Dobber’s offseason fantasy hockey grades – Calgary Flames

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 – Erik Gustafsson, Austin Czarnik, Derek Forbort, T.J. Brodie, Jon Gillies, Cam Talbot, Mark Jankowski, Tobias Rieder, Travis Hamonic, Michael Stone (invited for tryout)

Incoming – Jacob Markstrom, Josh Leivo, Dominik Simon, Nikita Nesterov, Joakim Nordstrom, Louis Domingue, Chris Tanev

Impact of changes – Markstrom was my top free agent target as pretend NHL GM. He's clearly a top goalie, yet he's still an underrated goalie. As in the fantasy world, I think pundits, GMs and fans expected too much from him too soon. And when he had done nothing in the NHL by the time he was 25, he was written off. Now it's been hard for him to claw his way up into getting some respect. Anyway, Markstrom is a huge upgrade to Calgary's goaltending – you'll see.

Simon is an underrated addition and so is Leivo. As third-line wingers who can jump into the top six in a pinch will have more of an impact that you think. Huge upgrades to Rieder and Jankowski and could give Dillon Dube a run for his money in terms of gaining ice time.

When Brodie left it opens up more ice time for Rasmus Andersson, who I now think gets onto the top pairing with Mark Giordano. This should bump his production upwards a little and he's a sleeper to compile a point every two games.

Ready for full-time – Juuso Valimaki has been a top fantasy prospect defenseman for a couple of years, and would have been on the roster last season. But for the second straight season an injury cut things short. This time, however, it ended his season before it even started. A point-per-game rearguard in the WHL for this last two seasons there, the 16^th overall pick in 2017 made an immediate splash in the AHL by garnering 14 points in 20 contests. Now he's finally healthy and ready to become a full-timer. Just give him a few weeks to get his legs under him.

Alexander Yelesin is a hardnosed defender who won't give you much in the way of fantasy points, but will rack up the PIM, Hits and BLKS numbers. If he makes the team it will be on the bottom pairing for sure.

Glenn Gawdin was a top 20 producer in the AHL last season, leading Stockton in scoring with just under a point-per-game. It was his sophomore season and since leaving the WHL (after a 125-point campaign) he has done nothing but improve. He is a centerman with very good hockey sense and he's certainly an option for a fourth-line role because he is defensively responsible. The points, if they come, will take several years to get rolling.

Calgary Flames prospect depth chart and fantasy upsides can be found here

Fantasy Outlook – The Flames finished 20^th in NHL scoring last season and that's because the awesome top line forgot how to be awesome. Let's consider that output an outlier. A one-off. Because I do. Johnny Gaudreau is an elite offensive player, Sean Monahan is a very skilled center and Elias Lindholm is a versatile and productive forward. Gaudreau will get it going again and the others will follow. And with Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund and the ever-improving Andrew Mangiapane the Flames have a productive and underrated second line.

On defense, Calgary has a few question marks. Can Mark Giordano give us another great year? Is Andersson ready to take that next step? What about Noah Hanifin? Can Valimaki stay healthy? It's a potential for greatness but also a potential for disaster. But it starts with Giordano, who is now 37 years old. Between the pipes, Markstrom and David Rittich make a fantastic duo. The farm system, from a fantasy standpoint, is average. Dube is a good one, as is Jakob Pelletier, Matthew Phillips and Connor Zary. And goalie Dustin Wolf is coming along, though still several years away.

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

San Jose

Pittsburgh

Philadelphia

Ottawa

NY Rangers

NY Islanders

New Jersey

Nashville

Montreal

Minnesota

Los Angeles

Florida

Edmonton

Detroit

Dallas

Columbus

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Carolina