My turn!

[horrorfan]

Thought I'd post my team to get some valuable Dobber forums feedback!

I had to leave at times during the draft so my computer friend made those picks. As it turns out, it pretty much drafted D or G during those periods, when I probably would have made some different selections. I’ve added a * to those autodrafted as well as any additional eligibility and the round.pick in parentheses. Drafted from the 8th position.

Yahoo, One year 16 team H2H, 8 teams make playoffs (no byes)
Daily-tomorrow (lineups-moves), Max 6 moves/week, No limit/season, Min 2 goalie appearances/week
3C,3L,3R,5D,4Util,2G,8BN,5IR,5IR+,3NA (yes, that’s correct)
G,A,P,PPP,SOG,SH%,FOW,HIT,BLK / W,SV,SV%,SHO

C: Stamkos (R, 3.40), Horvat (6.89), McCann (L, 12.185), Brassard (L, 20.313), Laughton (L, 22.345)
L: Svechnikov (R, 2.25), Niederreiter (R, 16.249), Tatar (R, 18.281), Neal (R, 26,409), Texier (C, FA)
R: Pastrnak (1.8), J. Carter (C, 13.200), Ty. Johnson (C, 15.232), R. Thomas (C, 23,360), Dube (L, FA)
D: Letang (5.72), Theodore (8.121*), Werenski (10.153*), Dahlin (11.168*), Ferraro (17.264), Edler (19.296), Hanifin (21.328), E. Johnson (FA)
G: Markstrom (4.57), Sorokin (7.104), Talbot (9.136*), Brossoit (27.424), Raanta (28.441*)
IR/IR+: E. Kane (L/R, 14.217), Vrana (L, 25.392)
NA: Rask (G, 24.377), Rossi (C, FA), Frost (C, FA)

Brief context: the FA pool is pretty much picked clean, as you see from my late picks/FA adds.

Over to you! Thanks.

[ross10019]

Thought I'd post my team to get some valuable Dobber forums feedback!

I had to leave at times during the draft so my computer friend made those picks. As it turns out, it pretty much drafted D or G during those periods, when I probably would have made some different selections. I’ve added a * to those autodrafted as well as any additional eligibility and the round.pick in parentheses. Drafted from the 8th position.

Yahoo, One year 16 team H2H, 8 teams make playoffs (no byes)
Daily-tomorrow (lineups-moves), Max 6 moves/week, No limit/season, Min 2 goalie appearances/week
3C,3L,3R,5D,4Util,2G,8BN,5IR,5IR+,3NA (yes, that’s correct)
G,A,P,PPP,SOG,SH%,FOW,HIT,BLK / W,SV,SV%,SHO

C: Stamkos (R, 3.40), Horvat (6.89), McCann (L, 12.185), Brassard (L, 20.313), Laughton (L, 22.345)
L: Svechnikov (R, 2.25), Niederreiter (R, 16.249), Tatar (R, 18.281), Neal (R, 26,409), Texier (C, FA)
R: Pastrnak (1.8), J. Carter (C, 13.200), Ty. Johnson (C, 15.232), R. Thomas (C, 23,360), Dube (L, FA)
D: Letang (5.72), Theodore (8.121*), Werenski (10.153*), Dahlin (11.168*), Ferraro (17.264), Edler (19.296), Hanifin (21.328), E. Johnson (FA)
G: Markstrom (4.57), Sorokin (7.104), Talbot (9.136*), Brossoit (27.424), Raanta (28.441*)
IR/IR+: E. Kane (L/R, 14.217), Vrana (L, 25.392)
NA: Rask (G, 24.377), Rossi (C, FA), Frost (C, FA)

Brief context: the FA pool is pretty much picked clean, as you see from my late picks/FA adds.

Over to you! Thanks.

Good value picks at C with McCann and C/W with Thomas and Ty Johnson.

Also love where you snagged Theodore and Werenski, although in your league with 13 forwards (incl 4 utility) and 5D, the D is devalued.

Like your goalie situation.

Obviously your weak spot is C, where you have one high end (but injury prone) guy in Stammer but then everyone is average. But at least you have depth there - it's even more of an issue at LW and RW, with only one impact forward in each category. I'd perhaps trade a goalie for upgrades at forward.

[RizzeeDizzee]

For a 16 team league you have more top end guys than I'd expect, so that's a win. I also think your defense is nicely put together, including some of the autopicks. Your goalies could really shine if some of the actual/presumed starters on certain teams get hurt or can't hold the 1/1A job. Your wings though have a steeper drop off in quality than I'd have hoped to see, but I suppose all you need is for three of them to be clicking at any given time, so maybe that won't be an issue, plus you do have Kane and Vrana in your back pocket which is very, very nice. Center could also be an issue because Stamkos won't be on the Kuch and Point line and Horvat could lose his PP1 gig.

I think this is likely a top five team, and where exactly you finish will come down to whether you get some breaks in net, if Stammer/Horvat don't lose too much value, and if you can get a rotating cast of three solid wingers at all points during the season.

[Pengwin7]

16-team leagues are not my strong-suit to evaluate.
They usually all look "weak"... because most of us get used to looking at 12-team league drafts.
(Whereas "10-team" league teams almost always look strong).

Overall - it looks like a good team.
There's good balance everywhere... I absolutely love what you stashed on IR+ and NA... those could be great players to pull up come March H2H playoffs.

I did realize/recommend something about SH% leagues this year that I hadn't thought about.
Try to NOT roster volume-shooting defensemen... they will simply bring your team SH% down... since most forwards shoot 10%-12% and most D shoot 5%-7%.
So try to use your D for HIT/BLK... which I think you have... and not shooters. Think about that during season.

Ultimately, if you are rostering all your UTIL for forwards, that'll generally be smarter/better for your SH%.

Goalies are crapshoot every week, but you have enough volume at G to make sit/start decisions mid-week to either chase W/SV or to hold on GAA/SV%.
And that's key to goalie management in H2H.

Very good draft, couple with your H2H management skill will make you lock for top8.
If Vrana and (esp) if E.Kane comes back... and any of your NA come up from AHL... you'll be in driver's seat here.

[horrorfan]

Thanks guys for your feedback!

General comment first about the utility slots - yeah with several categories and its strengths/weaknesses depending on the position e.g. FOW, BLK, my thinking it's better to go with balance so I'm not deliberately weaker in one area over the other (if there was a choice - just a simple example). I'm thinking I'll need to look at its uses on a matchup by matchup basis, to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie on each opponent's team.

Good value picks at C with McCann and C/W with Thomas and Ty Johnson.

Also love where you snagged Theodore and Werenski, although in your league with 13 forwards (incl 4 utility) and 5D, the D is devalued.

Like your goalie situation.

Obviously your weak spot is C, where you have one high end (but injury prone) guy in Stammer but then everyone is average. But at least you have depth there - it's even more of an issue at LW and RW, with only one impact forward in each category. I'd perhaps trade a goalie for upgrades at forward.

Thanks, Ross. Funny that you liked those picks and they were autodrafted for me! But still, I was happy I got them, especially Theodore at that stage. The peripheral heavy D went earlier so that's why guys like Theodore and Werenski fell further. Though, I probably would have passed on Dahlin and went for a winger if I was drafting.

Yeah I do feel a bit weaker at wing but it's not horrible given the depth. Trading to improve the balance will be something I'll need to consider if there is an imbalance after several weeks. I'm going to let it play out for now.

For a 16 team league you have more top end guys than I'd expect, so that's a win. I also think your defense is nicely put together, including some of the autopicks. Your goalies could really shine if some of the actual/presumed starters on certain teams get hurt or can't hold the 1/1A job. Your wings though have a steeper drop off in quality than I'd have hoped to see, but I suppose all you need is for three of them to be clicking at any given time, so maybe that won't be an issue, plus you do have Kane and Vrana in your back pocket which is very, very nice. Center could also be an issue because Stamkos won't be on the Kuch and Point line and Horvat could lose his PP1 gig.

I think this is likely a top five team, and where exactly you finish will come down to whether you get some breaks in net, if Stammer/Horvat don't lose too much value, and if you can get a rotating cast of three solid wingers at all points during the season.

Thanks, RD, and appreciate the positive comments. Yep, as above I probably would have focused more on the wingers during the period where the computer drafted me D G D D in consecutive rounds. But maybe the lower guys e.g. Nino, TJ, Carter (even after Crosby returns) could provide decent value and add that important depth each week. As for centres, they were flying off the board and didn't want to reach for one, as some went higher than I would have expected. So that's why I tried to focus on at least wing eligible centres who took faceoffs. We'll see if that makes a difference.

And yep, especially happy for Kane and Vrana to sit there if/when the time comes I may need them. As for goalies, given it's H2H I just hope that if someone has a rough week then someone else can have a good one, to give me a chance.

16-team leagues are not my strong-suit to evaluate.
They usually all look "weak"... because most of us get used to looking at 12-team league drafts.
(Whereas "10-team" league teams almost always look strong).

Overall - it looks like a good team.
There's good balance everywhere... I absolutely love what you stashed on IR+ and NA... those could be great players to pull up come March H2H playoffs.

I did realize/recommend something about SH% leagues this year that I hadn't thought about.
Try to NOT roster volume-shooting defensemen... they will simply bring your team SH% down... since most forwards shoot 10%-12% and most D shoot 5%-7%.
So try to use your D for HIT/BLK... which I think you have... and not shooters. Think about that during season.

Ultimately, if you are rostering all your UTIL for forwards, that'll generally be smarter/better for your SH%.

Goalies are crapshoot every week, but you have enough volume at G to make sit/start decisions mid-week to either chase W/SV or to hold on GAA/SV%.
And that's key to goalie management in H2H.

Very good draft, couple with your H2H management skill will make you lock for top8.
If Vrana and (esp) if E.Kane comes back... and any of your NA come up from AHL... you'll be in driver's seat here.

Thanks for the feedback, Peng. Yeah I had seen players being picked from FA quickly (it's a post-draft to FA type league, so they were straight at the scraps after the draft!). I had noticed Rossi and then later Frost and thought it would be a good stash for both. Rossi given his opportunity to get called back up when he's ready (obviously last year set him back a bit), and Frost, thanks to you, Peng, who I believe was the first one who mentioned him working as C2 earlier in camp? I remember him mentioned and then being sent down, so who knows, he may get a shot again in a top 6 role if he gets called up. I've also hedged with taking both Brassard and Laughton in the hopes one gets (holds?) that C2 slot.

As for SH%, my hesitation with focusing on low volume shooters is that SOG is also a category, and I feel would be risky if my offense has a slow week, which could result in losing both categories. I definitely see the advantage of that strategy (believe I saw another thread where you referred to this strategy) but on a weekly basis I'm not sure I would have as much control over it. We'll see how it goes as I don't know how the team will perform and how I will be in both categories, so something to monitor as I may need to shift strategy as the season goes on.

[Pengwin7]

As for SH%, my hesitation with focusing on low volume shooters is that SOG is also a category

For clarity, I'm only advocating considering avoiding low-volume defensemen.
Guys like Hanifin, Edler, Dahlin, Erik Johnson... come it at about 5% shooters... Ferraro is at 3%.
A lot of D... sniping goals isn't the forte... but if you roster them a lot hoping for HIT/BLK... you might get a drag on your SH%.
You can avoid that drag by just not rostering those guys.
Keep an eye on your SH%, week-to-week... maybe you have strong snipers on forward and this won't be a concern.

With 9 skater cats, I think you could almost consider punting BLK and rostering an absolute bare-minimum of D.
Obviously - you keep the guys that can get points: Letang, Theodore, Werenski, Dahlin... those are your always 4D.

Of your 8 BN, you are already dedicated 3 spots to goalies.
That leaves you 5 spots for skaters... and I'd probably consider using all five for forwards - even shitty HIT-heavy Forwards will score more points and give you more SOG and better SH% than guys like Edler, Ferraro, Hanifin, and EJ. I'd keep whoever has best schedule as your 5th D... but then I'd probably consider swapping out three of them for HIT/SOG/FOW forwards, seriously consider punting BLK.

For me, all 4 UTIL should be forwards - and if so, get FOW or HIT specialists:
13F/5D... that's how I'd play this one... I just wouldn't chase BLK at the possible sacrifice of your SH%. That's what I'm recommending.

[As an example, put some math into which player actually helps your team more: Tanner Jeanot (maybe 100sog, 200hits, minimal blk, but some Goals and good SH%) or Alex Edler (maybe 100sog, 200hits, he gives you BLK, but no Goals and poor SH%).

[horrorfan]

For clarity, I'm only advocating considering avoiding low-volume defensemen.
Guys like Hanifin, Edler, Dahlin, Erik Johnson... come it at about 5% shooters... Ferraro is at 3%.
A lot of D... sniping goals isn't the forte... but if you roster them a lot hoping for HIT/BLK... you might get a drag on your SH%.
You can avoid that drag by just not rostering those guys.
Keep an eye on your SH%, week-to-week... maybe you have strong snipers on forward and this won't be a concern.

With 9 skater cats, I think you could almost consider punting BLK and rostering an absolute bare-minimum of D.
Obviously - you keep the guys that can get points: Letang, Theodore, Werenski, Dahlin... those are your always 4D.

Of your 8 BN, you are already dedicated 3 spots to goalies.
That leaves you 5 spots for skaters... and I'd probably consider using all five for forwards - even shitty HIT-heavy Forwards will score more points and give you more SOG and better SH% than guys like Edler, Ferraro, Hanifin, and EJ. I'd keep whoever has best schedule as your 5th D... but then I'd probably consider swapping out three of them for HIT/SOG/FOW forwards, seriously consider punting BLK.

For me, all 4 UTIL should be forwards - and if so, get FOW or HIT specialists:
13F/5D... that's how I'd play this one... I just wouldn't chase BLK at the possible sacrifice of your SH%. That's what I'm recommending.

[As an example, put some math into which player actually helps your team more: Tanner Jeanot (maybe 100sog, 200hits, minimal blk, but some Goals and good SH%) or Alex Edler (maybe 100sog, 200hits, he gives you BLK, but no Goals and poor SH%).

Gotcha - I understand that logic better. I will keep an eye on it to see if I need to make adjustments on a weekly basis. Interesting you mentioned Jeannot as an example - he's actually taken! But even in this deeper league there should be surprises and under-the-radar options that could help so will watch and see. Thanks.

[stevegamer]

I like your team, and honestly, the autodraft was really solid in rounds 8-11. While you wanted to go a different direction with one of the picks, but it's not bad.

I think part of the trick with shooting percentage for D is avoiding the high-volume poor shooters who bring little else. Ferraro is a 1 shot per game guy, while his SH% is low, you can live with that. The 2-3 SOG per game guys on D really can sink you in a bad week. I've had a lot of luck with the grittier forwards in multi-cat leagues, and swapping them in and out to get a volume of stats.

The plan to find the Flyers #2C while Hayes is out is solid, but realize that they have 6 options for centers: Couturier, Hayes, Giroux, Brassard, Laughton, and Thompson, plus Frost. Thompson in a line 4, extra, but the rest are top-9 caliber, so Frost may be in tough to get much traction as the #2C this season. I think he's pretty capped as the #3C in Philly, barring injury or Hayes becoming a pumpkin.