Rebuilding Team

While we're waiting on the hippymeister, Jay had asked about the rebuilding project I took on recently in another league. This league has had problems holding onto GMs longterm (unlike our league - ha!), and there's a couple of veterans who've been able to take advantage of the fluctuating level of interest/hockey skill by loading up their teams. There is one team in particular that is completely stacked. I don't think anybody is going to be able to touch him for a very long time. Apparently he snatched Crosby and Green from my team's former manager. Ugh!

So we start twelve forwards, six defense and two goalies. Eight bench players. Points only league where goals and assists are weighted heavily. Full keeper with ten teams.

Here is the best team IMO:

Crosby - Backstrom - Getzlaf
Nash - E. Staal - Savard
Carter - Richards - Gagne
Doan - Gomez - Frolov

His defense is absolutely sick:

Green - Phaneuf
Lidstrom - Boyle
Campbell - Weber

(With Bouwmeester and Souray on his frigging bench. LOL.)

And in goal he has Lundqvist and Miller as his top two, with Giguere and Emery as backups.

I've already made a couple changes, taking some big risks. Here are two trades I have made:

#1: Gave Hodgson and Keith

for

Radulov and Paajarvi

#2: Gave Steve Mason, Hemsky, Gagner, Krejci, Wideman

for

Kopitar, Stamkos, Quick, Russell, Hickey

This was a steep price to pay, but I really like Kopitar and Stamkos and figured I would need this small but important upgrade to my team's top six forwards. I was deep in young forwards of the Gagner mold and stacked with goalies, so hopefully it shouldn't hurt too much giving up guys like I did.

In short, my team looks like this now:

Filatov - Kopitar - Kane
Little - Stamkos - Radulov
Paajarvi - Oshie - Hudler
Lucic - J. Staal - Cogliano

I also have Wheeler, Pavelski, Tlusty, Hensick and a few other great forward prospects on my farm team.

My defense needs the most work, which is what I plan to address as the season goes on. Hoping to find some quality buy low candidates.

Letang - Russell
Bieksa - Coburn
Quincey - Enstrom

I have Hickey and Seabrook as reserves. Yeah I know: not very deep. LOL.

In goal I think I'm OK for now, even though I lost Steve Mason.

Varlamov
Quick
Smith
Harding
Anderson

What does everybody think of my team and the chances of competing within three years? In all likelihood I would be competing for second place, but at least there is prize money for second and third place

Looking forward to hearing some comments!

Holy shit that is one stacked team that dude has.

As for your team. I would really try and solidify you G, I find it has a lot of question marks, actually I think they are all question marks. I'm not sold on varlamov. I can't really think of one goalie who had a continuous ascension into greatness (says the guy with rask, price, and schneider). He might be good, but I don't like the idea of placing the guy as a number one on a fantasy team. Perhaps a "good" #2, and a fantastic #3.

Quick is a stopgap for this season while Bernier gets ready to jump in and bear the work load (like price was in Montreal). If Harding can move to a different team or Backstrom can falter then he's got a good shot. Anderson has to battle it out with his co-netminder. And smith needs to play some games to make sure his concussion will not be a recurring one. If half of your netminders get favorable shakes you will be golden. If not, well see what happened to me in nets last season in this league.

I like your forwards top to bottom, but hate that you are sticking with Rads and Hudler. You won't compete until you ditch these two guys. I would think Hudler will come back after this season. As for Rads, I really don't know. I thought he was going to come back this summer. If he isn't back after next year, I don't think he will ever be back.

Of course you did say that you wanted to compete in 2-3 years, so sticking with them now isn't all that bad. You know what you are getting with both Russians so its low risk/high reward.

As for D, a lot of potential, but would benefit from a trade or two. Nothing too pressing seeing as how you won't compete this season. Do a trade here and a trade there and you will be fine.

All in all I like your team's direction, but you will need some luck in nets. Your forwards are very good and should mature nicely in the seasons that follow. In a few years you'll be a hard team to compete against. But as I said earlier try to get an established goalie to anchor your net and then you'll have a fantastic crop of G, F, and an up and coming D squad.


But in all honesty that other team won't be coming down for a very long time. It would royally suck to play against him; but that's what turnover do to leagues. You get an owner or two who might not be on the up and up or just doesn't care and he messes up the league and then leaves the year after.

I see you're not a Steve Mason fan.

IRONSIDES

Thanks for the feedback Jay. That was great feedback. One thing that makes me a bit more confident in Varlamov is that I also have Neuvirth. I think Varlamov will be the guy within a couple of years (when I am competing), but if for some reason he stumbles, then the Caps will probably go to Neuvirth.

The worst case scenario, of course, is if the Caps end up with a two-headed goalie monster, in the same fashion as Chicago had last year. Ugh!

