Ramblings: Giroux vs. Hall, Ranking Young Players (Aug. 6)

Not much news on Saturday, other than Nate Schmidt being awarded through arbitration a two-year contract worth $2.225 million per season. This is noteworthy because Schmidt was the only player this offseason who needed an arbitrator’s ruling for his new contract.

Schmidt was a valuable depth defenseman for the Capitals last season, although he is not particularly valuable in any fantasy category. He will have the chance to earn a more significant role with the Golden Knights this season.

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Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen has signed a three-year entry-level contract. The big (6’6”, 220 lb.) forward was the ninth overall pick of the in the 2017 draft. He’s at the World Junior Summer Showcase at the moment, so it will be interesting to see if we see him at the World Juniors this winter.

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Have you purchased your Fantasy Hockey Guide yet? If not, what are you waiting for? This guide includes both a PDF document and a draft list spreadsheet. Why? The PDF format allows updates to be made as they happen. The draft list spreadsheet allows editing, so you can mark players already drafted or unavailable for your draft, or mark the players you are interested in (by changing the font or cell color). Plus sorting and filtering tools. In other words, if you know some Excel tricks, you might be able to use it to its full capability (I know a few things about Excel because I used to teach it).

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Here are the last of the questions that were recently submitted via Twitter. Thanks again for your submissions, and hopefully this helps as you make your important fantasy hockey decisions shortly.
 

@Ian_Gooding Hi Ian, whom would you keep (8 keepers, 11 categories, 3 are GAA, SV% and W): Bobrovsky or Andersen? or both? Thanks

— Alexey Shelestenko (@akahamlet) August 2, 2017

I would try to keep both goalies if possible. But I asked Alexey if I could see the rest of his roster anyway.
 

Tarasenko
Kucherov
Ovechkin
Giroux
Hall
Byfuglien
Klingberg
Lee
Coyle
N Foligno
Marchessault
Radulov
Justin Schultz
Wennberg

Which 8?

— Alexey Shelestenko (@akahamlet) August 2, 2017

G, A, PPP, PIM, GWG, SOG, Hits, Blks
GAA, SV%, W

— Alexey Shelestenko (@akahamlet) August 2, 2017

Assuming there’s six I’d keep, the first three are easy: Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Ovechkin, and Nikita Kucherov are all top-20 options (and arguably even top-10 options), so they are the no-brainers. I don’t think I need to tell you how good they are at scoring. So I’d consider the next four you’ve listed for your final three slots.

Considering that three of your categories are physical (PIM, Hits, Blks), I’d retain Dustin Byfuglien. Big Buff finished 7^th in the NHL with 117 PIM and 31^st with 183 hits last season. Add to that the fact that he was a top-10 scorer among defensemen, and he’ll help your team a ton.

Assuming that you have several spots specifically for defensemen on your team, I’d also make room for John Klingberg. The resurgent Stars seem to be in for a big season, and it doesn’t appear that even Ken Hitchcock can drag Klingberg down. If you don’t have roster spots specifically for defensemen, I’d take both Claude Giroux and Taylor Hall instead of Klingberg. But if not…

Let’s use the Compare-a-Player tool for the last two from last season.

The physical categories are practically a wash, and game-winning goals are random. Based on last season, Hall appears to be more of the goal scorer and shot taker, while Giroux is stronger in assists and power-play points. But when I went further back to assess both players, it was difficult to draw any conclusions about where to go with this based on numbers alone.

With this being a keeper league, I think the deciding factor here is age. Giroux is nearly four years older than Hall, and as mentioned earlier we might be already seeing an age-related decline in Giroux’s production. Hall has battled injuries throughout his career, so maybe we haven’t quite seen his upside yet. With that in mind, Hall is probably the player you are less likely to drop in a year or two, so he’s the player I would make my final keeper.

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@Ian_Gooding thoughts on better own dynasty league points only: Beauvillier, Abramov, or Labanc?

— Rob Allison (@roballison41) August 2, 2017

I would rank these three as follows: Kevin Labanc, Anthony Beauvillier, Vitali Abramov.

One reason that Labanc is my top pick is that he appears to be the best own of the three this coming season. Labanc is a solid sleeper pick this season, as he appeared to be right at home last season in his time with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton. I recently acquired Labanc in my keeper league, one reason being his massive numbers in the OHL (127 points in his final season) and his point-per-game numbers in the AHL (19 points in 19 games). With Marleau gone and the Sharks possibly looking to get younger, look for Labanc to be solidified in the top 9 all season.

Beauvillier played 66 games last season with the Islanders, scoring 24 points. He projects as a third-line center for the Islanders, although he could turn out to be a sleeper if he can connect with another youngster like Josh Ho-Sang. He didn’t score 100 points in a season in the QMJHL, but he finished with 94 points one season and 79 in another season where he played just 47 games.

For those who don’t know much about Vitalii Abramov, he was the Blue Jackets’ third-round pick in 2016. He has been a great scorer in the QMJHL (over 100 points last season), but his size is a concern (5’9”, 170 lbs.) (Having said that, all three of these forwards are on the smaller side.) With the Jackets boasting a deep crop of young forwards, Abramov is at least another year or two away from cracking the NHL. He is certainly a player to watch going forward though.

On a side note, the player I traded away to acquire Labanc was Sonny Milano. I made the trade because I had a excess number of left wings and a relatively low number of right wings, and my counterpart was in the opposite boat. With 47 points in 63 games last season in the AHL, Milano looks like he might be ready to make the jump to the NHL this season. Unfortunately, the space may not be there on a deep Columbus forward attack. (Draft guide teaser: Dobber has Milano at a 40 percent chance of making the NHL team. All prospects are given a number from 0% to 100%.)

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For more fantasy hockey information, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.