Keeper League Decision

[uator10]

I can only keep 15 players from year to year, which I have bolded my probable keepers below. If I do not make any other moves, I would lose Foligno, TJ, Seth Jones and Neal among others less valuable for nothing. I am currently in 1st place with 3 regular season weeks remaining. Should I look to move some of these guys, especially if they have had down years or should I hold onto them for the championship stretch. I worry that I really don't have the firepower to win a championship as one team is a clear favorite with the likes of ovi, backstrom, subban, benn, burns, giroux, couture, kucherov, letang, oel, barkov, oshie, carter, and atkinson. He is in 2nd and 10 points behind me.

I am really hesitant to keep the 4 players I mentioned previously because I do not think I have a great chance to win it all despite my standing and wonder if I should not at least make one move including one of the 4 I mentioned plus Toffoli to improve my keepers. My goalies aren't great but the price of getting one is too high. I was thinking of packaging two of those guys for Palmieri.

In any case, I would like opinions on whether I should hang tight or make a move and what type of player would be a reasonable return for the likes of Toffoli plus another (jones, johnson, neal or foligno).

My worst categories are goals, +/-, and shots if that helps narrow down a specific player equal of the value I would be spending that would make a good keeper.

Thanks as always and I will rep strong advice!

[Diamond Club Nine]

Two parts.

1) You are in 1st place. You've come this far and are aligned to possibly win a championship. Your thoughts and energy should be geared to towards winning the league. Sounds like you want to win but doubting yourself and thinking to far ahead ( off season). You should not worry about that at this stage of the game. Right now you gotta go for the win. The off season will present various options for trades and you never know what will come along. You can enter the off season as a Champion or as an owner thinking " What could of been, had I only hung on and did not deviate from te plan".

2) If you are worried about the the team that you feel is favored to win it all then I would be looking to find ways to improve now for the stretch run. If that means moving a Seth Jones + for a sure-fire upgrade somewhere, do it.

When in position to strike a championship you go for it. If you are " half-in" but yet "half-out" at the same time by looking ahead, most likely you will not win.

Go for the win! Worry about the back part of your keepers in off season.

[Dobber]

I would keep Jones over Kopitar. I would also move Fabbri for a good draft pick. I wouldn't risk moving a key guy unless you get an underrated but still productive player back (and picks for your trouble). Perry is also good trade bait, but again - use the power of his name to get a player of equal value back (but a lesser name) plus a good draft pick.

Jones is a stud, he's for real, and is a great keeper.

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I would keep Jones over Kopitar. I would also move Fabbri for a good draft pick. I wouldn't risk moving a key guy unless you get an underrated but still productive player back (and picks for your trouble). Perry is also good trade bait, but again - use the power of his name to get a player of equal value back (but a lesser name) plus a good draft pick.

Jones is a stud, he's for real, and is a great keeper.

[uator10]

Dobber, thanks for the reply. I've come to personally believe that given my categories in my league that I can get away with having 2 keeper defensemen since the forwards are more productive and there's no bonuses for dmen either. In that aspect, I think forwards are more valuable unless it's a big name very productive dman. I made an algorithm based off of the average NHL players single season stats and out of all my dmen rostered currently, Jones is the worst this year. Granted he is a very productive young dman who will only improve but I could redraft him as he won't be a first round pick in the redraft (if he is I have 2 first round picks).

So I think I would like to stay put with only 2 dmen being kept and fill the rest with dmen who help me in cats of need.

Thanks for for the help though!

[uator10]

Also I was wondering who would be a solid return for a package of 2 such as Toffoli and foligno or Tyler Johnson and Neal. I'd like to move 2 for 1 and add Matt Dumba to help my defense and plus minus