All my goalies are pretty young, and I am hoping that of the five at least two of them will mature into good starters within a couple of years. Here's hoping! It's so hard to project where goalies will be compared to forwards, and the other GMs are hanging on to the blue-chippers like Bernier, Markstrom and Rask with vice grips. LOL.

I could get Giguere or Biron for a song right now -- and have contemplated doing so -- but I'm worried that by the time I am competing they might be on the decline.

Anybody have advice on a goalie upgrade strategy?

As for Radulov and Hudler, I definitely took a risk with them. I am assuming (hoping) they will be back within a couple of years, and if they do they would definitely solidify my forwards.

Sometimes with major rebuilds like this you gotta take some risks

scoopNred schrieb:

I see you're not a Steve Mason fan.

Actually I am a BIG Steve Mason fan. LOL. I guess I have a weak spot for dazzling offensive players, which is why I was trying to upgrade my front pieces to Kopitar and Stamkos.

I was trying to move Varlamov instead of Mason, but the other GM wouldn't have it!

I guess we'll see if my strategy was a sound one. I can see Mason becoming the next Martin Brodeur, so perhaps I'll be regretting my decision in two leagues. LOL.

So Jay, since you seem to be the only guy offering feedback. What would be your strategy for upgrading my goal position?

Should I target guys like Bernier, Rask, Markstrom, etc???

Or should I target proven vets who may or may not still be at the top of there game in three years?

My thought was to play a wait and see game with the guys I have, then possibly use one of them plus a decent forward to upgrade.

For example, if Quick has a good start then trade Quick plus a Wheeler/Cogliano type (who are somewhat expendable for me) for a more proven upgrade.

Any other ideas?

sorry matt just finished my football draft. not to sure it went if it went well lol. im beat and heading to bed, ill take a closer look at thsi post tomorrow and give you some feedback.

hopefully keegan comes on and we can get some picks done tonight. i don't pick till the second round so i shouldn't be needed.

I would try and land a guy who is in the mid-late twenties. I wouldn't take a chance with Giggy although I think he will bounce back. I don't think he'll be a viable option in three to four years. I would wait for a guy to struggle and buy him low to offset the cost.

I personally believe Rask and Bernier is the best option out there for prospects, they were brought up through the system the right way and should do well from the get go with a few bumps and bruises their first 3 season (this one including). By the time you plan on competing they'll be solid. However, I still stand by the fact that you should maybe try and get a guy you is just starting out in his prime. You might have to pay a bit, but it would be worth it.

A dude like Miller still doesn't get enough credit and when Buffalo gets a strong D core Miller will put up monster numbers.

Similar with Cam Ward. Although I find his price is high already so he'll be a harder guy to land than Miller.

Pekka Rinne is part of Nashville and we know how Nashville LOVES to play hot potato with their Goalies. So I'd avoid him until his stock drops.

Bryz might be more attainable and he's only 29, so at 32 he should still post decent numbers. I think he will have a good year this season despite the turmoil in PHX.

Jaroslav Halak is a guy you should get. I think he can be had for cheap in most leagues because he's stuck behind Price right now. You know that in 3 yrs time that situation will be resolved.

Now those are some of the dudes you should target IMO. With Halak and Miller being right away and Ward ASAP if possible (you'll probably need to give up a lot though so I think one of the other two dudes is your best option.)

As for goalies I would stay away from: Nabokov, Giggy, Hiller (nab him next season), Brodeur, Fleury (price is too high for the stats he gets), Kipper, Mason (chris), Backstrom, Vokoun, Turco.

In terms of what you should trade, its hard to say. What are your scoring cats again? And how many do you keep per year?

Awesome response again Jay. Thanks!

It's a full keeper, and scoring cats are heavily weighted for Goals, Assists, Wins and Shutouts. There are small bonuses for PIMs, Shots and Saves.

Miller would be unattainable, as he belongs to the GM with the stacked roster. Ditto for Cam Ward. His manager has indicated he's "unavailable." LOL.

I think the best thing might be to hope for a hiccup along the road for one of Bernier or Rask and try and buy low. The GM with the stacked roster owns Bernier, but he already has three great goalies, so perhaps I can figure out a way to get him, especially if he has a bad training camp. He would be buy-low at that point.

I'd prefer Bernier over Rask only in that I already have Quick. And being that it's a full keeper it covers me for Los Angeles.

However, one of the other GMs who I've traded with in the past recently acquired both Rask and Markstrom, so it might be possible to nab one of those guys too.

I think if I can get one of Bernier, Rask or Markstrom I should be in pretty good shape three years from now. Especially with Quick, Harding, Smith, and Anderson also in the fold.

Oh yeah, I do like your suggestion about Halak. I'll have to see if he might be had for a decent PRICE. Pun intended! LOL.

Thanks again for the insight big fella