I just took over a team...HELP.

[Skippy]

I am going to try and be as detailed as possible here to get the best responses from you guys.

I just took over a team in my first ever H2H Keeper League. 12 teams are in the league and we keep 8 and also 10 minor leaguers. We start 4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D and 2G. 13 scoring categories with 9 being skater and 4 goalie. They are G, A, P, PPP, SOG, FOW, +/-, Hits, Blocks and Wins, Saves, S% and GAA. We have 25 rounds of drafting for our reserves and I have the 3rd overall pick this year. Assuming the draft goes Dahlin, Svechnikov, should I draft a D because I’m pretty weak there? I don’t know.

Because this is my 1st ever H2H, am I right to say that skaters are more vital than goalies? The team I took over last year finished 10th out of 12 and apparently quit after injuries to his depth and what was perceived to be a bad trade by another GM.

This is my team (I will make a signature soon):
C - Getzlaf
C - Malkin
C/LW - Giroux
C/RW - Wheeler
LW - Ovechkin
LW/RW - Hoffman
LW/RW - Kovalchuk
RW - Hornqvist
D - Pietrangelo
D- Voynov
G- Talbot

My minor league team is:
Aston-Reese C/RW
Morgan Frost C/LW
Tyson Jost C/LW
Dylan Sikura C/RW
Troy Terry C/RW
Michael Rasmussen C
Alexander Nylander C
Vladislav Kamenev C/LW
Malcolm Subban - G
Ilya Samsonov - G
Ilya Sorokin - G

When I first joined this league a week ago, I went through the minor leaguers and the best I found available were Sikura, Terry and Sorokin. I grabbed them. I also picked up Kovalchuk and Voynov when I went through the free agents. Lots of decent players seem available before we set our keepers, but I don?t know if they are better than my & keepers already.

I then traded Bobrovsky for Talbot, Samsonov, a 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

What pointers do I need for this H2H league and is my team any good? What changes can I make? Someone just offered me Marc Andre Fleury, Eric Staal and Anders Lee for my Wheeler. All 3 of his players he can?t keep. Should I do the deal?

Who are my 8 keepers? I need to drop 3.

I need to drop 1 minor leaguer. Who should it be?

Am I competitive this year? I have 2 1sts, 2 2nds and 2 3rds in 2019 and was thinking that is when I can compete. So not this year, but next year I can go for the win.

Help please.

[Tfan5211]

Your team looks solid to me. Need some help on D. Voynov probably won't ever play in the NHL again

[tobias]

Do not make that trade!!! Wheeler is a stud, and the others are not keepers for you.

[BJMit]

Definitely do not make that trade since it?s only keep 8. Kovalchuk and Voynov are easy drops. I?d drop those 2 and probably Hornqvist and keep the remaining 8 players you have.

[Dobber]

Hey Skippy!
1. Don't do that deal. No way.
2. Nice grabs off the wire there!
3. With only 8 keepers, everyone is competitive before each season. Barely a keeper league in my books, but the 10 minor leagues help make it a solid keeper.
4. Drop Voynov, Hornqvist and Hoffman
5. Trade Nylander for a pick. A little overrated, but mostly just a band-aid boy. That gets your minors to 10

[Pit Bulls]

I would draft Zadina at 3rd (assuming Dahlin & Svech go 1, 2). Your D is weak, but this draft has a bunch of solid D-men you can choose from later in the draft or grab off the WW.

Zadina will outscore all of the great D-men in the 3-10 range of this years' draft.

Listen to Dobber - don't do that trade!

[Skippy]

Thanks guys. All solid advice and all the same pretty much. I didn’t do the trade.

I did just snag John Carlson a 2nd and 3rd to improve my D. Now I might have to drop Kovalchuk though.

[DusterDave]

8 keepers:
Getzlaf
Malkin
Giroux
Wheeler
Ovechkin
Pietrangelo
Carlson
Talbot

You don't really need 3 prospect goalies so I'd try trading Sorokin but you likely won't find a trading partner if you just recently grabbed him off free agency. If your set on holding onto all 3 goalies I'd drop one of Sikura or Terry and that is simply because I haven;t heard of either of them whereas the rest of your farm seems promising.

[Pengwin7]

12 teams are in the league and we keep 8 and also 10 minor leaguers.
We start 4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D and 2G. 13 scoring categories with 9 being skater and 4 goalie.
They are:
G, A, P, PPP, SOG, FOW, +/-, Hits, Blocks and
Wins, Saves, S% and GAA.

Because this is my 1st ever H2H, am I right to say that skaters are more vital than goalies?

They key thing about H2H is to understand the "end-game".
You have 13 categories ("cats") and you really, really just want to win half+... so 7/13.
That's the key.

If you win 7/13 every week, you'll finish just above middle in your league, likely enough to make "playoffs".
In playoffs, you move on... if... you win your match, which means 7+/13 cats.

The EASIEST cats to win are the "high volume" cats... if you roster enough stats there, you'll win:
For skaters (4): SOG, FOW, HIT, BLK
For goalies (1): SV

If you start rostering SOG, by default you should end up being great in G... and with your line-up, incl. Ovechkin & Wheeler, you are great there.
D is NOT critical to win these leagues.
If you don't have D, don't just find the best "scoring" D available... go after a HIT/BLK monster, especially BLK, those MUST come primarily from your D.

With goalies, they are overvalued in H2H.
Ideally, you want a few goalies so that you can get some goalie starts early in week, and it goes like this:

If your first couple goalie starts are GREAT, you'll have GREAT GAA and SV%. You sit on those two cats as a win and stop playing your goalies.
If your first couple goalie starts are AWFUL, then you play every goalie you can to at least take SV, maybe WIN, and maybe pure quantity of starts possibly fixes your GAA/SV%.

Worst thing to do in H2H, overinvest in two high-level goalies... one terrible start, and your GAA/SV% is toast and that starter probably sees his back-up play the next game (or two!).

Skaters, skaters, skaters in H2H.
Make sure you have enough to win SOG, FOW, HIT, BLK consistently.
Target SOG-heavy guys that hopefully will also score (G) and get you PPP.

GAA, SV%, +/- are week-to-week crapshoots... don't stress about those.
If you have bench/reserves, stock some back-up goalies that may end up getting starts in H2H playoffs.

This is your H2H roadmap to success... good luck!

[Skippy]

Thanks again guys. I hate having to drop Kovalchuk because I picked him up the day I joined the league for free. Now that I’ve picked him up, others will now remember about him. I still like the two trades I’ve made though that have made Kovalchuk a drop.

[Skippy]

Hey Skippy!
1. Don't do that deal. No way.
2. Nice grabs off the wire there!
3. With only 8 keepers, everyone is competitive before each season. Barely a keeper league in my books, but the 10 minor leagues help make it a solid keeper.
4. Drop Voynov, Hornqvist and Hoffman
5. Trade Nylander for a pick. A little overrated, but mostly just a band-aid boy. That gets your minors to 10

When the boss speaks, you listen. Nylander just got traded for a 3rd.

[butch]

I was going to ask if anyone outright says ''hey skippy'' to you and sure enough dobber didnt let me down .

[Skippy]

It’s a burden I bear.