It’s not surprising that this team finished near the bottom last year, looking at the bigtime injuries that were sustained by the key players on the Renegades.  Those guys should all be healthy and ready to go now, so this is a fairly strong team.

In order to make a serious run at the title, we think he would have to pick up a stud and a half.  With every move, Ryan should be targeting players who produce goals and shots with decent PIM's and +/-.  His weak links at forward are Nick Palmieri and maybe Gerbe this year. 

We’re not fans of “specialist” players like Konopka because they might not be in play when they explode, and more than that an injury can completely derail you.  We favour a well-rounded team! 

So for the Renegades to seriously make some noise in the league this year he needs two things to happen: good health for his players, and all of his youth to take a pretty serious step forward.  There are quite a few players that could really make some noise, but it’s almost always a mistake to rely on young players to break out in order for a team to be successful.  Much better to have other plans in place, and if they work out, then it’s gravy.  On Ryan’s team, that refers to Kane, Ennis, Gerbe, Ekman-Larsson, and Turris.  With team needs of G, SOG, and PIM, Evander Kane should be on the “pry him from my cold dead hands or make me an offer that’s so lopsided I can’t possibly say no” list… when he matures, he will be outstanding in those areas.

Goalies are important but not super important in this setup.  Ryan is in good shape for now - he needs to think about succession for sure but he is close enough to the brass ring to not want to make an expensive move to land a goalie.  Whatever he does, he must not grab a goalie for the sake of more wins at the expense of GAA and SV%.  Neuvirth might be a nice target actually, as would Eddie Lack, who could probably be had more cheaply.

With the 1^st and 4^th overall picks in the draft, the Renegades have some good trade bait to move to make the team more competitive in the short term, or keeping them means some solid building for the future.  If he trades that first pick away then he has to make damn sure he gets full value back – anything less than a goalscorer with grit and the trade really isn’t worth it. 

It’s tough for us to tell if Ryan is close enough to make a run for the money.  He isn't far off if his roster stays healthy - so it's 50-50 that he should trade those picks.  After all, tucking in Nugent-Hopkins and perhaps a good D guy from this year's prospects would not be the worst thing in the world.  Failing landing a G/SOG stud via trade, it’s probably wise to keep his draft picks and reel in two soon to be stars from this last draft.  If Nugent-Hopkins makes it and plays with Hall and Eberle, then watch out!

That 20th pick is going to be tough to land much, but he should research the draft carefully - we suspect he does anyway.  He has to face the reality of 25 keepers next year again so a prospect goalie while building insurance is just going to take up a valuable roster spot for a run.  Whatever he does in the way of making picks, he needs to start thinking about trade values and what kind of deals he can make during the season to inch his way up.

One more big factor, if he sets the table for 2012-13: he can afford to release his first round pick for next year, so he has that card to play in trade as well.  Now it might be doable to get the player he needs with that pick, especially if he hypes the next years talented draft pool.  Since he placed 15th this season, someone might be foolish enough to think he is going to end up with a top 10 pick - he won't.

Well, Ryan has his options open.  If he wants to make a serious push for this year, he can do it by moving some of his future assets (picks and prospects) to fill in his team needs, which are G, SOG, and PIM.  If he can do that, he should be a strong competitor for the title.

On the other hand, he could just as easily address those categories if his youth take a step forward, this season – and most certainly for the next few seasons. 

The Geek team thinks that shopping to see what might come Ryan’s way for those primo picks in the draft is the starting point to making a decision as to the direction to go – if the return is satisfactory, then the push might be warranted.  But if the return looks to be marginal, then it’s probably best to hang onto the picks and grab the best fit players in the draft.  That doesn’t preclude trading those players at some point in the season if the price is right and a challenge for the cash is looking like a possibility.  

Over to you, Ryan!

Fantasy hockey is complicated, and to win you need to draft, trade, and value players well.

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