Have you got a brief fantasy hockey question? Drop a line to chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com within 24 hours or so of any Q&A (to keep your league info relevant) and your email may be included in the blog, which will begin live at 3pm et/ 12pm pt on Mondays and Thursdays. One per person, please. Don’t forget to include your first name and hometown to represent!
That’s a wrap for today, but Q&A returns Thursday.
Posted at 3:55pm et
WHEN IT RAINS…
Muzz
“Chris,
G (1), A (1), PPP (0.5)
No question for you but I’ll tell you what happened…last Tuesday I sit Mueller (3.5 pts.) and Semin (2.5 pts.) in favour of Alfie (1 pt.) and Spezza (0 pts.). So Saturday I decide to sit Alfie and Spezza instead, as well as Hossa who wasn’t really lighting it up either. The result? Alfie 3 pts., Hossa 2.5 pts., Spezza 5 pts.! My Richards, Holmstrom and Semin get only one point combined! Total gain: 2 pts. Total loss: 16.5 POINTS!! Now I sit in second place after several weeks at the top. The hockey gods are not smiling on me.”
Chris
Ugh. I hear you. Hopefully the final few weeks end up better for you.
Posted at 3:50pm et
EXTRA GOALIE AND 24 TALK!
Keith, Mpls
“Hello Chris:
10 team Yahoo league 5 keepers (1 goalie allowed), 16 player roster.
Cats are G, A, +/-, PPG, PPA, SHG, GWG, SOG, FW, W, L, SA, SVs, SV%, SO
Finished in 1st place during regular season. I only lost two H2H all year but want to make sure I am ready for the playoffs. Currently have a 1st round bye.
We play 2C, 2LW, 2RW, 3D, 2 goalies each night with a 3 goalie minim/wk.
Roster
C-Getzlaf, Kopitar, Koivu, Spezza, Connolly
LW-Parise, Simon Gagne
RW-Gaborik, Kane
D-Boyle, Pronger, Doughty
G-Lundqvist, Quick, Anderson, Nittimaki
Even with the emphasis put on starting goalies in our league wondering if Nittimaki is worth keeping on my roster. The reality is I have only used him sparingly over the last few weeks and with the compressed season I am getting 2-4 starts out of my other three any way. I am thinking that I may be better served adding a serviceable forward to fill in when my starters are not playing. The following are available-Fleischmann, Morrow, Pouliot (Mont), Lartendress,Havlat, Joikinen (Car). Would you change out Nittimak for any of these or should I wait and see what happens over the next week regarding the playing time of my top three?
By the way 24 hours is a blast this year although I hate the side storyline with the computer whiz that got involved with her ex to cover up her “checkered past” I would have preferred to see more done with Jack and Renee the psycho ex FBI agent! Thanks.”
Chris
I couldn’t agree more on 24 Keith. That whole storyline has been grating on me like nails on a chalkboard and it’s, IMO, dragging down what should otherwise be a great role for Freddie Prinz Jr. She’s annoying to the point of Jack’s daughter for me, which says a lot.
In terms of Niitty, I’m also on board with you there. You’ve got three heavy-start goalies and I fully agree that the extra spot could be better used with an extra forward. I’d go for either Pouliot or Latendresse and don’t really have a preference. You could see which of those two (or one of the others, if applicable) fits best into your empty GP slots each week. I’ll see what happens this summer via FA, but I’m seriously contemplating keeping Pouliot over Olli Jokinen with my final keeper slot.
Congrats on the regular season and best of luck in the playoffs.
Posted at 3:40pm et
NEED A FA
Jason in California
“Chris, I need a forward for the last three weeks. Not much left, but it looks like the best options are J. Blake, R. Park or T. Bozak. Thoughts? Standard stats. Position doesn’t matter since we count all forwards as forwards and not as centres, etc. Thanks man!”
Chris
Jason, Bozak has been doing really well with Kessel in Toronto so give him a shot. Blake is so inconsistent and Park, although hot lately, is really just a versatile L3/L4 guy who generally doesn’t have the opportunities that Bozak will continue to have.
Posted at 3:30pm et
EXPANSION DRAFT
James D in Vancouver
“Chris,
Thanks again for all of the Live Recaps and advice this year. Unfortunately my fantasy team got hit with a few injuries this past season, and i’m going to finish in 4th (out of the money and a top draft pick).
