Expert and Pro Tier drafts

 

I was lucky enough to be part of the Campbell league draft and online for the experts draft. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Wales draft and by all accounts I missed a great one. The Wales draft has already had a great following online as most GM's have already expressed their opinions on how it went.

 

As you will notice in the following (or already have noticed), I am not someone that will impress you with big words and fancy writing, I'm more of a numbers guy. So bear with me.

 

Some things were pretty common – Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin 1-2-3 in all drafts; and other things weren't – H. Sedin being drafted everywhere from six (Wales) to 26 (Campbell) and Datsyuk slipping all the way to 43 in Campbell after being drafted at 17 in the other two.

 

The Experts Draft

The Goalie Difference

The first 10 G's were drafted by pick 30 (30 and 23 in the pro leagues)

Halak – Drafted at 36, the pro leagues drafted him at 7 and 19

Rask – Drafted at 34, the pro leagues drafted him at 22 and 24

Anderson – Drafted at 22, the pro leagues drafted him at 39 and 40

Quick – Drafted at 64, the pro leagues drafted him at 35 and 43

Thomas – Drafted at 190, the pro leagues drafted him at 138 and 162

 

The 'D' Difference

Top 20 D's drafted by pick 105 (91 and 95 in the pro leagues)

As expected Green was the top D drafted in every league

Chara – Drafted at 27, the pro leagues drafted him at 44 and 49

Gonchar – Drafted at 55, the pro leagues drafted him at 65 and 77

Markov – Drafted at 60, the pro leagues drafted him at 71 and 73

Visnovsky – Drafted at 63, the pro leagues drafted him at 77 and 89

 

 

 

The Comments

DO NOT GO INTO A YAHOO DRAFT ON AUTO PICK

Unfortunately for the Grizzlies he had something come up just before the draft and was left to the Yahoo rankings for the first 17 rounds or so. Sure he got top notch centers but he didn't get a G (Nittymaki) until round 9 or a D (Goligoski) until round 11 and a Yahoo favourite Mathieu Carle (Mon-D) in Round 18! Nobody envies his position but this could lead to a lot of offers/trades in the early weeks.

 

Sin Bin Sinner's gave Yahoo the finger with all the high ranked C's and waited until Round 13 to draft his first C but also finished off his C by picking up a C in each of the next 3 rounds.

 

Lemon's HC was the only team to start his draft going with 2 G's and all teams except Grizzlies (Yahoo) and Long Pond Pumpkins (Quick in round 6) had at least 1 goalie in the first 3 rounds.

 

Dobber Nation

GMGates – is a fan of Angus' top LW picks (Parise and D. Sedin) and landing Rask and Ward in net

Dobber – very defensive in his picks, especially the rookies (Hall, Eberle and Subban) but came away happier than ever and expects a win if Savard can play 65 games

 

 

The Campbell Draft

As I was part of this draft I will do my best to show why my team is the best. Ok, actually I will do my best to stick to the numbers and comments. With this draft happening the night after the Expert's draft it is hard to say if the results from it had any effect in where players fell.

 

Once again the Big 3 were 1-2-3 but D. Sedin jumped in at 4 and Luongo was the first goalie picked at 5

 

The Goalie Difference

Top 10 G's drafted by pick 23 (30 and 30 in the other leagues)

Halak – Drafted at 7, the other leagues drafted him at 36 and 19

Rinne – Drafted at 13, the other leagues drafted him at 29 and 22

Fleury – Drafted at 20, the other leagues drafted him at 26 and 32

Ward – Drafted at 26, the other leagues drafted him at 39 and 35

Leclaire – Drafted at 118, the other leagues drafted him at 193 and 156

Elliott – Drafted at 123, the other leagues drafted him at 186 and 157

 

The 'D' Difference

Top 20 D's drafted by pick 95 (91 and 105 in the other leagues)

Doughty – Drafted at 14, the other leagues drafted him at 30 and 34

Phaneuf – Drafted at 36, the other leagues drafted him at 56 and 46

Kaberle – Drafted at 125, the other leagues drafted him at 87 and 86

Karlsson – Drafted at 94, the other leagues drafted him at 139 and 109

Yandle – Drafted at 88, the other leagues drafted him at 120 and 110

Edler – Drafted at 86, the other leagues drafted him at 127 and 117

Bogosian – Drafted at 187, the other leagues drafted him at 139 and 134

 

 

Comments

Spend time to set up your list if you are going to be late, Thunder Bay Moose had it down pat and didn't leave it to the disastrous Yahoo rankings! Three teams started off G, G and every team had 1 G after 3 rounds except Anaheim Swissnucks (Hiller in round 6). Zorro's Howitzers decided to trust the yahoo rankings and picked up C's in 4 of the first 5 rounds while Serious Chinny waited on his first C until round 9.

 

Dobber Nation

Blueman and Sin Bin both see Serious Chinny as a solid team.

Smoothfun already has doubts

GMGates also likes Metal's team but in unsure about his Ott goalie duo

Chicleteur has some concerns about Anaheim Swissnucks goaltending but is amazed by his collection of offense

Doulos is a fan of Mabus while Mabus felt Serious Chinny and Metaldude had a great top half of the draft and is unsure about The Comish picking up Price!

 

 

The Wales Draft

I was unable to attend this draft but by all accounts I missed a beauty. This draft has been well recapped in the forum so I will stick to the numbers. Also please take note that this league had 13 participants so all numbers have been adjusted as required.

 

Another cut and paste for me here as the Big 3 went 1-2-3 but in this case Miller jumped in at number 4 followed by Luongo

 

The Goalie Difference

Top 10 G's drafted by pick 30 (23 and 30 in the other leagues)

Hiller – Drafted at 47, the other leagues drafted him at 65 and 74

Price – Drafted at 50, the other leagues drafted him at 72 and 81

Bernier – Drafted at 64, the other leagues drafted him at 237 and 226

Niemi – Drafted at 66, the other leagues drafted him at 107 and 149

Lehtonen – Drafted at 70, the other leagues drafted him at 115 and 128

Niitymaki – Drafted at 75, the other leagues drafted him at 110 and 107

Thomas – Drafted at 138, the other leagues drafted him at 162 and 190

 

The 'D' Difference

Top 20 D's drafted by pick 91 (91 and 105 in the other leagues)

Pronger – Drafted at 23, the other leagues drafted him at 46 and 40

Myers – Drafted at 73, the other leagues drafted him at 102 and 101

Goligoski – Drafted at 81, the other leagues drafted him at 126 and 131

Byfuglien – Drafted at 85, the other leagues drafted him at 109 and 109

Ehrhoff – Drafted at 91, the other leagues drafted him at 79 and 75

Timonen – Drafted at 129, the other leagues drafted him at 207 and 161

Greene – Drafted at 138, the other leagues drafted him at 155 and 196

 

Comments

Three teams didn't have a goalie after three rounds.

 

Dobber Nation

The Comish felt this was one of the best drafts he has ever been part of (pretty high praise)

MRIce likes hockeyislife's heroes with good balance and late round depth

Doulos is very disappointed with his effort and Karhgath agrees on the draft being tough and is worried about goaltending but does like lord of the rinks's team.

 

 

 

The Way It Is

All in all the pro and expert leagues showed a wide range of strategies and plans and this is only the beginning to a long year for all teams. I am sure I am not alone in not waiting for the year to start. If you want the full draft picks make sure you visit the forums as there are multiple posts going over all three drafts.