Latest / Banger Management - Fantasy Hockey Podcast / Top 10 Draft Tips for 2025-2026

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Top 10 Draft Tips for 2025-2026 · Banger Management - Fantasy Hockey Podcast

0:00
OK. PP Bang.
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Your Management. Fantasy Hockey Podcast.
0:08
Woo. Yeah.
0:09
Thank you. Woo.
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I'm loving it. Really, you'll be restrained.
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No, I'm sorry. I'm loving it.
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You're you're singing. I think it's.
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Great. I'm L word alright.
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Anyways, welcome into Banger Management, the fantasy hockey
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podcast with only Jake and Kevin today.
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Yeah, only Jake and Kevin today. Josh is being a good husband and
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anniversary dying. Yeah, they're at Olive Garden
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currently. I not gonna do him like that,
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but he does love a good Olive Garden.
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So he's missing one of the best episodes of the offseason, I
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think. Because today we're talking
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about top ten draft tips for your fantasy leagues.
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Yeah, and this is so, so important.
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We've done top 10s for other topics.
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You could listen to those previous episodes.
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There's a lot of value there. This is obviously kind of more
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into the principles based approach as opposed to actually
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picking players or avoiding certain players and I think can
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go a long way. If you're if you're new to
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fantasy is gonna be super valuable.
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These are just things to keep in mind for your draft mistakes
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that we've all made in the past that we've grown from that we
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know now not to do or things to do to keep in mind for your
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fantasy leagues and really have the best draft possible because
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honestly, you can't win your league at the draft.
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You can definitely lose it. So it's good to keep these
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things in mind and start the season off with a great
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foundation. This top 10 is not in any
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specific order. So there may be some tips that
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are better than others, but in general, all of these things are
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good to keep in mind when you're drafting.
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And hopefully you do that because drafts are what, one
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month away basically. Wow, that's so exciting.
1:53
You did say welcome into Bangor management, right?
1:56
Of course I did. Welcome.
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To OK, I don't say that. So now we throw it off my really
2:02
like where am. I stole that from you.
2:04
I'm really sorry. Yeah, no, it's OK, you sang.
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I would first like this whole thing is topsy turvy.
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I just anyway, OK, so now that everyone knows where they are,
2:13
including myself, we are in Bangor, ME for the fantasy
2:17
occupies. OK, cool.
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I've. Recounted.
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Got it out of your system. Yes, I have as always, Apple,
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Rate US five stars when you like, what you hear, what you
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will and probably already do. And all the socialists can be
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found in the link tree and the podcast description.
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TikTok and Discord are our new thangs, if you will, so we are
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on those. Give us a follow there.
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We'd love to interact with you guys, so feel free to reach out
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on this quarter all the social. Media platforms, even Reddit,
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we're answering a lot of questions there.
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We're helping you guys out. So yeah, feel free to join us at
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the end or whatever, dork, anything.
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The Archer pictures are currently out for business, but
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they'll come back soon and we'll answer your questions.
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Then yeah, yeah, starting October 13th or no the 7th
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whenever the fantasy hockey real hockey season starts the
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secondarily to fantasy hockey, of course, yes, carrier pigeons
3:09
will be in full effect. OK shall we get into our top ten
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draft tips? Now one quick thing, this is in
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no specific order, particularly some are kind of more than
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others, but mainly you know, these are all just important.
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All good tips. All good tips.
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And yeah, we'll, we'll speak for Josh because he has some things
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to say about these as well. So we don't want to exclude him
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too hard, but Josh has some good advice, so we're gonna listen to
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him as well. Yeah, well, he's at Olive
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Garden, so really, he's winning. But He's with us always in our
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hearts. Always, always.
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OK, Shall we start with? #10.
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Nice #10 is avoid taking risks without suitable rewards.
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What do you say like that? Suitable.
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That was on purpose, I swear. Josh.
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Josh has made a quick note on this one, which is taking risks
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like picking guys who are older, injury prone, or coming off a
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career year that may be a flash in the pan is only worth doing
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if there aren't other guys available with similar ceilings
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who don't have those same risks. Exactly.
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So I think this is really good to keep in mind as a tiebreaker
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when you're debating between two guys.
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Oftentimes we see guys have injury riddled seasons or just
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like career best years like we saw over have last year we saw.
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More overhead enough. No more overhead, but it's it's
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tough when you're in the draft room and you see these guys and
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they get bumped up in the in their ADP so high because of
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what they did last year. And then you know, they don't
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match it or they don't improve and you're kind of drafting them
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at the ceiling that they had last year and you're losing that
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value. So I think it's honestly really
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good to keep in mind that when you're in your draft room and
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you know, you're watching the guys get taken off the board and
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you're hesitating between two guys.
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One that we know is a proven guy always delivers at this value
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and somebody else that's only there because either he had a
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career year or he's currently hurt.
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Like, I think this year we're going to see, you know, Roman
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Yosi, he's notoriously a top two or three defenseman.
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He's going to be a top five defenseman in ADP this year, but
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we know he has serious injury concerns this year.
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I think that's enough to keep in mind.
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You don't want to take too big risks early in your drafts.
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You wanna get guys that you know we're gonna be able to
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contribute at a high level throughout the whole season.
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As far as you know, obviously injuries can happen, but
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whenever there's a doubt, don't take the risk.
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So I totally, totally agree with you.
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And it's even more interesting because that's not where my
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brain went when I first saw avoid taking risks without
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suitable rewards. Because my kind of perspective
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on this, and I do this all the time.
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It's the bane of my fantasy existence.
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But I'm just like, I'm debating between two players.
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And then I end up taking that young player, maybe a rookie or
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second year after playing, let's say half the season in the AHL
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last year, just because I'm like, oh man, like, you know
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what? He could do it.
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And I'm thinking, you know, looking back at our one of our
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previous episodes that we just did the top 10 sleepers, we
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mentioned someone like a Jason Zucker.
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You can probably get like round 17.
