Welcome back to Forum Buzz, where I peruse the DobberHockey Forums and weigh in on active, heavily debated, or otherwise relevant recent threads, reminding folks just how great a resource the Forums are. Nearly anything might be covered here, other than trades and signings, which usually get their own separate write-ups on the main site and are also normally covered in the next day’s Ramblings, or questions that are specific to salary cap issues, which is the domain of Alex MacLean’s weekly Capped column. As a reminder, to access the actual forum thread on which a question is based, click on the “Topic” for that question.

Topic #1 – In an ESPN ten team league where 24 are rostered (+2IR), 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 5D, 2G, 1UTIL start, 20 are kept, and the following categories are scored: G, A, PTS, +/-, PIM, PPA, PPG, D PTS – W, SV, SV%, is Jakub Chychrun a keep over Kevin Shattenkirk?

Had Shattenkirk landed nearly anywhere else or if Oliver Ekman-Larsson in fact been traded, I'd have said Chychrun was the slam dunk keeper; however, in Anaheim Shatty figures to get top PP minutes and deployment conducive to scoring. He also tends to start very strong before fading, so if he does indeed do that yet again he could be a nice asset on which to sell high.

The question is, does it nevertheless make sense to keep Chychrun? For one, I think there's still a good chance OEL gets traded before, during or after 2020-21. When it comes to trades, where there's smoke there's usually fire. And with Arizona in the midst of a rebuild, they will try to get what they can for OEL while he's still a valuable asset. Although OEL has a no-movement clause, if push came to shove between wanting to help his team and trying to be moved to a squad with Stanley Cup potential, he'd probably waive it, as he seemingly was prepared to do before free agency began this offseason. Long story short, when assessing Chychrun's actual and potential value, one should at least consider a world in which OEL is no longer around in the near future.

Moreover, even with OEL present, Chychrun's points per game and SOG improved in each of the past two seasons. Chychrun also saw a full two minutes more TOI per game in 2019-20 versus 2018-19. Another key is the PP. OEL saw the 24th most PP minutes among all NHL defensemen in 2019-20, yet only tied for the 53rd most PPPts, whereas Chychrun saw the 44th most PP minutes but tied for the 46th most PPPts. Given this, even if OEL stays in the fold I'd expect Chychrun to get more PP minutes, perhaps supplanting OEL on the top unit.

Chychrun also has some very favorable comparisons if we look at defensemen who, like him and since 2000-01, had skated in 200+ games, had 80+ points, and took 500+ SOG all by age 22. Of the ten who meet the criteria and have already turned 25, eight had scored 50+ points in a season by that age. In other words, Chychrun's accomplishments thus far signify better things to come very soon, with or without OEL in the fold.

All things considered, I'm probably keeping Chychrun here, as with 20 keepers, the risk/reward is safe to assume. Shattenkirk would be decent to own and try to flip, but not at the cost of losing Chychrun just as he could be on the cusp of really breaking out.

Topic #2 – In a 12 team league with categories of G, A, +/-, PPPts, GWG, SOG, HIT, BLK, W, GAA, SV, SV% and rosters of 4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 2G, 8 Bench, who would the ten keepers be from the following list:

C: Nathan MacKinnon, Jack Eichel, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins (LW) Anthony Cirelli, Vincent Trocheck
LW: Andrei Svechnikov (RW), JT Miller (RW), Kevin Fiala (RW), Jeff Skinner
RW: Anthony Mantha (LW), Brendan Gallagher, Kyle Palmieri, Jason Zucker (LW)
D: John Carlson, Quinn Hughes, Erik Karlsson, Ivan Provorov, Alex Edler, Duncan Keith, Oscar Klefbom, Ryan Graves
G: Tristan Jarry, Jaroslav Halak, Antii Raanta

The poster said he or she was settled on MacKinnon, Eichel, Svechnikov, Miller, Carlson, and Hughes. I agree that all are "no brainers," except perhaps Miller. I'm not saying Miller shouldn't be a keep, only that he's not a lock without looking at everyone else first.

Based on the categories and other options, Jarry must be kept. While it's not known how many goalies are in the starting line-up nor how many goalie starts are needed, the reality is a third of all categories are goalie-related despite goalies occupying a small percentage of roster spots. Plus, with 120 players being kept, I'd venture that most teams will keep a minimum of one goalie, and maybe opt for retaining two. Thus, if there are too many viable skater keepers, one thing to consider is potentially making a trade to try and land a second goalie keeper. Doing so also would provide some insurance in case Jarry, who's never been a #1 guy, falters.

