Rambling about Martin Jones, my UFA rankings for this summer and more…

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Get the Fantasy Prospects Report here – it’s out now and you can download it one second after you buy it. Don’t fall behind!

I’m targeting June 12^th for the release of the update on the FPR. Included in the update: Some error fixes/missing hyperlinks/Addition of Rankings to the draftee player profiles/Mock Draft/and 10 new profiles – including one for Jake DeBrusk, who is easily the most popular player that was missed in the first release.

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Martin Jones had not impressed me in the least, prior to the Final. But man has he ever made up for it now. In fact, if the Sharks win the Cup, Jones is my new Conn Smythe winner (last round I thought Burns would be the winner). In fantasy hockey, many of you question why I have Jones ranked so high in my Top Goalie rankings (he’s third). Well, it’s not because I like him or that I’m a fan – in fact, I’m hard on him here quite a bit. But the fact remains that Jones is a goalie who doesn’t get hurt, plays on a team that wins a lot of games, and he gets 65 games per year. Only six goalies played that many games. Adding in Carey Price makes it seven. Of those seven, how many make you comfortable that they’ll stay healthy for the full season? Chop two or three off. Now how many (of what is left) are on teams that will win 43 games? Chop a couple more off. And that’s where I’m coming from. But this is for a points-only format without roster adjustments. Rankings would obviously change for leagues that had daily or weekly roster adjustments and an IR.

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Full respect for Peter DeBoer. I knew before the season even began that he was a good coach. After all, I think he did well when he was in Florida – he just had a horrible team. And with the Devils, well he took a pretty crappy team and guided them to the Final. And now he has the Sharks, which to me are a team that I’d rank around 10^th (though at the start of the year that would have been closer to 18^th) and he has them in the Final. And he didn’t even drag down the fantasy values to get them there. Joe Thornton is coming off his best fantasy season in years. Marc-Edouard Vlasic is suddenly a solid fantasy own. Brent Burns has joined the elite. Now that’s coaching that we fantasy owners can approve! In this copycat league, let’s hope that’s the direction all coaches go. You don’t need to slow down or trap the game.

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I know Gooding talked up the Alex Steen injury yesterday, but since it’s early June and it’s not like there are 100 other things to discuss, I’ll weigh in as well. He’s out until the start of October after having shoulder surgery, thereby likely missing all of training camp. It’s never a good thing to miss camp, especially if the player is injury prone (and Steen is King there). You run a greater risk of a groin injury if you fail to get in the proper training prior to the season starting. Steen had just two points in their last playoff series (six games) against San Jose, so I wonder if the shoulder problems coincided with something in the final Dallas game. He had 32 shots in 13 games before Game 7 against the Stars, but just one shot per game after that. Steen has been on a decline for several years now: 0.78, 0.86, 0.91 points-per-game average the last three years. Now 32 years old with a body that is breaking down, it’s unlikely that the trend will reverse.

Clicking Steen’s name will take you to his profile page, and now you might notice that the top of the page contains quick-links. These take you to his playoff stats, preseason stats, last year’s stats or the graphs page that charts his production. Still morphing this into the best fantasy player profile page on the Internet. We’ll keep working on it!

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In the AHL, Columbus’ minor league team – the Lake Erie Monsters – are steamrolling through the postseason. They’re currently 13-2 in the playoffs, 2-0 in the Final so far over Hershey. Lukas Sedlak, a sixth-round draft pick who was on nobody’s fantasy radar, has nine goals and 14 points in the 15 games. He’s never shown signs of this before in three AHL seasons and two QMJHL seasons, so I’m still inclined to call it a “hot streak”. But he’s earned himself a spot in my Fantasy Prospects Report as one of the 10 profiles I’ll add.

Oliver Bjorkstrand and Zack Werenski are the two players to keep an eye on. Both will get long looks in training camp in the fall and I tend to lean towards the defenseman Werenski as making the team. Bjorkstrand has 13 points in 15 games and Werenski has 12.

If Lake Erie can close out the series in four straight, while keeping the scores relatively low, then Connor Carrick will end up as the AHL playoff scoring leader. This despite being out after three rounds. And despite him being a defenseman.

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Breaking news from late last night – Linden Vey's father, Curtis Vey, has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. You may remember the story breaking a few weeks ago. His father, and his father's mistress, conspired to murder Linden Vey's mother. If that doesn't distract you from playing hockey…then I don't know what would. More details on that here.

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The prior Prospect Ramblings investigate the Casey Cizikas signing and the impact on Mathew Barzal and Michael Dal Colle, as well as a look at what’s going on in Russia…

And then the latest Prospect Ramblings looks at the NHL Draft Combine here. Frequent, frequent Ramblings over there now, if you hadn’t noticed…

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“JOOO-NAS DONSKOIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!” hahaha. This is awesome. Called by Finnish announcers:

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TSN lists their Top 30 UFA’s here. I’ll list my own personal order, because…why not? I’ve expanded the list to 44 and there are a couple of names you’ll see in there that you didn’t expect:

1. Steven Stamkos

2. Keith Yandle. Not sure why TSN had him eighth when he’s the best defenseman on the market in years. Easily No.2.

3. Milan Lucic

4. David Backes

5. Kyle Okposo

6. Alex Goligoski. Defensemen are so hard to acquire, so don’t underestimate their value in ‘real’ hockey.

7. Mikkel Boedker may not be the next best player, but his youth  and untapped potential put him higher.

8. Andrew Ladd

9. Loui Eriksson. Seven spots below TSN’s because I don’t trust last year’s numbers. After three years of 0.60 points-per-game average he jumps to 0.77 when his contract is up?

10. James Reimer. Arguably the best goalie on the market.

11. Frans Nielsen

12. Kris Russell

13. Eric Staal

14. Karri Ramo

15. Dan Hamhuis

16. Jiri Hudler

17. Troy Brouwer

18. Jason Demers

19. David Perron

20. Roman Polak

21. Teddy Purcell

22. Luke Schenn

23. Jonathan Marchessault – I was surprised to even see his name on the list, but he’s an underrated offensive player who deserves a shot in someone’s top six.

24. Mikko Koskinen – KHL juggernaut may have been biding his time in Russia until his NHL status flips from RFA to UFA. Could make a quick fantasy impact. Watch for his name this summer.

25. Jamie McGinn

26. Radim Vrbata

27. Kyle Quincey

28. Lee Stempniak

29. Dale Weise

30. Kris Versteeg

31. Brian Campbell

32. Alex Tanguay

33. Paul Gaustad

34. Jason Chimera – Another contract year, but the guy is a proven and useful checking-line player.

35. Chad Johnson

36. Patrick Eaves – Were it not for his injuries, he would have fantasy value.

37. Matt Cullen

38. Riley Nash

39. Matt Martin

40. Al Montoya

41. P.A. Parenteau

42. Cam Ward – I know I’ve trashed his worth here, on this list. But I don’t have a lot of optimism for Ward’s talent. Some team will give him a short but overpaying contract. And then they’ll learn their lesson.

43. Justin Fontaine

44. Jiri Tlusty (sucked last year…but then was out for the season – can we judge based on 30 games?)

Jimmy Vesey would immediately slot in at No.6 here, when he makes his free agent status official.

Don’t forget that we break down all the signings as soon as they happen – Free Agent Frenzy happens on Friday, July 1^st.

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Have a question for me? I’ve opened up the mailbag for today. Ask your fantasy hockey questions here.