Alright, back in action!
Entered the numbers for this year into Fantasy Hockey Geek (had to take takeaways because takeaway/giveaway ratio wasn't available) and this is what shakes out:
For reference's sake, the top players in the league are, in order, Datsyuk, Ovechkin, Getzlaf, Toews, Kunitz, Stepan, Staal, Subban, Phaneuf, St. Louis.
The guys in this deal are Kane (14th), Conacher (245th), Kessel (23rd), Brown (62nd)
Fantrax has its own ranking system that ranks them as follows: Kane (26th), Conacher (267th), Kessel (39th), Brown (81st).
Obviously it's not that simple. I'm thinking about projections and even though Kane is the sexier name, I think he and Kessel will be damn close in numbers over the next two years. Both of them took steps forward this year and while Kane is definitely the more skilled guy, it just doesn't always translate into actual numbers. But I would hate to give up on a 90-95 point guy and "just" have an 80 point guy in return. Then there's Conacher, who I think is looking like a solid 40-50 point guy over the next two years with interesting peripherals. He won't get the hits Brown does, but he has a temper. Brown is the hardest to pin for me. 50 to 60 with a crapload of hits.
Logic tells me I should go for Brown and Kessel, but Kane is one of my favorite players. I have a deep team and at the deadline I got Beauchemin, Luke Schenn and Matt Martin to help my hits and blocked shots and they really did in the playoffs. As for team needs, I was 2nd in goals, 1st in assists and points. I think I was 3rd in PPG and 1st in PPA. 4th in hits.
Rambling now. What do you think?