Sidney Crosby silences his doubters, Washington's outlook for next season and a mix of news and notes, including a look at the goalie-starved Kings …

 

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Game 2 started with a four spot in the first period, and the first whistle was the result of a goal.

It was an exciting game throughout, but the scoring dried up.

Through regulation, the biggest fantasy observations were Jonathan Drouin doing Drouin, and Justin Schultz's play.

Here is what Mike Sullivan had to say about Schultz before the game Monday:

"Justin Schultz is a good player. I've said this all along. What he's brought to our team is his mobility, his ability to make a first pass. He sees the ice pretty well. He has good offensive instincts. He can help us on the power play. He joins the rush extremely well."

The quote was originally posted here, before the article was update. It seems odd to edit out the quote, but regardless, Schultz was solid for Pittsburgh through regulation Monday with three scoring chances and five shot attempts.

Assuming, as a restricted free agent, he re-signs with Pittsburgh, Schultz's fantasy value is going to skyrocket. He fits with the Penguins, and he seems to always be open off the rush. Plus, he appears to have the backing of his coach and is a competent power-play quarterback. Buy now, folks.

 

The fourth period of the game ended quickly with Sidney Crosby scoring his first career playoff-overtime goal.

Interestingly, there is more on that subject to follow.

 

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This wrap-up piece is a few days old now, but there are some interesting tidbits about the Capitals, and their prospects for next season.

The collected expectations of the team and strong sense of underachievement registered. Additionally, it seemed like a strong group internally.

Obviously, you never want to over scrutinize a fluff piece and extract fantasy analysis from it, but a quick look at the 2016-17 roster makes Washington nothing but contenders again next year.

There is plenty of cap space to re-up Marcus Johansson, Tom Wilson, Dmitry Orlov and Michael Latta, which leaves unrestricted free agents Jason Chimera and Mike Richards unsigned.

Chimera might be looking for a payday, but he is unlikely to land in a better situation, and at 37, why look elsewhere? Chimera expects to be back with the Caps.

Richards isn't a needle mover, and he likely won't return to the team.

So, as far as our fantasy pursuits are concerned, this is a team to stock pile from again.

Outside of points-only formats, Alex Ovechkin remains the No. 1 fantasy player next fall, and Braden Holtby is the No. 1 goalie, right?

Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson are top-tier-to-excellent options at their positions, and Matt Niskanen, Jason Williams and T.J. Oshie are roster locks.

Andre Burakovsky, Marcus Johansson and Philipp Grubauer are also likely to be owned in the majority of leagues.

What could happen, here, though, is that because the Capitals failed, again, there is more profit room baked into the perceived fantasy value of the secondary scorers.

This sounds simple enough, but it is often overlooked. In fantasy football, we want players attached to high-powered offenses, and in fantasy baseball the benefits of Coors Field have a tremendous impact on hitters. You want players attached to Washington next season.

They're going to have another monster regular season, and what happened this May or what happens next May doesn't impact your fantasy season next year. Load up where you can and hope to grab some discounts.

 

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Sticking with the Capitals, Washington Post beat Isabelle Khurshudyan tweeted out a number of quotes from general manager Brian MacLellan Monday.

Here is the full article.

Overall, MacLellan is happy with the core group, and will just be looking for minor tweaks to the supporting pieces, which he dubbed the ninth and/or 10th forward.

 

Here are a few of the tweets that didn't make it to the article:

 

MacLellan said Vrana projects as a top-six player. "I don’t know that next year’s necessarily the time for him, but we'll take a look."

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 16, 2016

 

More on Vrana from this week's The Journey.

 

 

MacLellan mentioned Chandler Stephenson as a guy who's "coming."

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 16, 2016

 

Chandler Stephenson was mentioned in both the article and the above tweet. His fantasy upside is limited, though, and he likely will serve in a fourth-line role, if he even cracks the club.

Stash Stephenson away as a long-term flier in cavernous keeper/dynasty formats.

 

 

MacLellan said the team missed Joel Ward. Plan going forward is to turn Tom Wilson into a Joel Ward-type player.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 16, 2016

 

Obviously, Tom Wilson elevating his game to a Joel Ward level seems to be asking a lot on the surface, but it isn't out of the question, either.

Wilson has seen extensive time with Jay Beagle and Jason Chimera during his three-year career. That isn't an offensively favorable trio, yet Wilson has improved his points-per-game mark and shots per game in each of the past two seasons, which aligns with his increase in ice time.

The biggest reason for suggesting Wilson could increase his production and jump 10 points is the potential of him jumping up the depth chart. There is some offensive upside here, albeit in the 30-35 point range.

Washington used its 2012 first-round selection on him, and the 2016-17 season will likely be the stage to find out if he can take another step forward. It'll be worth keeping tabs on the buzz around Wilson this summer, especially his new contract terms.

