Grading The Vendetta Sports 2023 Fantasy Hockey Rosters
Hockey Guy Trey is so back. It’s another year that we’re going to crush Sean Allen. The pressure is on to win my fourth consecutive title in fantasy hockey. However, this year I expect things to be a bit more competitive. Last year, I did pretty much whatever I wanted during the draft and ran away with it. This year wasn’t really the case. I missed out on a few targets, especially on the defensemen side of things. After all, the entire league is made up of people from our site and all I’ve done is give away secrets from players that I like. If they read the posts that is.
The draft is in the books and it’s time to rank the teams in the league. Make sure to comment if you think a team is ranked too high or too low.
12: Juulian (Juul Addicts)
Players – Ilya Sorokin, Jake Oettinger, Brett Pesce, Tony DeAngelo, Jordan Kyrou, Carter Verhaeghe, Adrian Kempe, Dylan Cozens, Jared McCann, Jesper Bratt, Juraj Slafkovsky, Eeli Tolvanen, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Tommy Novak, Kirill Marchenko, Lawson Crouse, Andrew Peeke, Philip Tomasino, David Savard, Radko Gudas, Adam Boqvist, Pavel Dorofeyev, Mark Giordano, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jacob Peterson
I appreciate the Juul man participating in the league. I genuinely do. I also think this team might go winless. I’d actually be surprised if this team wins a singular week. Anything is possible in fantasy but this might be the worst team I’ve ever seen in the four years I’ve been doing this.
I hate taking goalies early in fantasy hockey. I think you’re asking to lose by loading up on that way. I understand wanting Brett Pesce but you can’t take him 34th. I don’t even know what to say about that. It’s going to be an uphill climb to even get this team to win four weeks. It’s not totally void of talent but it’s close. The stretch where he took Kempe, Cozens, McCann, and Bratt is the only sliver of hope.
Best Pick: Jesper Bratt (Round 10, 111th overall)
Worst Pick: Brett Pesce (Round 3, 34th overall)
11: Emma Brown (Death by a Thousand Pucks)
Players – Mikko Rantanen, Connor Bedard, Alexandar Georgiev, Cole Caufield, Jacob Trouba, Vladimir Tarasenko, Devon Toews, Artturi Lekhonen, Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson, Frederick Andersen, Brady Skjei, Jamie Drysdale, Brayden McNabb, Brock Nelson, Troy Terry, Lukas Reichel, Kevin Shattenkirk, Scott Mayfield, Tyson Jost, Arber Xhekaj, Anders Lee, Alex Newhook, Kent Johnson, Anthony Beauvillier
Emma says she’s determined to do better this year. I don’t see it. I actually don’t think the team is bad. Emma drafted better this year but there are so many players on this list that I’m fading. Maybe I’m wrong but I can’t get on board with taking Bedard at 18-years-old No. 20 overall. Ditto for taking any goalie that high in the third round.
It’s also filled with too many reaches which is why I’m giving Emma the 11-spot. The team isn’t bad at all but I wouldn’t have gone this high on several players. Trouba, Tarasenko, Lekonen, and Skjei to name a few.
Best Pick: Troy Terry (Round 16, 188th overall)
Worst Pick: Brady Skjei (Round 12, 140th overall)
10: Chad Bauman (Northampton Konkrete Kids)
Players – David Pastrnak, Tim Stutzle, Mikhail Sergachev, Alex Pietrangelo, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Steven Stamkos, Darnell Nurse, Kevin Fiala, Justin Faulk, Zach Hyman, Stuart Skinner, Logan Thompson, Jeff Petry, Patrik Laine, Jamie Benn, Phillip Danault, Matt Roy, Logan Couture, Viktor Arvidsson, Samuel Girard, Dominik Kubalik, Travis Sanheim, Eetu Luostarinen, Martin Fehervary, Taylor Raddysh
I lowkey love Chad’s team. I would have ranked his team way higher. Just one problem. I can’t because he’s a lock to lose interest. I may go five spots higher for Chad if I was guaranteed he would set his lineup. Stutzle is my ride or die. Stamkos in six is stealing. Both of his goalies I love. The blue line up top is excellent. What is there not to like? It’s a really deep team too.
