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Fantasy Progress Report: Keeper Pool |
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At the end of last season I was approached by my friend who runs a huge 45 man roster, 40 player keeper NHL hockey pool.
For a good chunk of the regular season my friend mentioned there may be a spot opening up in the pool and he wanted me to join. He knows I know my hockey, and not only my hockey, but my fantasy hockey and a deep knowledge of prospects. The other members of the pool were really hoping for an active addition to the pool as the person whose slot I took over was vacant more often than not. Little did they know I am very active; perhaps to the point where they were surprised with my instant gutting of the horrendous team that I just recently took charge of.
Looking back to last summer, the ball got rolling quickly and I dumped another of players and added in free agents who were available at the time. Here is a list of players I scooped up off the wire:
Shea Theodore
Kevin Fiala
Vladlslav Namestnikov
Dan Girardi
Artem Anisimov
Nic Petan
Fancois Beachemin
Lee Stempniak
Brad Richards
Benoit Pouliot
Connor Hellebuyck
Sergei Plotnikov
Travis Sanheim
Julius Honka
Jake Virtanen
There were certainly some excellent prospects that hadn’t been scooped up, and I was able to jump on a number that helped get my teams rebuild in the right direction. The best part was, I scooped up a few players that other people in the pool had interest in and were willing to trade me. Of course they had other players on my roster who they liked, and I was willing to gut this team as long as I felt I was getting a return that would be worth my while.
Coming out of the gates I was able to trade Artem Anisimov and John Carlson in exchange for two first round picks (2015/16 & 2016/17) as well as Henrik Samuelsson (who I dumped later) as well as Oliver Bjorkstrand and Derrick Pouliot. With the first pick I got last year in the trade, I was able to draft Ivan Provorov. This year I will have the 10th overall pick to add yet another quality prospect.
As you could see I was looking to go with a youth movement and continually add as many good prospects as I can, then weed them out accordingly. My next trade was small, but should do me well in the long run. I traded Jack Jonson for Kasperi Kapanen and got the 10th pick overall.
Then a true blockbuster trade took place and it has panned out most beautifully. I traded Marc Staal, Jordan Staal and Semyon Varlamov in exchange for Scott Darling, Tanner Pearson, Teemu Pulkkinen, Matt Murray and Andrew Hammond and included my 4th and 5th round draft picks (since I already had acquired two other first round picks), this helped offset for my trading partner.
I had a few players that were ageing on my roster and I felt it would be best to move them before the season started, in case they got hurt or were having a bad season as age catches up. I traded Johnny Boychuk, Joe Thornton and Brandon Dubinsky for Aleksander Barkov and Mikael Granlund. Sure the move hurt me last season overall, but I wasn’t going to be in the mix for a top three finish, so why not add a stud like Barkov? I’m happy I made this trade, I really like Barkov and I think Granlund is roster worthy as he logs some decent minutes with Minnesota in their top 6.
Then the draft took place and I had picks 6,9,10,11,21. I was very lucky and able to pick up Dylan Strome 6th overall. With my 9th overall I took Provorov as mentioned above, followed by Zach Werenski, Pavel Zacha and Jakub Zboril with my 21st pick. After the draft was over I noticed a few excellent prospects still available and I scooped up Matthews Barzal and Lawson Crouse.
Perhaps I made my first mistake when I traded Brad Marchand for Grigorenko and a second round pick. I was really hoping to see Grigorenko slot into that top six in Colorado and start to put up some quality points, that and I can’t stand Marchand!
Another blockbuster trade was lining up and after some back and forth the trade was finalized: I traded Andrei Markov, Sergei Plotnikov and Patrick Marleau in exchange for Robby Fabbri, Roman Josi, Cody Eakin and Andreas Athanasiou. Again, I was moving out players who won’t be around much longer and a long shot in Plotnikov as he was projected to be playing with Malkin on the second line. I noticed that Mikkel Boedker was still a free agent and he got off to a decent start, so I dropped Sanheim and scooped Boedker up. I also had been keeping an eye on Victor Rask, who was chipping in points quite consistently for Carolina, and I scooped him up and dropped Melker Karlsson who I thought would pan out better than he did.
Then something great happened, both Damon Severson and Mikko Rantanen were dropped and I scooped both players up and dropped a couple plugs on my team. This was a huge pickup, especially Rantanen who was actually drafted 5th overall in our fantasy draft, just before my Strome pickup. Now things are starting to come together.
I made another big trade that set me up for the long run, and it was another beauty. I traded away Roman Josi who I felt was at the peak of his worth, as well as Andrew Hammond and Craig Anderson. In return I received John Gibson and Sean Monahan, two absolute studs.
This leads me up to the second last trade of the season where I was able to use some of the free agents I scooped up who were playing well, in my opinion, above their level of output. I traded Kari Lehtonen, Lee Stempniak and Dennis Widemen in exchange for Hampus Lindholm and Nick Ritchie. I’m a big fan of Lindholm and think he is a future top pairing defensemen, and Ritchie is a big strong power forward, something my roster lacks.
It’s certainly not an epic trade by any means, my final one of the season. But adding in an injured Gaborik to my roster for a measly 5th round pick seemed like the right move to do. The person I traded with needed that roster spot to make a push for a top three finish. Hopefully Gaborik can chip in for me next season and I am able to trade him for a better return than I paid.
Heading into the 2016 Draft I have picks 1, 8,10,11,21 and will most certainly be drafting Auston Matthews with the first pick overall.
Each season we draft five players, meaning I have to drop five players from my roster. I assure you it’s going to be a lot more difficult this year picking who to drop than it was last.
Be sure to keep an eye out for a list I will provide of potential prospects that could be worth adding in your keeper pool. This Friday make sure to keep an eye out for my updated top 30 players for this year’s 2016 NHL Draft.
Thanks for reading!
Blogger •Fantasy Hockey Expert • 
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