Help me choose my last keeper for this year please - REP

[anthonybeaty]

1) Kucherov is definite. Drafted him this year and can keep him twice.
2) Vasilevskiy is almost definite. I am a little worried that this year's performance is a flash in the pan. I am not sure that Bob or Bishop give me any more stability or upside. Drafted him this year and can keep him twice.
3) Stamkos is the one I am leaning towards as the 3rd keeper. His age and his two major injuries worry me, but I don't know that I have anyone who offers his upside. Does Laine enter this discussion? - not so great a year points wise - great goals and outstanding PPG.

I can't keep Karlsson since I have already kept him twice and he more or less let me down this year.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

PS - I have made some trades this year - that is why I have more than 3 keepers on my roster. The only thing that resets the keeper count is when the player goes through the draft.

[Axeman33]

Unless you need to submit your keeper list now, I think it's a little early to worry about this as it's only February.

I'd say screw it and keep Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy in a 2G league and keep Kucherov with them. Then you don't have to scramble for a goalie in the re-draft and you can focus on skaters, which are always easier to re-draft anyway.

[anthonybeaty]

Good thought Axeman, but we aren't allowed to keep two goalies only 1 at the most. I have to choose between Bob and Vasilevskiy.

[MZac]

Can you trade Karlsson and Stamkos for McDavid?

[pmkidd]

If player traded can new GM keep them for 2 seasons?

[anthonybeaty]

Can you trade Karlsson and Stamkos for McDavid?

Our trade deadline is today. I have tried to get value for Karlsson, but no one is biting. His mediocre year and the fact they all know that I have to drop him this year has contributed. Next year's draft picks have more value than Karlsson since there are so many great players who are dropped from year to year. Over the years, I have had to drop OV, Tavares and Crosby. I drafted Kucherov this year since he had to be dropped last year.

In all the trades I have tried this year, Karlsson was little more than "another guy". People were willing to take him, but weren't giving me top defender value. Especially since I was in 1st up until this past week, I wasn't just going to give him away. I have a real chance to win it all this year.

As for Stamkos, he was outright dropped last year when he went down. I grabbed him off the WW because he was better than all my skating keepers - it didn't matter to me that he wasn't playing since I was already out of contention. My league doesn't hold him in high regard and isn't offering me much value for him.

The general point is well taken, take two great players and package for a superstar. I have not had much luck with those trades in the past - managers are very reluctant to do one for many reasons. The least of which is that they need to drop someone to make room for my extra player since the rosters are fixed size. The biggest issue with this type of trade is that we are only allowed 3 keepers - 1 is almost always a goalie. The superstar is always one of the 2 skating keepers but the the two great players aren't. Even if one of them is good enough to be a keeper, he is less valuable than the superstar. So the team that trades the superstar might be helping his team this year, but is hurting his team for future years.

[anthonybeaty]

If player traded can new GM keep them for 2 seasons?

No. The only way to reset the keeper count is for him to go through the draft at the beginning of the year. If I trade Karlsson, then the new manager needs to drop him at the end of the season.

[pmkidd]

No. The only way to reset the keeper count is for him to go through the draft at the beginning of the year. If I trade Karlsson, then the new manager needs to drop him at the end of the season.

Ok that's the reason for other GM not wanting to make trades. Maybe league should consider have keeper eligibility be reset when traded. I think would make for some interesting trades.

[anthonybeaty]

Ok that's the reason for other GM not wanting to make trades. Maybe league should consider have keeper eligibility be reset when traded. I think would make for some interesting trades.

We have talked about that. We believe what would end up happening is that two teams one with McDavid and one with Matthews would keep trading them back and forth every 2 years and no one else would get a shot at them. Same would have happened with Crosby and OV. While I think the potential for cool trades is there, the true superstars of the league would only be traded 1-1 with each other.

