Part of it was i figured we would have a shorter season (now I'm hoping we get one at all) so I thought rolling the dice on Lupul-Kessel, Toews, Havlat, even Ryan Whitney, is a little less risky over a 48-61 game schedule rather than an 82.

@horrorfan: My 4th D was Ryan Whitney, taken in the 14th round, Tyler Ennis was my last "starting" forward taken in the 16th round.

We have unlimited free agent moves up to our play offs, so that door is always open.

6 teams make the play offs, top 2 get a bye.

What are people's thoughts on Skinner? I think he has the potential to be a monster, but I haven't seen much mention of him on here.

Thanks for all the feedback, at the very least it gave me a bit of hockey to think about.

Speaking of FAs, the following are available:

Mueller (RW-LW)
Henrique
Huberdeau
Tanguay
Hudler
Baertschi
Booth
T. Ruutu
Boedkker
Hanzel
Sam Gagner

Seidenberg
E. Johnson
Spurgeon
Voynov
Robidas
Leddy
Liles
Souray

Any of those guys jump out at you as an upgrade over Gionta or Faulk?

I'd consider Hudler as a possible upgrade, if he can develop good chemistry with his new Flames linemates. Though he had a 20% shooting percentage last season, so will have to up the shots or be a more efficient playmaker to hit 50 again. Gagner might also be a good pickup - not as sure about him though.

I'd definitely pick up EJ over Faulk, simply for the chance that he could break out as the PP QB for the Avs. Little risk, high reward.

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All I've got...all I've got is insane!

In a shortened season, Huberdeau might be ready to make the jump.
He's obviously keeping his hockey going by playing in the Q.
Gionta is an easy-drop... I'd put Huberdeau on my roster immediately.
You can always swap out Hubs later.

There are always defensemen that rise up every year.
Faulk has some hype going into the season.

Personally, I think there we'll see some good production from Voynov & Souray.
Both could be on PP1 with Doughty & Fowler. Souray also shoots a lot and if that ANA PP clicks, he might get a lot of points.

I could also see the DAL PP revving up this year... and if Robidas jumps back on PP1 (last year it was Goligoski + Souray), he too could have nice stats.

I'd probably hold Faulk though... if these other players have sat on the waiver wire this long, they'll sit there a bit longer.
I'm sketchy on Faulk's production, but the upside is there if Carolina decides to try him on PP1 with Pitkanen/E.Staal/J.Staal/Semin... it's worth the risk to hold Faulk.

Don't take anyone over Faulk...Faulk is going to be quarterbacking the great Carolina PP that could consist of Semin, Staal x 2, Skinner, Jokinen...etc

Your team is average at best. Your defense and goaltending should be fine, but you lack the raw fire power up front.

Although your format favours guys like Neal, there's no way in hell I'd take him 5th overall in any imaginable format... there's just too much downside risk in my opinion.

Let's see... Stamkos/Crosby/Malkin/Ovie/Giroux/Tavares/Lundqvist all guys I'd easily take ahead of Neal. I think Neal is being way overvalued by most poolers right now.

You know that one-year leagues are dead when we can't bury a thread started on December 5th! LOL. Mercy.

If the season is cancelled and it keeps coming up, you know we are in trouble!

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Ultimate Dynasty League
16 Team Dynasty League H2H: G, A, P, PPP, SHP, +/-, PIM, SOG, W, L, GAA, SvPct, SHO

C: Stamkos, Getzlaf, Carter
LW: Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Brown
RW: Iginla, Pavelski, Horton
D: Byfuglien, J.Johnson, Goligoski, Hedman, Hamonic
U: Mueller
G: Schneider, Hiller,
B: E. Johnson, S.Kostitsyn, Neil, Biron, Giguere
IR:
Prospect: Nail Yakupov, Tangradi

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UHL Dynasty St. Louis Blues
...a bad team trying to rebuild...