Strange league - Decision - will REP!

[FinnishFlash]

Hey guys, hopefully everyone is all ready for the holiday season (I know I sure am!).

I'm playing in a very interesting but sort of whacky league. I did not play it last year due to COVID (we actually draft this in person) but played the year previous and won it. It's 32 teams, everyone drafts a team, a goalie and then 10 skaters. The only scoring for team/goalie is 2 pts for team win/2 pts shutout/1 pt OT or SO loss, and for skaters its 1 pt goal, 1 pts assist, 1 pt +/- (A couple of rare bonuses for hat tricks and stuff, but overall very basic scoring setup). It's a very low-maintenance sort of league which, is sort of nice.

Anyways, this league runs right into the playoffs, so having players on playoff teams (moreso on strong playoff teams) is a great bonus. However, as far as moves go, you get two choices - 1. You can make up to 3 adds/drops/trades up until Dec 15, no moves after OR 2. You can make no moves until the all-star break, at which point you can swap out 3 players (through a draft of anyone who hasn't made a move the season).... again, whacky setup but sort of fun.

I'm in a situation now where I'm into #1, I already made one move, so I have until Wednesday if I want to make another. I'm right at the top of the standings right now, (3 teams really going back and forth for 1st on any given night, all within 5 pts or so) but I like the long-term outlook of the team as I've been doing this with Kucherov on the shelf. Here is the team:

- Washington - 44 pts
- Markstrom - 41 pts
- Kucherov - 4.25 pts
- Svechnikov - 30.75 pts
- Teravainen - 30.75 pts
- Josi - 35.5 pts
- Lafreniere - 6.5 pts
- Krug -17.25 pts
- Bennett - 32.75 pts
- Pionk - 20.75 pts
- Tolvanen - 18.75 pts
- DeAngelo - 34.5 pts

The only real sore spot I have is Lafreniere. If I swap him out for another player, I gain the point difference. There isn't much on the WW, top guy's would be Goligoski (30 pts), E. Johnson (27 pts), Lundestrom/Milano (26 pts) but none of those guys really inspire much long-term confidence. There are a lot of players between say 15 - 20 pts, of which, a couple of young guns on good teams stick out - Jarvis (16), Lundell (18), Seider (19).

So long-winded way of saying, would you swap out Laf for one of those guys? I have until Wednesday, so I'll see how the next couple of games shake out. Will REP wherever I can.

[YzermansLegacy]

Interesting league set up for sure.

With +/- being worth as much as a G or A, that really skews valuation of guys in major way for me. Then add in playoffs and move limits... there's a TON to consider here imo.

Also since you've already made a move, and therefore can't do any post-Dec 15 shifts (if I understand that correctly), I think it likely makes sense to use your final 2 moves and build as much of a 'bonus' as you can now. My thinking is that even if things 'even out' a bit the rest of the season, you're banking what's 'done' now rather than 'needing' things to change moving forward.

To that end, I'd actually look at dropping both Laf and Tolvanen in your situation, and look to replace with guys from teams you believe are going (at least) a round or two in the playoffs.

So Goligoski, E.Johnson, A.Lundell and S.Jarvis are the ones that fit that description best for me. Seider and the ANA kids I'm just not convinced will punch their ticket to the playoffs this year.

But based on EJ's injury history, I just couldn't bring myself to go 'all in' on him at this point in the season without any way to make future moves.

I do like MIN to be there, and considering Goligoski offers a pretty large bump from Laf, I think he's your #1 play. It is NOT exciting to think you're dropping Laf for Goligoski in 99% of pools - but in your setup, I can see this holding a lot more value for this year.

Moving on from Tolvanen is totally a ROS play for me. I can't imagine many guys swap out a 'higher' performing guy for a lower, but ET vs. Lundell (or Jarvis) are so close points wise that I think you'll net out better come the end of the season with a FLA or CAR guy who should be better in +/- even if they're the same points wise as Tolvanen.

So second 'move' here is admittedly a really tough one to do - but if it were me, I'm likely swapping Laf for Goligoski, and then Tolvanen for Lundell - and somewhat banking on MIN/FLA to go deeper than NYR/NSH so that the added volume, and ideally an increase in +/-, helps you net out ahead in the end.

FWIW too, I'm guessing my strategy here will NOT be the same as many others on the forum... so here's hoping you get a lot of perspectives to help you make your decision(s)!

Good luck.