What's wrong with my team?

[maya has the knife]

12 team H2H
Start: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 5D, 2G
Stats: G, A, PPP, GWG, +/-, PIM, SOG, HIT / W, GAA, SV%, SV, SHO

Roster
C: Getzlaf, Backstrom, Skinner (RW), Zajac
LW: Parise, Semin (RW), van Riemsdyk
RW: Carter (C), Jagr, Oshie (C), Yakupov
D: Weber, Hamilton, Bogosian, Hamonic, Emelin
G: Miller, Luongo, Khudobin, Bishop

IR: Green, Enstrom

I think I know the answer to this question (goaltending), but I'll ask anyway. I've lost two of my top D to injury, and had to drop Cam Ward which devastated my goaltending. How can I improve this group of guys? I've added Yakupov, Oshie, Khudobin, Bishop, Hamilton, Bogosian, Emelin off FA so far.

Guys who are available that I have an eye on (who are not on IR) include:

Keith (have a waiver claim in)
Stafford
R. O'Reilly
Cole
Versteeg
Galchenyuk
Frattin
Dubinsky
Saad
Hanzal
Okposo
Clutterbuck

There are NO decent G available. Tops are probably Elliott, Vokoun, Hackett, Poulin, Gustavsson, Enroth.

What should I do here? Rep for good advice!

[RedWingsftw]

Your goaltending must be hurting you badly, because you have 3 of the hottest players in the league on your team (Getz, Semin, and Carter).

I think adding Keith will go a long way to stablizing your D. Unless you can swing a trade I don't see any of those FA options helping you. I would explore the trade route and keep an eye out for potentially Elliott to return to form.

[Yardsale]

What is wrong with your team?

You're probably 4th or 5th in your league? Your goalies are murdering you.

Can you let us know how you're placing in each stat category, so we have a better idea of what needs fixing?

[Pengwin7]

This looks like a decent team.
All you need to do is make the H2H playoffs... your goaltending might fix itself by then.

Here's what I'd do:
1. Dump Zajac. In multi-cat with hits, he's not very good. Better to roster somebody who might seriously help with HITS & PIM. Shore up those categories as two you will win weekly.


Just out of curiousity:
i) How many teams in your league make H2H playoffs?
ii) What position are you in?

[maya has the knife]

Hey guys, thanks for your responses. I'm currently sitting in 9th out of 12. Top 6 teams make the playoffs. Here's how I'm sitting in the stat categories:

G: 3rd
A: 10th
+/-: 4th
PIM: 10th
PPP: 10th
GWG: 4th
SOG: 1st
HIT: 7th

W: 6th
GAA: 11th
SV: 2nd
SV%: 8th
SHO: 9th

Looks like I'm heavy on goals and saves and not much else. Any suggestions?

[horrorfan]

Although those are your ranks, which categories are you usually close but lose out more often per matchup? If you focus on those categories you might sneak out one or two more per week and that could make a big difference. Also, by how much have you been losing matchups? How far behind 6th?

Otherwise, two pickups jump out at me:

Drop Zajac, Pick up Hanzal (don't know why Hanzal is still a FA - he's produced far more than Zajac - offensively and peripherals - in less games).
Drop Yakupov (yep) and pick up Dubinsky, and then slide Semin to RW. Yakupov is weak in this setup - 0.5 ppg, low SOG,Hits,PIM.

As for goaltending, it could be a challenge but it could also be fine depending on the week. I would keep an eye on weekly schedules and goaliepost/leftwinglock to see if any backups are likely to get a start during a week. You could considering using your worst player to drop to pick up a likely goalie start. Given some of those FA options there's bound to be a decent option to pick up if you need to subsequently drop that backup goalie.

Playoffs are coming up soon, so there's not a lot of time to wait for guys to produce. You need to be active in trying to squeeze out as much production as possible in the categories you need most. If you have max moves per week, use them all. Knowing the schedule and off nights to maximise games is an ideal way to give yourself the best chance per week.

[Yardsale]

I like HF's recommendations, esp Hanzal for Zajac.

Dubinsky and maybe Clutterbuck are good looks for Yakupov. I'm not sure how Clutterbuck is producing this year, but generally high PIM and HIT; Dubinsky also high PIM and HIT but also PP1 I think.

[maya has the knife]

Thanks guys, repped all of you.

My claim for Keith went through and I also dropped Oshie (injured) and Zajac for Hanzal and Filppula. My team now looks like:

C: Getzlaf, Backstrom, Hanzal
LW: Parise, Semin (RW), van Riemsdyk
RW: Carter (C), Skinner (C), Jagr, Yakupov
D: Weber, Keith, Hamilton, Hamonic, Bogosian
G: Miller, Luongo, Bishop, Khudobin

IR: Enstrom, Green

I've used up all my player adds for the week, so I'll consider dropping Yakupov for Dubinsky next week.

[maya has the knife]

Just wanted to revive this thread for a quick update. Ended up winning my final 3 matches of the regular season and made the playoffs as the 4 seed! Won my quarterfinal and semifinal matches and am currently tied heading into the final day of the championship match. What a huge turnaround! Bishop has helped lend some stability to my weakened G, and Khudobin has been contributing solid spot starts. Backstrom and Green have been on absolute fire as of late, too.

It should be an interesting finish... my opponent and I are tied in goals and assists. I'm losing the wins category by one, but I have Khudobin and Bishop possibly going against Elliott (who I should have picked up last month).