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I'm there and I'm like, OK, do I take Jason Zucker or like a Jack
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Quinn? Now this may finally be the year
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that Jack Quinn ends up being a stud, but I've made that mistake
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like twice already picking a young guy with not much
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credentials or right, no suitable rewards because
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realistically he's not getting any bad categories.
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He may get you 1 1/2 shots and you know, have a few good weeks,
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but at the end of the day, you're not going to benefit as
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much as if you just took a proven player.
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And that's goes throughout the draft.
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Like what Kevin was mentioning is Roman Yosi, big name could be
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like he's had an amazing career, but there's a lot of risk there.
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And for me, when I end up like picking these guys because
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they're amazing AHL stats or OHL stats, it really take a lot of
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the times doesn't pan out when it hits the hits.
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But taking that like high risk, even higher, sorry, high reward,
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but even higher risk guy. It really it's not a wise choice
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all the time. And I I tell myself to not do
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this before every drop. And hopefully this time I stick
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to. It yeah, I mean, to add on to
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what you said, it will move on to the next tip, but it's all
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about cost as well. I don't mind taking a flyer on a
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Jack Quinn in around 15, but we saw it like Bedard's rookie
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year, he got drafted as early like in the fourth round.
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And see, that's the thing height, first overall player,
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the next coming of McDavid, everybody's hype room.
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You know, you reach on him, you take him in the fourth round and
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then you know, he didn't really pan out from fantasy that year.
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Like he his shot volume wasn't a fourth round pick shot volume
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and the points didn't even get to a point per game.
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Whereas, you know, you're taking him over guys like Tage Thompson
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that we know every year is a stud score.
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So many goals like Jasper Brat or like Clayton Keller, like
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these guys that we know are consistent and develop and
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deliver. And you know, you bought into
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the hype and and then something happens and you know you're not
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getting the value for it. And with the early pick, it's
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really consequential and the late picks, you know, take some
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risks, the upside is worth it. But yeah, early in the in the
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draft, it's definitely much harder to make up the value when
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you when you swing and miss. And I do agree with the risk
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taking later on. I mean it's a great thing you're
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right, but it does still make a difference right?
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If you are picking, and this is just a decent example like a
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Jack Quinn over a Jason Zucker, to me that could end up being
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consequential because a guy like Zucker in a deep league ends up
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being on your team all year. And this is a guy with much less
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reward I would say, but way less risk.
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So this is like a really good point for the trade off to
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weigh. Let's move on to. #9.
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Use your IR plus slots wisely. So I or IR plus?
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Yeah, basically if you're if it's not the same on a different
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platform, you're injured and injured, Reserved and Josh
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notes, depending on league settings, if you have IR spots,
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it's good to draft one to two players and then make some
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pickups after the draft. It gives you extra draft picks
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and lets you get guys for good value.
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I wish that I listened to this episode a few years ago before I
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approached because even just points, 10:00 and 9:00, we got a
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lot of really exciting ones coming up, too.
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Yeah. I mean, like, these go such a
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long way. I always shy away from doing
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this because I hate having an injured guy.
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I hate picking injured guys. But I've learned.
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And I just picked Rashi Rice in my fantasy football draft.
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No, no. But all kidding aside, this is
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the type of thing that you can really, really optimize your
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lineup because that guy that you picked, let's say where you pick
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Matthew to Chuck in round 10, if he comes back and what January,
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let's say, I don't know, like there's a lot that happens
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between now and January. And if you can, just like
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diamond hands, hold them until then, you're coasting when you
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comes back and you become a playoff force and it's great.
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The best time for a player to be injured and on your roster is at
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the start of the season. So in your draft, what's key
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about this tip? And this I feel like is one of
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those like you'll get with experience because at the end of
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your draft specifically, there's always guys that are just like
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not going to be drafted and that are I are eligible either IR
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plus. And those are guys you should
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draft. Like last year I drafted Evander
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Kane with my last pick of the draft and I was able to stash
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him on IR. Now he didn't come back for the
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for the year, but you know, in previous years, I remember
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drafting Andres Technika V like at a discount because he was
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missing the first the first couple weeks of the season.
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You get a 2 three round ADP value on him and then he's on
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your ear on your team for the whole year and you're able to
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stash him on IR. And the best time to be able to
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make pickups is the early season because that's when we see guys
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that didn't get drafted, should have got drafted and waivers are
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still plentiful. Whereas, you know, mid season or
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late season, all the guys that are worth Ross are usually on
11:23
roses already. So it's harder to find those,
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you know, waiver wire has that really break out and make it on
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your roster the whole season. So I think this is great.
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Either can be in the later parts of your draft where you guys are
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at the bottom of the list and they're not getting drafted, or
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those guys that usually fall in ADP because they have that IR
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tag on their name and nobody wants to take them.
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Yeah, very, very well said. I mean to Chuck's a good example
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this year you have anyone else on the top of your.
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Head, I mean, could Chuck, he's 80P, might be like a top 24
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pick. Now he's gonna miss a start of
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the season. So depending on how much he
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falls, like Matthew could Chuck in round 4/5, you know, maybe he
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misses the first two months of the season, maybe longer, but
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then he's there for the second-half of the year and and
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the playoffs are your fantasy leagues.
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Like that's yeah, a first round pick value that you're getting
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in the fifth round. Like, yeah, you take the lumps
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at the beginning of the season, but then he's sick on your
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roster. Off the top of my head right
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now, I don't have any guys that are like level, but yeah,
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there's always guys that are going hurt in the middle of
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yeah, for sure going into the season.
12:24
You end up with one steal in the draft and yeah, this is just.
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A free pig, yeah. And this is like I'm saying,
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like you end up with one steel or a good pickup because you
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have this IR applause and it becomes worth it.
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So. Really on your IR and then make
12:38
a pickup right out of the draft ends and it's like a free draft
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pick and you get to take another shot at one of those sleepers we
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mentioned in the last episode. Yeah, there you go.
12:45
They do work really well together.
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It's a good point #8 nice optimize quote UN quote stacks.
