NHL Mock Draft Snapshot

Taking part in a fantasy draft is a unique experience. You must consider all options when on the clock simply because you don't know which players will be available the next time you select. If you go in with a set game plan and don't adapt, you're going to leave value on the board and damage your team as a result. Below is a rough idea of what a potential fantasy hockey roster could look like for the 2024-25 season using Yahoo's early average draft position.

(Note: For the sake of this exercise, we were awarded the No. 3 overall selection in a 12-team league)

Center: Auston Matthews (TOR) (1st Round, 3rd overall)

Center: Aleksander Barkov (FLA) (4th Round, 46th overall)

Left Wing: Clayton Keller (UTA) (6th round, 70th overall

Left Wing: Alexis Lafreniere (NYR) (9th Round, 99th overall)

Right Wing: Wyatt Johnston (DAL) (5th Round, 51st overall)

Right Wing: Patrick Kane (DET) (11th Round, 123rd overall)

Defense: Evan Bouchard (EDM) (2nd Round, 22nd overall)

Defense: Charlie McAvoy (BOS) (7th Round. 75th overall)

Defense: Zach Werenski (CBJ) (10th Round, 118th overall)

Defense: Jake Sanderson (OTT) (12th Round, 142nd overall)

Goalie: Connor Hellebuyck (WPG) (3rd Round, 27th overall)

Goalie: Linus Ullmark (OTT) (8th Round, 94th overall)

MOCK DRAFT TAKEAWAYS

Target goal scorers early: There's nothing more difficult to do in the NHL than put the puck in the back of the net. From a fantasy standpoint, it's particularly difficult to find an elite option in that category because so few players are a lock to threaten 50 goals each year. Matthews is the best pure sniper in the league and would give you a massive head start there.

Make sure you have a true No. 1 goaltender: Simply put, there aren't enough elite goaltenders to go around. There are only maybe four or five and you want to do everything to ensure you have one on your roster. If you can manage to snag someone like Hellebuyck or Igor Shesterkin, you can roll the dice a bit with your No. 2 option and take a guy like Ullmark, who will still be the unquestioned starter in Ottawa.

Lean heavy into star defensemen: Like goaltenders, there aren't enough top-tier rearguards to go around from a fantasy standpoint. It's also a position that is typically very difficult to upgrade on the waiver wire over the course of the year. Bouchard quarterback's the most dangerous power play in the league alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. He has an exceptionally high floor and a very high ceiling. That's the type of combination you are always seeking on your roster. The only way he wouldn't produce is if he loses the top PP gig and there's zero reason to expect that to happen as he enters his age 25 season.

Always value positional versatility: So often, the players with which you exit your fantasy drafts are not the players that will lead you to victory. Guys get hurt. Others underperform. It's the nature of the beast in every sport. That's why positional versatility is so important. Take the above team for example. Both Keller and Lafreniere are eligible at both left wing and right wing. Johnston is eligible at both center and right wing. Being able to use these players at different positions over the course of the year provides you with a massive advantage. It makes finding players on the waiver wire monumentally easier because you have a much wider pool of options to choose from.

Make sure your defensemen are slated to see plenty of power-play time: The value of rearguards in fantasy leagues is driven almost entirely by point production. They don't produce at anywhere near the rate of forwards, meaning you should almost always be seeking defenders who see a substantial amount of PP time for their respective clubs in hopes of getting an uptick in scoring from the position.

Have a nice mix of veterans and youngsters (not rookies, see below): The team above is a near-perfect mix of this. Guys like Matthews, Barkov and Kane are a lock for production, health permitting. You know what you are going to get from them. Youngsters like Lafreniere, Johnston and Sanderson have nice floors, but also all have significant theoretical upside beyond what we have seen to date. If even one of them raises their game to the next level, you are in a great position to dominate your league.

Don't be afraid to draft players on bad teams: Keller and Werenski play for Utah and Columbus respectively, which are projected to be two of the NHL's weaker teams. This may very well result in a poor plus/minus rating for each of them, but both have massive roles on their teams and that will lead to offensive production, which is what we care about the most.

Don't overpay for rookies: Did you notice one of the things this team doesn't have? Rookies. That was intentional. Look, everyone loves prospects. The idea of a kid entering the league at 18 years of age and suddenly dominating is extremely appetizing, particularly from a fantasy standpoint. The issue is that every other owner in your league has a similar thought in mind. Everyone knew Connor Bedard would be a stud right out of the gate last season. The same is likely this time around for Macklin Celebrini of San Jose and Matvei Michkov of the Flyers. The issue is that these kids are household names by now and the constant interest in them has sent them flying up draft boards. It's a tough league and very few rookies made an immediate fantasy-worthy impact. Even Bedard last year, as well as he played when healthy, was being drafted above elite players by the time it was all said and done. So even though he looked fantastic, he was a bad fantasy pick relative to the other names on the board at the time. There's just too much risk all the way around for this strategy to consistently work.