Who are guys that pass the sniff test as potential keepers in addition to the five sure things plus Jarry? RNH, Miller, Fiala, Mantha, and Karlsson. I'd have put Provorov in the mix had the Flyers not gone out and grabbed Erik Gustafsson ostensibly to run the PP. Yes, Provorov did so quite well last season and seems like he has the tools to be a Shea Weber or Drew Doughty type who excels in all areas; but the Flyers seem to want Provorov to focus on defense first, which is not surprising in an Alain Vigneault system. As such, Provorov's value takes enough of a hit as to not be in the mix. Gallagher is a SOG machine and can score goals, which is nice in this league. But he simply does not score enough to be considered over the other options in a non-cap league. And I'm not factoring in Palmieri either, since as I noted in my Bubble Keeper week edition of Goldipucks his consistency is great but signs are pointing toward it ending, plus his Hits have been dropping and his SOG rate fell considerably in 2019-20.

Who, then, doesn't make the cut from RNH, Miller, Fiala, Mantha and Karlsson? I do think Miller is a keep. His scoring jumped big time in 2019-20, but his shooting percentage and IPPs were within his normal ranges. The big key was his OZ% climbing to 60%, which I don't see changing. He also has room to shoot more, so I'd say point per game scoring should be his floor going forward, with a real chance at becoming a 90+ point player, especially if fellow linemate Elias Pettersson turns into the superstar most think he'll become. I'm also holding onto RNH, who had 41 points in his final 30 games and 81 SOG in his last 23. Chances are also that he'll enter 2020-21 without a contract extension, providing him all the more motivation to play well.

Fiala is a superb talent, but his situation is not great. He plays for one of two teams (Montreal the other) which, for the second season in a row, had no forward receiving either 19:00 TOI per game nor 3:00 per game on the PP. Plus, everyone who played center on a line with him is gone, as in no more Eric Staal, Mikko Koivu or even Ryan Donato, with the Wild not really bringing in anyone other than the unremarkable Marcus Johansson to replace them. I fear that Fiala will have a tough time cracking 70 points under the circumstances.

As for Mantha, the past two seasons have seen his games played drop but his scoring rate surge. He has arrived as a premier big man in the NHL. But like Fiala, he has some warts, most notably his injury history, but also his team, which figures to struggle for at least a season or two more until it has better talent and depth. If Mantha had a healthy track record, he'd be the definite pick over Fiala, but as it stands they're very close.

That leaves Karlsson, whom I discussed extensively in my last Forum Buzz column. Even with his injuries over the past two seasons, only six other defensemen who played 100+ games had a better cumulative point per game rate than his .78. And with Karlsson supposedly back to full health and Brent Burns looking like age has caught up to him, Karlsson should be deployed in a manner that allows him to score in droves.

So who doesn't make it out of Karlsson, Mantha, and Fiala? I'm retaining Karlsson, as his upside is just too high plus it would be wise to have more than one defenseman keeper inasmuch as six need to be rostered. Mantha and Fiala are so close, and they even have the same positional eligibility. In the end, I'll go with Mantha due to better peripherals but also because I think that Detroit is closer to being a decent team than Minnesota is to jettisoning its stingy forward ice time policy. Plus, Mantha has a great center in Dylan Larkin, while Fiala has Johansson, who we can all agree is no Larkin.

Lastly, is there a chance to trade non-retained assets to get a second goalie? An option would be to trade Mantha and/or Fiala, plus perhaps Provorov, to land a second goalie, whom I'd then retain instead of Mantha.

Topic #3 – In a 14 team keep 12 league where 4F, 8W, 6D, and 2G start and categories are G(1), A(1), SOG(0.1), HIT(0.1), BLK(0.1), PPPt(0.5), +/-(0.25), in what order should Shea Theodore, Ryan Ellis, Seth Jones, and Tony DeAngelo be ranked, and are any of them good enough to trade away Travis Konecny or Filip Forsberg in order to obtain?

Theodore showed he was elite during last season, but especially the playoffs. Might that change with the arrival of Alex Pietrangelo, who is used to being "the guy" on the blueline, getting PP1 time to go along with tough minutes? Here's my take – I think Theodore hurts Pietrangelo much more than vice versa. After all, Theodore already was not seeing any PK time despite playing 22:14 per game and had a 59.1% OZ%. All that I foresee perhaps changing with the arrival of Pietrangelo is Theodore's TOI, which might drop somewhat. Basically, Pietrangelo's presence will allow Vegas to use Theodore much in the way Boston did with Torey Krug, who we all know was able to thrive. So Theodore is first among the group of these four d-men by a wide margin.

Readers of Roos Lets Loose by now know that I foresee a drop in production for DeAngelo. For the full story, review this Goldipucks column. In short, DeAngelo's SOG, IPP and TOI numbers, not to mention being a teammate of another offensively gifted defenseman, make it so scoring even at a 50 point pace in 2020-21 is not a guarantee. Yet still that likely puts him ahead of Ellis, who although he's scored at a 60+ point pace twice in the past two seasons, has also scored at a 41 and 44 pace in the other two of his most recent four. With Roman Josi being the top option for blueline scoring and Mattias Ekholm also in the mix, Eliis is likely a 45-50 point d-man, plus someone with an injury track record that should only get worse as he turns 30 next month.

That just leaves Jones, who after scoring at a 60 point pace two seasons ago has seen his rate of production drop in 2018-19 to 50 points and then to 44 in 2019-20. The explanation does not lie in his ice times, but likely more so in his declining SOG rate. Also, his overall IPP in his 60 point season was very high, and his IPP on the PP dropped in each of the past two seasons as well, explaining why his share of PP minutes fell in each of those campaigns. Jones is a very good rearguard; but the presence of Zach Werenski, who isn't as complete of a player as Jones, will serve to keep Jones from becoming a truly elite fantasy d-man, instead of being more of a 45 point guy, ranking him, like Ellis, a notch below Deangelo.

So in short, Ellis and Jones are more complete and "better" defensemen than DeAngelo, who will almost assuredly see a drop in production. Yet the drop won't be so substantial as to put him below Ellis and Jones, who suffer too much from not being the top option for blueline offense on their respective teams.

As to whether I'd part with Konecny or Forsberg to get any of these guys, Konecny is only going to get better and has winger eligibility. Would a Theodore for Konecny deal be fair, on paper? Yes, but I probably stick with Konecny unless I have significant depth at winger and not enough at defense. Forsberg, although still only 26, seems to have settled into a 60 point player, but one who hits and shoots a good amount. For sure I'd trade him to get Theodore, and I'd likely gamble on him for DeAngelo too, hoping DeAngelo's stats don't plummet too much or that he goes to a new team where he can be the top blueline offensive option. Forsberg for Ellis or Jones would be largely lateral moves that would make sense only if there was a positional need. If dealing Forsberg for one of the two though, I'd choose the younger Jones.

Topic #4 – In a 10 team salary cap league, 50 player max, where 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D and 2G dress weekly and categories are G, A, W, SO, -GA the following players are owned:

LW: Johnny Gaudreau, Calle Jarnkrok, Jaden Schwartz, Dylan Sikura, Jakub Vrana Zach Sanford, Sonny Milano, Oskar Lindblom
C: Claude Giroux, Colin White, Sean Monahan, Vincent Trocheck, Ryan O’Reilly, Dylan Strome
RW: Oliver Bjorkstrand, Dominik Kahun, Alex Tuch, Blake Wheeler, David Perron, Dennis Gurianov
D: Oscar Klefbom, Ryan Ellis, Thomas Chabot, Travis Sanheim, Shea Theodore, Colton Parayko, Mikael Sergachev
G: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Braden Holtby, Ilya Sorokin, Kaapo Kahkonen, Igor Shesterkin

The GM has the opportunity to trade Holtby for a defenseman (Jakub Zboril, Devon Toews, Sean Walker, Mirco Mueller, Nick Leddy, or Erik Gustafsson) and/or a forward (Mike Hoffman, Peter Cehlarik, Taylor Hall, Ondrej Palat, Tanner Pearson, Max Pacioretty, Anthony Mantha, Brett Connolly, Zack MacEwen, Cam Atkinson, Patrick Kane, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Brock Boeser, T.J. Oshie, Steven Stamkos, Leon Draisaitl, Mark Scheifele). What trade would be beneficial, yet also likely to get accepted by the other team?

