Welcome back to another edition of the Roos Lets Loose monthly mailbag, where I answer your fantasy hockey questions by giving advice that should be useful to all poolies even if they don't own the specific players being discussed. As a reminder, if you want your fantasy hockey question(s) answered in the next mailbag, check out the end of the column, where I explain the ways to get it/them to me as well as the details you should provide when sending. The earlier you send a question the more likely it is to be included in the mailbag, and the deeper dive I can provide with my reply.

Important Note – I'll be running yet another mailbag next week; so there's still time for you to send me questions. See the end of the column for instructions on how to do so.

Question #1 (from Scott)

I'm in a 14 team Roto league with categories of G, A, PIM, SOG, PPPts, HIT, BLK; W, GAA, SV%. Rosters are 10F, 5D, 2G, 1 Bench. We redraft every 7 years and this year is a redraft. We normally keep 5, but all 14 teams have their top 5 picks for 2023-24 due to it being a redraft year.

I've won back to back, so as a result I don't have picks in rounds 6-11. I wanted some advice as to who to take at 9th overall. If Cale Makar is available would you take him over forwards such as Mikko Rantanen, Brady Thachuk, Jason Robertson, Nikita Kucherov or Jack Hughes? Or is it a better plan to go stud forward in the 1st round and wait until the 3rd or 4th round to pick a d-man like Dahlin ? Or do I try and get both Makar at 9th and Dahlin at 37th in the 3rd? Is that a reach for Dahlin, as he is ranked 50th in our league? I've been reading a lot about drafting elite defense early and it has piqued my interest.

Separate question – for my 5th round pick, which is 65th overall, if all were available who would you take: Alex DeBrincat, Kevin Fiala, or Trevor Zegras? I'm in win now mode but I also might have to prepare for disappointment given that I won't have picks in rounds 6-11.

In a 14-team league, there will have been roughly 150 players taken by the end of round 11, after which you'll be able to recommence drafting. Defensemen being taken in the 150+ range are the likes of Noah Dobson, Aaron Ekblad, Justin Faulk, Hampus Lindholm, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo, Darnell Nurse, Tony DeAngelo, and Rasmus Andersson. What do all of them have in common other than Nurse? Scoring at a 50+ point pace at least once in the past two seasons. As for forwards, those taken are highlighted by Blake Wheeler, Jonathan Huberdeau, Vladimir Tarasenko, Nick Schmaltz. Patrick Kane, and Matthew Barzal. All of them are very skilled, but come with question marks.

One other important factor in terms of your league is you don't have to worry about forward positions, and that makes a big difference when it comes to drafting, as productive wingers are tougher to snag later. Yes, most of the forwards who I highlighted above are indeed wingers, but as I said they also come with their fair share of question marks, more so than the rearguards also available in the same vicinity in Yahoo drafts.

For all you know, defensemen might not be as coveted as you think. What makes the most sense is to see when the first rearguards are taken and then grab at least one of those with 70+ point floors. Would I take a second rearguards with one of my first five picks? Quite possibly, but again only if it's a 70+ point guy, as looking at the Yahoo drafts you can get a pretty decent percentage of their value starting in round 12.

I'm surprised you didn't mention goalies. Note that the ones being taken in that vicinity are Ville Husso, and Akira Schmid and then, in the 200-250 range, John Gibson, Jordan Binnington, Antti Raanta, Logan Thompson, and Martin Jones. That's a pretty bad list; so I think you need to perhaps consider taking a goalie with your first overall pick – one of Ilya Sorokin or Igor Shesterkin. That way you can tolerate the dregs who will be left come pick 155.

My advice is grab a goalie at pick nine, probably a forward in round two, unless the run on 70+ point d-men has begun, in which case I'd grab one of them, other than Quinn Hughes, who's lousy in multi-cat and should be taken later. For rounds three through five, it's best player available.

