How do you structure your cap team? (team in sig)

[DS7]

My first and only salary cap team below, I'm still new to this cap format and I'd like some thoughts on it. We use the actual NHL salary cap as our number.

At first I was hoping to get to a more balanced approach, aim for people who had reasonable term and contracts and not have anyone with a ridiculous salary, but i found that as the draft went on, there was a lot of unclaimed fire power in stars who had high salary so I grabbed them and kept under the cap by aiming for a few lower paid players for peripheral stats. Unfortunately i missed out on some gems like Gudas and Polak as my D, but c'est la vie.

Defense and Goaltending are my obvious weaknesses, so I'm hoping that by grabbing an extra cheap defenseman and goalie i can compensate for quality with some quantity (daily line up changes, so maximize # of starts). Plus almost all my forwards are first line talent so i'm hoping they can score enough to compensate for being down a forward.

As a rule what do you think works best? do you prefer an cap team that is fairly even in terms of average salary cap hits, or have highly paid stars mixed with a bunch of cheap contracts?

Any and all feedback is much appreciated! Thanks

[Jouko-Pouko]

Finding value players is essential, so if you can find star players who are underpaid for the next few years, those are worth targeting. But usually you have to pay your stars and fill out the roster with cheap depth players. Just keep your eyes open for any potential bargains coming up from the minors or from another league because adding them pushes your team to the championship. All top teams are always going to have star players who produce nicely but those bargains can make the difference for you.

If you want to make some moves, try putting Malkin and Kessel on the block. They're decent value but nothing great. Someone might overpay to get them, though.

[Eskimo Brother]

My first and only salary cap team below, I'm still new to this cap format and I'd like some thoughts on it. We use the actual NHL salary cap as our number.

At first I was hoping to get to a more balanced approach, aim for people who had reasonable term and contracts and not have anyone with a ridiculous salary, but i found that as the draft went on, there was a lot of unclaimed fire power in stars who had high salary so I grabbed them and kept under the cap by aiming for a few lower paid players for peripheral stats. Unfortunately i missed out on some gems like Gudas and Polak as my D, but c'est la vie.

Defense and Goaltending are my obvious weaknesses, so I'm hoping that by grabbing an extra cheap defenseman and goalie i can compensate for quality with some quantity (daily line up changes, so maximize # of starts). Plus almost all my forwards are first line talent so i'm hoping they can score enough to compensate for being down a forward.

As a rule what do you think works best? do you prefer an cap team that is fairly even in terms of average salary cap hits, or have highly paid stars mixed with a bunch of cheap contracts?

Any and all feedback is much appreciated! Thanks

Personally I like the approach of getting some star players, and then filling in the bottom with whatever value players you can find.
I was actually thinking of doing some analysis on NHL teams for a Capped column on this exact topic. I want to see what the better structure is for them. However I am going to have to wait until all of the relevant RFAs have signed, because otherwise there will be some strange, outlying numbers.

[chuckcouples]

In my 30 team Dynasty league we use both NHL AAV and NHL salary cap and floor. We also use 20 person rosters (12F, 6D, 2G). Here is the "budget" that I use for my team on an annual basis.

Forward Line 1: 25%
Forward Line 2: 15%
Forward Line 3: 10%
Forward Line 4: 6%
Dmen: 30%
Goalies: 12%

You will notice that this only equals 98% to allow for a little bit of flex room. My team for the current season has the following breakdown:

Forward Line 1: 24%
Forward Line 2: 22%
Forward Line 3: 8%
Forward Line 4: 6%
Dmen: 33%
Goalies: 8%

[Sulla]

Where's Pengwin7 when you need sage advice on cap leagues....

for or me it depends on what the rules are on going over the cap as makes a huge difference

[finminer]

Personally I like the approach of getting some star players, and then filling in the bottom with whatever value players you can find.
I was actually thinking of doing some analysis on NHL teams for a Capped column on this exact topic. I want to see what the better structure is for them. However I am going to have to wait until all of the relevant RFAs have signed, because otherwise there will be some strange, outlying numbers.

There are as many strategies as there are cap managers! It will depend a lot on the league setup - keepers, salary escalation, etc., but as with ANY salary league in any sport, you have to find the value players or just plain get lucky. Last Sunday was the auction draft for my main cap league (in sig). The draft cap is $200, going up to $220 after the draft to promote trading. Here are two teams with very different strategies:

Grayville Goons (Stars 'n' Scrubs)
F: Malkin $46, Stamkos $51, Tavares $46, Nelson $1, Brouwer $1, Perron $1, Grigorenko $1, Silfverberg $1, ELC's at $5 - Burakovsky, Tarasenko, Fabbri, Nyqvist (our ELC's for promoted prospects are 5 yrs at $5)
D: Seabrook $1, Niskanen $1, Stralman $1, McDonagh $1, ELC's - Parayko & Rielly
G: Elliott $8, Miller $2, Allen ELC $5

South Side Snipers (my team - more even salary distribution)
F: Kopitar $25, Bergeron $2, Johansen $21, Landeskog $7, Trocheck $6, Ladd $11, HSedin $6, Eberle $10, Martin $6, Nielsen $4, ELC's at $5 - Larkin, Hayes, Horvat
D: Doughty $29, Shattenkirk $14, Gostisbehere $6, CMiller $1, ELC - Dumba
G: Andersen $8, $5 ELC's - Gibson & Mrazek

The Goons spent over 70% of the draft cap on 3 players! My top 3 salaries add to a little more than half of what Goons spent on his top 3. He has seven $1 players as opposed to my one. A third team spent 70% of his money on D and G. Granted that there is clearly a key strategy element here playing your ELC's right (Tarasenko at $5!), but there is also a lot of opportunity for bargains. That's how I got Bergeron at $2 and how he got Seabrook at $1. This is a format that is very different than one using NHL salaries, but the same types of things will happen in any format. I don't plan how I will spend my salaries, I wing it and try to take advantage of the opportunities as they arise.

[jdreed3184]

chuckcouples, for reference, what categories are used by your league?

I'm in a similar cap league and really like your budget framework.

[roenick27]

Totally depends on cats and structure imo. For example, points based I'd pay the big boys and fill in. If there's a lot of cats, then I tend to try and find guys that do everything(or 8/10 cats etc) well. Also you may want to try and focus on a few of the cats that others tend to pay less attention to (shp, sog etc)

[Luffy D Monkey]

Value is king. I never have a set structure, it depends on which positions you can fill with good value. For the last lineup spots you will usually end up taking some questionable bargain players, unless you are rebuildling/lucky and have a cheap core of stars.