaj Ehlers (Win – LW, RW)
6.55 Evander Kane (SJ - LW)
6.56 Aleksander Barkov (Fla - C)
6.57 Nicklas Backstrom (Was - C)
6.58 Patrice Bergeron (Bos - C)
6.59 Sebastian Aho (Car – C, LW)
6.60 Clayton Keller (Ari – LW, RW)
Round 7
7.61 Brock Boeser (Van - RW)
7.62 Sean Monahan (Cal - C)
7.63 Brayden Schenn (StL - C)
7.64 Mikael Granlund (Min – C, RW)
7.65 Rasmus Dahlin (Buf - D)
7.66 Alexander Radulov (Dal - RW)
7.67 Torey Krug (Bos – D)
7.68 Carey Price (Mon - G)
7.69 Ben Bishop (Dal - G)
7.70 Jonathan Marchessault (VGK – C, LW)
Round 8
8.71 John Carlson (Was - D)
8.72 William Nylander (Tor – C, RW)
8.73 William Karlsson (VGK - C, LW)
8.74 Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK - G)
8.75 Viktor Arvidsson (Nsh - RW)
8.76 Gabriel Landeskog (Col - LW)
8.77 Rickard Rakell (Ana – LW, RW)
8.78 Jonathan Huberdeau (Fla - LW)
8.79 Matthew Tkachuk (Cal - LW)
8.80 Zach Werenski (Cls - D)
Round 9
9.81 Dougie Hamilton (Car - D)
9.82 Kris Letang (Pit - D)
9.83 Jonathan Quick (LA - G)
9.84 Tyson Barrie (Col - D)
9.85 Aaron Ekblad (Fla - D)
9.86 Matt Dumba (Min - D)
9.87 Ilya Kovalchuk (LA – LW, RW)
9.88 Alex Pietrangelo (StL - D)
9.89 Rasmus Ristolainen (Buf – D)
9.90 Jeff Skinner (Buf - LW)
Round 10
10.91 Vincent Trocheck (Fla – C)
10.92 Wayne Simmonds (Phi - RW)
10.93 Pierre-Luc Dubois (Cls – C, LW)
10.94 Devan Dubnyk (Min - G)
10.95 Keith Yandle (Fla - D)
10.96 Morgan Rielly (Tor - D)
10.97 Ivan Provorov (Phi - D)
10.98 Mark Giordano (Cal - D)
10.99 Ryan Ellis (Nsh - D)
10.100 Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Ari - D)
Round 11
11.101 Sean Couturier (Phi - C)
11.102 Mikhail Sergachev (TB - D)
11.103 Mark Stone (Ott - RW)
11.104 Logan Couture (SJ – C, LW)
11.105 Kyle Connor (Win - LW)
11.106 Martin Marincin (Tor - D)
11.107 Jake Muzzin (LA - D)
11.108 Cam Talbot (Edm - G)
11.109 Charlie McAvoy (Bos – D)
11.110 Cam Atkinson (Cls - RW)
Round 12
12.111 Brandon Montour (Ana - D)
12.112 Ryan Suter (Min - D)
12.113 Alex DeBrincat (Chi – LW, RW)
12.114 Justin Faulk (Car - D)
12.115 Jake Gardiner (Tor - D)
12.116 Corey Crawford (Chi - G)
12.117 Antti Raanta (Ari - G)
12.118 Will Butcher (NJ - D)
12.119 Jake Guentzel (SJ - G)
12.120 Mike Hoffman (Fla - LW, RW)
Round 13
13.121 Jake Allen (StL - G)
13.122 Ryan Getzlaf (Ana - C)
13.123 Patric Hornqvist (Pit - RW)
13.124 Brayden Point (TB - C)
13.125 Yanni Gourde (TB – C, RW)
13.126 Jeff Carter (LA - C)
13.127 Andrei Svechnikov (Car - RW)
13.128 Tomas Hertl (SJ – C, LW, RW)
13.129 Jaden Schwartz (StL - LW)
13.130 Shea Theodore (VGK - D)
Round 14
14.131 Philipp Grubauer (Col - G)
14.132 Ryan Johansen (Nsh - C)
14.133 Nico Hischier (NJ - C)
14.134 Ryan McDonagh (TB - D)
14.135 James van Riemsdyk (Phi - LW)
14.136 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edm – C, LW)
14.137 Jason Zucker (Min – LW, RW)
14.138 Colton Parayko (StL - D)
14.139 Max Pacioretty (Mon - LW)
14.140 Kevin Shattenkirk (NYR - D)
Round 15
15.141 J.T. Miller (TB – C, RW)
15.142 Nolan Patrick (Phi - C)
15.143 Evgenii Dadonov (Fla – LW, RW)
15.144 Miro Heiskanen (Dal - D)
15.145 Jakob Chychrun (Ari - D)
15.146 Reilly Smith (VGK – LW, RW)
15.147 Noah Hanifin (Cal - D)
15.148 Nick Leddy (NYI - D)
15.149 Corey Perry (Ana - RW)
15.150 Travis Konecny (Phi - LW, RW)
Round 16
16.151 Ryan Pulock (NYI - D)
16.152 Cory Schneider (NJ - G)
16.153 Semyon Varlamov (Col - G)
16.154 Casey Mittelstadt (Buf - C)
16.155 Henrik Lundqvist (NYR - G)
16.156 Carter Hutton (Buf - G)
16.157 Mike Smith (Cal - G)
16.158 Sam Reinhart (Buf – C, RW)
16.159 Roberto Luongo (Fla - G)
16.160 T.J. Oshie (Was - RW)
Comments
Michael Finewax
