League in sig. I think I will have a shot at both these guys at #9 in my draft that is currently in progress... Who do you like?

The few times I watched Boedker play last year I was impressed, he can really create good things on offense. Nice cap hit on the new contract as well and should be given every opportunity to be a first line winger in Phoenix.

Granted I have only watched couturier at WJC, but I still don't really understand the talk of him regressing.. 96 pts as a 16 yr old (first to lead Q in scoring at that age since Sid), and in his draft year he put up 96 pts again but in 10 fewer games (prorates to 112 pts). Numbers look good, and I think his team was weaker this year than last (or a lot younger at least)... So why did teams sour on him? Will he be an impact offensive forward at the NHL level? I know he is touted as more of a two-way guy but is that really gonna limit his upside?

ETA is not really important for me.

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Dynasty - $100/yr buy-in - YR5 - $90M CAP
G A PTS +/- PIM PPP SOG W GAA SV% SO

C - Crosby, Giroux, Getzlaf
LW - Neal, Elias
RW - Perry, Voracek
D - Letang, Chara, Boyle, Del Zotto, Faulk
Util - Eberle, Seguin,Hossa, Pavelski
G - Rask, Lehtonen

BENCH
Selanne, Iginla, Doan, M. Foligno, Bogosian, Garrison, McDonagh, Gardiner, Bryzgalov

PROSPECT
Forsberg, Bjugstad, Eller, M. Backlund, Vatanen, R. Murphy, Lack.

2010-11 - 1st
2011-12 - 1st
2012-13 - 2nd

To me prospects are really hard to determine how they'll turn out in the NHL...(unless of course we're talking about studs). These guys could be studs, should be studs, but could be duds as well for all we know.

When I have troubles determining the value of a "who'd you rather draft/own" I typically go these rules of thumb:

1. Who has proven they can play at the NHL level?
2. Who has succeeded/produced at the NHL level?
3. Who has the least amount of barriers (least amount of depth on his team or his position) to succeed at the NHL level?

Now it's obviously hard to answer those questions with the two guys here as Couturier has never been given the opportunity to play in the NHL yet so that's why I have that 3rd question. To me, he has a lot more depth/barriers to succeed in the NHL (I think he will for sure but it'll be more of a JVR progression...and maybe not as good)...

Boedker has litterally garbage in front of him and could be on the top line this year or at least on the top 6. For that reason I'll take him over Couturier with your draft pick.

Answering who's going to be better is nearly impossible...so that's how I hash out these "vs" battles.

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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)

I agree with above, Boedker is in a better opportunity to succeed right now and have more ice time to develop. Couturier is a few years behind in progression not to mention buried under a ton of depth. Because PHI already has their offensive stars in place, I might feel that Couturier is more valuable to them as a 2 way guy and turn him into Jordon Staal.

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12 Team NHL Salary Cap Dynasty -daily starts
H2H, Salary Cap 82mil, Player actual salaries (all)
+/-,G,A,GWG,PTS,STP,PIM,SOG,HT,BS,GAA,SO,SV,W
Starters: 12 Forwards, 6 Defense, 2 Goalies

Forwards: Fleischmann, Duchene, Ennis, Kessel, M.Koivu, Neal, Conacher, D.Sedin, H.Sedin, Bailey, J.Thornton, Bozak
Defense: Carlson, Gardiner, Kulikov, Franson, Dillon, MacDonald
Goalie: Rask, Crawford
Reserves: B.Schenn, Cowen, Fraser, Gryba, Brodeur, Emery, Pavelec
Prospects: Gallagher, Chiasson, Killorn, A.Larsson, Murphy, Rielly
Fantrax TAHL 2013 Champion

You're an ass...

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10tm Dynasty Lg - $70M CAP
G A PTS +/- PIM PPP SOG W GAA SV% SO

C: J. Carter, H Sedin, E. Staal
RW: P. Kane, Stewart
LW: Semin, Couture
D: Pietrangelo, Hamhuis, Subban, Carlson
G: Lundqvist, Price
UTIL: Plekanec, Ennis, Perron, D. Brown


Farm
D: B. Smith, Morrow
F: Brassard, Williams, Niederreiter, Little, Okposo, Whitney, Nyquist, Kesler
G: S. Mason, Ward

Prospect:
F - Z. Kassian, Spooner, Kuznetsov, Tatar, Teravainen, Stone, Connolly
D - Matt Dumba

I'd go with Boedker also. I like Couturier and feel he might have been a bit underestimated by the time the draft came around, but like mentioned above he's stuck behind some serious depth. He could move to the wing at some point (or Schenn could) but his two-way game is most effective at center. Assuming it stays the same, he's behind both Giroux and Schenn long-term, while Briere is still there for a few years. So Coot is 4th at best on the center depth chart, and long-term he's 3rd.

Boedker probably has a higher offensive upside anyways, plus he has no one in front of him. Him, Turris, and Maclean have potential to be a great line in the near future, and they should start that progression at some point this season.