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OK so Josh notes building stacks is only really worth it with top
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tier players. I OK Josh like building a stack
13:06
with my first pick since my season is already dependent on
13:09
him doing well so may as well capitalize on it even more if he
13:13
does. For example, Eichel Marner tough
13:16
because Michael Marner is like. That's like that's your first
13:19
two round picks basically. Yeah, that's, that's a really
13:22
difficult one. I like to think of this in terms
13:24
of like Jack Hughes, yes, for Brad, like you know, and stocks
13:28
doesn't even necessarily mean line mates because that's so
13:30
subject to change, but I would look at a stack more in the
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power play realm. Yeah, absolutely.
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And if you have two players on the power play like Reinhart,
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Barkov could be awesome. That's also too high, guys.
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The the. Caulfield.
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Yep, exactly. So what's the the main thing to
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keep in mind with stacks? Sorry.
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Yeah, that's it. No, actually.
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The main thing to keep in mind with stacks is I wouldn't force
14:00
it in your drafts, but it does raise your ceiling when it
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happens because if you're in, you know, 90% of fantasy
14:07
leagues, it's week to week matchups, right?
14:09
So on the weekly basis, anything can happen theoretically.
14:12
And let's say you have Jack Hughes and Jasper about and they
14:16
just happen to have, you know, two games out of three where
14:20
they pop off and the power play scores like six goals.
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Most likely those guys are gonna be involved on the goals
14:25
together. And that's just like a double
14:27
whammy for your team. It really elevates the potential
14:29
ceiling on a week to week basis. Like I said, don't force it, but
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if you can make it happen, it's a great tiebreaker for me to
14:35
keep in mind. I like doing it with defensemen
14:38
and forwards that you know, like you're getting a power play,
14:40
quarterback, defenseman and maybe you have like one of the
14:43
top forwards on the power play on the same power play.
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That's really good to have and like I said, really elevates the
14:50
ceiling. Don't force it, but it really
14:54
maximize maximizes expected value for your fantasy team.
14:58
Yeah, and I love this with under the radar teams as well, like a
15:01
celebrity Will Smith. That's like probably 13 rounds
15:05
apart. Yeah, you wanna make sure
15:06
they're on the same line and you wanna make sure they're on the
15:09
same power play like either. One of those but I think they
15:12
won't be there. Both centres, but I still think
15:14
Will Smith could be a good thing.
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This is like I was trying to think of ones their way out of
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the Eichel Marner draft cost range, you know?
15:23
So to me I think that this can go a long way and.
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Like a Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes, you know what I mean?
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Like Josh said, he likes doing you with his first round pick.
15:32
If you get like a McDavid, Evan Bouchard is like a good, yes,
15:35
good one, too huge, of course. Yeah, whenever you can make it
15:39
happen, it's really good to try and do that.
15:41
It's a good deal breaker. Yeah, a last quick thing.
15:46
It doesn't even necessarily mean that they'll both be like, if
15:49
it's not like if one doesn't work out that it was like a
15:51
wasted pick, you know what I mean?
15:53
Like, if you do, I call Mariner. And for some reason Mariners is
15:56
not that good on Vegas. It doesn't mean Michael won't
15:58
be. Like yeah, exactly.
15:59
You know what I mean? Like, it's cool to do that.
16:02
Don't force it, as Kevin mentioned.
16:03
But still, I feel like the upside way outweighs the
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downside. Alrighty. #7.
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Optimized for your league settings, Josh's writes.
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Whether it's the goalie settings or how much different categories
16:20
are worth, knowing your settings can allow you to pick worse
16:23
players that may provide quote UN quote worse players that may
16:27
provide more value than expected, and you can grab them
16:30
later in the draft. Can also tell you which
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positions to value more. I think this is arguably one of
16:37
the most important tips on this list.
16:40
So if you're going to retain anything, retain this one
16:43
because knowing your league settings is the most important
16:46
thing going into a draft. It tells you how you want the
16:48
draft. If you're in a points league,
16:50
you're in a categories league, you're gonna drift completely
16:52
differently. If you're in a league that has
16:54
four centres, 4 left wings, or you know, 2 centres or two left
16:59
wings, it changes everything. You have to think about
17:01
scarcity, you have to think about positional value, the
17:05
categories that are in your category league.
17:07
Let's say you have a shorthanded points like we do in our league
17:10
or face off. It really changes how you're
17:12
going to draft. So really take into account
17:15
everything that contributes to the success of the scoring
17:18
settings of your league, and then keep that in mind when
17:21
you're making picks on the draft board.
17:23
Yeah, goalie ones are also like pretty under the radar, but it
17:28
makes a difference if you have when we switch from two stars to
17:31
three starts in our main league, that went a long way.
17:34
I mean, you have to kind of focus a little bit more on
17:38
goalies now. Not in a way that it's like
17:42
really that much of a difference.
17:44
We'll we'll get to that maybe later.
17:46
Spoiler alert. But still, you know, it's like
17:51
you need to, you need to think about it at least.
17:53
But some leagues that Kevin and I have played and not our main
17:56
league, you got 3 goalie starters and minimum four starts
17:59
a week. That's huge.
18:00
I mean, didn't we draft Connor Hellebuyck?
18:02
What? Yeah, pretty early.
18:03
First round. Second round.
18:04
And we won the league. Yeah, exactly.
18:07
Like it does make a difference. So it's really important because
18:12
you could show your your friend who knows hockey, your team on,
18:17
you know, your Yahoo app or whatever you play with and
18:19
they'll be like, wow, what a sick team.
18:21
But it may just be horribly mismanaged insofar as how you
18:25
drafted or picked up players for your league settings.
18:28
So the names of players go a long way for the most part.
18:33
But really, like, This is why listening to this podcast is
18:36
important because we're gonna get into the minutia of why you
18:38
should pick certain players for certain teams, like for certain
18:42
leagues rather. So this is so so important.
18:45
I think also knowing your lease settings also makes you get the
18:48
most out of those last pics of your draft where we know the
18:51
last kind of picks always end up being not on your Ross or after
18:55
a couple weeks or whatever. If you're thinking strategically
18:58
and you know how to optimize for your league settings, you can
19:01
make picks that other guys are not even gonna think of and then
19:04
they regret it afterwards. So really something good to keep
19:07
in mind. How many roster spots for each
19:10
position? What are the categories or what
19:12
are the points? How many points we're getting
19:14
for each category? It's all important.
