The window of optimism was a short one, but it was still big enough for my one keeper league - the Forecaster league (keep 12, weekly lineups, defending CHAMP) to get excited again.

I have about 20 solid players left and I need to cut down to 12. Here is what remains of my roster (I cut the dregs already):
14 teams, 25 players per team...

C - E. Staal, Kopitar, Benn, Flash, Berglund
W - Kovalchuk, Giroux, Neal, St. Louis, Eriksson, S.Kostitsyn, Johansen, Williams, Kuznetsov, Conacer
D- Letang, Shatty, MDZ, Enstrom
G - Smith, Anderson, Dubnyk

I traded Strome and last pick of the 6th round (since I won) for an early 4th rounder. Meh, better than a kick in the teeth.

Cutting my roster down to 14 is easy. Cutting to 12 is hard. Ideally I'd like to get some picks rather than just drop guys.

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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

C - E. Staal, Kopitar, Benn,
W - Kovalchuk, Giroux, Neal, St. Louis, Eriksson,
D- Letang, Shatty,
G - Smith, Anderson

I would go with the 12 above. I guess it's easier when it's not your team, but it still wasn't easy deleting Enstrom, Berglund, Conacher and Kuznetsov. Enstrom has the most talent currently from those 4 IMO but he is only as good as his team is and apart from Wheeler and Kane, the firepower on that team is limited. Also Big Buff is also used on the PP.

I think you have a good mix of youth and players in their prime.

I would flip a coin on Dubnyk though (instead of Anderson). I think he might break out soon.

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Keeper league (08-09 Champion)
16 teams (keep 18 NHLers, unlimited minors)
Scoring Cats: G-A-PTS-PPG-PPA-(+/-)-PIM-SHP-SOG-FW-GWG
Goalie Cats: W-L-SVS-SV%-GAA-SO

C- Crosby-Spezza-Ennis-Bolland
LW- Kovalchuk-Marchand-Landeskog-Boedker
RW- Pavelski-Oshie-Havlat-Burmistrov
D- Yandle-M.Green-J.Johnson-Carlson-Nikitin
G- Lehtonen-Varlamov-Hiller

Minors:
F: Brunner, Conacher, Adam, Nyquist, Phillips, Forsberg, Girgensons, Killorn, T. Johnson
D: Rundblad, Orlov, Sanguinetti
G: Greiss, Nihlstorp, Taylor, Zatkoff

Keeping all three goalies. Way too important in this league to have a question mark, and any two of these goalies doesn't give me a pair I'm comfortable with. But two of the three goalies...(i.e. keep all three and hope two turn out) I am very comfortable with.

Which would mean cutting Eriksson. So I need to trade a guy. Also want to make room for MDZ and Enstrom. So three guys I don't want to lose for nothing.

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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

I'll make some assumptions here:
*Points-Only (?)
*Start 3C/6W/4D (?)

I'd keep:
C - E. Staal, Kopitar, Benn
W - Kovalchuk, Giroux, Neal, St. Louis, Eriksson
D- Letang
G - Smith, Anderson, Dubnyk

This means (if it's my team), I'm considering dropping your 3 defensemen.
I don't know... I personally feel like there an absolute slew of 30-45pt defensemen out there.
Last year, I helped a buddy win his 13-team 6F/4D points-only pool... we went into the draft with just Karlsson.
Drafted 3D... and ended up replacing them ALL with waiver D during the year (guys like MDZ & Leddy).
Just piecing in some decent D-points allowed him to win the pool. [With Malkin, Datsyuk, Neal, Pavelski, E.Kane, Heatley, Karlsson + 3D, Fleury and Corey effin Crawford!]

Let's say you value the players as follows:
50pts: Letang
45pts: Shattenkirk
45pts: Enstrom
42pts: MDZ

The guy I'd look to move here is Letang.
Sure, you downgrade your defensemen, but what you gain in trade return on Letang (2nd rounder?) may be much higher than what you might get for ShattenK (4th rounder?) or Enstrom (5th rounder?). And, you only lose 5pts.


In other words... I think you should look to move one of your defensemen... whoever you can get the best return/draft-pick on.

Hmmmm then I guess Eriksson would be the guy to go for Dubnyk as you said. Now cutting 2 more to add those D-Men... not sure if it's even possible for 1? Of course 2 for 1 trades/upgrades would be best here but are other managers in need of fillers in exchange for better players (ex: Eriksson and St-Louis for Eberle)?

