Possibly clogged farm team, advice?

[Potatoeman]

For the team in my signature.

As you can see, we have a max of 6 players in our farm team. I currently have 6. I also own the 8th overall pick for next year's draft (any player drafted or signed by an NHL team who isn't already owned after the auction is available for the draft, but that usually comes down to that year's draftees, college/Europeen UFA signings and bench players, with some unowned prospects of varying value). Of course, when we have our start of the year meeting to discuss any rule changes, I'll propose that our farm team go from max 6 players to 7 (I figure I've got about a 50-50 chance of having it approved).

In case I don't succeed, what do you suggest? Should I try and trade up/down, drop/promote one of my current farm team players (which one?). My current draft list (which might change depending on who goes where at the actual draft) would be :

Forwards :

A.Matthews
P.Laine
J.Puljujarvi
PL Dubois
C.Keller
A.Nylander
M.Tkachuk
T.Jost

D-men :

Bean
Sergachev
Chychrun
Juolevi


Would any of my farm players be worth dropping for those or worth packaging to trade up for those?

Thanks!

[Eskimo Brother]

Your D looks like it needs some help, so maybe promoting Werenski is the best answer there.

[Potatoeman]

Your D looks like it needs some help, so maybe promoting Werenski is the best answer there.

Seeing as how it's a keep 4 (except for farm players who are all kept)... my D will already look a lot differently next year than it did last year. Plus, do you think that Werenski will produce enough in Columbus during his rookie season? TBH, I was thinking that Nylander might help me more if I promoted him, but I'm still reluctant to move him up so early and "waste" low-cost year for him.

[Eskimo Brother]

Seeing as how it's a keep 4 (except for farm players who are all kept)... my D will already look a lot differently next year than it did last year. Plus, do you think that Werenski will produce enough in Columbus during his rookie season? TBH, I was thinking that Nylander might help me more if I promoted him, but I'm still reluctant to move him up so early and "waste" low-cost year for him.

I missed that it was keep 4! In that case I wouldn't use up Werenski.
If you can make a deal, then that would be the way to go. If you were to call someone up, in that case, Nylander would be the one to recall. If you end up having too good a roster, or will have a better window next year, then of the drops, I would probably go with Guryanov. Hopefully this is all moot though and you can keep the 7 for next year however.

[Potatoeman]

I missed that it was keep 4! In that case I wouldn't use up Werenski.
If you can make a deal, then that would be the way to go. If you were to call someone up, in that case, Nylander would be the one to recall. If you end up having too good a roster, or will have a better window next year, then of the drops, I would probably go with Guryanov. Hopefully this is all moot though and you can keep the 7 for next year however.

Thanks! Would rep but apparently I can't (it says I have to rep other people first...)

And yeah, here's to hoping that the farm team goes up to 7... (actually, I'd need at least 15 with all the prospects still available, but 7 would already be great)

[Eskimo Brother]

Thanks! Would rep but apparently I can't (it says I have to rep other people first...)

And yeah, here's to hoping that the farm team goes up to 7... (actually, I'd need at least 15 with all the prospects still available, but 7 would already be great)

What other prospects are available? (And is that just in the draft or is that in a FA pool?

[Potatoeman]

Some of the more appealing ones (IMO) would be : Z.Senyshyn, J.Zboril, C.White, M.Reilly, B.Perlini, T.Lindberg, J.Bracco, J.Eriksson Ek, N.Merkley, D.Sadowy, Z.Paigin, V.Saarijarvi, etc...

They can either be taken during the draft or via WW.

[Eskimo Brother]

Hmm, well there are some solid options there. Makes me a little more comfortable dropping Guryanov if it comes to that though.

[Ed.]

With only a six man farm I don't think I'd be looking at guys like Bracco or Saarijarvi, simply because the wait is probably a long one. Smaller players, college players, and anyone drafted by Detroit wouldn't make my six man farm unless they were truly high end guys. Otherwise, I'd let them stew on the waiver wire until they are either closer to the NHL, or are starting to generate huge trade value through their performance.

Guryanov is probably the guy to drop, and I would do so for most of the guys on your draft list, aside from maybe Jost.

[Goldendelicious]

I would say Goldobin and Guryanov would be the two I consider trying to use in a package to move up. My preference would be to package Goldobin with #8 to move up being as he likely has slightly more value. If you can't make a move and want to preserve the cheaper salary, I would drop Guryanov to draft #8. But I think Rantanen or Nylander will be worthy to have on the pro roster this year. Given your scoring categories and situations, I think Bean would be my overall target in terms of D-men which at #8 may be a bit of a stretch.

Have you thought about trading down a few spots?

[Axeman33]

I'd have no issues dropping Guryanov for Colin White but it also depends who from this year is still available when you draft at 8. If someone like Tkachuk is still there, he'd be an easy target.

[Potatoeman]

I would say Goldobin and Guryanov would be the two I consider trying to use in a package to move up. My preference would be to package Goldobin with #8 to move up being as he likely has slightly more value. If you can't make a move and want to preserve the cheaper salary, I would drop Guryanov to draft #8. But I think Rantanen or Nylander will be worthy to have on the pro roster this year. Given your scoring categories and situations, I think Bean would be my overall target in terms of D-men which at #8 may be a bit of a stretch.

Have you thought about trading down a few spots?

Thanks for the advice! Will look into maybe packaging to trade up (I know that the guy who owns #3 overall has made his pick available, but I also know he'll be looking at my Nylander or Rantanen and that seems like too high a price for me, even if it's 1 vs 1)

I also have #20 pick and I think it's likely Bean is still on the board by then, however this just makes my clogged farm team even more clogged! I was also considering Zaitsev with my #20 if he's still there. I'd be more confortable putting him on my bench or roster (if he performs) than drafting another farm team player.