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.

With only one more mailbag (next week) before the start of the season, and me already having enough questions for it, please do not send me more questions asking for offseason advice. Of course mailbag questions are welcome in any other areas, whether for team audits, trade or player evaluation, etc. At the end of the column, I go over the two ways to get your mailbag questions to me.

Question #1 (from Pat)

I'm in a 12 team H2H with categories and weighting of Goals = 8, Assists = 8, SOG = 8, PPP = 8, Hits = 6, Blks = 6, +/- = 4, TOI/game ( defensemen only) = 4, GWG = 4, Wins = 8, SV% = 8, GAA = 6, SO = 6. Total roster size is 20, with 4C, 4RW, 4LW, 6D, 2G starting, plus up to 3 IR spots. Each team must have three goalie starts per week. 

Each team gets to keep 10 players (up to 2 can be goalies) and, if we have someone currently in the minor slot on our roster, we can keep them in addition to the 10. Any minor player either has to stay in the minor slot all year, or, if moved onto your active roster, has to stay there even if returned to the AHL or juniors in real life. If you promote a player from your minor slot though, you can add a new minors player in his place.

I had been a middle of the pack team for a few years, but won last year. Since I had the second best regular season record, I’ll draft 11th in all rounds. Offseason trading is not allowed in our league, and in fact trading is pretty rare in general. My current roster is as follows:

F: Cutter Gauthier (L/R), Juraj Slafkovsky (L/R), Brady Tkachuk (L), Ivan Demidov (R), Tage Thompson (C/R), Logan Cooley (C), Shane Pinto (C), Seth Jarvis (R), Ryan Leonard (R), Will Cuylle (L/R), Brayden Schenn (C/L), Emil Heineman (L/R), Evgeni Malkin (C/L), Anton Lundell (C)

D: Evan Bouchard, Zach Werenski, Jackson LaCombe, Brandt Clarke, Alexander Nikishin, Braden Schneider

G: Igor Shesterkin, Scott Wedgwood

Minor: James Hagens

I think my for sure keepers are Cutter, Slaf, Brady, Tage, Bouchard, Werenski, and LaCombe. I also feel Demidov has too much home run potential to not keep. That would leave me 2 more keeper slots, and I'm very torn on those.

I imagine most GMs in my shoes would keep Igor; but with goalies being a) not kept in abundance, and b) somewhat de-valued by our rules, I'm not sure that would make sense. For what it's worth, Wedgewood, who I grabbed off the waiver wire in November last year, was probably my MVP. Igor wasn't bad, and he starts a lot, but he's not really a prolific shutout goalie and it's hard to imagine the Rangers getting more wins. Still, if I was to drop him, he'd for sure be drafted before my 11th overall pick. Wedgewood I'm not going to keep, since I see him at best being a 1A or 1B, and that is not keeper material.

I'd also love to keep Cooley, Leonard, Cuylle, Clarke, and Nikishin. Cooley has frustrating, but his hands and vision are so tantalizing that I'd have a hard time letting him go, especially with Utah's outlook. But he doesn't project to be good in multicat, which is already an issue with Demidov. Leonard seems like he could be a top tier forward sooner rather than later, and I'd hate to drop a guy right before he explodes, plus he'll be more solid in multicat. I realize Cuylle doesn't scream keeper material, but I know he'd be coveted by others in my league, so I'm leery of letting him go. Jarvis has been a rock for me for years, but his injury status, his already-limited ice timeshare, and what I believe is him probably already having hit his ceiling have me dropping him this year. He’s obviously awesome though, and I’d draft him early if I can.

Clarke took big steps last year and seems like he has the potential to be a top-12 D in the next 2-3 years, possibly as soon as this year if he gets ideal deployment. Nikishin, on the other hand, seems to have the tools to be a multicat stud in the mold of Seider, but I'm not sure if or when he'll get his chance to prove that. His TOI/game last year hurt me quite often.

