What can previous dynamic duos tell us about drafting Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel?

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Fantasy hockey keeper leagues, like all fantasy sports, can be a lot of fun. Striking that delicate balance between developing young talent versus the steady production of a savvy veteran can be tricky, and can ultimately determine where you’ll the draft the following year(s). This year, drafting first is considered monumental: A crack at Connor McDavid. But, he’s not alone, no he’s not. Though McDavid was clearly head and shoulders above all other prospects, there is a general consensus that this past June’s draft brought not one but two generational players to the NHL. Enter the newest savior of the Buffalo Sabres: Jack Eichel.

For keeper leagues, this will also be a great debate here in the coming weeks: McDavid is an absolute no-brainer at #1, but if you’re sitting there at #2, do you take a shot at Eichel? There is some precedence here actually, and it doesn’t go that far back for fantasy hockey players. Let’s examine two situations where keeper league players were smart to draft the player chosen second in his respective draft year, and should still be reaping those benefits:

Russian Roulette: Alexander Ovechkin (1) Evgeni Malkin (2) from the 2004 NHL Entry Draft:

This would have been a great debate to monitor, only one HUGE problem. While Ovechkin came over to the NHL following the 2004-05 lockout and won the Calder Trophy, Malkin actually stayed in Russia, and did not debut until the 2006-07 season. This however, is a great example of truly understanding your league settings. There are a lot of leagues out there that I have read about that employ “taxi squads”, meaning you can draft a player and stash him until he signs his entry level contract. Yahoo! in fact will now offer fantasy players the ability to place someone on the “NA” list. Not only will this enable you to pick up somebody while perhaps a player is suspended, but if you really, really like a prospect, and they’re stuck in the minors, you could hold onto them for keeper purposes (I so would have done this last season with Ducks goalie John Gibson!). But again, looking back, you would have done just fine drafting Malkin at #2, and waiting for him to come to the states. His average season looks like this:

“Geno” has obviously been a franchise fantasy player in his own right and compares very well to Ovi. The only true blemish on Malkin over the years is his durability: He’s missed an average of 13 games per season, whereas Ovechkin has averaged only 2.6. But aside from that, as the second overall pick, fantasy owners who were bold enough to draft Malkin at #2, and sit on him for year, have been handsomely rewarded for the past nine seasons. It goes without saying of course that Geno has benefitted from playing with Sidney Crosby, and get this, he’s averaged 4:45 minutes of power play time per year!!! Malkin has truly been a keeper owner’s dream minus his penchant for missing games due to injury.

You say Taylor, I say Tyler: Taylor Hall (1) versus Tyler Seguin (2) from the 2010 Entry Draft

**This debate is fresh in my mind, for I was in a keeper league for the first time, and as an expansion franchise, I had the first pick. I chose Hall, owner number two chose Seguin, and away we went. (In an interesting piece of irony, I traded away Hall, but wound up getting Seguin in a trade involving 2012 #1 overall pick Nail Yakupov, but I digress).**

Who would be picked at first overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft came down to a single question – Taylor or Tyler? Both players were considered dynamic offensive talents – Taylor Hall seen as the high-flying scoring winger and Tyler Seguin the rare right-handed playmaking center – the Edmonton Oilers couldn't go wrong with its pick. As we all know, the Oilers stepped up to the podium and took Hall while Seguin fell into the hands of the Boston Bruins. With the amount of focus that was placed on these two players, their career will inevitably be tied to one another (much like McDavid and Eichel).

Comparing their career averages, it’s easy to see why Seguin should have been selected 2^nd in keeper leagues prior to the 2010 season. And, for fantasy purposes, he has only begun to hit his stride at age 23, coming off of back-to-back 37-goal campaigns. As for Hall, he’s been slowed by injuries, has had very good fantasy production when healthy, and oh yeah, he’s about to get a new #1 center…..

I feel like this is a perfect example of drafting high profile rookies at the top of a keeper draft, and enjoy watching them develop and hit their “prime” years. Seguin has been magic with Jamie Benn, and has averaged 27 power play points a season since being traded to the Dallas Stars. Hall, again besides the aforementioned injury bug and the fact Edmonton has been downright abysmal, has been a more than serviceable fantasy player, and at the same age as Seguin (23), with the potential of riding shotgun to McDavid looming, a 50 goal season seems to certainly be within his reach.

Two great examples for fantasy owners to digest for their upcoming drafts. Again, it’s all about needs: do you need a franchise goalie? (Michael Clifford wrote an excellent article about true franchise fantasy goalies here on Dobber Hockey this week, make sure to check it out). Will there be players with better track records available to you at #2? Those are big questions to be answered, but I strongly recommend you consider taking Jack Eichel right behind Connor McDavid, and enjoy the two of them lighting up fantasy hockey leagues for the next 10-12 years.

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Other work from Derek:

Frozen Forensics – Milan Lucic

Frozen Forensics – Tyson Barrie