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.

The offseason is when I tend the get the most mailbag questions. In order to answer them all, and to do so more quickly, I'll be running a mailbag as soon as I get enough questions. If you have questions about keepers, draft strategy or anything of interest, definitely send them my way, via the instructions at the end of the column.

Question #1 (from Steven)

I’m in a 13 team salary cap (NHL cap +10%) keeper. Rosters consist of 23 players, starting 9F, 6D, 1G per night. Man games are maxed at 82 x 16 (i.e., 82 times the number of players who start per night). Many teams leave games on the table. We can protect 13 players, plus we each get ten free agent moves to use over the course of the season. Categories and scoring are G (3), A (2), +/- (1), PIM (0.2), SHG (1), SOG (0.1), W (4), L (-2), GA (-1.6), SV (0.2), SO (5).

I finished seventh, but for most of the season was within striking distance of the top three. In trying to land on my keepers, the cap is my enemy. Given that two-thirds as many defensemen as forwards start, and only PIM is a "banger" category, scoring defensemen are coveted, as are ones great in +/-. Here is my team as of the end of the season, with 2025-26 fantasy points and 2026-27 cap hit. Do you agree with my six clear keepers? If so, which of the others would you keep? Or do you think some of my clear keepers are wrong?

Clear Keepers

Quinn Hughes (180 pts, $8.25M), Denton Mateychuk (97 pts $0.95M), Wyatt Johnston (239 pts, $8.4M), Seth Jarvis (201 pts, $8.25M), Ryan Leonard (137 pts, $0.95M), Jackson Blake (157 pts, $3.0M)

Ones I'm leaning toward for the other seven spots

Roman Josi (132 pts, $7.72M), Josh Manson (140 pts, $3.5M), Louis Crevier (80 pts, $0.775M), Danila Yurov (73 pts, $0.95M), Mathew Barzal (204 pts, $9.15M), Trevor Zegras (198 pts, RFA), Brock Nelson (204pts, $7.3M), Logan Stankoven (143 pts, $6M), Morgan Geekie (193 pts, $6.5M), Brandon Bussi (130pts, $1M)

Ones I'm leaning against

Parker Wotherspoon (95 pts, $1.0M), John Marino (129 pts, $4.45M), Justin Faulk (111 pts, $4.5M), Joel Eriksson-Ek (163 pts, $6M), Dylan Strome (160 pts, $4M), Karel Vejmelka (143 pts, $5.75M), Casey DeSmith (73 pts, $0.8M)

No argument from me of course about Hughes and Johnston. After that though, I'd say all the rest are arguably up for debate. You'll need some inexpensive players, and, with that in mind, I like Leonard, who did well despite limited usage and should be deployed better in 2026-27. But my next pick is someone you weren't even considering, and that's Wotherspoon. I like that he was tethered to Erik Karlsson, giving him the potential for "just being there" points. He also has decent PIM and was quite plus last season. He's for sure on my list.

There are two others I'm keeping on your list of those you're leaning against keeping, and that's JEE and Strome. It's very likely the Wild get a true top line center to help boost Kirill Kaprizov. But even if that does end up happening, I see no universe where JEE is outside to top six or not on PP1. Yes, he is very much a band-aid boy; however, I like him as a keep since he will center either Matt Boldy or Kaprizov, plus be on PP1 with both. Strome came back to earth due to his stratospheric OZ% from 2024-25. But even still, at $4M for a 60-point floor player, with a ceiling that is easily into the 70s? Count me in.

Jarvis is someone I feel is overvalued in general; however, with SHPs counting here, and that being one of his strong suits, plus his SOG volume, all at not too high of a price tag, he is a keep as well. As for the other Carolina forwards, the good news is Blake and Stankoven are all but assured to get meaningful minutes given Carolina's ice time philosophy, but also neither likely will get heaps of ice time. Although Stankoven is shining in the postseason, he's a maybe, while Blake, at half the price tag, is a keep. And I'm for sure keeping Geekie with goals getting extra weight and him having proven himself.