The threshold question is whether Holtby is safe to trade. This is a league where goalie stats matter big time; however, with only two dressing weekly, Holtby's value unlikely to climb, and the depth this team has in net, I think Holtby is indeed safe to deal away.

In terms of figuring out who to target, I'd try to get Gustafsson as part of the deal, since if he doesn't pan out it won't hurt but if he reverts back to anything close to what he showed in 2018-19 then it will be a steal. In other words, he's a risk/reward guy, but a risk worth assuming.

Who, then, would be the other piece? I'd try to go younger, as this team has core strength in net around which to build, but some ageing forwards. I'd start with Boeser, as he's likely not too expensive due to coming off what was seen as a down year. The key is, as noted in my most recent mailbag column, what Boeser did before age 21 in terms of points, SOG and points per game put him in a class with players who, as they have aged, have become elite. If the fellow GM won't deal Boeser, then I gamble on Mantha. As noted above, he's come into his own and, more importantly, this is a very deep league such that if (when?) Mantha gets hurt there should be ample players to replace him. 

Topic #5 – In a 13 team keep 15 league that scores G(25), A(25), PPP(10), SHG(20), GWG(20), +/-(10), PIM(3), SOG(2), W(50), GA(-15), SV(2), SO(50) as categories, who should the keepers be from this list:

Forwards (Start 9): Brad Marchand, Blake Wheeler, Mika Zibanejad, Teuvo Teravainen, Jonathan Huberdeau, Claude Giroux, JT Miller, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Strome, Tyler Bertuzzi, Evgeni Dadonov, Mikael Backlund

Defensemen (Start 4): Shea Weber, Jacob Trouba, Cale Makar, Duncan Keith, Matt Niskanen, Alex Martinez, Mark Giordano, Matt Grzelcyk

Goalies (Start 2; 4 maximum per team): Tristan Jarry, Ilya Sorokin, Semyon Varlamov.

The poster expressed a very strong desire to keep all three goalies due to a history of goalies commanding significant value and thus being hard to obtain/draft. My concern is, when you get down to brass tacks goalie scoring is not that significant. Take Varlamov for example. He was tied for 24th in wins but gave up the 16th most goals while also finishing 16th in saves and tied for 17th in shutouts. So he was a middle of the pack netminder for this league, and his total fantasy points for 2019-20 were 1736.

Compare that to a guy like Backlund, who I think we can all agree is likely one of the "worst" forwards on the list. But guess what – his fantasy points for 2019-20 were 1721, or a mere 15 fewer than Varlamov!

So I get that goalies command a premium; however, are they really worth it? Yes, if they start a ton of games like Jarry figures to do; however, the two Islander netminders are likely to each start between 40 and 60% of their team's games. Is that enough value to justify keeping one or both? I get that to some extent goalies are kept as much because there is a fear that if they're not then all that will be left come draft day will be scraps. But I'm putting the two Isles goalies down as maybes, depending on what the skater crop looks like.

In getting from the 24 players listed to the 15 to be kept, it sounds simple but the focus should be on whether the player is a slam-dunk top 150 player in this league format. If yes, keep, if not, don't. If maybe, then see how many other maybes there are and go from there.

Starting with defense, there is only one auto-keep in Makar. What about the rest? Niskanen gets ruled out right away, as he retired. Martinez is not even close. Keith could end up running PP1 for the Hawks; however, he also could be pushed into even more of a defensive role, which, on a rebuilding team, is not the kind of player to keep. Grzelcyk could become a top 150 guy if he hits the PP lottery, but that's an if, so he's a redraft. That leaves Trouba, Giordano and Weber. If this was two years ago Weber and Gio for sure would have been kept; however, both are showing signs of their age. Yet Gio has no immediate challengers to his "spot" and Weber, even if he cedes PP1 to Jeff Petry, will get lots of PP time in a Claude Julien system plus his peripherals are as strong as ever. Each also has name value, making it so it would be harder to redraft them. I'll put them as maybes. Trouba has superb peripherals; however, even on the Rangers, he managed to score at just a 30 point pace. With his situation not likely to improve, that puts him a notch below Weber and Gio.

