So I'm nearing the end of a rebuild. I have some very promising forward talent on my farm, and even more already playing on my active roster.

Looking back - the most successful team in my league the last few years has been the team with the most young, cheap defense (we sign our own contracts) that have paid off huge. He signed Buf, Letang, Pietrangelo, Karlsson, and Enstrom all for cheap and/or before they became big. I want to do the same thing - young cheap contracts that will be big point getters for me in (at most) two years.

Given that I have a lot of interest in some of my young FWDs, I would like to move a few of those pieces to make a solid D-core. Of these names below, who would you roster as your top 6? Some are mine, and some are not, but I believe all are within reach if I move some FWDs. The older guys are also just cheap D contracts that are available around the league.

OEL
A. Goligoski
J. Schultz
D. Hamilton
R. Murphy
T. Hamonic
S. Elliott
R. Josi
D. Kulikov
L. Visnovsky
Z. Bogosian
V. Hedman
N. Leddy

Thanks!

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9-Team, Custom Full Keeper, $51 Salary Cap

In this league GMs sign their own contracts at an auction. Farm is drafted each year from the crop of that year's NHL entry draft.

Points
G(3) A(2.5) +/- (0.5) SOG(0.1) FOW/FOL (0.05) HTS(0.1) BKS (0.1)

2C - P. Kane(RW), Hodgson(RW), Roy, Schenn(RW)
2RW - St. Louis, Semin(LW), Voracek
2LW - Ovechkin, Hall, Pacioretty
3FWD - From above FWDs
6D - Goligoski, OEL, Visnovsky, Bogosian, Wisniewski, Hedman
2G - Ward, Holtby, Markstrom

4 OPEN SLOTS (offseason)

4FARM - Galchenyuk, Tarasenko, [empty], [empty]

I would be looking at:

Schultz
OEL
Kulikov
Hamilton
Leddy
Hamonic

...in that order.

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10 Team Yahoo Roto
Keep 6F, 3D, 1G (to max 4 years)
4C,4LW,4RW,6D,2G,5BN,2IR Roto-play 90games/position
Player: G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, FW
Goalie: W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO

C: 3-Backstrom, 1-Getzlaf, Kesler, Ribiero, Stepan
LW: 2-Zetterberg(c), 1-Hall, 2-Benn(c), Pacioretty,
RW: 1-P.Kane(c), Wheeler, Burrows, Brunner, Silfverberg
D: 2-Edler, 1-Yandle, 1-Subban, Carlson, Zidlicky, J.Faulk, Souray
G: 2-Quick, Brodeur, Dubnyk, Emery
IR: Malone

#- denotes number of years I have kept a player.

I am assuming its the league in your signature... Hits and blocks make this tough to determine. There are not a lot of stats to tell me who will excel in these categories for some of the players that I have not yet seen play.

Looking at last years stats OEL (who I think is the best option out of that group) was worth about 124 fpts. Most of his points coming from G and A. I think it may be a good strategy to focus on D that have high hits and blocks. Luke Schenn last year was worth 102, but his cost would be considerably less.

cheers,

AW

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O&B Dream Team
Bill Barber - Bobby Clarke - Tim Kerr
Mark Howe - Chris Pronger
Bernie Parent
Farm: Giroux

Hits and blocks add a few points to otherwise solid scorers. The main source of points for any great D in my league are G and A. If they play a good defensive game (hit and block shots too), that's a small bonus.

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9-Team, Custom Full Keeper, $51 Salary Cap

In this league GMs sign their own contracts at an auction. Farm is drafted each year from the crop of that year's NHL entry draft.

Points
G(3) A(2.5) +/- (0.5) SOG(0.1) FOW/FOL (0.05) HTS(0.1) BKS (0.1)

2C - P. Kane(RW), Hodgson(RW), Roy, Schenn(RW)
2RW - St. Louis, Semin(LW), Voracek
2LW - Ovechkin, Hall, Pacioretty
3FWD - From above FWDs
6D - Goligoski, OEL, Visnovsky, Bogosian, Wisniewski, Hedman
2G - Ward, Holtby, Markstrom

4 OPEN SLOTS (offseason)

4FARM - Galchenyuk, Tarasenko, [empty], [empty]

My Top-6 are:

1. OEL
2. J. Schultz
3. D. Hamilton
4. N. Leddy
5. V. Hedman
6. A. Goligoski

Murph and Elliott are lotto tickets, Bogo is made of porcelain and Kuli is not progressing as I originally thought, although there is still time. Hamonic will be passed by the likes of Reinhart in a couple of years. Vis is too old and Josi just doesn't excite me - 90% of Preds are fantasy quicksand.

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6-GM /Wk. H2H
[Skaters] G=2, A=1, PP/SH= +1, GWG= +2, Shootout G=1 / [*D-Men Bonus]: G=3/A=2
[Goalies] W=3, OTL=1, SO= +2, SV= .10

Start= 13F, 6D, 2G /Keep 40 [2G Max]
[F] Backstrom, P.Kane, Kopitar, Perry, E.Staal, Spezza, Z-berg, Nash, Vanek, Couture, B.Ryan, Eberle, J.Staal, D.Brown, Lucic, Tarasenko, JvR, T.Ennis, Gallagher, Armia, Teravainen
[*D] Karlsson, P.Subban, Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, Doughty, Yandle, Chara, Kronwall, Visnovsky, J.Johnson, E.Johnson, Myers, J.Faulk, A.Larsson, J.Morrow, M.Rielly
[G] Price, Rask, M.Smith

Schultz
OEL
Hamilton
Hamonic
Bogo
Kulikov

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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