D-men cap hits, worth it or not?

[Chewbert]

With seeing all of the new big defensive contracts being signed I am wondering what are the opinions on the value of these defense? My league is a season long points and +/- only, so my opinion and thoughts will definitely vary from those in multi cat leagues. The big contracts of Hamilton, Werenski, Jones, Nurse, Makar, etc. As well as the looming signings with high salary potential such as Dahlin, Q. Hughes, etc. I am wondering if this scares any or many away from building a team around one or a few of these players? Or if the cap hit is worth it for some of these signings due to their production?

I am excited fantasy hockey season is coming but with locking in keepers and drafts nearing I am looking to gain some insight on how others view these players/contracts when it comes to building and rebuilding their championship teams.

Its a tough thing for me to wrap my head around as on one hand who wouldn't want a team with more than one of these players but on the other I can't help but think well if I drop down a tier or two I can still have solid to strong production from these lower salary players with the additional cap saved to invest in more depth/elite talent up front?!

Figured I would throw a brain teaser out there lol, even though I am sure many on here they have a strong preference one way or the other.

Happy fantasy hockey prep season!

[Invictus]

I don't care where my fantasy points come from as long it's more than anyone else's.
Accurate projections is the number one way on how I will achieve that.

For a salary cap leagues (I only play one years) - my 'worth it' changes throughout the draft.
Taking a guess with the guys you listed, Makar may be the only one that might get considered.

[Feenom]

Would agree with Invictus here, there maybe a preference to go with 2 studs (Nurse and Makar for example) but building your D around somebody like Makar would make sense. He’s great and young. If I was to spend $19M on 2 of them it would be Nurse and Makar. But I’m sure there would be many other ways to go about building a solid core.

[Chewbert]

Appreciate the insight guys and agreed its all about getting more points than every other guy. There just seems to be such a drop off when looking at the elite guys on the point and the guys just below them. Obviously this also leads to much higher salaries. Just trying to get some insight on how others people look at this as some like Feenom would spend $19m on 2 d-men, or you could go Makar and grab say Morgan Rielly and a player like Alex Tuch. Love how much playing in a salary cap league adds to different strategies and styles when it comes to building your roster! Thanks guys!

[Invictus]

Ya... kinda want to play a one year salary cap league this year now.

[stevegamer]

I only play salary cap dynasty, and it's only multi-cat. Defensemen have gotten very expensive this off-season, and it's going to require a lot of re-evaluating.

With +/- counting that throws points-only things way out of whack. I think I'd trust Hamilton & Makar do well enough in points & +/- to possibly be worth while. Most of the rest cost too much. Hughes & Dahlin depend heavily on the contract signed.

[Chewbert]

Yes in points and +/- Dahlin hasnt been great but I do love his potential so contract dependent if I can justify keeping him and building for the future or if it's time to move on lol.

[pmorrow]

I think the cap hits on these top Dmen is getting a bit out of control, so for fantasy I think I would only build around the really dynamic ones. For instance, 9m for Makar should be worth it even if there are cheaper options on older contracts. However, I'd be nervous to throw my lot in with a player like Jones because I'm not sure we're going to get much more offensively than we've already seen. Some of these players are not being paid simply to produce (the Pelech deal helps illustrate that!). I guess you just have to be cautious.

[Dkall]

definitely deserves to pay more attention to that's for sure. To me it feels like it adds more ways to build your team up and certainly adds more diversity when push comes to shove. I'm loving the current trend and once the defensive defensemen starts balancing out with the offensive one, it'll sure be a huge factor into who gets drafted early in a league rather than having to decide between the usual 3 to 4 forwards (Mackinnon, McDavid, Kucherov, Draisaitl) Take my opinion with a grain of salt though. since I've played Defense my entire life in every sport imaginable. Always love getting recognition for the position/role even though it isn't the most flashiest one out there. In the end, we and the actual NHL will either have to raise it's cap, make better managerial decision and readjust accordingly all of which I'll always welcome with open arms

[Invictus]

Well I agree for NHL, but for fantasy this trend of d-man getting payed just pushes d-man further down the draft list (for cap leagues). There's no good reason to spend 9m on a 50-55pt d-man when you can spend that money on a 100 pt forward.

[Dkall]

this would be all dependant on the league's scoring system. This example obviously cant be applied to all but ours being by far one of the most weird/complex I've been into, we already took into account the value of a defensemen vs the number a team can actual have on it's powerplay vs one of those forwards. The usual setup being 4 Forwards + 1 D-Man, our scoring gives more weight for a point made by a D-Man than a Forward and the assist outweighs a goal by almost 3times it's value. At the end of it all, our goal was to make a player in his position be comparable to another in another position. In terms of FP/G, the top 5 players in each position (C LW RW and D) are almost identical in terms of production value. Having their salaries now being aligned to one and other further makes it more competitive and diverse when choosing who to build your roster around to

Again i just want to reiterate that our league is by far the norm, this is just me talking about the matter and using our league as an example where this change looks to be on the more favorable side than most

[Invictus]

Well seems like your league put over value on d-man (since cap is involved). Which yes is far from the norm, but normal leagues tend to go the opposite way and undervalue d-man. When I say undervalue d-man, I mean, they contribute less to your teams success than other positions.

Your goal to make players at different positions comparable is probably a solid way to set up a scoring system (though does remove some draft strategy). Takes some modifying with a change in cap.

[Chewbert]

definitely deserves to pay more attention to that's for sure. To me it feels like it adds more ways to build your team up and certainly adds more diversity when push comes to shove. I'm loving the current trend and once the defensive defensemen starts balancing out with the offensive one, it'll sure be a huge factor into who gets drafted early in a league rather than having to decide between the usual 3 to 4 forwards (Mackinnon, McDavid, Kucherov, Draisaitl) Take my opinion with a grain of salt though. since I've played Defense my entire life in every sport imaginable. Always love getting recognition for the position/role even though it isn't the most flashiest one out there. In the end, we and the actual NHL will either have to raise it's cap, make better managerial decision and readjust accordingly all of which I'll always welcome with open arms

I couldn't agree more that it brings different and fun new ways to attempt to build a competitive team. Adds a whole new dynamic to the process and if you don't have a top draft pick or the elite keepers in your league it gives you another way to try to build an advantage as these new defensive salaries will potentially allow the top guys to slide down the board a bit. Or maybe thats just the fantasy nerd in me that really enjoys the prep work and draft more than anything lol.