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.

This is my last offseason mailbag. By all means keep sending me questions, whether about pick-ups, team audits, or other early season types of inquiries. But do not send me keeper questions or any that would no longer be relevant after the start of the season. Instructions on how to send me questions are at the end of the column.

Question #1 (from Henrik)

I'm in a 10 team league, keep 5 (for as long as you want), H2H cats league with categories of G, A, PPP, +/-, SHP, FOW, SOG, HIT, BLK, W, SO, SV, GAA, SV% and rosters of 2C, 2RW, 2LW, 4D, 1UTIL, 2 G, plus 4 bench, 1 IR and 1 IR+. No off-season trading is allowed.

I've narrowed down my potential keepers to Jason Robertson, Connor Bedard, Dylan Larkin, Brandon Hagel, Darren Raddysh, Jake Sanderson, Jesper Bratt, Adam Fox, Clayton Keller, Joel Eriksson-Ek, Mika Zibanejad, Josh Morrissey, and Scott Wedgewood. As of right now, I have Robertson, Bedard and Keller as locks, and am thinking two of Bratt, Fox, Hagel, Larkin, Sanderson for the other spots. Do you agree with my locks and, if so, who would you pick as my other two

At the outset, I'm fully on board with your three locks. Bedard was playing nearly as well as Macklin Celebrini before getting hurt, plus will now have far more talent around him, so he should thrive. Keller's slight downtick in season-long scoring disguises the fact he had 52 points in his last 40 games, and that was despite worse PP numbers; so he's a good bet for 100+ this season. Robertson, having finally gotten the TOI that befits a star like him, predictably flourished, plus is playing for a new UFA deal.

As for the other five, right away I'm ruling out Wedgewood. Barring a total implosion from MacKenzie Blackwood, Wedgewood figures to start 30-45 games, which won't cut it given SVs are a category, even if his peripherals are again great. I'm also not keeping JEE, who, make no mistake, is a very solid player with these categories and, with the Wild not having acquired an elite center, figures to be in the top six and on PP1 again. However, his injury issues have worsened of late, and he is nearing age 30, which is when rough and tumble players like him start to not only get hurt more but can see their production drop significantly. I'd be fine with you trying to redraft him, but I don't think he merits keeping over two of your other choices.

Sanderson seems to have the talent to be a truly elite d-man, and continues to see his scoring increase season to season. A concern is he's saddled with a lot of PK time, taking the ice for the same percentage of his team's minutes on the PK as on the PP. His SH% was elevated last season as well. Still, the same could be said for Miro Heiskanen. Fox was looked upon even more as a source of blueline offense by the Rangers after the departure of Artemi Panarin, such that in Q4 of last season Fox has an amazing 24 points in 21 games, with 15 of those points coming on the PP. He also had a percentage of multipoint games among d-men bested by only Cale Makar. Fox is lousy in SOG, HIT and BLK, and might be in +/- as well if the Rangers struggle as much as has been predicted; but if he can tally 90 points and 30+ on the PP that is far too good not to keep, so he's one of the other two, with Sanderson as a maybe.

What about Morrissey? Being on Winnipeg used to be a benefit, but now could be a net negative. They did sign Mario Ferraro, so that likely will free Morrissey to focus more so on offense. After a superb 2022-23, Morrisey's scoring rate has been dropping, and he's also a lot older than Sanderson, such that if I'm keeping another defenseman it's Sanderson, not Morrissey.

Zibanejad also thrived after the exodus of Panarin, but actually was a point per game scorer starting in Q2. Still, he's similar to JEE in that he has lure but is more likely a redraft since he won't be valued highly enough by other teams, who'll look at his season-long totals not his Q2 and later trends. Bratt's fate is tied to that of Jack Hughes; but what's interesting is after Hughes returned, Bratt was under a point per game despite 26 points in his last 20 games. Also, his career best 2024-25 scoring rate was bolstered by PP production he hasn't come close to duplicating. Larkin is somewhat of an unknown since, as I write this, we still don't know where he'll land. What worries me is as Detroit has improved, he's produced worse. Maybe that was due at least in part to dissatisfaction with being there; but it raises enough of a concern in me to not want to keep him. That leaves Hagel, who managed an 85-point scoring pace despite being off PP1. The key is he remained with Nikita Kucherov at ES, and Kucherov thrived, so that will likely continue. Hagel also is a proven SHP producer, although banking on that stat is risky.

In the end, I think the other forward options are all solid, but no one truly stands out. Given that, I'm going with Sanderson as the fifth keeper. Defense is a position of scarcity, and he's solid enough as is, plus still could become Heiskanen 2.0. It's the three locks, plus Fox and Sanderson. Good luck!

Question #2 (from Justin)

I’m in a 10 Team, keep 10, H2H Categories League, with categories of G, A, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SHO and rosters of 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 4D,2 Util, 2G, plus 4 bench, 2 IR, 1 IR+. No offseason trading is allowed. My end of season roster consisted of Zach Werenski, Adam Fox, Kirill Marchenko, Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, Will Smith, Robert Thomas, Aleksander Barkov, Ivan Demidov, Matvei Michkov, Jimmy Snuggerud, Logan Cooley, Adam Fantilli, Jesper Wallstedt, Carter Hart, Jakub Dobes, Jacob Markstrom, Yaroslav Askaraov, Jacob Fowler, and Juuse Saros.

I was mediocre for a number of years, so last season I decided to embrace a full rebuild, trading away assets to acquire draft picks and young talent. Going into this draft I have 3 picks in the 1st round, including the 1st overall pick, plus 4 picks in the 2nd round. As I look at what I have to work with, I think there’s 5-6 solid keepers, but I’m having trouble choosing the others. I’m debating over which players are likely to breakout and should be kept, versus who’s easiest to redraft; and I'm weighing whether to go fully young, or not. Beyond just no offseason trading, there’s not a lot of trades in this league period, so it’s important to try and catch players on the cusp of breaking out and make correct keeper decisions.

On the goalie front, it feels reckless not to keep at least one, given they represent a third of categories; but I don't have a slam dunk keeper, so do I not keep any goalies? What would you do in my shoes?

Let's get the easy keepers out of the way first, those being Werenski, who has more than amply proven he is the real deal, plus Fox, for the reasons I mentioned in answering the previous question, Carlsson, due to what he's already shown plus the deployment his megadeal will guarantee, Demidov, since the Habs look poised to be amazing and Demidov had impressive production as a rookie despite far from ideal deployment, and Smith, due to being tethered to Macklin Celebrini, plus his lousy banger stats don't hurt you given that neither HIT nor BLK are categories.

For goalies, what many thought would be a cloudy picture in Montreal looks to be far less so since it was announced Dobes would be the starter, and Sam Montembeault the back-up, not Jacob Fowler. But news also emerged Filip Gustavsson could be out until at least mid-November, making it so Wallstedt will see the lion's share of starts until then, perhaps entrenching himself in the process. Also, Minnesota is not going to want to have someone as talented as Wallstedt on the bench, when he could be a true starter or net them a nice return in trade. I'm keeping Wallstedt.

That puts you at six of your ten keepers. Your categories favor forwards who are high volume shooters and goal scorers. That, plus their comparative ages, cuts against both Barkov and Thomas. Sennecke had an impressive rookie season, especially considering he hit a wall that led to only nine points in his last 20 games but which should not be a concern now that he's had a full NHL campaign under his belt. He offers stacking potential with Carlsson as well. Concern arises in that Anaheim's philosophy had been to not reap top-line minutes even on its top players, including on the PP, where they ran two equal units. With Troy Terry out for a while and Chris Kreider gone, that might change, to Sennecke's benefit. He also had a 69.1% IPP as a rookie, just below the 70% mark I tend to see early on from players who have a shot at greatness. As for Cooley, he doesn't shoot enough and his TOI dropped last season, plus Vincent Trocheck is now in the mix, and Trocheck for sure will be given a spot on PP1 and in the top six. Although I do still think Cooley will be a strong player, exemplified by the team shooting over 11% at ES for a second straight season with Cooley on the ice, he's not ideally suited for these categories either and figures to be stifled for at least another season or two.

