Your Top Ten F's list..draft prep

td_ice

Peter shows the way
Aug 13, 2005
33,004
3,569
USA
Hello,

Was wondering if you can give me your take, as I do some draft prep now for my next season's Keeper league draft. I want to do it now, with the season fresh, as in the off season, I know I will forget about it. I have a list 50 deep, but wanted to get your ideas on narrowing it to a top ten.

Below is my best guesstimate of who will be available in the forward crop for my draft. (I could be wrong, some GM's might go 1 Goalie, but in most cases I estimated on them keeping 2 goalies, seeing their importance.) I have them in alphabetical order. 20 listed, who is your TOP TEN list.

We keep 6, there are 10 teams. (my keepers, McDavid, Marchand, Barzal, E. Karlsson, Rask, Crawford)

G, A, PPG, PPA, GWG, SHG, SHA, SHOG

Debrincat
Draisaitl
Ehlers
Forsberg
Gourde
Hischier
Hoffman
W. Karlsson
Keller
Kuznetsov
Marner
Nylander
Panarin
Point
Rackell
Rantanen
Schwartz
M. Stone
Trochek
Voracek

(any can include any upcoming rookie/KHL guy, if you wish. short list, Kovy, Dahlin (I know he is a dmen), Tolvanen, E. Pettersson, C. Middlestadt)

Your top 5? or top 10? or all, any comments will be appreciated.

Thank you.
 

HansonBro

Registered User
May 3, 2006
4,906
3,470
At a quick glance

Voracek
Draisaitl
Kuzy
Forsberg
Ehlers
Panarin
Rackell
Rantanen
Trochek
Hoffman
Stone
Karlsson
Nylander
Point
Debrincat
Marner
The rest

Other then the top 3-6 I think any of these guys could move up or down on any given day.

Watch what Tolvanen does if he comes over for the playoffs. Even if he doesn't come he's the best sleeper pick behind perhaps Debrincat
 
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td_ice

Peter shows the way
Aug 13, 2005
33,004
3,569
USA
One category I forgot is plus/minus. 1 point for a PLUS, and -1, for a MINUS. Goals are 3 points, with 3 MORE points on top for a PPG, and 3 more points for any GWG. It is too heavily skewed to a PP points, but it is what it is.


(THANKS HansonBro, I appreciate it!)
 

TropicalFruitGirl2

A Peachy Hockey Gal!
Feb 23, 2013
6,823
3,828
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Given how your league seems pretty heavy on production rather than peripherals, and the PP seems rewarded particularly, I will leave out guys who are excellent players but do so with peripherals as well as goals and assists.

I'll break it down into tiers....

Top 3 Tier
1-Rickard Rakell.
This guy has been good for a couple seasons now and he is the real deal. When guys like Perry and Getzlaf go down with injury, he continues to trudge along putting up points and it doesn't seem to matter who his linemates are. Even strength, PP, he does it all and only looks to get better.
I'd say he has even passed Perry and is right alongside Getzlaf as far as being important offensively to the Ducks.

2-Leon Draisaitl.
Great offensive player, even on a bumbling Edmonton team. Plus, since you have McDavid already, seems natural to have Draisaitl to go along with him. Also, even though I describe the Oilers as "bumbling" they could very well rebound next year and McDavid and Drai will be a big part of it. They honestly should NOT have been as bad as they were this season.

3- Willie Karlsson.
A lot of people underestimated him because he was so-so in Columbus. Well, given a chance with prime ice time in Vegas and playing under a system where all four lines work their tails off, he has shown he is a real deal #1 center himself and is proficient in not only scoring goals, but setting up others on the regular. His PP production is a bit thin, but I think that should improve for next season. And if for some reason, the Vegas Knights trade him at the draft or the off season in order to continue stockpiling high draft picks, he certainly will be a #1 C on just about any team he ends up on or an elite 2C on a deep offensive team.


Next 3 Tier...some of these guys could have possibly been Tier 1 guys as well......

4- Evgeni Kuznetsov.
Very reliable offensive player who seems to specialize on the PP too. Had a bit of a 'down' year by his standards this year, but he is only 26 or 27 so he is still in his prime, and a down year for him is still a good year for lots of other players. Washington is STILL an offense first team, and Kuznetsov should still put up good production numbers for the forseeable future.

5-Braydon Point.
Another guy people underestimated but not only does he put up points, but seems to excel in GWG. On the Lightning, teams will basically have to allocate their best checking lines or D-pairings to either the Kuch/Stamkos top line, or Point's 2nd line...one way or another, Braydon will continue to produce because of the "pick your poison" nature of the Lightning lineup...and when paired with Stammer and Kuch on the PP...look out.

6-Mikko Rantanen.
Colorado, IMO, has finally turned a corner and while they still have issues to work out (mostly defensively and if Varlamov can finally stay healthy most of the year), I believe their offense is real. MacKinnon and Landeskog should lead the way, but Rantanen will be continue to be a big part of Colorado's offense, and he is another player, like Kuznetsov who seems to have a knack for getting PPP.

Final Tier (4 players)....

7-Jakub Voracek.
I would have rated him a bit higher (he had another fantastic season this year), but I continue to worry that Philly will be a one line team (Voracek, Giroux, and whoever else is on their line), but if Konecny continues to improve and the young offense minded D take steps forward, it could elevate the rest of the forwards group and make Voracek even more valuable.
Still, he is a solid veteran producer and you could do much, much worse than draft him for your team.
A premier assist man and many of those come on the PP.

