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.

Question #1 (from Kyle)

I'm in a keeper cap league with categories of G, A, PPP, SOG, HIT, BLK, W, GAA and SV%. Starting lineups are 3C, 3RW, 3LW, 6D, 1G. Given this, which 7 should I keep from this list: Auston Matthews, Filip Forsberg, Andrei Svechnikov, Timo Meier, Zach Hyman, Moritz Seider, Morgan Rielly, Brandon Montour, Shane Pinto, Matthew Knies, Logan Stankoven, Kayden Guhle, Thatcher Demko, Joseph Woll, Pyotr Kochetkov?

Let's start with goalies. I suspect that in a 1G league few teams, if any, will keep a netminder. But if there was one to keep, it might be Demko and his quite reasonable $5M cap hit. He will be due for a raise after 2025-26 though, which is concerning. I think Demko should be kept and Kochetkov should be a target to redraft, as it could well be that the Canes hand the crease to Kotchetkov after this season when Frederik Andersen will be a UFA. Let's put Demko down as a yes, as least for now.

Matthews is an expensive but necessary pill to swallow, especially since he actually stuffs the stat sheet in non-scoring areas too. Given how elite he is in G, SOG and PPPt, he has to be kept, even if the Leafs do decide to retool this offseason.

I like one but not both of Meier and Svechnikov as keepers, as they do a lot of the same things. But I think Meier will do them better, and at only a small added cost. Svech might be worth trying to dangle in trade though, as despite him not having met lofty expectations, people still seem very high on him, and likely would pay a nice price to – in their minds – pry him away from you.  So I would indeed let him go, but only for the right price.

Hyman is officially the real deal and, at $5.5M, a bargain. As for Forsberg, I love that he put up such great numbers after having signed his huge UFA contract, as that lends a lot more legitimacy to him than there was following his 2021-22 UFA-to-be surge. Although I realize he's not cheap either, he too checks so many boxes that I think room has to be made for him.

How to make that room? Keep just one D, and that's Seider. Yes, Detroit will have to open their wallets big time and he has not lived up to expectations since his rookie season; but a lot of that was due to him having to play extremely tough minutes to allow the entirely one-dimensional Shane Ghostisbehere to be put to good use. With Ghost set to be a UFA, he'll likely be allowed to walk and Seider can again go back to being a true #1 in all aspects, and with superb multi-cat stats to boot.

For your other D, I'm not keeping Montour, who's set to get a huge payday as a UFA but who failed to come close to matching his output from 2022-23. Yes, he missed a chunk of the season and did start to look better as the campaign wore on; however, I think his success had a lot to do with being on Florida, and once he's on a new team it's not clear he'll be able to thrive anywhere close to the extent he did two seasons ago. As for Rielly, he's pricey and inconsistent, and sometimes yields PP1. He's not a keep.

To try and balance some of the big contracts, I think Stankoven is a keep. He should be able to maintain a spot in the top six (more on that below), and Dallas is so laden with talent that just being in the top-six is a boon. I expect Stankoven to only manage to see time on PP2, as there too Dallas has more of an even split than nearly any other team, with their top forward in % of PP time being Jason Robertson, who stood 77th in that area among all forwards, so that is much less of a consolation prize as it would be nearly anywhere else. Knies is tempting, but as a larger frame player he might not thrive for a while.

The list of definites is Matthews, Meier, Forsberg, Hyman, Seider, and Stankoven. That leaves one spot and I like it going to Demko. He's too valuable given his role and salary. Good luck!

Question #2 (from Nicolas again)

As a reminder, I'm in a 14 team H2H multicat dynasty league, and have finished dead last two seasons in a row. And while I don't mind being patient to ensure a successful rebuild, I wonder if I should be approaching the rebuild differently. The specifics of the league are 47 players with a maximum of 27 players who have 100+ games of NHL experience. Starting lineups are 4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D and 2G. Categories are G, A, Pts, +/-, PPP, PIM, SOG, FW, Hits, BLK, W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO.

