Dobber’s offseason fantasy hockey grades – Pittsburgh Penguins

For the last 17 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 18th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer…er, winter. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Gone – Dominik Simon, Patrick Marleau, Justin Schultz, Jack Johnson, Matt Murray, Patric Hornqvist, Nick Bjugstad, Conor Sheary, Adam Johnson

Incoming – Cody Ceci, Frederick Gaudreau, Mark Jankowski, Evan Rodrigues, Colton Sceviour, Mike Matheson, Kasperi Kapanen

Impact of changes – Some big changes this offseason as GM Jim Rutherford tries to squeeze every ounce of juice out of the golden fruit that are Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. In letting Marleau, Schultz, Jack Johnson and Hornqvist go, he set free some advanced-stats duds. Hornqvist has a fantastic reputation in the league but he's a veteran on decline and his possession numbers were tanking. Johnson should never have been signed to begin with. And Schultz needs to be "the guy" in order to perform well, and he'll never be "the guy" in Pittsburgh when Kris Letang is healthy. Bjugstad was injury prone, and Simon was actually an advanced-stats darling. In the case of Simon, it was a matter of not having a suitable position for him where he would fit. He was a square peg and they only had round holes available.

Matheson and Kapanen are two key additions here, pulled from teams where they were perhaps misplayed. The last thing Matheson is, is a defense-first blueliner. He's a creative offensive guy and the Panthers would not or could not use him as such. The Penguins will. He could surprise. Kapanen is a speedy winger who doesn't have much in the way of an accurate shot, but if Crosby wants to spring guy – Kapanen will be perfect. Who cares if you miss the net three times and shoot into the pads another three times, if you get eight chances per game? And Jankowski is a solid depth addition. He is a 6-4 center who plays soft. But as a bigger player, his adjustment to the league will take longer. The Flames may have given up on him a little early. Now that he's 26, he's right in that sweet spot. We'll see if Rutherford's hunch pays off. He's just 18 months removed from 32 points, and that's great coming from a checking line.

The biggest change, along with upgrading Schultz to Matheson, is the anointment of Tristan Jarry as the Pens' starting netminder. Tired of the uncertainty of Murray's health year after year, it will be refreshing to have a goaltender who you know can at least stay healthy from start to finish. Jarry boasted a 0.921 SV% in 33 contests – and that's including the 18 goals that he gave up in his last four starts. He was great all season long when he could play consecutive games. It was when Murray returned from injury that Jarry stopped seeing consistent minutes, which played no small part in his late-season decline. Jarry could surprise with a Top 5 fantasy goalie performance in the season ahead.

Ready for full-time – Nobody. You won't see any rookies on the roster. Goalie Casey DeSmith will be back, but he was already an NHLer a couple of seasons ago. And while Samuel Poulin is a great prospect who has nothing left to prove in junior, the Pens loaded up the roster up front so they will not have to rush him. This is even with Zach Aston-Reese out for the first couple of months. A strong camp could easily change a few minds though, so watch for that.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph is still a year away from making the jump, but if he has a strong start in the AHL you should see him get called up a time or two. Depending on whose spot in the roster he fills, he could be a short-term fantasy asset. The puck-moving rearguard stands to be the heir-apparent to Letang in the future.

Pittsburgh Penguins prospect depth chart and fantasy upsides can be found here

Fantasy Outlook – The Penguins slipped to ninth in NHL scoring (13^th in goals, ninth in goals-per-game average), down from sixth the year prior and fourth in 2017-18. The trend is subtle, but it's there. The emergence of Bryan Rust as a top sixer and the return to health of Jake Guentzel, combined with the late-season acquisition of Jason Zucker and the offseason acquisition of Kapanen, will see to it that Pittsburgh reverses things. Matheson is more creative offensively than Schultz, too. Expect the team to move back into the top four in offense.

The goaltending is shaky and unproven. Jarry should work out okay, but we're going off of 62 career games with that evaluation. And when he can't go, DeSmith is one of the weaker backups in the league. It will be interesting to see how Coach Mike Sullivan balances the workload – he doesn't want to overwork his youngster, but he also doesn't want to lose a lot of games. The prospect pipeline is probably in the bottom three of the entire league. After Poulin and Joseph, I don't like a single prospect for fantasy leagues. Sure, there are a few hopefuls, but they need to take a pretty big step forward in the year ahead to get on my radar.

Fantasy Grade: B+ (last year was A-)

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2020 Offseason Fantasy Hockey Grades

Winnipeg

Washington

Vegas

Vancouver

Toronto

Tampa Bay

St. Louis