Angus Audits Your Team: The Goodfellas
Jeff Angus
2010-07-08
Are you 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.
I will be running these audits on a weekly basis throughout the summer. Fire me an e-mail if you want to get in line!
Today I'll be taking a look at the team submitted to me by DobberHockey reader Chris P.
The League
SFHL (Salame Fantasy Hockey League)
The Team
Goodfellas
The Rules
15 Team Salary cap (60M)
Keeper league
Dress 12F 6D 2G
Keep 7F 3D 1G
Unlimited bench as long as within the cap limit
Non-keepers can be re-signed, but they are not protected and can be picked up at the annual waiver draft
If they are claimed by another team, then it opens up a keeper spot for someone at that position.
For example using the roster below, if Rask is kept and Fleury is re-signed and claimed, it would allow for Gustavsson (or another goalie) to be kept as well.
The Roster
Keepers in bold
His choices:
Forwards |
Malkin $6.4 |
Kovalchuk $5.5 |
Marleau $3.2 |
Neal $1.4 |
Mcdonald $3.2 |
Filatov $1 |
Berglund $1 |
Wheeler $1.2 |
Stillman $3.8 |
Knuble $3.8 |
Brule $1.4 |
Stempniak $2.7 |
Glennie 500k |
Defense: |
Green $.5 |
Goligoski $1.2 |
Foster $2.7 |
McBain $1.1 |
Gilbert $1.8 |
Goalies: |
Fleury $5 |
Rask $1.4 |
Gustavsson $1 |
My choices:
Forwards |
Malkin $6.4 |
Kovalchuk $5.5 |
Marleau $3.2 |
Neal $1.4 |
Mcdonald $3.2 |
Filatov $1 |
Berglund $1 |
Wheeler $1.2 |
Stillman $3.8 |
Knuble $3.8 |
Brule $1.4 |
Stempniak $2.7 |
Glennie 500k |
Defense: |
Green $.5 |
Goligoski $1.2 |
Foster $2.7 |
McBain $1.1 |
Gilbert $1.8 |
Goalies: |
Fleury $5 |
Rask $1.4 |
Gustavsson $1 |
Recent Trades
Outgoing: Enstrom
Incoming: Filatov
Not a bad gamble to take. I am a big Enstrom fan – for some reason he is continually underrated in fantasy hockey circles. He runs the power play in Atlanta very well and he is also strong defensively. Filatov has significant upside and Enstrom probably wouldn't have been one of the three defensive keepers, so nice move picking up a keeper in Filatov.
Outgoing: Tuytin and 73rd overall pick
Incoming: 32nd overall pick
Great trade – a significant draft pick upgrade for a non-keeper defenseman.
Outgoing: Langenbrunner
Incoming: Gilbert and 47th overall pick
This is another very strong trade. Langenbrunner is getting up there in years, and Gilbert is due for a big season with all of the young talent on Edmonton. Look for him to approach 45 points playing with Kurtis Foster on the top power play unit.
Outgoing: Huselius and Ponikarovsky
Incoming: 4th overall pick and Jonas Gustavsson
I like this trade as well. As I have said before, it is often tough to evaluate trades involving draft picks, as they are valued so differently from league to league. However, neither Huselius or Ponikarovsky are anything special.
Outgoing: Rafalski
Incoming: Brule and 52nd overall pick
Some money was saved with this trade, but Rafalski would have been a keeper. Not sure I like it.
Outgoing: Luongo
Incoming: Fleury and the 5th overall pick
Not a fan. I would have kept Luongo over Rask. More on that below…
The Breakdown
I wrote this first part before learning of the Luongo-for-Fleury trade…
Here are some of the potential scenarios facing this team. The question of Luongo or Rask is complicated. If Luongo is kept, it means an extra $5 million of cap space used up. If Rask is kept, it frees up Luongo to be traded. Now is not the best time to deal Luongo, who is coming off a subpar year. The Canucks are looking extremely strong defensively heading in to 2010-11, I'd keep Luongo, bite the bullet with the extra cap space, and ditch Rask. Rask has lots of upside but the odds are he will face his share of struggles – all young goalies do.
After learning of the trade, I agree to keep Rask. Fleury's stats will improve with a great defensive group in front of him, but I like Rask more as a goalie.
With the two high draft picks, I'd target two skilled wingers. Forwards generally are able to make an impact from a fantasy perspective much more quickly than either defensemen or goaltenders. I like Jeff Skinner and/or Nino Niederreiter. If one of those two is taken before you get to pick, select Vladimir Tarasenko.
I chose to keep Gilbert over McBain for a few reasons. First off, Gilbert is a proven point producer. McBain has a ton of upside, but he is still unproven. Don't discount that. Second, Carolina's signing of Corvo today bumps McBain back a bit in terms of power play duties. I always view fantasy hockey with a three-year window, and I like Gilbert's upside significantly over McBain's within the next three years. He is the best offensive threat on the Oilers, a team with a ton of young offensive talent and little on the back end (no competition).
The Recommendations
1) Take Niederreiter and Skinner with the 4th and 5th picks.
2) Keep Gilbert over McBain.