Stanley Cup Playoff Pool Advice: What to keep in mind while drafting the perfect team

It’s put up or shut up time in the National Hockey League.

On Monday night, the Stanley Cup Playoffs start in earnest with a quartet of series openers – the other four coming your way on Tuesday – as 16 teams begin their quest for hockey’s holy grail.

But before that happens, you have a championship playoff pool roster to assemble.

The Rundown

Believe it or not, the pathway to success is a rather simplistic one. Regardless of pool format, the goal is to accumulate more total points than your opponents. Crazy stuff, right?

From a categorical standpoint, there’s no need to overthink things; goals, assists, points, OT winners, goalie wins and shutouts are typically the most-used categories. Depending on how complex you want to get with your scoring system, you can choose to alter the weight value of each statistic. For example, many pools put a greater emphasis on goal scoring and shutouts. Do what you please, though.

When it comes to roster configuration, you can also be as creative as you’d like. That said, for goaltending, it’s become a much safer alternative to select a team of goalies over individual ones. Not only has the position become as volatile as ever, but teams seem to have itchy trigger fingers this time of year – if you catch my drift. Furthermore, many pools will do a separate draft for goalies and skaters. Food for thought.

As for picking your team, box selection and conventional drafting – linear or snake – are the two most common practices. For box pools, the process is a bit more tedious as you’ll be tasked with picking one player per grouping, each featuring skaters of similar caliber. And so on and so forth. Good luck trying to decipher whether to roster Connor McDavid or not.

With all that in mind, to be successful, you’ll need a defined draft strategy:

Know the Rules

You’d think this is an obvious one, but believe it or not, many pools are compromised before they even really get going. It takes just one person to bomb a draft because they didn’t fully understand the rules. Don’t be that person, just take some time to know what’s going on. It’s not rocket science.

Make Your Predictions

Before drafting your roster, it’s imperative that you fill out a playoff bracket first. That way, you’ll have a better understanding and vision of how you see things ultimately playing out. Once you determine that, you can start mapping out some potential draft targets. Additionally, production is key, but don’t overlook the longevity aspect either. Bottom line, you want players who are going to last as long as possible – within reason, of course.

Do Your Homework

Simply put, there’s never a dull day in the NHL world, especially in the COVID era. That’s why it’s important to stay up to date on the latest news and information around the league before making your picks. For instance, if a player’s injured or ill, be aware of the ramifications. What’s the prognosis? How long will they be out? If they can’t go, who will be promoted up the lineup? In the long run, you could extract some serious value from those type of scenarios.

In addition to that, be cognizant of how players finished up the regular season. Not that it’s everything, but the last thing you want to do is unknowingly take a guy who’s been slumping for weeks on end. From the get-go, you need to hit the ground running.

No Loyalty

Play with your head, not your heart. At the end of the day, only one team can win the Stanley Cup. Just because you’re a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it doesn’t mean you have to litter your entire roster with them.

And don’t be afraid to bandwagon-hop either; no one will tell you. Be smart.

Spread the Wealth

Along those lines, when constructing your roster, flexibility is key. At the end of the day, there’s only 16 teams to choose from, which means everyone will be gunning for the same players. This year, naturally, Florida and Colorado seem to be the hot picks to go all the way, and it’s tough to dispute the rationale behind that. Knowing that, be prepared to not only adapt but modify your game plan on the fly. Contrary to popular belief, you won’t be getting every player you want.

Meantime, the element of team-stacking is a risky proposition, but I do think the reward outweighs the risk in this instance. By the way, that’s coming from someone who still has nightmares about the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs when, like many others, I decided to go all-in on the Tampa Bay Lightning – which included taking Nikita Kucherov first overall. We all know how that ended up going. Woof.

Meantime, handcuffing specific lines – especially elite ones – could also prove to be a useful tactic as well. Again, there’s always an element of risk associated with that strategy too, but sometimes the juice is worth the squeeze.

Take Chances

Hands up if you had Montreal winning three series last spring? Point proven. Don’t be afraid to go against the grain and take some underdogs. It’s also important to stress that losing teams can still provide you with significant value – even if it’s for less time. Truth be told, you’ll probably end up getting better production in some short-term looks than you may in third- and fourth-liners who end up going all the way.

Identify Sleepers

Lastly, it’s always fun to sprinkle in a couple of sleepers on your roster. Traditionally, those are players who are projected to drastically outplay their average draft position. From contract status incentive to line deployment, there’s a plethora of motivating factors at play that could ultimately help ignite any given player at any given time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Shoutout to Ville Leino and Fernando Pisani.