Looking at the rest of the forwards, I'm frankly surprised Zegras amassed that many fantasy points, as playing under Rick Tocchet did not do him any favors. Also, after he proved himself he'll be in line for a hefty raise, which, notwithstanding how well he did, and because of Tocchet's tendencies, is enough to steer me away. I'm also not taking Barzal. He has a very high floor, but not a much higher ceiling, is too assist heavy, has seen his once amazing SOG rate shrink, plus his high PIM from last season was a fluke. He's also no bargain, especially versus your other options. Nelson's fantasy points are not indicative of what should happen in 2026-27, as most likely he'll be off PP1 in favor of Nazem Kadri, which is an issue since he had ten PPGs. Also, for a Colorado player, he was not nearly as plus as most, and his formerly solid SHP production has ceased. I also am not keeping Yurov, as although he'd be cheap he lucked into occasional top-six time, which I see not happening again, and his peripherals were not great.

As for other d-men, Josi remains the only viable option for blueline offense in Nashville; but he's very old, sports a very low plus-minus, and has becoms increasingly injury-prone. His salary is almost low enough to make it worth the risk and shortcomings, but not quite. If I'm keeping a grey beard on D, it's Faulk, who finds a way to finish every season around a point per every other game, racks up decent PIM and still shoots enough. If Detroit keeps improving, his +/- should rise. Speaking of plus/minus, Marino was incredible in that stat, and tacked on a decent number of points to boot. He's not super cheap though, and doesn't give you much in other categories, so probably Manson, who will rack up PIM too and is on a team where his +/- is not as much at risk as it could be for Marino on Utah, and for nearly $1M less, is better. I'm not sure why Mateychuk is on your must keep list. He did well when Zach Werenski missed time; but they're not paired at ES and he's weak in SOG and PIM. Certainly he has upside; but I'm not inclined to keep him In hopes Werenski gets hurt and when you have decent other options that are not much more expensive. Crevier is interesting, but I find it hard to envision him being worthwhile enough to keep for now.

Turning to goalies, the question is if you keep any, what with only needing to start one per night. For $1M, Bussi probably is worth a spot, in hopes he can do what he did this season. Vejmelka is a machine in terms of wins and saves, but his peripherals eat away at those numbers too much to make him worth keeping at that price given your goalie categories.

Looking back, that puts the keeps as Hughes, Johnston, Leonard, Wotherspoon, JEE, Strome, Jarvis, Geekie, Blake, Faulk, Manson, and Bussi, for a total of 12. That leaves one more. If you're that gung ho about Mateychuk, then by all means keep him. If it was me though, I'd choose Stankoven in hopes he parlays his playoff success into better production at a reasonable price tag. Good luck!

Question #2 (from Kyle)

In a cap league with skater categories of G, A, SOG, PPPts, HIT, and BLK, I can keep eight of these skaters. Which would you keep and why?

F- Auston Matthews, Filip Forsberg, Leo Carlsson, Jake Guentzel, Sam Bennett, Andrei Svechnikov, Zach Hyman, Matthew Knies, Ryan Leonard, Kiefer Sherwood

D – Jake Sanderson, Zach Werenski, Moritz Seider

Before I answer, I want to use this as a reminder to err on the side of inclusion when sending me your questions. Among the pieces of data that would've been helpful for me to know were 1) how many teams are there, 2) how many players are rostered by each team, 3) how many start, 4) do forward positions matter, 5) can players be kept forever, or only for a limited number of years, 6) how many IR and Bench spots are there, 7) How many pick ups does each team have, and 8) what do you use for your league's cap? I tried to email Kyle to get answers, but didn't get a reply. I'll answer this based on general guidance.

I count 13 options, meaning five will not be kept. Where you won't see any cuts are the d-men, who are great in general, but especially with these categories. Beyond that, having them will let you not reach for d-men, as other teams might be forced to do. In fact, they're so amazing, I'd not be surprised if other teams ask about obtaining one of them, as chances are several other squads will be lacking a single defenseman as good as any of these three. I'd not go so far as to say I'd be unwilling to trade any of them; however, I'd only listen if I was getting a truly top tier player in return. Remember, you'd be in the position of power, meaning they have to convince you to part with something they need and you're more than willing to keep. If you can somehow find a way to turn one into a top-ten scoring forward, then maybe you ponder a deal. Otherwise, keep all three and be very happy about it.