19:17
Totally. All right.
19:21
All right, number six. No, your league mates Josh's
19:26
note, they may reach on certain players on certain teams, so
19:31
good to know which guys will be picked earlier than they should
19:34
and which guys may fall due to personal preferences.
19:37
Huge hugely goes a long way when you know someone is a fan of a
19:42
certain team. Most people in our leagues are
19:46
Habs fans. But you know, I'm excited
19:48
because we have some new managers this year and not all
19:51
of them are devoted to that. So it's gonna be kind of spicy.
19:55
Honestly, the the most important thing for fantasy hockey is
20:00
having fun but also winning and. It winning is the most
20:05
important. Exactly.
20:06
And it doesn't pay to be a Homer.
20:07
Like we talked about that all the time and like we obviously
20:11
unintentionally put some emphasis on Habs players, but
20:14
even in our episode that we did on the top 10 power forwards,
20:19
like we put knives, overslept Kovsky.
20:21
And I think that that is objectively the right thing to
20:23
do. But if you know your league mate
20:27
is a big Habs fan and you'd know that he's gonna pick Slough over
20:31
noise, like adding up overtime and compounds and you know
20:35
something like that, even if it may work in that instance, if he
20:40
just focuses on getting Habs players, it can really screw his
20:44
team and his demise is your success, as dark as that sounds.
20:49
But it's true. It's also important if you're in
20:51
a league that is runs it back every year and you've been
20:54
playing with these guys for 5-10 years, you know the preferences
21:00
of the people that are in your league.
21:02
Like, you know, this guy always drafts Boone Jenner late in the
21:05
draft because he's always a staple on his team or or
21:09
whatnot. If you have this in mind looking
21:11
at the draft board when you're in the draft, you know, OK, I
21:14
know he's had Boone Jenner on his team three of the last five
21:17
years. Like this is a guy that he likes
21:18
to go to. This is where his ADP is either
21:21
have to take him before if I really like the guy or you know,
21:24
you know that this guys going to come off the board and it gives
21:26
another guy dropped to you later in the draft.
21:28
Totally and definitely don't force it, but there is another
21:31
post draft that's actually kinda helps during the year, right?
21:35
Because I know a guy in our league who always, always has
21:39
Kempe. Every single year.
21:40
Yes, he has Kempe. Very frustrating.
21:42
I love camping and never. Get Exactly, Exactly.
21:45
And I know you love Kempe. I mean, think about what you can
21:48
do if you reach on him even just a little bit, because you know
21:52
he's gonna be a good player anyways.
21:53
Until. Tim.
21:54
That's it. First of all, it screws up their
21:56
whole draft and second of all, maybe a whole draft, but a good
22:00
portion of it. And second of all, you get
22:01
tremendous trade value because like, if you like a player,
22:06
you're gonna pay up for him, which isn't necessarily the way
22:09
that it should go, but it's the way that it ends up working out.
22:13
No 7 times out of 10. Yep, like knowing your limits.
22:16
It doesn't know only pay dividends during the draft but
22:18
throughout the year. If you know a guy is super high
22:20
on one of your players, you get extra extra oomph when you're
22:23
trying to trade that player away.
22:24
You can even get some better value.
22:25
So always know your league mates and if you're in a new lead with
22:29
people you've never played with before, obviously this tip is is
22:33
less valuable to you, but pay attention.
22:36
They did it in the drop, Payton, who takes who, and if you're
22:38
playing with the same guys the next year, then it comes into
22:41
play. Absolutely.
22:43
Alright #5. Sorry, I actually was just gonna
22:47
totally go for it, OK? It's really OK How daring.
22:51
Cinco de Mayo, don't pick goalies too early.
22:58
This is extremely league dependent.
23:00
And that is my note, Kevin's note and Josh's note.
23:03
Even though Josh technically wrote it, but you know, yeah,
23:06
that's part of it. But listen, it's Super League
23:10
dependent. Even we mentioned earlier, right
23:11
in that league that heavily valued goalies, Hella Buck was a
23:14
stud in a league that's not as good.
23:16
Irrelevant. You could wait.
23:17
But truth is, and this is Josh again, people often overvalue
23:22
picking strong goalies. Sometimes volume guys on bad
23:25
teams can bring nearly as much value as a top tier goalie Buppy
23:28
picked way later in the draft. So I think obviously know your
23:34
league settings, this comes into play.
23:36
I think we say don't pick goalies too early.
23:39
Oftentimes, you know, you can say it's a 0G strategy.
23:42
I feel like at this point in everybody's fantasy careers is a
23:45
popular strategy that a lot of people are aware of and a lot of
23:47
people employ. But yeah, like Josh, Josh, I'll
23:51
just say like you said, but like he wrote, oftentimes these
23:54
goalies get drafted above their what they end up being in value.
23:58
And I think a large part of what how why goal is get drafted so
24:01
high is the scarcity. Like there is there are
24:03
definitely tear breaks the goalies, but we also see it
24:07
every year where a guidance drafted in the top five as a top
24:10
five goalie stinks it up and you kind of like blew your pick.
24:14
So that's why it's always kind of beneficial to take those
24:16
wingers, those centres that are high draft picks because you
24:18
know you can rely on them year in and year out goalies.
24:21
It's a lot more volatile. And that's why we say get those
24:24
guys that are in the double digit rounds that are good
24:26
values. Like last year I drafted Kemper
24:28
around 12:00 last year. He ended up being with the top
24:30
10 goalie. Yeah, which is crazy value.
24:33
Obviously there's always like halibut that are at the top of
24:35
every draft forward. He's like a fringe first round
24:38
pick this year. If if Hellebuyck Diesel does
24:41
what he did last year, he's going to be a stud.
24:44
Obviously that was insane what he did last year, but you can't
24:46
expect that every year we've picked UC Saros and top five
24:49
goals because we know Cyrus is an exceptional goalie.