Best Pick: Patrik Laine (Round 14, 160th overall)
Worst Pick: Justin Faulk (Round 9, 105th overall)
9: Chris Bagdonas (Cross Check Bagdonas)
Players – Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, Tage Thompson, Bo Horvat, Travis Konecny, Linus Ullmark, Noah Hanifin, Martin Necas, Tyler Toffoli, Vincent Trocheck, Josh Norris, Neal Pionk, Ivan Provorov, Rickard Rakell, Aaron Ekblad, Matias Maccelli, Gabriel Vilardi, JT Compher, Alexander Romanov, Marcus Pettersson, Luke Evangelista, Rasmus Ristolainen, Mikael Granlund, John Gibson
We made a four-way trade recently where Bagdonas shipped out Erik Karlsson and John Carlson for Brady Tkachuk to pair the Tkachuk brothers. I like the trade for both parties but Bagdonas really needs to go hunting for blue line help now. If Bagdonas can upgrade the blue line, he has to top-end forwards to compete. If not, it could be a long year for Bagdonas. The good news is there is plenty of time to figure that part out. It just can’t be ignored.
Best Pick: Gabriel Vilardi (Round 18, 210th overall)
Worst Pick: Bo Horvat (Round 5, 55th overall)
8: Matt Durich (Team Durich)
Players – Kirill Kaprizoz, Mitch Marner, Nico Hischier, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kyle Connor, Dougie Hamilton, Sam Reinhart, Owen Tippett, Jake Walman, Jeremy Swayman, Hampus Lindholm, Sean Couturier, Tyson Barrie, Colton Parayko, Jake McCabe, Jonathan Marchessault, Sam Bennett, Dmitry Orlov, Shane Wright, Sergei Bobrovsky, Damon Severson, Alexis Lafreniere, Morgan Frost, Jonas Siegenthaler, Joel Farabee
You may not recognize Matt but he’s been on Vendetta programming before and he’s in my fantasy football league. It was a solid job for his first year in the league. Some really nice picks but also wound up with four guys on the Flyers and they… suck. The goalie situation here is also concerning. Swayman doesn’t have enough volume and Bobrovsky forgets how to play for two-month stretches. The blue line is also really thin after Dougie. Still a solid team that should compete.
Best Pick: Kyle Connor (Round 5, 60th overall)
Worst Pick: Jake Walman (Round 9, 108th overall)
7: Garrett Burroughs (Stupid Red Bearded Heck)
Players – Jason Robertson, Cale Makar, Timo Meier, Josh Morrissey, Roope Hintz, Clayton Keller, Adam Larsson, Brandon Hagel, Bowen Byram, Vitek Vanecek, Dawson Mercer, Tyler Bertuzzi, Drake Batherson, Mike Matheson, Connor Brown, Valeri Nichushkin, Jacob Markstrom, Mason McTavish, Rasmus Sandin, Pyotr Kochetkov, Filip Chytil, Kaiden Guhle, Akira Schmid, Adam Pelech, JJ Moser
Garrett did a fantastic job. Especially for his first time. I’m lowkey sad I won’t have Jason Robertson on my team for the first time ever. The one-two punch with him and Makar is a hell of a way to start the draft. Having Hintz double-dip for those deadly Dallas points also helps. I don’t agree with every pick but it was a really solid effort. The only thing I worry about is if the blue line is good enough beyond Makar. He needs young guys like Bowen Byram, Rasmus Sandin and Kaiden Guhle to really pop. We’ll see if that happens.
Best Pick: Drake Batherson (Round 13, 152nd overall)
Worst Pick: Adam Larsson (Round 7, 80th overall)
6: Alex Chick (The Mighty Chicksters)
Players – Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov, Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Alex Ovechkin, Victor Hedman, Kris Letang, Vince Dunn, Carter Hart, Tristan Jarry, Evgeni Malkin, Tomas Hertl, K’Andre Miller, Gustav Forsling, Shayne Gostisbehere, Max Domi, Cam Fowler, Adam Fantilli, Spencer Knight, Cam Talbot, Michael Bunting, Scott Laughton, Brian Dumoulin, Darcy Kuemper, Max Pacioretty
I genuinely love Chickster’s team. I love it so much that I almost put him two. I just can’t because there is no lock he pays attention enough to make his team a winner. His team this year is way better than a year ago. His first eight picks are home runs. Outside of some funky goalie picks, he didn’t miss for large portions of this draft. His team should be competitive all year so long as he pays attention.
