How do you determine D value in cap leagues? Will REP

[Chewbert]

Hey everyone.

Only been in a few salary cap leagues and building the forwards side of the roster and knowing how to allocate money I have a decent grasp on, but when it comes to D I am trying to figure it out. Fantrax cats league and am wondering how others determine the value based on salary for D men as you can find cheap(er) options that cover hits and blocks but seems hard finding value on any D that get points.

Wondering if most would focus more on the cats with D and cut costs, say spending 2.5-5m, over paying that 8+m for D that run PPs but aren’t high end offensive D (I.E. guys like Chabot and S Jones come to mind)? Saving 5-10m on the D end gives more room for forwards.

Kind of a vague generic post I know but curious as to how others view building their D rosters in salary cap leagues?

Will rep where and when I can!

[Axeman33]

For me it's really league setup dependent. Is there particular categories that may lean to help D value? How many teams are in the league and how many do you start at that position. What is your teams cap ceiling? Things like that really help determine overall value for Dmen in cap leagues for me.

I've been in leagues where there are categories like D-points, or D-takeways, or even a bump in value for D points (1.5pt instead of 1.0 for forwards) that help improve value and make them a desirable asset. It also depends on if it's a points format of league or a H2H league.

In one of my main keeper cap leagues, the categories are G, A, PPP, SHP, GWG, PIM, +/, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW and our WW is littered with overpriced Dmen. It's a 24 team, H2H, and our team cap limit is $1M over whatever the actual NHL cap is. We are expected to start 6D so there's lots needed on each roster but forwards hold greater value than Dmen. We also follow the NHL waiver and buyout rules so you cant drop players whenever you want. I've tried numerous times to add/change categories to our league setup to help improve D value but there's always resistance from half the league so the rule proposals never get voted in.

[Chewbert]

So to add a little more information the league I am more concerned with is a 16 team league year-long roto with a cap of $116,900,000. 21 active roster (4C,4RW,4LW,6D,1Skater,2G), 5 bench spots, and 10 minor spots. The cats are G, A, PIM, SOG, STP, Hits, Blks, FOW and for goalies W, GAA, SV, and SV%. No penalty for dropping players and no D premium boosts.

[Pengwin7]

Unfortunately, fantasy hockey doesn't have great metrics/options for capturing D-value.
The best defensemen... they simply suppress/limit shot opportunities from opposing players.
I constantly struggle with ways to capture this.
MORE ON THIS BELOW.

In most leagues - especially those on simpler platforms (Yahoo, ESPN), D-men are only worth their "cap value" if they are big scorers or big peripheral (PIM/Hit/Blk) guys.
If they don't provide either of those... you simply want to go F/G heavy with your cap allocation... and roster sub $2m D-men that give you PIM/Hit/BLK.
A guy like Jeremy Lauzon works well there.
If your league doesn't have +/-, you can also try to spot-fill with shitty offense-only D... like Calen Addison. (That said - Addison got a lot of hype for being a high-scoring D-prospect... so he's probably owned).
Guys are always flexing up to PRO teams from AHL... you need to be on top of whether they can steal some PP2 minutes of give PIM/Hit/BLK.
Either of those.
Michael Kesselring (ARI) and Calle Rosen (STL) are two that have come up from AHL this year that are good for those sort of things.


Most cap leagues



Expanding on "Defenseman Defensive Scoring for Leagues":

Right now - my best concept is this:

1. But some sort of value on TOI - the top Defensemen play big minutes. BUT... this said... just giving guys "fantasy points" for pure minutes is... a bit stupid. Every team has 60min in the night... and I'm just not a big fan of "giving out points" for a guy simply stepping on the ice. It sort of "kills" the spirit of fantasy hockey. You don't want a fantasy team getting to the weekend and then they simply roster Jan Ruuta (SJ) for a 18min game and they win... just for the TOI... that's stupid.

2. The offset, IMO, if the league has it - is Shots Against. You subtract points for this. If Ruuta goes out there for 18min but gives up 20 shots against... you want him to go through negative points.


Summary:
TOI - make this worth "positive points"
Shots Against - make this worth "negative points"
Figure out the right balance where the D-men that play big (EVEN-STRENGTH) minutes but don't give up shots... get POSITIVE points.