Forwards definitely is where the strength of this team lies. I could see a case to be made for most of them; but with only nine starting, there is such a thing as keeping too many. Guys I subtract are Backlund, who's steady and solid, but not keeper material. Dadonov concerns me due to his team and possible post-UFA complacency. I covered Bertuzzi in a Goldipucks column earlier this year, where I laid out concerns that he's situationally good, and, hence, if his situation changes he could see his points crater. All three of those are likely redrafts. I also think that Toews is in danger of losing his PP1 gig and, in the midst of a rebuild, might do what he can to help foster the young talent on the team. Strome is arguably not a better player than any of these four; but he has something none of them do, and that's a leash to Artemi Panarin. Still, that is not set in stone even with Strome's newly signed deal. He's a maybe. The remaining eight (Marchand, Wheeler, Zibs, TT, Huberdeau, Giroux, Miller, and RNH) are all locks.

So with locked in keepers (eight forwards, one defensemen, one goalie), that leaves five more spots. And going back to the maybes, it turns out there were five – Weber, Giordano, Strome, Sorokin and Varlamov. I still think non-workhorse goalies are not as valuable as they seem, but they make more sense as keepers than the other remaining options, so they make the cut.

Topic #6 – In a 12 Team, H2H, Keep 6, 2C, 2RW, 2LW, 1Util, 3G, 6 Bench, with categories of G, A, PPP, SOG, FOW, HIT, BLK; W, GAA, SV%, SHO, and 4 weekly starts plus 4 weekly acquisitions, a GM traded away Andrei Vasilevskiy and William Nylander for Artemi Panarin and Mitch Marner and now wants to get Vas back, and can do so for the cost of Mark Scheifele, Marner and Ilya Sorokin for Vas plus Clayton Keller and Nicolaj Ehlers. The keepers for the GM would be Connor McDavid, Brad Marchand, Panarin, Evgeni Malkin, plus, if obtained, Vas and another player, perhaps Kris Letang. Is this a trade that should be made?

Spoiler alert – the GM did make the deal; and from where I sit, it was the right move. Giving up Marner stings; however, the GM leveraged Marner to net Panarin, who's older than Marner but likely better, as I fear Marner has hit his ceiling in Toronto, a team which is great because it scores a ton of goals but also not so great because it has so many talented players there to grab those points. And as talented as Marner is, he's already a 70-75% IPP player and on Toronto that means 90-95 points, which is Panarin's floor. And I think trading Nylander was smart as well, since not only was Nylander's shooting percentage elevated but he hit just one post and one crossbar in 2019-20, making his goal total likely even more inflated. And if Nylander is indeed traded from Toronto, his value could suffer.

Plus, this is a team that has huge offensive firepower among keepers anyway, so the loss of Marner is not a huge blow as compared to the boost provided by Vas. Scheifele also didn't measure up as a keeper, as although he's had four straight point per game seasons, his highest points per game rate in any of them was 1.04, which lags well below that of the other keeper options. Sorokin might have a bright future; however, Semyon Varlamov is not going anywhere, and the Islanders have shown that even when one goalie is playing great, they do not like to lean on him extensively. In other words, even if/when Sorokin pans out, he won't be in the same echelon as Vas, who's elite and a workhorse.

And yes, it's clear that neither Ehlers nor Keller will be kept, making the current deal essentially Vas for Scheifele, Marner and Sorokin; but Panarin not needing to be part of the trade and the only real keeper material player being lost in Marner, who already netted the team Panarin and likely has hit his ceiling, makes the deal worthwhile. The real question is whether the GM would do the same thing all over again, and under these circumstances, I might, as combining the two trades together and subtracting Vas and Marner, who both changed sides twice, it's Scheifele, Nylander and Sorokin for Panarin, Ehlers and Keller, which is a win for the Panarin side, who just so happens to have Vas back when the music stopped.

Topic #7 – How do the following players rank in a points only league: Brock Nelson, Pavel Buchnevich, Anthony Cirelli, Christian Dvorak?

Of the four, Nelson has shown the most, following up a 65 point scoring pace during the regular season with a 67 point pace in 22 playoff contests. That's a large enough sample size to prove a player's worth, particularly when that player still has potential room for more ice time and SOG. But what worries me is Nelson is a second-line center and not on PP1. Also, his OZ% has been dropping as his scoring has risen, which is something not usually seen. Still, his IPP and shooting percentage was within his usual ranges. All things considered, Nelson's 65 point pace seems right where he should be for 2020-21.

