Terrible. My dry spell has reached three years now of not making as much on fantasy hockey as I've spent, after a 15-year positive streak. When it rains it pours.

But I thought I would quickly post here what I have done, for those interested.

Keeper 1
Basic keeper. 20 players. Points only. Top 12 count. Playoffs count.

I won four years ago after a two-year rebuild. At the time, I wanted to rebuild for one more year, but found myself in first place so I sacrificed a lot to hold onto it. Take the win when you can get it, because you don't know what the future holds. Since then, I have floundered with a weaker team and injuries. I had thought that I could hang around up top for a couple of years and perhaps win again, but...not even close. I was fighting another rebuild because it was so damn soon after my last one. Big mistake. I should have taken the one and done victory and rebuild immediately.

Keeper 2
A little more advanced. 27 players, Top 2 dmen, Top 1 goalie, Top 12 rest of the skaters count. Playoffs count. Points only. Top 8 teams make the playoff competition. Gradually expanding the rosters to 12-4-2 with 12 on the farm.

I sold the farm to get Crosby as a sophomore and have been rebuilding ever since. Filling up such a big roster when you are empty of picks and players is a lengthy five-year process, but this year I was finally done the rebuild. So there I am in 2nd place in January. Crosby is out for a couple of games with a "mild" concussion. I put Lidstrom on the block - I don't need his points, because I probably won't get 1st place, so may as well slip a little in the standings and improve my team. Just make the Top 8. So I traded him for Tarasenko and Gagne. A great deal.
After that, it was...just wow. My fellow GM's laugh about it - they had never seen anything like it. In months where a good team will get 100 points and a bad team would get 40 points...my team got like 20 in March. Crosby remained out. Bourque couldn't find the net with a map and a flashlight. Carter was off and on. Price was out of his sizzling hot streak. With the trade deadline over I could only watch...5th...6th...7th...8th...9th in the last week, and out of the playoffs.
As a GM, nothing had ever hurt more.

It turns out my playoffs would have sucked anyway, but it still hurts that I didn't make the show.


Keeper 3

This is with the boys in the Forecaster. One last year of a rebuild. Keep 12. Dress 4C 8W, 6D, 2G.

My keepers are:
Staal, Kopitar, Johansen
Kovalchuk, Giroux, Eriksson
Letang, Carlson, Enstrom, Shattenkirk
Price, Montoya

Notable drops, unless I can make a trade or two: OEL, Poulin, Frolik, Tatar, Boychuk, Morin

Finished around 7th out of 14. Goaltending cost me a Top 3 (I had Varlamov and I drafted Leighton with my first round pick). I won't make that mistake this time.

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin