Committing to a rebuild - who stays?

[jshed2]

League details: 32 team dynasty with salary cap (=NHL, AAV for rookies) | Start 3C, 6W, 3F, 6D, 2G, 3 Bench, 20 prospects | G:4, A:2, SOG:0.75, PPP:1, STP:2, HIT:0.5, BLK:0.5, +/-:1, FOW:0.2, FOWL:-0.1, W:6, SV:0.25, GA:-2, SHO: 6

Due to injuries and being in my league's most competitive division, its looking highly unlikely I even make the playoffs this year. I've known I'd have to do so soon for a couple years now but been able to hold off. The long-term injuries to Kuch & Vrana + the fall from grace for Fleury mean it looks like that time is finally here. The question is if I'm committing to rebuilding for the next couple years, what prime talent stays and who is old enough I want to move?

Core players: A. Svechnikov, Konecny, Krebs, Thomas

Guys I'm on the fence of if its better to shop or keep:

Kucherov: Will be in his 30s by the time the rebuild is over and will have negative value to me as I try for a high draft pick in the next couple years. However, top 5 fantasy players don't grow on trees and there is a good chance that if I keep him he'll still be the best player on my team coming out of the rebuild.

Barkov: Is one of the top players with my league's settings, however with his extension about to kick in he becomes a lot less valuable. Time may be now to move him while a competitor can still afford his salary.

[RizzeeDizzee]

In a 32 team league I can't see how a team which owns Barkov and Kucherov would be thinking rebuild. They're just so good and so tough to replace. But if your mind's made up, then what I'd do is let it be known that Barkov is available but only if someone wows you. Then be patent and see what you get offered. With Kucherov, let him come back and show he's still amazing and then maybe trade him during the run up to the playoffs, to maximize value. But again, I caution you to really think this through as getting even one player of this caliber in a 32 team league is incredibly difficult, so blowing it up and getting rid of both is a major decision that will affect your team for quite a while.

[lucafen4]

Seeing a full roster would certainly help…

but with that core, I don’t think a rebuild is necessary.

perhaps a hard trimming of the fat and fixing the edges is all that will be needed

[ericdaoust]

The following is copy-pasted from many other posts of mine over the years:

Do not commit to a rebuild.

[jshed2]

Full team for context:

bold are long term injured players
italicized are players underperforming

C: Barkov, Trocheck, Thomas, Jarnkrok, Cizikas, Kamf
W: A. Svechnikov, Kucherov, Konecny, Vrana, Krebs, Dadonov, Lindblom, Vatrano, Tkachev
D: Krug, Mayfield, Knyzhov, Braun, Holl, Gustafsson, Leddy, Borowiecki
G: Fleury, Tokarski
Notable Prospects: Guenther, Z. Jones, Clague, Gildon

Right now I am 7th in my division where it shares the same playoff format as the NHL and am ~90fp out of a playoff spot. Even if everyone was healthy I think that though I might have been likely to make the playoffs, I'm missing the assets to be a top team in this league.

[stevegamer]

So the issue is not the quality of your team league-wide, but division wide? That's unfortunate.

Your problem is in net, and if you can somehow fix that you should be fine. The problem is that your best goalie right now is Tokarski. Fleury was a must trade at the end of last year, but now he's basically a bargain bin guy, that you hope on. What NHL goalies, if any are on the wire? I'm not asking about quality goalies, I mean literally any goalies.