Jason Chen and Michael Amato debate Joel Eriksson Ek, Vincent Trocheck, Tage Thompson and Tim Stützle.
The Sleepers and Keepers fantasy hockey podcast hosts Jason Chen and Michael Amato answer a listener question:
Listen, if you have Joel Eriksson Ek and J.T. Miller at center in your banger league, you're going to do very, very well.
While Vincent Trocheck is having an awesome season, he's a tier below the others. Tage Thompson has tons of value, but it remains to be seen if he can be a 50-goal threat every season.
Tim Stützle is also a worthwhile keeper, but compared to Joel Eriksson Ek, the only advantage Stützle will have is in points.
Feb 19, 2024; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Vancouver Canucks center J.T. Miller (9) is pursued by Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek (14) behind the Wild net in the first period at Xcel Energy Center.Keeping defensemen as a keeper only makes sense if there are a lot of them being kept. In any single season, there's only a handful of elite ones worth keeping, headlined by Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. Evan Bouchard isn't quite in that tier yet, though he's certainly one of the few you can take in the early rounds.
Check out the full episode below on your preferred platform. New episodes drop every Monday at 11 a.m. Eastern.