Every Sunday, we’ll share 21 Fantasy Rambles from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week’s 'Daily Ramblings'.

Writers/Editors: Ian Gooding, Michael Clifford, Alexander MacLean, and Dobber

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1. At a certain point, you (we, me) need to just take a stand on a goalie. It was fair to assume that Vancouver wouldn’t be very good defensively this year, but goalies from average-to-poor defensive teams have good fantasy seasons all the time.

Last year, Connor Hellebucyk and Darcy Kuemper were examples of this. Hellebuyck is an elite goalie, sure, but Kuemper had less of a track record over more years. Even MacKenzie Blackwood, who is probably the best comparable goalie here.

Braden Holtby was a guy we knew with relative certainty was not a true starter. We had no idea about Thatcher Demko. We still don’t, really, but we have a better idea now. One bad week can undo a lot of good work, but more of this and he’ll be in the running for the Vezina. Demko being a starter would be a welcome thing in Vancouver, presuming they can get him under the cap. Either way, sometimes we just need to believe in the goalie and take a chance. (mar18)

2. Jake Oettinger has looked every part the young starter that the Stars hoped he could be when they used a first round pick on him back in 2017. 

The 22-year-old netminder has another year left on his entry-level deal, but with both Anton Khudobin and Ben Bishop signed through to 2023, the path to future starts isn’t clear. However, with Bishop coming off of hip surgery, Khudobin not putting up much of a fight right now, and the Seattle draft coming up as well, it might be sooner than you think that Oettinger takes over for good. (mar17)

3. A night after Alex Ovechkin notched his 717th goal early last week, he picked up a secondary assist on T.J. Oshie‘s second period goal to reach the 1300-point plateau, becoming the 35^thplayer in NHL history to hit that mark. Later in that same period, he scored goal number 718, passing Phil Esposito for sixth all-time. We truly are watching one of the best players to play the game. I don’t currently own him in any leagues, but honestly, I’m just happy to see him play. 

If you do own him, you’re likely best off holding him as you won’t get anywhere near what he’s worth in return, and the fear of him leaving for Russia in the summer will scare other suitors off – I think he stays for another couple years at least. (mar17)

4. Ovechkin is UFA after this season and Jakub Vrana is RFA. If they want to keep the former, they’re probably looking at a short-term deal worth $10M-plus annually. Vrana is an interesting case. He is clearly a top-end winger but doesn’t have the raw stats to back it up because of a lack of TOI. Maybe they can get them both in under the flat cap? If they do let Ovechkin go, they could turn the keys over to Vrana. What they do with Ovi will tell us a lot about Vrana’s fantasy value for the next couple years. (mar16)

5. Now that Robin Lehner is back, does that make Marc-Andre Fleury a sell high? Not necessarily, as we’ve seen Lehner suffer his share of injuries in the past. Fleury was already due for a rest, as he had played in all but one of the Golden Knights’ games from February 9 to March 17 – a span of 17 games.

Because of its COVID shutdown earlier this season, the Golden Knights still have a considerable number of games to make up, including seven back-to-backs into May. Both goalies should see plenty of starts, although Fleury’s magnificent season has given him the right to start the greater share in the current campaign. I wouldn’t be surprised if coach Peter DeBoer decides to alternate starts, though. (mar20)

6. Max Pacioretty continues to get it done. He has 16 goals on the season and a five-game point streak in which he has nine points (4 G, 5 A). With 120 shots, Patches trails only Brady Tkachuk and Connor McDavid in that category. Both North Division players have had the opportunity to play five more games than Pacioretty. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Pacioretty leads the league with 4.3 SOG/GP. All those nice passes from Mark Stone certainly help. (mar20)

7. Tanner Pearson is expected to miss the next four weeks with an ankle injury, which makes it all the more difficult for the Canucks to trade the UFA-to-be if they wanted to. Pearson’s injury meant that newly acquired Jimmy Vesey was able to make his Canucks debut on a scoring line alongside J.T. Miller and Jake Virtanen on Friday.

