Kovalchuk or Gaborik

[Seeds of Grapes]

Due to my current league rules on player protection, I may find my self in a position where I would have to choose between Kovalchuk or Gaborik for next year (Fs only, no disnction between winger and C).

My take:

Kovalchuk has hit 98 before, is a premiere goal scorer and is only 26 years old. Also, he has higher trade value than Gaborik. However, he has no supporting cast, and has thusfar proven himself incapable of carrying a team or improving those around him. He will be a high 80 or 90 point player this year, but I wonder about next year.

Gaborik is awesome, but has never been healthy enough to show it... until this year. I believe that he kicked the injury bug and will play a relatively healthy season next year (remember, Alfreddson and Koivu also had approx 5 injury-plagued seasons at the start of their careers). I believe he is a lock for 90 next year, and could surprise for 100. If was not in Minn, he would easily breach 100.

Also, if I protect Kovie, I lose my number 1 pick next year (Kovie is the no.1 scorer on my team), and if I protect Gaborik (Gabby is the no.4 scorer on my team), I lose my number 4 pick next year.

Your thoughts?

[Soyeux25]

Seeds of Grapes wrote:

Due to my current league rules on player protection, I may find my self in a position where I would have to choose between Kovalchuk or Gaborik for next year (Fs only, no disnction between winger and C).

My take:

Kovalchuk has hit 98 before, is a premiere goal scorer and is only 26 years old. Also, he has higher trade value than Gaborik. However, he has no supporting cast, and has thusfar proven himself incapable of carrying a team or improving those around him. He will be a high 80 or 90 point player this year, but I wonder about next year.

Gaborik is awesome, but has never been healthy enough to show it... until this year. I believe that he kicked the injury bug and will play a relatively healthy season next year (remember, Alfreddson and Koivu also had approx 5 injury-plagued seasons at the start of their careers). I believe he is a lock for 90 next year, and could surprise for 100. If was not in Minn, he would easily breach 100.

Also, if I protect Kovie, I lose my number 1 pick next year (Kovie is the no.1 scorer on my team), and if I protect Gaborik (Gabby is the no.4 scorer on my team), I lose my number 4 pick next year.

Your thoughts?

wow !! the fact that you loose your first pick if you keep kovalchuck really makes it hard to decide....if it wasnt for that id go with kovalchuck easy!!say what you want about gaborik, but he is a semi band aid boy!! his first 3 season went ok, but after that....he never had more then 67 pts before this year!i would go with kovalchuck !you just cant be sure that gaborik is going to be healty next year!

[duducks]

How many keepers do you get, just the 1?
Kovy would be the easy pick if it werent for the draft rules.

If you only get 1 keeper, that 1st round pick could pull in something amazing, maybe an Alfie or Getzlaf. I\'d take a player like that + Gabs over a 4th rounder (Naslund/Tanguay type player) + Kovie.

[Seeds of Grapes]

Keep as many as you want b/w 375 - 400 points. However, you lose the draft pick in the slot you protect (i.e. protect your 3rd highest point scorer, he counts as your third draft pick).

Right now, my definite keepers are: Backstrom (Wash), Radulov and Backstrom (Minn). If I protect Giguere, I can only choose one other mega-F. If I do not, then I can protect both Kovie and Gaborik (but both are high draft picks); OR I protect one of the two, I protect Rafalski and another player (low scoring this year), but have higher draft picks.

[Zorro]

Why don\'t you forget about Giguere and Backstrom(MIN) and protect both Kovalchuk and Gaborik?? If I was to choose between Kovie and Gabby I would probably go with Kovie just because of the injury factor.
Z..

[Seeds of Grapes]

12 owners in the league, and 2 goalies count on each team. That makes Goalies very scarce and valuable commodities. I should protect two and must protect one just to stay competitive.

[Anonymous]

I would not be protecting Backstrom at all. He is old, he will be losing his job to Harding soon, and he is OLD! Keep Giguere, forget Backstrom.

