Yahoo H2H keeper - keep which 5 ??

[wendelclark17]

Hey fellas,

I have to declare my 5 keepers in a Yahoo 12 team H2H league in the next few weeks. It can be any 5 guys on my roster. Settings are as follows:

Daily starts - 2C, 2RW, 2LW, 4D, 2G 4 bench (1 IR spot)
Skater stats: G, A, P, PPP, PIM, +/-, SOG, FOW, Hits, Blks
Goalie stats: W, GAA, SVP, SO (minimum 3 goalie starts per week)

Possible keepers:

Malkin (C/RW)
Giroux (C/RW)
Neal (LW/RW)
N. Backstrom (C)
Pacioretty (LW)
Yakupov (RW)
Letang
Bobrovsky
Price

Malkin and Giroux are both obvious keepers. I'm leaning towards also protecting Backstrom, Neal and Price but I am hoping for some input from you guys ...... Which 5 would you be keeping???

Also, I am going to see if I can work any trades to try and upgrade one or more of my keepers but it might not be easy.

Thoughts?

Thanks, WC17

[Axeman33]

Tough call. You are going to have to expose at least one VERY good player to the draft which sucks big time.

Malkin (C/RW)
Giroux (C/RW)
Neal (LW/RW)
N. Backstrom (C)
Pacioretty (LW)
Yakupov (RW)
Letang
Bobrovsky
Price

[Bristol]

I would go with:

Malkin
Giroux
N.Backstrom - I think he will have a big year
Letang
Price - Montreal should not be as abd and his stats will rebound

[wendelclark17]

Tough call. You are going to have to expose at least one VERY good player to the draft which sucks big time.

Malkin (C/RW)
Giroux (C/RW)
Neal (LW/RW)
N. Backstrom (C)
Pacioretty (LW)
Yakupov (RW)
Letang
Bobrovsky
Price

I would go with:

Malkin
Giroux
N.Backstrom - I think he will have a big year
Letang
Price - Montreal should not be as abd and his stats will rebound

Thanks for the input - Bristol I sent you some rep Axeman I gotta spread it around first.

Interesting that both of you stayed away from Neal, I like his dual eligibility as it gives me more flexibility. I do agree that Backstrom could be in for a big year.

[Axeman33]

Thanks for the input - Bristol I sent you some rep Axeman I gotta spread it around first.

Interesting that both of you stayed away from Neal, I like his dual eligibility as it gives me more flexibility. I do agree that Backstrom could be in for a big year.

Its not so much that I stayed away from Neal... believe me, I wanted to include him but I just felt that Letang at D was just too hard to pass up so I had to sacrifice someone and it was Neal. It really came down to Neal or Letang for me for the last guy (I felt it was important to keep one of your goalies) and I chose Letang.

As I said, either way you are going to have to expose at least one very good player but in your case you are exposing a few.

Very tough choice indeed.

[wendelclark17]

Its not so much that I stayed away from Neal... believe me, I wanted to include him but I just felt that Letang at D was just too hard to pass up so I had to sacrifice someone and it was Neal. It really came down to Neal or Letang for me for the last guy (I felt it was important to keep one of your goalies) and I chose Letang.

As I said, either way you are going to have to expose at least one very good player but in your case you are exposing a few.

Very tough choice indeed.

Ya I also do not really know if I want to keep 3 Penguins so I think I will end up keeping only one of Neal or Letang, and in this setup Letang can be a monster.

[Bass56]

Its not so much that I stayed away from Neal... believe me, I wanted to include him but I just felt that Letang at D was just too hard to pass up so I had to sacrifice someone and it was Neal. It really came down to Neal or Letang for me for the last guy (I felt it was important to keep one of your goalies) and I chose Letang.

As I said, either way you are going to have to expose at least one very good player but in your case you are exposing a few.

Very tough choice indeed.

I'm torn here too, but Letang would be my pick as well (along with Malkin, Giroux, Backstrom and Price).