In terms of those three names to target at round five, Fiala is the safest pick, with the highest floor. But on LA I can't see a path to him doing better than he's done, and he might even fare worse if the team is so balanced as to have lots of 50-75 point players but no one above 75. Think Seattle for 2022-23. I like DeBrincat to do big things. He has the motivation and the situation. He's right in his prime and we've seen what Dylan Larkin can do all by himself – with DeBrincat alongside him they both should thrive. But there is a risk they don't gel, in which case then what for DeBrincat, as Larkin sure as heck is not going to be centering the second line. Zegras is tantalizing, but it's too soon to pick him in round five. It's too bad you don't have a pick in the 7th or 8th round as that's when I'd look to grab him. My gut says try for DeBrincat, and settle for Fiala if there are no other players with similar floors but higher upsides who you can draft. Good luck!

Question #2 (from DobberHockey Forums)

I’m in a 10 team, keep 15 plus 2 farm (i.e., < 100 GP) points only (goalies get 2 for a win and 1 extra for a shutout) league that dresses 14F, 4D, 2G, with 10 bench spots.

Last season I finished 20 pts out of first, and I’m firmly in "all in" mode, so I lack my 1st, 3rd and 5th round picks which I used to beef up my team this past season. I see my team as having 11 core, must keep players: Jack Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Tim Stutzle, Johnny Gaudreau, Timo Meier, Mathew Barzal, Mark Scheifele, Brad Marchand, Cale Makar, Evan Bouchard, Thatcher Demko. I'm trying to decide which four of the following I should keep too: Alex Tuch, Carter Verhaeghe, Drake Batherson, Mats Zuccarello, Tomas Hertl, Vince Dunn, Brent Burns, Shayne Gostisbehere, Vitek Vanecek, and Sergei Bobrovsky.

A little more background/perspective on the league. Offseason trading is allowed, but not very viable, as there are several inactive/extremely conservative GMs, so I only have about 2-3 realistic trading partners. I've been trying to make some 2 for 1 deals, such as offering Tuch and Dunn for Huberdeau for example, but was shot down immediately. I have another offer of Tuch and Verhaeghe for Kyle Connor on the table with no response yet. People are also reluctant to part with picks, as I couldn’t even convince the GM with my 3rd round pick who owns Kaprizov to take both Zuccarello and Hertl in exchange for me getting my late 3rd rounder back.

So it looks like I have tough decisions, and will need to drop players I'd otherwise want to keep or try to trade. What would you do in my place to maximize my chances at a title?

For starters, I'm not entirely sold on Meier, Barzal, or Scheifele as must keeps. I'm not saying they won't make the final list, only that I could see a universe in which one or more of them are pushed aside by at least one player from the second list.

I'm quite worried about your goaltending. Bob looked otherworldly in the playoffs, but the odds of him stringing together a full season of anything close to what we saw this spring is unlikely. Yes, he's a two-time Vezina winner; but he's four full seasons removed from his last strong campaign. As for other options, Demko is "the guy" in Vancouver; but he might be starting down a band-aid boy path and who knows if the Canucks will take steps in a positive direction. As for Vanecek, he's on a team that's only getting better with each passing season and his salary favors him as the starter; but when the season was on the line the team had no qualms about playing largely untested Akira Schmid over Vanecek, making his grip on the starter's crease a whole lot looser than it once looked. If I was you, I'd focus my efforts on trading to improve in that area. Otherwise, I think you have to keep Bobrovsky and hope by some miracle what we saw from him in the playoffs is the start of a strong third act from the veteran.

I'm also keeping Zuccarello, Tuch, and Verhaeghe. The first two have point per game floors, and, as noted in my most recent Forum Buzz column, Verhaeghe is following what looks to be a trajectory ala Brad Marchand, meaning this could be the season he explodes. Those three, plus Bob, give you your four. Do any of the others elbow out Barzal, Scheifele or Meier? The only one I'd consider is Dunn, who is now being paid "the guy" type of money and had pretty solid metrics for 2022-23, plus stands to be able to do better on the PP in the normal course. I know you only need 4D, but I like keeping Dunn and hoping for more of what we saw in 2022-23, or even better.

