New to cap leagues... could use your insight

[maya has the knife]

Hey guys,

I took over for a GM in a tough 30 team cap league. Probably not the brightest idea for a newbie, but I like a challenge. The team is terrible, currently in 28th place, but has some nice kids on the farm (25 spots, 110 GP or less for F/D or 55 GP or less for G). I'm looking for some insight onto the guys I inherited as I'm not very familiar with some of the lesser knowns. What are your thoughts? Who should i be looking to ship out? I'm not particularly high on any of my D or G and I'm planning on retaining Bennett, Draisaitl, Samuelsson, and possibly Rattie as my core. Thanks!

Forwards
Sam Bennett, CGY
Leon Draisaitl, EDM
Henrik Samuelsson, ARZ
Ty Rattie, STL
Anton Karlsson, ARZ
Riley Barber, WSH
Vaclav Karabacek, BUF
Chris Tierney, SJ
Michael Keranen, MIN
Chris VandeVelde, PHI
Brendan Leipsic, TOR
Jordan Martinook, ARZ
Daniel Audette, MTL

Defensemen
Michael Matheson, FLA
Matt Donovan, NYI
Patrik Nemeth, DAL
Aaron Ness, NYI
Tyler Wotherspoon, CGY
David Warsofsky, BOS
Marcus Pettersson, ANA
Keegan Lowe, CAR
Taylor Chorney, PIT

Goalies
Richard Bachman, EDM
Jussi Rynnas, DAL
Spencer Martin, COL
Kaapo Kahkonen, MIN

[chuckcouples]

What stats does this league count? That information is necessary before anyone can give you much more information on the values of these guys.

[maya has the knife]

Sorry about that. H2H league where all scoring categories are counted equally. Cap ceiling is $69M with a floor of $51M.

G, A, PPP, SHP, +/-, PIM, Hit, Blk, SOG, FO%
W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

The only players there I'd consider "core" are Draisaitl and Bennett... Anyone else can move for the right price. Samuelsson is a probable keep as well. For defense Matheson, Donovan, Nemeth, and Wotherspoon are your best but none are must keeps.

[Jouko-Pouko]

My first advice is, get to know your prospects before shipping anyone out. In deep leagues, most prospects have some value. It's just a matter of how much value they have. So purchase Dobber's Prospect Report in the spring, find out what places like DobberProspects and Hockey's Future has to say about your prospects. Take a closer look at their stats and just Google them if more information is needed. Knowledge is key in deep leagues.

Your top forward prospects are Bennett, Draisaitl, Rattie and Samuelsson. But Tierney, Karabacek, Barber and Karlsson are decent as well.

Your top 'D' prospect is clearly Matheson. Nemeth is a good real-life prospect but less in fantasy hockey. Pettersson has good upside but he's 4-5 years away. Others are not that good.

Your goalie prospects are not great, only Kahkonen and Martin are really worth anything. But even they are long-shots.

[DrakeZero]

Yikes that is an awful team. Makes me wonder who is in 29th and 30th. Still a good challenge indeed. As mentioned your core are Bennett, Draisaitl, and barely Rattie at this point. Your next core player will most likely be whoever you pick in the draft which I assume is the 3rd overall pick.

As for the rest, study them via dobberprospects, hockey future and weed out the ones that have best opportunity to succeed. I would also wander the waiver wire. Never know what gems are left on the waiver wire.

[maya has the knife]

I would also wander the waiver wire. Never know what gems are left on the waiver wire.

The waiver wire is absolutely barren... it's a 30 team league with 25 minors per team. I've scoured the wire for hours and couldn't find anything worth grabbing.

[Jouko-Pouko]

The waiver wire is absolutely barren... it's a 30 team league with 25 minors per team. I've scoured the wire for hours and couldn't find anything worth grabbing.

A couple of players who might be there:
Matt O'Connor, G
Casey Bailey, C/RW
Kyle Baun, RW
Austin Czarnik, C
Kenney Morrison, D

These are hot NCAA free agents. In my opinion, they're better than some of the players you currently have.

From the Finnish league, players like LW Markus Hannikainen, D Otso Rantakari and RW Joonas Donskoi are worth a look if they sign an NHL contract.

How about Esa Lindell? He had a great season in Finland, currently playing in the AHL. Or Colin Miller from the AHL?

Also, LW Artemi Panarin could be available in your league. He's a 23-year-old KHL free agent. I think he'll have a good future in the NHL if he decides to give it a shot.

[maya has the knife]

A couple of players who might be there:
Matt O'Connor, G
Casey Bailey, C/RW
Kyle Baun, RW
Austin Czarnik, C
Kenney Morrison, D

These are hot NCAA free agents. In my opinion, they're better than some of the players you currently have.

From the Finnish league, players like LW Markus Hannikainen, D Otso Rantakari and RW Joonas Donskoi are worth a look if they sign an NHL contract.

How about Esa Lindell? He had a great season in Finland, currently playing in the AHL. Or Colin Miller from the AHL?

Also, LW Artemi Panarin could be available in your league. He's a 23-year-old KHL free agent. I think he'll have a good future in the NHL if he decides to give it a shot.

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't sign any unsigned FAs until they have an NHL contract, but I'm definitely keeping my eye on O'Connor's situation. I will check out the other guys and see if they're available.

[ericdaoust]

My first suggestion is to not get too attached emotionally to your prospects. You can use some of them to take advantage of opponents that run into cap trouble. Sometimes they end up stuck having to move someone and that player might actually have good cap league value.

Besides, your league has a limit on the amount of farm guys that can be carried. If you hold on to projects for too long you're taking a slot away that could be allocated to the next crop of prospects that come up, including some of the College/European free agents listed in this thread.

Quality over quantity, because often the quantity part can be fixed for free i you do good research and can get a bit lucky.

[Jouko-Pouko]

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't sign any unsigned FAs until they have an NHL contract, but I'm definitely keeping my eye on O'Connor's situation. I will check out the other guys and see if they're available.

Kenney Morrison, Esa Lindell and Colin Miller have NHL contracts. Although Morrison's contract doesn't start until next season. Those others should be signed soon, so keen an eye out and sign them when that happens. They're probably not game-changers but don't underestimate making even small upgrades in very deep leagues. If you can then turn those prospects into draft picks or NHL players, that's great. If they don't turn into anything, you can just drop them and try again with the next one.

Also, good advice from ericdaoust above. Most of the time I use prospects to improve my pro roster or to acquire more draft picks. Sometimes they turn into pro roster players I can use myself but don't expect that to happen every time.