The beautiful month of September has arrived when the seasonal change occurs and the thought of opening night puck drop is in the back of my head. Training camps are just around the corner as teams prepare their rosters and everyone knocks off the rust with a few bag skates and gets through their physicals. Sunday September 20th preseason begins as Nashville hosts the Florida Panthers at 4:30 PM ET. The Final preseason games will be on Sunday October 4th as Washington hosts the New York Islanders at 5 PM ET.
Something I always like to do is watch preseason hockey as I enjoy seeing prospects and how their game has come along over another season and summer. You can get at least a taste of what potential these players may have at the National Hockey League level. Of course you have to keep in mind it’s only preseason and many of the veteran players will be coasting simply getting themselves ready for the upcoming season and don’t want to risk getting hurt. Many teams will ice half prospect, half roster players so make sure to take everything you watch in with a grain of salt. I’ve seen a few superhero preseason players who didn’t quite get the job done once the regular season started.
Looking ahead to your upcoming fantasy drafts, it’s important to get yourself prepared as best as possible. Commit yourself to doing better this season, even if you won last year’s hockey pool(s). Putting in preparation time can pay off in more ways than just winning the pool. Gloating about back to back victory’s sounds like a good problem to have! You want to have confidence in each round of your draft, especially in the later rounds when the sleepers and hidden gems come into play.
A good way to get you started is to take a quick visit to NHL.com and print out the top 250 fantasy players list. That will get you started with an idea of where players sit; of course pending on how your pool is setup and what categories are included. Printing out a couple copies of the list is a good idea so you can scribble in different highlighters on them. Myself, I like to have one highlighter colour for defense, another for forwards. Goalies have their own list entirely if you are wondering why they are not mentioned.
Each pool you are in may have different elements that change your rating systems. For example, penalty minutes may not be included in one pool, but are in another. Obviously this drastically changes some player’s worth and you’re rating system. This is exactly why I suggest printing/revising your own lists with highlighters throughout as you may have a different rating from one pool to the next. Be prepared! It pays off huge in the long run as you are not scrambling to make a pick in the dying rounds of your draft. Get a black pen or marker as players get picked during the draft, cross them off your sheet so you know they are not available. Note: Not all fantasy drafts are online; so this method works for all types of fantasy drafts.
It’s very important when analyzing players to consider factors beyond the traditional fantasy scoring categories. It’s not always the best player points wise that will produce the most for you fantasy wise. Looking at the big picture can pay off as potential line mates can make a huge difference in overall output and should not be overlooked. When selecting players in the middle to later rounds of your draft, be sure you have a good idea who these players will be with as some true gems are scooped up who play with elite talent.
Thinking of all of the categories when selecting your players can be somewhat overwhelming if you have a ton of different categories. It’s best to focus on the most common statistics when picking the ‘right’ player for your fantasy team. Of course taking a player on the first line will likely include a lot of power play time and points output. A third line player may not get nearly as much power play time, but could get a few minutes less in the overall because they are the teams penalty killer, which of course brings value for potential shorthanded points. Use your hockey smarts and draft yourself a well-rounded team
Some of the best players to go for in the draft are the ones who are able to produce in every type of category. When scouring through potential players you would like on your team; take a look for a player who does it all. Someone like Jonathan Toews who continues to produce each year in every category is a marvelous choice. Of course a top 25 fantasy player is much easier to assess than someone in the sixth or seventh round of the draft. This is exactly why you want to be prepared to draft a variety of players from top of the draft order, right to the bottom. It’s essential to be more prepared than the next guy, giving you that slight edge in knowledge when you make your selections.
Entering the second week of September, there is no better time than now to prepare for this seasons upcoming fantasy draft(s). Next write up will go over the ever so important first round of drafting. My top 10 players will be listed with predictions in all fantasy categories. It’s extremely important in my fantasy experience to start off the draft right on the right foot. You want to have the perfect selection for what’s available with your draft placement order feeling confident, especially in the earlier rounds having a core to build your team around. Also included will be my top 10 goaltenders in fantasy this season with projections.
Be sure to keep an eye out Friday as I am starting the fantasy frenzy, preparing for another victorious season with prizes, loot and of course gloating rights. Thanks for reading!