Fantasy hockey draft strategies depend somewhat on your format. Draft or auction. Keeper or redraft. Daily or weekly roster changes. Unlimited or a maximum number moves for the year. First and foremost, know your league rules and settings. Each nuance might drive a slight change to how you approach your draft. We present to you a few different approaches based on your format. Rookie Heavy or Rookie Light: Everyone loves finding the hot young thing for your leagues, especially in keeper leagues. But for every Macklin Celebrini, Lane Hutson or Dustin Wolf, there is a failed prospect, or one who took a few years to pop, littering the waiver wire in your league. This year, Matthew Schaefer, Zeev Buium and Zayne Parekh on the blueline and Ivan Demidov up front will generate loist of interest and has a chance to make an impact. The key, though, is to not jump for the next great thing at the expense of a proven veteran, especially on redraft leagues. Stars and Scrubs vs. Balanced Approach: The stars and scrubs approach is most applied for baseball and football but has applicability for a hockey auction as well. In this strategy, spend heavily (70-80% of your budget) on a few elite players,- including possibly one stud goalie - then fill the roster with $1-$5 sleepers, rookies and possibly underpriced veterans. This strategy maximizes upside but risks weak depth if your stars underperform or get injured. This type of approach is best utilized in leagues with deep benches or high waiver wire activity, where you can find replacements for cheap players Stay On Top of Those Returning from Injuries and with an Injury History: Mathew Barzal missed the second half of last season with an injury. He is healthy now, but his past injury history will likely result in Barzel dropping lower than he normally should go. Granted, this risk vs. reward, but if Barzal drops low enough, he becomes a bargain. On the flip side, Jack Hughes has played exactly 62 games in each of the past two seasons. in addition, since Hughes broke into the league in 2019-20, he has played more than 62 games once. Hughes will still go high in the draft, so those taking him will be watching the highlights nightly and hoping he stays healthy. Zero Goalie Strategy: The "zero goalie" strategy, or #ZeroG, involves delaying or avoiding drafting goalies until the late rounds, or even skipping them entirely. This strategy prioritizes building a strong core of elite skaters, forwards and defensemen, in the early and middle rounds, leveraging the fact that goalies are highly replaceable and their performance is unpredictable. Most, if not all leagues, require filling your roster with goalies, meaning you can't ignore them completely. Instead of taking a so-so veteran, take a backup netminder in a good situation, like Scott Wedgewood, espewcially with MacKenzie Blackwood injured, or a 1B goalie, like Charlie Lindgren. #ZeroG managers aim to acquire similar production from waiver wire pickups throughout the season, which works best in a league where moves are churned. Don't Overrate Line Combinations, Especially from Pre-Season: Everyone loves seeing their favorite sleeper in the top-nine and/or seeing time on a power-play unit. First and foremost, remember the time of year. It's training and the pre-season, so coaches are mixing and matching to determine the best combinations. This does not mean that your player will not land in that spot but it also does not mean that he is a lock. Second, keep in mind that vets are pacing themselves for the regular season. I am not saying that your sleeper won't remain where he is in practice, just make sure you evaluate all the parameters when deciding your draft strategy,