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20 Team Dynasty (points per) - G (25, 50 for defense) A (25) PIM (3) +/- (5) PPG (15) SHG (25) OTG (15) GWG (25) HTr (50) GP (2) HIT (1) BLK (1) Use actual NHL salary

F: Malkin, Tavares, E. Kane, Parenteau, Havlat, Tarasenko, Galchenyuk, Brunner, Boyes, Kruger, Helm, M. Martin, Bergenheim, Carcillo, Stajan

D: Green, Ehrhoff, Ekman-Larsson, Coburn, Daley, Postma

G: Fleury, Mason, Montoya

Farm: Grigorenko, Grimaldi, Kucherov, D. Shore, Hartikainen, Stransky, Kerdiles, Joensuu, Pageau, Murphy, Ceci, Klefbom, Thrower, Donovan, Ekholm, Lehner, Dansk, Poulin, Nilsson, Andersen

Another vote for Boedker here - especially with his new 1-way, 2 yr deal.

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16 Tm Dynasty,DailyH2H
3C,6W,4D,1G;G,A,PIM,+/-,STP,SOG,Hits,FOW,W,SO,GA,S
C-Kopitar,Carter,Zajac,Bailey
W-Perry,Parise,Neal,Oshie,JvR,Clarkson,M.Foligno,Sil vferberg,Chiasson
D-Yandle,J.Johnson,Carlson,Nikitin,Dillon,Barrie
G-Ward,Bernier
Fm-Holland,Shore,Pulkkinen,Teravainen,Jensen,Rundblad,Morrow,Barber io,Krug

10 Tm-8F,4D,2G Weekly
F-Stamkos,MSL,E.Staal,Toews,Seguin,Duchene,E.Kane,St epan,J.Staal,Brown,Silfverberg,Johansen
D-Keith,Seabrook,Voynov,Bogo,Wideman,Fowler
G-Price,Rask,Dubnyk
Fm-Tarasenko,Scheifele,Atkinson,Faksa,Smith,Orlov,Rie lly,Trouba,Markstrom

Agree with most of what's said here. I think you are in a pretty solid position to be considering those two guys. IMO Couturier is going to be a stud. His puck protection (granted against smaller and weaker opponents) is some of the best I've seen and he's got the capability to be a high end scorer or assist man. I think the youth and the offensive players around and ahead of him will actually contribute to his growth rather than inhibit it. Boedker seems like the sure thing right now and probably for the next 3-4 years, but I think long(er) term Couturier will emerge as the better point producer.

Boedker by a mile for me. I know you said ETA doesn't matter, but he'll put up bigger numbers earlier, and bigger numbers overall. With only PIMs helping Couturier, Boedker will be the better player for you.

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12 Team Keeper League, 4 C, 4 LW, 4 RW, 6 D, 1G, 6 BN, 3 IR
Keep 24 players
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG
W, L, GA, SV, SO

C: Tavares, Skinner, Berglund, Galchenyuk, Eller, Strome, Bjustad
LW: Boedker, T. Ruutu, Ennis
RW: Yakupov, Okposo, Gaborik, Tarasenko, Setoguchi, Silfverberg
D: Karlsson, Goligoski, D. Kulikov, Carlson, Brodin, Trouba, Gardiner
G: J.Hiller, Lehner

maybe some questions you could ask yourself
-might one of those guys drop into a later spot?
-does either one have more value to other owners?

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12 team H2H keeper. Roster 23-27 players 50gm season plus playoffs.game=3days. Keep 8F-3D-2G. goal, assist=1 pt. Win=2 SO=4
Max 4 goalies, min 5 D

I fully agree with Mancuso's approach. Granted, I'm not sure that I fully understand your pool, but with only 8 GM's I would assume that the talent pool is fairly shallow in terms of picking your starters. The first thing that jumped out at me is that you have guys like Oshie, Voracek, McDonald, Elias, Liles and Kronwall on your farm. This implies to me that a prospect will have to be VERY special for him to ever contribute to your team. Is that correct?

If so, then the question that I would be asking is which player would have the higher trade value in the near-term? In my mind, the odds that either of these two ever succeed to the degree that they crack your starting roster are fairly low (as with most prospects). I would be looking to package whomever you pick to someone who overvalues prospects. You obviously know your league better than I, but I would at least attempt to upgrade or acquire a starter in a deal involving the 9th pick or the player that you choose with it.

And this is where I go against the grain in this thread... I would take Couturier here actually, and it's the depth in Philly that attracts me. Knowing that he won't be on the team this year could be a blessing in disguise: it pretty much guarantees that he'll be playing for Canada at the WJC. I like Couturier's odds of being a point-producer for Canada more than I like Boedker's odds of being a point producer for Phoenix. You might be able to capitalize on the hype of the WJC, which, combined with his impressive junior numbers, should give you significant bargaining leverage (people have short memories and this summer's talk of "limited upside" will be forgotten with a strong showing at the juniors). By contrast, Boedker's statistical output is harder to defend, even if it is against more proven talent.

Just some food for thought...