[Pengwin7]

Skater stats: G, A, P, PPP, PIM, +/-, SOG, FOW, Hits, Blks
Goalie stats: W, GAA, SVP, SO (minimum 3 goalie starts per week)

Possible keepers:

Malkin (C/RW)
Giroux (C/RW)
Neal (LW/RW)
N. Backstrom (C)
Pacioretty (LW)
Yakupov (RW)
Letang
Bobrovsky
Price

My keepers in BOLD.

It's hard not to protect Price... but I'm just not a big fan of keeping anybody not named Lundqvist/Rask in H2H limited keeper.

Goalie performance can be highly volatile in a single H2H playoff week and I'd much rather go after the surer, offensive, cats.

With these guys... you have a death-grip-lock on 7 offensive categories.
With only 14 categories in play, you just have to draft some big hitters/block defensemen late.
[and SO is often a 0-0 wash... so you are looking at 7/13 categories = win.]

I'd look to dominate offense to win this pool.
If you get a few goalie cats with a lucky week, so be it.

5 skaters, for me.

[wendelclark17]

My keepers in BOLD.

It's hard not to protect Price... but I'm just not a big fan of keeping anybody not named Lundqvist/Rask in H2H limited keeper.

Goalie performance can be highly volatile in a single H2H playoff week and I'd much rather go after the surer, offensive, cats.

With these guys... you have a death-grip-lock on 7 offensive categories.
With only 14 categories in play, you just have to draft some big hitters/block defensemen late.
[and SO is often a 0-0 wash... so you are looking at 7/13 categories = win.]

I'd look to dominate offense to win this pool.
If you get a few goalie cats with a lucky week, so be it.

5 skaters, for me.

Interesting. Thanks for the input P7, I tried to rep ya but I have to spread it around first. You have no concerns about keeping 3 Penguins? (they do have a good schedule for my Yahoo playoffs playing 4 times per week for each of the 3 weeks)

[DerekReese]

I agree with Penguin7. Offense wins fanatasy hockey pools and I think you should keep your big guns.

I would keep:
Malkin (C/RW)
Giroux (C/RW)
Neal (LW/RW)
N. Backstrom (C)
Letang

[Pengwin7]

Interesting. Thanks for the input P7, I tried to rep ya but I have to spread it around first. You have no concerns about keeping 3 Penguins? (they do have a good schedule for my Yahoo playoffs playing 4 times per week for each of the 3 weeks)

It's true that if the Pens get shut down one week... you may be in trouble.
But that rarely happens... and you can NOT BEAT a 4 game week, if that is indeed what they have. (good checking).

Also, don't forget that LW depth in fantasy hockey is starting to thin a little bit (with Ovechkin now a RW). You'd have to look at your league's available players and make a call on how easy it will be to find a couple good LWs for your set up.

[Bass56]

Interesting. Thanks for the input P7, I tried to rep ya but I have to spread it around first. You have no concerns about keeping 3 Penguins? (they do have a good schedule for my Yahoo playoffs playing 4 times per week for each of the 3 weeks)

Hehe, you're asking Pengwin if he has concerns about keeping more Penguins than less? As Alanis would say: '' Isn't it ironic, don't you think?''

[Pengwin7]

Hehe, you're asking Pengwin if he has concerns about keeping more Penguins than less? As Alanis would say: '' Isn't it ironic, don't you think?''

Pengwin does not like the Penguins.
Pengwin likes Flyers.
True.
(btw, not meaning to derail thread... but my favourite team is the Flyers.)

[Mattp913]

Malkin,Neal,Giroux,Letang are locks IMO. The last spot should come down to Backstrom,Yakupov,Price. I would lean towards Backstrom with the FOW and PPP.

[suvojitde]

Thanks for the input - Bristol I sent you some rep Axeman I gotta spread it around first.

Interesting that both of you stayed away from Neal, I like his dual eligibility as it gives me more flexibility. I do agree that Backstrom could be in for a big year.

I would opt for Neal and Letang along with the obvious (Malkin, Giroux, Price). Neal because of his dual wing eligibility as you point out and Letang, as he is one of the 3 elite offensive d-men in the league.

Although I really like Backstrom and expect a big year from him, the only reason I did not opt for him was because of the positional requirements. Easier to fill C than Wingers, as you well know.