Analyze my roster

I guess I should start with a disclaimer that no hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs or rodents of any type were harmed in the creation of this post.

It also is longer than the bible so I don't blame you if you want to quit now.

1st year of a very deep 16 team Yahoo! keeper league. End of season we can choose any 12 to keep with no restrictions.

The GWG and Hits were a last minute add (by popular opinion presumably) a couple days prior to the draft.

Something I failed to notice and a lack of physical players is reflected in the makeup of my roster.

This roster is almost the same as the one I had on draft day, I hate to admit making mistakes, is really the only justification I have for still holding Paajarvi but I look at what he did last year beginning in Dec. and still believe there is something there.

I added Abdelkader for hits after placing Perron on I.R.

Dropped Tedenby after a couple of weeks to add Moen for a bit more physicality and he paid off for a little while but given me nothing the last month or so.

						Offense
Pos		Forwards/Defensemen				G	A	+/-	PIM	PPP	GWG	SOG	HIT
C		Patrik Berglund (StL - C)				6	5	-4	8	1	1	58	33
C		Sam Gagner (Edm - C,RW)				3	9	0	15	4	0	48	9
C		Tyler Bozak (Tor - C)				6	12	2	16	7	0	43	33
LW		Ilya Kovalchuk (NJ - LW,RW)				9	12	-10	12	6	1	92	14
LW		David Perron (StL - LW)				1	2	-2	4	1	0	7	0
LW		Ryan Malone (TB - LW)				6	8	-2	20	5	1	50	47
RW		Evgeni Malkin (Pit - C,RW)				11	18	3	22	11	3	117	18
RW		Marian Gaborik (NYR - RW)				15	10	4	14	8	2	105	18
RW		T.J. Oshie (StL - C,RW)				9	10	6	20	3	1	65	33
W		David Jones (Col - RW)				7	7	-7	12	5	1	51	28
W		Lauri Korpikoski (Pho - LW)				6	6	3	8	0	1	61	26
W		Tyler Ennis (Buf - C,LW)				2	1	0	2	0	1	26	7
F		Frans Nielsen (NYI - C)				4	8	-1	2	3	1	42	3
F		Carl Hagelin (NYR - LW)				3	3	7	6	0	0	24	6
F		Justin Abdelkader (Det - LW)				2	4	1	22	0	1	42	59
D		Mark Streit (NYI - D)				2	14	-8	20	11	0	47	29
D		Dmitry Kulikov (Fla - D)				3	17	-3	16	8	1	54	42
D		Kyle Quincey (Col - D)				3	14	0	36	8	1	75	36
D		Stefan Elliott (Col - D)				3	1	-1	0	0	1	19	2
D		Mike Green (Was - D) DTD				3	3	1	0	3	1	18	7
D		Carlo Colaiacovo (StL - D)				1	6	4	4	3	1	13	11
BN		Brian Rolston (NYI - LW)				3	4	-6	4	1	1	66	28
BN		Travis Moen (Mon - LW)				8	2	3	28	0	0	32	48
BN		Braydon Coburn (Phi - D)				1	8	3	26	0	0	35	52
BN		Andrej Sekera (Buf - D)				1	5	2	12	0	0	30	19
BN		Magnus Paajarvi (Edm - LW)				0	3	-2	2	0	0	48	9
IR		Peter Regin (Ott - C,LW)				1	2	3	2	0	0	8	4
BN		Matt D'Agostini (StL - RW) DTD				6	5	13	10	2	2	54	19

Choosing 9th in our snake draft I was thrilled to get the player I have long (at least 3 years) believed to be truly the all around best in the game Evgeni Malkin.

While their were a couple of hiccups to begin the season he is starting to look like the old Geno again.

Evgeni Malkin is obviously #1 of my 12 long term keepers and not one I would want to trade

My thoughts on the other 11

2nd rd Mike Green I thought drafting the best young forward and offensive d-man in the league was a smart move at the time (still not admitting it was a mistake) and I don't think trading him is viable option at the moment

3rd rd I picked up Ilya Kovalchuk (who if he played every game the way he played last night vs the Panthers would be the most dangerous player in the game) he is heating up right on schedule

4th pick Marian Gaborik who if he can stay in the lineup for the entire season is a threat to be a top 10 player but should I move him while he is hot and healthy or are the Rangers depth and post season possibilities enough to keep him healthy.

