Fantasy Hockey 2022: 1st-Round Mock Draft and Best Team Names

The 2022-23 NHL regular season is nearly upon us, meaning fantasy hockey leagues across the world are gearing up for their drafts.

Friday marks the official start of the season, when the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks play the first of two games in Prague, while NHL Opening Night is set for Oct. 11 when the New York Rangers host the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Los Angeles Kings welcome the Vegas Golden Knights.

The top of fantasy drafts this year will look similar to others in recent years, with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon being among the early selections, but some new names could be in the mix for the first round as well.

What follows is a first-round fantasy hockey mock draft based on a 10-team league with standard scoring.

The standard scoring categories in Yahoo fantasy hockey leagues are goals, assists, plus/minus, power-play points, hits, shots on goal, goalie wins, shutouts, goals-against average and save percentage.

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2022-23 1st-Round Mock Draft

1. Connor McDavid, C, EDM

Much like Pittsburgh Penguins superstar center Sidney Crosby ruled the top of fantasy drafts in the late 2000s and early-to-mid 2010s, Edmonton Oilers center McDavid is now doing the same.

Few would argue against the notion that the 25-year-old is the best player in the NHL, and he has the numbers to back up that claim.

McDavid led the NHL with 123 points last season, marking the fourth time in his seven-year career that he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer. He is also a two-time winner of the Hart Trophy as league MVP and finished second last year.

The Canadian has 97 or more points in each of the past six seasons, and based on his consistency plus a sky-high floor and ceiling, nobody else can be considered with the top pick.

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2. Leon Draisaitl, C/LW, EDM

It isn't often that the two best players in the NHL reside on the same team, but that has arguably been the case for the Oilers in recent years.

If McDavid is the class of the league, then Draisaitl isn't far behind, especially since he was even better than his teammate during the 2019-20 season. The German led the NHL with 110 points that season and was named MVP.

The 26-year-old followed it up with 84 points in 56 games the following season, and he finished fourth in the NHL with 110 points and second in goals with 55 last year.

He has reached the 100-point plateau in three of the past four seasons, and the fact that he plays alongside McDavid at times gives him a high floor.

Draisaitl also has positional flexibility as a left winger and center, giving him some added value.

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3. Auston Matthews, C, TOR

Toronto Maple Leafs center Matthews has been an elite goal scorer since the first time he stepped on a sheet of NHL ice, but he reached new levels last season.

The 25-year-old was already a three-time 40-goal scorer entering the 2021-22 campaign, but he smashed his previous career high of 47 by scoring 60 times en route to being named league MVP.

The American sniper has now led the NHL in goals in each of the past two seasons, and he is essentially taking the spot occupied by Washington Capitals legend Alexander Ovechkin for many years.

Matthews also led the NHL with 348 shots on goal and tallied 106 points last season, which was 26 more than his previous career high, thus making him a complete player worthy of a top-three pick.

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4. Nathan MacKinnon, C, COL

He may not have the 100-point seasons like McDavid and Draisaitl, or a 60-goal campaign like Matthews, but there isn't much risk involved with taking Colorado Avalanche center MacKinnon at No. 4 overall.

For starters, the 27-year-old is the leader of the best team in the NHL with the most offensive depth, meaning he isn't likely to have any issues racking up points on a consistent basis.

MacKinnon scored at least 90 points in three straight seasons from 2017 through 2020 and was on a 100-point pace in 2020-21 with 65 points in 48 games.

Perhaps the one concern with the Canadian is the fact that he missed some time last season due to injury, but he still recorded 32 goals and 88 points in 65 games, plus 24 points in 20 playoff games en route to the Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup.

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5. Kirill Kaprizov, LW, MIN

While the top four picks in this mock have been established first-rounders in fantasy for some time, Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov is the new kid on the block.

It was apparent early on that the 25-year-old had the potential to be an elite player, as he finished with 27 goals and 51 points in 55 games as a rookie in 2020-21, en route to winning the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year.

Based on that, Kaprizov was a speculative second- or third-round pick in most fantasy drafts last year, and that move paid off handsomely when he finished fourth in the NHL with 108 points and tied for fourth in goals with 47.

The Russian is just getting started, meaning he has a chance to compete for the goal-scoring crown and potentially even the Hart Trophy this season.

