We’re back! The hockey season is just under a month away, which means it’s time for me to start my rankings! I just had a few things I wanted to get into a post before I start up my 9th season at Razzball (boy, time really does fly).
The plan is to have my Top 20 out in the next couple days, and hopefully my entire goaltending rankings by the end of the week. Again, it doesn’t do a lot for us if I go into depth on how good Connor McDavid is, so I’m going to be more selective on who I’m writing extensively about. This way, I’ll be able to get my posts out earlier to you as well. I will separate everyone into tiers along the way, where you can argue about the order within the tier, but they’re clearly better or worse than the tiers below and above. After that, I’ll have two defensemen posts, before swinging back to forwards and a Top 200 overall. Once more drafts start happening and there’s more value in current ADP, I’ll do a post on players I like more than consensus, and players I dislike more than consensus. Once the season starts, there will be daily notes at least three times per week as everyone has grown accustomed to.
If anyone is interested in writing for Razzball Hockey, please let me know in the comments section below and I’ll reach out to you. I am extremely flexible in terms of how often you want to write, what day(s) of the week, and the topic you want to focus on. It would be great for the site if the readers have someone else to read besides myself, mostly because it allows me to write about a variety of topics instead of solely focusing on daily notes. The other sports on Razzball are covered by at least a handful of writers, if not more, and I’ll love to build Razzball Hockey up to that point, especially because the amount of quality writing on fantasy hockey that is available to everyone is slim to none.
If there’s something specific that you want me to cover, let me know in the comments section below. It can be something during preseason, or something that only applies once the season starts. If you have any questions for me, as always, feel free to ask me those as well. Look out for that Top 20 post either tomorrow or Thursday, take care!
Good to have you back Viz 🍻
Thanks Jeff!
Great to see this post, Viz. Hope all is well. We missed you, too!
So, I just got the #1 overall draft pick in my league — I think I know who to take — but I’ll be checking out your rankings and analysis for subsequent picks! Can’t wait.
Cheers,
Jake
Thanks Jake, been busy on my end but no complaints. Pretty sweet to get the first pick, I’ve actually never owned McDavid in a fantasy league, just playoff pools. Jealous haha
Woo! Stoked!!!
Makes two of us!
Viz, welcome back dog.
Hope your off-season went smooth.
What’s your email? I’d like to discuss some things with you.
Cheers,
Gerald
Hey Gerald, glad to see you back here. No complaints on my end. Do you have Twitter / X? If you do, you can DM me at RazzballViz. If you don’t, let me know if I can email you at the email address attached to your post here and I’ll do that.
I have the first year player draft. I have pick #6…do you have a top 10 list of the players with the most fantasy upside of the 2023 draft picks?
So only players drafted in 2023… I won’t have a list on that. I’d like to spend more time writing about rookies and prospects on here, but I can’t being the only writer, which is why I am hoping a couple people will join me.
My main question here is can you stash your pick for a long time? Because in terms of long term upside, Michkov is #2, but he won’t be in the NHL for a few years. If you’re including Michkov, my top 6 would be Bedard, Michkov, Fantilli, Carlsson, Smith, Benson. If you aren’t including Michkov, I’m torn on who my #6 would be, I guess Leonard?
Thanks for the reply. Yes, this is a dynasty league so this draft is for the 2023 draft picks to stash on our roster. Here are the first four picks:
Bedard
Michkov
Fantilli
L Carlsson
So you and the current draft progress are in lock step.
Cool… I prefer Benson’s upside to the other forwards who are available besides Smith. It’s not to say I don’t like Leonard, Danielson or the defensemen, but I would lean towards Benson assuming Smith goes 5th.
Actually Benson went 5th so I picked up Will Smith at 6th. The next several picks
Leonard
Danielson
Dvorsky
Moore
Wood
Reinbacher
But
Four more picks before I pick again
Pretty good scenario getting Smith.
i’m on pick 1.12 (5 round slow draft, 14 team dynasty with hits/blocks); don’t forget to check a good prospect list like dobber has for guys not just drafted that somehow weren’t kept. by the 2nd or later rounds you might find some goofy stuff like a.holtz (dobber prospect rank for forwards of 17) not being kept (i’m too deep at NHL current wingers to not pick a stash guy though if there are overall long term guys worth more or close) or j.kulich (dobber prospect forward rank 40) not being owned yet. i’m about to get benson or o.moore at 12th (reinbacher and barlow went earlier than expected, along with 2 non prospect D men to D weak teams). or bolduc, or z.dean or h.lapierre. all those should’ve been owned by somebody.
my comment assumes you can draft players outside of the 2023 draft class, which might not be true. i know for my leagues it’s true, but of course that still means most of the (for sure early picks) picks are from the most recent draft class, now being the first time those can be obtained.
Sounds like he’s limited to this year’s draft class, but not positive. I’m really surprised Holtz is still ranked that high. I would take Kulich over him at this point without question.
2023 and any players not owned are eligible. Dean Borluc available
Got Barlow at 2.6
Any sleepers? Slim pickings – top 150 players taken along with top50 prospects
I am 4th on queue and Barlow still available…
Glad you’re back. Looking forward to the season.
Thanks Ashtray! Hope you’re doing well.
Where can I join online dynasty leagues?
Hopefully one of the readers here can help you out, somebody let Landon know if they have an opening. Otherwise, probably look into getting into a draft on Fantrax
Hey Viz, I may be interested in getting back into writing. I don’t have a lot of extra time, but I was thinking of something like an Under the Radar pickup of the week or a prospect article.
Hey Rich, thanks for reading out! A post like that once a week would be great if you can swing it. Can I email you at the email address you used to make this comment?
Sure!
Welcome back!!!!
Thanks, hope you’re doing well!