Dobber’s offseason fantasy hockey grades – Chicago Blackhawks

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 – Slater Koekkoek, Drake Caggiula, Dennis Gilbert, Brandon Saad, Corey Crawford, Olli Maatta, Dylan Sikura

Incoming – Carl Soderberg, Mattias Janmark, Lucas Wallmark, Nikita Zadorov, Brandon Pirri, Pius Suter

Impact of changes – I can't remember the last offseason when the Blackhawks didn't have to get creative with their roster thanks to salary cap issues. This year, Saad faced the chopping block as he was shipped to the Avalanche for Zadorov, saving nearly three million bucks. They saved another four million by moving out Maatta. In comes the youth. But then things got a little derailed with recent news that Alex Nylander and Kirby Dach will miss the entire season, and Jonathan Toews is suffering from a mysterious illness that will hold him out for at least the next several weeks. Suddenly, "the youth" that is "incoming" make up a bigger chunk of the roster than anticipated. The Toews news, which came out December 30, was likely the reason for the Soderberg signing four days prior to that. Soderberg is no Toews.

But the Blackhawks may have landed some underrated value in Wallmark, who has shown steady improvement and good value in terms of his advanced stats. He has done a lot when given very little in terms of opportunity, linemates and quality situations.

Ready for full-time – Many poolies consider Pius Suter the next Dominik Kubalik, but they're putting the cart before the horse here. Suter is a solid talent with reasonable upside, but He isn't near the shooter that Kubalik was in the Swiss League. He's a smaller player too, at 5-9. So while he could develop into a star, it won't be for several years. Still, he potted 30 goals in 50 Swiss League games and we can't ignore that. With Toews and Dach out, and Dylan Strome not yet signed, Suter couldn't have asked for a better opportunity.

A surprising amount of fantasy owners have christened Malcolm Subban as Chicago's goalie this year and I can't understand why. In 66 career games his GAA is barely under 3.00 and his SV% is below 0.900 at 0.899. Each season has been worse than the one prior and he's 27 years old now. Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Collin Delia has better numbers in 18 games in the NHL, and last season in the AHL he posted a 0.917 SV% after mid-November, rebounding from a rocky start. Some even pencil Kevin Lankinen in ahead of Delia, and while Lankinen will see some NHL game action, I really think the team will eventually ride Delia as he comes out on top.

Adam Boqvist should make the team on a full-time basis. But I include his name here because it's certainly not guaranteed. DobberHockey's top-ranked fantasy prospect defenseman was a healthy scratch once in the playoffs and his ice time was cut with each passing game. The 2018 eighth overall draft pick needs to show more in the way of offense at the pro level. He's still only 20 years old.

Ian Mitchell turned pro after a stellar run with the University of Denver. He is an all-around solid defenseman, ensuring a high likelihood of becoming an NHL regular, and he boasts high-end offensive talent. The latter gives him obvious fantasy appeal and some believe that you won't have to wait too long for him.

Never drafted, Matthew Highmore has nonetheless been highly regarded by the Blackhawks since they signed him in 2017. He had just dominated the QMJHL, but that is quite common for an over-ager in that league. However, playing in that league for an extra year really worked out of him as he transitioned quickly to the pro game, scoring 24 goals as an AHL rookie and getting in 13 games with the big club on top of that. The now-24-year-old closed out last season with Chicago and got into each and every playoff game, posting four points in nine contests and establishing himself as a decent scoring threat from the third or four line. Making the team wasn't a lock before, but after the team lost Nylander, Dach and Toews it's pretty much a lock now.

Chicago Blackhawks prospect depth chart and fantasy upsides can be found here

Fantasy Outlook – Last season a few things went right and a few things went wrong. Boqvist didn't have the immediate impact that the team had hoped, Alex DeBrincat took a small step back and Dylan Strome had his struggles as well. I'd like to chalk those two up to a 'delayed' sophomore slump, even though it wasn't their second season. But prospect Dominik Kubalik was a fantastic acquisition (they got him from Los Angeles for a seventh-round draft pick). As a rookie, with the season being cut short, Kubalik still reached the 30-goal plateau.

Losing Toews (to start), Dach and Nylander really hurts. So this year will probably be another playoff miss – and perhaps now they will finish even lower in the standings and get a nice draft pick. But you never know, because Patrick Kane is still one of the top offensive players in the game, DeBrincat and Strome should bounce back, Kubalik has emerged as a star and one or both of Janmark and Wallmark should surprise. Last season Chicago finished 18^th in the league in offense and despite the losses I think they can get into the top 20.

On defense, much will depend on the progress of Boqvist and if Mitchell can make his mark. Duncan Keith is not the player he used to be and Brent Seabrook – we'll have to see if surgery took care of all his issues. The team is deep in quality prospect defensemen, but they need time to get there. In net is where Chicago is weakest. I do think Delia is underrated, but only in the sense that many think he's a career minor leaguer or that Subban is better. I think Delia can be an average NHL starter, with good years and bad years. With goalies like him, a lot will depend on opportunity. No opportunity at all would mean we would never hear of the guy and he eventually carves out a career in Europe. A huge opportunity would mean an eight- or nine-year career in the NHL. Same goalie – different outcomes. And I think in the case of Delia he'll be the latter. The opportunity is absolutely there. Now it's up to him to seize it.

In my keeper league, I wouldn't mind my players being traded to Chicago. It would be tough for 2020-21, but in future years I like how it looks.

Fantasy Grade: B- (last year was B)

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2020 Offseason Fantasy Hockey Grades

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UPCOMING GAMES

Dec 27 - 19:12	DET	vs	TOR
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