Help me pick 2 of 3 D-Men
 

I've got a young team. I'm a basement dweller in my pool now. I shook my team up and stocked up on young guys with an eye to be competitive in 2 years and thereafter. With that in mind, which 2 of the following 3 D-Men should I keep? My keeper league is fantasy points only with categories in Sig. Given my league all 3 of these guys should be multi-cat gold.

1. J. Carlson
2. B. Smith
3. D. Hamilton

Thanks.

I'd go with Carlson and Hamilton. I thought long and hard about Smith and it is very close between him and Hamilton but I think that Hamilton has just more upside that is hard to pass. Even with PIM, I still think Hamilton will do better. And Carlson is so much ahead of either of them that I didn't really think twice about including him.

Carlson & Hamilton, for me.

Brendan Smith is a nice player... but I think the Red Wings run as a consistent contender is going to fade. Lidstrom was such a key piece for that team. And the past couple years the Wings are not spending to the cap limit. IMO, the Wings owner (Illitch) has switched his focus to winning his other sports team (the Detroit Tigers) a championship. You look at the money Illitch has put into getting guys like Prince Fielder and Torii Hunter and re-signing. His focus is there. In fact, the Detroit area seems to be switching it's attraction more towards the young Lions and the contending Tigers. Also, JLA isn't the most attractive rink in the league... and Detroit in general isn't a healthy economy.

Without a serious cash-flow into the Wings, Brendan Smith's production is going to be affected by playing with a lack of talent. When Smith finally hits full gear (2015?), the elder Wings (Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen) are going to be well on their downwards-sides of their careers.

Given the PIM category, Hamilton gets dropped. Have to keep Smith. For the first few years, he'll be a 25-point+, 100 PIM+ dman.

Hamilton will only get you points and avg PIM

I like Carlson & Hamilton.

I like this line of thinking. The points gap between the dmen is too small so the peripherals are way more important.

id drop hamilton too.

Carlson and Smith for me. Smith should be a 35-40 point dman in two short years. Plays with an edge and will drop the mitts. Reminds me of a younger Chelios. Points only, Hamilton would have taken the nod here.

Well... if Smith DOES get 100+ PIM in the NHL, I'd agree he's the choice.
But big PIM in the NHL has trended down among defensemen in recent years.

NHL teams seem to be filling their 5th/6th defensemen these days with serviceable penalty-killers & shot-blockers, rather than goons.

Look at the number of 100+ PIM defensemen since 2005:

2011-2012: (3)
2010-2011: (6)
2009-2010: (5)
2008-2009: (14)
2007-2008: (15)
2006-2007: (23)
2005-2006: (22)

It's a pretty strange trend... but it certainly seems that most NHL teams prefer to have their 4th line forwards doing the fighting, perhaps.
Or maybe penalties have gone down as a whole... I don't know.

I do know that 100+ PIM sounds like a LOT for a kid coming up from the AHL. PK Subban pulled it off... but he takes a lot of stupid hooking/tripping penalties. From what I've seen, read - Brendan Smith isn't going to take those stupid penalties and I really doubt he's going to drop the mitts with the big-boys a lot in his first couple years.

I could be wrong... but there's definitely a PIM-trend there among NHL defensemen.

Damn. I don't see how Carlson gets dropped. He's a known commodity. He has to be kept. No way do I roll with two rookies. Between these two, I'd want Smith. Sorry Dougie.