That leaves Fantilli, Marchenko, Snuggerud, and Michkov for the last three spots, and the odd man out for me is Snuggerud. Snuggy looked amazing alongside Thomas in Q4; but even as that happened, he didn't see a spike in TOI, overall or on the PP. On the other hand, Fantilli will get all the ice time he can handle, is at his breakout threshold, and ended last season with 29 points in 32 games. Marchenko, has done well on Columbus, but is likely to be elsewhere soon where he could do even better, plus shoots a good amount and has solid goal numbers. I do also think Michkov is a keeper. I realize he's polarizing, and many would not keep him given your other options; but your team is forward focused, and one of three things will happen with Michkov, those being he recaptures what he did as a rookie, he gets dealt, or Rick Tocchet stops being coach, all of which would be positives for him. 

As I've said previously, what Michkov did as a rookie at his age had not been seen from a winger since some guy named Alex Ovechkin, plus even last season, which was viewed by many as a disappointment, saw him again have 20+ goals and 30+ assists with 2+ SOG, putting him in the company of Patrick Kane and Ovy as wingers with two seasons with those metrics by age 21. It's for sure a risk to keep Michkov when you have other solid options, and it's a shame offseason trading isn't allowed, but I like rolling the dice with Michkov. The final list of keepers is Werenski, Fox, Carlsson, Demidov, Smith, Wallstedt, Sennecke, Fantilli, Marchenko, and Michkov. Dobes is tempting, but my guess is teams do not keep two goalies, so either he's dealt with one of the other keepers for an upgrade, or put back in the draft pool. Good luck!

Question #3 (from Jeff)

I’m in a 12-team, H2H, keep 5 league. Categories are G, A, PPP, SOG, BLK, Hits, and standard goalie categories. My locked-in keepers are William Nylander, Evan Bouchard, Moritz Seider and Adam Fantilli. For my last keeper slot, I’m debating between Logan Cooley or Matvei Michkov. I feel like Michkov has better upside, whereas Cooley might have slightly better opportunity this year. Other options for the last spot are Dylan Holloway, Jodan Kyrou, or Alexis Lafreniere. I like Holloway because he’ll score and shoot in the same range as Cooley/Michkov, plus pile on hits too, but I feel like these three would be easier to redraft. Do you agree with my four locks, and who would your fifth be?

I'm 100% sold on Bouchard and Seider as keepers, as in this league they're easily top ten if not top five defensemen to own. Given your other choices, I'm on board with Nylander too. I do worry that after he stormed out of the gate last season with 27 points in 18 games he then proceeded to score 52 points in his next 47 games, for a 90-point pace. Rather than him having made the leap to 100-point guy, as it appeared he did, he's more likely still closer to a 90-point player. Nevertheless, that's good enough given your other choices.

As for the last spot, it's not Cooley. In contrast to your view, I think he won't be well positioned to succeed this season. After all, now in the mix is Vincent Trocheck, who's also a center and has been a PP1 mainstay due to his size and faceoff acumen. Utah got him to use him in those roles, which all but assures Cooley being relegated to PP2. Yes, Cooley likely will remain in the top six, but not on the top line, which figures to be some combination of Trocheck, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenter, and Nick Schmaltz. The good news is one of those three, if not on the first line, would join Cooley on the second; however, the third member of that trifecta would be a major step down as compared to those on the first line, namely the likes of Anders Lee or Lawson Crouse. I also did not like that Cooley's SOG rate dipped below two, which partially helps justify his huge leap in SH%, but not enough to make it remotely sustainable. I do still think Cooley will be a factor for Utah; however, his ascent might not be as quick as had been envisioned.

To me it's between Fantilli, Michkov, and Holloway for the final two spots. Kyrou used to be a steady eddie and might return to form on Washington; however, I can't see a universe where he'd be kept over any of these three, as he'd for sure be the easier redraft. But who is the odd man out among the three? I already touted Michkov's comparables above. He has question marks for sure; however, his ceiling is far and away higher than the other two and I also think he still would be a tough redraft since among 11 other GMs someone will still be a believer in him. Fantilli, as also discussed above, had a great end to the season, with 29 points in 32 games, plus hits even more than Holloway. And he too has name value, making him a tougher redraft. Holloway was scorching in Q4 when put with Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud. Yet the concern is in his durability, and that might be more of a worry given how much he hits. Also, I'm not a fan of St. Louis rolling two equal time PP units, such that the best of the best don't get anywhere near the PP deployment as most on PP1. The Flyers do have the same issue, although in the case of Michkov that might be good insurance if Rick Tocchet doesn't put him on the top unit, as still often happened when Michkov was posting 20 points in his last 21 regular season games.

