Last Minute Draft Strategies for the Upcoming NHL Season

The NHL season begins Tuesday, and while some of you have already had your drafts, this weekend will be the busiest time for poolies.

Maximizing Value with Elite Goaltenders and Blueliners

There are many different strategies for drafting a team. I enjoy going after positions of weakness first.  There are not many goaltenders whom you can rely on year after year. Connor Hellebuyck, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin, Jake Oettinger and Ilya Sorokin come to mind as the best netminders -- I have discounted Sergei Bobrovsky due to his age and the amount of hockey he has played over the last three seasons -- I would wait on goaltenders after these five. One big thing to remember when drafting this season is that there will be an Olympic break. Since the Russians will not be in Italy, I would upgrade all Russian players -- especially Nikita Kucherov, Artemi Panarin and Alex Ovechkin -- as they will be well rested while the remainder of the NHL's best will be tired coming off the gruelling two-week Olympic Games. That also goes for everyone who does not make their respective National Team, as they get a big break in the action.

I also would take defensemen early, as there are not a bunch of high-scoring blueliners. I would tap Cale Makar as a top-five pick this season, taking Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Kucherov in front of him. There are some forwards who will outscore Makar, but by not a big enough margin to make them worth taking, as there are always plenty of forwards to choose from, especially in shallower pools.

There were 49 players who had at least 70 points in 2024-25, including just three defensemen, Makar, Zach Werenski and Quinn Hughes. That's the importance of selecting blueliners. To make the point even greater, there were only five defensemen who had from 60 to 69 points. Rasmus Dahlin, Evan Bouchard, Victor Hedman, Josh Morrissey and Adam Fox. That's eight of the top 85 scorers.

If you play with forwards, rather than specific centers, left wingers and right wingers, I would load up with centers as they definitely get more points than wingers on average. If you play with those positions, I would wait on your centers, focusing on wingers, as there will be plenty of good centers available in the eighth round and later. I scored Jack Hughes three seasons ago in the eighth round, and he finished with 99 points. I also selected Nico Hischier in the same draft in the 17th and final round, and he managed 31 goals and 80 points in 81 games after missing Opening Night.

In most pools, there are between 160 and 225 players taken, including 20-28 goalies, 48-84 defensemen and 92-112 forwards. As mentioned earlier, 77 forwards managed to score at least 60 points. If you want players who scored at least 45 points in 2024-25, then add another 81 players to the list, including 10 defensemen. Of the top 166 players, you have 148 forwards (more than enough to fill all rosters and then some) and only 18 defensemen. While defensemen can help out in other categories, you can definitely see the importance of taking blueliners early and often while waiting on forwards.

Leveraging the Olympic Break for Fantasy Hockey Success

As previously mentioned, it's an interesting schedule this season due to the Olympics, as there is almost a three-week break in the schedule, from Feb. 6-26. There are four teams that play five games in a week. The Rangers play five games from Dec. 15-21, Carolina plays five contests from Dec. 29-Jan. 4, Edmonton has five games from Jan. 12-18 and most importantly, Pittsburgh plays five times from Mar. 30-Apr. 5. The Penguins' stretch will be during the head-to-head playoffs, and that will give a huge edge to a team. Don't forget to plan ahead, as trying to pick off some of these players may be difficult the Sunday before their big week.

If you are playing dynasty leagues, don't forget about players who are currently hurt, but may help you out long-term, either later in this season or next year. Aleksander Barkov (knee surgery) definitely comes to mind as he is likely out for all of the regular season in 2025-26, but will be worth his weight in gold next year, or perhaps even this season as trade bait if you are trying to improve your chances of winning this season. Others to consider are Matthew Tkachuk (groin surgery), who is expected to be out until at least Christmas and Zach Hyman (broken wrist), who is expected to return at the beginning of November. 

Navigating the NHL Schedule for Daily Transaction Pools

An important part of playing in daily transaction leagues is playing the schedule. For the most part, the NHL is a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday league with the majority of scheduled games slated for those dates. Edmonton and Montreal lead in those dates with 60 of their 82 games played on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Boston plays 58 times, while Ottawa is at 57 and Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay are at 55. At the other end of the schedule (and these are players on teams you should target near the end of the draft) are Anaheim at only 40, Utah at 41, Chicago with 42 and the Rangers and St. Louis at 45 games.

Artemi Panarin and Nick Suzuki each had 89 points last season. Panarin is a more valuable play this season as he plays 15 more games than Suzuki on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, less popular days on the NHL schedule. It's a lot easier to find players to play on the more common days; therefore, in daily transaction pools, Panarin should be selected a full round earlier than Suzuki. Other examples are Utah's Mikhail Sergachev ahead of the Penguins' Erik Karlsson, the Ducks' Jackson LaCombe ahead of Morgan Rielly of Toronto, and later in the draft, Brayden Schenn of the Blues ahead of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (unless you think Nugent-Hopkins is due for a huge comeback).

Don't be afraid to be the leader of the pack, rather than a follower. When there is a run on a position, be at the start of the run, not at the bottom. This way – using goaltenders as an example – when there is a slew of goaltenders taken in the middle rounds, it's better to take a Sergei Bobrovsky, rather than take a chance on Buffalo's Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Finally, here are some players I like near the end of drafts (around 180th and later) in alphabetical order: Ivan Barbashev (Vegas), Anthony Beauvillier (Washington), Zachary Bolduc (Montreal), Philip Broberg (St. Louis), Brandt Clarke (Los Angeles), Arseni Gritsyuk (New Jersey), Boone Jenner (Columbus), Anton Lundell (Florida), Matias Maccelli (Toronto), JJ Peterka (Utah), Sam Rinzel (Chicago), Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis), Logan Stankoven (Carolina) Danila Yurov (Minnesota) and Trevor Zegras (Philadelphia).