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Keeper league (08-09 Champion)
16 teams (keep 18 NHLers, unlimited minors)
Scoring Cats: G-A-PTS-PPG-PPA-(+/-)-PIM-SHP-SOG-FW-GWG
Goalie Cats: W-L-SVS-SV%-GAA-SO

C- Crosby-Spezza-Ennis-Bolland
LW- Kovalchuk-Marchand-Landeskog-Boedker
RW- Pavelski-Oshie-Havlat-Burmistrov
D- Yandle-M.Green-J.Johnson-Carlson-Nikitin
G- Lehtonen-Varlamov-Hiller

Minors:
F: Brunner, Conacher, Adam, Nyquist, Phillips, Forsberg, Girgensons, Killorn, T. Johnson
D: Rundblad, Orlov, Sanguinetti
G: Greiss, Nihlstorp, Taylor, Zatkoff

C: Staal, Kopitar, Benn
W: Kovy, Neal, Giroux, St. Louis
D: Letang, Shatty, MDZ
G: Smith, Dubnyk, Anderson

In my mind, this is how it stands. I like MDZ over Enstrom (immensely better offense, far less competition for PP time), and I don't see how you can keep either of them over any of the other forwards. It would seem you're left with the prospect of a trade.

C - E. Staal, Kopitar, Benn
W - Kovalchuk, Giroux, Neal, St. Louis, Eriksson
D- Letang, Shatty, MDZ, Enstrom
G - Smith

That leaves you with 13. Take two players, find a GM who has decent goaltending depth and make them an offer. Assuming you can package Benn and Eriksson together, maybe get a top 10 goalie in the right deal.

Either way it's an upgrade over Dubnyk and Anderson. Dubnyk will likely continue to battle with Khabibulin for starts, especially since Nikolai loves to show up in contract years. Anderson has injury history, has not been stellar over the past few seasons, and has both Lehner and Bishop nipping at this heels.

Come on, you're Dobber. Don't tell me you can't make some magic happen...

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***Non-Descriptive Thread Titles Killed My Wife and Ate My Children***

10 Team Roto Keeper League (G,A,PPP,SHP,GWG,+/-,PIM, SOG // W,SAVES,GAA,SV%,SO)
Full Keeper w/ Salary Cap [4C/4LW/4RW/6D/2G/5B, 82 gp per roster spot]

C: Crosby, Getzlaf, Ribeiro, Hodgson
LW: Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Eriksson, Van Riemsdyk, Whitney
RW: Gaborik, Stewart, Read, Selanne, Alfredsson
D: Pietrangelo, Yandle, Edler, Wisniewski, E. Johnson, Whitney, Bieksa, Gardiner
G: Lundqvist, Bryzgalov, Schneider

Minor League:
Yakupov, Silfverberg, Bjugstad, Stone, Atkinson, J. Morrow, Palmieri, B. Smith, J. Bernier

Move Shattenkirk because IMO he's got the most value - maybe you just get a better pick out of it. I'd keep MDZ b/c he's the #1 option in New York. But the choice between the two is close - as I said, I move Shatty b/c he seems to have more perceived value.

Not sure why guys are so down on Enstrom. He's a back to back 50pt blueliner coming off a tough campaign - I'd still take him over MDZ or Shatty.

As for the goalies - Smith is the only 100% starter on a good team. Anderson is the 100% starter, but not sure if Ottawa replicates what they did last year...Dubnyk may not be the starter and the Oilers may not be all that good again.

The other roster move I'd consider is keeping Anderson instead of MDZ. Because I don't know how folks are in your league regarding goalies (ie-if most guys keep 2, 3...how easy it is to grab an okay guy on waivers) I might take Anderson. In our league (12 manager, keep 12) it's easy to pick up a good 2nd goalie on waivers. Not so easy to pick up a good blueliner, for whatever reason.

But the other guys (Letang, all your forwards) are legit, established scorers. Gotta keep them.

Man you guys are convincing about the Dmen. (not Dubnyk and Anderson, sorry I think one of the two will be great and in weekly lineups I'll use both to great avail all season if there is one)
But the Dmen.... maybe I do go with Eriksson and forget MDZ and Shatty and keep Letang and Enstrom.

Something to think about.


and if you think the Oilers suck this year, you're wrong!

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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

someone please sticky that...