Sooo, how many is too many?

[Jorge]

Rookies, I mean. I'm in a 14 team H2H full keeper league. I drafted late and secured tenders first but my teams average age is getting long in the tooth. I have a young defence that includes OEL, Kulikov, Nikitin and Bogosian and think I can look forward to decent numbers there as early as next season (maybe sooner if I'm lucky). I like my tem for the most part but I do have guys that are getting on such as Kunitz, Vokoun, Whitney, and Prospal

Players still available on the wire include Ryan Murray -Cbj, McBain-Car, Johansson - Was, Burmistove - Win, Frattin - Tor, Nyqyist - Det, Strome - NYI, Grigorenko - Buf, forsberg - Was, Ryan Murphy - Car, Khudobin - Bos, Lack - Van, Backman - Dal, Tokarski - TB, Fasth - Ana.

Yahoo hasn't added Kuznetsov - C, Rielly - D, Ritchie - RW, Bjugstad - C, Subban - G, Kucherov - RW, Miller, JT - LW, Gibson - G, or Jenner - C yet.

I could certainly add many of these players and hope for a good team down the road, but what would your limitations be when adding rookies to your line-up? We have no "Farm" so they do end up being roster players. My thinking would be maybe 2 per year, without watering down your team too much. Also assuming you've made the correct choices as well.

[Pengwin7]

On a team rostering 20 players (4/4/4/6/2), you are pretty much an NHL team, with an NHL league that is only half the size (14 vs. 20).

So... for me, it should be similar to what the NHL would look like with half the teams.
So, instead of each team carrying maybe 3 young players, maybe you carry 1-2.

I personally don't like carrying rookies on a pro-roster unless they are top 3 picks.

If you don't have a farm, the players like Strome/Forsberg/Grigs should be carried by teams that are rebuilding or out-of-contention. They aren't fantasy relevant players for the coming year.

My answer: TWO.

[Jorge]

Thanks Pengwin7. That's where I was leaning too. If my teams sucking near the trade deadline, I may try something drastic but then again, I like winning too much "now" so I'll probably temper that idea and just respond to my team as required. Thanks for the assurance that I'm on the right track though. Much appreciated.

[Johner]

I would stand pat with the team you drafted and see how things play out over the first quarter of the season. If you are in the top half the guys you mentioned above could be the factors that push you towards the win. If you are in the bottom half then i would consider picking up a prospect or two. By drafting late you likely missed out on big name forwards so those depth players will be extremely important for you to compete.

[Buck Fush]

I would drop prospal for sure and pick up one of Nyquist, grigs or forsberg (in that order)

[Luffy D Monkey]

If youre allowed unlimited keepers, no amount of young players would be too many in my opinion.

I'm in a limited keeper where we can only keep 7 at the end of each season so the most "prospects" I want to carry at any time is only 2-3 since my keepers are already pretty good.

But if you can potentially keep any of your young players, I would be trying to tap youth pretty heavily. Guys break out in their 19s-20s these days all the time.

[fantasyhockeygeek]

I'm more-or-less with Pengwin7 on this one, but I think he's being generous. One or two is plenty, since if they're not producing then they're costing your team.

For me, prospects in a league like that are a "swing for the fences" -type investment with a 1-2 year horizon if your team is competitive. If any prospect can't meaningfully produce in that timeline, you're better off having a veteran. The less likely it is that a prospect will do it, the better the potential payout better be! Given where your team is, I'd consider:

• Blue-chip, immediate impact -type picks
• Goalies where the starter has some question marks.

I've bolded my thoughts on who those might be from the list you provided. I'd be particularly interested in the goalies, since in a 14-team league a guy getting playing time is instantly valuable.

Ryan Murray -Cbj, McBain-Car, Johansson - Was, Burmistove - Win, Frattin - Tor, Nyqyist - Det, Strome - NYI, Grigorenko - Buf, forsberg - Was, Ryan Murphy - Car, Khudobin - Bos, Lack - Van, Backman - Dal, Tokarski - TB, Fasth - Ana.

Yahoo hasn't added Kuznetsov - C, Rielly - D, Ritchie - RW, Bjugstad - C, Subban - G, Kucherov - RW, Miller, JT - LW, Gibson - G, or Jenner - C yet.

[Johner]

If youre allowed unlimited keepers, no amount of young players would be too many in my opinion.

I'm in a limited keeper where we can only keep 7 at the end of each season so the most "prospects" I want to carry at any time is only 2-3 since my keepers are already pretty good.

But if you can potentially keep any of your young players, I would be trying to tap youth pretty heavily. Guys break out in their 19s-20s these days all the time.

These are valids points but unless you are very self disciplined it will be very easy to get stuck in a perennial rebuild pooling this way. The only way I would even consider loading up with prospects (before your team plays a game) is if you hugely regret your draft and feel the need to start a premature rebuild. I am in several 16 team full keepers with 25man rosters and I dont recall a team winning yet that was carrying more than one prospect.

[Jorge]

Thanks folks, you've certainly given me some things to think about.