Draft Strategies in Hockey Leagues: Tkachuk, Kucherov, and more

Strategies for Fantasy Hockey in Four-Team Leagues

Welcome to the first edition of Alofoke Deportes on Fantasy Hockey! On this occasion, we explore an uncommon but increasingly popular format: four-team leagues. Our experts faced the challenge of designing strategies and analyzing how these leagues develop, where every selection is crucial. One of the key topics was injury management, in particular, the situation of Matthew Tkachuk, who is expected to be out of action until December. This uncertainty forced experts to make strategic decisions about when and how to select injured players, considering the impact on team performance.

The draft participants were:

• Victoria Matiash
• Pierre Becquey
• Sachin Dave Chandan
• Sean Allen

The scoring system used was the ESPN standard, based on H2H points.

Experts’ Analysis

“Now I understand the appeal of four-team leagues. The draft is fast, every pick is a star, and you don’t have to sift through the less-than-stellar players. I ended up with five of the seven defensemen I had on my personal list, including Thomas Harley on the bench. I’ll need these defensemen to help compensate for a slightly weaker group of forwards, but to make up for it, I prioritized players with high potential over the safest ones: Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, Dylan Guenther, Wyatt Johnston, and Dylan Holloway.”

Sean Allen, Fantasy Hockey Analyst

Allen highlights the speed of the draft and the quality of the available players, allowing for a more aggressive strategy focused on potential. In this format, replacement players have significantly greater value due to the scarcity of available talent.

“I’m targeting several top-tier goalies, as it was a way to gain an edge in one of the positions, and the draft lent itself to securing goalies. With a limit of four per team, having half of the top 8 on my team means I should be able to maximize quality starts each week, while adapting to forwards and defensemen as I see fit. I think we all play on the edge with Tkachuk and I was willing to drop him up to this point. He goes straight to my IR, which allows me to pick up another skater and, when he returns, I’ll have an extra “first-round player” to deploy down the stretch and, hopefully, in the playoffs.”

Pierre Becquey, Fantasy Sports Editor

Becquey focused on securing high-level goalkeepers, seeking a competitive advantage in that position. In addition, he managed Tkachuk’s situation using the injured reserve (IR) list, which allowed him to maintain a more complete roster.

“Being more veteran of deeper leagues with more than 1 team, I am a little impressed by the quality of my roster. And that of everyone else! There is certainly a fun novelty in challenging a small group of opposing fantasy managers with my own selected crop of the best against their also high-quality crop. Suspecting that there might be an early run for top-tier goalies, I instead chose to immediately target the elite heavyweights up front. MacKinnon, Pastrnak and Kucherov, oh my God! Now we’ll see if my solid collection of defensemen (fingers crossed, Roman Josi stays healthy and active) and a group of good goalies can live up to their fantasy weight while the best forwards in the business cook as only they know how. I must admit that I was disappointed to lose Tkachuk as an IR deposit, hoping for a later draft round.”

Victoria Matiash, Fantasy Hockey Analyst

Matiash was surprised by the overall quality of the teams and chose to secure elite forwards from the start. He also emphasized the importance of staying on top of waiver options, especially in the goalkeeper position.

“As in most drafts, my goal is to take the “best player available” and then figure out the positions later. In doing so this time, I chose perennial fantasy MVP candidate Connor McDavid, as well as a pair of elite goalies in reigning fantasy points leader Connor Hellebuyck and Igor Shesterkin. As my forward list continued to develop, the middle rounds exposed a large gap in available defensemen, so I had to choose five defensemen in my last eight picks, each of whom would be happy in a ten-team league. What excites me most in a four-team league is that each roster spot will go to a quality star player, which means higher-scoring matchups. As others mentioned, it’s intriguing how many quality starters are left on waivers.”

Sachin Dave Chandan, Fantasy Hockey Editor

Chandan focused on selecting the best available players, regardless of position, and then adjusting his lineup. He highlighted the high quality of the players available in the four-team leagues, leading to higher-scoring matchups.

