Lehtonen

[Habber]

I\'ve been offered the following deal in my league:

Backstrom (goalie)/ Biron / Sakic / B.Stuart / 5th for Lehtonen / Weber / 2nd

The pool is a 22 man keeper...I am ok at forward, although I do have Teemu / Yashin and Forsberg, all who may not play in the NHL next year..my goalies currently are Lehtonen/Bryzgalov/Mason and my D consists of Weber/Zhitnik/Bieksa/Preissing/Corvo/Letang

Thoughts?

I don\'t really want to part with a 2nd, it is the first pick in the 2nd round, so 13th overall...Lehtonen is a good goalie, but Atlanta never addresses defense in free agency and he always gets hurt...Weber is in a weird situation where he takes over as the top d-man, but he is losing good quality players around him...I don\'t know.

[Striker]

If it\'s a keeper league and not knowing the point set up I\'d say keep Weber / Lets. Long term it will pay off. Plus Weber is the real deal and I think you would seriously regret moving him.

If you made that deal you would not be getting the best player in the deal. Sakic is a beast, but he will retire as soon as next year.

2 cents

[lanky522]

Disclaimer: I don\'t know how your league works and/or the scoring you use, so take the following with a grain of salt.

sabresedge wrote:

If it\'s a keeper league and not knowing the point set up I\'d say keep Weber / Lets. Long term it will pay off. Plus Weber is the real deal and I think you would seriously regret moving him.

If you made that deal you would not be getting the best player in the deal. Sakic is a beast, but he will retire as soon as next year.

Wow, I have to hugely disagree... any time you can get 4 quality guys for two quality guys, you\'ve got to take it. Yes, Sakic may retire in a year or two, but then again, he may not. He isn\'t injury prone and has no nagging injuries (one of the main reason\'s guys retire), and he is getting better and better (it seems) with age. Normally I\'d say that a hockey guy\'s prime is his late twenties, but sakic\'s prime appears to be his mid thirties. He also has the drive to continue playing (hasn\'t once told the media he was considering retirement - ala scott niedermayer), and he\'s become a huge leader for his team. He could be around for as many as 4 or 5 more years. During that time he\'ll likely get 300 points at least.

Backstrom and Biron will both be beasts on their respective teams next year, giving you (quite arguably) the best goaltending in your league with 4 starters (Bryzgalov will almost definitely be moved now that Giguere is signed). Once the year starts, you could probably trade any one of these guys for a younger goalie prospect and some help elsewhere, and you\'d still make out at the goalie position.

Stuart is a wild card in this trade... He has the potential to be a 50 point guy, but he\'s floundered the last few places he\'s gone... Depending what happens come next sunday with him, he could either be a nice substitute, or a utter downgrade for weber. Your defense is probably your weakest area, but it\'s young for the most part, and you\'ve got some quality up and comers there. Free agency could either make or break your defense this year (depending where corvo, and preissing end up).

====================

I do think that you\'ll be better off taking this trade, as starting goalies are much rarer than starting defenders (there\'s at least 2 decent starting defenders for every 1 starting goalie). Lehtonen is one of the better young goalies in the leauge, but he is injury prone, he doesn\'t play for a very defensive team, and he\'s not even that much younger than Backstrom and Biron (who aren\'t old by any means). Stuart is also not old (and you already have a couple of blue chip young guys in Bieska and Letang) so you will be fine for years on defense as well.

My one suggestion though, would be to see if you can include selanne (I say selanne because no one in their right mind will take a chance on yashin or forsberg at this point in time) in the trade instead of your 2nd pick. You are giving him quite a bit of quality youth as it is, and I think that he\'d understand you not wanting to give up your 13th overall pick. Selanne should be attractive enough to him that he\'ll accept the swap, and just bite your lip for the next year or so selanne plays knowing that he\'ll be retiring sooner rather than later, and that you saved a good pick by dishing him. Also, I imagine that you have roster limits, meaning that the other GM giving you 4 guys for your 2 guys will likely mean you\'ll have to drop 2 guys to make space. If you send selanne the other way, you\'ll only have to drop 1 guy. Also, try to explain to him that you\'re taking a huge chance bringing on Stuart before you even know his fate, so he should be equally willing to bring in selanne (who in all likelyhood will be back next season).

Again, that\'s my suggestion based on my experience, but not knowing exactly how your league is run, I might be way off-base.

Just don\'t underestimate biron and backstrom going into next season, they will most likely be better than all but 5 or 6 goalies in the league.

Post edited by: lanky522, at: 2007/06/26 14:44

[Habber]

The pool is points and +/-

Goalie points are 2pts for a win, .5 for tie and 2pts for shutout

It is a 10 team league, with each team protecting 22 players, so drafting is key in this league. Your opinion about Lehtonen is one that I share, he may be young and very good, but he needs a defensive team in front of him to truly become an elite goaltender...I think Philly is going to take off next year and Biron will be there to mop up the wins.

I like Weber a lot, maybe snagging Cody Franson will compensate for the loss of Weber down the road a bit...

[Habber]

The pool is points and +/-

Goalie points are 2pts for a win, .5 for tie and 2pts for shutout

It is a 10 team league, with each team protecting 22 players, so drafting is key in this league. Your opinion about Lehtonen is one that I share, he may be young and very good, but he needs a defensive team in front of him to truly become an elite goaltender...I think Philly is going to take off next year and Biron will be there to mop up the wins.

I like Weber a lot, maybe snagging Cody Franson will compensate for the loss of Weber down the road a bit...

[birddog]

Stuart really struggled last year and doen\'t have much value at this point he would seem to be a throw in.

Lehtonen will be Atlanta\'s starter for the next 10 years. Although Atlanta is an offensive team your pool doesn\'t count GA or SP. Lehtonen is the best player in this deal.

Backstrom had a good 2/3 of a season and could very well be a top goalie but lets not forget guys like Huet, Raycroft, Gerber etc. that played well one season only to falter the next. Unless you are dressing 3 goalies getting 2 back has little value for you. Atlanta will surely win more games then Philly or Minny.

Mason\'s value just jumped with Vokun being dealt and he is now a solid second. Bryzgalov could wind up as the number 1 somewhere. So basically you already have 3 starting goalies.

Weber could be a 50 point man and I wouldn\'t part with him.

So basically you are giving up the best goalie, the best dman, the best draft pick for probably just one more year of Joe Sakic. I wouldn\'t but it\'s your call. Don\'t forget how young Lehtonen and Weber are. Not to mention the 13th pick will be someone of value and a 5th rounder will probably being waiver fodder.

[hockeylifer]

I share the opinion of \'birddog\'.

Joe has been a great player. He will continue to play his best. My concern would be \'father time\'.

Your goaltending is sound. Lehtonen will only get better. He has had injury problems but you also have Byzgalov and Mason. Bryzgalov will be a starter. Hopefully he gets to a team that has some depth and he is not left \'hung out to dry\'. Mason will be the \'go to guy\', in Hamilton, and get 40 wins.

Weber will be more than a 50 point defenceman. He is really coming into his own. Weber is going to be a star in the NHL.

I shouldn\'t do this, but I have to, Biron was a backup in Philadelphia. He has been a starter. I am sure that he will be fine but he won\'t get all of the work. Philadelphia did sign Nittymaki for a reason. They aren\'t sure either. (I just might have just pushed Lanky\'s button). B)