I think Fantilli is one of the two, given he scores, hits, will get top tier deployment, and has name value to make him an expensive redraft. The other is a tough call, but I like Michkov as a swing for the fences keep and still likely the tougher redraft than Holloway. Good luck!

Question #4 (from Peter)

I know that the only certainty surrounding most goalies these days is uncertainty. But are there any lesser-known metrics you use which seem reliable in terms of predicting success, or lack thereof?

Great question, and yes, there are a few. The first is goals a team scored in games a goalie played, referred to as Goals For Average (GFA). Case in point – when Karel Vejmelka started, the Mammoth averaged 3.59 goals per game (3.59 GFA). That would've ranked them third best in the NHL. But overall they averaged 3.27, putting them 13th. So expect Vejmelka to get a lower percentage of wins this season. And although Chicago averaged only 2.60 goals per game, it was an even lower 2.42 per game (2.42 GFA) when Spencer Knight played, so he should get a higher percentage of wins in 2026-27.

I'm also a fan at looking at save percentage on certain number of days rest. Why? Because if a goalie is a starter he should play most often with one or two days rest; and if his save percentage for those days rest differed enough from what it was overall, that is meaningful. In the case of Joel Hofer, he had an already strong .910 SV% for the season; however, it was an even better .926 with one day rest and .917 with two days rest. If, as suspected, he becomes the true starter or 1A for the Blues this season, he could fare even better due to starting more frequently. On the other hand, Dan Vladar's overall SV% of .906 was quite a bit better than his .895 on one day rest and .899 on two days rest. If he is the starter or 1A for Philly, it might be a bumpier ride for him.

I like Saves by situation as well. If a goalie has a very good High Danger SV%, that is a positive of course, which bodes well for Jet Greaves and Spencer Knight, less so for Linus Ullmark or Juuse Saros. And if a goalie's even strength SV% is much higher than his overall SV%, that is an indicator he's very solid, and his team likely let him down on the PK or via PP breakaways. Examples of those with an ES SV% a good bit higher than their overall SV% were Greaves again, plus Jeremy Swayman and Vladar, whereas those whose ES SV% were almost identical to their overall SV% were Knight, Alex Lyon, and Jake Allen. 

Quality Start and Really Bad Start percentages I feel are already known by most, and, as such, factored into their goalie analysis. What I like to assess are Really Bad Weeks, meaning how many weeks a goalie's SV% was collectively below .850%. Of course this is of added relevance for goalies who played more games, since otherwise it could be the result of one game played in a week and it happening to be a bad game. Among those who fared poorly in this metric last season, and had a good number of starts, were Sergie Bobrovsky and Lukas Dostal. On the flip side, there are Quality Weeks, which are defined as weeks where a goalie had a combined SV% higher than league average. Those who fared better than might have been expected in this area were Greaves, Knight, and Dustin Wolf.

In short, I do think some key goalie metrics remain under the radar. Use them in deciding who to draft or not draft, or, at this point, for whom you might trade (or not) or grab (or not) as a free agent.

Question #5 (from DobberHockey Forums)

I'm in a 12 team standard H2H Keeper where each team can keep up to 8 players. However many are kept replace draft picks in round 1-8, i.e., one kept replaces your first rounder, a second replaces your second rounder, etc. As an added wrinkle, I made a run at winning last season, so I have no pick in round 9, 10, and 12. So if I keep 8, I won't pick until round 11, and next in round 13. These are the candidates for my keepers: Kirill Kaprizov, Quinn Hughes, Cole Caufield, Brandon Hagel, Artemi Panarin, William Nylander, Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Ilya Sorokin, MacKenzie Blackwood. So I need to trim two from the list if indeed I keep eight.

My thinking is I must keep both Sorokin and Blackwood due to my lack of picks in the rounds after the first eight, which would leave me with scraps. So if I keep both of them, I feel like the two skaters who I don't keep would be among Hagel, Panarin, Aho, and Svechnikov. What would you do in my shoes?