When entering a keeper league, my strategy is always the same and it doesn’t matter what sport I am playing: take all the young players you can. The strategy isn’t conducive to winning in the first season but you have a strong team for the future. I did this in baseball one season and finished last the first season and won six of the next seven years. I always tend to draft a goalie first and this year was no exception as I grabbed Andrei Vasilevskiy. He is in my opinion, the best young goaltender in the NHL. While I didn’t take a young defenseman with the second pick, I love Victor Hedman and he is still only 27. Eichel, Draisaitl, Rantanen and Barkov followed and then I took the number one pick in the 2018 Draft, the generational defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. I ended up taking three former first overall picks, four who were taken second and one third. That’s how you should pick a keeper team.
Corey Abbott
I don’t treat keeper drafts much differently than standard formats, especially in the early going. There’s a great deal to like about Alex Ovechkin, especially with Yahoo shifting from penalty minutes to hits, so making him my top pick at No. 3 felt like a no-brainer. I wanted to secure a goaltender early in the second round and snagged Connor Hellebuyck. I don’t normally select too many players from the same team, but going back to the Jets for Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele and Dustin Byfuglien felt too good to pass up. I really like the Scheifele-Wheeler line stack potential as well as Byfuglien’s multi-category coverage. I wanted to add some center depth next, so I made Patrice Bergeron and Brayden Schenn my next two selections. I got another superb netminder in Jonathan Quick afterward and I thought he was a great value pick in Round 9. The next selections simply filled out the remaining positional holes on the roster.
Ryan Dadoun
My main thought going into this draft is I didn’t want to be afraid to draft players that I wouldn’t use as keepers as over-committing to taking younger players could water down my team and I wanted to avoid centers early given their sheer abundance. The fact that I was able to get Ryan Getzlaf with the 122nd overall pick speaks to that abundance.
While I didn’t want to over-commit to taking keepers, I did want to make sure I had options in that regard in the goaltending and defensive slots to simplify those harder to fill positions for years to come. In that regard, I’m happy that I was able to get Braden Holtby as while he’s not the youngest goaltender out there, he should still have quite a few good years left. I also grabbed Mikhail Sergachev with the 102nd pick given his extremely high potential offensively.
If I have an area that I’m not satisfied with, it’s that I didn’t take enough players that can slot into multiple positions. Sebastian Aho (C/LW) is the only player on my team that is going into the season with multi-position eligibility in Yahoo and that will make it a lot harder for me to adjust as the season goes on.
James O’Brien
If you’re not picking Connor McDavid, you’re either a mad scientist or ... Marc Bergevin? I don’t know, but there’s not much explaining needed to be done there. One thing that stood out to me is that McDavid is becoming more of a SOG hog, in case people were foolishly wondering if he has too much of a passing bias. There’s McDavid and everyone else (sorry Sid), and he’s somehow just 21.
Getting the “sandwich picks” robs you of some autonomy when it comes to gauging when goalie or defensemen runs happen, so I feel like that’s where you can wonder about value.
