Fantasy Hockey Auction Values for Salary Cap Draft

Connor McDavid, Cale Makar, and Igor Sheresterkin top the list in the draft rankings auction for the positions of forward, defense, and goalie.

Fantasy Hockey Auction drafts enable team managers to sign players limited only by the budget. The draft is held in a standard Auction Format where the players are assigned an initial value which can increase if more teams bid on that player.

Tips for Auction Drafts

• Research players' values and rankings beforehand with mock drafts.
• Prepare a list of players to acquire and the bid limit for those players.
• Be patient and wait for the right moment.
• Spending on elite players can be a good strategy.
• For those who want a balanced squad sticking to your budget can be detrimental to getting a well-rounded squad.

Connor McDavid - F

Conor McDavid was the league leader last season in points and goals. The Oilers center scored 64 goals with 89 assists en route to 153 points. 

McDavid has been with the Oilers playing the full season since the 2015/16 season. He was also the winner of the 2023 Rocket Richard Trophy.

Youngest NHL captain McDavid has won the Art Ross Trophy 5 times, the Hart Memorial Trophy 3 times and the Ted Lindsay Award 4 times. 

Cale Makar - D

Cale Makar posted 17 goals and 49 assists in 60 regular season games played last season. He was picked 4th overall by the Avalanche in 2017.

Makar scored his first goal in his debut match for the Avalanche on April 15, 2019. Likewise, his first playoff goal came in the 3rd game of the first round of the playoff series against the Calgary Flames. 

Cale was the MVP in the 2022 Stanley Cup run of the Avs. He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2022. 

Igor Sheresterkin - G 

Igor Sheresterkin played 58 games last season with a record of 37 wins, and 13 losses, with 3 shutouts and a GAA of 2.48 in the regular season. 

Sheresterkin has been playing in the NHL for the NY Rangers since the 2019/20 season. Moreover, he is the winner of the 2022 Vezina Trophy. 

The salary cap draft format in Fantasy has a limited budget allocated for teams. Any player can be drafted as long as the funds are available.

A salary cap is assigned in this type of Fantasy draft league and the team managers must stay within the budget when selecting the players. 

The Salary Cap draft has noticeable differences from the traditional snake draft but the rules are generally similar to the NHL salary cap rules.

The ESPN Salary Cap draft settings come with a preset budget of $260 for a 17-man roster. The salaries come preloaded which can be edited before beginning the draft.

Usually, the remaining salary at the end of the draft is not carried over in salary cap draft leagues. So, being unafraid to spend to the cap limit along with getting the best value players is recommended. 

One other recommendation is to get players on Entry Level Contracts. These type of picks usually results in getting high quality for low costs. 

Goalies are generally valued more in category leagues in comparison to points leagues so take that into consideration when drafting a goalie. 

Salary Cap Estimate Value

Values are generated with the salary cap of $260 using the most common team combination of 2C, 2 LW, 2RW, 4D, 2G, and 5 bench players.

The top 10 players and their values for the ESPN, CBS, and Yahoo leagues are given below:

CBS Fantasy Hockey

1. Connor McDavid (EDM) $50
2. Cale Makar (COL) $46
3. Leon Draisaitl (EDM) $43
4. Matthew Tkachuk (FLA) $43
5. David Pastrnak (BOS) $42
6. Nathan MacKinnon (COL) $40
7. Adam Fox (NYR) $39
8. Jason Robertson (DAL) $39
9. Auston Matthews (TOR) $38
10. Igor Shesterkin (NYR) $38

ESPN Fantasy Hockey

1. Connor McDavid (EDM) $52
2. Cale Makar (COL) $46
3. Leon Draisaitl (EDM) $45
4. David Pastrnak (BOS) $43
5. Matthew Tkachuk (FLA) $42
6. Erik Karlsson (PIT) $41
7. Nathan MacKinnon (COL) $41
8. Adam Fox (NYR) $40
9. Jason Robertson (DAL) $40
10. Alexandar Georgiev (COL) $39

Yahoo Fantasy Hockey

1. Connor McDavid (EDM) $50
2. Cale Makar (COL) $46
3. David Pastrnak (BOS) $43
4. Leon Draisaitl (EDM) $42
5. Matthew Tkachuk (FLA) $42
6. Nathan MacKinnon (COL) $42
7. Auston Matthews (TOR) $40
8. Roman Josi (NSH) $40
9. Adam Fox (NYR) $39
10. Jason Robertson (DAL) $39

If you're in salary-cap leagues, it becomes very tricky to get good players for the best value all the while keeping the budget you have in mind. 

In the Auction drafts, you don't want to overbid a player blowing your budget only to end up with the player not performing as expected in the league then you're left with losses.

Fantasy Hockey draft cheat sheet covers player projections, their expected values, rankings, top rookie prospects, and all sorts of things you might need for your research prior to drafting players.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers' Forwards are ranked the top two players in almost all of the Fantasy Hockey Player Projections done by various leagues. 

Taking a look at the players' past season record and the top leaders of the league can serve as a good measure for evaluating players.

NHL 2022/23 players with the most points

1. Connor McDavid - 153
2. Leon Draisaitl - 128
3. David Pastrnak - 113
4. Nikita Kucherov - 113
5. Nathan MacKinnon - 111

NHL 2022/23 players with the most goals

1. Connor McDavid - 64
2. David Pastrnak - 61
3. Mikko Rantanen - 55
4. Leon Draisaitl - 52
5. Brayden Point - 51

NHL 2022/23 Goalies with most GAA

1. Linus Ullmark - 1.89
2. Filip Gustavsson - 2.10
3. Antti Raanta -  2.23
4. Jeremy Swayman - 2.27
5. Ilya Samsonov - 2.33

NHL 2022/23 Goalies with most wins

1. Alexandar Georgiev - 40
2. Linus Ullmark - 40
3. Jake Oettinger - 37
4. Igor Shesterkin - 37
5. Connor Hellebuyck -37