Hello, hope you had a Merry Christmas, even if it was a scaled-down COVID version. As someone who has had his fill on large holiday gatherings and all the responsibilities leading up to them, I've enjoyed this less-stressful Christmas, but still managed to reach out to many family and friends.

In a normal season there'd be a roster freeze over the Christmas break to allow players to celebrate with their families and not have to worry about an untimely trade or demotion. Because this season is different, I was wondering if there would be any news today. There happened to be one announcement, which was of well-traveled veteran d-man Michael Del Zotto signing a PTO with Columbus. Del Zotto played for John Tortorella in New York, so there's always a chance that he could crack the Blue Jackets on opening night. Still, these PTOs end without a signing more often than not.

*

The Nikita Kucherov injury news (hip surgery, out entire regular season) is a huge blow to his keeper league owners as well as single-season leagues that have already drafted. Speaking of which, this injury is an example of why it's best to wait until much closer to the start of the season to hold your draft. Typically, the weekend before works best for me, as a lot of unexpected injuries can take place between now and opening night.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Kucherov magically returns for the start of the playoffs, and yes, I have the Lightning still making it in despite the Kucherov injury. Don't forget that they won a Stanley Cup without the services of Steven Stamkos. Assuming a healthy Stamkos, the Lightning are still a power in the Central Division. If they had to play in the East Division, then I wouldn't be nearly as bullish on the Bolts.

The Kucherov injury has numerous implications for the Stanley Cup champions. For starters, moving Kucherov to LTIR enabled them to finally re-sign Anthony Cirelli, who could be in line for a more offensive role. It also doesn't force them to move Tyler Johnson, even if the Lightning are still trying to shop him or leave him exposed in the Seattle expansion draft. As well, right wing prospects Alexander Volkov and Alex Barre-Boulet now have a better chance of making the Lightning out of camp, although you'll still want to temper your expectations of them making an immediate impact.

*

Kirby Dach's injury is unfortunate both to Team Canada and the Chicago Blackhawks. To anyone saying that he shouldn't have been playing in the World Junior Tournament, young players need to play, and there haven't been a lot of opportunities for them to do so in 2020. Yes, there's an NHL season ahead for Dach, but a player could get injured playing in junior hockey, the World Juniors, or the NHL. You can't bubble wrap these guys when what they really need is experience.

Team Canada should be fine, given its amount of top-end talent. However, the injury could become problematic if Canada suffers additional injuries. This won't matter so much in the games against Germany and Slovakia, but it could catch up to them in the games that matter against teams like the USA or Russia.  

As for Dach's fantasy value in NHL leagues, keeper owners should be thinking longer-term than the upcoming season anyway. Dach's ADP in Yahoo leagues is about 160, so your chances of finding an adequate replacement on the waiver wire are very good, even if you had him pegged as a potential sleeper.

More under-the-radar than Dach's injury, the Blackhawks are also expected to lose Alex Nylander for four-to-six months after undergoing knee surgery. In terms of who could step up with the losses of Dach and Nylander, you may recall that the Hawks acquired Brandon Pirri from Vegas back in late September. Pirri has to score in order to stay in an NHL lineup, but this could be exactly what he needs. Pius Suter, who led the Swiss League in scoring last season, might also receive a longer look at training camp.  

Back to the World Juniors. For more analysis, be sure to check out Tony Ferrari's World Juniors Picks & Predictions article over at Dobber Prospects. Included is an overview of the tournament as well as medal, MVP, and all-star predictions from the Dobber Prospects team.

*

One of the most oft-asked questions I've seen in pre-draft rankings through the years (and one I received when I posted mock draft results last weekend) is where super rookies such as first overall picks should be ranked.

Ramblings: It's Not Too Early for a Mock Draft

In this specific mock draft, which included 12 teams, Kirill Kaprizov was picked in the 10^th round and Alexis Lafreniere was picked in the 11^th round. That placed both players after pick 100, which I said was right around where they should be. According to Yahoo, both players have roughly a 130 ADP. Keep in mind that this was a single-season mock draft, and their keeper league value should be much higher.

Rookies can be hit or miss. As I responded in the results, you could be drafting either Quinn Hughes (hit) or Jack Hughes (miss) from last season. In a 16-round draft, later-half players are more likely to be replaced on the waiver wire later. At that point, you could go after the low-floor, high-ceiling players. If Lafreniere or Kaprizov struggle out of the gate, it's easier to justify dropping them later if you didn't spend an early-round pick on them.

To put it another way, drafting one of these players before pick 100 is too risky. Players picked just before pick 100 (in the eighth round of this mock draft) were Jakub Vrana, Sam Reinhart, Mike Hoffman, Brayden Schenn, Timo Meier, and Pierre-Luc Dubois – all of whom are projected to score at least at a 0.75 PTS/GP pace (at least 60 points over a full season). Do you want to draft the player who may score at that pace, or the player who will score at that pace? Don't get too attracted to the shiny new toy.  

Interestingly enough, Jack Hughes was selected two picks after Kaprizov in this particular draft. We were having the same discussion about him and Kaapo Kakko last season. Kakko was not selected in this mock draft. 

If you're trying to decide which player to draft first in single-season leagues, the results of this Twitter poll might help. Yes, without a doubt in keeper leagues you're going to go with Lafreniere first. If we're talking single-season leagues, however, Kaprizov is already 23 and has several years of pro hockey under his belt. That has to be factored in, and it appears that the voters were on to that.

Keep in mind that neither Kaprizov nor Lafreniere should be the first rookie drafted in single-season leagues. Even though Igor Shesterkin already made his debut in 2020, he played only 12 regular-season games and is thus still considered a rookie. Shesterkin went early in the fourth round in my mock draft last weekend with an ADP of around 40. He's expected to be the Rangers' starting goalie, so he will likely have a much greater impact on fantasy teams than Kaprizov or Lafreniere.

Are you looking for more potential rookie sleepers? Download the latest copy of the Fantasy Guide, where Dobber has just made his Calder Trophy picks.

*

For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding