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NOTE: THE TEXT BELOW IS FROM 2011, GO TO PAGE 4 FOR UPDATED KEEPER LIST
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Always interesting to see how others pick your keepers.
Me & a buddy are in a points only league. Pick 8 keepers.

Skaters: G=1pt, A=1pt.
Goalies: W=2pts, SO=3pts, OTL=1pts.

Count: 2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 2G. (12)
There are also four players on your bench.

It is a "full-season points pool" and "points move with trades".
The team with the highest total points for their 12 counting players wins.
Positions are based on Yahoo!.
Trading is allowed all season until NHL Trade Deadline.

Important Part:
50% of $$$ go towards regular season 1st/2nd/3rd
50% of $$$ go towards playoff season 1st/2nd/3rd
*The playoff season is your same group of players. They start fresh at 0pts. If you have a player who is not on a playoff team - he is good for ZERO.

Expansion:
League has 13-teams, but is expanding to 15-teams next year. [August 23, 2012 EDIT: The league never expanded. It is still 13 teams.]
Goalies will become an even slimmer commodity next year - especially for the expansion teams, who pick their 8 from all non-keepers.

Our team at end of last year:
C: Datsyuk (DET), Malkin (PIT), Staal (PIT)
LW: Gagne (now LA)
RW: Heatley (SJ), Pavelski (SJ), Bertuzzi (DET), Kovalev (PIT)
D: Karlsson (OTT), Carlson (WAS), Demers (SJ), B.Stuart (DET)
G: Fleury (PIT), Crawford (CHI), Vokoun (now WAS), Neuvirth (WAS)

Who would be your 8 keepers?
(I'll respond in a few days, but want to keep my thoughts out until I hear others)

C: Datsyuk (DET), Malkin (PIT), Staal (PIT)
LW: Gagne (now LA)
RW: Heatley (SJ), Pavelski (SJ), Bertuzzi (DET), Kovalev (PIT)
D: Karlsson (OTT), Carlson (WAS), Demers (SJ), B.Stuart (DET)
G: Fleury (PIT), Crawford (CHI), Vokoun (now WAS), Neuvirth (WAS)

Tricky - don't like the idea in this set up of having goalies who split starts to any great extent so I would be adverse to protecting one or both of the Caps tenders (although you might be looking at awesome trade bait).

For an 8th keeper I am torn between Pavelski and Carlson. Being able to move Heater to LW inspires me to keep Pavelski for RW, but high end D guys have to be valuable in this league and Carlson has the potential. I would likely take my chances on keeping Carlson and relying on the draft for the wingers you need.

Now if you could trade the Caps goalies now for a very good RW keeper then Carlson becomes an easier choice for me.

If you can't make a trade and have to declare and see those Caps goalies as being money in the bank for trade purposes, then you really have a dilemma - neither Carlson nor Pavelski should be kept for one spot and I would keep Vokoun because I think he will get the most starts in Washington next year. Damn I hate the idea of unprotecting Gagne at LW but I think if you also want Neuvirth then he is the one to release. I might just sit at keeping one Caps goalie but that seems like only 1/2 a strategy.

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Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

Datsyuk, Malkin, Gagne, Heatley, Karlsson, Carlson, Fleury, Crawford, Vokoun.

that's 9 though so what i'd do is take a G of your choice and Heatley and package for a serious RW or LW no question. worst case let go of Crawford but I think he has longevity and on a great team to where trade above is by far the best route

C: Datsyuk (DET), Malkin (PIT)
LW: Gagne (now LA)
RW: Heatley (SJ), Pavelski (SJ)
D: Karlsson (OTT)
G: Fleury (PIT), Crawford (CHI)

those would be my keepers. Tough to let Vokoun go, but you are pretty solid in net with those two, and Vokoun's value is only for the upcoming season, so he isn't a great keeper option.

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10 team league, multi-cat, full keeper.

Forwards: J. Toews, J. Tavares, J. Eberle, J. Neal, A. Kopitar, T. Seguin, E. Kane, M. Duchene, J. Benn, M. Ryder, D. Brown, B. Marchand

Defense: A. Pietrangelo, K. Shattenkirk, A. Goligoski, PK Subban, J. Carlson, J. Spurgeon

Goalies: M. Smith, A. Niemi

Bench: R. Clowe, B. Dubinsky, M. Calvert, P. Mueller, D. Clarkson, M. Carle, M. Niskanen, P. Wiercioch, J. Halak, A. Lindback

C: Datsyuk (DET), Malkin (PIT), Staal (PIT)
LW: Gagne (now LA)
RW: Heatley (SJ), Pavelski (SJ), Bertuzzi (DET), Kovalev (PIT)
D: Karlsson (OTT), Carlson (WAS), Demers (SJ), B.Stuart (DET)
G: Fleury (PIT), Crawford (CHI), Vokoun (now WAS), Neuvirth (WAS)

Given Vokoun is only on a one-year deal, I think you let him walk.
If you keep him (b/c I think his numbers will be great this coming year), I'd drop John Carlson...and then see what kind of market you get for one of the goalies once the season starts.

I'm going Pavelski over Gagne due to the injury issues and age difference with the latter fellow.

he'd have no LW if he didn't keep Gagne and Gagne has plenty of upside, Pavelski might not even crack top PP with Burns, Boyle, Thornton, Marleau, Couture plus Heatley there as well, I rather bust on Gagne in LA where his competition is only Brown and Williams than Pavelski in SJ.

Ultimately ou really need to make a trade again as Vokoun and Heatley will fetch somethig quality on the wing no doubt

Malkin, Heatley, Karlsson, Fleury, Crawford, Vokoun, then I'd say Datsyuk and Staal (I think he'll play a lot with Malkin next season). My reasoning for this is that you said goalies will be hard to come by. Sure three might be overkill, but the deal you'll be able to swing after the draft will be killer for either of those 3. You'll be able to get a sweet grouping out of that and build up from there for the season.

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Sites: www.twitter.com/tsgraveline tsgraveline.blogspot.com thesharkremarks.blogspot.com

Team 1:10 Multi-Cat Roto league

C- Malkin,Giroux,Thornton Galchenyuk, Schenn, Berglund, Eller
LW- Hall,Ovechkin, E.Kane Saad
RW- Seguin, Stewart, PAP
D- Subban,Phaneuf Keith, OEL, Hedman,
G- Pavelec,Hiller Lindback, Theodore, Lehner

Team 2:24 H2H League Multi-Cat

C- Lecavalier, B. Schenn, Ennis, Belanger
LW- JVR, Leino, Bissonnette, Whitney, C. Bourque, Nodl
RW- Kopecky, Langenbrunner, Doan, Versteeg, Mayers
D- Doughty, Burns, Souray, Sarich, Lovejoy, Potter
G-Pavelec, Enroth

Pretty sure Heatley has dual eligibility in Yahoo, MT but I do agree that Gagne is a fine asset to hold. I know you are, but I am not ready to throw in the towel on Heatley just yet.

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Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

My team has some really, really interesting eligibility issues to consider too, yes.
Our keeper list is required by September 1st.
Fortunately, Yahoo should open in August - which may help make decisions.

2010-2011 Yahoo Positions
Datsyuk: C/LW
Malkin: C
Heatley: LW/RW
Pavelski: C/RW

Great discussion so far. Six players are set in stone (which everybody has):
Datsyuk, Malkin, Heatley, Karlsson, Fleury, Crawford

Do the expansion teams have rosters yet, Pengwin?

Man if Malkin finds his way to LW then I think you open the door to a Heatley trade easily - although I think he comes back next season - just intuitive though.

__________________
Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson