Comments for Earmarked for Success (West 2011): Part Three at http://hockey.dobbersports.com , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://hockey.dobbersports.com Mon, 20 May 2013 03:09:57 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3853-earmarked-for-success-west-2011-part-three#comment-15497 [b]RE: Running 3 D[/b] It depends entirely on league settings. In a default Yahoo! league that's G, A, PPP, SOG, PIMs, +/-, W, SV, GAA and SO Having that 4th D won't really give you an advantage at all. I've won a few times where I've just sat on 3 D and used a multi-position offensive player as another bench player to help gather some more stats. In a few leagues I've even seen a few poolies run 2 D and just stock up on O or another G... The way that I think about it, a 4th D probably has a line of: 5G, 20A, +10, 10 PPP, 110 SOG or something to that extent. A forward might get you, 20 G, 25 A, +10, 15 PPP, 160 SOG... So if you can get your forward in 70% of the games that he plays, you're pretty much gaining a slight advantage anyways. I don't think it's fool proof plan, but I've seen it done and it's worked... - Ryan Ma Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:40:25 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3853-earmarked-for-success-west-2011-part-three#comment-15496 [b]RE: Kings[/b] With Gagne and Williams I certainly agree that health could be an issue, but I think it's probably a minor one. I would certainly expect them to miss 10-15 games during the season, but I don't think I'd head into the season certainly expecting a large chunk of more than 15... With Penner, there's something about his adjustment period, when he signed with Edmonton in 2007-08 he looked very much like he did with the Kings at the end of last season. Very tentative and didn't really know what to do. He got a bit more comfortable in the 2nd season and then the 3rd, I'm kinda banking on that for this season. Also I don't know if Penner is a guy to carry a team, he's more of a secondary role player to help chip in with the play. With Kops, Richards, Williams, Gagne and Brown there the pressure is off for him to carry the offense, so I think he'll be back in his comfort zone more this season than at the end of last season. Stoll and Handzus were brilliant on the faceoff dot last season. Richards has been roughly a 50% FW guy for his career. Stoll is much better at 57%, Handzus around 52%... In terms of offensive potential there is no comparison between Richards and Handzus, but in terms of FW department there is a slight hit from Handzus to Richards, so I could see them utilizing Stoll a bit more to play the percentages for FW. That's where the loss of Handzus will help Stoll IMO. As for Richardson I agree with you to a certain extent. I do agree with you that last season he was an energy plug type of guy, but I think his offensive potential is limited for this campaign. Just looking at the depth charts, you have the top-six, Stoll, Loktionov, Parse and Richardson as well. Even if he gets an opportunity due to injury, I don't think it'll be sustained long enough for anything more than temporary pick up. He's someone I'd keep an eye on during the season if there is an injury, but I wouldn't worry too much about him for pre-season drafts. - Ryan Ma Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:30:25 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3853-earmarked-for-success-west-2011-part-three#comment-15494 So do you think in a standard yahoo h2h league it might be worth only starting 3D and saving the extra slot that would be for the 4th D for an extra forward that you can sub in on days when your lineup is not completely full? - derek Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:22:59 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3853-earmarked-for-success-west-2011-part-three#comment-15492 I have to respectfully disagree almost completely with you analysis on the Kings. Half of their top six looks awfully shaky. Gagne and Williams are very good when healthy, but they will most certainly miss huge chunks of the season. The entire time he was on the Kings, Penner looked like he would be hard-pressed to hold onto a top six spot on Manchester: slow, out-of-sync and disinterested. Stoll is way more impacted by the arrival of Richards than the departure of Handzus. Brad Richardson should definitely be considered as part the cavalry as there were many nights where he was their most active forward last season. In short, with Richards, the Kings are now very deep at center but they still have a lot of question marks on the wings. - Isle B. Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:16:07 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3853-earmarked-for-success-west-2011-part-three#comment-15491 [b]RE: Defenseman[/b] I think it's pretty easy to figure out the fantasy worthy defenseman... The only problem is in most standard leagues let's say 10-12 teams, each team carrying 4 d-man, that really only narrows it down to 50 D, spread over 30 NHL teams, basically you're looking at the number 1 or 2 of each team. Also most standard settings don't really favour D at all, they get the same value as an offensive player. So a 30 point D isn't going to make all that much of an impact compared to a 50-point O bench player, which is why I've seen plenty of times that poolies just run with 3, sometimes even 2, D and use that extra slot(s) for an offensive player. I might just do a quick one after this series quickly summarizing who are the players that I think will make an impact on D. I don't really want to change the format half way. But I will keep it in mind for next season. - Ryan Ma Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:45:26 +0100 http://hockey.dobbersports.com/index.php/columnistsarticles-mainmenu-77/amato/3853-earmarked-for-success-west-2011-part-three#comment-15490 Great stuff Ryan. I would love it even more if you included D men in your pieces. Who gets top PP time is critical for D, and I would like your take on how the top pairings shake down. Thanks - loco man Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:21:58 +0100