Had our inaugural keeper league draft this weekend. My goal was to build a team that will be a powerhouse in 2-3 years, not necessarily this year... did I accomplish my goal?

12-Team Head-to-Head. Categories: Skaters - G, A, PPG, PPA, SHG, SHA, GWG, PIM, +/-, SOG, FW; Goalies - GP, W, SO, GAA, SP

Forwards:

Malkin
E. Staal
Gagne
Kopitar
Radulov
Backstrom
Hartnell
Arnott
Stoll
D. Brown
Malone
M. Richards

Defence:

Gonchar
E. Johnson
Mezsaros
Zidlicky
Letang
Keith

Goal:

Nabokov
Ward
Kolzig

Prospects (kept on farm till I\'m ready to call them up):

Price
Gagner
Sheppard
Russell
Oshie
Hanzal

A bit disappointed in my 3rd/4th d-men; while I was busy securing Kopitar/Radulov/Backstrom all the D I wanted were being snapped up, but since we use the same stats for F and D I figured the forwards were more important. I also badly wanted Whitney... was going to take him 29th and he went 28th, so I took Gonchar instead. Also, I thought I could do better in goal, but by the time I got to my 2nd pick (20th overall), 6 goalies were already gone, so I took Nabby... by the 5th round, Ward was the best guy left.

Would appreciate your thoughts. If I want to win 2-3 years from now, what holes do I need to fill? I\'m hoping by then Price will be ready to form a good 1-2 punch in goal with Nabby or someone else I acquire by then.

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The Airborne Attack (GFHL - 14 Team Keeper League, Two-Time Defending Champion)
F: Stamkos, Backstrom, Perry, Kopitar, Kesler, Benn, Carter, M. Richards, Callahan, Berglund, Tlusty
D: Pietrangelo, Del Zotto, Giordano, Robidas, Boychuk
G: Luongo, Rinne
Farm: Coyle, Bjugstad, Conacher, Frattin, Shore, C. Smith, Stone, Colborne, Tatar, Zucker, Ellis, Murphy, Markstrom, Lack

Man that is a pretty nice team in a league this size. I think you may not win it this year but if everyone plays well for you - it could happen. The only weakness I see on your team is in penalty killing with 2 categories for short handed it might have been nice to have someone like Lecav or St Louis or J. Staal or Hossa. I think you won\'t be huge in +/- have to see how things go there.

Otherwise you seem to be solid with goal scorers for sure and not bad in PIM\'s. For this year I think you may be pleasantly surprised by your goaltending tandem and Zids is not so bad a choice.

You prospects are sparkling - you might be bringing Gagner up sooner than you think if he and Hemsky keep it up.

All in all I would say you achieved your goal in spades - you gave yourself a good solid core to build on if nothing else. No gaping holes.

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Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

Hey, thanks for the encouragement. In hindsight, I think I could\'ve waited a few more rounds to take Backstrom and EJ, and snapped up Bieksa and/or Weber. Everyone seemed surprised when I took them half way through the draft. For most of the guys it\'s their first keeper pool, and some of them were expecting those players to be available during our prospect draft, which was held separately. But I didn\'t want to risk missing out on them so I paid a bit of a price on the blueline to secure them.

My only other concern is that for the NHL playoffs, we pick 6 F, 3 D and 1 G off our roster for a playoff pool. Looking at my forwards, I may have a tough time icing 6 this year with so many Flyers/Preds/Kings/Caps on the playoff bubble. I need at least 2 of those teams to make the playoffs. That, or I may just have to sacrifice the playoffs this year, because I\'m not going to trade away my future hope for the sake of the playoff pool.

And yes, I was pretty happy to say the least with the prospect draft. No one else seems to have discovered Dobber, which gave me a huge leg up on prospect rankings. I figured if I could take Backstrom, EJ and Letang off the market early, I could pretty much have my way in the prospect draft, and that\'s exactly what happened. Beyond the obvious high first round picks and Super Series stars, most guys were shooting in the dark. So thanks to Dobber!

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The Airborne Attack (GFHL - 14 Team Keeper League, Two-Time Defending Champion)
F: Stamkos, Backstrom, Perry, Kopitar, Kesler, Benn, Carter, M. Richards, Callahan, Berglund, Tlusty
D: Pietrangelo, Del Zotto, Giordano, Robidas, Boychuk
G: Luongo, Rinne
Farm: Coyle, Bjugstad, Conacher, Frattin, Shore, C. Smith, Stone, Colborne, Tatar, Zucker, Ellis, Murphy, Markstrom, Lack

Yeah you might only have the 2 Pens make the playoffs.

How many keepers for next year?

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Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson

We can keep anywhere from 12-15 off our NHL roster, plus 2-6 of the prospects. If I need to shore myself up for the playoffs I\'d probably look at trading from amongst Arnott, Stoll, Zidlicky and Kolzig to try to get some playoff bodies, as I don\'t see any of them as long-term keepers. I can also sign one free agent during the season, so that will likely be used on a playoff bound forward. That being said, I feel that the Flyers will sneak into the playoffs, and I think Nashville and LA both have a chance to grab the #8 spot in the west... especially if LA can get some goaltending.

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The Airborne Attack (GFHL - 14 Team Keeper League, Two-Time Defending Champion)
F: Stamkos, Backstrom, Perry, Kopitar, Kesler, Benn, Carter, M. Richards, Callahan, Berglund, Tlusty
D: Pietrangelo, Del Zotto, Giordano, Robidas, Boychuk
G: Luongo, Rinne
Farm: Coyle, Bjugstad, Conacher, Frattin, Shore, C. Smith, Stone, Colborne, Tatar, Zucker, Ellis, Murphy, Markstrom, Lack