I believe you've also mentioned reservations about Tage based on durability in relation with his height, and I've certainly considered that myself. Nevertheless, I've cautiously continued to keep him since his rookie year and been rewarded nicely. Looking forward to reading if you think he's a keeper for me though.

Lastly, it's not really a decision whether or not to keep Hagens, but curious what you think of his outlook. From my view, his cup of coffee last year made it look like he'll need a significant amount of time not in the NHL before he's ready for prime time.

Let's start with the seven you listed as must keeps, plus Demidov. Given your categories and weighting, I think they're correct choices. LaCombe is the only one who gave me pause; however, his 58 points is disguised by the fact he had only eight in his first 21 games, meaning he had 50 in his last 61 games. He might have done even better were it not for the Ducks having added John Carlson. Carlson is now gone, as are both Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas. Maybe this means more overall responsibility for LaCombe; however, he already did as well as he did despite a 48.1% OZ%, which I don't see dropping. He's indeed a keep. As is Demidov as well. Montreal looks stacked, and Demidov was able to thrive as a rookie despite far from ideal deployment, so he should only get better. I'm glad you're trepidatious about Tage given his size and the propensity for centers who are that tall and heavy as him to have injury issues. But for now, I'd continue to hitch your wagon to him and hope he proves an exception. He also is a great category filler, as there are not many centers who are safe bets for 40+ goals, 3-3.5 SOG per game, plus solid PPPts.

As for the other two keeps, I'm making room for Clarke for sure. He tallied only 40 points but had ten multipoint games, which tied him for 22nd among all defensemen, with all but one of those d-men who had more multipoint games tallying 50+ points. He has shown explosive offense already – he just needs to be more consistent, which should come since all but three of the 21 with more multipoint games also had a point in 50% or more of their games. The biggest indicator of Clarke breaking out is him having just a 25% secondary assist rate, meaning a mere eight of his 32 assists were secondary. To put that in perspective, Clarke's 32 assists tied him for 28th among all defensemen. Of those above him, the next lowest secondary assist rate was 39.6%, with the majority being 50%+. And 2026-27 will likely mark the first time Clarke truly gets be a PP1 QB, on a PP that now includes Artemi Panarin and Mats Zuccarello, both of whom thrive with the man advantage. So do keep Clarke, as he's ready to pop.

I think the last keeper is Igor. If indeed he'd be snatched up early, that's a clear indication of his value. Also, Cooley will likely get worse deployment until Vincent Trocheck is gone, plus, as you noted, he is not great in multicat. Nikishin has potential to be Seider 2.0; however, keep in mind how long it took Seider to get where he is now, which would mean several more seasons of waiting on Nikishin, and that's if he does pan out as well, and it is very much an if. Leonard I agree could be a stud in this league; but I don't like that the Caps brought in Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch. Yes, Connor McMichael is gone, but I'm not sure Leonard consistently gets on PP1 or the top line at ES at least for a few more seasons. Like Nikishin I think Leonard is not a keep due to timing, plus not being entirely certain he'll be great. As for Igor, you know what you get with him, plus you already have great skater keepers. I think you keep Igor, eliminating the need to stress about goalies and perhaps allowing you to more easily redraft one of the guys you might have wanted to keep as well.

I'll end by touching upon Hagens. From where I sit, he's a great own. Yes, the Bs just extended Fraser Minten, but he's not top line material and if anything it suggests concern about Matthew Poitras, not Hagens. Also, doing what Hagens did last season on an elite NCAA team suggests he is farther along than most his age. Look for him to be an NHL regular if not this season then next, and his ascent could be swift in view of his talent and lack of a true #1 center blocking his path. Be glad you own him. Good luck!

Question #2 (from Cam)

I'm in a 12 team roto league with categories of G, A, PPG, PPA, SOG, FOW, HIT, BLK, W, GA, SV, SV% SHO. Rosters are 16 players, with 2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 2G, 1 Util starting, plus 3 Bench/IR spots. Each team keeps three players, who are kept in the draft round they were chosen. But you need a pick in that round to keep a player in that same round, two picks in that round to keep two players from that round, etc. For free agents, the first one costs you your worst draft pick and round, the second one your next worst, and so on, meaning there is no predefined round requirement for keeping a free agent. You can't trade for extra picks in the offseason; so if you have a player in a round where you're without a pick, he cannot be kept, period.

In my case I have one pick in each of rounds 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 14, 15, 16, plus two picks in round 11 and four in round 13. The players I can keep, plus the round where they'd need to be kept are:

Round 1 – David Pastrnak (RW), Connor Hellebuyck

Round 2 – Mitch Marner (C/LW/RW), William Nylander (C/RW)

Round 3 – Jason Robertson (LW/RW), Jack Hughes (C/LW)

Round 4 – Moritz Seider

Round 5 – Ilya Sorokin

Round 6 – Vincent Trocheck (C)

Round 7 – Thomas Harley

Round 12 – Erik Karlsson

Round 13 – Bo Horvat (C)

FAs – Pavel Dorofeyev (LW/RW), Beckett Sennecke (RW), Sam Dickinson, Porter Martone (RW)

So as it stands now, I could only keep one of my two guys in round 1, round 2, and/or round 3, since I have only one pick in each of those rounds. Also, this means I cannot keep Seider, Harley, Karlsson or Horvat, since I'm without a pick in their rounds. But with four picks in the 13th round, I could keep any or all my free agents as 13th rounders. Who would you choose as my three keepers? Do I go for pure value and keep three of my free agents, or earlier star players?

It's interesting that offseason trading for draft picks is not allowed. Because of this, I think other teams, like you, are going to be unable to keep some very good players, meaning there will be more top tier guys available to draft, and making you less inclined to keep early round guys unless they are truly amazing. But if player trading is allowed in the offseason, do explore that for those you don't keep.

Right off the bat, I'm not keeping either of your first rounders. For one, not doing so would put both back in the draft pool, meaning they'd be there for you to redraft. Basically, the fact you have two first rounders to put back into the draft makes it almost better to not keep either than if you had only one, since it adds more to the pool of top players you can redraft with your two picks. I also think you don't keep either Marner or Nylander. Both are very solid and have high floors, but Nylander is not great in multicat, and Marner looks to have a lower ceiling in Vegas. Here too the fact you have two guys in this round, and won't keep either, is basically better than if you had only one, via the same logic as your first round guys. But again, if player trading is allowed, see if you can move any of these guys, probably for a package of picks.

I am keeping one of your third rounders though, as both strike me as being a step up from what will be available in that round for a 12 team league. Although he's a major injury risk, and lousy in banger categories, my keep is Hughes. He had 36 points in his last 20 games despite a lack of surrounding talent, plus shoots a ton in general but especially for a center, which compensates for his weak banger stats. If healthy, he's arguably a first round talent, while even if he does get hurt he still is so good when he plays that he's worth the risk to keep.

The only other player you can keep who I'd consider over a free agent is Sorokin. His team does not do him any favors, but he's a world class talent, as shown by him having seven shutouts last season. Plus, we know for sure that after the season he had in 2025-26 he'll be picked earlier if he's put back into the draft pool. Still, I think in a keep three, keeping a goalie is not advised, unless he's a huge round bargain. Although Sorokin almost assuredly wouldn't disappoint if kept in that round, and be picked earlier if not kept, I feel you'd be better off keeping two of your free agents instead.

