Gagner, Little or Mueller

[rumrunner]

H2H league, using Yahoo (Little and Muller had dual eligibility at RW and C last year)

Categories for skaters are:

G, A, PPP, +/-, PIM, SOG

Please rank them as short and long term keepers.

[metaldude26]

In this and all formats really, these guys are very close comparatively across the board. They are all young, possess 1st round pedigree and have put up virtually the same stats on young up and coming teams over the past two seasons.

I rank Sam Gagner last out of the three, partly because of my Oiler bias, so I make sure to err on the side of caution when rating Oiler players but also because he is less of a goal scorer which takes away from a potential Yahoo tiebreaker advantage and it will limit his shots on goal. He\'s also the one most likely to remain in the center position and I honestly don\'t see him as a first line center in the near future.

Given some of these criteria I like Little better for the near future because playing in and around Kovalchuk will do him wonders and I think he is ultimately the better goal scorer of the three. Longterm I like Mueller. I think his point totals project to be highest of the three when all is said and done. He\'s stuck behind Doan and some of the other youngsters right now so that hurts his immediate future as well as the situation in Phoenix being a real distraction to the development of any of those players. Ultimately, I think Mueller will be the top line RW, whereas Little could be either a C or a RW and Gagner will be predominantly a 2nd line C.

This is just my personal feelings. The next 3-4 years are going to be very defining for these 3. It\'s likely the end up following a very similar career trajectory, but we will find out pretty soon which one if any is the best one to own. Some things to keep an eye out for over the next couple season are how the situation in Phoenix plays out and if Mueller can rebound from the sophomore slump, can Gagner establish himself as a top line guy and how will a new coach affect his development. Will he remain as streaky/second half performer as we have seen so far and how will Little respond if some of the veteran\'s like White and Kozlov have down years and if Kovalchuk leaves and suddenly he\'s the man in Atlanta.

Anyways, it\'s not an enviable decision, but in the end I don\'t think you can be wrong, they are each very good players and are primed to be fantasy studs not long from now.

[Shoeless]

I heartily concur with the Dude\'s analysis. Mueller is for me the guy out of that lot most likely to reach superstardom. I would then prefer Little over Gagner as I like what he is showing now and it bodes well for down the road.

[Spec7ral]

My analysis is exactly backwards of the two prior posts. I think Ganger plays with more talent and has great opportunity going into next season. I think Little has a super high ceiling just because of the Kovalchuk factor. I think Mueller never wakes up from his sophmore slump and becomes a bust.

I may be biased, but I\'ve had all three of them on my team in the past few months and Gagner is the only one I am keeping. (I know this is roto, but still he\'s the only one I wanted next year, and I dealt for Turris and still don\'t have faith in Mueller)

[Maaaasquito]

I agree with Spec...

I think Coyotes situation is too mucked up to see who comes out of it as their future, and who comes out as the busts. You look at their top-six at the beginning of last season and I could tell you with certainty that Mueller was amongst the top-six, with Doan, Turris, Boedker, Jokinen...

After this season, you get Prucha, Lombardi, Upshall, Dawes chuck in Tikhonov, Lisin, Lindstrom, Hanzal and you have a huge toss up as to who\'s their top-six of their future and who\'s not... rather than to helping Mueller develop his talents they chucked him in 3rd/4th line duties and gave him 12 minutes a game. So that makes me wonder where he fits in the grand scheme of things.

Little I think could be the middle guy. I\'ve mentioned before about the Kovalchuk factor... yes he didn\'t spend much time playing alongside Kovo, but if Kovo decides to leave for free agency, Little will be the top-dog in Atlanta. Kovo is a superstar, Little IMO is not... He can put up 75-80 points playing the second fiddle, but as a main go-to guy in Atlanta I can picture him struggling.

Gagner I think has the upside. The youth movement is happening in Edmonton and a new coach with experience with young kids can probably get a bit more out of Gagner than MacT did this season. Plus after a solid rookie season, most kids tend to experience the \"sophomore slump\" then have a good bounce back third season. I\'d have Gagner on my radar this season for sure. If he can find some time with Hemsky and Kotalik, he\'ll be fantasy gold.

I\'d go Gagner, Little, Mueller.

[angus]

I like Little the most. Reminds me a bit of Parise. Seems to have a nose for the net and the puck finds him. Mueller will bounce back and Gagner was very good down the stretch after a poor start.

Has Kotalik re-signed/is the word around town that he will?

[doulos]

I havn\'t been able to find anything definite yet, though I do suspect he\'ll stick around.

[Nieuwendyk]

Long-term, I would take a risk on Mueller. There was way too much expectations for him last year after Phoenix traded for Jokinen. Now that all the pieces are back to where it was in his rookie year, you can argue that there might be a rebound coming.

Short-term, Gagner might be the one that pops with all the new stuff happening in Edmonton. But the chance of that happening might be 50/50. Quinn and Renney could develop the kids to play free-flowing hockey or the hiring of Renney specifically was to teach the kids to play some D, like what happened in LA.

Taking into consideration both long/short-term:
Mueller
Gagner
Little

[ItsAlwaysSunnyInDetroit]

For your H2H cats, I like Little and his situation best.

Short term: Little will lead in G, Pts, PPP, and Shots next season, so he\'s the easy short term choice.

Long term: Mueller should edge in there, but like Spec stated, I see him being a bust too. As Angus mentioned, Little has that Parise-like nose for the net. I\'d say they both have the same upsides. Don\'t sleep on Little though, he already had the quietest 30 goal season this year.

Personally, I\'d take Little.