"What do Steven Stamkos, Fabian Zetterlund, Mark Stone, Tyler Toffoli, Jake DeBrusk, Kiefer Sherwood, Nikolaj Ehlers, Ryan O'Reilly and Morgan Geekie have in common? Don't worry if you can't answer that off the top of your head. Last season, these fantasy-relevant players all finished within a single power-play goal of each other for total fantasy points. Nine players, essentially interchangeable from a production standpoint."
"Think about it: if you walked into your draft with just a single linear list, you'd be scrambling when one of your targets disappears. Maybe you were planning on Player A or Player B, but both go off the table in the picks leading up to you. Without tiers, your "backup plan" is whatever's left, often a last-second, messy choice."
"Tiering turns chaos into clarity. You group players who are essentially equals in your eyes into one bucket. When the first pick in that tier gets taken, you don't flinch, you move down the line confidently because every option in that tier is one you like just as much. You know who's replaceable, who's unique, and where you expect the true drop-offs happen. That's how a smart drafter turns a list into a strategy."
Multiple fantasy-relevant players can produce nearly identical results, as nine skaters once finished within a single power-play goal of each other for total fantasy points. Entering a draft with only a single linear ranking increases the chance of scrambling when target players are selected and forces last-second, suboptimal choices. Grouping comparable players into tiers clarifies decision-making by showing which players are interchangeable, which are unique, and where real production drop-offs occur. Using tiers allows confident, orderly selection among equivalent options. In-game rankings can differ from alternative lists, and some drafters use custom projections to form their own rankings.
Read at ESPN.com
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