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The Everything NHL Thread

I find that logic to be more than a little ridiculous. Yes, it would be ridiculous if one person managed to get 5 obvious first round draft picks, which should never happened unless everyone else in the league is completely retarded, and I'm fairly sure if that were the case there'd be bigger issues than someone having good keepers anyway. Most keeper leagues hold at least like 6-8, often nearly the entire roster... 3 is awfully weak - even 5 is only one per position. You kinda lose the keeper element when 82% of your team is new every year, all that really happens with 3 keepers is the improved chance that people are using the favorite players as the core of their team since the first 3 rounds are essentially more controlled...

Irrelevant NHL 10 tangent but something I really wanted to point out from their blog

To go with the new trading mini games we have also rewritten our Trade AI from the ground up. This AI now takes into account so many factors that we have been shocked at which players show up on the trading block. We had Ryan Whitney on the trading block in our game the day before he was traded to Anaheim. I was actually laughing at Pittsburgh’s trading block thinking I don’t think the Penguins would ever trade him. I was ready to make some minor tuning tweaks to the logic then the next day he was traded. Shows you how much I know about what teams will do.

The fact the trade AI might actually be good now is awesome, but my favorite part of this is the idea that there was some thought somewhere down the line that "Oh, these franchises wouldn't trade these players, let's make that not happen." I mention this because of how goofy we've noticed the BAP rosters getting - Detroit seems to trade Datsyuk and Zetterberg almost immediately for everyone, and using my file as an example... Zetterberg is in Calgary, Datysuk is in Boston, Malkin is in Detroit, Crosby is in Philly, Pronger is in Montreal... almost all the teams' franchise players are gone, and I'll be glad if there's more retention to core players this year so the teams actually resemble themselves a bit past the first 30 games.
 
I think we should determine how many people are actually playing before we determine the amount of keepers. I mean, let's say that we have like 16 people playing and we have like 16 players on each team, wouldn't 5 keepers be alot?
 
I always thought the fun of these things was having a new shiny superstar every time, but if im alone that's fine!
 
I know to me the fun in fantasy sports is mostly the team management and the trading and free agent moves in order to make the team better, but I know that this is a bit of a difference in perspective between us since you've only made like fifteen moves over two years (which I guess explains 5th and 6th?).

I like the continuity in keeper leagues in that there's something to keep building the team around also the fact it requires some foresight, that you have to build your team a little differently. Using my 07-08 smogon team for instance, my keepers would have been pretty iffy (at best Luongo, Brodeur(who is awfully old for a long term keeper choice!), Zherdev, Datsyuk, and Rafalski (also old!!), even though it was statistically the best team. It'd be something like Green, Turco, Richards, Zetterberg, Alfredsson from last year which is a little better (although Boyle and Sedin would be tempting too, I had a much younger team last year!), but not every good fantasy team causes you to end up with good keepers and I like there being more elements to keep in mind... it also gives something for the teams who obviously aren't going to make the playoffs to do other than tank, since they might ship off a player or three to upgrade another team for someone that improves their keepers for the next year... it's a good system in general, I think

EDIT: Although as an addendum, it's interesting how with last year's team, for instance, if I keep my five best, which are probably the first five mentioned, I end up with 2 Centers even though it is the deepest position, so it might be wiser to snag Sedin instead of Richards or something, though realistically I'd have tried to deal him last year for a better keeper LW. The possibilities make me smile.
 
I like the idea of a keeper league as it makes playing around my theme much easier, if at the very least for seasons after the first. I just need a way to snag Brodeur or Luongo because I'm likely not getting another chance with them, they are likely the only 2 that will get protected that interest me if we only allow to keep 3 (or even 5). Praying for a top 6 draft pick order, I should have a 50% chance to get one of them but who knows. Everyone else that interests me that may slip from my hands during this year's draft I should probably be able to get next season.

I expect to get my ass kicked something fierce this year however, especially if we actually get more than 12 people playing.
 
