Keepers + Advice

[mounD]

Team and League in sig. I've added quite a bit of depth this year through trades and some clutch FA pickups, but now with the season winding down I'm left to start thinking about keepers when the day comes to declare.

We keep 18 - 8 prospects (<26yo and <100gp / 50gp goalies) and I'm currently pretty "set" on these keepers:

C: Getzlaf, Richards, Backes(c,rw)
LW: Parise, Hall, Ladd, Kunitz
RW: Neal(lw,rw), Kessel, Hossa, Burrows(lw,rw)
D: Karlsson, Chara, Burns(rw,d), Boyle
G: Rinne, Smith

So that leaves me with one keeper slot, deciding between these players:

Berglund(c), M. Johansson(c), Cammalleri(c,lw), Weiss(c), Soderberg(C), Timonen(D), Visnovsky(D)

I'm completely stumped here, and my only real thought is to try and package some of these guys together to snag a clear-cut keeper option, and maybe ship whatever is left for some picks and stuff.

Thoughts?

EDIT:

Updated most recent post with trade info >>> Marchand and Mike Richards now in the fold.

[bizzl]

Can't argue with any of your set keepers. My first thought is to keep Visnovsky to give your defense some symmetry. If Burns is bouncing around between D and RW it might be nice to have a 5th defenseman. That, and he's also proving to be a pretty reliable option. If you can package any of these guys for an obvious upgrade I'd happily go that way though.

[mounD]

Can't argue with any of your set keepers. My first thought is to keep Visnovsky to give your defense some symmetry. If Burns is bouncing around between D and RW it might be nice to have a 5th defenseman. That, and he's also proving to be a pretty reliable option. If you can package any of these guys for an obvious upgrade I'd happily go that way though.

Well, I'm always going to start Burns as a D man unless there is a roster snafu, he just provides more value there. It basically comes down to keeping a 5th Dman, probably Timonen, or another Center, Weiss/Berglund/Cammy.

I'm always trying to upgrade my keepers, and I know I'll have to make some trades here so I don't lose guys for nothing.

[DerekReese]

I would keep Cammy or Burns. Cammy can give you FOW while playing the wing and before the Flames brought up their AHL team Cammy was at a PPG pace. He could go back to that next year. Burns can play Wing or D, if you have him at a D and he plays as a wing that is a good bonus, he score more playing up front.

[Sovereign]

If you cant trade i would keep johansson or jokinen.
Also watch the M.Smith trade situation. His value is not gurenteed outside of the dessert.

[CT-Chill]

I would keep Vis over Timonen if you're considering keeping an additional defenseman. Timo seems to be a little more injury prone and Vis seems committed to the Isles now that he sees they're a competitive team (i.e., Evgeni Nabokov)

[mounD]

Okay, so there is a new wrinkle to this situation:

I made a trade -- sending Johansson, Muzzin and Soderberg for Brad Marchand and Mike Richards. So that makes my last keeper decision between:

Marchand(c,lw), M. Richards(c,lw), Cammalleri(c,lw), Weiss, Berglund, Juice // Timonen, Visno

Looks like I'm still in a pickle, and will continue to keep "trading up" if I can. But if I can't, who do I keep now? Marchand? Party boy Richards?

[mounD]

UPDATE:

I just traded Mike Richards, Berglund, Beau Bennett, 3rd round prospect draft pick, 1st round reg. draft pick

-For-

Nazem Kadri, Glennie (throw-away), 1st round prospect pick (1st overall), and 3rd round reg. draft pick.

Okay ... So Kadri slides into Bennett's spot on the prospect roster (Glennie dropped), Brad Marchand becomes my last keeper -- and now I have a decision to make:

Based on the rest of my team, and considering I will be dropping Anton Khudobin from my farm roster, WHO do I select at #1 overall in the prospect entry draft? Jonathan Drouin? Seth Jones?

[bizzl]

UPDATE:Based on the rest of my team, and considering I will be dropping Anton Khudobin from my farm roster, WHO do I select at #1 overall in the prospect entry draft? Jonathan Drouin? Seth Jones?

I've got the 1st in my league as well and am also trying to figure it out. Definitely don't take Jones. Defensemen just take longer to develop. I'm stuck between Drouin and MacKinnon, obviously, but everything I've read says that Drouin will be the better fantasy player whereas MacKinnon will be more well rounded and better in real hockey. A lot of that depends on what teams they end up with though.

A lot of the mock drafts have MacKinnon going to Florida and Drouin going to Tampa. Drouin and Stamkos sounds like it could be a pretty potent combination for a long time. MacKinnon and Huberdeau could be just as deadly, but I think Drouin could learn a lot from St. Louis, just like Stamkos has. I think it's a waiting game until the draft though.

[mounD]

I've got the 1st in my league as well and am also trying to figure it out. Definitely don't take Jones. Defensemen just take longer to develop. I'm stuck between Drouin and MacKinnon, obviously, but everything I've read says that Drouin will be the better fantasy player whereas MacKinnon will be more well rounded and better in real hockey. A lot of that depends on what teams they end up with though.

A lot of the mock drafts have MacKinnon going to Florida and Drouin going to Tampa. Drouin and Stamkos sounds like it could be a pretty potent combination for a long time. MacKinnon and Huberdeau could be just as deadly, but I think Drouin could learn a lot from St. Louis, just like Stamkos has. I think it's a waiting game until the draft though.

Exactly. Just because Drouin is probably the most highly-skilled forward in th draft doesn't mean he will go in the 2-3 range to either Florida / Tampa.

A lot of the mocks have Mackinnon going FLA @2 overall, and then either Drouin / Barkov going TBL @3 overall -- if Barkov is drafted by Tampa, then Drouin probably goes to the fantasy cesspool that is Nashville. He would be with Forsberg, but that team is where upside goes to die.

Basically, like you said, it's probably going to be a waiting game. Drouin is clearly the better skater (in terms of "fantasy upside"), but if he goes to Nashville I think that makes Mackinnon the better choice. Does that sound right?


By the way ... Drouin / Stamkos sounds sooooo sexy.