Hi fellow hockey-starved poolies.

How would you rank Justin Schultz, who is currently Hulk Smash in the AHL, against these other young defensemen:

Voynov
Faulk
OEL
Brendan Smith

This would be short-term, and long-term, in a pool that counts points, PPP, PIM, and +/-.

I'd appreciate your suggestions and insight.

OEL - absolute superstar in the making. His team may not score a ton, but he's going to be so good that it won't matter. He's a sure thing on both ends of the ice.

Schultz - his situation couldn't be any better. Still, no track record whatsoever in the NHL...but I think this is one case where it doesn't matter. Kid's legit. Also have him 2nd because I think there's a chance he puts up massive numbers - particularly of the PP variety - and in a keeper, sometimes that's worth taking a shot with a guy.

Faulk - going to be a very nice offensive defenseman, but still think Schultz has a better situation to be in. May also take a year or two to fully take over as top D-dog in Carolina.

Smith - Behind Kronwall for now, and I fear that once he gets fully up to speed (1,2,3 years from now), the Wings will be sans Datsyuk, Zetterberg will be that much older and....well...these next few years will be a real test for the Wings. Even if that wasn't the case and the Wings were looking solid for the next few years, I'd probably have him 4th on this list.

Voynov - forgot him on original list. But he'd be 5th anyways. Will always be behind Doughty, among other reasons.

I have to go with this order long term:
Schultz -Just amazing core group around him for years. PPP and +/-(hopefully)

Faulk - The Staals, Skinner and another good core of players to work with.

Brendan Smith - Datz, Zets, and others as well as kids coming up like Nyquist and Tatar.

OEL - Great prospect just no help on the offensive help. Lots of D to share time. Not sure on future of player forward dev and team. Could go top 2 if team folds and ends up on better team.

Voynov - Another great prospect, but LA needs a little more offensive style to help him out.

I think PIMs are a wash with these, but Faulk will probably have the edge.
I'd keep the order, but put Smith last for the next two yrs short term.

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DYNASTY Cap Hit 12 Team League
G, A, PIM(.1), positive +/- D only, W(2), SO(2), OTL(1)
Roster: 24 + 3 IR
Start: 11F, 5D, 2G - Each plays 82 games

F: D.Sedin, St.Louis, Getzlaf, Thornton, M.Koivu, Zetterberg, Duchene, Purcell, Sharp, K.Palmieri, Callahan (Bench: Atkinson, Conacher)
D: Karlsson, Letang, Ju.Schultz, P.Martin, Leddy (Bench: S.Elliott)
G: Ward, Bobrovsky, Halak, Lindbackr
Farm: Kuemper, Shore, Beaulieu

OEL
Schultz
Faulk
Smith
Voynov

Lots of tremendous young defensemen on this list, but OEL takes the cake IMO.

__________________
macv@dobberbaseball.com
DobberBaseball Columnist- http://baseball.dobbersports.com/ind...layout=default
Detroit Red Wings coverage
Twitter- @MacVincent1

For me, I like....

Schultz
OEL
Smith
Faulk
Voynov

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Stat Categories: G(1), A(1), +/- (.5), PIM (.25), SHG (2), SHA (1), GWG (2), Hits and blocks (.1), W(2), GA (-.2), SV (.05), SO (5)
C(x3), L(x3), R(x3), D(x6), Utility(1), G(x3), Bench(x6)

(Keep 10 skaters, 2 goalies)
C: Backes, Kuznetsov, Pavelski, Thornton, Grandlund
L: Benn, E. Kane, Dupuis, Kunitz, N. Filigno
R: Kassian, Tarasenko, Yakupov, Coyle
D: B. Smith, Carlson, D. Hamilton, Giordano, Hamonic, Seidenberg, Goligoski
G: Rask, Schneider, Lindback, Anderson

Schultz ; Is there any better team to play with right now for an offensive D ??? Hall, RHN get hurt, no problem Eberle, Yakupov, Gagner still there...

OEL

Smith

Voynov

Faulk

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1) H2H , 6F, 4D, 1G
pts: (D : 7 pts G /5 pts A), (F : 5pts G /3 pts A), (G : 10 pts W / 5 pts SO), (D/F : 0.5 pts PIM, 0.1 FOW, 0.2 Hits, 0.3 pts SOG, PP and SH).

Forward : Hall, RNH, Grigorenko, Galchenyuk, Eriksson, Stastny, Silfverberg, Zibanejad, Strome, Kreider, R. Johansen, Niederreiter

Defenses : OEL, Schultz, Hamilton, Fowler, M.Staal, Smith, Brodin, Barrie, Elliott, Morrow

Goalies : Price, Mason

In a pool that counts PIM, I'd have to seriously argue for Smith. In a PIMs league, many of the top Dmen are guys with healthy PIMs Chara, Weber, Byfuglien, etc. I'd put Smith right up there with Schultz at this point.

__________________
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

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

I'd rank them in this order:

Faulk
OEL
Schultz
Voynov
Smith

__________________
Stamkos was asked today in Tampa how he can top last season:
"Well, get into the playoffs. That's the big key and that's our goal here."

Follow me on Twitter @thehockeyhitman

Schultz
OEL - is a stud and will be the best D out of these guys but you can't ignore the supporting cast around Schultz in Edmonton
Faulk
Smith
Voynov

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UHL Pittsburgh Penguins

24 Team Fantrax Salary Cap H2H Dynasty League Daily
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW
W, GAA, SV, SV%, SO
23 Man Roster - 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 1G, 4BN, 4IR
27 Man Minor Team

C- Tavares, Stepan, Hodgson, Shaw, Bjugstad
LW- Ryan, Perron, Downie, Killorn, Rinaldo
RW- Wheeler, Simmonds, Coyle, Frattin, Boyes
D- Pietrangelo, JJ, Bogosian, EJ, Josi, Cowen, Muzzin
G- Lehtonen

F: Granlund, Silfverberg, Jensen, Dalpe, Bowman, Knight, Fasth, JAM
D: Beaulieu, Koekkoek, Gelinas, Pysyk, McCabe, Irwin
G: Nilsson, Nilstorp, Ramo, Berra, Brossoit, Gibson

The top 2 are easily OEL and Schultz IMO. As far as who to put 1 vs 2, its too hard to call right now. Both have sound arguements who should be ahead of the other. If you owned either of these 2, put a smile on your face.

1. Schultz
1. OEL
3. Faulk
4. Smith
5. Voynov

3, 4 and 5 were a lot easier to determine.

__________________
10 Team, Points Only, $$ League, Keep 20/25 at seasons end
25 Man Roster, top 20 monthly point getters count
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt

Stamkos, Tavares, Hall, Couture, Hanzal, Wheeler, Stastny, Versteeg, Fisher, Hornqvist, Eriksson, Hodgson, Setoguchi, Turris, Steen, Letang, DRoy, Yakupov, Grabner, Byfuglien, Baertschi

G-Rask, Halak, Schneider