I’m in a 8-team Salary Cap Keeper Pool, and we are adding two more teams next year. We normally keep 15 players (plus prospects), but with expansion we are dropping 7 (3f, 2d, 1g, and 1 flex). I would love a quick team evaluation to show some areas of concern. I’ve worked to accumulate some great/good young players, but don’t know if they will have enough of an impact going into next year. Also, our AHL/prospect teams are downsizing to a max of 12 players, so i’ll have to thin that group out as well.
Forwards: Crosby, Stastny, Nash, Perry, Hemsky (IR), Stafford, C. Wilson, JVR, L. Eriksson, Voracek, Frolik, Benn, Bergfors
Dmen: Markov, Whitney, Myers, Del Zotto, Letang, Russell
Goalies: Fleury, Howard
AHL/prospects:
Forwards: Turris, Hodgson, Brassard, Gerbe, Matthias, Simmonds, Leino, Regin
Dmen: Barker, J. Johnson, Carlson, Demers, Shattenkirk
Goalies: Pavelec, Varlamov, Bernier
Cheers.”
Chris
Thanks James. One advantage to an eight-team format is that is much easier to turn your team’s fortunes around more quickly because of the quality of free agents involved. That’s certainly somewhat affected by your league’s farm system, but the day-to-day quality is likely still pretty decent.
In terms of your active roster, you’ll still be going forward with a pretty good squad regardless of who you lose via the expansion draft. The fact that you can protect Varlamov on your farm is a bonus too, since you might lose Howard if you can only protect one goalie this summer. At this point you might want to consider using your flex pick for Howard, which would leave you protecting Crosby, Nash and Perry up front with Markov and Myers on D. Howard, depending on what happens in Detroit over the summer (Osgood has one more season left, but do they want him back after this season?), may be better for you overall than Stastny.
Having a guy like Myers available is a bonus since you’re in a cap league too. We can go over the farm system another time, but you’ve done a nice job of getting some quality talent there.
Posted at 3:20pm et
CARTER OUT
Larry in Toronto
“I just heard about Jeff Carter being out for the regular season with a broken foot. Assuming he gets IR status I can now slide Marc Savard into his centre slot and then add a defenceman to make up for being a bit behind that pace. Any suggestions for one that might be a free agent? It’s a pretty standard 10-team league, all the usual categories count. Thanks!”
Chris
It’s tough to know who’s actually available for you here without some choices Larry, but one guy who has been faring well lately is McBain in Carolina. He’s getting PP1 time and has points in each of his first four NHL starts. He also had good numbers at the AHL level before the call-up, so he might be worth a shot and there’s a decent chance he’d still be out there in your FA pool. Failing that, drop me some names for Thursday’s Q&A.
Posted at 3:10pm et
FINAL KEEPER SLOT
Dave in SK
“Chris, I’ve got one more keeper slot open (seven others plus this pick) in my standard league. Johan Franzen or Alex Goligoski? My team is fairly well-balanced, so keeping a certain position over another doesn’t matter to me. Which guy would you keep?”
Chris
As much as I like Goligoski’s spot in Pittsburgh Dave, I’d imagine Franzen will be a bigger impact player for your team next year. Between the goals, shots, his power play presence and the bonus PIM I just think he’ll probably give you more bang for your buck. Goligoski is going to become a pretty fantastic fantasy player on the blueline and we got a really good taste of that earlier this season, but I think having Kris Letang there dilutes Goligoski’s value at least slightly as they battle for time behind Sergei Gonchar.
Posted at 3pm et
D CHOICES
Lee in Peoria
“Good day Chris, 3 weeks to go in my 1 year points and pims league and I’m wondering about my defense. Martin and Vlasic are off IR; are they better options than Yandle and/or Salo? Or look toward FAs like Seidenberg, Stuart, Oduya, Peckham, Colaiacovo, Burns, Cumiskey, del Zotto, Rozsival, McBain, Daley or Schneider? We start 4 and I’d like to carry 5; my top 2 are Myers and Lidstrom. Thanks.”
Chris
After Myers and Lidstrom, I’d likely want McBain and Martin as my other two active guys right now. McBain is off to a great start and is getting quality PP minutes, while Martin has a good slot now as well. For a fifth I’d try Schneider since he’s getting PP time and has had a few good games since getting his legs under him.