First, an update on what I wrote yesterday. It appears that Yahoo has updated its forward positions to give some wingers their rightful designations. I'm not going to take credit for the update, simply because a) the update was probably in the works before the Ramblings were published, and b) others, such as Shayna Goldman, Keeping Karlsson, and our very own Alex MacLean had used their platforms to raise this issue. Even if I was late to the party on this one, more voices lead to necessary change.

This is not the first season where Yahoo's initial rollout has had some interesting positional choices. Although I understand that they will eventually get it right in time for when most drafts occur (late September/early October), there are the early bird drafts that are forced to guess. Why not get it right the first time, even if it delays the rollout of fantasy hockey by a few days? As the old shampoo commercials used to say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

In all, 18 of the 49 players that I listed in yesterday's Ramblings had winger status added to their profiles. The players who were updated tended to be bigger names, so if you're still waiting for a certain player to be updated, that may happen eventually.

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I engaged in an ADP "battle" with Blake Creamer from Apples & Ginos Fantasy Hockey earlier this week. We debated Mikko Rantanen vs. Nikita Kucherov, Roman Josi vs. Adam Fox, Dylan Larkin vs. Nico Hischier, Rickard Rakell vs. Adrian Kempe, Karel Vejmelka vs. Pheonix Copley and Casey Mittelstadt vs. Andre Burakovsky. Blake is always entertaining. Get your biscuits over there!

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Fantrax arguably has more accurate ADPs than Yahoo, although I don't believe that's the case for every player. Those ADPs will evolve as we move closer to the season. To learn more about the Fantrax ADPs, I decided to try a mock draft over there.

As much as Yahoo might not be taken seriously by the more experienced or diehard fantasy hockey player, it has an advantage over Fantrax in that it runs far more frequent mock drafts with more real participants. Still, the Fantrax mock draft is worth your time for its different ADPs. As well, Fantrax keeps track of your mock draft results throughout the season. I like to have the ability to update my roster, so I didn't really keep track of mine the past two seasons. I finished 9^th of 12 last season, and 5^th of 12 the year before, which I didn't know about until I checked as I write this.   

Keep in mind that the Fantrax mock drafts are advertised as "points league," but after the fact I discovered that hits, shorthanded goals, shots on goal, and power-play points are recorded as well as goals and assists. "Points" actually means that points are assigned to each category (3 for assists, 4 for goals). Read the fine print! Understanding your scoring system is vital, although I doubt I will be checking this league very often anyway.

The roster construction is 5 forwards 3 defensemen, 2 goalies, and 6 bench slots.

For full mock draft results, go to my personal blog Goods Fantasy Hockey. Analysis of my own picks is below.

Round 1 (3^rd overall): Nathan MacKinnon – This was not as easy as it looked, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl the presumptive first two picks (Remember, I thought this was a pure points league, and that is the assumption throughout.)  To me, this was a tossup between MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov. I went with MacKinnon because I think he has the highest ceiling if he stays healthy. Big if, since he's missed a minimum of eight games over each of the past three seasons. Strangely enough, Kucherov didn't end up getting chosen until pick #9, which seems a bit low for someone of his talents. However, there were lots of autopickers in this draft.

Round 2 (22^nd overall): Mika Zibanejad – Before I appeared on the Apples & Ginos Cream of the Crop podcast, I listened to a previous episode where one of their ADP battles was between Zibanejad and Sidney Crosby. I had to check the availability of Crosby first. As it turned out, he went in the pick before, so I felt justified in making this one here. In this podcast, Blake debates with Devon Davidson from the Fantasy Hockey Hacks podcast.

Round 3 (27^th overall): Brayden Point – He seemed like the best scorer available at the time. But when you have a minute to make your pick and not much downtime because the autopickers pick automatically, you just go with your assumptions. He has an ADP of 29 on Fantrax.