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6. Alexander Ovechkin, LW, WAS

It isn't necessarily always exciting to use a first-round pick on a player who has been around for nearly two decades, but it is difficult to argue with the success fantasy managers have enjoyed with Washington Capitals winger Ovechkin as their cornerstone over the years.

The 37-year-old is one of the most decorated and accomplished players in NHL history, with three Hart Trophies, nine Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophies, one Art Ross Trophy, one Stanley Cup and one Conn Smythe Trophy to his credit.

With 780 career goals, Ovechkin has a chance to retire as the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer if he can continue to play at an elite level for a few more years. And he isn't showing any signs of slowing down.

The Russian finished fourth in the NHL with 50 goals last season, marking his ninth career season with 50 goals or more. Also, his 90 points were his most since the 2009-10 season, and he was second in the NHL with 334 shots on goal, meaning he remains a top fantasy contributor.

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7. Cale Makar, D, COL

While loading up on high-upside forwards is usually the best course of action over the first few rounds of a fantasy hockey draft, there are always a few exceptions to the rule, and Avs defenseman Cale Makar is among them.

The 23-year-old is a rare breed of defenseman in that he is an elite offensive player and point producer. In fact, he was 20th in the NHL last season with 86 points and second among defensemen behind only Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators' 96 points. Makar also led all blueliners with an absurd 28 goals.

Both of those were career highs for the Canadian, who has gotten better in each of his three NHL seasons. He is also coming off winning the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman last season, plus he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP thanks to his 29 points in 20 games for the world champion Avalanche.

What truly set Makar apart, though, was his plus/minus rating of plus-48, which was fifth among all players last season and helped give him far more value than any other defenseman.

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8. Igor Shesterkin, G, NYR

Like defenseman, goalie isn't usually a position worth exploring until the second round at the earliest, but that isn't the case this year since two netminders are clearly head and shoulders above the rest.

One of them is New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who won the Vezina Trophy last season as the top goalie in the NHL. He won 36 of the 53 games he appeared in and posted a goals-against average of 2.07, a .935 save percentage and six shutouts.

Among netminders who appeared in at least seven games, the 26-year-old led the NHL in both GAA and save percentage, and he was third in shutouts.

Shesterkin plays for an up-and-coming team in the Rangers, and if he gets an even bigger share of the starts in 2022-23 as expected, he should have no problem returning first-round value.

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9. Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, TB

While Shesterkin didn't arrive on the scene as an elite goalie until last season, Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning has been the class of the position for at least the past five years.

The 28-year-old won the Vezina Trophy in 2019 and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2021. He is also a two-time Stanley Cup winner, and he has finished fifth or better in the Vezina voting in each of the past five seasons.

Compared to the career year he had in 2020-21 with personal bests of a 2.21 GAA and .925 save percentage, his numbers were down last season to the tune of a 2.49 GAA, .916 save percentage and just two shutouts.

Still, the Russian led the NHL with 39 wins, marking the fifth consecutive season he paced the league in that category. He also played in the fourth-most games of any netminder with 63 appearances, and that doesn't figure to change, which gives him huge value as a workhorse goalie for one of the NHL's best teams.

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10. Jonathan Huberdeau, LW, CGY

Assuming the elite forwards, plus Makar, Shesterkin and Vasilevskiy, all come off the board, there is no more wide-open spot in all of fantasy hockey this year than the No. 10 pick.

There are as many as 10 players who could make sense in that spot, meaning it all comes down to personal preference. For those looking to avoid selecting a bust at the end of the first round, Calgary Flames left winger Jonathan Huberdeau would be a strong pick.

The 29-year-old will be in new surroundings this season, as he was traded to the Flames after spending the first 10 years of his NHL career with the Florida Panthers. The timing of the trade was somewhat curious, though, since he is coming off a career year.

The Canadian set career highs with 30 goals, 85 assists, 115 points and a plus-35 rating, and while he will no longer be playing alongside the likes of Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Co. in Florida, he joins a similarly talented Flames team and will try to take the spot vacated by Johnny Gaudreau, who tied with Huberdeau for second in the NHL with 115 points last season.

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Fantasy Hockey Team Name Suggestions

Auston Powers

Jake Oettinger's Jug-Band Christmas

Fists of Fleury

Hello Jarry

Summer of Georgiev