Hey dobb dudes,

What do you figure Vinny Lecavalier's worth is in a pts only keeper? Who would you compare him to value wise for the next season or two.

I scooped him because he was cheap in our auction, now I'm not sure what to do with him...

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10 team Auction Keeper-Year 6, No FAs, Points only, Weekly Lineups (2nd and Final Tank Year)
C-Kopitar, M.Koivu, Stepan
W-Kovy, Schenn, Boedker, Skinner, Kadri, Conacher
D-Wideman, Kronwall, Timonnen, McBain
G-Schneider
Bench:Palmieri,Lintback,Allen, Larsson
Farm:Granlund,Pirri,Silfverberg,Schwartz,Nieto,Tof foli,Etem,Dumba Yakupov,Rattie,Lack,Gormley,Markstrom,Nyquist,Reil ly,G Reinhart, BSmith

I think he'll still have plenty of value. At the end of the day his point totals were hampered because of injury rather than poor play...

He was on a 62 point pace before succumbing to injury. I don't think he'll ever reach the good ol 90 point days, but 65-70 points is still a decent total given the nature of the NHL at the moment.

I'd put him behind the Kops, Getzlaf, Thornton, Datsyuks... Alongside Plekanec, Jokinen, Bergeron, Stastny, Koivu types...

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Dobber Expert Pool Champion 2011-12

Pretty much this. Though I'd add that he's far behind that first group of guys.

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Do you think Stastny has it in him to get back into the high 70's range again?

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10 team Auction Keeper-Year 6, No FAs, Points only, Weekly Lineups (2nd and Final Tank Year)
C-Kopitar, M.Koivu, Stepan
W-Kovy, Schenn, Boedker, Skinner, Kadri, Conacher
D-Wideman, Kronwall, Timonnen, McBain
G-Schneider
Bench:Palmieri,Lintback,Allen, Larsson
Farm:Granlund,Pirri,Silfverberg,Schwartz,Nieto,Tof foli,Etem,Dumba Yakupov,Rattie,Lack,Gormley,Markstrom,Nyquist,Reil ly,G Reinhart, BSmith

Yeah, but I think he needs a trade or, a few of his teammates to regress...

The thing is Col is shaping up to be a very "offense by committee" team, if you look at the line up, Stastny, Duchene, Jones, Landeskog, O'Reilly, Downie, Parenteau, Hejduk, McGinn, you kinda have 5-6 guys who can go 55+, then a couple of 40 pointers. Generally speaking if you look at players who tally high-end point totals, 70+, they generally don't face a lot of competition down the lower end of the roster. Most of the bottom 6 are goons, or role players who may chip in with 15-20 points, but if you look at the Col line up, they have 3 guys in the bottom 6 who could put up 35-40, so obviously something has to give... which might take away from the point totals from the top 6.

I have a feeling that he goes to TO at the trade deadline, and gives the Leafs that number 1 C that they desperately need.

But for this season, I don't think he reaches 70.

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Dobber Expert Pool Champion 2011-12

I agree with Ryan, I think he can top 60 points.

He's still a solid second line centre.

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Obviously, at this point Lecavalier takes a seat back to Stamkos in Tampa. Its a role that is more fitting for him anyways at this point in his career; he'll turn 33 in April and is 2 reg. season games shy of 1000...add that in with 63 playoff games, World Cups, Olympics and the 30 games he played in the KHL during the last lockout...the man has been through a lot. Hes had two major surgeries, shoulder and wrist, and hasn't been the dominant force he was for a couple years since the shoulder surgery.

Watching Vinny play every night, it always seems like he can do more, and I think he could but I honestly think his body is just so beat down and somewhat limits what he can do in certain situations.

His point per game percentage was down to 0.77 last season, the lowest its been since 2001-02. Over a full 82 game season, I would stll expect him to net close to 30 goals and 70 pts, which would put him at 0.85..which is nothing to sneeze at. Having said that, its more likely he'll miss at least 10 games every season, for various injuries.

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Stamkos was asked today in Tampa how he can top last season:
"Well, get into the playoffs. That's the big key and that's our goal here."

Follow me on Twitter @thehockeyhitman

It's too bad his contract is so bloated as it kind of handcuffs Tampa in free agency. Also, he might get better ice time somewhere else, but that contract and NMC say otherwise.

