Anyone relying on Jake Oettinger this season no longer needs to worry about his contract status. The Stars signed Oettinger to a three-year extension worth $4 million per season. This amount certainly seems affordable given the upside that Oettinger showed in last season's playoffs (7 GP, 1.81 GAA, .954 SV%, 7 QS).

The Stars still have some unfinished business, as fellow RFA Jason Robertson still has yet to be signed. Although he might appear to be a tight squeeze with the Stars showing just over $6 million in cap space, one likely scenario is to send Anton Khudobin to the AHL once the season starts.

Back to Oettinger. As much as he seems to be on an upward trajectory, I believe he is being drafted too early in many leagues. His Yahoo ADP is currently 47, which is higher than that of Frederik Andersen, Thatcher Demko, and Tristan Jarry. Oettinger could be among the top 10 in terms of starts, which isn't something that was possible in 2021-22 due to starting the season in the AHL. However, we have to be careful not to credit Oettinger too much for his playoff performance, as history has shown that an outstanding playoff run doesn't always carry forward to the regular season. Note that the inconsistent Jack Campbell and James Reimer had a similar quality start percentage over a similar number of games played compared to Oettinger (56.3 QS%).

Oettinger's ADP on Fantrax is 82, which is more in line with his ranking of 87 on the Top 100 Roto Rankings. Do you think that's too high or too low? Feel free to leave feedback.

Tomorrow, I'll provide a few more players that I believe are being drafted too high.

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After taking last weekend off and getting some much-needed catchup time with family and friends, I'll admit it's been a slow process getting my brain back into the minutiae of the fantasy game. Completing a few more mock drafts was a great way to get myself back on track. Today and tomorrow, I'll go through a few questions that I've seen over the last week or two. All of this assumes a 12-team league with standard default categories.

Draisaitl or Matthews at 2^nd overall

I'm going to revisit my first mock draft of the season, which I wrote about here. For anyone thinking that Leon Draisaitl is far and away a better pick than Auston Matthews, let me share the results of this poll, which suggests there's at least a strong debate.  

Assume Connor McDavid is picked 1st overall in your single-season draft. Who are you picking 2nd overall?

— Ian Gooding (@Ian_Gooding) August 31, 2022

True, Draisaitl has one clear advantage with LW eligibility in Yahoo, while others such as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Nathan MacKinnon can only be played at center. As well, only McDavid has more points and points-per-game over the past three seasons than Draisaitl (1.47 PTS/GP), which probably makes him the best choice on the surface.

However, not everyone is sold on Draisaitl. He fell to #6 in one mock draft I recently completed, getting drafted behind all of McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon, Igor Shesterkin, and Nikita Kucherov. That's just one draft and perhaps Draisaitl isn't getting the respect he deserves. Yet there's a strong argument to take Matthews over Draisaitl because the Leaf will score more goals and take more shots. The table below is from the 2021-22 season.

Name	Per Game G	Per Game A	Per Game PTS	Per Game SOG
AUSTON MATTHEWS	0.8	0.6	1.45	4.8
LEON DRAISAITL	0.7	0.7	1.38	3.5

Although Draisaitl finished with more points, Matthews actually finished with a higher point-per-game average based on playing fewer games (73 GP for Matthews). If you decide to draft Matthews in the first round, you can always grab a winger in the second round. Wingers with an end-of-second-round ADP on Yahoo include Steven Stamkos, J.T. Miller, Artemi Panarin, and David Pastrnak.

I'll caveat what I just said by saying that categories do matter here. If goals are worth more than points, Matthews should easily be the better pick. But in straight points leagues, I would still lean toward Draisaitl given his longer track record as a 100-point scorer. Draisaitl has four consecutive seasons of a 100+ point pace, while Matthews has only two.  

Draisaitl: Yahoo ADP 2.3 / Fantrax ADP 3.5

Matthews: Yahoo ADP 3.1 / Fantrax ADP 2.0

Drafting a defenseman either at the end of Round 1 or early in Round 2

I won't post the exact question that was sent to me last weekend because I'll try to answer from more of a general standpoint. But I'm okay with picking a defenseman at the start of Round 2 in Yahoo, particularly one of the second tier of Victor Hedman, Adam Fox, or Roman Josi. In Fantrax, you may want to wait until closer to the end of Round 2 given the lower ADPs. I'd have to assume that Cale Makar is taken in the first round. Hedman, Fox, and Josi are all ranked as late Round 1/early Round 2 options in the Top 100 Roto Rankings.

Hedman: Yahoo ADP 14 / Fantrax ADP 22

Fox: Yahoo ADP 17 / Fantrax ADP 25

Josi: Yahoo ADP 20 / Fantrax ADP 19

As much as it's beneficial for you to have a plan, drafts have a tendency to take an unexpected turn. So even though I might make suggestions here, don't get locked into a particular player or position. I would be more tempted to draft the best player available, whether that be at forward or on defense. Drafting a team is a value-building exercise, so the objective is to maximize the value of each pick while filling each roster spot and accounting for all necessary scoring categories.

If you decided to go with non-defensemen with your first two picks, then you should probably target a defenseman with at least one of your Round 3-5 picks. In Yahoo, that third tier of defensemen consists of Aaron Ekblad, John Carlson, Moritz Seider, Quinn Hughes, Morgan Rielly, and Kris Letang. In Fantrax, you'll have more to choose from, as that group includes all of the above plus Brent Burns, Dougie Hamilton, and Zach Werenski, although I would not personally place those three in the same tier as the other six.

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