I am in a h2h pool with 16 teams(league is the one in my sig). We all have 5 bench spots that we can cycle daily to our main roster. The waiver wire is fairly thin and we are allowed 50drops per season. This is the inaugural season so most players that arent called up (MPS,Carlson,Boedker ect) are generally available on the waiver wire. I believe within the first couple of months as some teams drop low in the standings all of these players will be scooped up. I am trying to deal one of my goalies so that I am running with Luongo/Thomas/Neuvirth or Luongo/Rask/Neuvirth(bench). I currently have Eberle and MPS so that reduces me to 2 open bench spots that I can rotate in and out daily. Where my lack of experience in h2h comes into play is I do not know if those 3 bench spots are going to cost me a run at winning. I feel with the depth of our pool I have a very strong team but would like to keep the youth in my group to replace guys like Guerin and Williams after this season. Am I worrying to much or am I out of my mind to be using my bench on N/A players this early in the season?

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Dobberhockey Entry League - Norris Division
C: Mike Richards (C,LW); Brad Marchand(C,LW); Danny Briere (C,RW); Patrik Elias (C,LW)
RW: Corey Perry (RW); Marian Gaborik (RW); Nail Yakupov (RW); Patric Hornqvist (RW)
LW: Taylor Hall (LW); Milan Lucic (LW); Johan Franzen (LW,RW) Andy Mcdonald (C,LW)
Def: Kulikov; Bogosian; Justin Shultz; Orlov; Salo; Hamilton
Goaltending: Ryan Miller; Devan Dubynk
Bench: Sam Gagner (C,RW); Steve Sullivan (LW); Matt Martin (LW) ; Roman Cervenka (C )

Personaly I'm not a fan of NA players.
Most likely those guys will be available in the draft next year. I would rather grab young guys who ARE playing and getting playing time - ie. Del Zotto, Perron (even though he's not doin so good), O'Reilly, Hedman, Doughty etc.

I don't know who's available on your wire - I assume most of those guys aren't - but by having N/A players you are limiting your weekly games. Those are players who you could slot in, and get more games per week - therefore getting more production per week, which can help you win.

I doubt anyone will scoop up guys who aren't even playing in the NHL this year.

Given the size of your league I wouldn't expect your bench to have too many consistent or reliable scorers. Ideally, all your bench players would be players you'd feel confident throwing out there to give you an added boost.

Since you've got a team that's competing you'll want to have your bench stocked with players who can contribute now and give you a boost in your H2H matchups, especially come playoff time.

Obviously loading up to win has it`s costs but ultimately winning is the goal so I`d bite the bullet down the road if it gave me the chance to win right now.

I sympathize with your sentiments about keeping those players to replace guys close to retirement but most of those N/A players are a few years from being viable fantasy options. I`d focus on loading up now, to go for the win and then deal with rebuilding your team when some of your older group retire. There are going to be new N/A players available every year so when you find yourself no longer in contention, that`s the time to fill your bench with those guys.

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Thankyou for the great advice. Thats the way I was leaning towards, I know I am terrible for letting my favorite players dictate the way I run my pools.(I am a huge Oilers fan.) I was able to pick up Rostislav Olesz and Jared Boll and dropped Eberle and MPS. I will keep digging for someone to replace Neuvirth. As for my goalie combinations : Is Luongo/Rask solid enough to run with in a deep pool or should I be keeping Luongo/Thomas/Rask. I am fairly certain I could trade Thomas+ and bring back another 70pt+fwd.

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Dobberhockey Entry League - Norris Division
C: Mike Richards (C,LW); Brad Marchand(C,LW); Danny Briere (C,RW); Patrik Elias (C,LW)
RW: Corey Perry (RW); Marian Gaborik (RW); Nail Yakupov (RW); Patric Hornqvist (RW)
LW: Taylor Hall (LW); Milan Lucic (LW); Johan Franzen (LW,RW) Andy Mcdonald (C,LW)
Def: Kulikov; Bogosian; Justin Shultz; Orlov; Salo; Hamilton
Goaltending: Ryan Miller; Devan Dubynk
Bench: Sam Gagner (C,RW); Steve Sullivan (LW); Matt Martin (LW) ; Roman Cervenka (C )

bahahaha, wow i wish i never looked back and read this thread!!!

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Dobberhockey Entry League - Norris Division
C: Mike Richards (C,LW); Brad Marchand(C,LW); Danny Briere (C,RW); Patrik Elias (C,LW)
RW: Corey Perry (RW); Marian Gaborik (RW); Nail Yakupov (RW); Patric Hornqvist (RW)
LW: Taylor Hall (LW); Milan Lucic (LW); Johan Franzen (LW,RW) Andy Mcdonald (C,LW)
Def: Kulikov; Bogosian; Justin Shultz; Orlov; Salo; Hamilton
Goaltending: Ryan Miller; Devan Dubynk
Bench: Sam Gagner (C,RW); Steve Sullivan (LW); Matt Martin (LW) ; Roman Cervenka (C )