Keeper League #2:

History: These rules are the same as Keeper League #1 – except a) rosters only go to 20, b) there are no goalies, c) there is no free agent rule, d) playoffs count all teams. This pool finished up its 19th year. The competition is very strong – I would rate a B with half the owners an A and the other half a C (in Keeper League #1 EVERYBODY gets an A, with a couple that I would humbly admit are better at this than I am – that’s how tough and competitive THAT league is!)

I am the defending champ in Keeper League #2, but I wasn’t planning to win. I had rebuilt a crazy team filled with blue chippers and almost by accident I found myself second place a year earlier than my rebuilding had planned. So I dealt away some blue chippers (Radulov, Mueller, Kopitar, Cammy, Giroux, Hensick OUCH!) and pulled ahead of the pack to win. Unfortunately, that left me with some holes. Holes I needed to fix I was going to defend.

First of all, I had Jagr and I was afraid he would go to the KHL. I also had Huselius and was afraid HE would go to the KHL. With my trading, I had also whittled down a bit of depth. So in the offseason, I needed to fix these things. So here we go:


Move #1, May 19: traded Vincent Lecavalier and a 2nd in 2008 for Hemsky, Berglund, Green (don’t get too excited d-men are just “skaters” in this league) and a 1st in ’08. Shored up a lot of holes there by selling high on Vinny.

Move #2, June 19: traded Savard, Carter, Armstrong, a 3rd in ’09 (there are three rounds) and a SUP pick in ’08 (a SUP pick is from one-round of drafting held in January). Acquired Briere, Fisher, Jokinen, a 1st in ’08, a SUP in ’08, a 1st in ’09 and a 2nd in ’10.

Terrible deal, but done for the picks. At the time, I thought Carter would get 65 and Fisher was a dark horse to get 60. I thought Briere would bounce back. Anyway, I knew I was losing on the players (though it turned out I lost BAD) but look at the PICKS! Two firsts, a SUP and a 2nd! Now I have shored up my depth and my draft picks with two deals. Jokinen was a dropsy to me. Hey – I’m being proactive here, it cost me a lot to win and I needed some assets.

Move #3, June 26: traded Marek Zidlicky for a 3rd in 2012. I was dropping him, so glad I got something.

Move #4, July 14: Ryan Whitney is hurt. Little did I know that this was the start of the most brutal year in history for me and injuries. I thought I covered myself off though. I traded Jussi Jokinen (who I was dropping) and one of those firsts for Sergei Gonchar. I’m set now, right? Hahaha

Move #5, October 4 DRAFT DAY: I traded away Jagr for a 2nd in 2009. Glad to get something.

Move #6, DRAFT DAY: I traded Paul Stastny, a 2nd in ’08 and a 3rd in ’08. I acquired Dumont a 1st in ’08 and a 3rd in ’08. That 1st rounder was the second overall pick. I figured Dumont would be very close to Stastny, and I would get FILATOV to boot!

AT THE DRAFT:
Picked Filatov 2nd overall, dropped nobody (space)
MOVE # 7 Traded my 6th overall pick (was going to take Franzen) for Miro Satan. Oops. At the time, I figured both would get 60 points, both would help my playoffs, but Satan fit in with my Pittsburgh strategy.
Picked Dawes 30th overall, dropped Mitchell
Picked Kris Letang 39th overall, dropped Guerin. Oops. (you see my luck in this pool already). MOVE #8 I traded Rusty Olesz to get this pick.
Picked Luca Caputi 42nd, the last pick of the draft. Dropped Poti.

Move #9, October 7: Traded Gonchar, Berglund and a 2nd in ’09 for O’Sullivan, Eriksson, a 3rd in ’09 and a 2nd in ’10. There, I traded Gonchar and all my injury problems and defection problems are solved. Right?

