Oil Barons

I completed a few audits last week that generated a lot of positive feedback. Throughout the summer, expect one or two per week. Fire me an e-mail if you want to get in line!

This week I took a look at the Brunei Oil Barons, submitted to me by DobberHockey member (and Brunei resident) KingGoob.

The League:

The RMHL – The Rain Man Hockey League (big Dustin Hoffman fans?)

12 team keeper league

Auction format ($30 salary cap)

$0.30 minimum salary

Auction bids are in $0.10 increments

Keepers escalate $0.20 each year in salary

Can carry up to five prospects (less than 20 NHL games played, and they don't count against the salary cap)

12 forwards, six defensemen, two goalies start

No maximum roster size

Scoring Categories:

Skaters

G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP

Goaltending:

MP, GAA, SV%, Wins, SO

The Roster:

Forwards:

Player	'09 salary	'10 salary	Status	Role
Marian Gaborik	$1.9	$2.1	Keeper	Starter
Jeff Carter	$1.3	$1.5	Keeper	Starter
Alex Ovechkin	$1.1	$1.3	Keeper	Starter
Brad Richards	$1.1	$1.3	Keeper	Starter
Evgeni Malkin	$0.9	$1.1	Keeper	Starter
Patrice Bergeron	$0.4	$0.6	Keeper	Starter
Tomas Plekanec	$0.3	$0.5	Keeper	Starter
John Tavares	$0.3	$0.5	Keeper	Starter
Patric Hornqvist	$0.3	$0.5	Keeper	Starter
David Clarkson	$0.3	$0.5	Keeper	Starter
Brooks Laich	$0.3	$0.5	Keep	Call-up
Simon Gagne	$1.5	$1.8	Drop	Salary too high, injury prone
Rich Peverley	$0.3	$0.5	Keep	Call-up
Tuomo Ruutu	$0.6	$0.9	Drop	Salary too high, injury prone
Chris Drury	$0.6	$0.9	Drop	Suckitis
David Booth	$0.7	$1.0	Drop	Injury prone
Erik Cole	$0.3	$0.6	Drop	Not the same player he used to be 📢 advertisement:
Blake Wheeler	$0.6	$0.9	Drop	Plays like his name is Nancy Wheeler
Andre Brunette	$0.3	$0.6	?	Make a last-minute decision

Defensemen:

Player	'09 Salary	'10 Salary	Status	Role
Ryan Whitney	$1.1	$1.3	Keep	Starter
Zach Bogosian	$0.9	$1.1	Keep	Starter
Erik Johnson	$0.7	$0.9	Keep	Starter
Francois Beauchemin	$0.5	$0.7	Keep	Starter
Cody Franson	Prospect	$0.4	Prospect	Starter in 2010-11
Kevin Shattenkirk	$0.3	$0.8	Keep	Call up
Dennis Seidenberg	$0.3	$0.6	Drop	Dime-a-dozen in this league
Scott Niedermayer	$2.8	$3.1	Drop	Expensive, retirement?
Jonathan Blum	$0.3	$0.8	Drop	Would cost $0.80 to keep as prospect

Goaltenders:

Player	'09 Salary	'10 Salary	Status	Role
Craig Anderson	$0.5	$0.7	Keep	Starter
Rick DiPietro	$0.3	$0.5	Keep	Might never be the guy, although at $0.50 I’ll give him a year to show he can play a few games without getting injured
Jonas Gustavsson		$0.3	Prospect	Brought up from prospects, injury call up (split with J.S.), potential starter next year if development goes well.
Cristobal Huet	$1.3	$1.5	Drop	Drop! Not much more to say here
Mike Smith	$0.9	$1.1	Drop	Can do better

The Breakdown:

Shayne's story interested me a bit, as it is always nice to hear from our international readers. He lives in Brunei (I had to consult Google Maps to find out the exact location of this foreign land).

He has fantastic forwards – great top end guys and solid depth as well. He has some work to do on the back end and in goal, though. Prospects start off with a salary relative to where they were drafted. Franson starts at $0.40, but Shattenkirk and Blum start at $0.80. His long-term outlook in net is great, as he has both Jonathan Bernier and Jacob Markstrom on his list of five prospects.

Shayne recently turned down a trade that would have seen him acquire Tuukka Rask. Good thing! The offer was: Rask, Patrick Sharp, Sean Avery, and the rights to John Carlson for Malkin, Gaborik, Johnson, Gustavsson, and the rights to Bernier. Getting a quality goalie is imperative, but you don't want to completely gut your team in the process.

There is no maximum or minimum number of keepers, but whatever salary you take with you into the draft obviously means you can only spend the remaining amount. So if you have a keeper list worth $22.0, you only have $8.0 to use on draft day.

The Oil Barons finished the 2009-10 in fourth place in the RMHL. The forward group was the best in the league, but the defence was eighth and the goalies seventh (and imagine how bad they would have been if Craig Anderson hadn't emerged out of nowhere).

The Recommendations:

1) Add a goalie. ASAP. Don't move Markstrom or Bernier, though. DiPietro is worth keeping, but don't add any length to his leash. If he gets hurt again or suffers another setback, feel free to cut ties. Smith is not worth holding on to, same goes with Huet.

2) Leverage depth at forward to improve other positions. Again, obvious advice. Think about selling high on Gaborik and Richards. Don't move Malkin. Don't move Tavares. Keep Clarkson if you can – I'm very high on his value as a combo player. 50-60 point, 150-200 PIM upside.

3) Keep Peverley. You mentioned that you have similar players, but I like his value going forward. He is an integral part of the Thrashers attack, and with Kovalchuk gone I see his production increasing (more time on the top power play unit).

4) Keep Shattenkirk. He may start off in the AHL, but I wouldn't expect him to stay there for long. He is the Future PP QB in Colorado.

5) Stick with the plan. You recognized last year that your goaltending was weak, and you made moves to acquire some parts to help solidify the future there. Don't overpay (Rask trade) for a goalie. That being said, your team should be a contender now, and relying solely on Craig Anderson is not a viable strategy. Best case scenario is one of Bernier/Markstrom steals a starting job in 2010-11. I could see both starting for their respective teams in 2011-12. Try and move Richards or Gaborik and a depth player for an upgrade in goal.