What we have found has happened with the current rules is that some teams will trade just before the deadline for the superstars that have to be dropped at the end of the season to try and bolster their teams for the playoffs. They give up draft picks for the upcoming year.

One year I was absolutely loaded at skater (had Crosby, OV, Tank, Pavelski, Giroux, Karlsson) because of those trades. 2/3 goalies got injured and I ended up losing 5-6 in the finals.

[estarr31]

We have talked about that. We believe what would end up happening is that two teams one with McDavid and one with Matthews would keep trading them back and forth every 2 years and no one else would get a shot at them. Same would have happened with Crosby and OV. While I think the potential for cool trades is there, the true superstars of the league would only be traded 1-1 with each other.

What we have found has happened with the current rules is that some teams will trade just before the deadline for the superstars that have to be dropped at the end of the season to try and bolster their teams for the playoffs. They give up draft picks for the upcoming year.

One year I was absolutely loaded at skater (had Crosby, OV, Tank, Pavelski, Giroux, Karlsson) because of those trades. 2/3 goalies got injured and I ended up losing 5-6 in the finals.

This happens often in a lot of leagues, teams selling off at the deadline to playoff-bound teams. Sometimes can be annoying watching others arm up on the cheap. If you could reset the keeper clock, this wouldn't be as easy to do since trade values would increase and be harder to overload on one team. As for worrying about teams traded back and forth to hog elite players, you can self-police this and void trades like that. Or make a rule where you can't trade him for the same player twice, double jeopardy style.
Either way, without a reset rule, you'll find yourself in situations like this where you can't get top dollar for a quality player in addition to teams loading up.
As for Karl disappointing, he's still an elite player and there are valid reasons for his drop in performance this year, both personal and team-oriented. When he gets traded this year, during or after the season it's happening, his value sky rockets back up.

[FFleming5]

1) Yes, of course
2) I wouldn't be worried about Vas, Tampa is cream of the crop in the East and isn't going anywhere next season
3) For Stamkos, I think the Band Aid boy days are behind him and that he's going to settle in to solid production going forward. He's not getting the hard minutes like he used to... when he hurt his meniscus, he was on the PK, he is no longer playing on the PK. Blood clots are also just an unlucky thing. I would compare it to a Crosby like situation, remember when he had concussion issues year after year? Well that hasn't happened in a while and I suspect like Crosby, Stamkos will get in a few more years of blue chip performance.

I don't see another player with that Pedigree on your roster... these are the easy 3 - I do see that there is risk in 3 Tampa players if they have a let down season. I do not see that happening next year though

[anthonybeaty]

I don't see another player with that Pedigree on your roster... these are the easy 3 - I do see that there is risk in 3 Tampa players if they have a let down season. I do not see that happening next year though

Yeah the only other players to consider on my roster instead of Stamkos are:

1) Rantanen - very interesting player. He has been very consistent on a poor quality team. Despite injuries to MacK, he has stayed consistent. Poor team = double edge sword since he is getting loads of opportunity, but does not have a lot of support.
2) Laine - Might be the better than Rantanen, but other than PPG has had a sub-par year. Someone else kept him last year and expected more from him, That manager is 9/10 in our league.

I also am not a big fan of having 3 keepers from one team because as they go so do I. With that said there are many, many worse teams to be coat-tailing.

[beatnik_uwo]

Keep Vasilevskiy, Kucherov and Stamkos. That team will be lights out for another decade.

[anthonybeaty]

Laine has been on fire 12 goals in 10 games plus a few assists. Does he creep closer to over taking Stamkos in anyone's opinion or is it still Stamkos all the way? Thanks.

[LawMan]

I would not be keeping Vasilevsky in a 10-team league. Vasi has had a great season but in a 10-team head-to-head goalies lose value in my opinion.

I'd keep Kucherov, Stamkos and Laine. 3 premium scorers and PP specialists - tons of value in your league. If you can package any 2 of those and Vasilevsky for McDavid I would do that as well.