You are in a quandary given your lack of picks following the keeper rounds. Given this, I think you have two choices, the first being what you said, which is keeping both Sorokin and Blackwood; but I also feel there is another option, which is keeping just seven players, giving you a pick in round 8. If you think most teams (a) will keep only one goalie, and (b) will keep 8 players, then not keeping Blackwood may be a good idea since his average draft position in Yahoo leagues is right around 100. So do consider that; but in providing an answer, I'll presume you've considered it and feel it is best to keep both.

Given that, I believe that you landed on the correct four skaters to consider not keeping in Aho, Hagel, Panarin, and Svechnikov. Looking first at Aho, I feel he has the highest floor of the four, but arguably a ceiling lower than both Hagel and Panarin. But a high floor is of value if you're aiming to win, as give me the guy who's a lock to get 80-85 points but has almost no realistic chance to get over 95 rather than one with a 20% chance to get 95 or even 100, but is more likely to fall into the 70s as a floor. Speaking which, that is now how I see Panarin, who used to be among the safest bets for 100+ points, but has slowed and is now 35. So although he still has the highest ceiling of the four, he was barely a point per gamer upon arriving in LA. Yes, he joined a team late in the season and had to adjust, plus he still had superb IPPs; but Panarin has been at his best when playing alongside elite players, and, with all due respect to the likes of Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala, he won't get that in LA. So I worry Panarin will majorly disappoint, plus he's lousy in banger stats and you already have players weak in those areas in Caufield, Hughes and Nylander.

Hagel was stapled to Nikita Kucherov at ES, and Kucherov thrived, so that ought to continue. But Hagel is hurt by either not being on PP1 or, if on it, not getting PPPts. Still, he shoots a lot and is very plus. And Hagel likely would've been my other pick were it not for Svechnikov not only being stackable with Aho but also because with Seth Jarvis being out there's an increased likelihood Carolina will lean on Svech more so than usual. And let's not forget that after horrible start Svech was a point per gamer for the last nearly 70 games of the season. And although Svech doesn't shoot or hit like he once did, he still is very solid in those areas, which your team definitely needs given your other keepers. So in the end I'm going with Aho and Svech, not keeping Panarin and Hagel. But if you'd rather swing for the fences, then I'd flip my recommendation and keep Hagel and Panarin, letting Aho and Svech go. Good luck!

Question #6 (from Abed)

I'm in a 12-team H2H league where teams can indefinitely keep up to 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie. Starting lineups are 3C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 4 D and 2 G, with 4 bench and 4 IR. There is no salary cap. The categories scored are G, A, STP (PPP + SHP), SOG, HIT, BLK and Takeaways for skaters and W, GAA, SV% and SO for goalies. Offseason trading is not allowed until after keepers must be chosen. 

I repeated as winner this past season, which is great in and of itself, but also allows me to keep an extra skater. Unfortunately, I have not stayed abreast of offseason developments, so I feel far more unsure of who would be the best keeper selections going into this year.

At forward, I expect to keep Nathan MacKinnon, Brady Tkachuk, Wyatt Johnston, Dylan Guenther, Jack Eichel and Adam Fantilli. For my remaining forwards, I need to eliminate one of Matvei Michkov, Dylan Holloway and Brandon Hagel. I had (still have?) very high hopes for Michkov to be an offensive superstar in the mold of Kirill Kaprizov, but I was quite discouraged by his deployment under Tocchet last year and am afraid that his ceiling has been permanently lowered due to his lack of development. As the oldest option, Hagel stood out as the obvious cut, but he is also quite reliable.

On defense, I expect to keep Rasmus Dahlin, and would need to cut two of Luke Hughes, Alexander Nikishin, Darren Raddysh and Victor Hedman. I was hopeful that Hughes and Nikishin would be obvious candidates to keep by this season, but neither seem to be as attractive as the older guys. What would you do in my shoes?

I can see why you won, as you will have a great keeper core going into next season no matter who you end up choosing, especially with being able to keep an extra player. To the victor goes the spoils!

But I'm also glad you're not just resting on your laurels, instead taking a long look at who to keep. Right at the outset I agree of course with MacKinnon, Tkachuk, Johnston, Eichel, Guenther and Dahlin. Fantilli is the only forward I'd put a notch below the others, so let's include him when considering which one (if only seven forwards are kept) or two (if you use your extra skater keeper spot on a forward) to keep among Michkov, Holloway, and Hagel. And I do recommend using that extra spot on a forward, since they're a cut above your defensemen options, which we'll get to after discussing the forwards.

