Keeper Team Assessment/Review

[rooneypoo]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice on where to take my team next. Full league details and roster below, but basically, my task is to transfer as much value as I can from my existing roster into 6 keepers + draft pick upgrades between now and Sept. Rep for advice.

My league is in 'trade freeze' mode for the next 2 months, so I've got some time here to plot the way forward. I finished a disappointing 4th place this year (after winning the league last year), and a lot of it had to do with my goaltending in the first 3 months (Bishop/Vasilevskiy and Allen). I sold off some piece in January/February to load up for the next year, turning Bobrovsky into Kucherov and adding a 2nd and 3rd for Atkinson and Keith. Then, once the regular season ended, I dropped some dead weight and picked up some underperforming players with high ceiling that I found on the WW (Landeskog, Duchene, etc).

My take on my team right is that I have 5 skaters who are clear keepers (Karlsson, OV, Benn, Kucherov, Tarasenko), at least 2 keeper worthy goalies (Allen and Vas -- Allen has earned a lot of my trust back), some decent back up keepers (Hornqvist, Hellebuyck), and 2 pieces whose value could really improve depending on what happens in late June / early July (Fleury, Bishop - but also maybe Duchene or Landeskog if they are traded). So, being strong at RW and G, my instinct is to try to package a RWer and a G together to try to get an upgrade at G, and then move what pieces I can to improve my draft position.

The one caveat: years of competing in this league tell me that keeping only 1 goalie is a strategy that's unlikely to bring success. We have 164 goalie games to play in this league and goalie stats account for 40 of the 110 points available, and that basically means you need at least 2 high quality starters if you're going to compete -- and they're nearly impossible to find at the draft table because usually 15+ goalies are kept year over year.

[Eskimo Brother]

If goalies are so valuable, I would actually shop Allen, Fleury, Helle and Vas, as that's where you have the most to gain. Three of them you trade for picks, and the fourth you trade with Kuch or Tank to upgrade on your one keeper G (so you have one solid goalie). Then you toss in Horny (as no one is trading for him) as your last keeper. If not then it's whichever goalie you didn't manage to trade. Try to parlay Guentzel's run into something, and there may be someone in your league that sees a 70+ point player in Stone. Get whatever you can out of him.