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Knowing this, I typically tend to invest in the safer guys in the first 2-3 rounds. If I have #1 pick, I am
taking Steven Stamkos. Second round, I am perfectly happy with Martin St.Louis or a consistent guy like
Eric Staal. This said, let’s shift to the part of the draft where you are most likely to win a Hits & Blocked
Shots league :
i) The Middle Rounds
ii) The Last 5 Picks
Let’s start by considering a standard 12 team league :
*3C/3LW/3RW/4D/2G (Bench: 5, likely as 1C/1LW/1RW/1D/1G)
*Skater categories: G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,SOG… Hits, BkS
We are going to compare two strategies:
1) Team A : The typical “slow-balance” strategy
vs.
2) Team B : The “Defensemen-last” strategy
With the “slow-balance” strategy, teams are consistently monitoring their positions.
If they have 1C & 1LW & 0 RW, they are thinking about getting 1RW.
If they have 2C & 2RW & 0 LW, they are thinking about getting 1LW, maybe 2 in back-to-back rounds.
Once a team has 2 at any position… they start to focus on any position with 0.
They don’t want to get too far behind in collecting at any one position.
*This manager is also more focused on getting offensively-skilled defensemen.*
With the “D-last” strategy, you will prepare yourself to take almost all of your defensemen in the last
rounds. It is a good consideration to take one “rock” to anchor your D-group. I’d grab a solid all-around
defenseman somewhere in rounds 6-9. No earlier. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, go for it.
And then… you aren’t drafting another defenseman for a long, long time. In this example, we’ll use Dan
Boyle as the team “rock”.
*This manager is focused on drafting those late defensemen for PIM/Hits/BkS.*
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