Angus Audits Your Team – The North Pole Aces
Jeff Angus
2010-06-08
Are you wondering what your plan of attack should be in your fantasy hockey pool 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.
This week, I took a look at the team submitted to me by DobberHockey reader Ben B.
The League
The UFHKL (Ultimate Fantasy Hockey Keeper League)
The Team
North Pole Aces
The Rules
11 team keeper league
Active roster: 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, 2 goalies
Bench has 8 players on it
Unlimited prospects can be kept for a maximum of four years for forwards and defensemen, and five years for goaltenders
Prospect draft in the summer consists of six rounds (players less than 25 games and goalies with less than 20 games at the NHL level are eligible)
Scoring Categories
Goals = 1
Assists = 1
PIM = 0.2
Shots = 0.1
Shootout Goals = 1
Plus/Minus (+0.4 or -0.4)
Win = 2
Shutout = 3
The Roster
Forwards |
Eric Staal |
Anze Kopitar |
Patrick Sharp |
Jason Pominville |
David Clarkson |
Dustin Brown |
Milan Lucic |
Brad Boyes |
Kyle Okposo |
Kris Versteeg |
Andy McDonald |
Valtteri Filppula |
Defense |
Alex Edler |
Tobias Enstrom |
Dion Phaneuf |
Brent Seabrook |
Mark Giordano |
Matt Carle |
Goalies |
Evgeni Nabokov |
Tukka Rask |
Bench |
Alex Radulov |
Niklas Hagman |
Matthew Lombardi |
Rostislav Olesz |
Andrew Ladd |
Ryan O’Reilly |
Radim Vrbata |
Michael Ryder |
Antoine Vermette |
Jonas Gustavsson |
Pascal Leclaire |
Mike Smith |
Forwards |
Alexander Avtsyn ’09 |
Ryan Bourque ’09 |
Tyler Bozak ’09 |
Evgeni Grachev ’08 |
Logan Couture ’08 |
Zach Hamill ’07 |
Dmitry Kugryshev ’09 |
Nikolai Kulemin ’08 |
Ben Hanowski ’09 |
Patrick Maroon ’09 |
Greg Nemisz ’09 |
Lars Eller ’08 |
Scott Parse ’07 |
Rhett Rhakshani ’08 |
Mikhail Stevanovich ’08 |
Defensemen |
Jonas Junland ’09 |
Colby Robak ’09 |
David Rundblad ’09 |
Vyacheslav Voinov ’09 |
Goalies |
Corey Crawford ’09 |
Cory Schneider ’08 |
Recent Trades
Outgoing: Keith Yandle, PK Subban, and a 3rd round pick
Incoming: Dion Phaneuf
I can smell the stench from this deal all the way out in Vancouver. Unless Phaneuf becomes a 60 point, 150 PIM, 200 SOG defenseman, you lose this trade (big).
Outgoing: Shawn Matthias
Incoming: Lars Eller and Matt Carle
Very nice deal here – I'd say Eller has more value than Matthias alone. Carle has found a home in Philadelphia, and should be good for 35-45 points each and every season.
Outgoing: Loui Eriksson, Lars Eller, Jamie Benn, 2010 1st round pick
Incoming: Eric Staal, 20105th round pick, 2011 1st round pick, 2011 3rd round pick
Eller sure didn't stay around for very long. Eriksson and Benn are both great young talents, but Staal is the best player by a significant margin. More often than not, the team getting the best player wins the trade.
Outgoing: Alex Goligoski, Michael Grabner, 2011 3rd round pick
Incoming: Kyle Okposo, Valtteri Filppula, Jamie Benn, 2011 6th round pick
Fantastic trade for you. A precursor to the Staal trade, and it looks even better for you when you evaluate the trades together (Goligoski, Grabner, Eriksson, Eller, picks for Okposo, Filppula, Staal).
Outgoing: Nathan Horton, Jeremy Morin, and Luca Sbisa
Incoming: Kris Versteeg, Colby Robak, David Rundblad, Dmitry Kugryshev, Mikhail Stevanovich
Decent trade. I like Morin the most out of the six prospects involved in this trade. Horton's upside is higher than Versteeg's, but he is a few levels below Versteeg in terms of hockey IQ. I'd say you lost this deal, but it isn't a horrible trade.
The Breakdown
The bench must be trimmed down to eight before July 1st. Bench: to be trimmed down to 8 before July 1st. I'd drop O'Reilly, Radulov, Olesz, Andrew Ladd, and Mike Smith. I don't see O'Reilly having all that much fantasy value. Smith will be lucky to see 30-40 games next year, and Ladd is a third line winger.
The Recommendations
1) Move Nabokov if you can. I think now may be a good time to sell high on him (assuming you can find a GM who isn't concerned about the uncertainty of where Nabokov will be playing in 2010-11 and beyond).
2) Don't make bad trades (obvious). Phaneuf trade was horrible. I am very high on Yandle (probably moreso than any other fantasy hockey 'expert' at the moment), but even if he doesn't develop into the 55-65 point defenseman like I think he will, you still lost Subban. It will be interesting to see how Phaneuf responds to being named captain of the Leafs.
3) Stand pat. Don't force trades. If you can't upgrade without paying through the nose, keep what you have. Boyes and McDonald will both have bounce back seasons in 2010-11. Okposo is going to break out very soon.
4) Sell high on Sharp and Seabrook. More exposure during the Cup Final means more trade value. Especially Seabrook – he isn't nearly as good in fantasy hockey as he is in real life.