[Mailbag] Ask Laidlaw Anything

[metaldude26]

Hey guys, I've got some free time in the coming days figured I'd offer up my services in the form of a mailbag. Ask me any and all fantasy hockey questions you might have and I'll get to them between now and Tuesday night. Cheers!

[Daydream Nation]

Can you give your 4 favorite possession stats to look at? What is the range for elite, good, average, and below average in each stat? Thanks.

[louba5]

Thanks for doing this. League in sig, do you have 3F and 1D sleepers that would make for good targets for this year's draft in round 12 to 15. Thanks in advance!

[Axeman33]

How many fires did ya battle this summer?

Looking forward to having ya back around more often.

[VincentVega]

How do you see Rask's numbers affected by the weakened Bruins team? Is Rask still expected to put up solid SV% and 30+ wins?

[forumname]

Could you pick 5 keepers form league 1 in my sig? I keep going back and forth, so I'm going to defer responsibility and just blindly take your advice... no pressure. Thanks!

EDIT: Sig not working, info below:

TEAM 1

18 teams, keep 5, Yahoo H2H

(G)(A)(+/-)(PIM)(PPP)(SHP)(HIT)(BLK)
(W)(GAA)(SV%)(SHO)

C, C, LW, LW, RW, RW, D, D, D, D, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR

Tomas Plekanec (Mon - C)
Antoine Vermette (Ari - C,LW)
Zac Rinaldo (Bos - C,LW,RW)
Ondrej Palat (TB - LW)
Jakub Voracek (Phi - RW)
Claude Giroux (Phi - C,RW)
Erik Karlsson (Ott - D)
T.J. Brodie (Cgy - D)
Dennis Wideman (Cgy - D)
Eric Gryba (Edm - D)
Anton Stralman (TB - D)
Derek Dorsett (Van - RW)
John Klingberg (Dal - D)
Nathan MacKinnon (Col - C,RW)
Semyon Varlamov (Col - G)
Cory Schneider (NJ - G)
Evander Kane (Buf - LW)

[Call of Doughty]

Does Ehlers stick with the Jets this year? line mates? 2-3 year point projections? Is he the next Bure 2.0 lol?

[Big Baby]

MacKinnon

Will he rebound?

The Avs as well. Are they as bad as they were last year?

[Gern Blansten]

Stats in my sig.

Need to keep four. AO, Crosby and Holtby are locks. Due to our limited keeper rules, I can trade (and 95% land)for either Kessel or Malkin.

Who do you like for the next three years?

Malkin's - highest upside of the two but his injury issues worry me.
Kessel - New team, MUCH better linemates and a summer working with Gary Roberts intrigues me.

[mojavedesert]

Two questions:
1. Which of Goldobin or Meier do you see making the Sharks fulltime the earliest (not necessarily this season)?
2. Are you putting money on Patrick Kane to win the scoring title this year?

[Zorro]

Goalies!! I need some goalies to target.. What do you think of Lack, Talbot, M.Jones, Gillies, and anone else who may come out of nowhere soon..??

[BulmaCrank]

Multi-Cat League in my Signature - G, A, +/-, PPP, PIM, SOG, HITS, BLKS

Please rank these 3 players short and long term: Wheeler (RW), E.Kane (LW), JVR (LW)

[Caporal]

Keeper league, and I'm lauching a 2 or 3 years rebuild. Simple stats for forwards : 2 points a goal, 1 an assist.
A guy is interested in my Nash. I've been trying to land his Johansen for quite a while.
First question : would you swap Nash for Johansen without hesitation?

There could also be smaller pieces involved, and maybe I could land Anders Lee or Zibanejad in the process. Who would you rather have?

Thanks for the advice!

[hockeey]

What are your expectations for Anders Lee and Brock Nelson over the next couple years?

Who has the brighter future between Kuznetsov and E. lindholm?

[metaldude26]

Can you give your 4 favorite possession stats to look at? What is the range for elite, good, average, and below average in each stat? Thanks.

I'm not sure I have four. I'm a fan of Corsi% and Fenwick%. +60% is the dream. That means you are getting three shot attempts for every two the other team gets. No one player who skated meaningful minutes last season broke 60%. 55% or more is elite. 51-55% is good. 45-50% is average. Less than 45% is poor. Some of this stuff is context dependant. Players who consistently start in their own zone against the opponents' best while skating with crappy linemates will wind up with bad numbers but for the most part that legend holds up.