Drafting Surprises and Shockers

[Deleted]

We are in the 28th round now so I thought is was about time we start talking about some of the surprises/shockers on our teams. What were the pleasant surprises for your team?

For me, I usually never get any leafs so its a shocker to look at my roster and see Fraser and Gunnarsson. Leaf Nation usually drafts them all up before they come to me!

Also, I was surprised that prospect goalies didn't go as quickly as the NHL goalies. I expected maybe a run on prospect goalies so I was sure to draft up my three right away. Shocked there is still some big name goalie specs on the board.

Anyone else?

[Deleted]

Sorry I didn't realize l was talking to myself. I wont waste your time here. Good luck on the draft!

[Bruyns (Barrie)]

Haha have a little patience you just posted this yesterday on Mother's day and it's early Monday morning.

For me I was surprised by a few things:

- Prospects going so early and often. Majority will never reach their potential and it seems like a lot of wasted picks for how early some were taken.

- One dimensional offensive players drafted early. Felt some players who only impact 4 of our 17 cats (G,A,Pts,STPTS) were taken really early.

- How far players who impact non-offensive categories fell. Lots of top guys in the hits, blocks, PIMs and SHTOI categories went later than I expected.

- How many decent veteran players with higher cap hits are still available

- How many GMs were worried about the salary cap or who other GMs were taking even though everyone had the same opportunity to draft whatever player they wanted and were told salary in the minors wouldn't count towards the cap.

- How many teams put a higher value on youth with so many teams looking like they are more concerned with the future than competing in the present.

[Dave (PLK)]

you young lads and your impatience...lol

The biggest surprise for me was Zetterberg not being picked until round 4.

Also, being a big Sens fan, I haven't drafted any Sens players, not that I haven't wanted to, but they kept getting picked just before I was ready to take one.

[Tbone (Kelowna)]

I'm surprised how much fun this Draft is turning out to be.

Having little to no knowledge of a majority of prospects just over a month ago to being able to do this ton of research to dig into every little detail about a spec's background, then hoping, and hoping that he's still around for your next pick, having invested so much effort into looking it up - it's like some crazy drug that keeps me glued to the computer literally 24/7.

Again, think it should be a complement to the diversity of all the participants in this league and all the individual drafting styles and strategies involved, and of course all the intricacies of the rules - that results in making this process all the more enjoyable.

So keep up with all your individual strategies, I'm sure some will be successful and some will not - but time will tell who's got it right.

[Bruyns (Barrie)]

May 13, 2013 9:34:28 GMT -5 Tbone (Kelowna) said:

So keep up with all your individual strategies, I'm sure some will be successful and some will not - but time will tell who's got it right.

Well put Kelowna, just want to clarify that the things I was surprised about were just my opinion and that doesn't make it any more correct than anyone elses. I like that everyone is able to follow their own strategy and just because I found some strategies surprising that doesn't mean they were wrong or worse than anyone else's strategy.

[Dave (PLK)]

I put a lot of faith into hockeyfutures.com site because I don't know a lot about prospects....we'll see how that pans out.

There have been a lot of guys picked that I have absolutely never heard of before.

[Deleted]

May 13, 2013 9:24:38 GMT -5 Dave (PLK) said:

The biggest surprise for me was Zetterberg not being picked until round 4.

Trust me I was surprised too. 

[Deleted]

Definitely the premium put on prospects is strange, albeit not particularly surprising considering hockey's obsession with youth. The biggest shock to me was the premium put on offensive defensemen. The spread in points for defensemen is much, much smaller than the spread on points for forwards.

[Kokanee-Rage]

Prospects going so early and often I had to pick a couple way earlier than planned just to make sure I had a couple.
How many players disappear off my list each round even now , several times I had to make new lists because my list of 15 or more is down to nothing before my next pick. 

[Deleted]

I was really surprised that I got Cam Ward in Round 4 and Patrick Marleau in Round 9.  I understand the salary cap concerns but I always thought Cam Ward was a top 7 goalie.  

[Deleted]

Marleau's my favorite player and it was hard watching him fall all the way to round 9 (utter steal) but I had to stick to my guns and refuse to draft a significant Shark.

[ltcompton (Red Army)]

Marleau is a great player to watch but he turns 34 in September so I don't think he went to low, probably about right for a player whose skills are in decline. Not that he is the same player but look what happened to Brad Richards over the past season, the decline, when it comes is quick and unforgiving. Marleau keeps himself in very good shape (unlike Vinny Lecavalier) so he is likely to have a couple more productive seasons but he is on the downslide for sure and it might accelerate from here.

I would echo what Kelowna said about the draft, its great to watch the picks happen and glean a strategy from those picks, think about who is going to be left on the board when you pick...and so on and so forth....what a blast!

As far as surprises, I was actually shocked that no one else went thoroughly young like I did, though there were a few others that drafted some prospects pretty high. If you have 21 or 22 teams tring to win now, I like my odds of building a young powerhouse team (less competition for prospects) that could make a 3 or 4 year run at being very competitive, though admittedly it probably won't happen till the 2014-2105 season. We'll see how well I've drafted, maybe I didn't do a good job of picking the right prospects, but if I did, then watch out. The average age of my team is 23, which means I should be competitive for a good long while if I did draft well.

My only other observation is that a bunch of GM's in this league are going to be in Cap Hell right out of the box which I just don't agree with philosophically. I think its much better to leave yourself space to manuever and take advantage of other teams cap mismanagement; with the salary cap going to $64M next season and some of the contracts I have seen signed, there is going to be a lot of pain this off-season as veteran free agents get their money. And opportunities for GM's with cap room to improve their teams in a hurry. Yes , you can bury your expensive veterans on your minor league roster but guys like me can pick them off as we need them when you try to send them thru waivers, plus they are taking up the space on your minors roster that would be filled by a prospect that you'll need some day to help your team.

Finally, good luck to everyone, this league already has good mojo, everyone is pretty cool and nice but competitive, I like the vibe of this group so keep it up everyone!

Cheers

[Deleted]

Marleau's certainly left his prime to be sure, but his underlying numbers are still fantastic. He's also a very good defensive player, and like you said keeps himself in excellent shape. We've seen his best days, but he still has a lot to give, unlike Boyle, say.

My significant pieces are all very young: Tavares, Skinner, Pacioretty, Letang, Varlamov, Lehner. My complimentary pieces are also very young, in Krejci, McGinn, Grabner, Hornqvist, and Johansen. I drafted young up front and older on defense, simply because defensemen have longer primes. 

[Deleted]

I think every team is going to be competitive for years to come. Almost every team has their core in the mid 20s or younger and so they'll be set for the next few years.