I've tried to acquire other elite prospects and young NHLers with my great prospect depth but no one wants to trade down because the minors spots are not that deep. Here is what my team looks like as of now. At minimum I have to reduce my roster size – whether by trades or drops – before next season to be compliant, and we've already done our 2024 draft.

F – Marco Rossi, Barrett Hayton, Kirby Dach, Jesperi Kotkatniemi, Connor McMichael, Cole Sillinger, Joel Farabee, Ross Colton, Kaapo Kakko, Jack Quinn, Alexander Holtz, Garnet Hathaway

F (Minors eligible) – Adam Fantilli, Will Smith, Macklin Celebrini, Dalibor Dvorsky, Xavier Bourgault, Chaz Lucius, Oliver Moore, Pavel Dorofeyev, William Eklund, Jakob Pelletier, Colby Barlow, Berkly Catton, Jacob Perreault, Danila Yurov, Rutger McGorarty, Connor Zary

D- Jusso Valimaki, Rasmus Sandin, Cam York, Kayden Guhle

D (minors Eligible) – David Jiricek, Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, Simon Edvinsson, Artyom Levshunov, Zeev Buium, Lukas Dragicevic, Mikhail Gulayev, Seamus Casey

G – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Nedeljkovic

G (minors eligible) – Justus Annunen, Hugo Alnefelt, Dylan Garand, Topias Leinonen, Erik Portillo, Ruslan Khazheyev

Thanks for your advice on keepers. What trades would you be looking to make among those kept, and when would you try to time the deals?

To refresh everyone's memory, my recommendation was that the players to drop were Nedeljkovic, Hathaway, Kakko, and Kotkaniemi. What next? Let's take a look.

I would find an excuse to trade Rossi as soon as you can, as he got his chance with Kirill Kaprizov, and the result was Kaprizov finishing the first half at under a point per game pace. With the two therefore unlikely to be paired again, plus Minnesota able to spend big this time next year with their cap hell having ended, plus, as I've mentioned many times, the utter lack of diminutive centers who have even been fantasy relevant since as far back as Derek Roy and Daniel Briere, Rossi is not a player I'm looking to hold, especially since you're best stocked at forward.

Also, if Dach does well, he's someone I'd consider moving. I realize he was a third overall pick, but I am not wild about his SOG rate never having been even two per game at any time, plus big players who get injured again and again sometimes have that become a cycle throughout their careers. But whereas I'd take almost any halfway decent offer for Rossi, I'd try to sell truly high on Dach, capitalizing on him being on a high profile team like the Habs and the fact that expectations for him remain good despite his lack of pronounced success and inability to stay healthy on an even somewhat consistent basis.

McMichael also could be someone you look to deal. He finally has a lock on a top-six spot, but he's late to the party, in that the Caps are no longer the elite offensive team they were when he was drafted. Yes, that means he'll be more prominently featured now and down the road, and both his overall IPP and secondary assist rate suggest better things to come, but I don't like that the team's shooting percentage at 5×5 was only 7.3% with him on the ice.

Colton too is someone to watch, as Jonathan Drouin likely will look to parlay a quite decent season to get a payday elsewhere, and whether – and, if so, to what extent – Valeri Nichuskin factors into the Avs' plans on a going forward basis is very unclear. Casey Mittelstadt is also a question mark in view of him not exactly thriving during his time with the Avs. That means not only are there potentially open spots in Colorado's top six, but at least one on PP1, as the only certainties are Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Artturi Lehkonen. Colton just might get a chance to shine, especially since this is a player who three times has exceeded 71% for his overall IPP. It might be that you want to hold and try to benefit from him; however, he is going to be 28 when the season starts, so he doesn't figure to be much help to your team when it likely peaks in 3-5+ years.

As for your goalies and defensemen, I think a combination of not being well-stocked and most players being pretty far away means you likely stand pat. The one exception might be if Olen Zellweger hits the ground running in Anaheim such that he'll be top dog and Mintyukov a bit of an afterthought. There is a risk if you sell Mintyukov and the two form a potent top pairing; however, the benefit is you don't keep one until after his "new car smell" has worn off, since very few NHL teams have two d-men on PP1 the value of whoever doesn't get that gig will be a lot less than it is now, while both are still very highly regarded. But the time to make that trade might not be until a year from now, if even that soon. But do keep it in mind. Good luck!

Question #3 (from Dave)

I've got big concerns about the length and size of Sam Reinhart's upcoming deal. He'll be 29 when it starts, and he just doubled his career goal scoring average in a contract year. Here's a request you don't usually get – tell why I should be worried, but also why I shouldn't.

Although Reinhart's numbers are headline-grabbing, what's interesting is his overall scoring rate per 60 minutes for 2023-24 was lower in 2023-24 than in 2021-22. And his PPPt per game rate that season was barely less than it was for 2023-24, with the difference being this season he had 27 PPGs and a mere seven PPAs, while in 2021-22 he had a more balanced 16 PPGs and 15 PPAs. Reinhart's IPP on the PP for 2021-22 was 62.0%, which is pretty good considering how stacked PP1 is for Florida; but for 2023-24 it was only incrementally better at 68.0%. Also, this is someone who had 16 PPGs in each of his pas two seasons; so although 27 man advantage markers is jaw dropping, it's not entirely uncharted territory for Reinhart. As for why he failed to thrive last season, look no further than the team's mere 6.5% SH% at 5×5 with Reinhart on the ice compared to 10.0% this season and 10.3% in 2021-22.

Those are reasons to perhaps not be worried that his numbers will crater once he's inked a UFA deal. On the flip side, his 5×5 team shooting percentage prior to 2021-22 had never been in double digits. Yes, he was on some lousy Sabres teams; but that's a concerning statistic. His IPPs also were merely okay, just once prior to this season being above 65% overall and only twice being above 53.8% on the PP. And what about other forwards who, like Reinhart, potted 25+ PPGs in a season where they failed to also tally 95+ points? It's happened ten other times in the history of the NHL. First and foremost, Reinhart's SH% was the highest of any of them, although all but three were over 20.0%. The closest comparable in terms of age and numbers was Tim Kerr in 1986-87 (58G, 37A, 26PPG) at age 27. But Kerr had already done the same thing a season earlier. Although he accomplished the feat yet again two seasons later at age 29, we can't really judge what happened thereafter, as his career was cut short due to injury. So Reinhart does not have a close comparable…..or does he?

What if we looked just at players who had 16+ PPGs three seasons in a row at the same age range as Reinhart? That gives us four other players in Leon Draisaitl, who we can all agree is not a very good comparable, Kevin Stevens, who likewise is not a good basis for comparison, Brett Hull, who is too much of a sniper, and Dave Gagner, who accomplished the feat in the early 90s for the North Stars. He had been a steadier producer than Reinhart beforehand; however, after that three seasons stretch, his stats faltered and he was never the same. So that certainly is not a favorable comparable if you are looking for hope for Reinhart.

This is a tough call, since there is reason for optimism and pessimism. In the end, the fact this occurred in a contract year, plus on a team where a rising tide lifted many boats, likely his included, plus the fact he's never had great IPPs or 5×5 team shooting percentages, leads me to be more pessimistic. The issue is good luck trying to sell high, as nearly everyone sees the elevated SH% (which was even higher on the PP) plus this occurring in a contract year, and they are inherently skeptical. Still, I had concerns after seeing what Filip Forsberg did in 2021-22, only for him to nearly duplicate that level of success a mere two seasons later.

In the end, what one does with Reinhart likely should be dictated by their sunk costs, and how the rest of their team looks. If you acquired or drafted him after last season, chances are you paid little enough for you to stomach the risk and hold. But if you grabbed him after 2021-22, and suffered through his very poor 2022-23, then you might be legitimately fearful of him doing worse again. I suppose it can't hurt to dangle him out there. But if he does somehow return to Florida, he seems like such a great fit that selling be unwise. I hope this gave you a fair look at both sides of the coin. Good luck!

Question #4 (from Francois)

I’m in a points-only keeper where we keep eight players and active lineups consist of 13F, 8D, 2G.

I'm pretty set on seven of my eight keepers, those being Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Sebastian Aho, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Kevin Fiala. Who would you last keeper be: Timo Meier,

Joel Eriksson-Ek, or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen?

For starters, I think UPL is not in the discussion. He settled in quite nicely as the season wore on, and should benefit greatly if the Sabres rebound. Devon Levi is arguably still the golden boy, where the Sabres see in him their Jake Oettinger or Jeremy Swayman. UPL is biding time, and I can't trust that his late season run was the real him. Even if this was a 16-team league and every team kept a goalie, I still think he's a non-keep, as he's just not proven enough and comes with too many question marks.

That leaves Meier and JEE. Meier's season numbers look terrible; however, in Q4 he was scorching, to the tune of tallying ten of his 17 PPPts, and 15 of his 28 goals in just 21 games, while posting 24 total points. And his SOG rate, though still down from his San Jose heyday, was above 3.5 per contest. In short, it took a while, but Meier went from a round peg attempting to squeeze into a square hole, to fitting just fine in the New Jersey offense. I see no reason why he can't hit the ground running once 2024-25 gets underway.

But JEE is nothing to sneeze at, having improved his scoring rate for an amazing sixth straight season, and having seen his overall TOI rise, as it has every season in his career. His PP Time rose too, up to just under four minutes per contest. But most consequential was that for the first time since the arrival of Kirill Kaprizov, the Wild gave JEE an extended look centering him, and the results were point per game scoring for JEE, but Kaprizov going nuts. There is no question the two get paired together again once the 2024-25 campaign gets underway, with JEE standing to benefit even more. There is of course a risk that come this time next summer the Wild will finally be able to get out their checkbook once again, as they will be out from under the cap penalties associated with the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts. But if JEE can do again what he did in 2023-24, the Wild could pour their money into other areas, such as a PP QB and/or a franchise goalie.

To be honest I think both are better options than one or both of Caufield and Fiala. Caufield has made strides and, as an undersized player, might take until game 400 to truly break out. Collectively, in his first four seasons Caufield has averaged just about 0.4 goals per game but under 0.75 points per game. Looking at comparables who were at or above that goal rate but under that points rate in their first four seasons by age 23 and in 100+ games dating back to 1990-91, we get Rick Nash and Donald Audette, that's it. Nash never lived up to early career hype as although he was an eight time 30+ goal scorer, he only hit the point per game mark once in 15 seasons, while Audette likewise had one point per game campaign, but otherwise was not as good, with only two 30 goals seasons to his credit out of his 14 spent in the NHL. This is not great to see if you're a Caufield owner.

As for Fiala, after a strong initial campaign in LA, he saw his scoring and SOG rates decline, as the team spread around its offense. Fialia remains a focal point; however, without tons of ice time or a top tier center, he's more likely to continue to see his point total south of 80 rather than north of it.

If it was me, I'd probably drop Fiala, since although I do have concerns about Caufield he will provide stacking opportunities with Suzuki, just as should JEE with Kaprizov. Plus, dropping Fialia has little to no chance of coming back to bite you, as I don't see a universe where under their current system any LA forward, and that includes Fiala and Adrian Kempe, can be a consistent point per gamer. Good luck!

Question #5 (from Bill)

Who do you think will be in the top six for Dallas for 2024-25? And do you believe that based on what happened this past season Wyatt Johnston will supplant Roope Hintz on the top line and/or PP?

One thing that's for sure is Dallas won't be looking to depart from their 2023-24 playbook, as it got them to one win from the Stanley Cup Finals. At minimum the retirement of Joe Pavelski will open up a spot on the top line. Although Matt Duchene might be willing to return, and the Stars open to having him do so, it's not entirely clear that will occur. As such, there might be not one but two openings at wing, plus a spot on PP1 and one on PP2.