 

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Yohann Auvitu is generating interesting from multiple teams, according to Darren Dreger.

I posted in the forum asking for info.

 

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There were a couple of signings Monday.

Marcus Sorensen signed a one-year contract with the San Jose Sharks.

Here is a snap-shot analysis of Sorensen from Elite Prospects:

"An offensively skilled forward. Sörensen is a good skater and has fine puckhandling ability and soft hands. A pretty good scorer with some creativity. Of average size, but plays pretty big and gets involved physically"

I bet the Dobber Prospects dudes have something on him shortly.

 

*

 

And, Nashville signed Justin Kirkland to an entry-level contract Monday.

More on Kirkland here.

 

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Here is a snippet from a question and answer from Red Wings beat Ansar Khan of MLive.com.

Q: Do you know the status of Johan Franzen? Is he done or is there a chance to see him back in a Red Wings jersey? – Johannes

A: I think it's safe to assume he's done. I'd expect him to spend the final four seasons of his contract on long-term injured reserve, like Chris Pronger and Marc Savard. Franzen attended Game 5 of the Tampa Bay series and said his condition hasn't changed; he still experiences concussion symptoms on a regular basis whenever he tries to exert himself.

Franzen was an overrated fantasy contributor with just one 30-goal showing, and he also never hit the 60-point mark. However, he was consistently battling various ailments and had his best season at age 29. With those two factors in mind, his points-per-game mark was solid (0.61).

Plus, Franzen was at his best was in the spring. He posted 42 goals and 39 assists through 107 playoff games. He's a prime example of why we have to be wary of over emphasising postseason production.

Sometimes players are just solid during the regular season but absolute beasts (or mules) in the playoffs.

 

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Here is a quality read about the void of goaltending depth in the Los Angeles system.

With Jonathan Quick locked up for the next seven seasons, there isn't a lot of upward fantasy value here, but Jhonas Enroth is an unrestricted free agent, and Peter Budaj is the only other goal under contract for the 2016-17 season, according to GeneralFanager.com.

The Kings are a team clinging to competitiveness, so while this isn't a full endorsement to go grab Budaj this summer in cavernous keeper/dynasty leagues, he's an extremely cost-effective No. 2 goalie option for the Kings at just $600,000 against the cap.

And with 20 starts, Budaj would have value in the majority of seasonal leagues, that is if you believe Los Angeles will be a top-third team again next year, of course.

Personally, I suspect they're heading in the wrong direction but could escpae next year with another solid campaign. Nonetheless, they need a No. 2 goalie, and we need to keep tabs on who it is going to be.

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During Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown Monday, Glenn Healy called out Sidney Crosby for having just one goal in his past 19 home games, and then said the only positive for Crosby playing with Connor Sheary and Bryan Rust is that he doesn't have to play with Phil Kessel.

I'm assuming Healey meant home playoff games because Crosby entered the game Monday with seven goals through his latest 19 home games, and through his seven home playoff games this year, Crosby has a goal and six assists. The Penguins were also 5-2 at home in the playoffs before Monday.

I wonder if Healey knows Kessel is a point-per-game player in the playoffs during his career?

Or that Kessel had 20 goals and 31 assists through his past 57 games dating back to the regular season before the game Monday?

 

Then, Healy said the Lightning were the Stanley Cup favorites. His analysis was Crosby can't score goals at home, so Tampa Bay is better. Nice.

 

The Kessel jab was clearly an attempt at humor, but combined with the cracks at Crosby it highlights the far-to-common focus on cutting both down.

Since 2011-12, Kessel has been an elite scorer outside of the 2015 calendar year. During that span, he was just a far-better-than-most scorer. This isn't low-hanging fruit, either, it is stapling the blame of a once-reeling franchise onto the one player who never missed a game through his final five years and scored 151 goals with 188 assists over 376 games.

For Healy to pinpoint Corsby's lack of goals is absorbed given he is a point-per-game player at home and the captain of a team that had won five of seven home games this spring. I could understand the narrative if the theme was a lack of scoring, but Crosby's been solid. And Pittsburgh is now 6-2 at home this spring, and Crosby has two goals and six assists.

Kessel has six goals, eight assists and a plus-4 rating with a postivie CorsiFor percentage (50.3 percent at five-on-five) through 13 playoff games this year.

It was lazy and short-sighted analysis and it's been overdone. Aim higher.

 

***

 

Say, what?

 

"If I were Sidney Crosby right now, I'd watch the work ethic that Jonathan Drouin has on a nightly basis." – @Jeremy_Roenick

— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) May 17, 2016

 

***

 

Before we leave …

 

That was Sidney Crosby's first playoff OT winner. Fun fact: Mario Lemieux never had one.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 17, 2016

 

 

Thanks for tuning in, and be well, Dobberheads.