As expected, the Canadiens made their decision on the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet, and it was to take the picks and let their former first-round pick go to Carolina for $6.1 million. I provided a Fantasy Take on the signing.

As I was typing that Fantasy Take while explaining how the Habs need to find a center, they announced the Christian Dvorak trade. That meant I had to change course somewhat (meaning deleting 2-3 paragraphs of what I had written) and write another Fantasy Take. This one explains more of the Montreal/Arizona side of things, while the first one is more from a Carolina perspective.

A Twitter follower asked whether the Kotkaniemi acquisition means that Vincent Trocheck is no longer in the Hurricanes' plans. I wouldn't know for sure, but it is worth mentioning that Trocheck has one year left on his contract, as does Nino Niederreiter. Also, Jordan Staal's contract expires in two years when he will be 34. Of the three, I think the Canes are most likely to make a push toward re-signing Trocheck, but we’ll see. They don’t run their team in a conventional way, as evidenced by the way they handled their goalie situation, along with letting Dougie Hamilton walk while signing problem child Tony DeAngelo.

The Canes might have a succession plan in mind with Kotkaniemi, who may already be in the process of discussing a long-term contract with the Canes. Keep in mind that since Kotkaniemi's contract is also only one year, they may simply be giving him an audition before they decide what they want to do with him. Next season will be his fourth season, and it will be a critical one for him because of the pressure he’s put on himself with the offer sheet amount.

Just to expand on my listing of Nick Suzuki as a player who is hurt by the Dvorak acquisition, and because I didn't explain why in the article, I honestly don't think it will have a massive effect on him overall. Hence why Suzuki is the third guy on the "Players This Hurts" list and not the first. That being said, Dvorak has more immediate scoring upside that anyone else that the Habs had playing center last season, and that includes KK and Phillip Danault. So that's why I thought that I should list him there.

If Suzuki slumps, Dvorak might get some top-line minutes. That's how it works. Kind of like if a team upgraded its backup goalie, it might cut into the number of starts for the starting goalie. I guess it depends whether you consider Suzuki to be a top-line center. Suzuki had a nice season and was exceptional in the playoffs, but we're talking about a player who would be a second-line center on the majority of teams. But if that playoff line of Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Tyler Toffoli, can pick up where they left off last season, he's in a great spot to continue to improve.

Someone like Phil Kessel would be hurt considerably more than Suzuki would. As I had mentioned, the Coyotes are running out of scoring talent, and Kessel needs someone who can get him the puck. The Coyotes have now lost the two forwards who received the most icetime last season in Dvorak and Conor Garland, with Kessel third on the list. Not that fantasy owners are tripping over themselves in drafting Kessel anyway, as he is only 15% rostered in Yahoo leagues.

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As you may have heard, Bubble Keeper Week is kicking off tomorrow. I have my own bubble keepers that I'll be discussing next weekend. For now, I'll bring up a keeper decision that I have to make that involves players that don't fit the criteria of bubble keepers. If you don't know what makes a player a bubble keeper, it is a player that generally won't get drafted in the majority of leagues. Of course, these players could become relevant during the season, so we're trying to help you find that diamond in the rough.

Back to my own situation. I'm in a "keep four" league that I happened to win last season. My key to winning this 12-team rotisserie league? Finishing first in three different categories: shots on goal, wins, and goals-against average. Two of those three categories are goaltending, so I must have had awesome goalies, right? Yeah, I did. Do I get to keep any of these goalies? Yes, I am allowed to retain one goalie of the four players I keep.

Here's the plot twist, though: I won't be keeping a goalie. So why on earth would I do that? You may remember how goalie values fluctuated wildly this offseason with many changing teams. Well, I received the short end of the stick with these moves. My goalies:

Philipp Grubauer – from Colorado to Seattle (Fantasy Impact: Seattle Kraken Sign Philipp Grubauer and Jaden Schwartz)

Alex Nedeljkovic – from Carolina to Detroit (Fantasy Take: Nedeljkovic Traded to Hockey Town)

Tuukka Rask – from Boston to ??? (Fantasy Take – Ullmark Signs for Big in Boston)

What luck, eh? I would have considered keeping any of these three goalies after the season. Now? I can't say I'm excited about any of them heading into the season.

My one other goalie is Vitek Vanecek, who was #4 on this team's depth chart and would be no higher than #3 if I were to rank these goalies again. I'd put Rask at #4 at the moment, simply because I don't know for sure whether he'll play. And in a keep 4 league, I'm not going to wait around for that. That leaves Nedeljkovic and Grubauer, from which I'd probably assume Grubauer is my best option. This assumes that Seattle is a better team than Detroit, which seems true at the moment, although you never know with the expansion team (remember that the team plays a major role in a goalie's value). After being a Vezina Trophy nominee, Grubauer is arguably not even a top 10 goaltending option by signing with the Kraken. 

Before I decide whether to keep a goalie, I have to decide on four players worth keeping. The players I will keep are as follows:

Brad Marchand – A top-10 overall roto option who has averaged between 1.2 and 1.3 PTS/GP over the last four seasons. Plus this league counts hits, which he does fairly well in compared to other top scorers.

John Carlson – A top-5 option among defensemen because he offers up scoring that can be matched by very few at his position. He "fell" to a 0.85 PTS/GP pace, which had also been his pace in 2018-19 and 2017-18.

Gabriel Landeskog – A great multicategory performer on the Avalanche's top line. He may not score at the same pace as Nathan MacKinnon or Mikko Rantanen, but he takes as many shots as Marchand while delivering even more hits.

Dougie Hamilton – Yeah, the signing with New Jersey hurts his value a little. Yet he scored nearly as many points as Carlson while providing more power-play points and shots and just as many hits. Just a personal favorite of mine in multicategory leagues.

Comparing a player to a goalie is sometimes apples to oranges, but I'd keep any of those four players over the goalies that I've listed. My own Roto Rankings should reflect that. If you don't agree, let me know!

Some other players I'd list as honorable mentions here for keeping include Anze Kopitar, Kris Letang, and Jack Hughes.

In the end, things change and evolve, even in fantasy. Just because the band was successful doesn't mean that it should stay together. I'll probably try to grab a goalie in the first round of the actual draft, depending on what else is available.

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