Move #10, December 15: Okay, so Mike Green, Andy McDonald and Daniel Briere are hurt. Have to fix and somebody is dangling Hossa. Trade Green and Briere, a 1st and a 2nd and acquire Hossa and Goligoski. This was before Green came back and went nutty. I’m still hanging in there in second place, but it’s damn hard when my guys are dropping like flies.

Move #11, SUP draft (one round) January 11): Trade a 3rd in ’09 for Alex Steen. He had just gone to St. Louis and looked pretty good at first. Didn’t work out. It happens. I dropped Mike Fisher to do this deal.

Move #12, SUP: Needed to clear some space. Traded Dawes and got a 2nd in ’10 for him.

SUP DRAFT: Versteeg, White and Eberle went 1-2-3. I didn’t draft until 7th and I took James Neal. I then picked Oscar Osala 11th, he had 20 goals in like 30 AHL games to start the year. He hit a wall after I picked him. I dropped Letang. Oops. I was drunk by this pick, so I’m blaming the beer!

Move #13, January 14: winning is looking like a pipe dream. Huselius misses a couple and so does Brindy. So I set my sights on the playoff pool. I trade O’Sullivan and Brown and I get Franzen and Jordan Staal, plus a 2nd in ’09 and a 3rd in ’10.

Move #14, TRADE DEADLINE: I give up on the season. I have sunk to 4th so I may as well be last for all I care. I don’t care about 50 bucks. I could trade and make a charge for 2nd but why? Nobody remembers 2nd. Time for focus on the playoffs. I trade Dumont and Arnott and Steen for Lupul, Fehr and Gerbe. Adds two playoff guys.

Move #15, still the trade deadline – final minute: I trade Hemsky and Neal for Setoguchi and Makarov. Tough to give up Neal, but I had to pay a price to get a playoff guy.

I now have a team that has a shot at the playoff trophy. Next season, I’m still in it.

My Roster now:
Best 12: Brind’amour, Huselius, Filatov, Eriksson, Hossa, Franzen, Lupul, Jor. Staal, Malkin, Setoguchi, McDonald, Tkachuk.
Farm 8: Ry. Whitney, Gerbe, Makarov, Goligoski, Caputi, Satan, Fehr, Osala.
Plus a 1st, 2nd and SUP pick next year.

End result: Injuries killed me. I finished 6th, but should get 3rd at worst in the playoffs.

Tomorrow, I’ll detail my final keeper league – the one with the fellas who write in the Forecaster – including the likes of Mario Prata, Glenn Gingerich, et al.

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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 like your vinny deal...and the dumont/statsny deal...even more so because dumont played the full season whereas stastny was injured....and you got filatov. stastny will outscore dumont most seasons from anywhere 20-30 points, and we all know how much you love filatov so it easily makes up for it

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XBOX 360 Gamertag: praba911

Another solid read Dobber. Are all the owners in your leagues as active as you are?? All the deals seem to be big deals aswell, lots of players and picks changing hands..

Traded Gonchar, Berglund and a 2nd in ’09 for O’Sullivan, Eriksson, a 3rd in ’09 and a 2nd in ’10. OUCH..

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Zorro says "vote for Dobber"
Angus is my best friend at dobberhockey..
Bruins believer since BIRTH..
Fav player: Cam Neely..

Two quick moves made. I'm not happy with my team in this pool, such is the cost of winning (two years ago) and some bad luck (last year). I saw an opportunity to get Grachev, so I made this move:

McDonald, Lupul, Tkachuk, Brind'Amour, 2nd in 2010
for
Gonchar, Grachev, Bowman


Then, I saw an opportunity to not only get Giroux, but replace the loss of Hossa with this deal here:



Claude Giroux, Dustin Brown, Patrick O'Sullivan, Brandon Dubinsky, and 1st in '09

For
Marian Hossa, Devin Setoguchi, Ryan Whitney

The first will be a Jamie Benn type.

It's not a full out rebuild, but a small one. I won't compete this year but that wasn't happening anyway. Not with Hossa out.

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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