Blessed be he who draft before us . . .

My fantasy flock, let us play . . .

I am heading to the NHL All Star Fantasy Draft tonight. This is where respective captains, this year Daniel Alfredsson and Zdeno Chara, pick their teams like a game of pond hockey.

Know your opposition, but know your own team and needs better.

In discussing this event with friends and fellow fans we noticed that one of the nuances of the draft is that both goalies must be selected by the 10th round and the 15th round for defensmen. The league has this rule because both All Star teams have a fixed number of defensemen and goalies per squad. Therefore the team who drafts second could, in theory, wait until their last pick to choose their final goalie and defensemen and obtain the best value for their picks in taking forwards early.

There is a lesson here for actual fantasy GMs. It is the first commandment of the Church of Stats. Trust me there will be many more than 10, but we had to start somewhere. Get the tablets, bring on the lightening because . . .

The first commandment is: Thou Shalt Understand The Rules of Your Pool.

This means you understand and leverage the different statistical scoring systems, games played, salary caps, lottery, payouts, roster limits and anything else your league comes up with. Understanding this and letting affect how you play, and more importantly draft, is vital to any success you wish to have.

What is the key to your next draft?

I notice in one of the pools I am in people load-up with forwards in the middle rounds. We have 12 teams with 25 player rosters. It makes little sense as those forwards score between 35-55 points. That translates to between 120-140 points in our pool after various additional scoring factors (shots, hits, etc). As you know there is an abundance of forwards who are capable of scoring in that window. 146 in 2010-201 to be exact.

However, there are less defensemen and goalies scoring in that range each year. With the number of injuries and potential for breakout it behoves a manager to stock-up on these positions and at the very worst accumulate trade bait.

This knowledge will allow you to make decisions based on a player's true value in your pool. It allows you to see past their perceived value due to external factors like the NHL Network, highlight reels, pool magazines, favourite teams and everything else than can cloud your judgement and obscure the statistical facts behind each selection.

Are you are a sinner when it comes to this commandment? Fret not. If you aren't sure about major or even minor aspects of the pool you are in your penance is this. Go forward, re-read your constitution if you have one and if not at least make a note of scoring categories, the number of players you dress and bench limits. Save it somewhere safe and be ready to use it next August when we prepare for draft season together.

Let us play . . .