HFWings Keeper Fantasy Hockey League: Season Six

[NickH8]

Alright, league is set. Keepers are all approved, draft order is set, and we're ready to go on Sunday. You all should be able to see in the Draft Results who the keepers all are and you can rank the available players if you want to.

Bedard will probably be the top overall pick, but you never know about these things I guess.

I heard Chiarot is a must have this year and should go first.

 

[Hammettf2b]

I did absolutely no research and just opened the app right before the draft. hoping i didn't completely screw up lol. went really fast. nice draft everyone

 

[Winger98]

did better than me, Hammett. I forgot it was happening entirely and went out to dinner with the wife because the kids had been insane all day. sadly, looking at my roster, the computer prolly did a better job than I would have on my own....

 

[Sparty]

I was able to almost finish the draft before the wife and kids got home but like the last five picks I made while very distracted, lol. Because of this I don't have as many defensemen as I probably should have (I only have five now, two are on IR), so hoping to remedy this through the waiver wire during week one and two.

I feel pretty good about my roster though. Lots of youngish guys who might make strides this year, Zegras, Necas, Suzuki, Luke Hughes

 

[turkleton85]

Get your heads in the game boys! I was on vacation with wife and kid, and all three of us had to sleep in one bed. I still set my alarm and participated in the middle of the night

 

[Sparty]

Brock Boeser, lol. It was funny I saw a story about him last year and he said he had a rough year because of a bunch of deaths in his family and he thought he was awful last year because of all the stress and he hated playing hockey. So I had that in mind when I drafted him, dude scores four goals on Opening Night.

 

[turkleton85]

and he was picked in one of the last rounds of our draft

 

[jaster]

Meanwhile, I completely forgot that we have a weekly limit of 3 free agent adds. Went to add 4 before I was told nope after 3. And now I have Alex Killorn instead of a guy I'd much rather have lol.

Just over here shaking the rust off.

 

[turkleton85]

I was able to almost finish the draft before the wife and kids got home but like the last five picks I made while very distracted, lol. Because of this I don't have as many defensemen as I probably should have (I only have five now, two are on IR), so hoping to remedy this through the waiver wire during week one and two.

I feel pretty good about my roster though. Lots of youngish guys who might make strides this year, Zegras, Necas, Suzuki, Luke Hughes

Zegras Suzuki and Necas already proved to be good young players, interesting to see if one of them might become keeper worthy for you.

I like my initial roster as well, better than the last few years. the decision to not keep a goalie was the right one, i always get to pick darcy kuemper and now have Adin hill, thatcher demko (was my keeper last year) and jake allen.

with crosby, mcdavid, barkov and point my centers were set. Kempe, bratt, robertson and mcavoy were my other keepers. Filip forsberg was on my roster and i was able to pick him in the first, and guys like jake sanderson and owen power, i had both at one point last year, offer keeper potential. I like to redraft guys from last years...

troy terry
darcy kuemper
henrique
ekholm
zacha
power
sanderson
miller

have been with me for years now

 

[Sparty]

Meanwhile, I completely forgot that we have a weekly limit of 3 free agent adds. Went to add 4 before I was told nope after 3. And now I have Alex Killorn instead of a guy I'd much rather have lol.

Just over here shaking the rust off.

I kinda did the same thing. There was a young keeper I wanted to grab (Zellwegger) so I did, then afterwards I remembered I probably need roster players more now than I need keepers because I have so many guys dinged up right now.

 

[Sparty]

Zegras Suzuki and Necas already proved to be good young players, interesting to see if one of them might become keeper worthy for you.

I like my initial roster as well, better than the last few years. the decision to not keep a goalie was the right one, i always get to pick darcy kuemper and now have Adin hill, thatcher demko (was my keeper last year) and jake allen.

with crosby, mcdavid, barkov and point my centers were set. Kempe, bratt, robertson and mcavoy were my other keepers. Filip forsberg was on my roster and i was able to pick him in the first, and guys like jake sanderson and owen power, i had both at one point last year, offer keeper potential. I like to redraft guys from last years...

troy terry
darcy kuemper
henrique
ekholm
zacha
power
sanderson
miller

have been with me for years now

With these young guys it's funny how you can have them but not decide to keep them and then see them bounce around in hopes that they eventually become keepers. I had Power and Sanderson before too, and yeah I ended up with a bunch of guys I previously had too.

Duchene
Theodore
Ehlers
Hanifin
Reilly Smith

I'm expecting to be in the market for different keepers after this year because I wasn't too crazy about the ones I had. I lost Bergeron and Patrick Kane so I ended up keeping some guys I probably wouldn't have, Evander Kane and Vitek Vanecek. So hopefully some of these guys take a step up.

 

[jaster]

I do wish we could tweak our keeper system so that it makes sense to keep young guys during that period between prospect status and finally breaking through and becoming a worthwhile keeper. I know we've discussed it in the past, but not sure we had any viable solutions.

EDIT: What about this, just tossing it out there....

Start with the system we have, but just modify it a bit, kinda like how the AHL has their vet rules, but the opposite:

8 keepers, no restrictions (same as now)
1 keeper, drafted in the past 3 NHL drafts
1 keeper, drafted in the past 4 NHL drafts
1 keeper, drafted in the past 5 NHL drafts

Or, maybe base it on games played:

8 keepers, no restrictions (same as now)
1 keeper, less than 10 NHL games
1 keeper, less than 100 NHL games
1 keeper, less than 200 NHL games

Something like that? Thoughts?

