Selection of keepers should be held off as long as feasible in most leagues, so as to gather the most pertinent information. This means, if you can, you should postpone the official designation of keepers until late this summer or some time in September, if at all possible. This way, everyone has the benefit of time and knowledge. The closer it is to opening night of the regular season, the better. Of course there are logistical issues with this, in addition to the fact that most avid fantasy hockey managers are really itching to draft and get started working on their team by the time summer rolls around, but in terms of strategy, it really is best to wait as long as possible.
However, if for some reason your league decides to name your keepers a bit earlier, so as to draft earlier, then there are still some solid decisions that you can make with the information at hand. Here is a quick handful of things to consider when choosing your keepers. This is by no means a comprehensive guide, just a quick starter for those perhaps newer to keeper league or dynasty league basics. Expect more in-depth content regarding keeper leagues in the coming weeks as the hockey season gets closer.
1. Player Projections: First, you’ll have to obviously try and estimate the potential production of the players that are already on your squad that are keeper worthy. Then you will have to choose who you think will do the best out of those in the coming season. This is easy for the teams with weak depth but the decisions get pretty tough when if your team is has good depth across multiple positions.
2. Team Projections: Secondly, you should attempt to project what teams will place where in the standings, so that way you can maneuver properly when choosing keeper players and also for the draft, as well. Primarily, it is best to try and get good players from good teams, as there is a sponge-like factor where perhaps marginal players on weaker teams would tend to perform much better on very strong teams (think Ottawa in years past). If you keep players mostly from good teams, while still adjusting for individual talent, then you’re on a good track already. You’ll have to keep an eye on the free agent trackers out there and see who may mesh with whom once the season gets started, which is no sure thing. Team projections are available at many sites around the web, including our own team breakdowns here at Saucer Pass.
3. Positions and Trading: If your league requires you to keep players at certain positions but you happen to be weak at said positions, then obviously you should look into making a solid off-season trade. Hopefully your league is active enough that this is feasible, otherwise you may be stuck keeping an inferior player at a weak position and having to let a stronger player at another position fall back into the draft pool needlessly.
4. The Competition: This is where you use some of your game theory strategies and tactics and attempt to guess who your opponents in the league may choose to keep and who they may let fall into the re-draft. You’ll have to balance out your pick number, especially in the first round, and who you choose yourself. Who you let fall back into the draft pool is a factor here, too, as you may choose to gamble and hope to get back your own player if you play your cards right.
5. The Draft Itself: If your particular league differentiates between positions, then you may choose to make up for any deficiencies left over from the keeper process using the draft. For example, if you decided to keep a bunch of great forwards and no D and perhaps only one goalie, then you’ll need to grab some D and G early on in the draft, lest you end up having a top heavy team and will inevitably end up sacrificing some key categories, depending on the statistical tabulation system of the league.
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