A look at strategy from my draft this weekend; Strome on the bubble, Duclair impressing and more …

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Breaking – Torey Krug and Reilly Smith have signed cap-friendly deals with the Bruins. They are good to go!

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TWO drafts this weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday. I hosted the Sunday one, as well as the pre-party for that Saturday night – so yeah, I was hosting a get together with the guys, and drafting for another league at the same time. But I had made some moves throughout the past few months and managed 14 picks in the first nine rounds – and zero picks in the last four. So I got done early. I also, using Fantasy Hockey Geek, had a list of 150 players pre-organized in the Fan Trax draft room, so it really was easy to do.

For the other draft, the one I was hosting (and I’m the commish), whittling down my list was not easy. My last of four picks was 42nd and my list was 58 players. But then I realized – I should keep it that way. I don’t really need goalies or defensemen. So if I draft a goalie say 14th, and a defenseman 15th (my first two picks were back-to-back), then I would just cross off all the G and D on my list. So just like that, my list becomes about 28 players deep for the 28 picks until my last one. I don’t mind at all over-drafting for a position – puts me in a position of strength. But if I over-draft…and then over-draft again, that’s when I get uncomfortable. I can have too many at one position, but when that gets carried away I don’t like the position it puts me in.

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Although a couple of days old, I found this to be a good assessment of the Islanders camp so far. In a nutshell: Cory Conacher is fighting a losing battle for a roster spot (and if he gets one it won’t be with Tavares); Mikhail Grabovski is being tried on the wing and Brock Nelson is playing extremely well at center; and that means Ryan Strome is actually on the bubble. He doesn’t have to clear waivers to be sent down and he hasn’t outshone anyone he’s competing with. Yet.

So at this point, the lines are looking like Anders Lee with Tavares and Okposo, and then Nelson centering Grabovski and Kulemin. Frans Nielsen – who is looking at a sharp decline in production this year, anchors the third line.