Which two free agents to keep? Not Dickinson, as he may have superb potential, but the other three are already paying dividends. It's a tough choice between the three forwards; but I think Dorofeyev has to be kept, as the Rangers paid a big price to get him, then made a major commitment in signing him to a large long term deal. Although the Rangers might not be very good, you don't count +/-; and they still should score goals, including on the PP, where Dorofeyev is a force. He also shoots a lot. If we look at wingers who, like Dorfeyev, had at least two seasons of 35+ goals, 13+ PPGs, and 2.8+ SOG per game by age 25, it consists of Alex Ovechkin, Thomas Vanek, Ilya Kovalchuk, Kirill Kaprizov, Jason Robertson, David Pastrnak, Dany Heatley, Paul Kariya, Zigmund Palffy, Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Geoff Sanderson, and Jeremy Roenick. All but Vanek, Palffy and Sanderson were 50 goal scorers at least once, with each still hitting 41+ at least twice. Of course past results do not dictate future outcomes, but seeing this, plus knowing New York will put him in a position to succeed, makes him a keeper for you.

Martone versus Sennecke is tougher. Martone made a huge splash at the end of the regular season, but was not as productive in the playoffs. Also, the system Rick Tocchet runs in Philly does not reap high ice times, overall or on the PP, upon its players. Yes, Martone is a Tocchet type of player, shooting a lot and throwing his body around; however, it's not set in stone that he'll pick up where he left off, especially given him faring worse in the playoffs.

As for Sennecke, he had a superb rookie season, only trailing off in Q4, which is typical of rookies hitting a wall due to never having endured the rigors of an 82 game season, let alone in the NHL. Anaheim also is not a great place for players in terms of ice time, although even if they have to let some players go due to Leo Carlsson's deal, they'll still have talent to surround Sennecke. Plus, with Troy Terry out for a while and Chris Kreider a Carlsson casualty, Sennecke will find himself on PP1; and by the time Terry returns, Sennecke might be entrenched there. Yes, Sennecke shoots less and hits less than Martone, but he's solid in both areas. As much as Martone impressed in his NHL cameo, I'm going with Sennecke, whose ceiling might be a bit lower, but whose floor is likely much higher. Good luck!

Question #3 (from Chel)

I'm in a 14 team, 28 man keeper that has skater categories and weighting of goals (1), assists (1), HIT/BLK/FOW/PIM (.1 each, and .1 PIM per minute) and goalie categories and weighting of .15 per SV and -.75 per GA. The points are week to week, with a starting roster of 9F, 4D, and 2G every day. I won last year, and ended the season with this roster.

F: Drake Batherson, Pavel Buchnevich, Anze Kopitar, Nathan MacKinnon, Jared McCann, Artemi Panarin, Kiefer Sherwood, Matthew Tkachuk, Alex Tuch, Tyler Bertuzzi, Jesper Bratt, Alex DeBrincat, Alex Newhook, Alex Ovechkin, Tage Thompson, David Pastrnak, Leon Draisaitl, Roope Hintz, Rickard Rakell, Emmitt Finnie, Roman Kantersov
D: Luca Cagnoni, John Carlson, Vince Dunn, Ryan Ufko, Jakub Chychrun, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Thomas Harley, Noah Dobson
G: Colton Ellis, Jake Oettinger, Jake Allen, Casey Desmith, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Anthony Stolarz, Devon Levi

I figured Buchnevich, Kopitar, OEL, and Ellis are where I start for cuts, but the rest are tougher. Some goalies maybe, and perhaps the likes of Newhook, Cagnoni? Who would be your eight cuts?

While decisions like these should always be taken seriously, the reality is the keepers who will remain should be the best within the entire league. That's how stacked your team is. Also though, other than Panarin, most of these guys figure to still be at the top of their game for a few more seasons. To me, that means you should be more inclined to keep guys who have future potential, to help ensure you stay competitive once your studs slow.

Of course the first drop is Kopitar. And I agree with Ellis, and would add DeSmith, who I get is nice Oettinger insurance but not enough to justify keeping. Buchnevich is one season removed from being a 60 point scorer, and three from point per game output. But St. Louis added Connor McMichael and Mason McTavish, and subtracted only Jordan Kyrou. Plus, given how well they clicked, the top line figures to again be Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud. Thus, even if Buchnevich is better than last season, it likely won't be by much, so I can agree he's a non-keep. By the same token, Bertuzzi can be let go. His points were boosted by a too high SH%, plus not only are youngsters Frank Nazar, Anton Frondell and Kantserov ready for larger roles, but Chicago also added Patrick Kane. Whereas Bertuzzi was about the best they had to trot out last season, it is a much different story now; and without top tier deployment, Bertuzzi should revert to a 40-50 point scorer, which won't cut it.

