Every Sunday this off-season, we'll share 20 Fantasy Thoughts from our writers at Dobber Hockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week's "Daily Ramblings".

Contributors: Dobber, Ian Gooding, Michael Clifford, and Neil Parker

1. Curious is the 26 goals Mikael Granlund scored, considering he had just 31 in his 240 career regular season games to that point. Obviously, shooing 14.7 percent in 2016-17 after shooting 7.8 percent from 2012-16 is the reason why. It’s the goal distribution which piqued my interest:

– Eleven (11) goals at five-on-five, only three more than his previous career-high of eight in 2014-15
– Seven (7) power-play goals   
–  Four (4) empty-net goals   
– Three (3) short-handed goals   
– One (1} goal at three-on-three

It’s the short-handed and empty-net goals that are concerning. He had one short-handed goal in his career before last season and two empty-net goals in those same 240 games. Obviously, being used more while short-handed than before will help here, as well as being used at the end of the game. But relying on those two categories to get over the 25-goal mark again is a mistake. It’s worth noting that he shot 8.21 percent at five-on-five, which is above his career average but not otherworldly.

Expecting more than 20 goals again from Granlund next year is a mistake for fantasy owners. Any number of things could offset the goal-scoring regression – more shots, more power-play time, a spike in five-on-five shooting percentage – but relying on any of these when norms have already been established doesn’t seem to be prudent. He can be a 20-goal, 60-point player again but that’s about as high as expectations should get.

2. The Devils had a sneaky good offseason adding Nico Hischier, Marcus Johansson, Mirco Mueller and Brian Boyle. Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Pavel Zacha and Adam Henrique or Travis Zajac combine with Hischier and Johansson to make a solid top-six group.

3. The biggest fantasy news out of Washington's off-season thus far is that Andre Burakovsky is going to be given an opportunity to take a huge step forward with a guaranteed top-six role. Additionally, with Justin Williams out of the picture, there is another vacant opportunity on the wing of the second line. Jakub Vrana is the obvious candidate but Stanislav Galiev and Brett Connolly could also be in the mix.

4. It will be interesting to see how – and if – Daniel Sprong, Derrick Pouliot and Tristan Jarry can slot in with the Penguins. Sprong and Pouliot have the potential to be huge additions for the Penguins, and maybe fantasy owners. Unfortunately, both are far from guaranteed to land roster spots and meaningful playing time at anytime next season.

5. Jussi Jokinen is a good signing for the Oilers. While he’s never been one to score in abundance, Jokinen is a good distributor and a good two-way forward. Getting that for cheap is a big plus for the depth up front.

I will say that this could be a headache for fantasy owners. There are so many options at each of the forward positions that line combinations could change on a nightly basis. Consider:

– The team has long wanted to put Leon Draisaitl at centre but that would push Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the third line, which seems a bit of a waste of cap space. Should they also want to use Ryan Strome as a centre, that would push Strome to the fourth line. Or they could put Strome on the top line with Connor McDavid.

– It would make sense to put Jokinen and RNH together as a shutdown-ish tandem. If they do that with Draisaitl staying alongside Connor McDavid, that would probably push Milan Lucic to the third line with Patrick Maroon staying on the top line, and I’m not sure they want to do that.

– Where do Anton Slephyshev and Jesse Puljujarvi play? With Maroon, Jokinen, and Lucic all left wingers, Slepyshev could end up on either the first or fourth line and that’s a gigantic chasm in fantasy relevance. Does Puljujarvi play a sheltered third-line role with Lucic and Strome? That would make sense but then that pushes Zack Kassian to the fourth line. Not necessarily a bad thing in the real world but bad for fantasy.

There are so many forwards that could play so many different roles for this team that at this point it’s hard to say anything with any degree of certainty other than ‘Connor McDavid is the first-line centre.’ Having depth is great for the franchise and its fans but it could be a headache all year long for fantasy owners.

6. After averaging nearly 20 goals and over 47 points each year from 2013-16, Oliver Ekman-Larsson managed just 12 goals and 39 points last year. There were off-ice issues related to the health of his mother, as well as injuries suffered throughout the year. There was also the fact that the Coyotes were very poor offensively.

Few teams likely improved as much in the off-season as Arizona did and with the younger players improving, things are looking up for the superstar blue liner. He should be drafted outside the top-10 defencemen and we’ve already seen his upside for years now. Don’t let him slide too far, though, as someone else at the draft table is likely to have the same thought.

7. It's hard not to get the sense that Columbus isn't finished tinkering. The roster remains virtually unchanged, and most of the players are in their offensive primes. Scott Hartnell's buyout opens the door for Oliver Bjorkstrand to play more meaningful minutes, and Bjorkstrand flashed upside with six goals and 10 points during a 17-game stretch late in the season.

The big question mark is whether Pierre-Luc Dubois can crack the roster and handle a bottom-six gig. Columbus has enough offensive pieces in place to succeed, but Dubios will probably need to take care of business in a supporting role for the Blue Jackets to take a notable leap forward. After all, a lot went right for them last year, and it still wasn't good enough.

Obviously, Sergei Bobrovsky is a prime candidate for negative regression. However, there is plenty of room for decline before it's a fantasy or real-world concern. Columbus also returns an excellent defense corps that is probably a little underrated and might also be its key to success next season.

8. The 2016-17 season was Shea Weber's eighth straight 82-game season with at least 10 goals and he’s averaged 17.5 goals over the last four years. He was also incredibly productive on the power play, with 12 goals and 22 points. As far as fantasy goes, he did his job.