Best Pick: I usually don’t go rookies but Adam Fantilli… (Round 18, 215th overall)
Worst Pick: Carter Hart (Round 9, 98th overall)
5: Griffin Crest (White In Your Smile)
Players – Elias Pettersson, Erik Karlsson, John Carlson, Roman Josi, Charlie McAvoy, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jake Guentzel, Zach Werenski, Andrei Kuzmenko, Ilya Samsonov, Thatcher Demko, Matt Beniers, Juuso Valimaki, Filip Forsberg, Adin Hill, Ryan Graves, Dylan Strome, Esa Lindell, Patrick Kane, Ryan Hartman, Matt Duchene, Mattias Ekholm, Cole Perfetti, Barrett Hayton, Torey Krug, Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Griff’s blue line is sick. Most disgusting blue line I’ve ever seen in fantasy since doing this. He’s a bit thin on the forward side. Can Griff find enough quality help at forward to help carry him? The goalie situation here could either go really well or really poorly too. The good news is it’s way easier to find forwards than it is defensemen. Griff’s team should be in the mix if he manages things right.
Best Pick: Filip Forsberg (Round 13, 147th overall)
Worst Pick: Joel Eriksson Ek (Round 6, 70th overall)
4: James Herrick (Team Herrick)
Players – Jack Hughes, Mo Seider, Adam Fox, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Elias Lindholm, Quinn Hughes, Artemi Panarin, Luke Hughes, Johnny Gaudreau, Mark Scheifele, Ivan Barbashev, Jake DeBrusk, Trevor Zegras, Jakub Vrana, MacKenzie Weegar, Filip Hronek, Nikolaj Ehlers, Ville Husso, Michael Rasmussen, Lucas Raymond, Jonas Johansson, Anthony Duclair, Jani Hakanpaa, Jack Campbell, Mattias Samuelsson, Ilya Mikheyev, Bryan Rust
Herrick’s team is really good. They’re in the mix. His forwards are deep and his top end blue line is awesome. It’s a matter of if the goalies screw him, which is probably likely. Still, it’s a better alternative than the strategy he had last year. The depth at forward really stands out. Has a bunch of guys that are going to score goals. Simple as that.
Best Pick: Lucas Raymond (Round 19, 227th overall)
Worst Pick: Michael Rasmussen (Round 18, 206th overall)
3: Andrew McGuinness (Feeling Tippsy)
Players – Auston Matthews, Igor Shesterkin, Mika Zibanejad, Connor Hellebuyck, JT Miller, Rasmus Andersson, Evan Bouchard, Matt Boldy, Seth Jones, Pavel Buchnevich, Joe Pavelski, Morgan Rielly, Anze Kopitar, Logan Cooley, Chris Kreider, John Klingberg, Drew Doughty, Nick Schmaltz, Joonas Korpisalo, Nazem Kadri, Taylor Hall, Pavel Zacha, Cam York, Mario Ferraro, David Perron
I don’t agree with every pick that Andrew made but his squad is deep and that’s going to matter. Especially in a league that has 12 teams and rosters 25 guys with 10 IR spots. Even in the late, late rounds, Andrew made smart gambles. Plus his goalie room is really good to have that kind of depth. Andrew got third last year so we’ll give him third in the power rankings heading into this year.
Best Pick: Evan Bouchard (Round 7, 78th overall)
Worst Pick: Igor Shesterkin (Round 2, 19th overall)
2: Jerry Walker (Rocky Mountain Oysters)
Players – Nathan MacKinnon, Rasmus Dahlin, William Nylander, Juuse Saros, Jakob Chychrun, Brandon Montour, Andrei Svechnikov, Nick Suzuki, Filip Gustavsson, Jonathan Drouin, Brent Burns, Jared Spurgeon, Mats Zuccarello, Jeff Skinner, Brad Marchand, Chandler Stephenson, Ben Chiarot, Boone Jenner, Brock Boeser, Frank Vatrano, Kirby Dach, Daniel Sprong, Nick Jensen, Jack Roslovic, Ryan McDonagh
I played Jerry in the finals last year so he deserves the two spot for that alone. I underrated Jerry last year and won’t do it again. His squad kind of looks similar to what it did last year too.
Best Pick: Brad Marchand (Round 15, 172nd overall)
Worst Pick: Jonathan Drouin (Round 10, 117th overall)
1: Trey Daubert – Team Icing Daubert
Players – Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Aleksander Barkov, Brayden Point, Sebastian Aho, Miro Heiskanen, Alex Tuch, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Shea Theodore, Thomas Chabot, Jonathan Huberdeau, Mark Stone, Robert Thomas, Sean Durzi, Evander Kane, Claude Giroux, Owen Power, Jake Sanderson, Devon Levi, Brandt Clarke, Wyatt Johnston, Alec Martinez, Robin Lehner, Tom Wilson, Jordan Binnington, Joel Hofer, Pavel Francouz, Joe Woll
Not going to spend a ton of time talking about my team. You let me know how I did in the comments. I’ll say this. I think this might be my best team yet. I’m fired up about the squad. I expect it to be another winning season.
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