Although Vesey was held without a point in his first game as a Canuck, he logged a season-high 18:13 – the kind of ice time that he was nowhere close to receiving in Toronto. He received 18:59 one day later against Montreal on Saturday. At one time a highly sought-after prospect, Vesey’s fantasy value has instantly improved from the near rock bottom it had reached during his time as a Leaf. I don’t know that there’s enough there to suggest waiver-wire add, but a much-improved situation is at least worth keeping an eye on. (mar20)

8. After starting four consecutive games for the Senators, Joey Daccord is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a possible ankle sprain. The Sens don’t play until next week, but they’re in a real bind goaltending-wise with Matt Murray listed as week to week and Marcus Hogberg heading to the AHL soon for a conditioning stint from his injury. Not that you’re rushing out to add Senators goalies or anything, but well-travelled recent waiver-wire add Anton Forsberg and prospect Filip Gustavsson will have to carry the mail for the Senators next week. Throw all the Senators goalie projections from the Midseason Guide out the window. (mar20)

9. Frederik Andersen now has losses in five of his last six starts, along with 'Really Bad Starts' in three of his last five starts. That includes allowing four goals on 18 shots against Calgary on Friday. Andersen admitted earlier this week he wasn’t 100% and still playing through the lower-body injury that forced him to miss a bit of time earlier this season. It might be best for the Leafs to give him some rest, but as long as they’re still sending him out there, he’s not worth starting until he can break out of this funk. Jack Campbell returned as Andersen’s backup on Friday.

Even though Andersen has handled a heavy workload for the Leafs for the past several seasons, his recent stats make me think that the club will strongly consider moving on from him upon any playoff run that is viewed as disappointing. My guess is that the bar would be set at getting out of the North Division, but someone who consumes Leafs coverage morning noon and night might have a better idea. (mar20)

10. Scoring 10 points in 14 AHL games was enough to earn Jamie Drysdale a promotion to the Ducks, where he made his debut on Thursday. The debut turned out to be an impressive one for the 18-year-old blueliner, who scored his first NHL goal while adding an assist with three shots. He also finished with the second-highest power-play ice time total among Ducks defensemen.

Deep leaguers can probably start adding Drysdale, who in time should be on the first-unit power play. However, this isn’t an “add him in all leagues” recommendation yet, as only Buffalo has scored fewer goals per game than Anaheim, so his near-term production could reflect that of Trevor Zegras (12 GP, 1-4-5). This isn’t because I don’t like the kid; in fact, he was one player who has impressed me in the past two World Juniors. For more, see Drysdale’s Dobber Prospects profile.

BTW: Not to be outdone, Zegras scored his first NHL goal in Drysdale's debut, which was assisted by the latter. (mar19)

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11. With five points over his last five games, Anthony Mantha is starting to get out of his slumber, perhaps after you dropped him. Maybe that will help his trade value, although his overall production this season (15 points in 30 games) still falls short of what was expected given his cap hit ($5.7 million). (mar19)

12. The Penguins have placed Evgeni Malkin on IR with a lower-body injury. Malkin owners are already used to him missing a certain number of games very season. He has only played more than 70 games over a full season once since 2013-14. Before he left Tuesday’s game, Malkin had been on an eight-game point streak, which helped fantasy owners recoup some of his value after his slow start. (mar19)

13. Anders Lee is done for the season after undergoing surgery on his torn ACL. This is a huge blow to an Islanders team that legitimately looked like a Cup contender through the first two months of the season. It will be interesting to see what additions Lou Lamoriello makes at the deadline. Maybe a certain Buffalo Sabre left winger who is now looking for a new home? (mar18)

14. Jonathan Bernier (leg, day to day) has held the Red Wings in games that they do not deserve to be close to winning, and he may be playing himself out of town as a result. He’s a free agent at the end of the season, and his $3 million cap hit is manageable for most teams, especially if Detroit were to retain some of it to optimize the return. (mar17)

15. The 32-year-old Brad Marchand just keeps chugging along. How long can he keep it up though is the question. Players don’t typically break out at 28 and hit 100 points for the first time at 30.