24:52
And then he was very bad for fantasy.
24:54
Igor Chesterton. He's one of the best goalies in
24:57
the league. The Rangers are always a good
24:58
team. He did not pan out for fantasy
25:01
last year. Like the Rangers stunk it up.
25:03
And then you're just kind of letting that pick on fire
25:06
because you're not gonna drop Egor and he's not, he's ruining
25:10
your goalie categories or your goalie points every single week.
25:13
So you're kind of in a pickle where you're forced to start and
25:15
you can't drop them. So that's why we say don't pick
25:18
goalies too early. Let the value fall to you.
25:21
And obviously leak specific, like if you're late is very deep
25:23
or if you're that heavily weighed goalies, then different
25:26
story. But in general, most leagues,
25:28
most standard leagues, don't pick goalies too early.
25:30
There's variables also, right? I mean, first of all, it's this
25:35
you mentioned, you touched on this, but it's super, super team
25:38
dependent. Like the Sharks would be
25:40
horrible. But if you pick celebrity this
25:42
year, you know, second round or whatever, or like early third,
25:48
yeah, You know, I mean, like, as opposed to picking, I don't
25:51
know, like Jake Ottinger, for instance, like, you know, you
25:55
never know. I mean, one of the stars are
25:56
just not as good. I mean, we think they will be,
25:58
but things happen. But you'd rather have like,
26:01
orange or would you rather have like, JT Miller?
26:03
You know what I mean? No, that to me is like.
26:06
Well, that's what I'm saying. Auditors, usually the second or
26:08
third goalie off the board in your fantasy league, that's like
26:10
a second or third round pick because of where the ADP is.
26:13
Those guys are like All Star assets for your fantasy team and
26:18
a goal. You can obviously when you are
26:19
weak, but there's always replacement value on waivers
26:22
that we always see guys come out of nowhere and be relevant for
26:24
fantasy. Like some of the best picks in
26:26
fantasy last year were those budget goalies that were drafted
26:29
in a double digit round. So.
26:30
Absolutely. And the other problem in
26:32
addition to them being so team dependent, whereas like the
26:35
forwards and defences are not as team dependent.
26:37
But yeah, I mean, the big thing I find is that if you pick a
26:42
goalie high, you're probably not picking a goalie in rounds 1 and
26:47
like four. No, you're probably picking a
26:50
goalie around 1:00 and then waiting a while.
26:54
And if you do pick a goalie round one and four, then you're
26:56
missing out tremendously on the points potential, like from a
27:01
forward. And if you do end up picking a
27:04
goalie round one and then like, I don't know, 11, then like you
27:11
basically missed out on like the around 8 or 9 goalies, let's
27:14
say, as an example. I mean, Kemper was a great
27:15
example, but that was kind of like a steel.
27:17
You can't really depend on that. And that's it's a diamond in the
27:20
rough. But if you're doing that and you
27:22
pick up like a goalie round one and then you wait 10 rounds to
27:25
take your next one, that guy like you've waited and you've
27:30
not picked the dust and wolves around 8:00 or 9:00 because you
27:34
picked hella buck around one. Are you that convinced that on a
27:37
week to week basis Hellebuyck is going to like Hella Buck and I
27:42
don't know, round 10 player off the top of my head, but let's
27:46
say Kadri. Is that gonna be better than
27:49
having, you know, JT Miller and Dustin Wolf?
27:52
Probably not. Like I would Ray Way rather
27:56
Dustin Wolf and JT Miller. Yeah.
27:58
And I think that that's like a realistic kind of trade off.
28:02
The whole roster construction makes a big, big difference when
28:05
you pick a goalie too high. And you just need to keep in
28:07
mind as well, like how volatile the position is on a week to
28:11
week basis. Like 1 bad game can ruin your
28:13
whole goalie stats for the week. Like I remember in the playoffs
28:16
last year for our fantasy leagues, like, you know,
28:19
somebody had, you know, Jake Ottinger and let's say like Jake
28:24
Ottinger and Vasilevsky and then he's playing against Montalbo
28:28
and Lukas Dostal. Yeah.
28:30
And they arranger has a terrible game and multiple has a shutout
28:34
because, you know, they played the Flyers that week or
28:36
something. Yeah.
28:37
And you're like, OK, well, multiple just completely out
28:39
negated my Ottinger and this guys got on his team too, you
28:42
know what I mean? So yeah, it's anything can
28:45
happen on a week to week basis. You have to keep that in mind.
28:47
And that's why it's not always beneficial to drastically too
28:49
early. It's almost like goalies are
28:51
just there for to make it more fun, you know what I mean?
28:55
Like obviously on the overall on the season, like the best
28:58
goalies usually end up on top. Yes, the week to week
29:01
volatility, that's so. Strategizing is your matchup.
29:04
Is in one week. If something goes wrong, you're
29:06
kind of screwed. Yeah, goalies plotting to drive
29:10
goalies. Goalies is like planning for
29:12
plus minus. That's kind of.
29:13
The way not as bad. We hate plus minus.
29:15
No, OK, it's a little hyperbolic, but at the end of
29:18
the day, like it's a similar vibe, OK, you want your league
29:21
to have goalies because goalies are a part of the team.
29:25
I was a goalie so it's still am. But anyways, not on the NHI
29:29
podcast. Now, once the goal, you always a
29:31
goalie. Yeah, exactly.
29:32
But it's so I'm like a big justice for goalies type of guy
29:36
when people hate on them and I always but really my default
29:40
when a goalie let's in a goal. I'm of the opinion that he had
29:43
to get through five players in order to be scored on.
29:46
So we've seen somebody also. Yeah, like star player on a team
29:51
gets injured. If both Chiefly and Connor go
29:54
down this year, how good is Connor Hellebuyck really gonna
29:56
be And you wasted your 5th overall pick overall it's.
29:59
Not good. Yeah, all right.
30:01
Drop goal is late. All right, tip #4.
30:05
Don't worry about positions early in the draft.
30:08
Josh's note in the first 3 rounds.
30:10
Just go with the best player available.
