What You Need to Know at the Draft

We're just under a month away until the draft goes down at Jameson's Pub and I am getting the feeling that a few of our competitors may be new at this, so I thought I would make up a post for those who are going to be new to the event and maybe it will prove to be a refresher for those who have missed a year or just want something to read on the blog today.

Now, I have the Bud Lounge booked starting at 6pm, so this is definitely for the after-work crowd, plus it is a Tuesday, so you'll want to drink away your early week blahs, rights?

The last couple of years we have had the Bud Lounge at Jameson's Pub, we've generally started drafting closer to around 7pm, which gave everyone enough time to find a beer, a bite to eat and get all of their lists and documentation ready for drafting.  The 17 people we've had in the past few years have taken about 2.5 to 3 hours to draft all 14 players we need, so expect to be out of the pub by about 10pm, unless you're staying for another drink or two and talking some smack with the others who have stayed.

As people walk into the lounge, I usually have people sign in, pay ($50) and draw a number out of a hat to determine the draft order.  I will usually have numbers from 1 to 30 in the hat, as I don't usually expect any more than that to arrive and then it's just the lowest number to the highest number to which determines the draft order.  We draft in the snake format, so it is lowest to highest for one round and then the next round is highest to lowest, so there will be two picks in a row for the lowest and highest drafters.  It has proved to work most effective over the years and there is no real expectation to change it.

As for players, I again like to keep it really easy, which seems to keep everyone playing in a pretty good mood.  Eight (8) forwards, four (4) defense and two (2) goalies is what makes up the team and all of these players can be taken at any time.  You can then plan your strategy from there, deciding which players you want to take in what order.  Some have wanted to get their goalies first, some wanted to corner the market in defensemen and others want to make sure they get great forwards, but that decision is up to you. 

Scoring in the hockey pool is also quite easy and this goes for both the draft and the selection sheet pool, which will also be available at the draft.  One (1) for goals and assists (which goes for goalies as well), two (2) points for a win and another two (2) points for a credited shutout.  Goalies can be credited with a shutout in a shootout loss, so I make sure those points are credited for those goalies.  I do not believe in the loser/charity point in the NHL standings and I don't think they should hold true in the pool, so there is no point there for goalies.

I have a list of players and all of their points, including goalies, so if you are heading to the draft and need a list of players, I can definitely provide you with one.  I can send it to you in most generalized ways, but it is formed in Microsoft Excel, so if you want to play with the list and make it reflect your own expectations and projections, feel free to ask for it.  A little homework goes a long ways.  If you are not going to get a list from me, I would recommend finding one of the magazines that you can get at most convenience stores or even the one's online and print them out.

If you want to get an Excel (or PDF) copy of my list, e-mail me by clicking this link.

The NHL schedule is 27 weeks long and weeks are considered to be Monday to Sunday, all year long.  The schedule does start on a Thursday night, so Week One will be from Thursday to Sunday and I believe we have a couple other shortened weeks for Christmas and the All-Star Break.

During the season, there will be two periods to which we will be able to switch out some players, which I lovingly refer to as the Waiver Draft.  This year, since we'll have an even number of weeks in the year, I will be holding the week-long (as that's how long these usually take) drafts via e-mail, phone, instant messaging or other to replace two players with two other players.  The order will be determined by the standings after the Sunday of the previous week and it will not be a snake draft, as this usually gives a little bit more help to the teams near (or at) the bottom of the standings.  Here you will be able to drop a player, who is usually injured long-term or just not producing and exchange him for a player of the same position.  There are some blog posts about how the Waiver Draft actually affects the standings at the end of the year, so you can definitely gauge its importance there.

This year, the Waiver Drafts will be held during Week Nine (November 29th to December 5th), with the players going live on December 6th, and Week Eighteen (January 31st to February 6th), with players going live on February 7th.

As for prizes, they are generally determined after the number of participants have been decided.  Last year, I was able to rustle up some jerseys for prizes for 8-week segments, which I might try to do again this year, but all of that is usually determined after the draft is done.  First prizes have usually been over $500, while 3rd place usually gets their money back.

That's about it.  Actually writing it all out, it does look like quite a bit to remember, but I think I have everything, so there shouldn't be any excuse not to know coming in.  If you stay tuned to the blog, I'll be posting all sorts of news that you will want to know going in, some stuff you won't find in those publications that were printed a month ago.  If there is anything I may have forgotten, feel free to ask!