Basically my top 4 picks I like to believe are all top 10 offensively capable Malkin and Kovie most of all.

The others as of now

5 (10th rd) David Perron (probably could have gotten him later but I thought he was the best Blues player before his concussion and hopefully will be again by the end of this year),

6 (8th rd) Tyler Ennis (not having seen many Sabre games, their announcers are really annoying, I didn't realize how small he really was, still I like the way he flies around the ice.

7 & 8 (12th & 13th rd) T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund I really had these 2 pegged for breakout years and top 40 if not better offensive numbers Oshie seems to be coming around hopefully Berglund will as well they do seem to be playing a much more physical game the last few weeks.

I waited on goaltending till 5th rd and grabbed my hopefully #1 for years to come James Reimer then in the 6th rd Craig Anderson because I wanted at least 2 keepers with solid starting gigs, wish it had been Mike Smith right now but given Anderson's history he can turn it around in a minute and stay hot for long stretches.

Pos	Goaltenders					W	GAA	SV*	SA*	SV%	SHO
G	Craig Anderson (Ott - G)					13	3.36	719	802	.897	0
G	Josh Harding (Min - G) DTD					7	2.14	331	355	.932	1
G	Tuukka Rask (Bos - G)					6	1.82	293	312	.939	1
BN	James Reimer (Tor - G)					5	2.75	233	259	.900	1
BN	Cory Schneider (Van - G)					7	2.02	365	391	.934	2

* not counting stats

My other future starters Rask (9th rd), Schneider (11th rd), and Harding, a waiver pickup in the first week don't know why anyone would drop him in a league that starts 3 goalies, are keeping me very competitive top 1/3 in all goal stats and that was all I was looking for.

My #9 keeper is a keeper James Reimer providing he proves as I believe he will that last season was no fluke to fill the other 3 slots

Tuukka Rask and Cory Schneider both have future #1 written all over them and Harding if he could stay healthy might be better than either one. Anderson if he comes up with a 2nd half comparable to last season would be difficult not to keep.

Sam Gagner (I wish he had Berglund's size) is a much more talented player than his draft position and early ankle injury slow start indicates, knowing how good depends somewhat on who he is skating with, I drafted him hoping the Oilers would deal him for a d-man so he could be a top line center somewhere as it looks like RNH has it locked down for now. Being on his wing isn't a bad place to be either. But Hall is back soon and what happens then??

Dmitry Kulikov and Stefan Elliott both look to be the real deal and good puck moving 1st unit PP d-men with hard accurate shots are hard to come by.

I really liked David Jones, Frans Nielsen, Peter Regin, Lauri Korpikoski, Magnus Paajarvi, Matt D'Agostini, Tyler Bozak and Kyle Quincey all as super sleeper type 45+ point guys this season.

Jones started well but so far only Q and Bozak have had any kind of sustained success, so far, which makes trading difficult as I believe they all are still better than their stats so far indicate.

Two problems at the moment

1) I am slowly climbing in Offensive cat's in 8th place (none of my players had that Kessel or Versteeg type start) but am falling perilously behind in 13th (4 pts) PIM's and 14th (3 pts) Hits

2) Perron, Gagner, Ennis, Colaiacovo, Regin, and Reimer all coming off I.R. at about the same time, I am 3 over the roster limit (I have my lineups set thru New Years) so I can neither drop or pickup without messing that up) so I have to either make a trade or drop 3 players to utilize my rosters in full.

There are some obvious droppable but I would prefer trading a few players to upgrade a position and add Hits and PIM's Ryan Malone really needs some help.

Paajarvi - is it an irrational hope that he will find his game again.

Moen (DTD) - has not done anything for 3 weeks now hurt

Andrej Sekera - not much help really

Braydon Coburn and Justin Abdelkader (but they hits people and I need that)

Brian Rolston might be an elder but still has PP time and puts the puck on net.

Carl Hagelin is my new man crush so leave him out of it. Is he faster than Ennis

So if you made it this far (I quit proofing halfway through) you likely believe I am insane but I can assure you I am not.

Your suggestions will be analyzed with just as much thought as I gave to the post.