Draft Results

Here’s the breakdown of each draft round, revealing each team’s selections:

Round 1

1. Nathan MacKinnon (Matiash)
2. Auston Matthews (Becquey)
3. Connor McDavid (Chandan)
4. Cale Makar (Allen)

Round 2

1. Leon Draisaitl (Allen)
2. Connor Hellebuyck (Chandan)
3. Jake Oettinger (Becquey)
4. David Pastrnak (Matiash)

Round 3

1. Nikita Kucherov (Matiash)
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy (Becquey)
3. Brady Tkachuk (Chandan)
4. Kirill Kaprizov (Allen)

Round 4

1. Macklin Celebrini (Allen)
2. Artemi Panarin (Chandan)
3. Filip Forsberg (Becquey)
4. William Nylander (Matiash)

Round 5

1. Kyle Connor (Matiash)
2. Mikko Rantanen (Becquey)
3. Jack Hughes (Chandan)
4. Jack Eichel (Allen)

Round 6

1. Sam Reinhart (Allen)
2. Igor Shesterkin (Chandan)
3. MacKenzie Weegar (Becquey)
4. Roman Josi (Matiash)

Round 7

1. Kirill Marchenko (Matiash)
2. J.T. Miller (Becquey)
3. Alex Ovechkin (Chandan)
4. Rasmus Dahlin (Allen)

Round 8

1. Zach Werenski (Allen)
2. Cole Caufield (Chandan)
3. Sergei Bobrovsky (Becquey)
4. Filip Gustavsson (Matiash)

Round 9

1. Brayden Point (Matiash)
2. Moritz Seider (Becquey)
3. Jake Guentzel (Chandan)
4. Tim Stutzle (Allen)

Round 10

1. Sidney Crosby (Allen)
2. Jason Robertson (Chandan)
3. Victor Hedman (Becquey)
4. Quinn Hughes (Matiash)

Round 11

1. Evan Bouchard (Matiash)
2. Elias Pettersson (Becquey)
3. Tage Thompson (Chandan)
4. Mitch Marner (Allen)

Round 12

1. Dylan Guenther (Allen)
2. John Tavares (Chandan)
3. Matt Boldy (Becquey)
4. Adin Hill (Matiash)

Round 13

1. Clayton Keller (Matiash)
2. Matthew Tkachuk (Becquey)
3. Jesper Bratt (Chandan)
4. Jake Sanderson (Allen)

Round 14

1. Adam Fox (Allen)
2. Adrian Kempe (Chandan)
3. Steven Stamkos (Becquey)
4. Josh Morrissey (Matiash)

Round 15

1. Mark Scheifele (Matiash)
2. Dustin Wolf (Becquey)
3. John Carlson (Chandan)
4. Wyatt Johnston (Allen)

Round 16

1. Thomas Harley (Allen)
2. Brandon Hagel (Chandan)
3. Vincent Trocheck (Becquey)
4. Darcy Kuemper (Matiash)

Round 17

1. Dylan Larkin (Matiash)
2. Nick Suzuki (Becquey)
3. Jackson LaCombe (Chandan)
4. Dylan Holloway (Allen)

Round 18

1. Connor Bedard (Allen)
2. Nazem Kadri (Chandan)
3. Mikhail Sergachev (Becquey)
4. Martin Necas (Matiash)

Round 19

1. Rasmus Andersson (Matiash)
2. Mike Matheson (Becquey)
3. Noah Dobson (Chandan)
4. Aleksander Barkov (Allen)

Round 20

1. Mackenzie Blackwood (Allen)
2. Charlie McAvoy (Chandan)
3. Seth Jarvis (Becquey)
4. Brock Faber (Matiash)

Round 21

1. Mika Zibanejad (Matiash)
2. Sebastian Aho (Becquey)
3. Erik Karlsson (Chandan)
4. Frederik Andersen (Allen)

Round 22

1. Jacob Markstrom (Allen)
2. Anthony Stolarz (Chandan)
3. Kris Letang (Becquey)
4. Ilya Sorokin (Matiash)

The Fantasy Hockey draft offers a window into the game.

Matiash Team

• Nathan MacKinnon
• David Pastrnak
• Nikita Kucherov
• William Nylander
• Kyle Connor
• Roman Josi
• Kirill Marchenko
• Filip Gustavsson
• Brayden Point
• Quinn Hughes
• Evan Bouchard
• Adin Hill
• Clayton Keller
• Josh Morrissey
• Mark Scheifele
• Darcy Kuemper
• Dylan Larkin
• Martin Necas
• Rasmus Andersson
• Brock Faber
• Mika Zibanejad
• Ilya Sorokin

Becquey Team

• Auston Matthews
• Jake Oettinger
• Andrei Vasilevskiy
• Filip Forsberg
• Mikko Rantanen
• MacKenzie Weegar
• J.T. Miller
• Sergei Bobrovsky
• Moritz Seider
• Victor Hedman
• Elias Pettersson
• Matthew Tkachuk
• Sebastian Aho
• Kris Letang

To be continued…