30:13
I did not know what BPA was. I was figuring it out as soon as
30:16
I said best. Yeah, I know.
30:19
But yeah, so you want to go with the best player available top
30:22
three rounds. You want to maximize your value
30:24
on these game breaking players. I wholeheartedly agree with
30:28
this. I think that this is a great,
30:29
great choice. It's you could big brain the
30:33
whole thing, plan to a tee and then if someone falls to you,
30:38
you should just take that value. Yeah, absolutely.
30:42
I think a lot of people make this mistake where, you know,
30:45
they want to kind of fill out all the roster spots first
30:47
before, you know, they take a certain player.
30:49
But the top of the draft is like the least important time to do
30:52
this because that's when you have the most game breaking
30:54
players. Like Josh said, like if I draft
30:56
McDavid and then in round two, you know, let's say for example,
31:01
Jack Eichel is there for me, but you know, oh, OK, let me take a,
31:04
I already have a centre, let me take a Panera.
31:07
And no, I'd rather have Eichel than Panera and I'll figure it
31:09
out after and just take the best player available.
31:13
Worst case scenario you have to trade somebody.
31:15
But I would not try to force filling out your roster because
31:18
you wanna fill out your roster. Take the best players available.
31:21
You'll figure it out after. Yeah, there's not really much
31:25
more to say on this. At the end of the day, it's I
31:28
guess the other consideration is strategizing.
31:31
If last year you were a really good team and you ignored
31:34
faceoffs, but it just happens to be that during the draft, all
31:37
these faceoffs studs are like, if you're hard, of course they
31:41
keep following you. I mean, you gotta do what you
31:43
gotta do, like pick the guys that are gonna bring you the
31:47
most success because you'll be most happy if you won at the end
31:50
of the year as opposed to sticking to your plan during the
31:52
draft. Yep.
31:54
Alright, OK. Tip #3.
31:59
That threw me off #3 yeah, that's more like it.
32:03
OK, Consider playoff schedules. Josh's note If you're choosing
32:08
between two guys ranked very similarly, then consider their
32:13
playoff schedules. You can't always count on trade,
32:15
so you want to build a team with a strong playoff schedule, OK.
32:19
Love this is for this is like if you want to take your game to
32:23
the next level, it's always important to know the playoff
32:27
schedule of all teams. Have a sheet ready with you when
32:30
you're going into your draft. Know who plays what when.
32:33
First of all, know when your playoff schedule is.
32:35
If you're in a competitive league this year, you're finals
32:39
in fantasy are probably going to be week 23.
32:41
That's be the championship week. So that means week, and it was
32:43
gonna be Sammies. Week 21 will be the
32:45
quarterfinals. It's important to know how many
32:47
games each team plays on those weeks because, for example,
32:51
we've talked about this, you know, on TikTok and previously
32:54
on other pod episodes. But the first two picks in
32:57
fantasy this year are Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon.
33:00
Who are you drafting first? Well, if you look at playoff
33:02
schedule, like both these guys are elite.
33:03
You know, whether you think McKinney, whether you take
33:05
McDavid, making the playoffs is not gonna be because you took
33:09
one or the other. If you make the playoffs, you'll
33:11
make the players, no matter who you have on your team between
33:13
those two guys. Then come playoff time, McDavid
33:15
plays three games in the quarter, three games in the
33:17
semis, 3 games in the finals, or 333.
33:19
David has a 434. Those extra two games from
33:23
McKinnon come playoff time are going to be invaluable to your
33:26
roster because there's no way that why would you take one over
33:32
the other one? One plays more games.
33:34
Yeah, that's what it comes down to.
33:35
And even more important, you don't want the guys that have
33:39
terrible playoff schedules on your team.
33:40
Like last year we saw, you know, guys like Barkov, guys like
33:43
Marner, you know, the Toronto guys in the semis, they had two
33:46
games. Imagine you played the whole
33:48
season, you get your semifinals and then your best players, you
33:51
know, potentially your second round pick, your third round
33:54
pick, they got two games, and then you're playing against, you
33:57
know, a Sean Monahan who has four games.
33:59
Would I rather bark off with two games or Monahan with four
34:01
games? Probably give me Monahan with
34:03
four games. Yeah.
34:04
So that's what it comes down to. You have to be planning ahead.
34:07
Obviously, you have to get to the playoffs.
34:09
Once you're there, that's all that matters.
34:11
Think ahead and like Josh said, use it as a tiebreaker.
34:15
Yeah, not a lot of people do this.
34:18
No, it it's hard because you know, obviously in your draft
34:21
the player is tantalizing and they're right there.
34:25
You know, sometimes you can just drop these guys and trade them
34:27
away through the season, but you can't always rely on that.
34:29
You can always rely they'll be able to get these bad playoff
34:30
schedules off your roster. So either avoid the guys that
34:34
you really don't want your team because of their bad playoff
34:36
schedules, or, you know, if you're thinking between two
34:38
guys, pick the guy with the better playoff schedule if you
34:41
can. Yeah.
34:42
And of course this goes for training throughout the year as.
34:44
Well, yeah, absolutely There are.
34:46
We always present whenever we're.
34:48
Last year, if you were following us, we were giving advice on who
34:52
to target for trades leading up to the trade deadline for guys
34:55
that have the best playoff schedules and all that.
34:57
So this year we're gonna do the same thing.
34:58
But always plan ahead. If you can do it at your draft,
35:00
even better. Yeah.
35:02
And if you like to be very, very, very sophisticated in your
35:06
approach to fantasy hockey and you even like, I mean, we know
35:09
people who pull out algorithms for these things, this should be
35:12
a high, high weight in your average for like variables to
35:17
use this for approaching stuff. I mean, this type of thing.
35:21
Like all the teams who do this, I've seen anecdotally win in the
35:26
playoffs. Like this is never, I've never
35:29
seen a team win in the playoffs if that's the biggest prize in
35:33
your league without employing the strategy.
35:36
So this really, really goes a long way.
35:38
It's like the extra image that you had to be if you want to be
35:41
a research fantasy player and win most of your league.
