Expert fantasy mock draft: Rounds 7-9

Matt Larkin
Matt Larkin(MLarkinHockey)
Expert fantasy mock draft: Rounds 7-9
Credit: Trevor Zegras (© Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)

The mock fantasy draft: deceivingly useful to read. On the surface, it might appear skippable. Why should you care about my draft? But mocks in many cases can help you more practically than reading rankings can. A mock gives you a look inside the trenches, helps you identify moments when you might see runs on certain positions. If you know your own draft slot in advance, you can follow along with whoever picks in that same spot for a sense of who might be available to you at each turn.

That’s why I’ve decided to share the results of a fantasy mock draft in which I’m currently participating. Yes, currently. It’s a “slow draft,” with a minimum of just one pick made per day. The field: a murderer’s row of fantasy hockey experts. FTN Network’s Chris Meaney played the role of Nick Fury, assembling the team.

Here are the players, in order of draft slot:

1. Eric Young, FTN Network
2. Pete Jensen, NHL.com
3. Nick Alberga, NHL.com/Daily Faceoff
4. Kenneth Lee, FTN Network
5. Anna Dua, NHL.com
6. Matt Larkin, Daily Faceoff
7. Neil Parker, Sportsbook Review
8. Jesse Blake, SDPN Sports
9. Shayna Goldman, The Athletic
10. Chris Meaney, FTN Network
11. Dom Luszczyszyn, The Athletic
12. Dimitri Filipovic, The Hockey PDOcast/EP Rinkside
13. Michael Clifford, DobberHockey
14. Drew Livingstone, SDPN Sports

The format: Head-to-Head, with the following scoring categories: Goals, Assists, PPP, SOG, Hits, Blocks, Wins, GAA, SV%

The roster breakdown:

C
C
C
LW
LW
LW
RW
RW
RW
D
D
D
D
Skater
G
G
Bench x 4

The writeup for Rounds 1-3 can be found here.

The writeup for Rounds 4-6 can be found here.

Next up, we look at picks in Rounds 7-9.

ROUND 7

85. Joe Pavelski, C/RW
86. Andrei Kuzmenko, LW/RW
87. Thatcher Demko, G
88. Pavel Buchnevich, LW/RW
89. Brent Burns, D
90. Darnell Nurse, D
91. Jacob Trouba, D
92. Mark Scheifele, C
93. Joel Eriksson Ek, C
94. Filip Gustavsson, G
95. Sam Reinhart, RW
96. Carter Verhaeghe, LW
97. Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW
98. Jeff Skinner, LW

Overall thoughts

As every GM’s player valuations diverge more with each round, we see major bargains beginning to happen here. Thatcher Demko has top-10 upside at his position; he was 11-4-1 with a .918 save percentage once he got healthy and played under new Canucks coach Rick Tocchet last season. Filip Gustavsson was the second-best goalie in the NHL on a per-game basis in pretty much every major metric last season. Two 40-goal scorers fell to the seventh round in Mark Scheifele and Carter Verhaeghe? The latter seems particularly likely to repeat his feat, too.

My pick: Darnell Nurse, D, Oilers (90th overall; My Top 300 rank: 72nd overall)

I continued loading up on banger beasts with this selection. While it’s true Nurse may already be at his offensive ceiling as a 40-point guy given he doesn’t operate on the power play, he contributes in so many categories. He’ll get you double-digit goals, probably 200 shots, more than 150 hits and blocks. He’s combo-meal gold on ‘D’ even without the power-play points.

ROUND 8

99. Elias Lindholm, C
100. Jakob Chychrun, D
101. Jesper Bratt, LW/RW
102. Chris Kreider, LW
103. Drew Doughty, D
104. Artturi Lehkonen, LW
105. Jonathan Marchessault, LW/RW
106. Tristan Jarry, G
107. Darcy Kuemper, G
108. Tyler Toffoli, RW
109. Jared McCann, C/LW
110. Vladimir Tarasenko, RW
111. Seth Jones, G
112. Shea Theodore, D

Overall thoughts

Lots of goal-scoring wingers came off the board here, as well as one of my favorite 2023-24 value picks in Seth Jones, who could be a top-20 fantasy D-man easily if the Bedard effect is as powerful as many of us expect it to be. Jesper Bratt has such a safe 70-point floor that it was a surprise to see him last this long. No respect for Jared McCann’s 40-goal outburst, it seems, but it came with a shooting percentage so far north of his career norm that no one wanted to take the bait inside the top 100.

My pick: Darcy Kuemper, G, Capitals (107th overall; My Top 300 rank: 93rd overall)

Easily my most boring pick to this point. But I needed boring. Kuemper’s rate-stat upside isn’t what it was when he played in Colorado, but he’ll be a volume asset in goal. He has started 56 and 57 games, respectively, in the past two seasons. Only four goalies have started more games over that span.

ROUND 9

113. Drake Batherson, RW
114. Tyler Bertuzzi, LW/RW
115. Morgan Rielly, D
116. Jacob Markstrom, G
117. Nick Schmaltz, C/LW/RW
118. Trevor Zegras, C/LW
119. Vitek Vanecek, G
120. Anze Kopitar, C
121. Dylan Cozens, C
122. Michael Matheson, D
123. Travis Konecny, RW
124. Martin Necas, RW
125. Thomas Chabot, D
126. Valeri Nichushkin, LW/RW

Overall thoughts

A grey cloud loomed over Round 9. I see so much downside here. Will Morgan Rielly get permanently usurped by John Klingberg for power-play minutes? Will Jacob Markstrom and Vitek Vanecek lose their starting goalie gigs? Can we count on Michael Matheson to repeat his truly out-of-nowhere offensive surge from late last season? Nestled in among the landmines were some safer picks in Anze Kopitar and Martin Necas, both of whom were undervalued in my opinion.

My pick: Trevor Zegras, C/LW, Ducks (118th overall: My Top 300 rank: 58th overall)

This was a defiant pick. I refused to believe Zegras wouldn’t be signed before the season, I had not dropped him in my rankings once since the summer, and I got rewarded when he signed the day after I picked him. I recognize that I have him ranked much higher than most fantasy insiders do. But I’m betting on the talent. I still believe Zegras will put it all together and become a 90-point player one of these years. Even if he doesn’t in 2023-24, I got him at a the cost of a 70-point player.

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