Merzlikins or Ullmark.

[MaxK]

I've won my Dynasty League last season with average (G) and the strongest (F)/(D) in the league.
I'm still the team to beat this year and I'm alway looking to improve.

My weakest (F) in Tom Wilson was out for half the season, so I made a trade for Pacioretty to replace him.
Now that Pacioretty is out until February, I'm looking to acquire Patrice Bergeron's last season.
Bergeron is a beast in this format which highly values Faceoffs and TOI.

The GM owning him is also a Lehner owner and needs a (G).

Our league allows to start 2 (G) per week, and max GP for the position for the season is 90.

My team owns Swayman, Ullmark and Merzlikins.

I'd usually run a combination of Swayman / Ullmark some weeks, and some times I'll slot Merzlikins with one of the B's starters to maximise my GP and get that extra 8GP to 90. Or make choices depending on who's hot or not.

It is also possible that Merzlikins ends up a better Fantasy asset than both this season.

SO I was thinking of trading either Ullmark or Merzlikins for Bergeron but I'm hesitant.
I can claim Varlamov on waiver as a replacement for 3rd (G).
I also own Tarasov and Lindgren in my minors.

Merzlikins seems to have more upside than Ullmark and would be a better bet with Swayman to get to 90 GP easily.
Next year I won't be able to hide Swayman in the Minors in the offseason so I'll have to sacrifice either Merzlkins or Ullmark anyway.
I was most likely gonna keep Merzlikins unless he flames out this year and Ullmark became a stronger pick.
Wins and losses are not taken into account, only all the other (G) stats.
I'd have preferred to make my decision with an extra year of informations, but I'd be doing that earlier this year for Bergeron.

The strength in keeping Ullmark is to have both B's (G) and this is probably the last year where he could prove more valuable than Swayman. Breaking the tandem could hurt for this season, but at the same time I'd be keeping Columbus tandem for the future.


Would you try and trade Ullmark, Merzlkins, or neither ?

[als_revenge]

Seems like a steep price to pay for a single year of Bergeron. Can you not just pick up someone from the wire to replace MaxPac? Unless this is Roto, MaxPac will be back when you need him.

If I'm trading a goalie, it would be Ullmark. Boston could implode next year, so I'd rather have Swayman + the CLB handcuff (based on info available today).

[MaxK]

Seems like a steep price to pay for a single year of Bergeron. Can you not just pick up someone from the wire to replace MaxPac? Unless this is Roto, MaxPac will be back when you need him.

If I'm trading a goalie, it would be Ullmark. Boston could implode next year, so I'd rather have Swayman + the CLB handcuff (based on info available today).

The wire is not all that appealing with the likes of Backlund, Wennberg, Beauvillier and Gallagher.

My bench has some good upside though with Voracek, Mantha and Drouin.
I currently also have W. Karlsson and Yamamoto although I need to make space to run with a 3 (F) / 1 (D) / 1(G) bench.

One of the appeal of Bergeron is that he's a (C) and I like to have more of those on my bench and/or in my (F) slots for face-offs bonuses.
Right now I only have my 4 (C) plus Elias Pettersson with (C/W) eligibility.

I had a deal in place that the Bergeron owner was leaning on accepting which was :

Zuccarello
Karlsson
Yamamoto

Zuccarello's production was close to Bergeron last season (1.16 FP/G vs 1.27 FP/G), so he gets and extra year there.
Karlsson gives him a replacement (C) and Yamamoto gives him a youngster with upside.

I get more upside and safety at (C) with Bergeron in a win-now situation.

Since the Lehner announcement, he wants to pivot and trade Bergeron for a (G).
I've made a push adding Lindgren to the deal and suggesting Varlamov as a replacement.

If the Zuc trades would be accepted, I'd end up running one of Voracek / Mantha / Drouin in my last (F) slot anyway.

If I trade something like Ullmark + Karlsson + Yamamoto for Bergeron, I'd have a stronger (F) corp with both Zuc and Bergeron and a strong bench, but I'm more vulnerable in case of an injury at (G).

Status quo I still run one of Voracek / Mantha / Drouin in my last (F) slot until Pacioretty comes back, if he does.
But I'm safer at (G).
BUT, another team can become stronger by acquiring Bergeron.

[stevegamer]

First off, I'm confused. Are you a year behind so are getting Bergeron's performance last year, or are you saying he's retiring after this year? I think it's the latter, but I want to be sure.

I'd trade Merzlikins, given that you can lock up the Bruins results, and lock up ~80 games of the 90 max you need. Varlamov will be fine as a spot fill in.

[MaxK]

I was saying Bergeron is retiring after this year.

One year of Bergeron, so his last year.
Apologies for the confusing choice of words.

He’s finally accepted the Zuccarello trade offer so I’ll be able to hold onto both Ullmark and Merzlikins.

Happy I didn’t have to offer either goaltender in the end.

Thank you both for your replies.

[LuigiC173]

Merz. Not the greatest statistically but he is a good goalie who gets a workhorse-esque load. I had him and Markstrom in my one year last year and he delivered some damn good performances against tough competition like the Lightning a couple times in the championship match....but I benched him in those because I was terrified.