July 19, 2014

Michael Amato

2014-07-19

Our Rick Roos has an article over at Puck Daddy looking at the free agent signings from a fantasy hockey standpoint. Give it a read!

The New York Rangers are dealing with a tough RFA situation right now as Derick Brassard, Chris Kreider, and Mats Zuccarello all still need to be signed. According to CapGeek, the Rangers have just over $13 million of space available and Zuccarello is looking for $4.5 million per season while Brassard wants $5.5. million. They should be able to get that done, but it won't leave a ton of wiggle room for Kreider and defenseman John Moore, who is also an RFA. Not to mention Derek Stepan and Carl Hagelin will need signing next summer, so New York will need to leave themselves some flexibility.

From a fantasy perspective the Rangers haven't done a lot to improve their forward lineup, other than the fact Martin St. Louis will be there for a full year now. However, I'd be worried about Brassard as an owner because of the loss of Benoit Pouliot. Those two really started to click last season with Brassard being the setup man. He'll really miss Pouliot's goal scoring.

Someone that could be a gem, though, is J.T. Miller. Some of the guys in their bottom six like Tanner Glass and Matthew Lombardi aren't exactly offensive stalwarts, so one would think someone with Miller's skill set will get more of a featured role this season. His numbers weren't great in limited action with the Rangers in 2013-14, but with Hartford of the American Hockey League he was better than a point per game player.

Here's an interesting piece from the Detroit Free Press showing Mike Babcock's response about his coaching style and if it is the reason the Detroit Red Wings have struggled to attract big name free agents in recent years.

“The way I look at it here, if you don’t want to be coached, don’t come here. If you want to be pushed to be the best that you can be, that’s what we do here. You know what? The proof is in the pudding."

It's hard to imagine that would actually be the case, considering Detroit's history of postseason success and the fact that Babcock has done such a great job with Team Canada at the Olympics, coaching players from all over the league. Still, it is a bit curious how the Wings have struggled to land a major name, especially on defense.

Beginning in 2014-15, if you fight twice in an AHL game, you’ll get a game misconduct. The current rule at the NHL level is three fights and you’re out of the game.

Count me in as a fan here as well. As many of you probably know I could care less about scraps, however, this has fantasy implications, too. Should the NHL go this route, and it seems a likely possibility given the fact it's an easy concession to make it look like they want to limit fighting, penalty minutes would obviously go down for most players. Fighting three times is rare, but changing it to two could make enforcers less likely to drop the gloves initially, in fear that they could be goaded into a second one and thus ejected.

How do you folks feel about these rules?

The Florida Panthers re-signed Dmitry Kulikov to a three-year, $13-million contract extension. Kulikov is a useful player for fantasy purposes as he's not great in any one category, but is decent in the majority of them. He played nearly 22 minutes per night last year and tallied eight goals. He's solid when it comes to shots on goal, hits, and blocks as well. His minus-26 rating was the worst on the team by a mile, though, but keep in mind the Panthers were terrible last year.

The Penguins also re-upped blue liner Simon Despres for two years. With Matt Niskanen leaving there could have been an opening to move up in the depth chart, but the signing of Christian Ehrhoff essentially ended that. Not a lot of value for Despres in the immediate future.

Tyler Seguin was at a charity golf tournament recently and took risky behaviour to a whole new level.