Do or die today. These moves mean my season.

[jimc21]

I'm up on my opponent 6-3 but barely hanging on in every category.

Goalie Cats: We're tied for goalie wins, 3-3, I'm losing GAA 2.56 to 2.67, winning saves by 37, winning SVP .914 to .910. Could not be closer.

Skater Cats: I'm up by 4 on goals, down 9 in assists, down 6 in +/- and winning hits and PIM's by a lot. The close cat is PPP, I'm up only one.

Sunday looks like this: I only have Barkov and Bennett starting. He has Buchnevich, Thomas, Gudas, Seider, Spurgeon. I have no goalie starting on Sunday, while he has Fleury vs. SJS. That could help me. But a win by MAF would kill me.

So... I have two roster moves to spend if I want to. What do I do? I'm thinking that I could opt to drop Norris and/or PLD. The only decent available goalie who's likely to start is Binnington. His last two starts were not horrible. He could cement my saves, perhaps pick up the win and keep that as a tie or a win for me, but he could also easily lose me the SVP. PPP monsters Duclair, Johansen and Granlund are FA's. If I grabbed one or two of them I'd have a better chance of keeping my PPP and goals lead.

AGGHHH! What to do? Please ring in with your opinion. Spend the moves? On who? I'd really rather not finish 3rd or 4th. Thanks! Will rep!

[hockeyrobot]

Binnington and Duclair would be my adds.

[jimc21]

Thanks HR. Rep given. I added Duclair. The nagging issue is Binnington. If MAF loses to SJS I'm probably fine unless he makes 38 saves. But if I pick up Binnington and he gets shelled, I could lose my SVP. It seems like a safe enough add. I'm risking one cat to gain two. I suppose I will pull the trigger.

[notch4077]

I’m really confused because MAF plays for Minnesota now. Both your posts are confusing.

[jimc21]

I'm a moron. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the catch. Posts fixed. I meant that MAF is facing SJS. And that is not a great matchup for me.

[notch4077]

Aaahhh. Ok. I guess I could’ve looked to see who MAF was playing for myself too, but I’ve got Easter chocolate as priority right now.

You’ve got to spend the moves. Last night I dropped Rust and Wheeler just so I could keep starting Jeannot and the almost daily rotation of Middleton and Mayo as Minnesota and Arizona respectively have non-conflicting schedules. I need the hits and blocks and am fine on scoring.

You are in tough with your opponent having the GP advantage. What cats do you need? He has Gudas, so I can’t can’t see you winning Hits. Break it down more for me. I like doing the deep dives like I did with my team. The Ramblings actually talk about this in today’s article. Read it if you haven’t yet.

[jimc21]

I think I'm fine on hits and PIMs. Those two I should win easily. I'm only ahead by one in PPP so that is the key scoring cat. I did just drop Norris for Duclair to help shore that up. I'm highly unlikely to win assists or +/-... trailing badly there. So here are the priorities:

Need to win PPP - currently up 1.
Need to keep my 4 goal lead in goals scored.
Need to keep my 37 save lead in saves.
Need to win or tie goalie wins. Currently tied and he has MAF vs SJS. I have no goalies starting unless they spot-start Saros as a b-2-b.
Need to keep my .914 to .910 SVP
Need to win GAA, currently losing 2.67 to 2.56

The question is, do I add Binnington. He is the only decent available G. He could lose me the SVP or he could win me GAA and wins. It all depends on how he plays vs. NSH and how MAF plays vs. SJS.

Thanks for the help! I really appreciate another set of eyes.

[horrorfan]

I can appreciate your hesitation with close categories and risks on starting vs not starting.

For me, it comes down to this - if St Louis wins and you stay ahead (or at least tied), does that give you more comfort that it could see you through to win, vs not starting Binnington and hoping Fleury struggles?

Nobody knows what's going to happen, but if don't pick up and start Binnington, then you have no chance to take the wins category, and you might lose saves. If you start him, you have a chance to win both and SV%. I would rather go for the win by putting the players in my lineup then hoping the other managers players struggle. If I lose, I lose. But what if you don't start Binnington and you lose because you didn't start him? For me, that would hurt more losing that way than starting my players.

[notch4077]

I think Minnesota and MAF are going to best you in all the categories over your Binnington against Nashville. If you do nothing, I also think you still win Saves with or without Binnington.

I’d stay away from Binnington and hope for the low shot total and therefore potential bad SV% from MAF.

Secure your PPP and gaols by adding another Duclair type. Add Granlund to compliment Duclair.

[jimc21]

Dang. That's two votes for Binnington and one for a skater. This is a tough one. And it would not have been close if I had not benched a shutout from Saros vs SJS on Monday. I was going to pick him over Demko but forgot and missed the deadline by about 3 minutes. Demko got the win that night, but gave up 4 goals. If I'd been paying attention I'd be adding Granlund today for sure.

MAF will beat SJS. STL has been hot - 7 game win streak. And NSH's last four games they scored 1, 2, 1, 0 and 3. I think I'm gonna go with Binnington and pray my FLA guys get me a few PPP.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the help. Rep given to all.

[jimc21]

Well, it turned out that Binnington saved my season. Barely. Saros got the unexpected start so I started him as well, and he got the crap kicked out of him and almost cost me the week. But it turned out ok in the end. Thanks guys! Now I just need to figure out who to pick up when I kick to the curb. Likely Norris, Marchment, Stutzle, Johansen or maybe Hyman. But OTT has one more game than the other guys.