Hey guys, drafted 22 players for my keeper team. Its a keep 8 where you cannot keep your first two picks and you can only keep one goalie. I was hoping for a little feedback due to being so new to keepers.

Nightly starts of 3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 4 D, 2 Util and 2 G

Stats: G, A +/-, PPP, SHP, GWG, PIM, FW, HIT, BLK, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SO

My first two picks were Tavares and Howard.

C: Tavares, Duchene (LW), O' Reilly, Ott (LW), Dubinsky (LW),
LW: Eriksson (RW), Lupul (RW), Michalek (RW), Chimera
RW: Vrbata, Erat, Havlat, Alfredsson, Sam Gagner (C)
D: Byfuglien (RW), Subban, Gardiner, Schenn, Enstrom
G: Howard, Halak, Lindback

I would really appreciate some feedback on how I could improve my team right off the bat if possible.

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12 team keeper, nightly starts of 3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 4 D, 2 Util and 2 G. Keep 8 (1 goalie and cannot be first two picks) My first two picks were Tavares and Howard.

Stats: G, A +/-, PPP, SHP, GWG, PIM, FW, HIT, BLK, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SO

C: Tavares, Duchene (LW), Scheifele, Hanzal, Kadri, Rinaldo
LW: Eriksson (RW), Lupul (RW), Ott (C), Dubinsky (C)
RW: Vrbata, Havlat, Michalek (LW), Sam Gagner (C)
D: Byfuglien (RW), Kostka, Schenn, Enstrom
G: Howard, Halak, Lindback
IR: Gardiner, Laich
NA: Subban

At first blush, I noticed a few things about your team. First and most importantly, I think you are going to be a bit weak in net. Howard isn't a great #1 option and the timeshare in STL could potentially mess with Halak's value. If I had to own one of the STL goalies, I would prefer Halak by a wide margin, but the possibility remains for Elliott to leech value. As for Lindback, he could definitely provide some value if he solidifies the starting gig in Tampa, but nothing is set in stone. Even if he is the guy in Tampa, his ratios could suffer due to Tampa's rebuilding D corps.

Your forwards seem like they will provide solid offensive production, but I think you neglected the "grit" categories too much (Hit/BLK), as outside of Ott - who is gold in this format - and Dubinsky your forwards are kinda soft.

You did a pretty good job of building these grit stats trough your defense corps - I really like Luke Schenn's peripheral contribution in these settings and he will be decent with Assists as well. Byfuglien has potential to be the best D-man in your format and Subban provides nice across-the-board production, although his value is slightly diminished without PIMs. I'm not so sure about Gardiner's value this season, but we'll talk about possible replacements a bit later.

I would primarily address the two issues I mentioned, in the following order:

1- goaltending -- look to upgrade Howard as your #1. IMO Halak is a really solid #2 option in goal.

2- add more Hits/BLKs -- I might even consider trading a guy like Tavares here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but since he wasn't drafted by another owner he could be kept if traded? This would make his value INCREDIBLY high to another manager and you could likely get a massive return for a player you wouldn't even be able to keep. I would look to add guys like Perry, Backes, Benn, Neal, Hartnell, Lucic etc.

You can also pursue FA options to add hits/BLKs through your defenseman. Look to see if guys like Josh Gorges, Mark Stuart, Matt Greene, Ladislav Smid etc. are available. They could provide some nice help in those cats.

Good luck dude. Cheers

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mounD: 2011-12 Champs // 2012-13 Champs
12 Team H2H Keeper (Keep 18)
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 2G, 5BN (IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, FoW // W, Sv%, GAA, SHO

C: Getzlaf, Backes(RW),B. Richards,
LW: Parise, Hall, Kunitz, Ladd, Marchand(C,LW)
RW: Kessel, Neal(LW) Hossa, Burrows(Lw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns, Boyle
G: Rinne, M. Smith
Bn: Jussi Jokinen(C,LW), Cammalleri(C,LW), Weiss(C), Timonen, Visnosky

Farm: Kadri, Coyle, Gallagher, Järnkrok - Barrie, Trouba, Vatanen - Khudobin

Thanks for the reply mounD. First off before I forget, PIMs are a category, I just forgot to add them.

I will definitely look to upgrade my goaltending. Howard is solid but I could do better for sure. As for trading Tavares, the person I trade him too would have to drop him at the end of the season. It was a good idea in theory but I don't think anyone would bite on it.

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12 team keeper, nightly starts of 3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 4 D, 2 Util and 2 G. Keep 8 (1 goalie and cannot be first two picks) My first two picks were Tavares and Howard.

Stats: G, A +/-, PPP, SHP, GWG, PIM, FW, HIT, BLK, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SO

C: Tavares, Duchene (LW), Scheifele, Hanzal, Kadri, Rinaldo
LW: Eriksson (RW), Lupul (RW), Ott (C), Dubinsky (C)
RW: Vrbata, Havlat, Michalek (LW), Sam Gagner (C)
D: Byfuglien (RW), Kostka, Schenn, Enstrom
G: Howard, Halak, Lindback
IR: Gardiner, Laich
NA: Subban

mounD has some really great feedback here.

Right now I'd peg you Keep 8 as:
1. Halak, G
2. ----- (edit, I saw you can only keep one goalie)
3. Byfuglien, D
4. Subban, D
5. Eriksson, LW/RW
6. Lupul, LW/RW
7. Duchene, C/RW
8. ????

Your keepers are something you can deal with throughout the season, so let's consider a few things about your current team.

Questions:
1. Is this H2H or Roto?
2. How many teams in this league?


Recommendations:
1. You can do well in FOW easily... if you park centers in your wing spots. But this also means that you need your centers to BE centers and for your UTIL to also be centers. The problem with your current team is that you have wing-eligible centers (Ott, Dubinsky, Duchene) parked at your center spot. The problem is that a guy like Duchene may not even take a lot of FOW, so its hurting you in FOW. You need to find a way to shuffle your team so that you have Ott & Dubinsky as LWers.

Is a guy like Brian Boyle available?
I'd add him as a center and shift a guy like Ott/Dubinsky/Duchene to a wing.
Cut somebody like Chimera to add a guy like Boyle.

Also look into trades. I really don't expect Milan Michalek to repeat the year he had last year. I'd see if anybody is interested in him. If there is an Ottawa fan, check with them. Or just ask the team with Spezza if they have interest. This team is going to be stronger if you can move Duchene, Ott, Dubinsky to the wings.

That would be my starting point.
2. I can't really comment on how weak or strong the team looks without knowing the number of teams.

Thanks Pengwin. Its a H2H with 12 teams. By the way, we are only able to keep one goalie. Also, the positions don't matter too too much. I could slot dual guys at either wing or centre, so I don't find that to be too big of a deal.

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12 team keeper, nightly starts of 3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 4 D, 2 Util and 2 G. Keep 8 (1 goalie and cannot be first two picks) My first two picks were Tavares and Howard.

Stats: G, A +/-, PPP, SHP, GWG, PIM, FW, HIT, BLK, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SO

C: Tavares, Duchene (LW), Scheifele, Hanzal, Kadri, Rinaldo
LW: Eriksson (RW), Lupul (RW), Ott (C), Dubinsky (C)
RW: Vrbata, Havlat, Michalek (LW), Sam Gagner (C)
D: Byfuglien (RW), Kostka, Schenn, Enstrom
G: Howard, Halak, Lindback
IR: Gardiner, Laich
NA: Subban

Pengwin wasn't so much worried about positions. In a league with FW it's crucial to have wingers who contribute to that stat. Without 2 centers and at least 1 (preferably 2-3) wingers and utility spots contributing Faceoffs, it's really hard to be competitive in that category.

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mounD: 2011-12 Champs // 2012-13 Champs
12 Team H2H Keeper (Keep 18)
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 2G, 5BN (IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, FoW // W, Sv%, GAA, SHO

C: Getzlaf, Backes(RW),B. Richards,
LW: Parise, Hall, Kunitz, Ladd, Marchand(C,LW)
RW: Kessel, Neal(LW) Hossa, Burrows(Lw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns, Boyle
G: Rinne, M. Smith
Bn: Jussi Jokinen(C,LW), Cammalleri(C,LW), Weiss(C), Timonen, Visnosky

Farm: Kadri, Coyle, Gallagher, Järnkrok - Barrie, Trouba, Vatanen - Khudobin

Since there are 15 categories with an 11/4 category split, the key, IMO, is feeling really good that you can win 8 categories in a H2H playoff match.

The easiest categories to "count" on are the consistent/high quantity categories:
*FOW
*HIT
*BLK
*SOG
*PIM

I think your defensive core is set-up really well to help you with those.
FOW is a cat you are obviously getting from forwards only... centers only.
Everybody will have 3C taking FOW. If a team is smart, they'll also slot centers in their UTIL so they have 5C counting towards FOW. A really, really smart team will slot another 2-3 guys on the wings that take FOW... so 7-8 total centers.

To say it more simply: I think your team has too many guys that do NOT take face-offs. i.e. Too many pure wingers.

IMO, Chimera is a guy that simply doesn't have enough value to keep. I'm not fond of Erat with the extra categories either. And I wouldn't be surprised if Daniel Alfredsson is a guy you find isn't giving you enough across-the-board contribution. Martin Hanzal (C), Brian Boyle (C), and Max Lapierre (C/RW) are three players to have on your radar if unowned. These guys will give you great FOW, HIT, PIM... which are those key high-quantity categories that you can count on and win weekly... consistently.

Okay I see what you're saying, my mistake. The top Cs available on the wire with the highest number of FOWs are:
Horcoff
Brodziak
Gordon
Laich
Stoll
Vermette

Any of these worth a look? And over who?

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12 team keeper, nightly starts of 3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 4 D, 2 Util and 2 G. Keep 8 (1 goalie and cannot be first two picks) My first two picks were Tavares and Howard.

Stats: G, A +/-, PPP, SHP, GWG, PIM, FW, HIT, BLK, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SO

C: Tavares, Duchene (LW), Scheifele, Hanzal, Kadri, Rinaldo
LW: Eriksson (RW), Lupul (RW), Ott (C), Dubinsky (C)
RW: Vrbata, Havlat, Michalek (LW), Sam Gagner (C)
D: Byfuglien (RW), Kostka, Schenn, Enstrom
G: Howard, Halak, Lindback
IR: Gardiner, Laich
NA: Subban

I would feel very comfortable dropping Chimaera for Vermette (C,LW), who could be a 50-60 point guy with consistent FW numbers from the wing.

__________________
mounD: 2011-12 Champs // 2012-13 Champs
12 Team H2H Keeper (Keep 18)
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 2G, 5BN (IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, FoW // W, Sv%, GAA, SHO

C: Getzlaf, Backes(RW),B. Richards,
LW: Parise, Hall, Kunitz, Ladd, Marchand(C,LW)
RW: Kessel, Neal(LW) Hossa, Burrows(Lw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns, Boyle
G: Rinne, M. Smith
Bn: Jussi Jokinen(C,LW), Cammalleri(C,LW), Weiss(C), Timonen, Visnosky

Farm: Kadri, Coyle, Gallagher, Järnkrok - Barrie, Trouba, Vatanen - Khudobin

I've already looked to make a few changes on the wire, it doesn't open til the 21st but so far I'm looking at Hanzal for Chimera, Laich for Erat and Mark Stuart for Enstrom. Sometimes I forget goals and assists mean just as much as hits and blocks, and not more.

In the same breath, is it worth dropping my 5th D (would either be Enstrom or Stuart) for a goon like Konopka or Rinaldo, who were racking up ~200 PIMs each? I'm usually comfortable with rolling with 4 D but decided to grab a 5th because I had the space. I'm now thinking that space could go towards someone who could help me quite a bit in 2 categories each (PIMs and HIT for Rinaldo and PIMs and FOW for Konopka). Please let me know if this is a bad idea.

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12 team keeper, nightly starts of 3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 4 D, 2 Util and 2 G. Keep 8 (1 goalie and cannot be first two picks) My first two picks were Tavares and Howard.

Stats: G, A +/-, PPP, SHP, GWG, PIM, FW, HIT, BLK, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SO

C: Tavares, Duchene (LW), Scheifele, Hanzal, Kadri, Rinaldo
LW: Eriksson (RW), Lupul (RW), Ott (C), Dubinsky (C)
RW: Vrbata, Havlat, Michalek (LW), Sam Gagner (C)
D: Byfuglien (RW), Kostka, Schenn, Enstrom
G: Howard, Halak, Lindback
IR: Gardiner, Laich
NA: Subban