Pool: Pts only, Toews or Neal?

[CHunter]

In a Pts only league, which one do you prefer?

[mister_mcgoo]

Depends...if having the sure thing is more important then Toews is your best bet, he's seldom misses extended time to injury and calmly goes about getting close to 70 pts

If you're looking to gamble a bit and go for it, then Neal is your man, back to back injury seasons but a full season with Malkin would give him career numbers (90 pts probably). The problem is that Malkin gets hurt and so does Neal (at least last 2 years). At this point I'm sort of the opinion that Neal has been more unlucky than anything (Malkin too actually) but there's no denying the history

[jcairns]

Neal for me. Higher upside where I think the risk is well worth the reward.

[Shake]

Healthy seasons Neal is your guy. Problem is, Neal isn't a healthy type of 82 game player. More seasons than not Toews will have more points. Defaulted cause of injury. Otherwise, as I mentioned Neal takes Toews.

[lucifer316]

they are virtually identical, those talking about Neal missing time forget that Toews missed time in 11-12

Neal has been with the Pens since 11-12 and has 178 points in 179 games over that time while Toews has 173 in 182

Neal has 5 more points in 3 fewer games, virtually identical

however Neal has a $5m salary for next season and the 3 after that while Toews has a salary of $6.5m for next season and who knows after that, but certainly not less than $5m

assuming that it is for a capped league, as that is what is in your sig, they go from virtually identical to Neal being the easy choice imo

[Magicstew]

Neal - he has the higher upside - lower downside. Toews as stated above is a guaranteed 70 +/- 10pts.
Actually - think I would go for the more guaranteed. - Toews

[Evo_7ution]

Finding 80-90 point wingers is a hard task to do. Finding 70 point centers is much easier. Go with Neal.

[pmorrow]

If both play 82 games: Neal
If we're accounting for injury history and predicting future injuries when we predict output: Toews

Provided both because some people like taking the risk on the higher upside, while others prefer the "safe" investment.

[Carter]

James Neal has had one healthy season since 2009. That's a huge chunk of time and history shows he's more than likely to miss chunks of each season. If it was a one-year thing then no biggie, but with that history of injury you have to expect it going forward. When he's in he's awesome, but fact is he does not stay healthy. For his career he averages 0.76 pts/game.

Jonathan Toews has also found his way to some unhealthy seasons as well, so I think we need to cancel out the " health" factor here for both. Toews has had some concussion issues and other injuries along the way. He averages 0.91 pts / game.


Injury history: Push
Position : advantage Neal ( LW )
Career ppg: Toews ( 0.91 vs 0.76 )
Scoring support: Neal ( Crosby, Malkin )

All things considered it's a toss up here. I think it's a very close call and simply go off your gut feeling or preferred player.

[Axeman33]

If you are worried about people getting hurt then why own a Sidney Crosby. I will tell you why, you own them because they are elite, health issues or not.

You can't keep worrying about health issues. Injuries can be random and can happen to anyone.

Take the better player and go with James Neal. Dont get me wrong, I am not saying there is anything wrong with Toews, but Neal is the better option in a points only format.

[Pengwin7]

Full season points league, no salaries: Toews (for me).
Full season points league, with salaries: Neal (for me).
Daily set points league, no salaries: Neal (for me).