Choosing Between Two Knights

I play in a 12-team keeper league in which the offseason can be just as busy a time as the regular season. Players can be subject to salary arbitration and free agency bidding according to very specific guidelines that only someone with a law or finance degree could have created (hello, Jack!) In addition, the league contains an entry draft in which each team is allowed one first-round pick from the players chosen in the recent draft.

Based on my fourth-place finish last season, I received the ninth overall pick. I had several available players ranked, but the two players on the top of my list both happened to play on the same junior team last season: Bo Horvat and Max Domi of the London Knights.

Given that I have bled Canucks black/yellow/red/dark blue/blue/green for about the past 30 years, this might seem like the perfect time for me to choose Horvat, the player Canucks fans have entrusted to have at least as successful a career as Cory Schneider. However, my fantasy hockey policy has always been to never choose a player just because they play for the team I pull for. (For that, I once missed out on a four-goal game from Daniel Sedin back in 2004 because he was on my bench.) So I had to compare the numbers between Horvat and Domi, who happened to be chosen three spots after Horvat by the Phoenix Coyotes.

2012-13 regular season:
Horvat: 67 GP, 33 G, 28 A, 61 PTS, 29 PIM
Domi: 64 GP, 39 G, 48 A, 87 PTS, 71 PIM

The previous season's (2011-12) stats also show Domi to be the higher scorer at 49 points to 30 points. Based strictly on the numbers, it would seem as though Domi shows the greater fantasy upside, which is why I chose him instead of Horvat at that spot.

So why would the Canucks, with such an important pick and the only return for Schneider, choose Horvat? Until recently with Henrik Sedin and a healthy Ryan Kesler, the Canucks have traditionally been weak at the center position. Once he is NHL-ready, Horvat should provide the Canucks with at least adequate scoring along with an effective two-way presence and the ability to win faceoffs. Domi is a smaller playmaker who doesn't quite have the size (5'9", 185 lbs.) that scouts drool over on draft day. The penalty minute totals suggest that he may hold a little of the mean streak of his father (Tie Domi), but Max is a very different and considerably more naturally talented player than his dad.

By the way, Horvat was selected two picks after I had picked Domi. The player selected immediately after Domi? Another Canuck pick in Hunter Shinkaruk, who is an interesting choice given that he wasn't selected until #24 in the NHL draft. Shinkaruk has racked up some amazing numbers in the WHL (91 points in 2011-12, 86 points in 2012-13). Like Domi, the size factor perhaps knocks him down a little (5'10", 181 lbs.), but from all accounts Shinkaruk impressed on the Canucks' prospects team at the recent Young Stars tournament in Penticton, BC. Don't expect Shinkaruk to make the Canucks this season, but Horvat and Domi will probably be given a long look by their respective clubs.