The Flames added some forward depth on Tuesday by signing forward Dominik Simon to a one-year contract worth $700k. He had 22 points in 64 games last year with Pittsburgh, and 28 points in 71 games the year before with that same franchise. He turned 26 in August and will still be RFA at the end of this contract, according to Cap Friendly.

It really is fortunate that Simon signed on this day, because I posted a Ramblings on our site about 12 hours prior to the signing that included a little tidbit on Simon. I also wrote about his defensive ability a couple weeks prior to that. Simon has firmly been on the radar here at Dobber Hockey, so let's talk about him.

What the Flames get

Contained in that first Ramblings was a discussion on Simon's shot assists, which are passes that lead to shots. Shot assists are known to help boost shooting percentage, so a player with a high shot-assist rate can generally help their line mates score. (Nothing is guaranteed, it's just a data point in the right direction.) Simon finished in the 93^rd percentile in the NHL in 2019-20, according to CJ Turtoro's viz on this. That is high for him; he finished 74^th percentile the year before and 78^th percentile the year before that. All the same, is three-year average is inside the 86^th percentile, and that's of interest to us. He does a little bit of everything else – shoot, transition – but playmaking sticks out.

Simon is a good playmaker who is solid defensively. There isn't a single thing that sticks out as elite, but nothing that sticks out as poor, either. He is a good player certainly worth an NHL roster spot.

The problem in Calgary is that the top-6 is pretty full. Assuming they stick with Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm and Mangiapane-Backlund-Tkachuk, then Simon is stuck in the bottom-6 and off the top power-play unit. A guy that doesn't hit or shoot a lot playing in the bottom-6 is unlikely to garner much fantasy value.

Where he might get value is if the lineup is jumbled. We saw that last year with Mangiapane playing third line (more so earlier in the year) or Lindholm dropping down. At that point, Simon has fantasy value in larger 12-team leagues. But, there are roadblocks, so it's unlikely to mean much in the fantasy realm out of the gate. He will be more of a waiver pickup once the season gets underway. I think there's a good chance he starts on the fourth line, so his fantasy impact on line mates is negligible.

Who this helps

Derek Ryan

Jacob Markstrom

Who this hurts

Joakim Nordstrom

Milan Lucic