Keeper help needed!! - Too many options, not enough spaces!!

[beteau]

Long time reader - first time poster. Thanks in advance, this community is amazing and is one of the reason i compete every year.

My team is in my sig. We keep 6 and like many pools, we value PPP's and goals pretty heavily. My defence is weak especialy since Adam Oats thinks its a good idea to play Carlson on PP1 over Mike Green! The good thing is my forwards more than make up for this shortcoming.

Ive bolded my (5) must keeps but interested to see who you guys would keep over the remaining players...im actually thinking about keeping zero D (usually i would keep Green, see comment above). Nyquist/Backes/Oshie would be the 3 that are tearing me up right now...

Thougts?

[Bomm Bastic]

Welcome to the boards, beteau! Giving this a bump, so others can chirp.

I might be the odd man out but I would keep Crawford. Stud goalie, plenty of GPs and plenty of wins makes life easier on a day to day basis. And the draft less stressful as you won't have to reach for a goalie out of fear ya may miss out.

This way in the draft all ya have to focus on is D and more forwards.

Backes would be a no brainer if Hits were a cat, but that's moot. He'd be my second choice.

[MillerTime89]

Crawford or Backes for me. It might be important for you to have a stud goalie.

[Chunkys_Choice]

I was gonna say crawford as well. It sucks to give up on those other forwards, but the 5 you're keeping are great, and since everybody's only keeping 6 players, you'll have plenty of chances to draft guys like them back again. I agree don't keep any defence, but you want a #1 goalie on a top team, which is what Crawford is.

[DaveKessel]

I would keep Crawford too. Actually I'm in the same situation as I keep 6 forwards and 1 goalie in a 9 team - 7 keepers league. You don't own a top 10 d-man and all the others are in the same range of points so forget about them. In fact in a 12 team league, the goalies become important so to own 1 before the draft is a good strategy so you can concentrate your draft on other positions.

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Points only 9 teams 7 keepers league
12 F – 6 D – 2 G – 2 IR

F: G(1) A (1)
D: G(2) A (1)
G: W (2) SO(3)

Forwards :
Stamkos, Seguin, Kessel, Neal, Kopitar, JVR, Couture, Voracek, Bozak, Lucic, Granlund, Carter

D-man:
Kronwall, Fowler, Niskanen, Giordano, Barrie, Josi

Goalies:
Niemi, Miller

IR:
Schartwz, Drouin

[Magicstew]

Nyquist would be my pick if you think you could draft a top goalie first round. Thinking of his future value.
If you don't feel comfortable not having goalie, then crawford would be the 6th.
Nobody on your D worth keeping.

[beteau]

Thanks for the replies all. Yes keeping Crawford has crossed my mind - typically only Rask and the King are kept in my pool, so i usually draft a G in the first round. However Crawford might not be available by the time i pick...I just dont think i could forgive myself for dorpping Nyquist if he becomes a stud as he will surely be gone in the first round before i can re-draft him. I have offers for Backes/Oshie/Wheeler that i might take...

So its down to Crawford and Nyquist...choices, choices, choices...i guess its a good problem to have

[Laendarian]

Another vote for Crawford, in your scoring format he's got to be right up there near the top for points from a net minder.

[Pengwin7]

Backes, Oshie, Nyquist, Wheeler... or Crawford.
Tough choice.

I think I'd go with Backes.
He's good for about 100 PIM per year, which is an extra 20pts in your scoring. (20pts = 10 goals!)
He's also typically good for a +20 to +30... which is an extra 10-15pts.

While I like a goalie on a good team (since you LOSE points for losses)... I just think in a 12 team x 1G set-up, there should be lots of spot starts among goalies to choose from.

Backes, for me.

[als_revenge]

Just thinking out loud, but could you package Crawford and one of those stud extra forwards up to get Rask?

[beteau]

Just thinking out loud, but could you package Crawford and one of those stud extra forwards up to get Rask?

My arch rival has him! He is a stone cold BOS fanboy and he wants getzlaf and duchene for him. Not happening!

[Kofax]

I would go Nyquist or Backes myself. As P7 said, with only 12G starting in the league, they should be plentiful. Plus goaltenders tend to fluctuate much more year to year. Backes is probably the smart choice, Nyquist for those that like to gamble. You have some solid choices and it looks like you'll be fine whoever you decide on.

If you have some decent offers for guys, I say you move them, keep who's leftover and create another dominant team with the higher picks.

[Bass56]

As much as I love Nyquist, I can't justify keeping him over Backes or Crawford.

If you say that all goalies are typically put back into the pool with the exception of 2-3, that means that you will have 9-10 teams that can potentially pick a goalie in the first round. Baring that you finish in the top spot, we will assume that you have the 12th pick in the first round. With Lundy and Rask kept, at least one of Price, Niemi, Quick, Fleury, Crawford, Miller, Bobrovsky, Varlamov, Bishop and Schneider will be available by the time you select. Also, if managers typically keep forwards and a D here and there, that means that approximately 50 combined forwards are kept by the 12 teams in your pool. With those calculations, I would much rather have say Schneider and Backes over say Voracek and Crawford.

For that reason, I would opt to keep Backes here. His multi-cat abilities are uncanny in most fantasy formats and you will get more value in him and which ever tender is available as opposed to keeping Crawford and selecting the best forward available in the first round IMO.

[beteau]

So heres a little more perspective on my league and current situation.

Crawford currently sits in 12th overall in goalie points in my league, and 47th overal. There are 12 total goalies in the top 50 players.

Last year only Rask and The King were kept and zero goalies were chosen in the first round - (2) were selected in the 2nd, (5) in the 3rd, and (3) in the 4th. The year before (2) in the 1st, (3) in the 2nd.... Its pretty safe to say that a good goalie will be available in the 1st or 2nd round - I feel only Rask, Lundy, and Miller are the only true "keepers" in my format....

My gut is telling me to keep Nyquist, and i'll get decent picks for Backes/Oshie and late pics for the others....