My draft:

Round Pick Player Position
1. (3) Evgeni Malkin C,RW
2. (28) Miikka Kiprusoff G
3. (33) Craig Anderson G
4. (58) Patrick Sharp C,RW
5. (63) Dion Phaneuf D
6. (88) Ryan Callahan RW
7. (93) Joe Pavelski C,RW
8. (118) Kevin Shattenkirk D
9. (123) Brad Marchand C,LW
10. (148) Dan Girardi D
11. (153) Christian Ehrhoff D
12. (178) Marcus Foligno LW
13. (183) Martin Hanzal C
14. (208) Brendan Smith D
15. (213) Brayden Schenn C
16. (238) Dennis Seidenberg D
17. (243) Brooks Laich C
18. (268) R.J. Umberger LW
19. (273) Jaden Schwartz C
20. (298) David Booth LW
21. (303) Clarke MacArthur LW
22. (328) Curtis Glencross LW
23. (333) Jamie McGinn LW
24. (358) Matt Greene D
25. (363) Simon Despres D

Dropped Despres for Zubrus C,RW.

Lineup:
4C: Marchand(LW), Hanzel, Zubrus(RW), Laich
4RW: Malkin(C), Sharp(C), Pavelski(C), Callahan
4LW: M.Foligno, Umberger, MacArthur, Glencross
6D:Phaneuf, Shattenkirk, Girardi, Ehrhoff, Seidenberg, Greene
G: Kipper, Anderson

Bench: Schenn(C), Smith(D), Booth(LW), Schwartz(C), McGinn(LW)

With our categories, I ended up with great value picks. I was looking for multi-cat players with every pick.

Phaneuf at 63 was sweet, a top 3 d in this format. Callahan at 88 and Pavelski at 93 loaded my RWs.. Tops in the league by far, 3 with C elligibility.

Favorite Pick: Phaneuf at 63
Riskiest Pick: Ehrhoff at 153 (Based on Dobbers forecast this was a solid pick, but I'm worried about a repeat of last season)
Biggest Steal: Seidenberg at 238 I was watching the d picks...waiting for Seidenberg, he is easily a top 150 player in this format.
Boom/Bust: Umberger...Monster Roto a few years ago/Columbus player(ouch)
LWs are weak, so I took fliers on Booth and McGinn late. I tried to stay away from the flavor of the day rookie picks and went for 4 sure-fire players in Brayden Schenn (2nd line), Marcus Foligno (Ennis/Stafford) , B. Smith (Even if he doesn't get 2nd line PP, Pims/Hits should be), Schwartz( My Versteeg pick)

Top 5 potential if my lunch bucket LW's are .500 roto.

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Ultimate Fantasy Hockey League
Teams: 12
Players: G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,SHP,GWG,SOG,FW,HIT
Goalies: GS,W,L,GAA,SA,SV,SV%,SHO
Pro(23)
3C - Malkin(RW)/Toews/Vermette(LW)/Hanzel
3LW - Parise/M.Foligno/Michalek(RW)/McDonald(C)
3RW - Cole/Simmonds/Brown(LW)/Downie(LW)
6D - Letang/Streit/Hamonic/Garrison/Ekman-Larsson/Girardi/Seidenberg
2G - Rask/Markstrom/Reimer/Vokoun
Farm(8)
C - Shaw/K.Palmieri/Tatar
LW - Zucker
RW -
D - S.Elliot/Trouba
G -Scrivens/Hackett

Thought it would be a good time to refresh this thread.

This is the first time I've used the bidding system, and so far for the most part it's been pretty uneventful with limited interesting pickups/drops, most claimed without a bid or with a low one. But last night was quite active and there was a big one. Firstly, the details for those who don't know or haven't read this thread:

$100 to use on waiver bids. That didn't change since the start of the season so it's likely that some bids could be higher given a shortened season (it's all relative). However, what I didn't expect was one bid on Cory Conacher. He was bid for...$61! The other bids for him were $10/11. Is this an extremely high bid for a rookie who's having a hot start, or reasonable enough for someone that may have a strong campaign? Granted, he is struggling with injuries on the left side so that could be a big reason as well.

I'm not really questioning the manager's bid, but more curious on the strategy you'd use on somebody you quite like or 'need' to get. How high would you go to get someone you want? In a relatively deep league, there may not be many options popping up throughout the season, so perhaps he thought to go for it with Conacher given his need. Thoughts?

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

I got Conacher for $26 in the smythe league. I also gave never played a FAAB league, so it was a stab in the air. I figured a) if he keeps it up, it's a steal for a 1/4 of my cash, b) where am I ever going to spend $100 in a shortened season at $5 per claim? c) the next best option was Kovalev, so I'd better pony up and get this kid.

Yeah... the waiver claims actually got really interesting last night.
It becomes evident which teams really felt the need to grab a solid replacement guy and how much they were willing to shell out.

I did have a bid in on Conacher - and like a good poker player, I won't tell you how much it was... except that it was less than $26! LOL.