35:43
These are things to keep in mind when you're making your draft
35:45
starts at the very beginning. Yeah, and it's so fun.
35:48
And of 12 people, maybe one or two people Max are doing this.
35:52
So this is a huge competitive edge that you can get just by
35:55
doing 20 minutes worth of research at the Max, All right.
36:01
#2. What do you know, the movie
36:11
Hoodwinked, of course. Oh my God, you know the goat.
36:15
I don't remember to go. Be prepared, Be prepared.
36:18
This lesson must be shared. This lesson must be shared.
36:22
I'll be prepared. My girlfriend is going to love.
36:26
That so listen to this episode and I.
36:31
I cannot believe like I I looked at this list before, I was like,
36:34
wow, good point, serious. And then for some reason I just
36:37
thought of this right now, OK, Be prepared like the goat from
36:41
Hoodwinked. Have backup pics ready.
36:44
That's not what they got from Holding said.
36:45
That's our touch. Yes.
36:46
Josh's note, prepare for the draft with your list of ranked
36:50
players, but also make sure you don't have backups at each pick
36:55
in case you get. But also make sure you do have
36:57
backups sorry at each pick in case you get sniped.
37:01
I think this is this is yeah, this honestly will have you
37:07
avoid making, you know, panic picks in your draft.
37:11
Like the last thing you want to do is panic pick.
37:12
Like if your draft timer is 60 seconds.
37:15
And let's say you always want to have at least two to three guys
37:19
as an option for your pick. Now, this means maybe you do a
37:21
couple mock drafts before so you have an idea of who's going to
37:24
be at your pick when it's your turn.
37:26
The other thing is keep keep track, keep a list of the guys
37:29
that are getting drafted currently and being like, OK,
37:31
when my pick is I'd be happy with these five guys so that if
37:34
4 picks before your pick, if they all get taken, you still
37:38
have at least one guy that you're happy with.
37:39
Because if you're like, I really want this one dude and then he
37:42
gets taken right before your pick, you're going to scramble.
37:45
You're not gonna have a plan. You're gonna make a pick your
37:47
probably going to regret after. So always good have options.
37:51
Give yourself options. Make a mental list, write a list
37:53
down. OK in round two.
37:55
I'm happy with XYZXYZ if XY get taken then add on to the I.
38:04
I showed that ABC that there's other letters that follow but
38:06
but these last letters. Gonna put myself in a box there
38:10
but. All right, if XY and Z could
38:13
take it, then you just go back to A.
38:15
Yeah, exactly. You you cause a commotion, you
38:22
stop the draft, you tell your commissioner that you have to go
38:27
run an errand, change everything, screw up everyone's
38:30
day, and then start again today. But.
38:34
Yeah, yeah, no, Josh makes the most panic picks.
38:37
I think he's terrible. He always gets tilted in the
38:39
draft. He always wanting to league
38:41
somehow, but he always gets tilted when we draft.
38:43
Like I did a mock draft with Josh earlier today and in our
38:46
mock draft he was tilting with some of the pics we ended up
38:49
drafting right next to each other.
38:51
So you don't don't be like, gosh, how have have guys in your
38:55
head that you're ready to draft when it's your turn and always
38:57
be ready, always have options. Yeah, and a big thing with this
38:59
is like really do not be emotional about your players
39:02
until after you have a team. Once you've dropped into an
39:05
actual fantasy hockey team, you can start being obsessed with
39:10
your guys. And Dustin Wolves hips don't lie
39:13
and coolly obsession that I have like those are those are a
39:17
couple of my guys. But you know what it's like the
39:21
real danger is when it carries over from last season.
39:24
So basically what I just said, don't do it.
39:27
And the truth is, I mean, I've even been high on teams from
39:33
previous seasons. Like I have totally, totally
39:36
shaken them mentality. I love the Ducks last year and
39:39
I'm just gonna try to come into the season as objective as
39:42
possible, not trying to focus on getting Anaheim Ducks players.
39:45
Are you talking about tip #1? No still #2 OK, I just made it
39:50
saying like have backup picks ready, I mean.
39:52
At the Yeah. Like like if if you are ready to
39:56
take someone like if I'm like later on in the draft, like OK,
39:59
I'm ready for Leo Carlson. Who else likes him as much as I
40:02
do? I'm even thinking of reaching on
40:03
him, which we'll get to very soon for it.
40:08
And then someone takes him and then like my backup plan really
40:12
four or five backups and don't feel like overwhelmed if your
40:17
top three get taken because it often.
40:20
Happens like wow, OK I'm getting these next like I have 3 picks
40:25
and there's four people in front of me like all right, bound to
40:28
get one of them because there's no way and then it just happens
40:30
and you're like what the heck do I?
40:31
Do what do I do now? And you have to like picking
40:33
Scott Neidermayer around 10. I think he has some trauma,
40:38
yeah. Exactly.
40:40
Alright, let's move on. To say it does lead into our tip
40:44
for #1. Yeah, big time segue here.
40:47
Don't reach for underrated guys, Josh is note if they perform to
40:51
what you expect, but you pick them too early, then at best
40:56
you're breaking even on draft value.
40:58
To truly take advantage, you need to draft them at their
41:01
quote late ADP. I yeah, I'll just say I think
41:05
this is a really good tip to keep in mind because if you're
41:08
consuming fantasy content, that means you're really into the
41:11
fantasy sport and you really wanna have those late round
41:15
picks that blow up. Like everybody has their top 10
41:18
sleepers, everybody has their top 10 breakout candidates.
41:21
And these are usually guys that are later in your drafts that,
41:24
you know, you want to target later in your drafts.
41:26
The thing is just got pretty going around 10 and he's a
41:29
breakout candidate. You're like, oh, I really want
41:30
my team because you're hearing all this hype about him.
41:33
You end up taking him around 7:00, but what if he does break
41:36
out and then he becomes around 7 value?
41:38
You missed out on all that extra value because you drafted him
41:41
pretty much what you expected him to do.
41:43
You're missing out of the draft board value, and that's honestly
41:46
the biggest thing to take away from your fantasy draft.
