Thinking Out Loud / Setting the Market?

My team sucks. Yes Bill I know; my Superdraft team and my Oilers.

As coach Keenan was fond of saying, "There's never excuses, but there are reasons." As for the fantasy team, we're not here to make excuses. No point talking about reasons either. We'll leave that bullshit for Lowebellini (and The Sutter Family after the inevitable 1st round exit).

This is about moving on. Where do the Iffy's go from here?

Current Situation

SD2009 is lost. I'm 80 points out of first and 60 point out of 5th. The good news here is that the race is getting fairly tight at the top, which sounds like an exploitable scenario! Assets include:

Getzlaf ($5.125M 09-10, $5.125M 10-11, top 50, available to holdover, probable keeper)
Semin (5, 6, top 50, 2009 holdover, not a keeper)
Chara (7.5, 7.5, not top 50, 2009 holdover, not a keeper)
Hemsky (4.4, 4.5, not top 50, available to holdover, probable keeper) - injured season
Kotalik (3, 3, not top 50, available to holdover, unlikely keeper)
O'Sullivan (2.3875, 2.3875, not top 50, 2009 holdover, not a keeper)
Savard (5, 7, not top 50, available to holdover, probable keeper) - injured 4 weeks
Pavelski (1.725, RFA, non top 50, available to holdover, possible keeper)
Galiardi (.588, .6375, non top 50, available to holdover, possible keeper)
Demers (.535, .58, non top 50, available to holdover, probable keeper) - AHL/NHL
Foster (.6, UFA, non top 50, available to holdover, unlikely keeper)
Kronwall (3.25, 3.5, non top 50, available to holdover, probable keeper) - injured 2? weeks
Burns (3.4, 3.8, non top 50, available to holdover, possible keeper) - injured 2? weeks
Hickey (.875, .7875, nont top 50, available to holdover, possible keeper) - likely rookie D

February Free Agent Pick - projected to be top 3?

2010 1st, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Iffy)
2010 1st (BroLuvLuv)

Next Year Country

Probable Holdovers: Getzlaf, Hemsky, Savard, Kronwall, Demers ($20.7M)
Best Trade Assets: Getzlaf, Semin, Chara, Savard, Pavelski, Kotalik, Kronwall, Burns, Feb FA Pick, $14M salary available to add at the deadline

Trading Goals

Upgrade Holdovers and/or Draft Picks, to have 2 Top 50 players on the roster!

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NOTE: Listed below are not trades requiring approval, YET!

Outlaws

Holding a shrinking and intermittent lead, $9.5M available to add at deadline, desperate to get into the money this year? Doughty looks like the big prize here.

Chara, Semin, Foster/Demers for Doughty, Schneider, Michalek, Little/Berglund/Tkachuk/Alfy, depending on Outlaw's salary plans. Savard could also be in the mix for a good draft pick upgrade. The Feb FA draft pick could also be in play for the right price.

Chara doesn't cover Doughty's production, but Semin will be an upgrade in the active line-up.

Broker Bill

Looking to repeat and has briefly held the lead, $6.9M available to add at the deadline. I don't really have much to offer here, since Semin is an ineligible trade.

Chara, Kronwall if healthy, Savard if healthy for Green, Lidstrom, Frolov/Cogliano depending on Broker's salary plans. I'm assuming Lidstrom is packing it in after this attrocious season.

BroLuvLuv

I've already singlehandedly put him into scoring position and he can take on $4.2 M at the deadline. There's not much else I can do!

Perhaps Semin for Oshie, Hedman and the rest of his high draft picks would put him over the top, and finally make him a winner? (This is what Chad calls the annual Iffy trade deadline mind fuck.)

Howie

About 10 pts out of the money, with only $1.84M available to add at the trade deadline. This is someone I can help. Backstrom looks like the prize here, but the smart money says he'll enter the draft next year.

Semin and Lecavalier are pretty similar today, but there are about five million reasons why Semin would look better on Howie's team. Chara would be an upgrade over Rafalski, no? A healthy Kronwall could be had, but there would have to be a Backstrom in there somehow. Howie's high draft picks would definitely be in play. Maybe uni-nut would be a salary dump? Toronto ruined him.

These moves don't necessarily put Howie over the top, but maybe set him up for some other trades / FA pick-ups where he takes on salary.

Stadnicky

Currently 10 pts out of the money and putting up a pretty good case for a 4th place finish. can add $6.9M at the deadline. Stamkos would be a nice catch, no?

Maybe Stamkos and Vanek for Semin and Savard (when healthy)? Perhaps a guy could add on Chara/Kronwall for Gonchar? I don't know, I'm open to options. Maybe Getzlaf could be had for the right price?

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I think that covers the contenders. Whaddya think Tim? That's it right?

Call me!