As for Kovie vs Gaborik, straight up its Kovie no question, but picks 4 rounds apart is a pretty solid downgrade. I think you need t think about when you are aiming to win. By the looks of your keepers, it looks like down the road a couple of years, so a 1st round pick next year won\'t be essential and the firepower he brings is amazing. If you don\'t protect him, someone else will end up with a giant first round steal. That being said though, what other players like Kovie might their respective owners throw back into the draft? Gaborik + a St. Louis/Hossa type player would trump Kovalchuk + 4th rounder.

[Chicleteur]

Anonymous wrote:

I would not be protecting Backstrom at all. He is old, he will be losing his job to Harding soon, and he is OLD! Keep Giguere, forget Backstrom.

As for Kovie vs Gaborik, straight up its Kovie no question, but picks 4 rounds apart is a pretty solid downgrade. I think you need t think about when you are aiming to win. By the looks of your keepers, it looks like down the road a couple of years, so a 1st round pick next year won\'t be essential and the firepower he brings is amazing. If you don\'t protect him, someone else will end up with a giant first round steal. That being said though, what other players like Kovie might their respective owners throw back into the draft? Gaborik + a St. Louis/Hossa type player would trump Kovalchuk + 4th rounder.

Anonymous got it right here. I think the starting point is to create a list of the possible available players. If other decent goalie will be available, I would definitely protect JSG only. Kovy is my first choice, but like Anonymous said, Gaborik is another good option if something big is available with your first pick. However, the fact that Gabby is still injury prone despite of the great year he\'s having makes me worried.

[Shoeless]

This is the rodeo - keep Gabbie and your first rounder and see if you can get Gabbie to stay on for 8 seconds.

[Seeds of Grapes]

This year, Gabby played 4 less games than Kovalchuk. He may or may not get injured next year, but this year, he has been fine. I believe he may be over his injury bug. The question for me is whether or not he is preferable to Kovie. Most everyone here says no, but mostly based on the stigma of injuries.

Thanks everyone. I will have to carefully consider this.

[Seeds of Grapes]

This year, Gabby played 4 less games than Kovalchuk. He may or may not get injured next year, but this year, he has been fine. I believe he may be over his injury bug. The question for me is whether or not he is preferable to Kovie. Most everyone here says no, but mostly based on the stigma of injuries.

Thanks everyone. I will have to carefully consider this.

[tiantonio]

I might be the wrong person to ask, but then again, I might be the perfect person to ask.

I am solidly in the Gabby corner. His talent has been somewhat of a tease BECAUSE he has gotten dinged up the past several years. The thing is, if you allow for him to miss like 15 games or so, his production is great. And if he stays healthy, like this year, he is a TOP TIER Player. Depending on your lineup setups, as long as he doesnt get hurt early in a lineup, he shouldnt hurt much, if at all. Not like you should have a hole if he is hurt. You plan for a possible injury and have a nice sub or pick up hot players and there you go. I avoid MOST band aid boys like Havlat and Kronwall but GABBY is JUST TOO TALENTED.

Protect Giggy and forget about Backstrom if possible. Backstrom is a 50/50 time share with Harding as early as next season anyway. Even with 12 owners and 2 goalies counting each, Backstrom doesnt guarantee enough numbers to lose either Kovie or Gabby.

[Crazynuck]

I like Gabby and hate to say this but Kovi>Gabby.
Keep Giggy and drop Backstrom.

[ultrawhiteness]

i agree with anonymous. it all depends on what your first round will look like, and how high you will be picking.

i like kovy>gabby because of injuries, but gabby+first round may be better than kovy and 4th.

i must also caution trusting gabby to be over his injury bug, a la alfie, koivu etc. gabby\'s injuries are groin-related, and those don\'t disappear forever, they will always come back.

[Ari]

Kovalchuk is only 24, not 26 fwiw.