Round 4 (46^th overall): Igor Shesterkin – During the Yahoo mock drafts, defensemen fell big time. During the Fantrax mock drafts, it was goalies. The first goalie did not get drafted until nearly pick 50, which might be the longest delay on goalies that I've ever seen. I believe in the Zero G concept, but I also think that Shesterkin in this spot is a steal. His ADP in Fantrax is 50, with no goalie getting picked on average before then.

Round 5 (51^st overall): Quinn Hughes – The Canucks defender is projected to be the third-highest scorer on defense in the Dobber rankings, so I don't feel like this is a reach here at all. Even if his Fantrax ADP is 65. Light peripheral categories might be the reason he is falling, although he should pile up the points and power-play points.

Round 6 (70^th overall): Jonathan Huberdeau – I feel like a bounce back is inevitable, especially now that Darryl Sutter is out of the picture.

Round 7 (75^th overall): Jesper Bratt – I thought he was the best available scorer. Even though I needed a defenseman, I didn't want to pick either Victor Hedman or Alex Pietrangelo in this spot. They went in the two picks after.

Round 8 (94^th overall): Devon Toews – D-men haven't been falling as I much as I thought they would, so I figured I'd grab the best available at this position. Cale Makar seems to miss a bunch of games every season, which helps Toews' value.

Round 9 (99^th overall): Tristan Jarry – So much for Zero G. Right before pick 100, I pick my second goalie, who I thoughts was the best available. The Apples & Ginos Cream of the Crop podcast talked me out of drafting Frederik Andersen over him – you'll have to listen to find out why. Andersen was picked a round later.

Round 10 (118^th overall): John Klingberg – I'll admit that I didn't have Klingberg on my radar prior to this draft. He also seems like a gamble, since I'd not sure he'll be on the first power-play unit for the Leafs. If he is, then it's a good gamble to make.

Round 11 (123^rd overall): Cole Caufield – We're into bench spots now. I was considering drafting him a few rounds earlier, but went with positional need instead. That's how I know he was a good pick. I like to target players that are falling because of significant time missed last season, and Caufield is right in this category.

Round 12 (142^nd overall): Andrei Svechnikov – Without realizing it at the time, this is probably my best pick of the draft. Unbelievable multicategory value well after pick 100. Even in a pure points league, this is an awesome pick. Svechnikov is a good but not elite scorer. However, he takes over three shots per game, and he has reached 100 hits in each of his five NHL seasons. He had an ADP of 50, so I have no idea why he fell so far. Maybe the "injured" tag beside his name? He's expected to be ready for training camp. Positional need? You can delay drafting a fourth defenseman or a third goalie to pick Svechnikov. Keep an eye on him in case he falls in your draft. 

Round 13 (147^th overall): Filip Forsberg – Yet another player falling farther in drafts than he should because of time missed last season. Caufield, Svechnikov, and Forsberg all have top 100 upside, yet you might be able to grab them after pick 100 in your league. They all had an ADP before pick 100 on Fantrax, but Caufield and Forsberg both have an ADP after 100 in Yahoo. 

Round 14 (166^th overall): Tony DeAngelo – You don't have to like him – you just have to hope he sticks to hockey. He has at least done that the past two seasons, and we already know he's a fit in Carolina if they're reacquiring him. I think there's a good chance he's on PP1 there, as he played in two-thirds of the available power-play minutes in his season there. Mind you, Brent Burns wasn't there yet.

Round 15 (171^st overall): Jeremy Swayman – Not bad for a third goalie. He'll be in a timeshare, and the Bruins won't be what they were last season. But he also posted outstanding numbers last season.

Round 16 (190^th overall): Josh Norris – Don't forget about Norris, who is yet another player whose draft stock fell because of injury. His ADP is after 100 in both Yahoo and Fantrax, yet I seem to remember his ADP being before 100 last season. The only reason he isn't is the shoulder injury that cost him most of the season.

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Finally, a programming note: If you’ve been waiting for The Journey, it will appear today (Sunday), but will be back on Saturdays again going forward.

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