Sunday morning arrived and I woke up primed and ready for my ten person rotisserie draft. I printed off my lists of the top 100 forwards, top 50 defensemen and top 30 goaltenders and got a highlighter and pen. This year we decided to introduce two keeper players into the league and we tossed our names on paper and pulled them out of a hat. Knowing your first two picks will likely be your keepers for the next two to three seasons makes picking the right player that much more important. For one, I hate the thought of keeping a player on my roster that I have to cheer for that I dislike. With that being said, I selected two beauticians in the first two rounds!
Before I get into the details of the draft, I wanted to go over how the points system works and all of that jazz.
There are 9 forward, 5 defensive, 1 utility and 2 goalie slots. Each position is good for 82 games a season and no more. There are also 5 bench positions to be filled, and that is up to you whether you want to pick forwards, defensemen or goaltenders. The key to be successful in rotisserie is to pick your starts wisely and have a solid crop of players who you can count on to perform when you do pick them.
For example, you may have twelve players on your team who are forwards; therefore if you play them all each and every game you will go over your limit by seasons end unless someone is hurt. Play your guys as they are hot, and sit them when they are cold; which of course sounds easier than it is! Nothing worse than sitting a goaltender that gets a shutout, or a player who gets a game winning hat trick.
You receive 5 points for a goal, 3 points for an assist, +- is 1 point in the positive or negative, a power play assist is worth 1 extra point, a power play goal is worth 2 extra points, a short-handed goal is worth an extra 3 points, a short-handed assists is worth 2 extra points, a game winning goal is worth an extra 2 points and a hat trick is worth 5. The goaltenders get 5 points for a win and 10 for a shutout.
With ten players in the draft, I selected sixth overall, and here is my team:
Round 1: Jamie Benn Round 2: Claude Giroux Round 3: Ryan Getzlaf Round 4: Tukka Rask Round 5: Nathan Mackinnon Round 6: Keven Shattenkirk Round 7: Daniel Sedin Round 8: Shea Weber Round 9: Steve Mason Round 10: Duncan Keith Round 11: Hendrik Zetterberg Round 12: Andrew Ladd Round 13: Derek Stepan Round 14: Marian Gaborik Round 15: Petr Mrazek Round 16: Jimmy Howard Round 17: Jacob Trouba Round 18: Ryan Kesler Round 19: Valeri Nichushkin Round 20: Brandon Dubinsky Round 21: Alexander Edler Round 22: Teuvo Teravainen
My sleeper pick was Teravainen and one could argue Nichushkin but I think he was more of a sleeper last season but was injured and that ruined his season. Either way, those are guys I am not counting on for big points, but will certainly be happy if they have quality seasons as I can plug them in as I please.
Rask was the ninth goalie chosen in the draft, which is decently accurate as to when he should be drafted. In the third round I was considering taking Rask as many of the top goalies had been taken and I wanted to ensure I had at least one quality goalie I could count on to get a lot of starts and win 30 + games Even though Boston has taken a step or two backwards over the last two seasons, you can’t count them out as they have some good young talent in the system and Rask is still in my opinion a goalie that should be taken before round four. As mentioned in the past, just pay attention to when the goalies are going and who is left; you want at least one stallion to rely on if not two (which I prefer).
As the draft went on I noticed a lot of goalies on the radar, but many whom which were split duties. Mason and Philadelphia had a tough go last season, and I predict the Flyers to be much more in the mix this season. Mason will start vast majority of the games like Rask; so I’m quite content with those two and their number of games played in a season but wasn’t completely sold. Round fifteen and sixteen couldn’t have treated me any better as I solidified my goaltending with Mrazek and Howard from Detroit. The luxury of picking which goalie I want to play on what night will come in very handy. It also means one less forward or defensemen on my roster; which is heavily stacked with goal scorers and point getters.
How about Shattenkirk, Weber and Keith as my top three defensemen? Unreal, quite possibly the best defense I have drafted in a pool. Trouba being my fourth best defensemen speaks wonders; I’m thrilled as it pays off to have defensemen who consistently put up points. Not having to worry about picking up an extra defensemen and just going with five quality ones lets me draft that extra goalie. My strategy of picking very high end forwards and very high end defense before I went for guys like Lundqvist and Price should pay off.
Let me know how your draft(s) have gone and what your teams are like; always like to hear from my viewers and friends how things are going and what plans if any they have going forward with their respected rosters.
I’ve got my list of sleepers and veteran players worth grabbing in the later rounds all set so be sure to check it out this week…not long until puck drop now!
Be sure to sign up for the HBSL (HockeyBuzz SuperLeague) if you havn't already!
Thanks for reading.