What is Shea Weber\'s upside and how quickly will he get there. I\'ve found him to be very impressive so far, and with Timmonen gone his offensive role should be even greater.

I noted that he was not quite as high as I would have thought in Dobber\'s defensemen list. Why isn\'t he any higher on the list? In a league that counts +/- and has 2 points for goals, would he rank higher in the list?

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12 Team Partial Keeper League (Keep 7F, 4D, 2G)
Scoring: pts(1); +/-(1); PPG,SHG,OTG and GWG(+1); W (2); OTL (1); SO (3)
Forwards: Kovalchuk, Zetterberg, Backstrom, Derek Roy, Iginla, Vanek, J. Carter, Zherdev, Hudler, Smyth, Clowe and Radulov
Defense: Boyle, Rafalski, Martin, Carlson, Stralman, Babchuk, Wisniewski and White.
Goalies: Brodeur, Kipprusoff, Neuvirth and Crawford
Active Roster of 9F, 6D and 2G (moves every 2 weeks)

My impression of weber is that plain and simply, he is a stud. If you have a chance to get him now for cheap, id do it. That being said, just because timmonen is gone doesnt really mean his pp time will go up. Keep in mind that Zidlicky is still there, and has shown that he can be more then compentant as a pp quaterback. So, this may detract from weber\'s fantasy value.

21 years old, 17goals, 23 assists in 79 games.

Weber is only going to get better. He will have more of a presence with Timmonen gone to Philadelphia. Weber will be the best defenceman of the Predators, if not this year, next year. The guy is a horse. Just give him the load.

Goal scoring, offensive defenceman, are invaluable.

Weber will have at least 40 points again this year. The supporting cast has changed but his role will be bigger. Predators will still be a decent team.

My personal opinion.

I also agree that Weber will be a stud and is pretty much there now. Keep in mind that on the list, the points are really close. In fact, he\'d move up to top 20 on the list with just 10 more points. Whitney, Gonchar, Phaneuf, Visnovsky, Zubov, Erik and Jack Johnson...there\'re all extremely good as well.

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14 TM H2H dynasty; 30man active roster - 4x C, LW, RW; 6 D, 2 G, 10 BN
Unlim prospect roster, only filled through draft/trade
G, A, P, +/-, PM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, FW, Hits, BkS, W, GA, GAA, SV, SV%, SO

C: Malkin, Backstrom, M. Richards, B. Boyle, Sobotka
LW: Hall, Lucic, Hagelin, Stalberg, R. Smyth, Carcillo, Beleskey, T. Glass
RW: Eberle, Wheeler, Radulov, Eriksson, Voracek, N. Johnson, Burish
D: Boyle, Yandle, Whitney, Carle, Vlasic, Stuart, Gilbert, M. Stone, Barberio
G: Price, Backstrom, Harding, Montoya
P: Elliot, McKegg, Bouchard, Hackett

I can\'t tell you anything about his upside, but I have Weber on my fantasy squad and I value him very highly. Here\'s why:

* In just his second season in the NHL, Weber posted 40 points (T-27th) including 17 goals (T-5th).
* Weber has solid stats regardless of how your pool scores (17G 23A +13 60PIM 14PPP 2GWG 152SOG 109HITS).
* Weber put up these stats playing an average of 19:23 per game including 2:35 per game on the PP.
* Finally, Weber is only 21. The fact that he put up the numbers he did at his age speaks volumes about his skill level and potential. Most d-men don’t adjust to the NHL level until well into their mid 20’s. The fact that as a 21 year old he can put up solid offensive numbers at this level and still is defensively responsible shows that he has true “stud” potential down the road.

Weber spent most of the season playing with Suter on the second defense pairing and playing on the second PP unit. With Timonen gone, Weber will probably be matched with Zidlicky on the top line and should see an increase in his minutes per game (probably in the 23-26 minute range) as well as getting full time on the first PP unit. His stats should see a boost given the increase in ice time.

