Four-team mock draft strategy: When to draft Tkachuk, Kucherov and others

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ESPN Fantasy

Sep 22, 2025, 10:00 AM ET

Welcome to the first edition of ESPN Fantasy Hockey's four-team mock draft? Yes, four teams. Our servers tell us that a growing number of you are playing in four-team leagues, so we decided to put the challenge to our expert panel to see what their strategy would be, and how their teams turned out.

Our experts also contended with the question that many of you have navigated in your drafts so far... when to draft injured star Matthew Tkachuk.

The Florida Panthers expect to be without Tkachuk (groin) until at least December, and he previously was ranked in the top-10 before the injury was known. If your league has IR spots available, he would be eligible to be placed there, opening up an extra roster spot until he returns.

This draft featured the following participants (in order of first-round selection): Victoria Matiash, Pierre Becquey, Sachin Dave Chandan, and Sean Allen. Scoring is ESPN standard H2H points, see the scoring system here. See their commentary below, and then see how each round played out.

Sean Allen, fantasy hockey analyst: I get it now, the appeal of four-team leagues. Fast draft, every pick a star, no digging through the scraps. I ended up with five of my personally ranked top seven blueliners, including drafting Thomas Harley to a bench spot. Obviously I'll need these defenders to help prop up a slightly weaker forward group, but to make up for that, I prioritized players who have a high ceiling, rather than safe floor: Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, Dylan Guenther, Wyatt Johnston and Dylan Holloway.

While some of those picks might be a risk over safer options in a standard-sized league, all bets are off in a four-team format. The stats of a replacement level player are through the roof in this format because of the smaller pool of selected talent. Alex DeBrincat, Jordan Kyrou, Nico Hischier and Bo Horvat are on the waiver wire!

Pierre Becquey, fantasy sports editor: I targeted several top goalies because it was a way to build an edge at one of the positions and the draft lent itself to snagging goalies. With a cap of four per roster, having half the top 8 on my squad means I should be able to maximize quality starts every week while streaming forwards and defensemen as I see fit.

I think we were all playing a game of chicken with Tkachuk and this is as far as I was willing to let him drop. He goes straight to my IR, allowing me to pick up another skater and, when he returns I've got an extra "first rounder" to deploy for the stretch run and, hopefully, the playoffs.

Victoria Matiash, fantasy hockey analyst: More of a veteran of deeper leagues involving 10-plus teams, I'm a bit blown away by the quality of my roster. And everyone else's! There's certainly a fun novelty to challenging a small handful of opposing fantasy managers with my own selected cream versus their also high-quality crop.

Suspecting there might be an early run on top-tier goaltenders, I instead chose to immediately target elite heavyweights up front. MacKinnon, and Pastrnak, and Kucherov, oh my! Now we'll see if my solid collection of blueliners -- fingers crossed Roman Josi remains healthy and active -- and group of good netminders can pull their fantasy weight while the best forwards in the biz cook like only they can. I am admittedly bummed about losing out on Tkachuk as an IR stash, waiting one draft round too many.

Staying on top of waiver options, particularly at the goalie position, will be a priority once play gets underway. If one of my full-timers falls flat early, the objective will be to quickly sub-in this year's Darcy Kuemper or Logan Thompson. Having the likes of Juuse Saros, Thompson, Jordan Binnington, Thatcher Demko, and a self-proclaimed fitter-than-ever Stuart Skinner, available for the grabbing offers safety-net comfort in that regard.

Sachin Dave Chandan, fantasy hockey editor: As with most drafts, I aim to take "best player available" and then figure out positions later on. In doing so this time, I picked perennial fantasy-MVP candidate Connor McDavid as well as a pair of elite goaltenders in reigning top fantasy-point scorer Connor Hellebuyck and Igor Shesterkin. As my forward roster continued to develop, the middle rounds exposed a huge gap in the defenseman available, so I had to reach for five defensemen in my final eight picks -- each of whom I would be happy with in a ten-team league.

What I'm most excited about in a four-team league is that every roster spot is going to an all-star quality player, which means higher-scoring matchups. As mentioned by the others, it's intriguing how many quality starters are left over on waivers.

Round 1

1. Nathan MacKinnon Col, C -- Matiash
2. Auston Matthews Tor, C -- Becquey
3. Connor McDavid Edm, C -- Chandan
4. Cale Makar Col, D -- Allen

Round 2

5. Leon Draisaitl Edm, C -- Allen
6. Connor Hellebuyck Wpg, G -- Chandan
7. Jake Oettinger Dal, G -- Becquey
8. David Pastrnak Bos, RW -- Matiash

Round 3

9. Nikita Kucherov TB, RW -- Matiash
10. Andrei Vasilevskiy TB, G -- Becquey
11. Brady Tkachuk Ott, LW -- Chandan
12. Kirill Kaprizov Min, LW -- Allen

Round 4

13. Macklin Celebrini SJ, C -- Allen
14. Artemi Panarin NYR, LW -- Chandan
15. Filip Forsberg Nsh, LW -- Becquey
16. William Nylander Tor, RW -- Matiash

Round 5

17. Kyle Connor Wpg, LW -- Matiash
18. Mikko Rantanen Dal, RW -- Becquey
19. Jack Hughes NJ, C -- Chandan
20. Jack Eichel VGK, C -- Allen

Round 6

21. Sam Reinhart Fla, RW -- Allen
22. Igor Shesterkin NYR, G -- Chandan
23. MacKenzie Weegar Cgy, D -- Becquey
24. Roman Josi Nsh, D -- Matiash

Round 7

25. Kirill Marchenko CBJ, LW -- Matiash
26. J.T. Miller NYR, C -- Becquey
27. Alex Ovechkin Wsh, LW -- Chandan
28. Rasmus Dahlin Buf, D -- Allen

Round 8

29. Zach Werenski CBJ, D -- Allen
30. Cole Caufield Mon, LW -- Chandan
31. Sergei Bobrovsky Fla, G -- Becquey
32. Filip Gustavsson Min, G -- Matiash

Round 9

33. Brayden Point TB, C -- Matiash
34. Moritz Seider Det, D -- Becquey
35. Jake Guentzel TB, LW -- Chandan
36. Tim Stutzle Ott, C -- Allen

Round 10

37. Sidney Crosby Pit, C -- Allen
38. Jason Robertson Dal, LW -- Chandan
39. Victor Hedman TB, D -- Becquey
40. Quinn Hughes Van, D -- Matiash

Round 11

41. Evan Bouchard Edm, D -- Matiash
42. Elias Pettersson Van, C -- Becquey
43. Tage Thompson Buf, C -- Chandan
44. Mitch Marner VGK, RW -- Allen

Round 12

45. Dylan Guenther UTA, RW -- Allen
46. John Tavares Tor, C -- Chandan
47. Matt Boldy Min, LW -- Becquey
48. Adin Hill VGK, G -- Matiash

Round 13

49. Clayton Keller UTA, LW -- Matiash
50. Matthew Tkachuk Fla, RW -- Becquey
51. Jesper Bratt NJ, RW -- Chandan
52. Jake Sanderson Ott, D -- Allen

Round 14

53. Adam Fox NYR, D -- Allen
54. Adrian Kempe LA, RW -- Chandan
55. Steven Stamkos Nsh, C -- Becquey
56. Josh Morrissey Wpg, D -- Matiash

Round 15

57. Mark Scheifele Wpg, C -- Matiash
58. Dustin Wolf Cgy, G -- Becquey
59. John Carlson Wsh, D -- Chandan
60. Wyatt Johnston Dal, C -- Allen

Round 16

61. Thomas Harley Dal, D -- Allen
62. Brandon Hagel TB, LW -- Chandan
63. Vincent Trocheck NYR, C -- Becquey
64. Darcy Kuemper LA, G -- Matiash

Round 17

65. Dylan Larkin Det, C -- Matiash
66. Nick Suzuki Mon, C -- Becquey
67. Jackson LaCombe Ana, D -- Chandan
68. Dylan Holloway StL, C -- Allen

Round 18

69. Connor Bedard Chi, C -- Allen
70. Nazem Kadri Cgy, C -- Chandan
71. Mikhail Sergachev UTA, D -- Becquey
72. Martin Necas Col, RW -- Matiash

Round 19

73. Rasmus Andersson Cgy, D -- Matiash
74. Mike Matheson Mon, D -- Becquey
75. Noah Dobson Mon, D -- Chandan
76. Aleksander Barkov Fla, C -- Allen

Round 20

77. Mackenzie Blackwood Col, G -- Allen
78. Charlie McAvoy Bos, D -- Chandan
79. Seth Jarvis Car, RW -- Becquey
80. Brock Faber Min, D -- Matiash

Round 21

81. Mika Zibanejad NYR, C -- Matiash
82. Sebastian Aho Car, C -- Becquey
83. Erik Karlsson Pit, D -- Chandan
84. Frederik Andersen Car, G -- Allen

Round 22

85. Jacob Markstrom NJ, G -- Allen
86. Anthony Stolarz Tor, G -- Chandan
87. Kris Letang Pit, D -- Becquey
88. Ilya Sorokin NYI, G -- Matiash

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