For him to then become one of the top wingers in the game it’s almost unheard of, and even less often do we see this kind of breakout from a cerebral and pesky player who had opportunities and no injury issues earlier in his career. There just isn’t a good template to go off of here, but as long as Marchand has prime David Pastrnak on his opposite wing, it’s tough to see him dipping too far too fast. We may see a few up and down seasons from Marchand through his 30s, so make a note to future you not to write off Marchand at the first signs of decline. (mar17)

16. Joe Pavelski is one player that I have as a bit of a Marchand comparable in my head, as he broke out in his age 29 season and both have a nose for the net. Although, Pavelski never hit the same highs as Marchand, and was only a 70-point player through his prime.

Pavelski fell off last season in his first year with Dallas, and that age 35 season might be when we see the first real step down from Marchand too. However, Pavelski is currently on pace for a career season, boosted by some good luck and a system that is allowing him to shoot the puck a lot more. (mar17)

17. Dan Vladar played very well in his NHL debut last week, stopping all but one shot in a 2-1 Bruins' victory. He’s pushing his name into the conversation for one of the goalie spots in Boston next year, and he has a great opportunity with both Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak on expiring contracts. (mar17)

18. Nikita Gusev is getting jobbed. He really is. Maybe he deserves it, I don’t know. I’m not in the dressing room. He got off to a slow start with just a point in nine games. But his 5on5 S% was the lowest in the league, so to me he should be allowed some leeway there. Then he got COVID. Returning three weeks later he put up a three-game points streak. Then just one point in three games – so he was made a healthy scratch (?)! Back for one game, then scratched again for four! Nobody ever claimed that there was justice in pro hockey.

I could be wrong, but I think that Gusev has too much talent to be held back like this. As with last year, he’ll start putting up points anyway. But with a shorter season and his contract running out, I just worry that it won’t happen soon enough to be noticed. If he gets going finally at Game 40 (with a dozen healthy scratches until then), and gets hot for 16 games – will that be enough to keep him in the NHL? Or will he go back to Russia next season, never to be seen here again? In an 82-game season, getting hot at Game 40 actually means something. I mean, 42 games to show the other teams how good you can be versus 16 games showing the same thing is a world of difference. Gusev is unrestricted after the season. (mar15)

19. The first team in 20 wins is… the Carolina Hurricanes? The most underrated team in the league right now. No Teuvo Teravainen? No Vincent Trocheck? No problem!

Trocheck, a player I had ‘finally’ started writing off by late last season after believing in him forever, has been having a huge rebound season. Had I only hung in there just a few months longer… Anyway, things don’t look good for Trocheck. His upper-body injury will sideline him “longer than hoped”. (mar15)

20. One situation I am no longer watching is one that I believe is settled. The Chris Driedger vs. Sergei Bobrovsky situation. And my how things have changed. Always trust the contract. Yes, once in a while it will steer you wrong. We all remember Ilya Bryzgalov. But nine times out of ten – eventually – the big contract will prevail over the young upstart.

Bobrovsky has now started nine of the last 12 games. And that, my friends, is that. Six Quality Starts in that span and on the season he is 12-3-2. He had bottomed out on February 13 when he gave up six goals and then Driedger had the next three starts. That was rock bottom right there. (mar15)

21. Vitaly Kravtsov‘s KHL season has just finished, and he is on his way to New York. Of course, that means he will need to clear quarantine and begin practicing with the Rangers. All of that will take a few weeks, so the 2018 ninth overall pick will need a bit more time before he makes his long-awaited NHL debut. Where exactly he will fit in the Rangers lineup this season remains to be seen, but he’s a must-own in keeper leagues. View Kravtsov’s Dobber Prospects profile. (mar14)

Have a good week, folks – be safe!!

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