Who to send to the Minors
 

The team in my signature allows for 3 players to be in hte minors for 3 years. I last had Colbourne, Faulk, and C. Smith in there. I just traded Coulbourne for Nabokov to make room for all the young guns I drafted this year. The question is who will give me the most value THIS YEAR and who should I wait on.3 players must be in the minors or I will have too many roster players. The players that are minor eligable are..
Cory Conacher
Damien Brunner
Kyle Palmieri
Mark Barberio
Sami Vatanen
Craig Smith
Justin Faulk
Simon Despres

I'm pretty sure I'll want Smith and Faulk up this year. My first thought is to have Barberio, Despres, and Conacher in my minors. I could also send brunner down while waiting for him to be wing eligable, but then I would have to drop someone to make room for him to come up. Once (when, if?) a season starts no one on my playing roster can be sent down. Although, if we pick up someone on waivers tht IS minor eligable, they can be sent there.

Good chance it won't be a difference maker, but I'd probably put Despres, Conacher, and Brunner in the minors. Palmieri is another option. I'm not sure that either of those two Fs will be lighting the world on fire this season (if we have one).

I'd err on keeping Vatanen and Barberio simply because those two teams have more opportunities on the blueline, and your blueliners aren't as strong. With your Cs being a strength, I'm not sure you'll utilize the dual-eligibility often.

In the end, I don't think you'll kick yourself with any of them.

Cory Conacher, Kyle Palmieri, Simon Despres.

Barberio and Vatanen have a pretty good chance to get decent playing time like STONE mentioned, Faulk and Smith are already main roster players, and Brunner should have a serious chance in the top six considering how he and Zetterberg have been playing together

Despres, Conacher, Brunner

This would be my method without knowing what opening day rosters will look like. Assuming NHL experience gives them a better chance of making the opening day roster I would send down Conacher, Brunner, Vatenen and/or Barberio.

Games Played in NHL

Craig Smith (72)
Justin Faulk (66)
Kyle Palmieri (28)
Simon Despres (18)
Mark Barberio (0)
Sami Vatanen (0)
Damien Brunner (0)
Cory Conacher (0)

So far, I think I'm set on Conacher and Dupuis going down. Conacher is still pretty risky to perform at the NHL level, and Despres is a year or two away from being a fantacy force, although he should be a solid NHL player. The third spot is up in hte air. I lean towards brunner because he isn't W eligable yet. But, he isn't coming over to play a bottom 6 roll. And I'm pretty sure that I'll get W eligability after 5 games. But I think it's him,Palmieri or Barberio at this point. I think Vatanen is more ready than Barberio at this point. At least as far as putting up numbers.

Obviously, Craig Smith has shown he can play in the NHL, so keeping him up makes sense. Same goes with Justin Faulk. Mike Babcock seems to think Damian Brunner can play in the NHL now, and he has a pretty big say so in the manner. I'd definitely keep Brunner up. Palmieri is NHL ready too, hes done his time in the AHL and could help your club starting next season, so I'd keep him up.

Despres is NHL ready. Barberio will likely be next season. Vatanen arguably is ready now, but no guarantee Ducks rush him into their lineup.

If the NHL resumed tomorrow, I'd expect Conacher to receive a couple call ups with the Lightning, but wouldn't expect him to stick. Yzerman wants Conacher and Tyler Johnson to continue leading AHL Syracuse this season. I think it could still be a couple years before he makes an NHL impact, but obviously theres some talent there. Not sold on him being a high end NHL scorer just yet, or even a 50-60 pt guy, not yet at least...have to see him in some NHL games. If he does make a fantasy impact, it won't be in the next 3 years is my bet.

In conclusion, if I were you....

Conacher/Barberio/Vatanen are sure to have the least fantasy value during the course of the next three years.

Faulk will make the most impact in the near future.

I would send down Vatanen, Despres and Conacher.

Interesting...curious to know why you'd send Despres down, instead of Barberio? Not sure what you're seeing there that I'm missing!

Good question!

Pittsburgh is very deep in terms of defensemen and I don't see Despres making a significant enough impact to warrant a roster spot on his team. There's only one offensive defenseman worth owning on that team and its Kris Letang. Other than that, Matt Niskanen is a decent filler and Brooks Orpik is pretty much only good for leagues with hits.

I'd rather take a chance on Brunner, who could be in the Red Wings top six when the lockout ends. He's already doing well in his audition with Henrik Zetterberg (leading his team in points and the league with 32) on EV Zug. Tampa has few true offensive defensemen and Barberio has continued to look good with Syracuse as he prepares to try and make the team out of training camp. I think there's a pretty good chance he makes the team when the lockout ends and has a solid rookie season.