I'm tempted to not cut OEL because he scored at a point per every other game. But he is very old and benefitted from PP time he likely will not receive again this season. So he's indeed a cut as well.

We then need to find two more drops. Newhook is only 25, and played pretty well last season. But his SH% was far too high, and Montreal is too stacked for him to be able to put up enough points to be worth holding. Also, he's an RFA after next season, not a UFA, meaning he likely will stay with Montreal, whereas if he was a UFA perhaps there could be lure in holding him because on another team he could be more of a factor. As it stands though, he's a drop. Cagnoni has not made a mark in the NHL, plus Sam Dickinson seems to be more highly regarded by the Sharks. Still, there is a path to him running PP1 for San Jose given they lack a true PP QB, and Cagnoni showed he can score in the AHL. Ufko is older than Cagnoni, and Nashville has Tanner Moledyk in the picture as an heir apparent to Roman Josi. In a perfect world I'd try to keep both, in hopes one of them will pan out, plus D is a less deep position.

Who, then, would be the last non-keep? To me, it's Finnie or Sherwood. I get that both help in banger stats, but those can be found via other players, or in the aggregate. Finnie is young enough to perhaps turn into something more than he is, whereas Sherwood is already 31. San Jose signed Sherwood to a decent deal, and likely will want to insert him into the top six to safeguard its young stars. As much as I don't like cutting the much younger Finnie, I think it's the right move. Of course the other possibility is making a two for one trade, or cutting Cagnoni or Ufko. I'd at least try to make a trade, perhaps moving Panarin and Sherwood for a younger player who can help in banger categories to compensate for the loss of Sherwood, or perhaps another high scoring defenseman. Good luck!

Question #4 (from Carl)

I’m in a 12 team H2H cats, no cap league. Each team can keep up to 8 players that are all assigned in the first 8 rounds of the draft. So, if a team keeps 7 their first pick in the draft will be in the 8th round. 

Rosters are 2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 2G, 6 Bench, 1 IR+, 1 IR, 1 N/A, categories are G, A, +/-, PPP, SOG, Hits, W, GAA, SV%, SO. We can make trades prior to the keeper deadline and draft. Here is my roster as of the end of last season:

C: Nathan MacKinnon, Brayden Point, Dylan Cozens

LW: Jason Robertson (LW,RW), Dylan Guenther (LW,RW), Blake Coleman (C,LW), Ivan Barbashev, Artturi Lehkonen (LW,RW)

RW: Will Smith (LW/RW), Jesper Bratt (LW/RW), Ivan Demidov, Brock Boeser (LW,RW)

D: Darren Raddysh, Mikhail Sergachev, Charlie McAvoy, Darnell Nurse

G: Jake Oettinger, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonnen 

I’m planning to keep MacKinnon, Robertson, Guenther, Demidov, Raddysh, Sergachev, and Oettinger, leaving me one more spot, with Point, Bratt and Smith who I'm considering. I’ve been leaning towards Smith, as although I think Bratt will probably outproduce Smith this year, that’s no guarantee and even if he does it might be for the last time if Smith fulfills expectations. Point may rebound too. Bratt is probably the safest, especially when you consider he provides the best peripherals. I highly doubt I would be able to redraft any of three. I may be able to get a draft pick or two in pre-draft trades though. What's your suggestion for the last keeper? And would you change any of the seven I named?

