The Whiff Draft

[bigrangy]

A couple years ago I made a game for myself. I call it the Whiff Draft. The point is find the picks that were wasted the second they were made.

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The Rules

Pick one skater in round 1, 2 skaters in round 2, 3 in round 3, etc. No goalies, just skaters.

How it's Scored

Combine the total NHL games played by your group once 5 full seasons have elapsed after the draft. Lowest score wins. 0 is perfection.

Draft your players for 2022 and join the game! Being able to know who not to draft isn't as good as knowing who to draft, but it's still valuable.
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Sometimes I'll pick a player because they have bad stats, sometimes I'll pick a player because they were drafted by bad developing teams, and sometimes just because they have a terrible name. The odd player I actually watched a game or two of and just didn't like them.

This was my 2019 Whiff Draft (Bolded players have played in the NHL, and were bad picks by me.)

Lassi Thomson

Dillon Hamaliuk
Nikita Okhotyuk

Matthew Stienburg
John Ludvig
Michael Vukojevic

Tyce Thompson
Eric Hjorth
Carter Berger

Nick Abruzzese
Mark Kastelic
Jacob Leguerrier
Carson Focht
Mason Primeau
Kirill Slepets

Elmer Soderblom
Timur Ibragimov
Gustav Berglund
Felix Bibeau
Kevin Wall
Mathew Hill

Andre Lee
Jake Schmaltz
Aidan McDonough
Valtteri Puustinen
Kieran Ruscheinski
Cole Coskey
McKade Webster

Not doing great at all. Puustinen in the 7th was an awful pick on my part, and a great selection by the Penguins. Soderblom isn't looking good either! I'm happy to see Kastelic make it but I didn't think he would on draft day. The Devils are making me look silly with two guys already having played games.

2020 picks

Jake Neighbours

Tyler Kleven
Brock Faber

Donovan Sebrango
Jackson Hallum
Oliver Tarnstrom

Zayde Wisdom
Michael Krutil
Bogdan Trineyev
Antonio Stranges

Elliot Desnoyers
Ryder Rolston
Ole Julian Bjorgvik Holm
Bear Hughes
Matt Kessel

Kyle Aucoin
Phillipe Daoust
Nils Aman
Filip Engaras
Cole Reinhardt
Noah Ellis

Kienan Draper
Louis Crevier
Jeremias Lindewall
Ethan Bowen
Chase McLane
Ryan Tverberg
Jakub Konecny

Still too early to say for most of them, but Reinhardt is the only guy from the 6th round to have played a game by now and of course he is on my list. Neighbours was an awful pick in the first, and Tverberg will cost me some games in the 7th. Desnoyers looks solid too. Faber just got traded for Fiala so he'll be a big miss as well.

I skipped 2021 for some reason. So on to 2022, this is my draft.

Nathan Gaucher (picking Schaefer would be too easy)

Hunter Haight
Filip Nordberg

Marek Alscher
Samuel Savoie
Ben MacDonald

Garrett Brown
Noah Laba
Daimon Gardner
Charlie Leddy

Victor Mancini
Vsevelod Komarov
Michael Callow
Matthew Morden
Tnias Mathurin

Hunter McDonald
Daylan Kuefler
Landon Sim
Zakary Karpa
Jackson Dorrington
Nils Juntorp

Jackson Edward
Riku Tohila
Artyom Barabosha
Joel Maatta
Kaleb Lawrence
Klavs Weinbergs
Alexis Gendron

I try hard not to pick Oilers players (because they're usually free bingo spaces) but I can't help it sometimes. In hindsight I probably should have put a couple Flames picks on the lists but I can't bring myself to do it. Ronni was close to making my 2nd round picks this year but got beat out.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

a whiff draft is what my wife is always complaing about

[Hemi-Cuda]

Seems like a whole lot of effort just to #### on some kids chasing their dream

[blankall]

The vast majority of picks outside the first round won't be NHL players. Everyone knows that. When you're picking players outside of the first round, they almost all are not going to be complete players. I really don't see the point of singling out picks from later rounds. None of us know more than actual scouts.

There might be some still involved in this if you're picking whiffs from the top ten. Even then, we'd all just be analyzing facts presented to us in the media, that experts know a lot more about..... Well maybe Jankowski was an obvious gamble... Is Feaster still considered an expert?