Total rebuild

[vangregs]

This is my current team going into this season (considering some of these all time greats don't retire):

Morrow - Vermette - Jagr
Fehr - Mueller - Selanne
Martin - J. Jokinen - (Gionta)*
Prust - Gomez - Cole

Erhoff - Franson
Hjalmarsson - Z. Michalek
McBain - Larsson

Pavelec
York / Pickard

*In trade talks - expected to land him soon*
I also think I have an outside chance of landing one or both Alfie and Ray Whitney

The plan is to phase out these guys and get my prospects up to speed. I have 5 straight draft picks in this years draft (#4 to #8 overall, both included) which I expect will net me a healthy core for years to come.

This is the lineup I expect to have 2 years down the road - once the guys above have likely retired or whose contracts will no longer be on my books:

Nichushkin - Barkov - Tarasenko
Vermette - Lindholm - Mueller
Prust - Monahan - K. Hayes / Pulkkinen
Martin - Jokinen - Fehr

Ehrhoff - Franson
McBain - Larsson
Petrovic - Connauton
Maatta - Ristolainen

Pavelec
York / Pickard

I'll prolly do some trades and I also have a trio of 1st rounders in 2014 and another trio of 1sts in 2015 to finish tweaking or trading parts.


The future looks bright, I think or what is your opinion... too iffy with going all in with this years draft...

[rataylor22]

This clearly isn't your league in sig, so league settings and size really matter. If you're in a 12 team league, you have a lot of work to do. If you're in a 20 team, your future looks not bad but you are more than 2 years away. Barkov and Nichuskin are a couple years away from being legitimate point producers, Monahan could settle in as a 40 point C or a 60 point guy. Vermette is declining, who knows what Mueller's health will be like. You're bottom 2 lines are nothing special, your D is pretty meh, and you're goalies are kind've suspect. You have a good start but still have a lot of work to do.

[bizzl]

This clearly isn't your league in sig, so league settings and size really matter. If you're in a 12 team league, you have a lot of work to do. If you're in a 20 team, your future looks not bad but you are more than 2 years away. Barkov and Nichuskin are a couple years away from being legitimate point producers, Monahan could settle in as a 40 point C or a 60 point guy. Vermette is declining, who knows what Mueller's health will be like. You're bottom 2 lines are nothing special, your D is pretty meh, and you're goalies are kind've suspect. You have a good start but still have a lot of work to do.

I have to echo these statements. Until we know the make-up of the league it's impossible to offer any useful advice.

Considering how far away you are I wouldn't look at guys like Alfie or Whitney. You aren't going to compete this year, and those guys will be retired soon anyways. If you are moving Morrow for Alfie, that's one thing, but it's also a lateral move at best. There are probably teams that could use the depth scoring and would be willing to part with a prospect or mid-round draft pick to get him. When your team is competitive having that extra pick or prospect will be worth much more than whatever Morrow provides right now.

It seems like you are sort of running this team as an actual NHL team. Phasing out vets for younger guys makes great sense when you need to have continuity in the roster and transfer leadership roles to new players, but those issues don't exist in fantasy. Guys like Morrow, Selanne and Jokinen only have value to teams that are almost there, but need a little push. Definitely don't look to add Alfie or Whitney (or even Gionta) to fill roster spots.

[ericdaoust]

For those checking in, the league he's referring to is the one in my sig.

[rataylor22]

Given that, I would be trading all of Prust, Vermette, Jokinen, Fehr from your projected team for young players/as high of picks as you can get. Basically anyone over the age of 30 on your roster you should be flying for youth/picks. You're still 3-4 years away from really competing I think. Have a quick trigger finger on up and coming prospects, put in the work on young guys.

[vangregs]

Given that, I would be trading all of Prust, Vermette, Jokinen, Fehr from your projected team for young players/as high of picks as you can get. Basically anyone over the age of 30 on your roster you should be flying for youth/picks. You're still 3-4 years away from really competing I think. Have a quick trigger finger on up and coming prospects, put in the work on young guys.

The other trick this league has is that it limits the number of prospects you can keep so you can't really stockpile prospects in quantity but have to go after quality. You cannot drop players either or you are on the hook for buying them out, which hurts salary wise. Therefore these vets help cuz they usually sign 1 year deals or are on expiring contracts. I have three 1st round picks the next couple seasons (two of these picks each year have potential to be lottery ones as well).

[leaftodd]

What's the cap penalty for buying a guy out?

[vangregs]

What's the cap penalty for buying a guy out?

It depends on his age:

over 25 its 2/3 of his salary spread out over the double of years remaining on his contract

under 25 its 1/3

[leaftodd]

6 million dollar guy with 2 years left would be 1 mil per year for 4 years or 2 mil per year over 4?

[vangregs]

6 million dollar guy with 2 years left would be 1 mil per year for 4 years or 2 mil per year over 4?

If he is over 25 => 4M per year over 4 years

If he is under 25=> 2M per year over 4 years

[leaftodd]

Ok so that's a huge penalty. Changes my thoughts a bit. I like your thoughts on Alfy and Whitney. Can you get savard or pronger? I'd be buying every guy about to retire you can get

[Carcillo]

If he is over 26 => 2M per year over 4 years

If he is under 26=> 1M per year over 4 years

Fixed it for you.

[vangregs]

Fixed it for you.

It looks like my whole thought process is flawed then...

Buyouts are cheaper than what I was calculating