41:48
So you wanna you wanna maximize the value you can get with the
41:50
draft board? Yeah.
41:51
So my question for you here is which point do you kind of just
41:54
ignore ADP. When all the, let's say, quote,
41:59
UN quote, like studs are off the board, I think at some point you
42:04
have to take your guys. But in the, you know, top, let's
42:09
say 7-8 rounds, like usually the guys are there are guys that are
42:12
proven to help your fantasy team and you know where you can get
42:15
every year after that, you know, if you have a preference for a
42:19
certain guy, don't feel bad about ADP.
42:22
But the the the worst thing is reaching on guys like Josh did
42:26
it last year. He took Slough like I think 3
42:28
rounds ahead of ADP and stop didn't first of all pan out in
42:33
the. Beginning of this year league
42:34
mates. Yeah, exactly.
42:36
Goes back to know your league mates like Josh, you know, huge
42:38
Habs fan, he really want to slap on his team.
42:40
So he reached on him over ADP because he expected a big
42:43
breakout. Breakout didn't really come
42:44
until the very end of the season.
42:46
But you're missing out on all that draft day value because you
42:48
could probably gone Slough around 2:00 here.
42:51
So yeah, yeah, yeah. See.
42:53
OK, I really do like this because there have been times
42:56
where I'm like, alright, I'm picking this guy like 2-3 rounds
43:01
ahead of 80P and then it comes and I'm just like, Oh no, I
43:03
can't like OK, let's say call him player A.
43:06
And then it's like oh alright, fine, I gotta pick player B
43:08
because the values there next round, he's still there.
43:13
But then player sees there and I'm just like, oh alright, let
43:16
me do it. And then the round later I'm
43:18
like, OK, let's let's go with player A.
43:21
I just was so convinced that player A like was like I needed
43:26
him, but I didn't do the reach and I ended up getting him
43:29
anyways. It does happen, I guess.
43:33
I guess this really does sort of tie into #2 also in a way where
43:37
it's just like, ignore the bias from last season.
43:40
Don't come in with any. I need this player this year.
43:44
And then when you have the backup picks ready, I mean in
43:47
some cases like those backup picks will be higher in ADP even
43:52
if you value the guy more that you really want, if that makes
43:57
sense. I think it's just like
44:00
separating the value because the drafts are kind of like a
44:05
market, right? Like, yeah, they're not ranked
44:08
one to 200 based on exactly what their value is going to be.
44:11
It's all about, you know, getting the guys that are ranked
44:14
200 but are going to perform at rank 100 level, you know what I
44:17
mean? But you still want to draft the
44:19
guy at rank 200 close to there because you get all that extra
44:22
value leading up to where his actual performance is.
44:24
So these underrated guys or, you know, break out candidates,
44:28
sleepers, like these are guys that are going to be drafted
44:30
away later than where they'll finish.
44:33
But you don't want to draft them where they'll finish.
44:34
You want to draft after that. So it's just important to keep
44:37
that in mind because if you drafted more, get to finish,
44:39
you're not gaining any value. Yeah.
44:41
So if anything, you're losing value because you're sacrificing
44:43
all the picks in between. The opportunity cost gets away
44:46
higher. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
44:49
So I think also like you said, around 8 or 9 is like a good
44:52
sweet spot of. Kind of.
44:53
I think the double digit rounds is where you can start getting
44:56
the little shifty with it and picking guys you actually want
44:59
on your roster because the opportunity cost is way lower.
45:01
You don't wanna mess up your fourth or fifth round pick.
45:04
You mess up your 10 round pick, you can still win your league I
45:06
mean. Yeah, like, yeah.
45:09
And, and just like one kind of quick example on that, you know,
45:13
Morgan Geeky is going so, so late in some drafts.
45:18
Like I, I'm pretty sure it's like way, way later than like
45:22
Anthony Cirelli or like Evander Kane, I believe as well.
45:27
And obviously ADP is subject to change between now and then.
45:31
And this is of course, league specific.
45:33
Nevertheless, like, yeah, you don't gotta feel bad if you're
45:36
that convinced, which I think all three of us are.
45:39
But in general, I mean, you could take not Cirelli or not
45:45
Kane and still wait on Geeky because it's like, Oh yeah,
45:48
right. There's Morgan again.
45:49
A lot of your league forgot about him if they're not
45:51
listening to this podcast. Like, I mean, just to give
45:54
another example, like we've talked about guys like Alexis
45:57
Lafreniere, who we expect to be a big breakout, a power forward
46:01
that will be really cementing himself in the league for his
46:04
reputation as being a power forward.
46:06
You can get him probably around like, you know, 12/13/14.
46:09
Like that's kind of like where he's getting drafted depending
46:11
on your league settings. Obviously ADP kind of fluctuates
46:13
depending on the league settings, but if you draft them
46:16
in around like 8 or 9, you're taking them ahead of guys like,
46:20
you know, Nico Hischer. I'm thinking of trying to think
46:26
about like Dylan Gunther, like these guys that Zach Hyman, you
46:29
know, the brink. It like these are guys that are
46:31
going higher for a reason. If you drop them at the ceiling,
46:33
you're missing out on all the pics in between.
46:35
So yeah, keep it in mind. Don't reach on the underrated
46:38
guys. When I think don't draft them,
46:39
we're just think don't reach on them.
46:40
Get them a value. Pick them one round ahead of ADP
46:43
instead of five rounds ahead of ADP.
46:46
All right, this is a very, very valuable episode.
46:49
I hope everyone enjoyed the show.
46:51
Thank you all for joining us. Make sure to follow us on our
46:54
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47:23
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You, yes, yeah, Alright. Should should I take it away?
47:38
Should I? Yeah, I took it away in the
47:40
beginning. So you take it away now?
47:41
Or any? Hmm.
47:43
Banana Pam Pam Bangor Management Fantasy Hockey podcast.
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Woo woo. I heard a little banana in
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there. Banana.
47:55
You'll never be able to hear it. Alright, it's over.
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Orange gladis all banana, I said.
48:00
Banana. Oh my God.