So we need to cut one of Fantilli, Michkov, Holloway, and Hagel. And I think the cut is Holloway. It's not easy to cut him after how great he, Robert Thomas, and Jimmy Snuggerud looked in the fourth quarter. But even as they were thriving, they still were not treated as true PP1 forwards. And given the depth of St. Louis, that likely will not change. And in fact I worry that Holloway's ice time, which spiked to 19:26 in Q4, will come back to earth a bit due again to the team's depth, as it most likely was as high as it was in Q4 because the team was trying to make a push for the playoffs. Also, Holloway has shown early signs of perhaps being a Band-Aid boy, which is concerning enough in general but perhaps more so in his case because he throws his body around. Also, Fantilli would give the team a similar amount of hits, plus he had 29 points in his last 32 games right as he was hitting his breakout threshold. And I see Columbus having no qualms in giving Fantilli the star treatment in terms of ice time and favorable deployment if he keeps on blossoming. So I'm keeping Fantilli.

As for Hagel, he's a keep because he is a point per game floor player or barely below that mark, with the potential for more. He was stapled to Nikita Kucherov last season at ES, and Kucherov thrived, so I'd look for that to continue. Hagel is weak in PPPts, but will likely chip in SHP, so that is a nice consolation prize. He's not great in banger stats, but shoots a good amount.

The other key about Hagel is his reliable floor is what will let you risk keeping Michkov. For sure he took a step back last season, but not as much as many seem to think, plus ended with 20 points in 21 games despite Rick Tocchet not doing him any favors. Also, he still managed to finish yet again with 20+ goals, 30+ assists, and 2+ SOG, and, in doing so and noted above, joined a very select group of wingers to post those stats at least twice by age 21, including Patrick Kane and Alex Ovechkin. The home run potential of Michkov is too great to risk losing. So he's a keep over Holloway as well.

Shifting to defense, with the extra keeper spot being used on a forward, that does mean you need to cut two of Nikishin, Hughes, Raddysh, and Hedman. To me, Hedman is the easy cut. The Bolts didn't get John Carlson to not install him on PP1 and give him offensively favorable deployment. The result will be Hedman having tougher minutes and being put out there in situations less conductive to scoring. He is the first cut. The second is tougher. Hughes has disappointed; however, what is tantalizing about him is he continues to have a high percentage of multipoint games. But the fact he's done well in that area for now two seasons, yet still not made an overall leap, could mean he just scores in spurts but will never become consistent enough to be an elite offensive defenseman. For sure I like Raddysh over him, as even if Raddysh doesn't put up numbers like he did last season, his metrics were too good to see him doing markedly worse. In particular, his 5×5 team SH% was strong but not stratospheric at 11.1%, and he had a very reasonable 50% secondary assist rate. His IPPs were excellent, which is meaningful since he was out there with talented Tampa forwards, as he will be in Toronto. Yes, a 10.4% overall SH% from someone who was firing 2.9 SOG per game is likely too high; however, he had the third highest total of crossbars and posts hit among all defensemen, so he could've had even more goals, and the two who had more were Evan Bouchard and Cale Makar! So Raddysh is a keep as well. That just leaves the question of whether Nikishin is a better keep than Hughes.

Nikishin had a decent rookie season. Some – myself included – thought he'd hit and shoot more though given expectations. Also, although only a rookie, he was 24, so the fact he didn't hit the ground running a bit more than he did was a bit of a concern. Many are saying he has it in him to be the next Moritz Seider; however, cutting against that is not only his age but also him only managing 33 points despite a 64.1% offensive zone starting percentage, which is far higher than Seider has ever had. So I'm not entirely sold on Nikishin fulfilling lofty expectations. And even if he's traded, as has been rumored, that might not be a net positive, as him being surrounded by very good players and not having the pressure of producing right away likely is a benefit. In the end, I'm opting for Hughes over Nikishin, as I do think Hughes has a realistic chance of connecting the dots, which, coupled with his ability to be an explosive scorer (43rd in defensemen points last season, but tied for 27th in multipoint games, on top of ranking 22nd in defensemen scoring in 2024-25 but 11th in multipoint games), and him being two years younger than Nikishin, makes him feel like the more correct pick. Good luck!

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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.