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10 team Auction Keeper-Year 6, No FAs, Points only, Weekly Lineups (2nd and Final Tank Year)
C-Kopitar, M.Koivu, Stepan
W-Kovy, Schenn, Boedker, Skinner, Kadri, Conacher
D-Wideman, Kronwall, Timonnen, McBain
G-Schneider
Bench:Palmieri,Lintback,Allen, Larsson
Farm:Granlund,Pirri,Silfverberg,Schwartz,Nieto,Tof foli,Etem,Dumba Yakupov,Rattie,Lack,Gormley,Markstrom,Nyquist,Reil ly,G Reinhart, BSmith

Obviously its a large cap hit over a long period of time. Its the nature of the business though. When Lecavalier signed that he had been one of the league's top 5 players, not centers but players in the NHL, period, for 3 years. Beyond the stats, Lecavalier was simply dominating games at times, he was faster, he was more physical, he played with more of an edge every night, and with the puck on his stick he was just burying it. It didn't hurt that he had a pretty good setup man there for a while too...

Then rewind back to 2004 before the lockout, he won the Cup w/ the Lightning. So those were his best seasons in the NHL. Then he has shoulder surgery and his contract is up....the Lightning were in a position where they had to sign Vinny long-term, it wasn't up for discussion. Any GM would have given him that deal at that point. I don't think anyone could have foreseen how much the shoulder and wrist injuries, from a rehabilitation stand point, would affect him. He played with the injuries for a while before he was shelved, and he came back too early, he didnt spend enough time rehabbing those injuries...players like him have a hard time missing games, they'll play through pain.

Lecavalier is a cornerstone of the Lightning and I expect he'll retire a Bolt. Hes still considered TB's 2nd line center and at this point in his career its a role he fits perfectly in, behind the mega superstar Stamkos. Its easy to look back and say, "man, what was that team thinking signing this player long-term at that cap hit?" And there are a lot of those out there, but then there are the franchise guys, the Iginlas, Alfredssons, Datsyuks, Zetterbergs, Nashs, and Lecavaliers, thats been the nature of the business.

Vinny doesn't want to go anywhere else but if he did, if he truly wanted to "get out" of Tampa, Yzerman and company would figure out a way to make that happen, out of respect. Fact is, the Tampa Bay area has become Vinny's home and hes invested a ton of his personal time and finances to with local children's hospital.

Vinny Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center

• Vinny Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center occupies 1/2 of an entire floor
• 28 Bed unit designed with a positive pressure environmental system, allowing patients whose immune systems are compromised by disease, treatment or transplant to avoid isolation in their rooms
• A dedicated playroom for immuno-compromised patients
• Made possible through a $3-million pledge from the Tampa Bay Lightning star and team captain Vinny Lecavalier

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Stamkos was asked today in Tampa how he can top last season:
"Well, get into the playoffs. That's the big key and that's our goal here."

Follow me on Twitter @thehockeyhitman

Nice to see he's giving some of that overpayment back to the kids.

Reading through the contract is just nuts, because you're being paid for what you've done (which is right) for the rest of your career (which is wrong). It's fitting how it's the Toews' and Crosbies' that are in NY with the PA arguing about rollbacks and contract length, they are the ones who benefit from these ridiculous contracts and don't want to give up any money in a time where people who want to go see hockey games can;t because they can;t even get a ****ing job.

It's also ludicrous because it's the owners who set the standards with these absolutely crippling contracts. Glen Sather is a bad person. And the GMs who followed suit in smaller markets are even worse. No business acumen at all.

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Tweet @ Me brah!
10 team Auction Keeper-Year 6, No FAs, Points only, Weekly Lineups (2nd and Final Tank Year)
C-Kopitar, M.Koivu, Stepan
W-Kovy, Schenn, Boedker, Skinner, Kadri, Conacher
D-Wideman, Kronwall, Timonnen, McBain
G-Schneider
Bench:Palmieri,Lintback,Allen, Larsson
Farm:Granlund,Pirri,Silfverberg,Schwartz,Nieto,Tof foli,Etem,Dumba Yakupov,Rattie,Lack,Gormley,Markstrom,Nyquist,Reil ly,G Reinhart, BSmith