That means half the ten forwards are cuts. My first cut is Sherwood. Yes, he's a HIT monster and on San Jose should be at or near a point per every other game. But what he'd give you can be obtained in the aggregate, and the other options are simply better all things considered. Next is Leonard. This is in no way a reflection on what he might become, and I know I said he was a keep in the prior question, but he's not quite keep-eight material, underscoring advice is league-specific. There is room, even in keep eight, to keep a player who's not quite completely arrived but whose ceiling is very high, but they need to be a bit farther along than Leonard, and be a lock for PP1, which he is not. Who are examples of players to consider keeping in a keep eight using this logic? In no particular order, Ivan Demidov, Will Smith, Dylan Holloway, Logan Cooley, Jimmy Snuggerud, Beckett Sennecke, Pavel Dorofeyev, and Adam Fantilli come to mind. You can see Leonard, although likely to be as good or better than at least some of them, isn't quite far enough along to be kept given the number of keeps and other options.

The other three non-keeps are tougher. One is probably Hyman. He rebounded nicely, and goals are a separate category. However, he faltered in a big way in 2024-25, plus is 33 years old. Yes, he's almost all but assured to stay within the top six and on PP1; however, he's not been a great PPPts producer, and I also worry about him staying healthy going forward given his age.

The last two cuts come from Forsberg, Svechnikov and Bennett. They all do very similar things, but are also different enough to help us make the right decision. Forsberg is the oldest, but, surprising to me, is only two years older than Bennett. Svech though is only 26, so three years younger than Bennett and five younger than Forsberg. When considering "rough and tumble" players, age matters, as in many cases their production falls off a cliff once they hit 30, if not earlier.

That fate has not befallen Forsberg thus far, although in each of the last two seasons he needed a very strong second half in order to get to a solid season-long point total. That is concerning, as how much longer can he keep doing that? Or to put it another way, I'd feel better about Forsberg's longer-term prospects if he had been more consistent. Also, although he was at three SOG per game last season, he was at 4.1 just two seasons ago. He does appear to be slowing, and that is a concern.

As for Svech, things seemed to click for him, as he as a point per game player after a horrendous start. The key was the PP, where his production spiked. And I think it could be sustainable, since it marked two seasons in a row of double digit PPGs, but for 2025-26 he dished PP assists as well. I don't love that he still has not seen his ice time rise though, which cuts against him being an actual point per gamer, as does the fact no Carolina winger has reached that mark in two decades, and the team continues to find success by running three pretty balanced scoring lines. Still, Svech plays a key sandpaper role, so he's likely a lock to stay on PP1 and in the top six. His HIT plus BLK are as good as Forsberg's too.

Bennett had a good news, bad news season. The good news is he saw his scoring rate increase, but the bad is it was due largely to him being put on PP1, where he likely won't find himself once both Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov are in the line-up. Also, Bennett actually fared worse when Tkachuk returned and those two were put together again. On the plus side, his HIT plus BLK are almost double those of Svech or Forsberg, and his SOG rate on a par with Svech's, and just below Forsbergs. Still, I see Bennett as having the lowest ceiling of the three, although he should be no worse in 2026-27 than he did in prior seasons, which is a scoring rate in the 50s.

One cut is Forsberg, as I'm too fearful of his age and lack of consistent production. The other likely is Bennett, whose banger contributions are not enough to compensate for what could be considerably lower scoring versus Svech, including on the PP. So the cuts are Sherwood, Leonard, Hyman, Forsberg, and Bennett. Yes, this guts the team in HIT and BLK, but there is still Knies and Seider, plus you keep the players who provide scoring, and can find ways to get HIT and BLK via the draft. Good luck!

Question #3 (from Dave)

I have two questions. The first is about Jason Robertson, for whom recent projections suggest might get $13M+ on his new contract. With Dallas having only $11M of available cap space, and also the need to re-sign or replace Michael Bunting, Jamie Benn, and Mavrik Bourque, how is the math going to work, or will they have to trade away Robertson?

My second question is about Anaheim's blueline. John Calrson, Jacob Trouba, and Radko Gudas are all UFAs, and Pavel Mintyukov and Oren Zellweger are RFAs. If they re-sign Carlson, what do you see him being paid, and for how many seasons? And if he does stay, it is all but assured one of Mintyukov or Zellweger is dealt? If so, which would you see them dealing?

