Dynasty Team Advice - How to transition old core to young upcomers while staying competitive?

[Turbo_Supremo]

Hey All,

The title kind of says it all; how do you start the transition from an aging core to get younger while also staying competitive?

I got lucky by adding Lyon in the finals, and squeaked away the win in the championship match, but I know the writing is on the wall and players like Crosby, Ovi, Perron, etc.

Is the idea to sell these older players while they still have value? Or do you ride them off into the sunset and hope through drafting and the Free Agent pool I can fill the void?

Note, my dynasty doesn't have a minor system, so when draft rolls around, it is typically just the top 1-3 young studs, 3-5 newly projected starting goalies and then any older vet who gets dropped prior to roster freeze.

So any advice one can add, I am all ears.

Cheers!

[senryu]

The two stated goals are in opposition. Otherwise, everyone would do it; turning Letangs into Makars is just not a feasible option. The only real way to do it is to be lucky/good enough to add assets for free and then package them for talent, and keep repeating that process again and again to buy youth. However, a league with any decent owners will learn to not let you do that.

Every league is different, but I believe the best approach is to use your older guys and keep riding them, trying to add Lyon and Copley-like pieces to hopefully give you the boost you need. Contending is more aesthetically enjoyable than being in the lower-middle with a half-hearted mix that doesn't let you contend but also keeps you out of the cellar. The fact that your league has no minors makes a "strip-it-to-the-studs" approach not very appealing.

[kovalchuk17]

Most keeper/dynasty leagues are inherently age-ist so you wont get the value you think you should for a still productive player in his 30's. Youre likely better off riding your guys until the wheels fall off then tank properly at some point while also being as opportunistic as you can for cheap/undervalued talent.

Season by season decisions aside, I like to remind most of my friends who play fantasy in a dynasty/keeper format that you only really need to 'win it all' once every 8-12 years (depending on league size) to 'break even' on your league dues. Any additional wins during this timeframe is a bonus and there should be an expectation of down years as well.

[stevegamer]

With no minors system at all, you essentially can't build via the draft, unless you deal for multiple future firsts from other teams and have those be somewhat staggered by year and end up being high picks.

Grabbing guys like Knies is important for you. I'm guessing he was a FA grab, not a draft pick. Getting useful players off the wire who are younger will help. You're not looking to replace the aging studs that way, but rather the aging middle roster players with younger guys.

The advice on goaltending regarding Copley & Lyon above is solid as well. Every year, there are some goalies to grab that come from nowhere to help. How long that help lasts is variable. I grabbed Copley in a few places this year (already had him in one league) and Lyon in another (already had him as well - goalies with a pulse are valuable in these super deep leagues, it's hard to find decent AHL goalies in one).

You do need to make sure you know what your old guys are, though. In Crosby, Ovechkin, and Perron, one of those things is not like the others.

[DangerCat]

I start getting itchy with players around 32. They still have high level playing ability, and you can usually get a decent young guy who is on the cusp. Senryu is right you won’t get Makar. But a guy who is challenging for first place will want the extra scoring or shots or whatever. My league is a bit different as we have three tiers so there’s always at least 3-6 teams trying to add during the season (now hopefully I’m one of them!). I find those teams and trade a player who still has great value for a guy like Rossi. No guarantee Rossi pans out. Now if I’m in contention to win I don’t think I’d do that. But if I can see im not there I target teams competing and try and trade guys with NOW value with guys who have future value. So far it’s panned out. Slowly brought my team to contention.