The Undefeated Season

Introduction

Last Summer, the Left Wing Lock team was invited to compete in a 12-team league that included analysts from fantasy hockey podcasts (and some of their devoted listeners). We're always up for a challenge and it's a great test of our draft kit's strength to participate in different scoring systems against strong and knowledgeable opponents.

The league was set up as a head-to-head, category-style league using the following stats: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPG, PPP, GWG, SOG, FOW, HIT, BLK, W, GAA, SV, SV%, and SHO. Roster positions for each team included: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 4D, 2Util, and 2G. Teams were required to reach a minimum of four goalie appearances per week and were limited to seven transactions per week.

As per our usual self-imposed policy, the team managed by Left Wing Lock had one simple rule to follow: our preparation for the draft was limited to a single source: the Left Wing Lock Fantasy Hockey Draft Kit. The policy is imposed to isolate the importance of the Left Wing Lock draft kit. So, how did things turn out?

The Draft

In advance of the draft (by 30 minutes), managers learned their position in the draft order and our spot was #4. We prefer to draft closer to the middle of the rounds, and #4 falls right on the edge of that range. We assumed Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Nathan MacKinnon would be taken with the first three picks -- and this turned out to be correct. We were happy to target Auston Matthews at fourth overall as he was rated highly in this scoring format. Knowing who our first round pick would be was advantageous. We now had 30 minutes to map out our strategy for as many rounds as possible. Two players very high on our radar were Steven Stamkos and Juuse Saros. Our draft kit had both players ranked in the Top-20 while their average draft positions heading into draft night saw managers waiting until Rounds 2 and 4, respectively, on these players. After drafting Matthews at fourth overall, we landed both Stamkos and Saros with the 21st and 28th overall picks.

We won't bore you with the details of the entire draft, but we'll point out two other key draft selections. We were able to draft Bo Horvat in the 5th round even though our draft kit had him ranked as as a Top-30 skater in this format; many on Twitter were shocked by this pick. But, Horvat was 4th overall in Goals and 2nd overall in Face-off Wins by January 5 -- which is right about the time we traded him in this league. We also landed Connor Hellebuyck as a ninth-round steal. Together, with Saros, this goaltending duo would provide our fantasy roster with 70 wins and a 0.919 save percentage. Below is a list of all of our draft picks:

We had confidence in our drafted team and this was due to the Left Wing Lock fantasy hockey draft kit. Since we were in a category-style league (as opposed to a points-style league), we also had the benefit of using the built-in Draft Assistant which comes standard as part of our draft kit package for category-style leagues. This allowed us to track the projected output of our selections in real-time to make sure we were drafting a balanced team. At no point during the draft were we concerned about drafting enough Goals or Hits or Shots; this data was totaled and tracked in the Draft Assistant for every round.

The Regular Season

While we maintained an active presence on the weekly waiver wire, we completed just a single trade during the season. At the peak of Horvat's goal scoring (29 goals in 39 games), we moved him on January 8 in a four-player deal in which we landed Aleksander Barkov. Barkov had just nine goals at this point in the season (the trade looked almost ridiculous on the surface). But, Barkov would outscore Horvat the rest of the season to the tune of 14 G / 48 Pts to 10 G / 27 Pts and produce power play points at twice the rate.

As a testament to the strength of the Left Wing Lock Fantasy Hockey Draft Kit, this fantasy roster would go undefeated for the duration of the 22-week season.

The Playoffs

With eight teams qualifying for the playoffs and a three-week playoff schedule, there was no bye week in this format. We entered the playoffs as the top seed and held court through the three rounds. On April 14, we were crowned as the undefeated league champion.

Get Your Draft Kit Today

If you want to build a balanced fantasy hockey roster capable of going undefeated and winning the league championship, that journey starts here with a Left Wing Lock Fantasy Hockey Draft Kit. This is the same draft kit that was used in previous seasons to win the NHL Experts Invitational League and the first-ever (and only) Zero Transaction Championship.