Angus Audits Your Team – The LPPQ Whalers
Jeff Angus
2010-05-31
Wondering what your plan of attack should be this summer? Preparing for a draft? Upset about some trades you made in the past? I'll weigh in with my thoughts on the interesting and important issues.
Today I'll be taking a look at the team submitted to me by DobberHockey member Benoit, known on the message board as 'LPPQWhalers.'
The League
The LPPQ
Nine team league (expanding to 10 this summer)
Points-only league
Goals = 1 point
Assists = 1 point
Wins = 2 point
Shutout = 1 bonus point
20 moves allowed during the season (moving a player from active roster to bench counts as a move, and vice versa)
Roster Size
30 player rosters
20 on the active roster
14 forwards (no positional requirements)
Four defensemen
Two goaltenders
10 player bench
Allowed to protect 15 players at the end of each season
The other 15 are waived, and are eligible to be drafted in the summer (at the same time as free agents and newly drafted players)
The Roster
(My 15 keeper choices are bolded)
Forwards |
Jason Spezza |
Mike Richards |
Paul Stastny |
Thomas Vanek |
Marian Gaborik |
Anze Kopitar |
Dany Heatley |
Loui Eriksson |
Mike Ribeiro |
Michael Frolik |
David Krejci |
Valtteri Filppula |
Justin Williams |
Rich Peverley |
Defensemen |
Tobias Enstrom
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|
Alex Goligoski |
Keith Yandle |
Ed Jovanovski |
Goaltenders |
Henrik Lundqvist |
Craig Anderson |
Bench |
PM Bouchard |
Cory Stillman |
Paul Kariya |
Colby Armstrong |
Joffrey Lupul |
Chris Campoli |
Marc-Edouard Vlasic |
Joe Corvo |
Nikolai Khabibulin |
Kari Lehtonen |
Prospects |
Jamie Benn |
Erik Karlsson |
The Breakdown
Some of the recent trades made:
Zdeno Chara for a 2nd round draft pick and Joe Corvo
Benoit didn't have Chara as one of his keepers, and in a points-only league I'd agree It is never a bad move to get a future asset (the pick) for a player you wouldn't have kept beyond this season (unless you directly help a competitor on the process).
Tomas Fleischmann for a 3rd round draft pick and Cory Stillman
A similar deal to the one above – Benoit wasn't going to keep Fleischmann, so he got a draft pick in return.
Dustin Brown and a 1st round draft pick for Marc Savard
Benoit pulled the trigger on this deal the day before the Cooke hit on Savard. Savard wasn't on his team long though…
Marc Savard, Derrick Brassard, and Jason Pominville for Dany Heatley, Danius Zubrus, and Colby Armstrong
He received the best player in the deal. Brassard is a great keeper, and Pominville is a solid guy to have in a points-only league, but with the Whalers' depth I like this move.
Pekka Rinne for Kari Lehtonen and a 1st round pick
I probably would have kept Rinne over Anderson. He did receive a 1st round pick in return (to replace the one he had previously traded). Lehtonen is a risk but he isn't among the players I recommend to keep, so the deal basically amounts to Rinne for the draft pick.
Benoit plans on trying to sell high with Gaborik – smart thinking. I wouldn't consider Enstrom a sell-high candidate, though. Even without Kovalchuk, he should still be a 45-55-point defenseman on Atlanta. They have some offensive talent and always seem to have a strong power play.
Benoit can draft rookies like Nikita Filatov and John Carlson, but it would require him to promote one or both of Benn and Karlsson. I'd probably promote Karlsson and draft either of Filatov or Carlson (or Jordan Eberle, the other good player you believe will be within reach).
The Recommendations
1) Keep Yandle over Krejci. You will thank me later!
2) Promote Karlsson, try and draft one of the three rookies I recommended. Don't forget about Jacob Markstrom either – far and away the best goalie prospect in the world.
3) Keep making two-for-one or three-for-one trades. With lots of depth and limited keepers, lopsided trades are the only real way to benefit from having a strong and deep roster.
4) Sell high on Gaborik if you can. Same goes for Eriksson.