Regarding your first question, consider Bunting gone. He was a deadline acquisition in hopes he could give them scoring options, but knowing full well he was a UFA and thus out of the picture for 2026-27. His spot will be filled with depth. Really it's just Benn and Bourque to re-sign, in addition to JRob.

For Benn, if he signed for $1M for 2025-26, I don't see a universe where he asks for more, presuming he and the team want him to return. In fairness to him, although his games played total was down, he produced at the same rate at 2025-26. He's also not really holding back anyone, so my guess is he stays, and at the same rate.

Bourque had a strong second half; however, he hasn't shined at a level that would seem to force the Stars to have to sign him for a big amount. If I was to draw comparisons to signings of 2025 RFAs, I'd look at Luke Evangelista (two years, $3M per year), Connor Zary (three years, $3.775M), Will Cuylle (three years, $3,9M), Tyson Foerster (two years, $3.75M), Ridley Greig (two years, $3.3M), and Jack Quinn (two years, $3.325M). So probably at or above $3M, but, even accounting for a higher cap, for less than $4M per season. So let's say $4.5M between Benn and Bourque. That gives them $7.5M toward what they will need to sign Jrob, which is not too far off. 

Before I go any further, cap navigation is not an area of expertise for me. But what we do know is Tyler Seguin expects to be ready for 2026-27, so keeping him on LTIR, which would seemingly solve things, looks to be an unlikely option. Of their expensive players, Roope Hintz might be the only one the team could afford to trade but also be coveted by teams. With the increase in the cap, him being paid $8.4M is not as high as it was when he inked his deal in 2022. There are definitely teams who could use a center. Most notable among them is Minnesota, but I don't think Dallas would want to deal Hintz to a division/conference rival. Focusing on the East, Buffalo could be a landing spot, as no disrespect to Ryan McLeod, but he seems more like a third line center, nor Josh Norris, who is great when he plays, but doesn't play nearly enough. If not Buffalo, then Detroit, who lack a scoring center other than Dylan Larkin. There's also the Islanders, who nearly made the playoffs and already have a world class goalie but could use help in their top six. I could see one of those three as a landing spot for Hintz, freeing up enough to sign JRob, who is an elite talent they cannot afford to trade away.

As to your question about the Anaheim blueline, after what he did at the end of the season I was all but convinced Carlson would be re-signed. But he was deemphasized in the playoffs, whether due to Anaheim losing confidence or him running out of steam. But Carlson will be very coveted as a UFA short term fix for team (e.g., San Jose, Flyers) looking for a stopgap PP1 QB. And given how sought after he figures to be, Carlson likely would not come cheap to sign. After all, Cam Fowler was able to get $6.1M per season when he inked an extension without even hitting the open market, although he is a more complete d-man than Carlson. It also was true that when Shayne Ghostisbehere signed a UFA deal in 2024, coming off a 56-point season, he was only able to parlay that into $3.2M per season. Still, the latest prediction has Carlson getting north of $7M per season. If given the choice between re-signing Carlson at that rate, when they already have Jackson LaCombe and by doing so it would make it more likely they would lose one of Mintyukov and Zellweger, they probably let Carlson walk.

Trouba and Gudas also could be priced out from staying, although with Anaheim having made it to the conference semis, they might see themselves as a team for the here and now, whereas upon entering 2025-26 they might have felt they were going to still be building to success. As such, I could see them trying to sign one of the two, likely Gudas, who is older and would come cheaper.

Dealing one of Zellweger or Mintyukov strikes me as something the Ducks would be looking to avoid. They are not yet top-four defensemen, but neither one is even 23 years old, meaning not only is there a very good chance they round even more into form, but also they will likely be cheap to keep. In short, maybe Anaheim makes a play for one of Carlson, Trouba, or Gudas, figuring if all three leave it would gut the blueline too much. I don't think they would put themselves in a situation where it would take losing one of Mintyukov or Zellweger to make that happen, as although there would be less "here and now" pain, there would be major negative ramifications going forward. Good questions!

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To get mailbag questions to me either (1) email them to [email protected] with the words "Roos Mailbag" as the subject line, or (2) send 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.