Some of you may be concerned about Pekka Rinne's numbers in Nashville after Ryan Suter signed with the Minnesota Wild, but I'm here to tell you why you shouldn't worry too much.

To his credit, Suter is a terrific D, but he makes way for two fantastic young guys in Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi. Suter does not record a lot of hits and he only had 55 last season, while Josi had 33 in 52 games. How about blocked shots? Suter tallied 116 blocks last season, while Josi had a very impressive 98 in only 52 games.

Another guy that people seem to forget about a lot is Kevin Klein, he's one of the most underrated players on the Predators by all accounts. Klein could be ready to chip in some more points with Suter out of the picture, he has the ability to be more than just a shutdown D as we saw in the playoff series against the Red Wings. Klein finished with 157 blocked shots in 2011, he also had a career high in points with 21.

Ryan Ellis now gets the chance to be a difference maker, like Josi, with the Preds. Ellis has been compared by many to Dan Boyle and you should not look at his 11 points in 32 NHL games then just dismiss him. He was not playing prime minutes in those games, and he's definitely a lock to be in the Preds top four D as I see it.

What have I left out? Hal Gill re-signed with the Predators and he's a terrific D in his own end. Gill had 161 blocks with the Preds and Montreal last season.

My projection for the Preds D pairings this season
Weber-Josi
Gill-Ellis
Klein-Blum

We all know the kind of abilities Rinne has and I'm here to tell you that you should not worry about this guy at all.

He's a stud!

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macv@dobberbaseball.com
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Detroit Red Wings coverage
Twitter- @MacVincent1

Thank you! Makes me feel better with him as my keeper tender!

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SIODL: 12-Team H2H Limited Keeper League
Back-to-Back Defending Champ!

Rosters: 3C, 5W, 5D, 1U, 2G, 9B, 2IR
Keep: 4 F, 2 D, 1 G, 1 U (F or D)
Skater Stats: G (3), A (2), +/- (0.3), PIM (0.4), PPP (0.5), SHP (1), GWG (1), SOG (0.3), Hits (0.1), FW (0.05)
Goalie Stats: W (5.5), Saves (0.25), GA (-2), SHO (2)

Tentative Keepers:
F1: Crosby
F2: Tavares
F3: Backstrom
F4: Perry
D1: Weber
D2: Pietrangelo
G: Rinne
U: Parise

Trade Bait: Krejci, Wheeler, Voracek, Streit, Franson, Crawford

While I do agree with you that Rinne will not fall off the face of the earth. I do believe he fell a peg with Suter leaving.

With Suter I would have him in my top tier with Lundy and Quick. Without Suter he falls to the 2nd tier with the likes of Price Miller Smith etc.

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2010-2011 League Champion - ROTO
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 2,G | G, A, PPP, +/-, PIM, BS, W, GAA, SV%
C: Tavares, Thornton
LW: Benn, Hall
RW: Semin, Sharp
D: Edler, Carlson, OEL, Hedman
G: Smith, Miller, Fasth, Markstrom, Bernier
B: Wheeler, Weisniewski
H2H Keeper League [5F, 2D, 1G]
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D,1 Ult, 1 G -H2H Daily Start - G, A, +/-, Hits, BS, PPP, SHP - W, SV, GAA, SO
C:RNH, Ribeiro, Backes, Kesler
LW: Parise, Landeskog, E. Kane
RW: Ryan, Yakupov, Clarkson
D: OEL, Keith, Boyle, Wisniewski, Smid, Georges
G: Schneider, Varlamov, Nabokov, Bishop
IR: Wisniewski

I think you're bang on here but what if Weber doesn't re-sign? I think that has most Rinne owners more worried.

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10-team Auction League, $160 team salary, weekly H2H, start: 6F, 4D, 1G and 5 Bench

Scoring structure: (F : 1pt G / 1pt A / 0.15pts SOG / 0.15pts Hits / 0.15pts BlkS), (G : 5 pts W / 3 pts SO / 0.01 pts Saves)

Forwards : Ovechkin ($41), Kovalchuk ($24), Kessel ($18), E. Kane ($13), Benn ($5), Sharp ($11), Pominville ($1), Dupuis ($2), Whitney ($2)

Defenses : Letang ($24), Byfuglien ($6), Markov ($1), Bogosian ($1), McDonagh ($2)

Goalies : Schneider ($7), Bobrovsky ($1)

Trotz teams always seem to be good defensively. Hard to bet against Rinne. Is it me or is Suter now overrated?

I'm a Rinne owner. I don't question his abilities to play nets. I'm a little worried about the team around him, and their ability to put the puck in the opponent's net and hence, garner Rinne wins.

My league is heavy on goalie SO and wins. I think the loss of Suter and Rads and the potential loss of Shea, will have a negative impact on Rinne's stats in these two categories.

I don't expect Shea to be back after this coming year.
I'll keep Rinne no doubt, but i'm a little more worried of his fantasy value today then I was say a year ago.

Good post dm.

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Points only keeper League, weekly head to head, 2RW, 2LW, 2C, 4D, 1 G , (goalies 2pts for W +3 for SO)



LW: Gaborik, Landeskog, Burrows

C: Seguin, Skinner, Berglund, Nyquist, Lombardi

RW: Eberle, Oshie, Doan, Silfverberg

D: Doughty, Carlson, Ekman-Larsson, Carle

G: Price , Schneider, Nabokov