Need to clear room for a D/G

[NJDev803]

Team and scoring in sig. Buff and Gibson have been consuming my two IR spots for the last several weeks. I'd need to drop 2 players to make room for either of them to return anyway, but heading into my playoffs next week I only have 3 D and 1.5 Goalies (unless Rittich starts with any degree of regularity again).

Looking at my team vs the other playoff bound teams, I'm lacking elite scorers that most teams have, so I figure I need to lock down ideally 3 of 4 goalie cats to have a shot.

Crawford is sitting in FA and likely my best hail mary for a solid starter ROS (granted, CHI only starts 2 games next week). Other options are Howard, Mrazek, Schneider/Blackwood (might be a split), or just straight up stream on B2Bs.

As for defenseman, I'm intrigued by DeAngelo, Sanheim, Theodore, Hronek, maybe Klefbom.

Any obvious drops on my team to add one or both positions? Unfortunately I'm looking at E.Kane, Burns, Nyquist, Arvidsson, and Strome each having only 2 games in week 1 of my playoffs....

Will rep to those who can offer some advice!

[NJDev803]

It's looking like Nyquist will be settling on Thornton's wing along with Labanc. If that's the case, does anyone feel he's worth the drop?

He'll likely see less TOI than he was getting in Detroit, but the new linemates have been pretty productive as of late (10 and 8 points in the last ten, respectively). I just wonder if Nyquist finds himself on PP1 over Labanc, in which case he's likely worth a hold.

[tweetdrivr]

I would not drop any of your current D for those you listed as being intriguing. I’d hold on Nyquist until you get a feel for his role on the Sharks. I’d certainly look at Schneider over Rittich. I think he’s the guy in NJ and it seems Smith has re-taken the starting gig in Calgary for now. If you did drop a forward who would you pick up?

[NJDev803]

I actually only have 3 D rostered but 4 starting slots. With my playoffs starting next week and Byfuglien still on IR I'd need to drop a player to fill my 4th Dman slot with one of the options I listed.

I'm also uncomfortable going into playoffs with only Bishop and Rittich as my goalies. Gibson is on IR (though an update today says he may be back soon) and the Ducks are a hot mess. So if he's activated, I'll need to make room by dropping a forward for him if I didn't want to just outright drop him.

For now I ended up dropping Nyquist to add Crawford. I have a logjam of wingers, Sharks only play two games next week and they're Thursday and Saturday to boot (so starter slots are already filled). Hopefully the move pays off.

Crawford is getting the start vs the Ducks tonight!