Some more signings (minor but somewhat surprising):

Cory Murphy signs with NJ - NJ finally has a defencemen that can play on the PP, but how will he fair in Lemaire's system?

Wade Dubielewicz signs with Minnesota - I guess they don't have a lot of confidence in Josh Harding in backup? (And I think he's too old to go down and 'develop')
 
They have to be trading a goalie, if anything they've shown too much faith in Harding in the past - I can't see them trading Backstrom even though he'd net more back for pretty similar production for them but they've gotta be moving an asset. A good call assuming they get decent returns, I think - not much value in having two capable of being #1s long term.

EDIT: Also I love Cory Murphy, not a big name but I think those of us in the fantasy circles are probably familiar with him - he'll be an interesting sleeper there since they have such awful point people year after year... good signing assuming he figures out which end "the defensive zone" is in. At least he and Gaborik will live close to hang out when they spend half the year on the IR together!
 
Regarding the keeper and standard fantasy league choice, let's gauge interest in both.

I know Carl, Teifu, me, Zerowing, and wer have all stated (I think wer did I don't remember for sure though) that we would be totally active in both a keeper and a standard league.

Also, with the amount of interest this topic displays I am sure we could get a few more double league guys sure to be active and round off each league with league specific guys.

I'm all for a Smogon Keeper AND a Smogon tradition fantasy hockey league.
 
i dont really think that's a good idea cause people will argue which one is more important / winning is less prestigious as there are 2
 
Just posting to say that if we were to roll two leagues, I'd consider the keeper to be more "serious" and would probably do a more lighthearted team in the regular league (perhaps a team of all former Islanders, assuming I can snag Luongo/Jokinen in R1/2).
 
Well, I would want to ensure that all members of the "other" league would be serious, and not do something light hearted as WER has mentioned.

I will happily run the "second" league, concerns regarding "prestige" notwithstanding.
 
Just posting to say that if we were to roll two leagues, I'd consider the keeper to be more "serious" and would probably do a more lighthearted team in the regular league (perhaps a team of all former Islanders, assuming I can snag Luongo/Jokinen in R1/2).
Well it's kind of obvious that a keeper league would be more serious. ;) In any case, I'm kind of on the fence with 2 leagues.
 
Again, it isn't as though I am asking you to join both leagues lol. You join which one you want; if it is both, it's both, if it is just one, then just one.

But some people definitely want a keeper more than a traditional, and some people definitely want a traditional more than a keeper.

So I guess what needs to be done is actually gauge interest.

So, can you kindly state if you want only keeper, only traditional, or if you are fine with and will be "serious" with both.

I am in the both category.
 
I do not definitely want one league over the other, I just want one league.

I see no reason why we should dilute smogon fantasy interest into 2 leagues. I would hate doing good in one league (I certainly wouldn't join two) and notice people are losing interest in it because they happen to be performing better in the other one.
 
I would be fine with both leagues..

I don't really see why other people think having more than one league "dilutes" the other one...but as that seems to be a popular opinion, if there is only going to be 1 league, I would prefer a keeper league.
 
If the majority of you guys decide to do both, I'll probably do both (only real reason I'm on the fence is because I'll be managing this league and another with my friends).

Also fuck the Thrashers. I download their Firefox theme because they said it's free now, and it's shit full of bugs.
 
They probably didn't realize they had fans who would actually download it! Boy will Ilya Kovalchuk be surprised his off-season project was discovered...


Anyway I'd play both leagues, I play at least 4 a year anyway so adding one more doesn't make it any harder for me, and at least individually I don't think anyone is concerned I'm not going to take the league I'm doing worse in seriously, lol. I'd prefer a Keeper if we only do one but I can handle whatever.
 
This is probably extremely early but can we have the draft after the rosters have been made (in the other league I play with my RL friends, our draft was before this and I drafted like a million players who didn't make the team lol).
 
Posting to say that I'm not interested in doing fantasy this year. I consistently get bored halfway through the season every time I play fantasy.
 
The Caps want to play Varlamov and they are stuck with Theodore's contract.

Not very surprising in my opinion.
 
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