These would be my 4:
Doughty, Phaneuf, Edler, Kulikov
IT's looking more and more like we may not have a season. This is troublesome to me as I drafted some young defenders with what I feel are High Ceilings, and I'll likely have to let 1 or more go sight unseen.
Help me out boys....Below is my Defense Core. I can keep 4.
Please help me decide who are my 4 keepers...and who is the 1 Fringe guy to consider (my 5th and swing vote).
Cats below in my signature. (I think top 3 are a lock, then it gets more interesting between 4th and 5th. Thanks!
Doughty
R. Whitney (Edm)
Kulikov
Phaneuf
B. Smith (Det)
Edler
Gonchar
These would be my 4:
Doughty, Phaneuf, Edler, Kulikov
Derek Reese - Future Hall of Famer
14 Team NHL Salary Cap Dynasty
H2H, Salary Cap 108 Mil, Player actual salaries
1 Week scoring period
G,A,PTS,GWG,PIM,SOG,STP,HT,BL,+/-,W,GAA,SV,SO
Starters: 12 Forwards, 6 Defense, 2 Goalies
F - Marchand, Marner, Marchessault, Stamkos, Tuch, Comtois, Farabee, Bennett, McCann, W. Nylander, Nugent-Hopkins, Kapanen
D - Barrie, Oleksiak, Suter, Gudbranson, Savard, Lyubushkin, Ferraro
G - Saros, Rittich
Bench - Mittelstadt, Reimer, Roslovic, Keller, Reaves, Toews
Prospects - Byfield, Mercer, Veleno, Chmelevski, Tippett, Comrie, Tomasino, Valimaki, Gustavsson, Wolf
I'd clearly go with
Doughty
Phaneuf
Edler
Smith
The others are either no locks for big contributons or have not as high an upside as Smith.
24 team H2H dynasty, fantasy points, no cap
Skaters: G 4.5 (5 for Ds), A 3, PPG 1.5 (2 for Ds), PPA 1 (1.5 for Ds), SHP 2, Ft 2, HIT 0.6, BLK 0.6, SOG 0.3 (0.4 for Ds), FW 0.1, Tk 0.5 // Gv -0.3
Goalies: W 3.5, SHO 5, SV 0.5, A 3 // GA -3, L -1.5
4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 2G, 4BN, 4IR
C: McDavid, MacKinnon, Hischier
LW: B.Tkachuk, Ovechkin, Paul(C), Jankowski(C)
LW/RW: Meier, Fiala, Giroux(C), Niederreiter
RW: Reinhart, Anderson, Armia
D: Josi, Matheson, Durzi, Zadorov, Moser, Cernak, Siegenthaler, Stanley
G: Daccord, Merzlikins, Pickard
50 minors; most noteables: A.Schmid, E.Andrae, M.Kesselring, S.Malinski, B.Pachal, L.Bichsel, M.Pospisil, E.Soderblom,...
So Far Exactly what I figured...
Doughty, Phaneuf and Edler are locks.
An early split between Kulikov and Smith.
So Essentially...the question is...who would you rather
Kulikov or B. Smith...for right now...and down the road.
Does either have a chance to out rank Doughty, Phaneuf or Edler within 3 years?
The top 3 are definite locks for me: Doughty, Edler, and Phaneuf. After that it's between Kulikov and Smith, like you've said.
I like Kulikov over Smith, but it's pretty close. In the end I think Kulikov's experience is the deciding factor. The injuries are an issue, certainly, but he put up 28 points in 58 games on the 2nd pairing and PP2, behind Garrison and Campbell. That's a 40 point pace as a #3/4 defenseman. There's no reason that he won't be a top pairing, PP1 guy this year.
You can make an argument either way, but that's what I'd be thinking.
Thanks Bizzl...I'm very much Torn. To be honest, there's just something about taking the expected #1 in Detroit over the POSSIBLE #2 one day...maybe #1 one day further away.
Call it the Detroit blinders...but it's like having the ACE of the Yankees over the ACE of the Astros.
One may be better than the other, perhaps from a talent wise, they're equal, but I just can't get past the fact that one may be in a better situation than the other...hence me leaning toward Smith...
But from a body of work...he's essentially unknown at the NHL level where Kulikov is showing flashes of Offensive upside already (muted by injuries).
And as i complete this post, I've clearly toiled myself back into an undecided frame of mind!
lol
I'm on team Smith here. Florida is full of young talent (Gudbranson, Petrovic, Matheson) while Detroit is pretty shallow in the D prospects section. Smith has a path paved in front of him to become the go-to guy on the blueline at the Joe. It's his chance to blow.
5th Year 12 Team Dynasty H2H, Daily Starts
G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, Hits, PPP, SHP
W, GAA, Sv%, Svs, SO
C: J.Spezza, A.Galchenyuk, E.Kuznetsov, M.Hanzal, V.Rask, S.Couturier
LW: Z.Parise, M.Gaborik, T.Vanek, J.Skinner
RW: C.Perry, J.Pavelski, P.Hornqvist, V.Nichushkin
D: E.Karlsson, P.K Subban, J.Muzzin, R.Ristolainen
G: R.Miller, S.Varlamov, D.Dubnyk
Prospects: Matthews, Kapanen, Vrana, Scherbak, Zadorov, Grubauer, Pickard, Aittokallio, Makarov, Reway, Guryanov, McCarron, Samsonov, Aho, Montour, Bowey
Doughty (These three can be flip flopped.. order doesn't really matter - all locks to be kept)
Phaneuf
Edler
Kulikov <- #4
B. Smith (Det) - fringe guy... his peripherals can help even when he's not scoring.. and could be gold down the road if you can hold him
R. Whitney (Edm)
Gonchar
__________________________________________________ __________________
UHL Dynasty St. Louis Blues
...playoffs, how the eff did I make the playoffs?
UDL Western Kings
...oh boy... this build is gonna be a while...
Big Kulikov fan and I don't think it is close between him and Smith. Kulikov with Campbell will light it up for years, and Smith hasn't proven a thing.
Doughty, Edler, Phaneuf, Kulikov
20 Team Dynasty League - POINTS ONLY (Champion - 2017, 2016, 2015)
Points: A (1) G (2) Dman G (3) GWG (1)
Goalie: W (3.5) SO (4) L (-1)
Daily starts: 9 Fwd, 6 D, 1 Goalie
Guentzel Tkachuk Larkin
Couture Palmieri Zucker
Wilson Beauvillier Labanc
Leivo Joseph Sprong
Barrie Morrissey Montour
Butcher Murray Bayreuther
Fleury
Domingue
Good Point.
Down the Road, Kulikov may have a better supporting cast to pair him with on the #1/2 Defensive line.
As it currently stands, with the departure of Lidstrom, Smith may very well become the #1 guy...but who's left to help him thrive? Ian White? Kyle Quincy?
But I do like the additional cats (PIM's and PPP) that Smith brings. Can't see Kulikov being overly physical...and if he is...can his body hold up to the demand?
Here are my 4;
Doughty
Kulikov
Phaneuf
Edler
Fringe: R. Whitney (Edm)
I've noticed that Kulikov is a bit overrated for roto leagues. Not sure if it's universal roto or just the league setups that apply to me but his peripherals are simply not that good. I think Smith is the guy here IMO.
Doughty/Phaneuf/Edler are locks as stated already many times.
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