Who To Protect

[finminer]

League in sig, top 4 get paid, $220 cap. I am pretty solidly in the money, and have a good shot to win it. Here's the rub: we have a post-season parity draft where the bottom 8 teams each get to take a player from the top 4 teams. You can only lose 2 players, and #1 can protect 3, #2 can protect 4, #3 - 5, #4 - 6. In other years, I've structured my team with expiring contracts so there's not much to choose from; I've done a little of that but it's not really feasible with all the talent I have. From this list, who would you protect, in order, in case I can protect more? Note: goalies are 30% of the stats but 13% of the players.

Bergeron, $2 salary, 3 years remaining on contract
Kopitar, $25, 1 year
MacKinnon, $5, 3 years
Schwartz, $10, 1 year
Toffoli, $3, 3 years
Gostisbehere, $6, 1 year
Dumba, $5, 3 years
Larkin, $5, 5 years
Mrazek, $5, 4 years
Gibson, $5, 4 years

[Goldendelicious]

MacKinnon, Toffoli, Larkin, Mrazek & Gibson would be my priority protections plus Bergeron since he seems to be a steal at his price. I think the other players are easily replaceable. I would protect them in that order but if you win, you would need to assess the value of a goalie over one of Toffoli or Larkin

[finminer]

Yeah that pretty much matches to my list, I just wanted to get some objective input. I think that if I win, I would protect Mac, Larkin & Mrazek, then Gibson, Toffoli, Bergeron. If I win, I would lose Gibson for sure, but I can't really trade him for a rental since I don't have 1st cemented and need a backup anyway. I would really like to keep Kopitar, as his price is very good, but I'd rather have more cap available if he gets taken. Someone might be enticed by Ghost's Karlsson-like numbers, which would be a decent break for me.

[The Comish]

MacKinnon, Toffoli, Mrazek, Larkin, Bergeron. Tough if you finish 1st, but if you do, I'd definitely keep Mrazek over Larkin, even though I have a huge man crush on Larkin.

[Noddes55]

Mackinnon, Larkin, mrazek, Gibson would be my top guys to protect.

[Zorro]

Mrazek Gibson Toffoli Mackinnon Larkin.. Tough leaving Schwartz off this list, but he only has 1 year left, aswell as Gostisbehere.. You definitely have some tough decisions ahead.. Kopitar at $25 for 1 year is a definite no..

[finminer]

$25 is actually pretty reasonable for Kopitar, a 70-point player. For benchmarks, Ovie is at $56, Crosby at $63 (too high), and Patrick Kane was locked in at $29, which is a bargain this year. Scarcity does play into it though. However, I would put Kopitar down the list behind the cheaper, entry-level $5 contracts. Maybe a little enticement to take the more expensive guy and not the cheap contract.

Thanks for the input, guys!

[Rylant]

$25 is actually pretty reasonable for Kopitar, a 70-point player. For benchmarks, Ovie is at $56, Crosby at $63 (too high), and Patrick Kane was locked in at $29, which is a bargain this year. Scarcity does play into it though. However, I would put Kopitar down the list behind the cheaper, entry-level $5 contracts. Maybe a little enticement to take the more expensive guy and not the cheap contract.

Thanks for the input, guys!

Fair enough. Kopitar might be reasonable at 25 dollars, but everything in perspective, if your choice is Kopitar at 25 or Bergeron at 2, I don't see how you keep Kopitar. Bergeron might put up slightly less impressive numbers, but the 23 dollars you save by doing it, is over 10 percent of your cap.

Rylant

[finminer]

Absolutely correct. Bergeron is higher on the keeper list but because of his cheap long contract, he is very attractive to others. He is very consistent but that said, he is having one of his best statistical seasons, so I see potential for him to get taken and fall off somewhat next year.