As for who to not keep in his place, this is where you try to make a goalie trade. Offer any of your goalies and any one of those three for a goalie upgrade. If that doesn't work, I think my non-keep is Scheifele. Winnipeg stands to be worse this season and Scheifele only scored at a 69 point pace despite shooting over 20% in 2022-23. But if you feel strongly about holding him over Barzal or Meier, I could support that as none of them is much better or worse than the other in terms of what they have to offer in points only. Good luck!

Question #3 (from Christopher)

I’m in a weekly H2H 24 team dynasty salary cap league that dresses 12F-6D-2G with goalie points being Wins 4, OTL/SOL 1, Shutout 1, GA -1, Saves 0.25. We also have 3 bench and 25 minor slots. How would you rank the presumed top two goalies on each of the following teams for the upcoming season: LA (i.e., Pheonix Copley and Cam Talbot), Ottawa (i.e., Joonas Korpisalo, Anton Forsberg), New Jersey (i.e., Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid), and Seattle (i.e., Phillip Grubauer, Chris Driedger) in terms of value this season and next?

I tried reaching out to Christopher to determine if he wanted me to rate the duos, or all eight of the goalies individually. My guess is the latter, as rating the tandems has a lot to do with the team in front of them. For example, I have less faith in the New Jersey duo than the Ottawa tandem; however, the Devils look to be a very strong team, such that I'd take their duo over the two Ottawa netminders. For the sake of completeness, let me say that I'd put the New Jersey duo first, followed by Seattle, then closely by LA, and Ottawa bringing up the rear.

When it comes to individually, there is little doubt who I'd put last, and that's Driedger. Heck, I'm not sure he even slots as the back-up for the Kraken, with that role possibly going to Joey Daccord, who is an up and comer that looked strong in the AHL last season. Driedger had a hot stretch of play for two seasons with Florida, but came back to earth big time in 2021-22, and then did not see action in an NHL game in 2022-23. Yes, he's still only 29; however, I think Daccord will get the back-up nod, ticketing Driedger back to the AHL perhaps again.

The next worse goalie, to me, is Korpisalo. Why him and not Forsberg? Because Korpisalo has more experience from which to draw, and most of it is just plain terrible, including more seasons with a Really Bad Starting percentage over 20% than a Quality Start Percentage of even 50%. Do I buy that Korpisalo somehow figured things out at age 29? Nope, as we saw what happened with Jack Campbell, who many felt had connected the dots at a similar age. Korpisalo is a bad goalie who strung together a nice stretch for the Kings, but is bound to disappoint anyone who hitches their wagon to him.

That's not to say I have a lot of faith in Forsberg either, as I have him just above Korpisalo. I thought that Forsberg was going to step up and seize the starting role in Ottawa last season; but even before he got hurt his play was lackluster at best. Still though, his lack of prior experience makes it more possible that he could somehow step up. Or to put it another way, he's less of a known commodity as Korpisalo, and when known means bad then he gets the narrow edge.

In fifth I have Copley, as I don't buy that a 200+ game AHLer suddenly figured things out. How is there all this excitement when he had over a 20% RBS%? It would take a lot to go right for Copley to somehow put together a solid season, and I just don't see the stars aligning. I've got Copley's teammate Talbot in fourth. He's the oldest of the bunch and even when healthy of late has not played too well. Being on a good team should help him right his ship, as will Copley making it easier for him to emerge as the 1A. And the Kings should be a very good team, making Talbot, in turn, a good goalie.

Third place goes to Schmid. Do I believe he's going to become a true starter in New Jersey? No, as the money – literally and figuratively – is with Vanecek. But Schmid showed he could force the issue and I think New Jersey also realized that Vanecek might not be the kind of goalie who starts more than 50 games, and 30-35 starts for Schmid should be very good with a top tier Devlis team in front of him.

And sure enough Vanecek is the runner up. I can't see a universe where he's not the 1A, but I can where he's not a bona fide starter, as New Jersey saw how Vanecek's game nosedived big time as the season unfolded. Yes, it's not uncommon for a younger goalie to need a season of…seasoning….before he can officially be a true starter. But I feel New Jersey will see themselves as having the luxury of two very capable netminders, making it so Vanecek doesn't start enough games to take down the #1 spot.

