Top 10 Players Ranked Too High on Yahoo – dobberhockey.com

Yahoo has recently opened up its fantasy hockey, and with it, its mock draft rooms.

Mock drafts are an important tool in understanding how your fellow general managers feel about certain players. It allows you to prepare different draft strategies in preparation for your fantasy draft. For instance, maybe you want to try the zero-goalie draft strategy, where you dont select a goalie before a specific round. Mock drafts will give you a sense of what netminders may be available when you decide to start selecting them.

When it comes time to the draft, many fantasy general managers will simply go by Yahoos ranking system (although so far this offseason, the regular ranking and the experts ranking are the same). There are also no projections yet for 2022-23, which can make it tougher for those who dont do a lot of fantasy leagues.

Ive been doing a few mock drafts over the past week.

Below are the top 10 players ranked too high on Yahoo. While the value of players will rise and fall depending on your leagues categories and how many rounds it goes, keep in mind that Yahoos default categories are goals, assists, plus/minus, power-play points, shots on goal and hits for forwards and defensemen, and wins, goals against average, save percentage and shutouts for netminders. A usual Yahoo draft is 16 rounds, with general managers looking to draft two centres, two left wingers, two right wingers, four defensemen, two goalies and four bench spots.

10. Anton Lundell

Lundell is ranked 112th overall, although early fantasy drafts have pushed his average draft position around 156th. However, in Yahoo leagues with the usual categories, why would you even want to draft Lundell unless its a super-deep league? In 65 games last year, Lundell had 18 goals, 26 assists, plus-33, four power-play points, 125 shots and 26 hits. Essentially, youre hoping he can increase in every category (aside from plus/minus), which may be too much of an ask.

9. Marc-Andre Fleury

In most leagues, hes still worth a top-15 pick. But in these league settings, its a different story. However, hes ranked in the top 10, and is being selected seventh or eighth in most of the mock drafts Ive been doing. Thats why its important to know your league settings. If your league counts saves, it gives a boost to Fleury. While hell probably pick up plenty of wins behind Minnesotas offense, his numbers for goals against average and save percentage were below average last year, even in his 11 regular season games with the Wild (and were even worse in the postseason).

8. Max Pacioretty

This is a reminder for anyone who will miss their draft and will need to auto draft to ensure you pre-rank your players to remove anyone who may be injured. Pacioretty is expected to miss most of this season with an Achilles injury. However, hes still ranked 40th overall, which means someone will waste a third or fourth-round pick on him. I did a 12-team mock draft on Sunday where there were only two auto draft teams, and Pacioretty was selected 52nd overall by one of those teams. Other players who will miss a good chunk of the season and you may want to move down your list include Robin Lehner, Charlie McAvoy, Anthony Duclair, Carey Price, Anthony Cirelli, Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom.

7. Nazem Kadri

After last season, when Kadri put up a 100-point pace, the newest Calgary Flame is going to be valued exceptionally high in many leagues. Besides points, he also put up a career high in shots per game (almost half a shot more than the previous season and a full shot over the previous few years to that). He also had a career high in power-play points, but his hit rate is no longer worthy of consideration. On Yahoo, hes ranked 56th overall and has an average draft position of 65th. While he may still be a productive player, he is due for regression back to normal and he isnt worth that high a pick. You may be better off drafting him in the position you would have a year ago.

6. Rookies

There are always plenty of rookies ranked too high, and each year you are warned not to take them over established veterans. Think of those who drafted Cole Caufield high last season, and how those GMs were forced to drop him when he was sent to the AHL. This year, youll see Owen Power ranked ahead of defensemen such as Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, Brent Burns and others. Matthew Beniers is ahead of Ryan Johansen, Logan Couture and Tyler Seguin. William Eklund is ahead of Jared McCann, Alex Killorn and Nino Niederreiter. Shane Wright is ahead of Jamie Benn, Mikael Granlund and Jeff Carter. There are no guarantees any of these rookies will even play the season in the NHL. Youre better off going with the veterans that you know than the rookies that you dont.

5. Vasily Podkolzin

Last year, he had 14 goals, 12 assists, plus-seven, three power-play points, 115 shots and 84 hits in 79 games. Ranked 139th overall in Yahoo, anyone drafting Podkolzin is hoping he can double his output from a season ago in almost every category. That isnt a recipe for success. Last year, his most frequent linemates were (in order): Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser. Thats some pretty good linemates, but not much production to show for it.

4. Spencer Knight

Its not as bad as a year ago, when Knight was ranked higher than Sergei Bobrovsky, but Knight is still ranked too high. Hes the 11th-ranked netminder, one behind Bobrovsky, and ahead of Tristan Jarry, Connor Hellebuyck and Cam Talbot. Even if Knight plays 35 games, he wont get as many wins as number one netminders on lesser teams, and his goals against average and save percentage arent great enough to waste that high a pick on.

3. Torey Krug

Krug is ranked as the 20th defenseman and 106th overall, but hes not the same player in St. Louis as he was in Boston. Hes gone from a 65-point pace with the Bruins to one in the low 50s with the Blues. His shot rate has declined each season and dropped to 1.8 per game last year. He also averages about a hit per game. Throw in the fact he is routinely missing games due to injury, and there are much better options for a defenseman that are ranked slightly lower, including Evan Bouchard and Dougie Hamilton.

2. Bowen Byram

Byram is going to be a stud in this league, but hes still a few years away from you considering drafting him around 132nd. He has Devon Toews and Cale Makar in front of him for ice time and power-play time, and he doesnt shoot enough (just 1.6 shots per game last year). Hes also a huge injury risk, playing only 30 games last year thanks to a concussion. Let someone else take the risk.

1. Jake Oettinger

Oettinger will be a much better play this year than any of the Stars netminders from a year ago, but hes ranked as the sixth-best goalie in the Yahoo system. Thats too high, and I wouldnt be selecting him as a top-10 goalie. Oettinger was awesome last year, but dont forget he faltered as the season went along, concluding his last 20 games with an 11-9-0 record, a .905 SV% and a 2.81 GAA. A full year as a starter will be great, but hes still young and could falter once again.

See the original post:

Top 10 Players Ranked Too High on Yahoo - dobberhockey.com