One thing to realize about Dallas is they had just one forward who averaged more than 17:14 TOI per game last season, and that was Jason Robertson at only 18:14. But no fewer than eight forwards took to the ice for 15:00+ per contest. Although the question was about the top six, in truth Dallas should be one of only a few teams – LA, Seattle, and Carolina come to mind – where being on the third line is not that much different than being on the second, which in turn is not that different that being on the first. And guess what – it was a similar story on the PP. Robertson again led the pack, but at only 2:46 per game, which, if it seems low, is because it is, ranking him 77th among all NHL forwards. No fewer than six other Dallas forwards had an average PP time per game within a minute of Robertson.

The end result was eight forwards averaging two points per every three games or better, but none at or above the point per game mark. Yes, two of those eight were Pavekski and Duchene, but presumably one will be replaced by Logan Stankoven, and the other either by a prospect such as Mavrik Bourque, or a free agent.

As for Hintz versus Johnston, Hintz saw a decline in production which was comparable to that of Robertson, despite neither one seeing pronouncedly less ice time. Who are the true Hintz and Robertson? Probably somewhere in between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 versions. Also, it is worth noting Dallas did at times load up its top line with both Hintz and Johnston, and that remains an option due to Johnston's ability to play wing. What's interesting about Hintz is despite the chance in production, in both this season and last he was far more productive in the first half than the second. I could see why Dallas went back to the well with him in 2023-24 due to the magic he and Robertson had in 2022-23. But will they do so again in the upcoming season given Johnston as a viable alternative? Unclear. Still, even if they didn't, we saw that even Tyler Seguin scored at better than a three-points-every-four-games rate without sniffing any top line or PP1 deployment. If that becomes Hintz's fate, he might not fare that much worse.

To answer your question, I believe the set in stone top six members for Dallas will be Robertson, Hintz, Johnston, and Stankoven. After that, it's anyone's guess. Personally, I would not be going out of my way to roster Stars forwards, as chances are memories of 2022-23, plus their deep playoff run, are still fresh enough on the minds of poolies such that Hintz and Robertson will be overvalued, while Johnston's success, especially during the playoffs, will make him a coveted commodity as well. Although there is little downside risk, I think it will be difficult to obtain – via draft or trade – any of the key Dallas forwards for anything close to what their actual value would be. Good luck!

Question #6 (from another Raja)

I'm looking for some reassurance on picking my keepers in one of my leagues, which has 12 teams, is H2H points (most points gets 1W each week), has rosters of 9F, 4D, 2UTIL, 2G, 3Bench, 4IR+, 2N/A, and categories of G(3), A(2), PPP(0.5), SHP(0.5), SOG(0.3), FOW(0.05), FOL(-0.05), HIT(0.2), BLK(0..2); SV(0.27), GA(-1), SO(2.5), and where seven players can be kept, either as 5F, 1D, 1G or 4F, 2D, 1G. Here is what my roster looked like at the end of the season:

F – Jack Hughes, Alekander Barkov, Jake Guentzel, Steven Stamkos, Nico Hischier, Alex Debrincat, Philipp Kurashev, Trevor Zegras, Nick Schmaltz, Mikael Granlund, Jonathan Drouin, Elias Lindholm, Troy Terry, Fabian Zetterlund

D – Adam Fox, Brock Faber, Darnell Nurse, Mattias Ekholm, Thomas Chabot

G – Juuse Saros, Arturs Silovs, Casey DeSmith

The league is very competitive. I won 2 years ago and was 4th this year in both record and point total, but lost in the first round. Trading is not very common outside of a few before the draft, and any draft picks included in trades must be for the upcoming draft. Going into this season, my keepers were Hughes, Barkov, Guentzel, Stamkos, Hischier, Fox and Saros, and my gut tells me they should be the same again for 2024-25. What would you do in my shoes?