Players claimed in the Smythe last night:
$26 Conacher, Cory (TB)
$11 Prust, Brandon (MON)
$4 Kovalev, Alex (FLA)
$3 Sbisa, Luca (ANA)
$3 Bouchard, PM (MIN)
$3 Diaz, Raphael (MON)
$2 Leighton, Michael (PHI) - Pengwin7 claim. Damn Leighton/Bryz threads, made me all nervous.
$2 Prospal, Vaclav (CBJ)
$2 Kostka, Mike (TOR)
$1 Peckham, Theo (EDM)
$1 Greiss, Thomas (SJ)
$1 Raymond, Mason (VAN)
$0 White, Ryan (MON)
$0 Boll, Jared (CBJ) - Pengwin7 claim. Fed up with M.Samuelsson's damn groin. Costing me games played!

A thread tracking this kinda info would be quite helpful to GM's... Call it the FAAB Going Rates Thread or something. I've already learned that in other leagues I'd need to bid between $26 and $61 to land Conacher.

Just want to share that this is the first time I've made the decision to bench a clear cut starter for a bench player who's playing more games this coming week.

Benched: Bergeron (2 games)
Activated: Bozak (4)

Benched: Horton (2)
Activated: Ryder (4)

I wouldn't do it with a stud though (e.g. I kept Staal in last week). We'll see how it works out. This is the first weekly league I've played in.

Has anyone had such decisions so far?

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

I haven't bothered looking at games played, yet. My bench is full of IR and DTD...
I think I may have put a $20.00 bid on Conacher...first time using this and I've lost every single one. It's a bit of a pain having only one shot at waivers per week.

__________________
Ultimate Fantasy Hockey League
Teams: 12
Players: G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,SHP,GWG,SOG,FW,HIT
Goalies: GS,W,L,GAA,SA,SV,SV%,SHO
Pro(23)
3C - Malkin(RW)/Toews/Vermette(LW)/Hanzel
3LW - Parise/M.Foligno/Michalek(RW)/McDonald(C)
3RW - Cole/Simmonds/Brown(LW)/Downie(LW)
6D - Letang/Streit/Hamonic/Garrison/Ekman-Larsson/Girardi/Seidenberg
2G - Rask/Markstrom/Reimer/Vokoun
Farm(8)
C - Shaw/K.Palmieri/Tatar
LW - Zucker
RW -
D - S.Elliot/Trouba
G -Scrivens/Hackett

I always play the numbers (schedule) in weekly leagues.
A 40pt player playing 4 games (4x40=160) should produce more than
A 60pt player playing 2 games (2x60=120).

Occasionally (small "sample size" - statistically speaking) it will burn you... but you can't let that dissuade your from understanding that the math is correct.
In the long run (large "sample size" - statistically speaking), going with the numbers will be the right choice.

In week 1, I went with a 4-game Mikael Samuelsson over a 2-game David Clarkson. That bombed. Clarkson was excellent and Samuelsson sputtered and then got injured.

In week 2, I went with a 4-game Jared Boll over a 2-game Alex Semin. Semin put up 1G,2A,+4 in those two games. So perhaps I missed that one. But Boll did put up a massive 25 PIM in four nights with 15 PIM last night on the 4th.

I'd play a 4-game 40pt player over a 1-game week 110pt Malkin too.
I always play the numbers.

I generally agree with the logic but I think it also depends on what categories you are looking for. And as we discussed in a PM, depending on the game difference and involving a stud, it may be worth just playing the stud for less games (e.g. E.Staal). Not sure what was the result but my other C was Palmieri and I think he hardly did anything last week. But looking at 4 vs 2 games, more often than not yeah we should play the player who has 4 games. Unless that player is crap and the starter is quite good.

Also, deciding between players who play 4 games and 3 games might not make as much a difference and be more difficult so the better player might be a better start. Of course that depends on the players involved and the categories.

But in my case, I think it was worth a shot since my starters aren't studs and my replacements are capable enough to match/surpass the starters' production in two more games. We'll see.

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

NoWayOut and I have made the first trade of the season. The context is him being a bit weak on offense with solid grit, while I'm a bit weak on grit with solid offense. For those not in the league, it's a one-year weekly roto with G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,SOG,Hits.

Roll of the Dice (NoWayOut) receives: Tomas Fleischmann
Nosferatootoo (horrorfan) receives: Alexandre Burrows

I'm willing to sacrifice some offense and right now Burrows isn't in the great position to produce offensively, but will give me consistent grit if I choose to use him right away. My other LW are Marleau, Moulson and Kunitz starting and R.Bourque on the bench. I'm hoping Kesler returns soon which should help Burrows, but of course the PP time will be limited but I'm quite strong there. Fleischmann is solid and should help NWO with consistent offensive production and aside from some unexpected early PIM this season, he didn't do enough for me grit-wise so I was willing to part with him. PIM and Hits are by far my two weakest skater categories.

It should help both of our teams, but by how much remains to be seen.

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