The concern could be his 25 assists, his lowest mark in an 82-game season since 2007-08, and the first time finishing with fewer than 30 since 2009-10. This is just a guess but I think the team wants Weber to become an offensive catalyst on the blue line, rather than just a booming shot from the point (aside from what they ask him to do defensively). They’ll need him to be an offensive catalyst, given Andrei Markov’s apparent departure.

With the abundant ice time, both at five-on-five and on the power play, and his track record, there shouldn’t be much concern with Weber being dissimilar from what he managed last year. I do have concerns that the Habs won’t be a high-scoring team, though, so hoping for 50 points from Weber is probably a stretch. If he can get his 15 goals and 20-plus power-play points, however, he’ll be just fine in the fantasy game.

9. Losing Marcus Johansson when he’s entering his prime is one of the biggest mistakes of the off-season. But because Johansson and Justin Williams are gone, it is a huge opportunity to put up good numbers if you’re Brett Connolly or Andre Burakovsky. They stand to gain the most in Washington.

10. I love Nail Yakupov in Colorado. He’s in a situation where the team desperately needs another star and he has the potential to be one. So they will play the hell out of him with ideal linemates. He didn’t get much of that in St. Louis. He got it in Edmonton but the difference now is that he’s 23. It’s now or never for him and Colorado is one of about three of four teams where I really like the fit. I think he beats his career high of 33 points this year and is an upgrade to Mikhail Grigorenko.

11. If Alexander Radulov clicks with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, he could top 80 points. He didn’t have anywhere near that kind of talent to play with in Montreal.

12. Bottom line is goaltending. I don’t see Mike Smith as an upgrade to Brian Elliott. At least not the Elliott who showed up in the second half. But I do love what the Flames did when they brought in Travis Hamonic and re-signing Michael Stone. Check this out:

Mark Giordano – Hamonic
T.J. Brodie –  Dougie Hamilton            
??? – Stone

And if Rasmus Andersson is ready to make the jump in a bottom-pairing role, these six defensemen will be the envy of the league. And four of them are righties. Wow!

13. Silly season. Is Joe Thornton worth $8 million for one season? Dan Girardi gets $6 million over two years?

My favorite free agent signings:

1. Scott Hartnell to Nashville
2. Mike Cammalleri to Los Angeles
3. Beau Bennett to St. Louis
4. Alexander Burmistrov to Vancouver

What do these signings have in common? Each are under $1.5 million and are low risk with a likely reward.

14. I love the depth player signings of late. When a team helps out the AHL squad but at the same time sign an intriguing player who used to be highly-touted and may still have a bit of upside. Michael Sgarbossa to Winnipeg for $650k, Ty Rattie to Edmonton for $700k, Brad Hunt to Vegas for $650k, Ryan Murphy to Minnesota for $700k, Seth Griffith to Buffalo for $650k, Kenny Agostino to Boston for $875k, and Niklas Svedberg to Minnesota for $700k. I’d bet that at least one of these players makes some kind of NHL impact for at least a couple of months of the season.

15. Dmitry Kulikov will be an interesting case study in Winnipeg. His possession numbers have plummeted the past two years and even if you're not into plus/minus rating, his minus-26 mark last season stands out. It was the worst on the team and Kulikov only suited up for 47 games.

That said, Kulikov is an excellent skater and if he's healthy (a legitimate if), he can slide into this blue-line corps and be a nice fit. Remember, too, the Jets have a bevy of right-handed shots (Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers), so Kulikov will be playing with a solid partner.

It's still way too early to write off his recent struggles but it's not impossible to envision a path to success, either.

16. Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros should see closer to a timeshare split in 2017-18, and the duo has the potential to be a sound one-two punch with Saros pushing Rinne. The Predators have everything in place to prove that their run to the Stanley Cup finals was no fluke.

After all, the Filip Forsberg–Ryan Johansen–Viktor Arvidsson trio might have more in store offensively.

17. Entering next season, Radek Faksa, Brett Ritchie, Mattias Janmark, John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, Stephen Johns, and Julius Honka will be in the heart of their primes. For our fantasy interests, everything is already pointing straight up.

18. Having owned Steve Mason the last few seasons, I’ve noticed that he tends to play better when Neuvirth was injured. So having Connor Hellebuyck looking over his shoulder might not necessarily be a good thing. There’s also a very real chance that Mason ends the season with less than 50 games played. So all is not lost for Hellebuyck owners, as this should play out as one of the more interesting goaltending battles this season.

19. Anthony DeAngelo is currently ranked #2 on Dobber’s Top 50 Fantasy Hockey Prospects Defensemen. This was a well-deserved ranking, considering DeAngelo’s scoring upside and possible new role with the Rangers. That is, until Kevin Shattenkirk came into the picture.

There’s no doubt that Shattenkirk is the power-play QB that the Rangers have needed for a while. So with that news, DeAngelo will be in tough to make the roster at all, since he already possesses a skill set similar to Shattenkirk. Ten of DeAngelo’s 14 points came with the man advantage last season, so we can rightfully call DeAngelo a power-play specialist at the moment.

The Rangers very frequently use a four-forward one-defenseman power-play and the guy manning the point on the first unit last season was Ryan McDonagh.  It seems unlikely that he’ll be off the power play entirely, so DeAngelo will have his work cut out for him if he is to make the Rangers’ squad. Brady Skjei will also be looking for some power-play minutes. If the Rangers change to a 3F/2D power play, then things will open up for these blueliners. The additions of Shattenkirk and DeAngelo should at least make that idea a viable option.

20. On a fantasy level, salary cap leaguers that own Carey Price will need to build their team around him. So it will be imperative to those owners that he remain top-tier. If goaltending isn’t a major factor on your cap team, you may want to take the opportunity to shop Price before that contract kicks in at the start of the 2018-19 season.

Have a good week, folks!!