Dobber’s Offseason Fantasy Grades 2020: Florida Panthers

Dobber

2021-01-01

Dobber’s offseason fantasy hockey grades – Florida Panthers

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 Evgenii Dadonov, Lucas Wallmark, Mark Pysyk, Dryden Hunt, Dominic Toninato, Josh Brown, Mike Matheson, Colton Sceviour, Brian Boyle, Mike Hoffman, Erik Haula, GM Dale Tallon

Incoming – Anthony Duclair, Scott Wilson, Vinnie Hinostroza, Alexander Wennberg, Carter Verhaeghe, Markus Nutivaara, Patric Hornqvist, GM Bill Zito

Impact of changes – Just the usual sweeping changes you tend to see when a new GM takes the helm. There is no way to look at these changes and see an upgrade anywhere. Duclair, Hinostroza, Wennberg, Hornqvist and Verhaeghe are in no way an upgrade on Hoffman, Dadonov, Wallmark and Haula. And Nutivaara does not upgrade Matheson, a player who was a square peg constantly getting shoved into a round hole. But the team maintained great cap flexibility now and into the future, and they created spots for prospects to get a shot. More on those below. But if a couple of prospects do pan out right away, and if one of the big gambles Duclair/Hinostroza/Wennberg become this year's Jonathan Marchessault surprise signing, then the Panthers should contend for a playoff spot. I have a feeling that Coach Joel Quenneville had a huge say in who he wants to stay and who he wants to go, and he now has a group of personalities that he can better work with.

And as for the gambles – I'm sure most people would place their chips on Duclair, who scored 21 goals in his first 37 games last season. But he also scored just two goals in his last 29 games. So I'm putting equal chips on Hinostroza, who followed up a pretty good season with a horrible one because he was pushed down the lineup by Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall.

Ready for full-time – Owen Tippett dominated the AHL in his first pro season, picking up 40 points in 46 games. That was good for third among rookies. While the signing of Duclair likely ensures that Tippett will compete with Denisenko (below) for the final roster spot up front, neither player will be kept in the AHL for long. At worst, both players should see at least half of the NHL games – and at best they will be up for the full campaign. They will be in the top nine to start and should produce fantasy-worthy numbers in spurts.

Grigori Denisenko has steadily moved up the prospect charts since being drafted 15th overall in 2018. He is the Panthers' prospect with the highest upside, though Tippett is the better goal-scorer. The two of them will get their feet wet in the NHL this year, perhaps even play the entire season. And within three years each of them should be solid, productive first-liners.

Aleksi Saarela is too good for the AHL but needs to be in the top six in the NHL in order to thrive. With only Wennberg ahead of him on the depth chart at center, that's not such an impossible task. But he will have to work hard, produce early and often, and get some bounces. But Saarela is an excellent dark horse in points-only formats. He can play center or left wing and the Panthers seemed to really like him after they acquired him from Chicago last October. Now 23, he will have to clear waivers in order to be sent down.

Eetu Luostarinen was acquired as part of the Vincent Trocheck deal in February. He was a second-round draft pick in 2017 (42nd overall). He has a projectable 6-3 frame and uses that size aggressively. In his rookie AHL season he tallied 25 points in 44 games and the Panthers gave him a look late in the season (pointless in eight games). He is already strong on the faceoffs and could win a job on the fourth line.

Florida Panthers prospect depth chart and fantasy upsides can be found here

Fantasy Outlook – The Panthers finished seventh in goals scored last season, but with the loss of Dadonov and Hoffman that ranking should take a tumble. Theoretically, two-time Vezina winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky should bounce back. He did the last time he came off a terrible season. But the Panthers did little to help him this offseason, so the onus will be 100% on him to turn things around.

The top line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov and Dadonov is now broken up. Frank Vatrano, Hinostroza, Tippett, Denisenko and Anthony Duclair will get auditions for the job, with the winner seeing a spike in production. Duclair will likely get first dibs and with expected early success is maybe 20 or 30 games before he loses the gig and others get their chance. On defense, Keith Yandle continues to put up big numbers with Aaron Ekblad ready to take over as soon as the 34-year-old falters (as he seemed to in the second half last year).

The prospect pipeline is excellent, with five forwards in the Top 75 Fantasy Prospect Forwards list (Denisenko, Tippett, Anton Lundell, Saarela and Aleksi Heponiemi), with Henrik Borgstrom still very much a factor as well. They also have one of the best young prospect goaltenders in the world in Spencer Knight.

Fantasy Grade: B (last year was A+)

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2020 Offseason Fantasy Hockey Grades

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