Fantasy Hockey 2023/24 Draft Cheat Sheet
Welcome to my second annual Fantasy Draft Cheat Sheet that began last year when I started getting scientific with my mock drafting on Yahoo. In total I completed 67 mock drafts over 2 months, but am only counting the most recent 36 in my mock analysis. In the middle of my data collection, Yahoo added several position eligibilities that rendered my previous mocks obsolete. So, I ramped it up from 1 per day to 2 per day, 12-team leagues (standard league scoring with shots and hits), drafting an equal number of times from each slot to get equal exposure to every player, especially those with a narrow range of outcomes.
On the surface this might seem like a waste of time, but I have people who follow me to get fantasy hockey advice, and I take that responsibility seriously. Honestly, it didn’t take up THAT much of my time. I wasn’t attentively sitting at the computer following everyone else’s choices. It would just be on my computer as I’m going through my morning routine, the computer beeps when it’s my turn to pick and it always takes less than 30 seconds to make a decision (I’m a pro). When it’s over, Yahoo sends me an email with the draft results, it gets copied into a spreadsheet, then I simply press a button and it gets formatted/added to the database.
These are the 102 players that I picked the most, including the average pick, and number of times chosen in 36 opportunities. A few were deleted as health status trickled in as players reported to camp, like Montour and Ekblad. I stopped drafting Burns after trying to do ice time projections for the Carolina defense, same with DeAngelo. My opinion on Nylander was downgraded after he started centering the Leafs 3rd line. I stopped taking Teuvo Teravainen after seeing he was listed on the Canes 4th line, I’ll be avoiding Trevor Zegras until he has contract, etc. So, this list was modified as my preferences have evolved.
My pre-draft rankings will be posted on Wednesday or Thursday, and that’s a better resource for your draft. That’s my own personal list copied directly from Yahoo, by which players will be ranked in my queue during my real drafts (which you can’t use for mocks). Whereas my cheat sheet is more or less a rough guide if you get dragged into a short notice draft and don’t have time to pre-rank. Think of this like a primer for where you can potentially find bargains on draft day. Many of the 50 players slated to appear on my Draft Bargains post are listed here too, with the exception of the deep league sleepers, and those I’m not drafting in 12-team leagues.
When my pre-draft ranks are published, you’ll notice that several of the players below have rankings earlier than my average mock. The cheat sheet has too many “best case scenarios” and the intelligence of the other mock drafters is unknown. I’d like to assume novice managers aren’t hanging out in the mock draft lobby where only us truly obsessed people dwell, but it’s entirely anonymous. Undoubtedly some (if not many) of these picks would not have possible in a draft full of sharks. But my rankings are the real order I’m using in real drafts, where I assume everyone is smart (but hope they’re not).
If you’d like to review my list from last year, click here. There were some giant home runs like Nuge 146, Tage 158, Bratt 140, Jack Hughes 78, etc. There were also a few embarrassing strikeouts, like Thatcher Demko, Jack Campbell, and Elvis Merzlikins (who was at least only recommended as a late round flyer). But I live by the sword, die by the sword, and practice what I preach, so Jack Campbell was drafted by me in one of my leagues (and still advanced to the championship). It didn’t take long into the season before I issued a public apology. Statistically at least 1 or more goalies on this list will suck. Forecasting goalies has a wide margin of error. That’s why I generally wait until the middle rounds, to minimize damage.
Good luck!
AVG Player Team Taken
1.0 Connor McDavid EDM 3
2.0 Leon Draisaitl EDM 3
3.8 Nathan MacKinnon COL 5
5.0 David Pastrnak BOS 5
6.5 Matthew Tkachuk FLA 4
8.0 Auston Matthews TOR 2
8.0 Mikko Rantanen COL 2
9.4 Nikita Kucherov TB 5
10.5 Brady Tkachuk OTT 2
11.5 Jason Robertson DAL 2
13.0 Jack Hughes NJ 3
13.9 Tage Thompson BUF 7
14.3 Kirill Kaprizov MIN 4
18.0 Mitch Marner TOR 4
19.2 Alex Ovechkin WSH 5
20.5 Igor Shesterkin NYR 2
21.0 Sidney Crosby PIT 3
23.5 Ilya Sorokin NYI 2
25.3 Tim Stutzle OTT 6
25.9 Roope Hintz DAL 7
26.0 Elias Pettersson VAN 6
30.3 Brayden Point TB 8
35.8 Artemi Panarin NYR 13
37.1 Steven Stamkos TB 8
38.2 Timo Meier NJ 5
40.3 Brad Marchand BOS 4
42.4 J.T. Miller VAN 5
43.8 Kyle Connor WPG 8
46.8 Linus Ullmark BOS 4
49.0 Sebastian Aho CAR 3
49.5 Zach Hyman EDM 4
51.7 Alex Tuch BUF 6
54.3 Juuse Saros NSH 9
56.5 Aleksander Barkov FLA 2
58.0 Jack Eichel VGK 5
60.0 Quinn Hughes VAN 5
61.0 Nico Hischier NJ 4
62.2 Miro Heiskanen DAL 6
62.5 Matt Boldy MIN 4
63.7 Jeff Skinner BUF 3
64.5 Jesper Bratt NJ 4
67.3 Clayton Keller ARI 3
68.6 Alex DeBrincat DET 7
72.6 Filip Gustavsson MIN 5
76.0 Moritz Seider DET 16
80.0 Jake Guentzel PIT 1
80.8 Kevin Fiala LA 5
81.0 Jordan Kyrou STL 1
85.0 Andrei Svechnikov CAR 2
85.2 Ilya Samsonov TOR 13
87.3 Sergei Bobrovsky FLA 3
87.6 Mikhail Sergachev TB 5
87.6 John Carlson WSH 8
94.7 Vince Dunn SEA 7
97.8 Johnny Gaudreau CBJ 5
97.8 Frederik Andersen CAR 6
101.5 Sam Reinhart FLA 2
101.7 Tristan Jarry PIT 9
104.3 Noah Dobson NYI 8
104.7 Devon Toews COL 3
105.0 Evgeni Malkin PIT 1
105.5 Seth Jones CHI 2
108.7 Tyson Barrie NSH 3
113.2 Evander Kane EDM 6
114.5 Mats Zuccarello MIN 4
114.5 Alex Pietrangelo VGK 11
115.0 Dylan Cozens BUF 1
115.5 Darnell Nurse EDM 2
116.5 Drew Doughty LA 6
122.6 Rasmus Andersson CGY 9
124.0 Andrei Kuzmenko VAN 1
125.7 Stuart Skinner EDM 9
128.5 Gustav Forsling FLA 2
129.4 Morgan Rielly TOR 13
139.5 Logan Thompson VGK 2
141.6 Cole Caufield MTL 15
141.7 Kris Letang PIT 3
143.6 Adin Hill VGK 14
144.8 Jakob Chychrun OTT 6
145.3 Shea Theodore VGK 12
145.9 Zach Werenski CBJ 18
146.5 Jonathan Huberdeau CGY 2
153.7 Filip Forsberg NSH 7
154.3 Rickard Rakell PIT 3
154.6 MacKenzie Weegar CGY 5
156.6 Brandon Hagel TB 5
157.9 Troy Terry ANA 7
159.8 Pavel Buchnevich STL 4
159.8 Patrik Laine CBJ 10
168.0 Dawson Mercer NJ 2
168.5 Vladimir Tarasenko OTT 4
169.0 John Klingberg TOR 2
171.3 Anze Kopitar LA 3
172.8 Pheonix Copley LA 5
178.3 Tyler Bertuzzi TOR 10
179.5 Sam Bennett FLA 2
180.6 Patrick Kane NYR 14
180.8 Connor Brown EDM 5
182.3 Tom Wilson WSH 8
184.5 Chandler Stephenson VGK 2
187.3 Seth Jarvis CAR 3
187.5 Robert Thomas STL 2