Buchnevich had a rocky few seasons; yet as we look back, all he's done is up his scoring pace with each passing campaign, plus he ended the 2019-20 regular season with 20 points in his last 18 games and finished with a seven-game point streak during which he received PP1 minutes in every game. And although 2020-21 was his "magical fourth season," his games played total puts him just above his breakout threshold, making it quite possible that what we were seeing at the end of 2019-20 was a sign of things to come, particularly since he seems to finally have earned the trust of the coaching staff. Had he played 20-30 more games, I feel we'd be talking about him like we are now about Kevin Fiala, another player who had effort issues but when it all clicked he thrived. The difference is Buchnevich will be on a potent PP1 plus skate at even strength with either Mika Zibanejad or Artemi Panarin. I put him above Nelson, as I think Buchnevich should easily hit a 70 point pace in 2020-21, with a realistic shot at even more.

While Cirelli has shown skill and fits well within Tampa's top nine, I feel that he's being made out to be better than he is due to all the fuss about getting his contract signed. Plus, no matter how good he is he won't be the #1 center in Tampa, as that role will be filled by Steven Stamkos or Brayden Point. I see Cirelli's ceiling as similar to Nelson's, but not for several more years, so he is in the second tier.

Dvorak on the other hand could emerge as the #1 center in Arizona. But it's Arizona, a team which, on paper, will struggle to score at even strength and on the PP. Dvorak should step up and be productive; but he'll be limited by his circumstances, probably to an extent that he too won't be able to top 65 points and even that not for a couple more seasons.

In sum, I'm taking Buchnevich first, as I like his situation and trends the best. Nelson is second due to him having the highest floor. Dvorak and Cirelli are a notch below, as they likely won't hit 60-65 points for another season or two or more.

Topic #8 – For a points only league, who's the better keeper, Alex DeBrincat, Sean Couturier or Victor Olofsson?

One thing not made clear is whether positions matter or, instead, the league just has forwards all grouped together. That's relevant as it could reduce Couturier's value due to him being a pure center, which is the deepest position in fantasy. How deep? Among players who skated in at least 40 games last season, the 25th best center in points per game had 0.84, whereas the 25th best LW, which is the position for DeBrincat and Olofsson, had 0.72.

Olofsson had an impressive rookie campaign, scoring at a 64 point full season pace and potting 11 PPGs in 54 contests. But he did so while he was 24 years old; and looking a the 14 rookies who were 24+ years old and averaged 0.6 points per game or better since 1990-91, eight never topped their rookie rate, with none of the eight hitting 50 points again, and more than half of the eight not ever having even another season of point per every other game output. Also, if we focus on Olofsson's impressive PPG total, we have to go back to 2005-06 to find another rookie who had more PPGs per game. And in that season there were two, Alex Ovechkin and……Michel Oulett. The big difference? Ovi did it at age 20 while Oulett was 23, and was gone from the NHL by age 27. So although Olofsson may become a good player, I'm wary of him due to the age at which he did what he did.

As for the other two, Couturier – like Mark Stone and Mark Scheifele – is what I like to call a WYSIWYG player, as in "what you see is what you get." Those players are great in that they have no downside, but they also offer little to no chance of exceeding the scoring rate at which they always seem to finish. For Couturier, his WYSIWYG total has been ~70-75 points. But with the team now being helmed by Alain Vigneault, who seems to be looking to focus on preventing the other team from scoring as much as scoring themselves and Couturier talented at both ends of the ice, chances are he'll focus less on scoring, hence him being closer to or even under the 70 point mark in 2020-21.

DeBrincat's scoring cratered from a 76 point pace in 2018-19 to a 53 point pace in 2019-20. But he was victimized by extremely bad puck luck. After shooting at a 17.2% shooting percentage over his first two seasons, his percentage was halved to 8.7%. Even if he didn't take any additional shots in 2019-20, he should've had 17 more goals, bringing his point total to 62 in 70 games, for a full season pace of 73 points. On top of that, 2020-21 will be his magical fourth season, so I'm thinking 75 points is his downside.

Yes, the Hawks are entering a rebuild; but teams that don't win a lot still can have solid scorers, and DeBrincat will fit that bill. All things considered, I'm taking him over Couturier or Olofsson.

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Questions for Mailbag column needed

The upcoming edition of the mailbag has room for a few more questions, so if you want my opinion on players or your teams, go ahead and ask away. To get your question(s) to me, you can either private message “rizzeedizzee” via the DobberHockey Forums or, instead, send an email to [email protected] with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line.