That spot, by process of elimination, goes to Grubauer. Yes, Martin Jones stole the show early on, but I like that Grubeauer came back and played his way into being the true starter. And whether or not the back-up is Driedger or Daccord I see Grubauer pushing 60 starts on a Kraken team that shouldn't be any worse than last season, making him the easy #1 pick. Good question!

Question #4 (from Bruce)

In a points only keeper I have a decision to make at RW on keeping either Tom Wilson or Cam Atkinson. Who has the better offensive season this year?

The short answer is for pure points I like Atkinson. For one, Atkinson's three best offensive campaigns came in the three full seasons John Tortorella was his coach, as he is now. Yes, the most recent of those seasons came in 2018-19; however, Atkinson is the kind of player who should be able to produce well even into his 30s, plus he has less mileage on him than most his age, what with only having played 173 total games over the past four seasons combined. Also, Philly is not stacked to an extent that Atkinson would be on the outside looking in, and even if that was the case I'm guessing Torts has enough fond memories of Atkinson to put him in a position to succeed.

Wilson is attractive because if he's healthy he's all but assured to have a spot on a line with Alexander Ovechkin at ES, to make sure no one takes liberties with the Great Eight. But Wilson will be turning 30 years old before the end of 2023-24, and forwards who play rough and tumble styles like he does have a poor track record of success once they hit 30. Cases in point are David Backes, who went from a 59-point-pace at age 29 to a 47-point-pace at age 30, Wayne Simmonds, who's scoring cratered from a 50-point-pace at age 29 to a 31-point-pace the following season, Nick Foligno, who scored at a 53-point-pace at age 29, then a 38-point-pace at age 30, and Ryan Callahan, who's scoring pace at 29 was 58 and then just one season later was all the way down at 31. Now not everyone follows that blueprint, with notable exceptions being Dustin Brown and Chris Kunitz. But those are scary comparables to me. Combine that with Washington's goals per game total dropping for three straight seasons and it's enough for me to shy away from Wilson.

Give me the Torts darling in Atkinson over the potential scoring time-bomb in Wilson. Yes, Wilson could defy the odds and Atkinson not come back as the same caliber of player; but playing the percentages I like Atkinson as the pick between the two. Good luck!

Question #5 (from Dennis)

I'm in a 12 team, keep 6, H2H league with categories of. G, A, PPP, SOG, FOW, Hits, Blks, W, GAA, SV% and SHO and rosters of 2C, 2RW, 2LW, 4D, 1U, 3G – 4 weekly starts, 6 Bench, 2 IR+ and 1 NA. I see myself as having four keepers locks: Nathan MacKinnon, Brady Tkachuk, Mitch Marner and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Here are the other choices for the final two spots Erik Karlsson, Evander Kane, Artemi Panarin, Dylan Larkin, Kevin Fiala, Brent Burns, Morgan Rielly, and Ilya Samsonov.

Due to life priorities we had three managers leave this offseason. We may end up adding one new manager and have a dispersal draft for the remaining teams. We normally have a short trade window prior to our draft. Due to time restraints with replacing managers though, the trade window may not actually open. I'd hoped to use my extra players in an attempt to upgrade my 5th and 6th keeper if possible. Who would you recommend as my 6 keepers if I can't make any trades?

I also have a few other specific questions. If I could flip Kane for Timo Meier should I do it? Would you try to leverage Karlsson's 100 point season and spot on the Pens to sell high? Where would you think about drafting Connor Bedard?

Looking first at your keepers under a no trades scenario, I can't quibble with the four locks. You do need to be prepared for Vasy to be somewhat of a let down, as he's looking increasingly human. Then again, for the first time in four seasons he didn't play 20+ postseason games, giving him less time to rest and recuperate. So perhaps he rebounds. Either way he's a keep, but know that he's not the fantasy stud he once was, or at least so it seems.

