Group of friends and I decided to do a bit of a fantasy draft for next season. Since it's our first draft together we made things super simple.
Draft order is randomized for the layout (I got lucky being able to pick 1OA)
Build a full team with 3 healthy extras
No cap limit
Score is totaled by total points in regular season + playoffs for skaters, and for goalies total wins in regular season + playoffs. Whichever team ended up with the most total points at the end of the year, wins the Fantasy Cup.
Trades are allowed for swapping picks, and the draft ends when every team has a full team plus 3 healthy scratches.
***This is all for fun and no money is being wagered.***
At 1OA, the Carolina Berserkers select Cale Makar.
11- Igor Shesterkin
21- Jaccob Slavin
31- Elias Lindholm
41- Alex DeBrincat
51- Cole Caufield
Surprise Picks:
91- Tarasenko (nobody wanted to touch him for his injury history)
97- Hanifin (I traded picks 101 and 151 to acquire picks 97 and 167)
116- Swayman (I traded picks 121 and 161 for picks 116 and 176. Ironically, he was going to select Swayman with this pick.)
201- Grubauer (originally projected to go undrafted, I chose to take a flyer on Grubauer. The likelihood of him bouncing back is pretty high, so I went with it.)
174- McAvoy (Not mine, but selected late due to injury.)
Surprising players not selected (due to injury concerns or retirement concerns):
Bergeron
Price
Weber
Bernier
Interesting to select Makar first as I think Kane with McDavid for one whole season is going to lead to offensive dynamite, but I definitely see the attraction. Overall it looks pretty good. Solid D and great goaltending.
Interesting to select Makar first as I think Kane with McDavid for one whole season is going to lead to offensive dynamite, but I definitely see the attraction. Overall it looks pretty good. Solid D and great goaltending.
For me, I value 2-way players a lot more, and with how Makar has grown this year, I would take him over McDavid in a heartbeat. McDavid was definitely tempting, especially with how my top line ended up coming out, but at that point I don’t get the offense from the blue line. The only other options I would really have for blue line offense at 11 would be Hedman, and I don’t think Shesterkin would have made it to 21, so I decided to sacrifice a bit of offense up front for offense on the blue line so that I could get an elite starting goalie.