Starting with the seven, I think you have the right keeps. I was worried you'd be seduced by what McAvoy did last season; but it's unsustainable. For one, he was better than a point per game in the second half, this after a season of 23 points in 50 games. From being a subpar PP producer, McAvoy suddenly did far better, which is suspect given how far along into his career he is. He also has a very low SOG rate, and the team shot 12.4% at 5×5 with him on the ice, which is leaps and bounds higher than any previous year. Good for you on realizing that; but other GMs might not be as astute and thus McAvoy could be trade bait. Let's press pause on that for now to look at your other options.

As with the seven, I think you narrowed it down to the right three for the final spot in Point, Bratt and Smith. Bratt's fate is seemingly tied to that of Jack Hughes. But even that wasn't able to raise Bratt to prior heights, as despite Hughes having a point per game Q3, Bratt only had 12 points in 20 games, and when Hughes had 36 points in 20 games in Q4, Bratt had 26. So not even a point per game overall. The good news is Bratt should stay alongside Hughes; but that used to be the same logic in support of Point, yet last season instead of Point being on the ice with Kucherov for over 70% of his ES shifts as he was in 2024-25, that rate was cut nearly in half. Point still scored at a 65 point pace though, plus that was with a 35.5% IPP on the PP, quite a bit lower than his norm. Still, the team shot 15.3% at 5×5 with Point on the ice, a number well above what it was even when he was playing with Kucherov nearly all the time. Plus, Point is now 30 and his scoring rate had already been ticking down before it fell as much as it did last season. As for Smith, his Hits are about as bad as can be, but he seems to have won the Macklin Celebrini lottery, as they shared the ice for about 75% of Smith's ES shifts. If it's between keeping one of the three, I'm going with Smith. His ceiling is well higher than the others, plus he's younger, his deployment is superb, and you can find a way to make up for his lack of hits in the aggregate.

The question is whether to consider trading McAvoy and another possible keeper for a better keeper. I would at least give that a try to see what you could land. You could attempt to package him with Point or Bratt, although in that case you'd still have a keeper dilemma. Or you offer him with Smith, which is what I'd do, just to at least see what you might be able to get and decide from there. Good luck!

Question #5 (from Rick)

I'm in a keeper/dynasty points only league and I have the first pick this year. Of course that means I can choose between Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg. Who would you take? For my second pick, I'm eyeing Quinton Byfield, Alexis Lafreniere, and Porter Martone. Who do you prefer and why?

Many a keeper GM who owns the first overall pick is wrestling with the same dilemma. I feel who you choose depends as much, if not more, on your team's players and trajectory as it does on the choices themselves. That's because McKenna to me seems like he has a higher and sooner floor, and Stenberg might not be as good out of the gate but a home run further down the road. If you're okay with waiting to get the most of these picks, I'd likely go with Stenberg plus target Martone, the youngest of the other three. Martone is not at his best in points only, but still seems like he'd have a higher ceiling than Byfield or Laffy, although again, not for certain.

If you play it safer and take McKenna, I'm targeting Laffy, as while he did have a strong end to 2023-24 only to come back to earth in 2024-25, Q4 of last season saw him score just as well, but with more SOG and, most importantly, lots of PPPts. Also, now Laffy is a go to guy, with guaranteed great deployment. Why not Byfield? You noted in your question you had read on the site about concerns due to his size and how it compared with other centers built like him. It's me who's raised that, as the fact is the two most recent centers with as high expectations as Byfield and as tall and as heavy as him were Nik Antorpov and Martin Hanzal, who both didn't do great plus were slowed by injuries which shortened their careers. Admittedly Byfield has shown no signs of injury issues, whereas both those two had before they'd played as many games as Byfield, plus past results don't dictate future outcomes. Still, that has to be a concern, as is Byfield stalled in the 50s in terms of scoring rate, including last season despite getting 20:00+ TOI. He's not shooting a lot, nor has he been great on the PP, although admittedly he's yet to get true PP1 minutes. If you believe in Byfield, who should hit his big guy 400 game breakout threshold this season, then roll the dice with him; but I'm taking Laffy if you grab McKenna. 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.