Weber is one of the better young d-men in the game in my opinion (both in fantasy terms and in a practical sense). He’s defensively responsible so you know he’ll play in all situations and get lots of ice time, but he has enough offensive instincts that he’ll see plenty of time on the PP unit and contribute 5 on 5 as well (only 14 of his points last year came on the PP). Plus, he’s not shy about being physical and will drop the gloves if need be so he should put up decent PIM’s (although he’s matured to the point where he’s not taking stupid penalties like he did early on in Kelowna).

So yeah. I rate him pretty high in fantasy pools. He’s still a couple of years away from being a true stud fantasy defensemen but the talent level is there. If you can pick him up cheap from a GM that is asleep, do the deal. Even if you have to overpay a little bit now I think Weber is worth it for the value he’ll bring 2-4 years down the road.

Post edited by: wizworm, at: 2007/07/14 19:43

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12 team limited keeper leauge: 9 protected players. Maximum 3 players at any position but only 1 goalie (and option of keeping one extra "prospect" at any position)
21 man roster: 3C 3LW 3RW 4D 2G 1UTL 5BN 2IR. Scoring:G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,GWG,W,GGA,SV%,SO
C: H. Sedin, E. Staal, Brunner (RW)
LW: Ovechkin, Hall, Dupuis (RW), Boedker
RW: Perry, Skinner (C), Voracek, Fehr, Boll
D: Chara, Hedman, J. Johnson, Bieksa, Despres
G: Louongo, Varlamov, Nabokov, Ellis
Prospects: Grandlund, Turris, Coyle, Nyquist, Lack

Thanks everyone that\'s pretty much what I thought and this is why I picked him up in the following trade, which I\'m pretty happy with:

Got: Sundin, Weber, 1st round pick (5th overall); Gave: Pronger, Smid

I\'m pretty confident that with this 5th overall pick I will be able to pickup Jonathan Toews, so I think I did very well on this trade. I think with Weber and Toews alone (even forgetting Sundin) I will quickly forget about Pronger and all of his yearly injuries.

__________________
12 Team Partial Keeper League (Keep 7F, 4D, 2G)
Scoring: pts(1); +/-(1); PPG,SHG,OTG and GWG(+1); W (2); OTL (1); SO (3)
Forwards: Kovalchuk, Zetterberg, Backstrom, Derek Roy, Iginla, Vanek, J. Carter, Zherdev, Hudler, Smyth, Clowe and Radulov
Defense: Boyle, Rafalski, Martin, Carlson, Stralman, Babchuk, Wisniewski and White.
Goalies: Brodeur, Kipprusoff, Neuvirth and Crawford
Active Roster of 9F, 6D and 2G (moves every 2 weeks)

That\'s not a bad trade you made.

Sundin will get you at least 70 points next year and you\'ll pick up a great player with potenial with the 5th overall pick (if you manage to grab Toews that would be awesome!). Losing Pronger will hurt and Smid is a great young defenement too, but it sounds like you\'re rebuilding so moving Pronger and Smid for Sundin, Weber and the 5th overall isn\'t a bad deal in my opinion. Weber reminds me a bit of Pronger but is a better skater (but isn\'t as mean).

Post edited by: wizworm, at: 2007/07/15 00:55

__________________
12 team limited keeper leauge: 9 protected players. Maximum 3 players at any position but only 1 goalie (and option of keeping one extra "prospect" at any position)
21 man roster: 3C 3LW 3RW 4D 2G 1UTL 5BN 2IR. Scoring:G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,GWG,W,GGA,SV%,SO
C: H. Sedin, E. Staal, Brunner (RW)
LW: Ovechkin, Hall, Dupuis (RW), Boedker
RW: Perry, Skinner (C), Voracek, Fehr, Boll
D: Chara, Hedman, J. Johnson, Bieksa, Despres
G: Louongo, Varlamov, Nabokov, Ellis
Prospects: Grandlund, Turris, Coyle, Nyquist, Lack

26th isn\'t that low, is it?

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin