Pekka Rinne/Cam Ward Tandem

[Morris]

Hi,

I have to submit my keepers this week.
We are using "franchise" denomination on certain players to help reduce keeper salaries that continually increase.
Keeping a franchise player forfeits draft picks starting with round 1, 2, etc.

- Yahoo rotisserie stats
- My franchise players are Cam Ward and Malkin.
- I am picking last (#12)
- I am keeping Malkin losing my 12th draft pick. (No brainer)
- I AM CONSIDERING KEEPING CAM WARD LOSING MY 23rd DRAFT PICK

My first draft pick will be #34 but I will have a Goalie tandem of Rinne/Ward.
Do you think having two so-called "tier 1" goalies will be detrimental?
I still have to pick 2 good defensemen, one good forward and repopulate my farm:

GAOLIES
-----------------
Pekka Rinne
Cam Ward

FORWARDS
-----------------
Evgeni Malkin
Eric Staal
Ryan Kesler
ValtteriFilppula
Max Pacioretty
Taylor Hall
Sven Bartschi
Gustav Nyquist
Cam Atkinson
-
-

DEFENSE
-----------------
John Carlson
Kevin Shattenkirk
Jason Garrison
Stefan Elliott
Jared Spurgeon
-
-

FARM
----------------
Tyler Toffoli
Lars Eller
-
-
-

Any advice would be welcome!

[dyzfunctioned]

While your D definitely needs some work, I can't see having two elite starters being a bad thing.

FWIW, my top 5 G for next season:

Lundy
Quick
Rinne
Ward
Rask

[Shoeless]

Looks like 15 keepers for everyone - so multiply that by the number of teams in the league and then add 34 to that number and ask yourself if you would draft Ward in a regular draft at that position - I bet the answer is yes.

Put it another way - if you don't keep Ward - who will be available to draft at your 34th pick - will he be as good as Ward? I bet the answer is no.

[blayze]

My first draft pick will be #34 but I will have a Goalie tandem of Rinne/Ward.
Do you think having two so-called "tier 1" goalies will be detrimental?

I've played a lot of Yahoo ROTO format over the years, and I ALWAYS go for dual "tier 1" goalies with my first 3-4 picks. Having 2 strong goalies is critical to winning the standard yahoo ROTO format where goalies account for a disproportionate amount of the scoring categories, so you're on the right track.

[hockeyrobot]

I've played a lot of Yahoo ROTO format over the years, and I ALWAYS go for dual "tier 1" goalies with my first 3-4 picks. Having 2 strong goalies is critical to winning the standard yahoo ROTO format where goalies account for a disproportionate amount of the scoring categories, so you're on the right track.

I agree with this 100%....and I even go right out and grab a 3rd bonafied starter before they run out. That right there is essential because you just know goalies are going to become so valuable throughout the year and the opportunity to sell high is always there.

[Morris]

Looks like 15 keepers for everyone - so multiply that by the number of teams in the league and then add 34 to that number and ask yourself if you would draft Ward in a regular draft at that position - I bet the answer is yes.

Put it another way - if you don't keep Ward - who will be available to draft at your 34th pick - will he be as good as Ward? I bet the answer is no.

Actually if I dont keep Ward my first pick will be #23. Keeping Ward forfeits that pick (in our format)

Also, the number of keeper is not set. 15 is an unusually high number to keep but many of the players on my team are newcomers and their salary have not ballooned the way keepers usually do yet. To give you a reference Malkin's salary is around 1000 because of his awesomeness and because he's been on my team for many seasons. Pacioretti is 230, Rinne is 750 and Carlson 300.

Anyways sound advice from everyone I think I am set on keeping Ward and refurbish my blue line!

[Skin Blues]

Spending a couple high picks on goalies is usually not a wise move in roto. The highest drafted goalies are not necessarily the best in terms of GAA/SV% (although they can be, like with Lundqvist and Quick) but they make 60+ starts per season. And roto is not about quantity, it's about quality. Get cheaper goalies that are in a time share and will still post good rate stats. Grab Vokoun, Elliott, Harding, Halak if you can get him cheap enough, etc. All you need to do is get to 164 GP. Whether you do it with 3 goalies or 5 goalies doesn't really matter, and it's much cheaper to get there with 5 goalies. There are way more bench spots in Yahoo's default format than you'll ever need in order to max out your GP at every position. If there aren't strict FA pickup limits (and usually there are none in roto leagues) and the league is shallow enough that there are a few goalies on waivers, then you can also spot start mediocre or part-time goalies when they have good matchups.

Cam Ward is god awful in GAA and SV%. Not just last season, but his whole career. 2.74 GAA and .910 SV% just won't cut it. Talent be damned, it's results we care about in fantasy hockey, and this guy doesn't get results. I just don't get the love... do people think he's suddenly going to break the pattern? Luongo gets a lot of flak for being over-rated but over the past 4 seasons Ward has never had more wins than Luongo, never had more shutouts, never had a better GAA, and only once has had a better SV%. I'm not advocating for Luongo here, obviously his situation is up in the air and he will probably land in a less favourable situation. I'm just using it to show how bad Cam Ward has been. Do yourself a favour and look elsewhere in roto.

[letangerang58]

Cam Ward is god awful in GAA and SV%. Not just last season, but his whole career. 2.74 GAA and .910 SV% just won't cut it. Talent be damned, it's results we care about in fantasy hockey, and this guy doesn't get results. I just don't get the love... do people think he's suddenly going to break the pattern? Luongo gets a lot of flak for being over-rated but over the past 4 seasons Ward has never had more wins than Luongo, never had more shutouts, never had a better GAA, and only once has had a better SV%. I'm not advocating for Luongo here, obviously his situation is up in the air and he will probably land in a less favourable situation. I'm just using it to show how bad Cam Ward has been. Do yourself a favour and look elsewhere in roto.

I gotta agree with this. Not that Ward is a bad goalie but he is overvalued IMO and he is definitely not a top 5 goalie.