THERE CAN ONLY BE TWO

[The Comish]

Rotisserie keeper pool. Categories are G, A, Pts, +/-, pen mins, Goalie Pts (W=2pts, OTL=1 pt, Shutout=3 pts), GAA. Must field 12 fwds, 6 def, 2 goalies with a 7 player max reserve list. 15 teams. We use NHL salaries with a team cap of $10M over the NHL salary cap. No redraft for playoffs, so the team does play a factor, but in today\'s NHL only a little. Get to keep 8 players plus 2 rookies:

The Easy Eight (all salaries are for 07/08 in $US):

R1 - D-Jack Johnson LA $850K
R2 - F-Paul Stastny COL $675K (thanks Dobber!)
1 - G-Ryan Miller BUF $2.5M
2 - G-Mikko Kiprusoff CGY $3.6M
3 - D-Chris Pronger ANA $6.25M
4 - D-Sergei Gonchar PIT $5.5M
5 - D-Dan Boyle TB $3.625M
6 - F-Henrik Zetterberg DET $2.7M

Here\'s where it gets tough. Only two spots left between:

F-Sean Avery RFA
Made $1.1M last year, should come in around $1.5-2M. Does he stay with NYR? He did very well there at the end of last season and into the early rounds of the playoffs. Great (best?) combination of pen mins/pts.

F-Daniel Briere UFA
Made $5M through arbitration last year. $6-6.5M next year seems likely. If he stays with BUF, his +/- will be ok. 89 pen mins was a nice bonus.

F-Zach Parise NJ RFA
Made $703K last year, maybe $1.5M this year? Bright future. Better or worse if Gomez leaves?

F-Derek Roy BUF RFA
Made $627K last year, maybe $1.5M this year? +37 Wow, but can he repeat if BUF loses either Drury or Briere? His 60 pen mins help. Plus/minus is such an odd stat - over a six year stretch with STL, Chris Pronger had consecutive seasons of -18, +15, +47, +3, +52 and +21. Weird stat.

F-Joe Sakic COL $6.75M
Getting up there in age, but may be good for 90-95 pts next year. COL should improve a little offensively next year with all those young guys gaining another year of experience. Joe doesn\'t help in +/- or pen mins.

Five guys, only two spots. Who would you keep? Yes I can trade what I don\'t protect for draft picks. I don\'t have to decide until Sept. Thanks for your opinions.

[sakic19]

Avery: hes proven to be a good addition to a team and seems to have found his home in NYR. Hes got decent point totals and his PIM will help alot.

Briere: we know who he is and what he can do. 95 points this year and if he lands in a team like washington feeding a guy like ovechkin or semin, he can easily get that total once more.

Parise: Just have to love this guy, plays with all heart and had a major year with the devils this year. I think he can only get better.

Roy: Keeping Drury and Briere will be unlikely therefor Roy will become a 2nd line center in buffalo, maybe giving him the option of centering Vaneks and Afinegenov\'s line. He wont recieve that much of a raise.

Sakic: One of the best all time and he seems to get better with age. Did hit 100 pts again this season but he is getting older and his salary is a tad expensive.

With all that being said if it were up to me I\'d go with Briere and Parise. Briere just seems to be a must since we know what he can accomplish, the only thing holding us back is the salary cap. Id go with Parise because he seems to have a nack for the game, hes got the heart to go with it and with New Jersey\'s awesome drafting ability\'s, he will always be surrounded by great players.

Trade Sakic to a team in desperate need of points, try and trade Roy for a top prospect pick, and Avery well its tough with him but I think you can lose him, pronger and johnson will make up for his PIM\'s.

[Thieving Giraffe]

I agree with everything Sakic19 said. Briere-Parise would be my choice as well. I especially like Parise\'s low cap hit.

Post edited by: Thieving Giraffe, at: 2007/05/24 00:08

[hockeylifer]

My preferance here is Parise and Roy. Parise is going to get more playing time with the departure of Gomez. Roy is going to get more playing time with the departure of Briere or Drury, likely Briere. Roy has great wingers. Both of these guys will not be a significant \'hit\' on your cap. They both will be better players.

I strongly agree with trading Sakic and might also consider trading Briere, depending on what your decision is going to be.