Need to Draft a D-Man to Fill Out the Roster

[dejeanneret]

Hi all. Long time reader of these boards and the great advice provided; recently joined the site and hope to be a worthwhile contributor to the discussion going forward. But first, a question:

Have our draft coming up to fill out the remaining 5 spots on a 21-man roster (we keep 16), and am curious of your take on/ranking of the following D-men who are available (cats are listed in my sig)?

Bieksa
Dougie Hamilton
Josi
B. Smith
Voynov
McBain (leaning against McBain since I dropped him and already have Faulk)
Ryan Whitney
Ian White

Notably, no PIMs or Hits in this league. And my keeper D-men are mostly on the younger side (save D. Boyle), so I'm primarily looking for someone to step into the lineup and contribute this season. Nevertheless, I still find the upside of some of the young guys listed above to be intriguing.

Thanks.

[hockeyrobot]

I would go with the more proven option like Bieksa or Whitney. If I had to choose I'd say Bieksa because of the plus minus

[lucifer316]

josi

98 blocked shots in 52 games is pretty sweet and he puts up ok points

[dongjohnson]

josi

98 blocked shots in 52 games is pretty sweet and he puts up ok points

That's not bad advice to me. He should score more and more as he gets more premium ice-time. For a long-term thinker, it's a sharp decision. If you're only interested in the short term however, you can perhaps do better.

[dejeanneret]

Thanks guys. I do like Josi for the reasons mentioned. The only question I had with him has to do with the other youngsters on the Preds' blueline, and specifically whether they might ultimately limit Josi's role from a fantasy perspective.

Ellis, of course, has enormous offensive potential so giving him PP1 time to try and capitalize on it wouldn't seem to be out of the question. And Blum ... well, he clearly took a pretty significant backwards step last season. But I recall that he was essentailly being talked about at the beginning of last year in a similar way that Josi is being talked about this year.

Any cause for concern there as you see it?

[lucifer316]

so far through 2 games josi is 2nd in total ice time and 1st in pp ice time

there are no guarantees on anything but things seem to be starting out right for him in terms of being given the icetime