2019-20 Big Ten Fantasy Draft
Myself, Eric Vegoe and Jashvina Shah selected our top three picks for the Big Ten scoring race
Kicking off my coverage of the Big Ten hockey season are the results of the first Big Ten hockey fantasy draft. Details on the draft, how you can participate, and a recap are below.
First round
1. Evan Barratt (Penn State) - Jasper Kozak-Miller
2. Alex Limoges (Penn State) - Eric Vegoe
3. Will Lockwood (Michigan) - Jashvina Shah
Second round
3. Mitch Lewandowski (Michigan State) - Jashvina Shah
2. Patrick Khodorenko (Michigan State) - Eric Vegoe
1. Liam Folkes (Penn State) - Jasper Kozak-Miller
Third round
1. Linus Weissbach (Wisconsin) - Jasper Kozak-Miller
2. Tanner Laczynski (Ohio State) - Eric Vegoe
3. Michael Graham (Notre Dame) - Jashvina Shah
I came up with this idea during the offseason. I got in touch with some different hockey writers who have covered Big Ten hockey teams and the first two to commit to taking part were included in this year’s draft. They were Eric Vegoe (The Athletic) and Jashvina Shah (College Hockey News). The only criteria here is total points in Big Ten play, so whoever has the three players with the most points at the end of the season will win…bragging rights.
In case you want to submit your own I’ll be accepting submissions (which can be sent in by e-mail to jasper @ tealhockey.net or via social media: @overtheboards) from the public and will gather them in my notes for posterity, so we can see if anyone did better than us when the season ends this spring.
The format is three players you think will be the top scoring players overall — specifically in Big Ten play, though that shouldn’t make a huge difference. If you are looking for players to consider I listed the players I looked at for my draft ranking at the bottom. Please get your submissions in before September 15th.
Here were our respective top three picks going into the draft:
Jasper Kozak-Miller
Evan Barratt, Will Lockwood, Liam Folkes
Eric Vegoe
Evan Barratt, Alex Limoges, Pat Khodorenko
Jashvina Shah
Will Lockwood, Alex Limoges, Mitchell Lewandowski
Draft recap:
First overall was my pick, and I chose Evan Barratt, Chicago Blackhawks prospect and rising junior forward for Penn State. Everyone had Barratt highly ranked going into the draft with both myself and Eric Vegoe rating him the odds-on favorite to take the lead. A Hobey hopeful for a good segment of last season, the only reason I would have considered taking someone else is that there is a decent chance his high-flying, aggressive style of play will get him injured and/or suspended some time over the year. Penn State’s uniquely dynamic and dominant offense, which Barratt is central to, balances that risk out. To further balance the risk profile I picked teammate Liam Folkes in the second round (sixth overall) as I expect him to be one of the more consistent scorers on that Nittany Lions team.
After that I selected Linus Weissbach, a rising junior and Buffalo Sabres prospect from Sweden’s Frölunda Indians who had a point-per-game for Wisconsin last season. I wanted to get in on this upstart Wisconsin group, who could be real contenders if things come together. It was either Weissbach or Sean Dhooghe if I didn’t want to pick one of the super-freshmen or Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller. I tried not to over-think it: Weissbach is one of the oldest on the team and his offensive skillset ought to be reliably creating a lot of offense for the Badgers this season, whoever he plays with.
Eric Vegoe selected two of the Big Ten’s most reliable goal-scorers in Patrick Khodorenko (18 goals) and Alex Limoges (23 goals) with his first two picks, second and fifth overall respectively. Khodorenko loses a premier set-up man in Taro Hirose, but assuming he plays with Mitchell Lewandowski (Jashvina Shah’s 2nd pick) again, he should be putting up serious numbers again as a senior. Limoges could very well play with Barratt and Folkes, but either way will benefit from a gifted Penn State offense that boasts a lot of firepower offensively, from Finnish sophomore Aarne Talvitie alongside seniors Brandon Biro and Nate Sucese.
Vegoe’s last pick was Ohio State senior forward Tanner Laczynski, eighth overall. The Buckeyes lost a lot from last year’s group offensively — the Flyers prospect will likely be leaned on heavily after posting a point-per-game pace throughout his NCAA career (109 pts in 102 GP, 37 goals).
Jashvina Shah got the likely lynchpin of the Wolverines offense in Will Lockwood with her first pick, third overall. Michigan lost key scorer Quinn Hughes, who led them in points with 28 assists last season. Michigan’s offense didn’t really have a money line last year, especially after Josh Norris went down (19 points in 17 games). He would certainly have gone in this year’s draft had he not signed with the NHL’s Senators. While Michigan will have to ‘find themselves’ offensively this year, Lockwood is one of the only players who will be a go-to, predictably productive name during that process.
After that, Shah got the aforementioned Mitch Lewandowski, a junior forward for the Spartans who has posted back-to-back 34 point seasons so far. Shah’s last pick (9th overall) was Notre Dame sophomore Michael Graham, who posted 22 points in 39 games last season. While the Irish aren’t typically the most offensively-inclined team, Graham is a talented goalscorer due for a breakout year on a team that lost some big-time producers. Specifically, Bobby Nardella (34 points) and Andrew Peeke (24 points), two of the team’s top point-getters, are both gone from the Irish blue line. Meanwhile the now-graduated forward Dylan Malmquist posted 30 points before signing with Nottingham of the British pro circuit this off-season.
The only team not to see a player selected here was Minnesota. I’m sure that would have changed had this draft gone to five players. The Gophers did lose a big cross-section of their key scoring group, though, from Rem Pitlick to Brent Gates and Tyler Sheehy. Gopher forwards Brannon McManus (26 points) and Sammy Walker (26 points) already look like great candidates for next year’s draft.
Also noteworthy, none of Wisconsin’s super-talented freshmen saw a nod here, nor did any defensemen. I’d credit that mostly to the fact that the draft was short. If there were five or even four rounds it would probably be a different story.
Looking for some potential sleeper top three scorers for your submission (see above)? Here’s the cheat-sheet I put together while determining my draft order (the stars indicate a rough estimation of expected offensive output when I put the list together):
Evan Barratt *****
Will Lockwood *****
Liam Folkes *****
Linus Weissbach *****
Aarne Talvitie ****
Alex Limoges ****
Patrick Khodorenko ****
Sean Dhooghe ****
Cole Caufield ****
Tanner Laczynski ****
K'Andre Miller ****
Carson Meyer ****
Ronnie Hein ****
Michael Graham ****
Mitchell Lewandowski ****
Sammy Walker ****
Nate Sucese ****
Dylan Holloway ****
Nick Pastujov ****
Alex Turcotte ****
Brandon Biro ****
Sampo Ranta ****
Brannon McManus ****
Cam Morrison ****
Cal Burke ***
Ben Meyers ***
Nick Pastujov ***
Mike Pastujov ***
Jake Slaker ***
Wyatt Kalynuk ***
Dennis Cesana ***
Matt Miller ***
Jon Beecher ***
Gustaf Westlund ***
Quinn Preston ***
Mike O'Leary ***
Ryan Johnson ***
Cole Hults ***
Paul DeNaples ***
Blake McLaughlin ***
Nathan Burke ***
Jackson LaCombe **