Write well and know your league settings
Come to your fantasy hockey draft prepared from the first round to the last. Know your league setup and how many positions on the list you have to fill and prepare your own rankings. Please note that auto-generated rankings on sites like Yahoo! and ESPN are not tailored to your particular league settings.
Believe in big name players
Don’t overreact to last year’s stars or this year’s promising stars. Put most, if not all, of your actions on players with a solid track record. Don’t underestimate guys like Martin St. Louis to bet on a promising young man like Nail Yakupov or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Both will be great, but don’t do it, you will ruin at least one of these bets. That said, if you’re in a goalkeeping league, age and potential are the biggest factors in your fantasy hockey draft.
This logic of not overreacting also applies when trading in your league. Buy few stars and sell a lot to players who are just playing well at the time. Don’t stray too far from this rule unless you absolutely must bet on an attractive player to win a matchup or league.
This “believe in the great players” advice may seem like mere common sense, but you’d be surprised how easy it is for a DJ on a team in distress to drop a star on the edge or change a big name for very little. Don’t expect a hot streak to continue unless the player is proven or playing with proven players. This includes rising stars, who tend to be inconsistent.
Catch trends before others see them
While the last section was all about believing in your star players through thick and thin, this section is about picking hot players to add to the bottom of your list. Most DJs won’t notice that a player is doing well without a great name attached. They also tend to overlook players whose overall numbers are diminished by injuries, when playing for a team out of the limelight like the Panthers or Blue Jackets, or simply not showing up enough in the goal column, the most outstanding statistic of all.
Master the art of fantasy hockey trading
Identify the equipment needs of your opponents and exploit them. Nothing bothers me more than when they offer me another mediocre center (when I already have three!) For my elite winger or goalkeeper. Nobody wants to add more to a position than they need unless they are clearly winning the deal. Instead, find out which other teams have too many from and try stealing one of them in exchange for one of their decent players in a desperately needed position.