 

[Winger98]

I would lean towards games played

 

[Sparty]

That's not even really the problem, the problem is that once those young players make NHL rosters, you're faced with a decision about whether or not you want to keep them on your roster during the season, or replace them with more functional players. It's up to the managers to decide if they are in win now mode or build for the future mode. I'm not sure what you're proposing does anything about that, it just allows us to keep a guy or two a little longer instead of having true prospects on our rosters. Like I have Luke Hughes now and I could choose to keep him for up to 200 games under that system, but if looks like he's really not going to pan out and he's hurting my roster, then I'm probably just going to drop him anyways in favor of a different player.

 

[jaster]

Hm, I'm not really tracking. No matter what system we run, you're always faced with a decision on who to keep from year to year. Not really a bug as much as a feature. I don't think anything can be done, or even needs to be done, about that? That decision, in some form, will always exist.

The problem I see is that we have a system that allows you to stash as many as 3 "prospects" at any given time. But outside of top guys, there's no path, or bridge, to keep them long-term, without incurring the significant penalty of keeping them over a superior player in the faint hope that they will become something, which no one really ever does, because obviously.

Our current system let's you keep a kid until basically 20 years old, 21 in some cases. After that, according to our rules, you have to decide to keep them as a regular keeper or not. But the problem is that a vast majority of 20 or 21 year olds are not going to be worth keeping over already-established players on your roster. The problem is it's too soon to be forced to make that decision, imo. Most of these guys won't break through and become worth keeping as regular keepers until they are 23, 24 years old, assuming they do at all. Of the 12 prospect keepers I've had in the 4 seasons I've been in the league, I've only graduated 2 (Stutzle and Zegras) from prospect keeper to regular keeper. The rest I let go, because even if a few years later they become worthwhile, it would be stupid to keep them as regular keepers at that time, even if I were rebuilding. And if they are stars who are worth keeping in our current system, they almost always lose their prospect eligibility before the 3 year clock is up anyway. So, why do we even have 3 slots allowed for prospects? No one will ever have 3 worth keeping. It just seems silly to me to mine for prospects and hold them for a couple years, just to then jettison them into free agency. Like, what's the point? It's kind of just a tease. We have a system for prospects, but it's essentially an empty system. A prospect system to nowhere, if you will lol.

What I'm proposing is changing the system to allow managers to buy more time with the prospects they roster. Give them a better opportunity to grow their prospects into their regular keeper pool, rather than be basically forced to let most of them go while they are still early in their development. Maybe not everyone wants that kind of system, and that's totally fine, but the current system just doesn't make sense.

 

[Hammettf2b]

I've never been able to actually keep a prospect due to them not being good enough to be on the roster but aren't eligible as a prospect anymore. I'm all for a system that buys some time in that regard. That or just get rid of prospects to begin with.

 

[Sparty]

I think Jaster has a good idea but I always feel like these changes should get made in the off-season before the draft. I feel like owners would have drafted differently if they knew they might get additional time with their kids. But if we all are in favor of it I don't really care either way. I still don't think we should be forced to carry prospects though.

 

[NickH8]

Gg sparty. I thought it was over on Friday. Had a nice weekend comeback. Turns out Malkin still has it.

 

[Sparty]

Gg sparty. I thought it was over on Friday. Had a nice weekend comeback. Turns out Malkin still has it.

Yeah I had a nice lead but a lot of my guys laid eggs this weekend, nice comeback! Looks like we both need to pick up the pace to keep up with these other teams, I noticed our point totals were much lower, lol.

 

[jaster]

I think Jaster has a good idea but I always feel like these changes should get made in the off-season before the draft. I feel like owners would have drafted differently if they knew they might get additional time with their kids. But if we all are in favor of it I don't really care either way. I still don't think we should be forced to carry prospects though.

I agree, prospects should by no means be required. Totally optional. Managers can assemble their teams however they see fit.

I'm fine waiting until next season to implement a new system. I don't think it's a big enough change to preclude it from being implemented right away, but I totally get not wanting to change keeper rules mid-season, so either way is fine with me.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Whoever has Larkin and or Cat, I hate you. That is all

 

[NickH8]

Whoever has Larkin and or Cat, I hate you. That is all

You're telling me, Winger98 has them both. I was winning before today. Can't complain though the real hockey is what I care most about obviously.

 

[abparry87]

Does anyone in here that plays NFL fantasy as well that could rate my team, if i need to make change/trades? We only had 5 people keen here in Australia with friends so all beginners.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Does anyone in here that plays NFL fantasy as well that could rate my team, if i need to make change/trades? We only had 5 people keen here in Australia with friends so all beginners.

post your team

 

[jaster]

How did Leo Carlsson fall to me in the 9th round? Bedard went 1st overall in our draft, Fantilli went 3rd overall, and I somehow snagged Carlsson 88th overall.

Was it because people thought he wasn't going to start the season in Anaheim? Did we all just forget about him during the draft? I honestly did. When my pick was coming up in the 9th round I just happened to notice he was still sitting there. I had a draft strategy up to that point that didn't include rookies, and I stuck with it. But if I had been paying more attention I probably would have grabbed Carlsson much earlier.