Who to Draft?

[Shoeless]

Question about what would happen in your league if you drafted Sundin and then he retired. He essentially has no cap hit to carry but can you drop him and go to the waiver wire for a replacement?

Anyway if you are still wanting to take a run at the title this year then I think your next two picks if they come to you are Gerber and then Selanne on the way back. You can afford it. Time to spend now on high producers before other guys figure out they can afford to as well - then you fill in the blanks. I would love to see you get Selanne, Gerber and Sundin but that might be a little too much although it will be close - Nylander is a very good option at centre and he is still sitting there.

[Shoeless]

Well it looks like Gerber might get to you - I wonder about Carnge grabbing him though.

Anyway if he does slide to you then I think that is the trigger to go for the bundle this year - you aren\'t clearly the team to beat as you sit but if you can put about 3 high producing pieces in at C, Wing and Goal then you will be in the mix for sure.

You are really well set for next year no matter what happens - if you take a run for it and come later in the season your guys don\'t look like they are going to get you there then you can start trading some of these late producers for picks and solid developing roster players so I don\'t think you really have much to worry about in making your charge in the draft now.

I think at the end of the day you want an extra goalie and LW for sure on your bench (LW in case Filatov takes a year) - I really like Clowe because of his price and his PIM\'s and he will stand a really good chance of playing on Thorton\'s wing this season. Not sure yet on the other 2 bench spots but sure would like to see you grab someone who likely will have dual eligility at RW and C if possible. After that likely the best player available with what you have left to spend.

There are still alot of very good young D guys out there who will produce decently this year and who are very cheap - so not to worry there for the moment.

Be interesting to see where you are at for players after round 17.

[Shoeless]

Kinda surprised Gerber fell to you - is this daily or weekly starts? (I probably asked before but forget) - really good if it is daily starts - if it is weekly starts it is just good - but you still sit well for goalie stats this year.

Now if only Mr. S will make his way to you.

[ESY16]

We have daily starts (Yahoo H2H set-up).

I was also surprised that Gerber fell to me. He doesn\'t have a very friendly contract in this league (only 1 year left at $3.7 million) but as a 3rd goalie I think that he makes an excellent gamble. Ottawa should be a good team and I can\'t imagine many teams have 3 starters. I agree with your assesment that he will hopefully help me win this year but if not he should make excellent trade bait.

Selanne, Sakic, and Sundin can\'t be picked in the draft. It was a rule set up but the person running the league that he now doesn\'t really support. They will be waiver fodder I assume so I will try to jump on them but won\'t have great waiver priority. Next year everyone will be eligible but for this draft the big 3 hold-outs won\'t be.

With my next pick I assume that I should target my 3rd RW. I could also go after Clowe if no one on the RW front looks appealing. Any thoughts on good players available?

Also, how is your draft progressing Shoeless? Your forwards continue to impress me and Ellis should make a fine second goaltender.

[Shoeless]

Well I like Gionta this year for a bounce back so he would be a nice pick for offense. I do think you might need to look at a few more PIM\'s and Bertuzzi has some interest for me in your league with the contract he has. Kevin Porter should be top six in Phoenix and his contract is stellar and he is so young. If you want production with a big PIM whack then David Backes might be a good pull for the price. Darcy Tucker might be worth a look as well. Chris Neil will also roll huge PIM\'s this year for the Sens but his scoring will be really limited - not sure on his salary.

[Shoeless]

ESY16 wrote:

Your forwards continue to impress me and Ellis should make a fine second goaltender.

thanks - well the team isn\'t without a few gaps probably need a little luck with some of our picks to produce offensively.

I am pretty content with the Ellis pick he is going in as number one and wants to stay as such - he should pick up where he left off last year - that hole filled I think - probably need to concentrate on a little +/- and some PIM\'s

[Shoeless]

Are you forced to draft 6 D guys or can you put another forward on the bench - I think since it is Yahoo that you can easily do that but your commish doesn\'t allow for it on his spreadsheet.

Do you have to fill all your roster spots in the draft??

[Shoeless]

Just wanted to share my instincts about your team as I watch your draft - I think the 7 positions you need to draft are 3C, 1 LW, 1RW and 2D (I would even consider drafting 1 less D guy and grabbing an extra forward if they let you do that in this league)

Because you have such a poor waiver priority I would not worry about saving cash and take the producers you can off the board as they are available.

Because you have a really solid core of young keepers in all positions and you want to go for the win this year, I would not worry too much about picking guys who will go UFA next year.

I haven\'t had time to analyze your team against the league stats to find out where you are weak but I think likely PIM\'s and SHP might be an issue. So keep an eye out for guys that can fill weaknesses and still produce for you.

I would take Scotty Neids next if he is available and then Nylander the following round - that will leave you with a little over 1.5 million for each of your last 5 picks (7.636M), which is lots for the guys you want to pick to fill holes. I have a list of 12 players I like for you after that and only 1 is over 1.6M and just over in his case at 2.1M.

There are other options on D if Scotty is gone - but he is the one I like for you this season as a priority.

If Nylander is gone your obvious fallback is Comrie but I don\'t like that pick as well as Connolly (high risk, high reward - but price is right)