So.....standard cats, roto keeper. Cap pool.

A week ago, someone dropped Kris Letang. Outright. I questioned him about his sanity, but he provided a reasonable argument that Letang:

a) is a band-aid boy
b) has a very large cap-hit
c) likely has medical issues that go beyond band-aid boyness, which could end his career at any time on short notice.
d) is not exactly filling the roto cats with great numbers right now

I swore that he'd never clear waivers in our pool, and that he might be making a mistake. Well....Letang cleared waivers and sat unclaimed for another 3-4 days.

I tuned into the Pens/Kings game last night, and was impressed with Letang's presence both at ES and on PP1. This is when it occurred to me that Letang is the only d-man being used on what is quite obviously one of the most fearsome PPs in the league.......Malkin, Crosby, Hornqvist, Kunitz......and Letang. (Some very big names to be getting PP minutes with!!)

I decided that snagging Letang for free (and only at the cost of who I'd have to drop to make cap space) was too enticing.

Dropping Phaneuf was the only option to make space as I have a very strong team and almost zero dead weight. We all know Phaneuf is capable of filling the roto cats with PIMs, hits and points......however, and maybe I'm only rationalizing....but it seems like the Leafs are leaning on Phaneuf less for his scoring and more for just the sandpaper stuff. Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner are slowly getting leaned on a bit more. The days of hoping Phaneuf can put up 40+ points to go along with his other numbers are slipping away.

My justification for making this move is therefore that Letang will be a threat to score 50+ for years to come, barring injury....and will provide more than his share of PPP and SOG....for almost the same cap hit as Phaneuf, who will put up average offensive numbers, average(ish) PP numbers, and excellent PIM/hit numbers.

Anyone care to weigh in on if they feel I've made a mistake?

(sorry for the long story)