8-Willie Nylander.
Toronto is an offensive team and Nylander is one of the reasons why.
He is at #8 because as good as Toronto can be offensively, they seem subject to slumps where a bunch of their players go into scoring droughts....including Nylander.
That takes nothing away from his overall offensive ability and if you have some pretty good scoring elsewhere, you can afford to have him on your roster even if he slumps for long stretches...because it will likely be worth it when the Leaf offense explodes once more.

9-Nico Hischier.
Rookie player who seems ahead of the curve as far as coming into his own in the NHL. There is finally some offensive life in the NJ Devils and Hischier should benefit as well as contribute to that big time next year.
Thing that bothers me about him though is the dreaded 'sophomore slump'. Of course, it doesn't mean it WILL happen to him, but sometimes expectations overwhelm and a 2nd year player finds things weren't as easy for him as they were the first time around because teams "know about him now".
So while he isn't a slam dunk to improve on his numbers this year, there is a good chance he will. Especially if others on his team improve right along with him.

10- Jaden Schwartz.
Has finally hit his stride...even though he missed lots of time this year due to injury, but I think it is no coincidence that the St. Louis offense started to slide backwards when Schwartz was no longer available. Tarasenko, Schenn, yea those guys are go-to guys, but seems to me Schwartz was that secret ingredient that made everything work smoothly and teams couldn't just overload on cover Tarasenko or Schenn.
If he comes back healthy and ready to go next season, I would seek him out. Barring the Blues doing something stupid like trading off MORE players (like they did with Stastny) and weakening the lines, Schwartz should come back better than ever with is production.


Ok, those would be the top 10 guys I would be trying to target in the draft to go along with your keepers (nice group of keepers too, BTW...smart to keep two starting goalies).

Some that I DIDN'T select, it wasn't because I don't think they are good players, but rather, many of the ones I didn't put in the top ten excel in other areas where your league doesn't seem to reward points for (FOW, SOG, Hits).

Vincent Trocheck, Yanni Gourde, and Filip Forsberg are good examples of guys who can produce offensively, however, their real strength lies in other things they do and are more valuable in as multi category guys in leagues that reward that.
JT Miller (TB) and Dustin Brown (LA), two players NOT listed at all, are other such multi-cat guys.

Then others, like Panarin, Hoffman, and Marner seem a bit too inconsistent to me.....although that could change if some of those guys change teams (Hoffman) or are given prime minutes and linemates to work with (Marner).

Anyways, that's what I got.
Hope I was helpful, even if just a bit.

Good luck to you in your draft and upcoming season.
 
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td_ice

Peter shows the way
Aug 13, 2005
33,004
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USA
Thanks so much. NJC.

And TFG2! Above and beyond, Above and beyond. Much appreciation!
 

Bob Barker

Registered User
Jun 2, 2008
1,831
420
I wouldn't put W.Karlsson in that top tier yet. I'd take Kuznetsov, Rantanen, and Point all over him.
 
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Not Jared Cowen

Registered User
Oct 1, 2004
1,771
738
I wouldn't put W.Karlsson in that top tier yet. I'd take Kuznetsov, Rantanen, and Point all over him.

Agreed. He's shooting an ungodly 23.6% this year. He was an 8% shooter prior to this year. Some regression is almost a certainty. If he does shoot 20+% again next year, I'll eat my crow happily, but sustaining that level of success in today's NHL is hard to fathom.
 

Satan

MIGHTY
Apr 13, 2010
91,381
13,008
Lapland
Nylander
Voracek
Forsberg
-------------
Stone
Marner
Keller
Draisaitl
Panarin
Schwartz
---------------
Ehlers
Rantanen
Hoffman


I don't really care about the rest
 
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RonTextall

Registered User
Dec 16, 2007
1,500
35
Ottawa
Keep: Draisaitl Ehlers W. Karlsson Kuznetsov Point Rackell Schwartz Rantanen Trochek Voracek

Toss: Debrincat Forsberg Gourde Hoffman Keller Marner M. Stone Panarin Nylander Hischier

Some tough decisions here. I think Trochek has arrived and is close to beast mode. I think guys like Keller and Hischier are a couple years away from becoming elite. Someone like Ehlers is further along and is on an upward trajectory.

I'm a Leaf fan and while Marner and Nylander are highly skilled, they are small, and Toronto rolls 3 lines, so the minutes (and points) are more spread out than a team with 2 clear cut scoring lines.

There is no clear 1-10 here and you are going to have a solid team no matter which way you go. Great idea to strike while the iron is hot!
 
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HansonBro

Registered User
May 3, 2006
4,906
3,470
Keep: Draisaitl Ehlers W. Karlsson Kuznetsov Point Rackell Schwartz Rantanen Trochek Voracek

Toss: Debrincat Forsberg Gourde Hoffman Keller Marner M. Stone Panarin Nylander Hischier

Some tough decisions here. I think Trochek has arrived and is close to beast mode. I think guys like Keller and Hischier are a couple years away from becoming elite. Someone like Ehlers is further along and is on an upward trajectory.

I'm a Leaf fan and while Marner and Nylander are highly skilled, they are small, and Toronto rolls 3 lines, so the minutes (and points) are more spread out than a team with 2 clear cut scoring lines.

There is no clear 1-10 here and you are going to have a solid team no matter which way you go. Great idea to strike while the iron is hot!
Debrincat is a 30 goal scorer next year
 

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