Let's get the easy part over with first, and that's Saros as your goalie keeper. The other two are not even in the conversation. After that though, it's not so easy.

On D, Fox is of course a keep, as he is head and shoulders above the others. I like that you did not even mention Faber, as I think far too many people are drinking his Kool-Aid. In truth, his success was as much about the Wild having no other options as his actual skill. Don't get me wrong – I believe he'll have a very solid NHL career; but some who see his ice time and production as a rookie are envisioning the next Drew Doughty or Duncan Keith, whereas I'm getting more of a sense of a Filip Hronek or Cam Fowler type, namely a minute eater who will get sniffs of PP time but never quite becomes a top tier fantasy asset. As for Nurse, ironically it was the presence of Ekholm, who you also owned, which I believe cut into Nurse's production. Also, Nurse has only once had an 5×5 team ES SH% above 9.01, which is bad in and of itself but worse on Edmonton given how much they score. He still stuffs the stat sheet; but his SOG rate is dropping and his TOI was down over 3:00 versus just two seasons ago. He is no longer a keep, so indeed you go with 5F, 1D, 1G. Although it can't hurt to try and trade Faber and/or Nurse I would not expect to get interest in a league where at most 14 defensemen will be kept.

For forwards, Hughes and Barkov are locks. Hughes, despite being a center, did not average even two FOW per game last season, and lost almost twice as many as he won. That is a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it you must since Hughes is on the fast track to superstardom, looking more and more like the next Nathan MacKinnon, and, as readers of my columns know by now, became only the second center in NHL history – with Wayne Gretzky being the other – to score at a 100+ point pace while also averaging 4.25 SOG or more per game by age 21. Barkov might not be as potent as before and has seen his SOG rate drop from 3.5 just three seasons ago to 2.5 this past season. Still, he hits and blocks shots, and is a lock to be a top 25 FOW guy, plus last season lost 170 fewer faceoffs than he won.

I think Guentzel is a safe keep, since as we saw once he landed in Carolina he can indeed play at or even above his normal level without Sidney Crosby centering him. Yes, Guentzel did a bit of a disappearing act in the playoffs; but his contract will be huge and whatever team does sign him will want to get the most out of their investment, meaning major minutes and, with that, excellent production.

Stamkos I worry about, as in 2024-25 he had only two more non PPPts than PPPts. If he leaves Tampa, can he count on going to a team with such a potent PP and which will revolve around setting him up for his patented one timers? It's tough to say. I like that he had his best SOG rate since 2016-17, but he only hit the point per game mark – barely – due to 29 points in his last 19 games, and perhaps part of his motivation in doing so well down the stretch was to wow other teams to make him lucrative UFA offers.

Hischier is a nice FOW contributor; but although he wins more than Barkov, his winning percentage was lower, cutting against the benefit. Also, Hischier is not a stat stuffer, with SOG, HIT, and BLK totals that are okay but not great. He also is not great on the PP, as despite taking the ice for the 57th most PP minutes among all forwards, his PPPt total only tied him for 84th, this after getting the 65th most PP minutes among forwards in 2022-23 but tallying only the 76th most PPPts.

Still, what other options are there? Probably only Lindholm. Wherever he lands, he's assured to be taking a lot of faceoffs; and at worst he'd be on the second line, just like Hischier and probably also Stamkos. The issue though is his Lindholm's decline in production. Although 2021-22 can be written off somewhat due to Calgary struggling as a team, he was awful after landing in Vancouver, which was a very potent team. Still, with Lindholm only set to turn 30 this season, are his best days behind him?

In the end, I think the "right" answer is to indeed stick with the identical keepers from last season, as you proposed. Lindholm, although intriguing, has more downside risk than either Hischier or Stamkos, and not huge upside reward. But do keep him in mind on draft day, as I think that despite him likely to get some post-UFA hype his stock will have fallen enough to make him someone you can redraft for value. Good luck!

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.