My keeper league is very deep on defense, and therefore I need to pay close attention to good young Dmen who will start producing soon in the NHL. The only issue is that we do not have a farm team and I can\'t afford to keep to many future prospects on my bench for too long. With that in mind, which one of these next four has the best upside, the highest likelihood of reaching it and who will get there the fastest?

Luc Bourdon (VAN)
Kindl Jakub (DET)
Danny Syvret (EDM)
Cody Franson (NSH)

Also, although I feel that both Eric Johnson (STL) and Kris Letang (PIT) are ahead of the other four listed above, will these two make a significant impact next year? If so, how much would you guess?

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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)

I\'m going to go with Kindl. He was absolutely superb in camp last year, and would\'ve made the team had it not burned up a year of service and a year of a cheap entry level deal. But at this point, I can\'t see the Wings turning him down.

Bourdon is another fantastic prospect, but he didn\'t look near ready in limited duty this year and a superb performance will be needed to jump him into offensively significant minutes on the Vancouver blueline.

Franson has the most immediate offensive punch of the three, but again, there\'s too much depth ahead of him.

Syvret is not and will never be a significant contributor at this level.

Johnson will make an impact, at least physically. He\'s one of the best yougn defensemen in the world. Does he he contribute offensively right away? I think his rookie year will be more Barrett Jackman than Keith Ballard.

Finally, Letang looked okay in a brief call-up, but until he\'s 100% developed, the Pens won\'t make him a free agent early. He\'d need to dominate the AHL before they even thought about it.

Good points Bugg. Especially Letang. I still like him for next year though. Pittsburgh is not too deep. I agree that Kindl is the most ready - but Chelios will take his spot again next year unfortunately.

Letang, even if he does not make it, is worth sitting on for one year. He will be dynamite manning that power play. He\'ll step in nicely as soon as Gonchar steps out.

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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

Dobber is right about Kindl, like Franson he has depth infront of him, unless he can step in for an injured kronwall, (which it seems very likely since kronwall will be president of the band-aid club soon) the PP QB spot is kronwall\'s to lose when lidstrom is gone.

as much as I like letang, gonchar is not going anywhere anytime soon, (got 3-4 yrs left) and with him and whitney infront of letang, he will not reach his potential anytime soon, but should still be able to contribute, especially if thoe other 2 guys are hurt.

Post edited by: DobberManiac, at: 2007/04/10 22:54

with the info i\'ve gathered from this site i picked up letang in my keeper pool before the season ended.unless he dominates training camp i wo\'nt be protecting him but will try to grab him with a later round draft pick.the feedback here has given me some more insight into what dobber considers to be a future star d-man harnassing the pp.thanks for the info!

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Roto type keeper league.We keep any 6 ;15 teams , 3 div. of 5.We play 3 lines , 3 def. and start 2 goalies.6 BN.Stats are 1pt. for goals and assists , 2pts. for W , tie(O.T. or S.O. loss) 1pt. S.O. 1pt.Weekly line-up from Mon. to Sun.

LW - Malkin
LW - J. Skinner
LW - T. Ennis
LW - Conacher
LW - Raymond
C - Matthias
C - M. Richards
C - V. Filppula
C - Vermette
RW - B. Schenn
RW - M. Read
RW - J. Huberdeau
RW - M. Gaborik
Def. - Pietrangelo
Def. - B. Smith
Def. - Diaz
Def. - OEL
Def. - Stoner
G - Louongo
G - Markstrom
G - Neuvirth