For the last two spots, I think it's Karlsson, Larkin, Panarin or Samsonov. After returning from injury Kane looked eerily similar to the indifferent player we've seen at various stops in his career. On top of that, not only did the Oilers add Connor Brown, who'll likely slot in the top six, but Kane likely won't sniff PP1, as that unit fared so well last season. Yes, he's a multi-cat beast; but if he only scores 50ish points I think he might not be a keeper. Fiala seems to have a point per game floor, but I can't see him getting any better playing for LA, and the team is so deep it could syphon points away from him. Burns I worry is too old and now has Tony DeAngelo to contend with. Rielly is probably going to be tasked with tougher deployment, with John Klingberg reaping offensive benefits.

Looking at the four, Panarin is such a proven scorer, but he doesn't bring a lot to the table in other categories. Still, that might be enough to put him above Larkin, although for the first time in his entire career Larkin will have surrounding talent, so that could lead to him pushing or even exceeding 90 points. Karlsson on the Pens seems like a dream come true for fantasy owners. But his health has to be a concern, and while the Pens might score more goals Karlsson stands to factor into few of them since the top Pittsburgh forwards have such solid IPPs, as does Kris Letang. Samsonov looks to be the true #1 in Toronto, and the team clearly is still in "go for it mode." But with GAA and SV% both as categories, I do worry Toronto's offense first philosophy won't do Samsonov any favors.

It's Karlsson and either Panarin or Larkin. I think the other keepers are young enough to go for the surer thing in the older Panarin.

As for the questions, I would trade Kane for Meier. Don't get me wrong – I have concerns about Meier such that I'm not 100% sold he'd be a keeper over Panarin either. If you were to trade Kane I'd package him with Larkin and try to get an even better forward in return, who'd be kept over Panarin, who hopefully could be traded for a pick.

Would I trade Karlsson? I'd listen to offers. If you can turn him into Rasmus Dahlin, Miro Heiskanen or another of the under 25 group of stud d-men, I'd make that move. Yes, on paper Karlsson is poised to do great, but playing for a stronger team might hurt him, as he was basically a better version of Roman Josi last season, getting points that less talented forwards didn't. On the Pens that won't be an issue though, and I'm not sure they score enough added points for Karlsson to end up with as many net points overall.

As for where to pick Bedard, I'd say round five maybe. But rest assured someone will reach for him in round three or even earlier, likely a rebuilding team. My advice is let them do so. Yes, you might miss out on a generational talent; however, your core is solid enough that you don't "need" him. And what if he has a subpar rookie season? Then you have to keep him as he endures growing pains. Yes the reward down the road might be huge, but I think in leagues like yours it's teams who either have five monster keepers who'll draft him, or those who are weak on keepers, figuring they can build around him. I'd let him fall into someone else's lap, unless, as I noted, you really want him and are prepared to carry him as a keeper and spend an early draft pick on him. To me, it sounds like a lot of risk, so I'd pass. Good luck!

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For those reading this now, it's never too early to start providing me with mailbag questions, which you can do in one of two ways: (1) by emailing them to [email protected] with the words "Roos Mailbag" as the subject line, or (2) by sending them to me via a private message on the DobberHockey Forums, where my username is "rizzeedizzee".

When sending me your questions, remember to provide as much detail about your league/situation as possible. Examples of things I need to know include what type of league you're in (i.e., limited keeper, dynasty, or one-year; roto vs. H2H; auction – if so, what the budget is – or non-auction), how many teams are in the league, does the salary cap matter, how many players are rostered (and of those, how many start at each position as well as how many bench and/or IR spots there are), what categories are scored and how are they weighted, plus other details if pertinent. If your question involves whether to pick up or drop a player, give me a list of top free agents available and let me know if the number of pick-ups is limited or if there is a priority system for pick-ups. If you're thinking of making a trade, it would be good to know not only the roster of the other team you might trade with but also where you stand in your categories. If your question involves keepers, in addition to giving me the options for who to keep, let me know if offseason trading is allowed and to what extent it is a viable option given your league. In sum, the key is to tell me enough for me to give you a truly proper answer, and for readers of this column to benefit from the answer/advice I provide. When in doubt, it's best to err on the side of inclusion since I can always omit or disregard things that don't matter.