Interestingly enough, despite those worries, I felt pretty good about getting Matt Murray with the final pick of the fourth round, and while I’m not the biggest proponent of Jake Allen‘s actual skill, he’s backstopping a Blues team I expect to be very, very good. Allen’s also 28, so if something catastrophic happened with Matt Murray (24), then there’s insurance if I would, for some reason, feel the need to absolutely lock down a goalie spot long-term.
A lot of analytics types look down on drafting goalies early, but I personally think that it’s good to get a top one in some form. After all, in this league, four of the 10 spots are covered by a netminder. That’s a lot of your week-to-week matchups being swung by 2-3 goalies. Murray’s had injury issues, and the Penguins can be leaky on defense, but his talent, Pittsburgh’s likelihood to grab him some W’s even on off nights and Murray’s youthfulness is a tough combination to beat considering where he landed.
I was eager to land some premium defensemen midway through the draft, and while others depleted the ranks at times, I was happy to get three prime-age defensemen who have a chance to hit things like 10 goals (one indicator of a very strong D in fantasy): Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dougie Hamilton and Zach Werenski. I can see any of those three guys ending up being my best-scoring blueliner in 2018-19, and a reasonably healthy Kevin Shattenkirk could be a nice value as my final D.
Early on during drafts - keeper or otherwise, really - I tend to try to grab as many “blue-chippers” as possible without worrying too much about position, aside from making sure I get a goalie I can at least live with and at least a pair of defensemen I really like. (At least since, it seems, some of the forward-to-D gulf is smaller with overall scoring still fairly low.)
Later in the draft, I tried to patch up a few things: getting some RW options and also trying to massage my hits stats a bit. J.T. Miller (C, RW) and T.J. Oshie both cover a weaker position for me, and amusingly enough, each player generated 124 hits last season, via Yahoo’s numbers. I tend to really like SOG generators (Mike Hoffman stood out for that, not to mention LW/RW status and the unofficial stat of HIGH OFF-ICE DRAMA), but with hits becoming a standard category, I wanted to set my team up to at least steal that peripheral category during some weeks. I leaned toward high-scoring defensemen rather than hard-hitting ones in part because of no PIM, so hits were a tie-breaker when sorting through a fairly robust middle class of fantasy players.
So, in short, I tried to get the elite scorers early, time a goalie grab without reaching too badly, nab some high-quality D since four of the 10 skater spots call for them and then aimed for versatility. Not the easiest thing to do in a Mock Draft full of experts with better brains than mine, yet I’m fairly happy with my imaginary hockey team.
I mean, Mathew Barzal‘s on my BENCH, people.
Domineco D’Amato
With the fourth overall pick, I decided to take a young winger and proven goal-scorer in Laine. I believed that taking a young winger early was important since the position is not as deep as center and that I wouldn’t have to search for another winger in the early rounds in later years;
Overall, I targeted versatile forwards and young players throughout the draft. The versatility among my forwards allows me to move them around my lineup to maximize this year’s production, while the young age should help me establish a solid core for sustained success in upcoming years. A good example of this would be my selection of Granlund and Rakell in the seventh and eighth rounds as well as the selections of Provorov and Heiskanen in the 10th and 15th rounds respectively. The fact that these picks were made in later rounds also allows me to draft in the earlier rounds of future drafts.
When I did not draft a young player or goaltender, I opted to go with the best option that would help me win this year. Such examples of this are Nicklas Backstrom in the sixth round and Mike Smith in the 16th round.
Jeffrey Alfieri
My overall draft strategy so far this summer has been to load up on forwards and wait somewhat on defensemen and goaltenders. I was able to get four defensemen who are slated to start the season on their team’s top powerplay unit in rounds five, eight, 12 and 13. I combined them with Ryan Pulock in round 16 who has a big point shot that could land him on the Islanders’ top unit. I’m confident in Martin Jones as my number one goaltender and I believe he’ll have a bit of a bounce back season. However, I’ll admit that I wasn’t thrilled to have to settle for Philipp Grubauer (wanted Antti Raanta) as my second goalie but given that he projects to split starts with an oft-injured goaltender (Semyon Varlamov) on a playoff team, it isn’t as bad as it might look. I did think about using my last pick on Juuse Saros and I believe he’ll be a great option for people playing in deeper keeper leagues, as he’ll make for a great keeper option a year from now when he takes over from Pekka Rinne.
