One might ask, "is it too early yet to make trades?" Never.
In the early going of the season is one of the best times to make trades! Some people are not happy with their rosters after the draft, but will not mention which players they are unhappy with. Perhaps they feel they have a weak link in their roster and they want to patch it up before the season gets going and player’s values either plummet or rise. It’s risky on both sides to trade in the early going, but that’s what fantasy is all about and that to me is part of the fun.
If you know your hockey, and most importantly your fantasy hockey; you should be able to make deals that help your team get better, not worse. Don’t expect your first offer to go through and be accepted by your trading partner, it’s something that you have to work at, sometimes it can take 20 minutes, other times a week or two. Don’t just make a trade to make a trade, target a player you like; or let someone else hike up their offer with better players over time, be patient on both ends as you don’t want to be the person overpaying just to get the player you want.
What one person may consider an overpayment can be considered a fleece job by another. It all depends on your plan of attack; always think one step ahead. Research the other teams in your pool, see who has weak spots (from your viewpoint) and perhaps you can visualize a trade that might work making you and the other person a good trading partner.
Some people love to trade; others just hold their cards and hope for the best as the season goes on. Not me, that’s half the fun, and I have faith in my knowledge to help bring in players to my team that I want. Sometimes I will ‘overpay’ for a player, but not in my eyes. Here is what I mean…If I offer someone a two for one deal, and I’m receiving the best player in the trade; I’m content with that. Why? Simply because I have a player or two lined up on the free agency that I feel is going to replace the points lost by moving two players for one. As long as that one I am getting back is a stud, that’s all that matters to me.
I’ve made trades in all three of my major pools (keeper, head to head, rotisserie). I’m going to discuss how these trades went down and some of the back and forth so you can get an idea and perhaps try something similar in your pool.
Keeper:
If you’ve been following you know that the keeper team I took over was an absolute blow up. I’ve kept a few players and a couple goalies, but gutted the rest of my team. It’s a three year plan, and then I hope to be in the mix. So far so good as I have unloaded a few players from my roster and brought in a fortune of youth.
A 45 player roster with 40 keepers, I prepared my roster as best I could.
Before the draft:
Traded away: Marc Staal, Jordan Staal, Semyon Varlamov, 4th and 5th round picks (31,41) *note I already had picks 6,8,10,11,21 (meaning 31,41 were toss-ins).
Back to me: Scott Darling, Tanner Pearson, Teemu Pulkkinen, Matthew Murray, Andrew Hammond
*Obviously I traded away a young goaltender in Varlamov who surely has the most worth in the trade. I was able to stock up with two backup goalies in Darling and Hammond (the Hamburgler), and the Penguins future in net with Murray. Tanner Pearson is a young established winger with LA who can hopefully grow in a consistent 50+ point player. Pulkkinen was the main piece I wanted in the deal as I feel he has a bright future ahead in Detroit. Notice all of the players I took back are young; that’s my hopes, stay young and continue to add talent and simply weed out the best ones.*
Traded away: Johnny Boychuk, Joe Thornton, Brandon Dubinsky
Back to me: Aleksander Barkov, Mikael Granlund
*This trade I admit I paid a lot for Barkov and Granlund, but they are both young and already number one centers on their teams. Boychuk coming off a career year, Thornton has a couple left in the tank and Dubinsky is a good player who puts up penalty minutes and points, but does tend to miss some games each season, the good news was; it left me with a slot open and I had my eye on a young upcoming quality prospect in Jake Virtanen. I scooped him up after the trade and was happy with the move going forward.*
After these two trades we had our draft and with picks 6,8,10,11 and 21 I was able to draft the following:
(6) Dylan Strome (8) Ivan Provorov (10) Pavel Zacha (11) Zach Werenski (21) Matthew Barzal
Traded away: Brad Marchand (before concussion) +4th rounder
Back to me: Mikhail Grigorenko + 2nd rounder
*This was a trade I made because I simply don’t like Marchand and I felt Grigorenko will have a higher points ceiling than Marchand. It may take a couple of seasons, but that is exactly my game plan.*
Traded away: Andrei Markov, Sergei Plotnikov (who I picked up as a free agent), Patrick Marleau
Back to me: Robby Fabbri, Roman Josi, Cody Eakin, Andreas Athanasiou
*I’m really like this trade as I don’t know how much longer Markov is going to last in the NHL, Plotnikov I scooped up as a free agent when I first took over the team and Marleau like Thornton only has so much time left producing big numbers, he may even retire within the next few. Josi is a beast and still very young, Fabbri is concussed but has a lot of potential for the future, Eakin is young and of quality and Athanasiou had a superb pre-season and I am hoping that eventually happens in the pros.
As you can see, I have been very active in rebuilding my keeper team!
Rotisserie:
It’s only been two to four games in the NHL, but I am always actively shopping player to better my team. Only one trade has been made:
Loui Eriksson + Ryan Kesler in exchange for TJ Oshie
I’m hoping Oshie fits in well with the Caps and produces a lot of points, I feel that he is the best of the three and I had a player lined up on the free agency that I wanted to scoop up after watching him play his first NHL game. Artemi Panarin.
In the end I have Oshie and Panarin and gave away Eriksson and Kesler…As long as Panarin can chip in and keep up the production I feel this trade well bode well for my team going forward. With 13 forwards on my roster and 10 slots that get 82 games played each, you have to make those starts count.
Head to Head:
This deal took a few days to iron out, but I am happy with the end result, because again; I am getting the best player.
Oddly enough, I ended up trading away Eriksson again in this pool (after his hot start of course) and Panarin; who had continued his hot play.
In return I got one of my favorite young studs, Sean Monahan.
Eriksson + Panarin in exchange for Sean Monahan.
Again I had a free slot to pick up a free agent and I went with the red hot Dylan Larkin from Detroit.
I’m hoping these trade talks sparked some interest and you get the ball rolling. I’m looking forward to hearing about some fleece jobs!!
Starting Goalies:
(NSH) Rinne VS (NYI) Greiss (OTT) Anderson VS (PIT) Fleury (CHI) Darling VS (WSH) Holtby (NYR) Lundqvist VS (MTL) Price (DAL) Lehtonen VS (TBL) Bishop (BUF) Johnson VS (FLA) Luongo (STL) Elliott VS (EDM) Talbot (MIN) Dubnyk VS (ARI) Smith
*Bold is starting, italics is probable*
Thanks for reading.