Before calling me crazy, please here me out.

Would you consider choosing Iginla over Malkin based on the settings below? Please look at these projections only - it's just an example to illustrate.

Based on a fairly deep 12 team H2H league with G,A,+/-,PIM,PPP,SOG,FW.

If you projected:

Malkin
38G,79A,+15,65PIM,40PPP,270SOG,290FW

Iginla
42G,53A,+12,60PIM,38PPP,295SOG,280FW

They're pretty close except in assists. Given that assists is an easy category to fill, and that you have a winger that takes faceoffs, is it not too farfetched to pick Iginla above Malkin? (not Crosby though - he's good at faceoffs) This would ensure an elite winger who is solid across the board in all categories. If you took Malkin, you run the risk of missing out on an elite winger, where you could get a solid centre later on.

Thoughts? Any comments would be appreciated. If my reasoning appears flawed, please let me know.

Yup - with FOW the value of a winger who takes face-offs goes up dramatically - last year Zetts, Iggie, Backes and Doan were value added wingers to name the top few.

In the case you presented I would be cautious about Iggie taking as many faceoffs this year with the changes to the Flames top line. OJ does very well in faceoffs

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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

Shoeless, ah good point about Jokinen, didn't think of that. Food for thought.

I think strategically you are the right track - but your implementation of the strategy might be one level higher than it should be - there are some mid round wingers that will show strong over comparable players and you might do what you want just later in the draft. Smyth, Selanne, Versteeg, Park, Clowe are just a few I think about.

The beauty of this is that if you get good FOW centers you really don't need a lot from a forward or two to put you over the top in that cat.

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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

Yeah that's true, and I have looked down the list to see any wingers that might be bumped up a bit. I will have a closer look at depth centres as well - if my 4th centre could be a high faceoff winner, that would be ideal. However, I'm autodrafting, so the best I can do is increase the odds.

Another reason to keep Malkin above Iginla - trade value. Could use him to fill a specific need later on and perhaps use this strategy when considering whom to target.

I envy you - I love autodrafts - sick huh? I believe they are the highest level of challenge in drafting.

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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

The way I look at it is you can draft Malkin and trade him for an eilte winger plus get an upgrade at C

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30 GM Commish Dynasty
G A +/- PIM PPP SOG W GAA SV
Start: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 4D, 1Utl, 1G
C:Savard,Filpulla,Arnott,Ott,Boyd,Weight,Rupp
LW:Heatley,Morrow,Sullivan,Tambellini,Bissonnette, Pierro-Zabotel
RW: Hemsky,Backes,Orr,Tikhonov,Artyukhin,Ortmeyer
D:EJ,Ehrhoff,Hjalmarsson,Babchuk,Commodore
G: M.A.Fleury,Deslauriers,Koskinen,Monnino

Crazynuck, yeah I touched on that in my last reply and you're right - getting him could fetch more in a trade.

Yes Malkin sucks at faceoffs but I would bet he'll get atleast close to 500 FW this year. He's already excellent at every other facet of the game and he'll learn to get better on faceoffs too. And with healthy Gonchar in the lineup for whole year you can pump Malkin's PPP up close to 50.

I wouldn't take Iginla over Malkin even with FW as a category. Malkin is simply much better and like already said you should be able to trade him after the draft for Iginla+ if you really want Iginla.

You're wrong with this, Shoeless. OJ sucks in faceoffs. Not as badly as Malkin but close enough.

It's even more challenging when some of the guys are drafting live!