Well played my friend... well played.

If you are contending now, gamble on Markov. I like Nikitin as a player but Wiz and Johnson are the guys right now in Columbus.

Gotta land a hail mary or two to win a title...

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10 team roto, Keep 17 + 45 farmers (Farm GP limits 246 F, 328 D and 200 G). Dress 9F 5D 1Ut 2G (G A +/- PPP PIM SOG W SV% GAA)
F- Kovalchuk Spezza Skinner Tavares Williams M. Richards Brown Hartnell Bergeron Simmonds
D- Ehrhoff Franson Suter Wisniewski Goligoski
G- Ward Lehtonen
Bench: Pavelec Thomas Doan Pronger Simmonds Carle Hornqvist Whitney
Farm highlights: Orlov Armia Puempel Kucherov Josi Weal Hamonic Rodin Muzzin McNabb Salak Dubnyk Bachman Dumba Ceci Dansk Maatta Gaunce

Nikitin would be my choice as well.

An excerpt from my latest article:

Another player that could make an impact is young defenseman Nikita Nikitin. The 26-year-old very quietly put up 32 points in 54 games with Columbus last year. He was shipped to Columbus in exchange for Kris Russell.

Nikitin also had 95 blocked shots in his time with Columbus, but his problem will be all about opportunity. When healthy, James Wisniewski and Jack Johnson are the source of the Blue Jackets offense from the back end. Johnson is a very durable player, while Wisniewski is quite fragile. Nikitin could be worth a late round flyer because of the great numbers he put up with Columbus when given an opportunity.

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macv@dobberbaseball.com
DobberBaseball Columnist- http://baseball.dobbersports.com/ind...layout=default
Detroit Red Wings coverage
Twitter- @MacVincent1

Its so frustrating, because any of these guys could have a great season(if there was a season) if they could just stay healthy and get icetime. Pierre-Marc Bouchard is easily one of the most underappreciated players in all of fantasy hockey right now. The guy oozes offensive instinct, great vision, stickhandling, speed...hes just been messed up due to concussion related stuff.

Anyways...I'd steer clear of Markov. Nikitin isn't a bad choice because whenever Wisniewski gets hurt or suspended(which both are high probabilities), he'll receive a bump in PP time.

Me, I got a soft spot for PMB because hes a really good guy with a ton of talent, and I want believe he can beat this thing.

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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

Nikitin has my vote.

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Derek Reese - Future Hall of Famer
Studs N Duds - Sunday's

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

F - Stamkos, Perry, E.Staal, Voracek, J.Staal, Simmonds, Ott, Downie, J.Jokinen, Eller, Nielson, Prust
D - Martin, Faulk, Brodie, Ellerby, M.Weber, Stone
G - Bobrovsky, Halak
Bench - Brunner, Brodie, Strachan, Khudobin, Lindback, Neuvirth, Ramo

Prospects - Calvert, Forsberg, Etem, Namestinikov, Kreider, Cundari

You're not alone.....I took him as part of a trade this year....I think this year he re-gains some of his old form and surprises a lot of people.....then I can trade him to one of those delusional "Habs" fans in my pool for an inflated price.....
This being said, it's all or nothing for this guy. I'm giving him a 1 year tryout on my team, make or "break" if you will.

My vote Markov....high risk, high reward. Next for me would be Nikitin.

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13 Team Keeper league: 9 fowards: 3 each position
4 defense
2 goalies
Fowards - Defense: 1pt goal, 1pt assist
Goalies : 2 pt win, 2 pt shutout, 1pt otl
Left: B.Ryan, Marleau, Elias,
Sullivan,
[B]Center: Toews, Duchene, Benn
Little
Right: Eberle, Conacher, Kessel, Pomminville

Defense: Yandle, Hamilton, Bogosian, Hedman, Tyutin, Whitney

[B]Goalies:Bryzgalov, Nabokov, Smith

We keep 12 and throw back top 4 every year and use snake draft 13 rounds.

The safest player in my mind is Nikitin, he put together a decent season last year but primo ice time may be tough for him to gain.

The other guy I look at here is Markov. He's had a brutal run through the last few seasons, but if his knee can finally hold together he will be far and away the best from this group.

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10 team full keeper: 4C/LW/RW,6D,2G,5BN

G,A,P,+/-,PIM,SOG,GWG,PPP,SHP,Hit,Blk,FOW
W,GAA,SV,SV%,SHO

C- Giroux,Hanzal,M.Richards,J.Staal
LW- Lupul,JVR,Tlusty,Zetterberg
RW- Backes,Clarkson,Havlat,Kessel
D- Bogosian,Carlson,Enstrom,Kulikov,Markov,Yandle
G- Miller,Hiller,Crawford
BN- Kuba,Ruutu,Robidas,McDonald

Prospects- Armia, Connolly, Couturier, Etem, Forsberg, Girgensons, Huberdeau, Kucherov, Nyquist, Okposo, K.Palmieri, Stransky, Toffoli, Barberio, Gardiner, Gormley, Josi, Marincin, Moore, Morrow, Savard, Vatanen, Allen, Bernier, Campbell, Fasth, Hackett, Mrazek

Thanks for all the responses. How much stock would one put into stats coming from the KHL. Markov even before he was injured looked brutal stat wise. Same could be said of Nikitin. With Markov, I wonder if he has lost it.

I don't recall seeing good stats from any NHL defensemen playing overseas. I might be missing something myself, but perhaps the bigger ice requires D to play a bit more conservatively?

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10 team full keeper: 4C/LW/RW,6D,2G,5BN

G,A,P,+/-,PIM,SOG,GWG,PPP,SHP,Hit,Blk,FOW
W,GAA,SV,SV%,SHO

C- Giroux,Hanzal,M.Richards,J.Staal
LW- Lupul,JVR,Tlusty,Zetterberg
RW- Backes,Clarkson,Havlat,Kessel
D- Bogosian,Carlson,Enstrom,Kulikov,Markov,Yandle
G- Miller,Hiller,Crawford
BN- Kuba,Ruutu,Robidas,McDonald

Prospects- Armia, Connolly, Couturier, Etem, Forsberg, Girgensons, Huberdeau, Kucherov, Nyquist, Okposo, K.Palmieri, Stransky, Toffoli, Barberio, Gardiner, Gormley, Josi, Marincin, Moore, Morrow, Savard, Vatanen, Allen, Bernier, Campbell, Fasth, Hackett, Mrazek

I'd lean towards Nikitin given his role once he was traded last year and the points he acrued; however, I also have a blind spot for PM Bouchard. I think he is the most talented of all the players listed and with the talent MIN is adding via free agency (Parise, Suter) and Rookies (Granlund, Boyle, Zucker) he will actually have talent to play with for the first time in years. Plus, if he does get hurt I am assuming you can move him to the IR.

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Head to Head 12 team 14 man keeper League F:Ovechkin, Marleau , E.Staal, Getzlaf, Gaborik, Krejci, VanReimsdyk, Benn, P. Bergeron, Little, Hodgson, Turris, Burmistrov, Michalek, Read
D:M.Green, Keith, Letang, Byfuglien, Ekman-Larsson, Spurgeon, J. Moore
G:Lundqvist,Lehtonen, Pavelec, Halak