Here along the Lake For some reason that I am not privy to, the Goo Goo Dolls were on stage to read Buffalo’s first round, ninth selection overall, and to stand next to the draftee, not the players family, friends, or mentors, I have never before seen a team use a locally famous rock band as a presenter.
This Czechian player is impressive size wise, 6′ 6″, 218 pounds, right-handed defenseman, reportedly only became serious about hockey in the last few seasons but has developed quickly with high potential and young enough to steadily improve.
The Sabres have also signed RW Quinn to a two-year contract, along with trading for defenseman Kesselring, highlighting that our GM is not sitting on his good intentions but getting things done and making the Sabres a better team.
Here along the Lake Today we are going to create a defensemen list that will ultimately hold some of your most productive point producers on your fantasy team.
Beginning your Defensemen List (some players will be on your initial list)
Write down the two top blocking defensemen from each of the 32 NHL teams to create your 64 player defensemen list, a fine source of statistics to go to isstatmuse.com to preview last season’s blocking statistics for each defenseman from each team.
Utilizing the Western Conference Pacific Division as an Example
Los Angeles Kings Vladislav Gavrikov & Mikey Anderson
San Jose Sharks Mario Ferraro & Jake Walman
Seattle Kraken Jamie Oleksiak & Adam Larsson
Vancouver Canucks Tyler Myers & Derek Forbort
Nevada Knights Brayden McNabb & Alex Pietrangelo
In the ESPN FHL point system players earn .1 (1/10th) of a point for either a shot or a hit, but you receive .5 (1/2) a point for each block, so 2 BLKs earns you 1 point, whereas you have to take 10 shots or throw 10 hits (or a combination) to earn 1 point.
We have now created two lists with approximately 128 players, of course some of the rushing scoring defensemen could be on your initial list, but you still have over 100 players names at your fingertips that you will have at the ready during the draft.
Tomorrow’s article will explain how goaltenders are a high risk / high reward point producing player and what that means to your fantasy roster.
Here along the Lake Warm sunny weather can be a nice distraction from the hectic snowy hockey days ahead, but now is the time to invest some thought and energy in preparedness for the 2025-26 ESPN FHL season.
To begin successfully it all starts with the draft, you can opt out and let the ESPN FHL draft server select for you and it will select the top players available each round, but I would advise against that.
My supposition is that if you are interested in becoming a successful ESPN FHL team manager, then you are already a solid hockey fan which affords you valuable insight into making your own draft selections.
Each year I create just one team and win or lose I manage my team the best that I can all the way through the season, and I hold up my team for scrutiny as an example throughout to highlight what I find to be useful tips and information.
PREPARING FOR THE ESPN FHL DRAFT
Step One: Create your first player list in this fashion; write down the top two statistical leaders (forwards and defensemen) from each of the 32 NHL teams.
You now have in your hands a list of 64 players you want on your team, naturally half of them will be selected by the other team managers in your league’s draft.
In the Pacific Division these are the players I might draft if available:
Anaheim DucksRW Troy Terry & C Mason McTavish
Calgary FlamesC Nazim Kadri & LW Jonathan Huberdeau
Edmonton OilersC Leon Draisaitl & C Connor McDavid
Los Angeles Kings RW Adrian Kempe & C Anze Kopitar
San Jose Sharks C Macklin Celebrini & LW William Eklund
Seattle KrakenLW Jared McCann & C Chandler Stephenson
Vancouver CanucksD Quinn Hughes & RW Brock Boeser
Nevada Knights C Jack Eichel & RW Mark Stone
Enter the NHL website and select each team’s roster/stats link to determine last season’s point leaders for each team, following my example you can go through each division methodically to compile your list of 64 players.
Additionally, I would like to suggest utilizing “paper” and not just your “device” while participating in the draft, reason being that unless you have plenty of RAM to have multiple tabs running with a large, wide screen and are able to quickly manage them, hard copies in plain sight will assist you greatly.
Now, depending on what position you are selecting from your ability to quickly scan your lists and make a strong decision on who to select in the 90 seconds allotted to you each round factors in.
There are more tasks involved with lists that we will address after collecting all the lists that we will create, tomorrow we will create our defenseman list and why they are considered some of the most important players you can draft in the early rounds.
Here along the Lake A bit boring and a bit disappointing but this year’s Stanley Cup Finals have come and gone with nothing different, same two teams played for the Cup and the same team won as last year.
No defense, no goaltending, and a prone Panther scores
Panthers 5 – Oilers 1 (en x2) (SCF 4-2 Florida) Referees Rooney and Hebert made sure no Edmonton power play would save the day as neither team had the man advantage save one pair of offsetting penalties halfway through the first period, and of course a game misconduct with a couple minutes left in the game.
RW Podkolzin provides all the Oilers offense
Edmonton took 20 SOG over the first two periods and found themselves down 3-0 heading into the third period, then the Oilers with six and half minutes remaining in the game and series pull the goalie and promptly get scored on, not once but twice into the empty net.
And just to avoid the shutout Edmonton pops one in just 20 seconds or so after the second empty net goal against to make the final a 5-1 score, Florida played well and had the better goaltender, they deserved to win.
Personal Note
Watching a player that arguably plays dirty be awarded the Conn Smyth Trophy, well that just adds to the overall disappointment, additionally I hope that the Cup engraver will get the names in proper order this year and not add some businessman’s name after the player’s names like last season.
Here along the Lake You cannot argue with success and the head coach of the Florida Panthers has plenty of that since becoming a Head Coach in the NHL beginning as a mid-season replacement in the 1995-96 NHL regular season.
April 14th, 1996, HC Maurice’s Whalers play Sabres in last game at the “AUD”
Paul played and coached major junior hockey in the OHL whereas head coach he won the J. Ross Robertson Cup OHL championship and that success catapulted Paul to become an NHL assistant coach for the Hartford Whalers, eventually their head coach that year forward.
After earning a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals during 2001-02 season, Paul a couple of seasons later left Carolina and was a head coach in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization AHL/NHL, then back to Carolina for a few more seasons before a head coaching gig for one season in Russia.
Once back in North America, Paul spent nearly a decade as the Winnipeg Jets head coach before landing the same position with Florida three years ago as Paul has guided the Panthers to an incredible three consecutive finals appearances in his initial three years as the team’s head coach.
Buffalo Winter 