For the last two years, during bubble week I have focused on the format I know and that is a 26-team salary cap ($81.5 million) keeper pool with 27 players on each roster (20 active and seven in reserve, but all salaries count). As it is the off-season, we allow each team to carry 28 players if one of the players is an Entry draft pick from 2021. Teams must get back down to 27 players on the roster the week before the start of the season.

Currently, there are 662 players on rosters over the 26 teams. The point system is based on goals, assists and plus/minus which are weighted differently for forwards (four FP for goals and assists and two FP for plus/minus) and defensemen (five FP for goals and eight for assists and four for plus/minus) Goalies are rewarded for wins, overtime or shootout losses, shutouts and games played. We do add some additional points for power play and shorthanded points along with one point for a shootout goal. There are no hits or PIM. Our league is capped at nine defencemen and three goalies with a minimum of five defence and two goalies.

The pool had an average of 121.18 fantasy points (FP) per player last season and 2.88 FP per game. I would consider anything under 2 FP/game approaching the bubble.

Last year the top player at each position was Connor McDavid (1st overall) with 510 FP at forward, Shea Theodore 3rd overall) with 362 FP at defence and Andrei Vasilevskiy (14th overall) with 330 FP in a 56-game season. In 2019-20, the top fantasy point-getter was John Carlson with 500 FP in 70 games.

The top 15 in fantasy points were:

1st: McDavid 510

2nd: Leon Draisaitl 435

3rd: Shea Theodore 362

4th: Brad Marchand 359

5th: Mikko Rantanen 355

6th: Adam Fox 352

7th: Darnell Nurse 345

8th: Dougie Hamilton 344

9th: Kris Letang 341

10th: Cale Makar 337

11th: Nathan MacKinnon 331

12th: Auston Matthews 331

13th: Mitch Marner 331

14th: Andrei Vasilevskiy 330

15th: Mark Stone 322

I've reviewed a few rosters in my pool (including my own) as I did last year and focused on some bubble players that teams might need to make decisions on. I've tried to make these players at least 25 years old so that we aren't talking about prospects still. I've included players from both the Western and Eastern Conference.

Warren Foegele vs Adam Lowry (this one is from my team)

Warren Foegele – Edmonton

Foegele is entering his fourth NHL season and is joining the Oilers this season at the age of 25. He was below average last year for my pool with only 89 FP and 1.7 FP/game, but I am hopeful he can at least get back to his 2018-19 season numbers of 13 goals and 30 points in 68 games that got me 142 FP and 2.1 FP/game. His salary is now at $2.75 million AAV so it is imperative that he gets me some more points in the next year or two or I will need to drop him.

Adam Lowry – Winnipeg

Since my pool doesn't include hits or blocks, Lowry is a bubble player and last season he was near average with 114 FP and 2.2 FP/game. The flip side is that he is 28-years old and is entering his 8th NHL season, so his ceiling has more than likely been reached with 129 FP in 2016-17 and 2.3 FP/game in 2017-18. He makes $3.25 million AAV so he might not be a cost-effective add in this pool with a salary cap.

Between the two players, I would more than likely drop Lowry as I'm comfortable knowing what his ceiling is at this time over Foegele. The extra salary saved would just cement that opinion. Perhaps Foegele gets hot with the Oilers and I can sell high?

Colin White vs Miles Wood

Colin White – Ottawa

Even though White is only 24-years old, I'm including him here because he has played almost four NHL seasons and did have 14 goals and 41 points in 71 games in 2018-19, where he had 126 FP and 1.8 FP/game. Last season only saw him with 64 FP and 1.4/game with 10 goals and 18 points in 45 games. It is difficult to justify having a $4.75 million AAV but there is hope he can get back to his 2018-19 numbers with a better plus/minus.

Miles Wood – New Jersey

Wood is 25-years old and is entering his 6th NHL season this year. His career highs are 19 goals and 32 points in 76 games good for 121 FP and 1.6/game in 2017-18. Last season he had 17 goals and 25 points in 55 games for 93 FP and 1.7, so perhaps he is trending upwards. He makes $2.75 million AAV.

From a team standpoint, both players are on young teams that should be improving but perhaps New Jersey has put themselves into a faster lane over Ottawa. Because he makes $2 million AAV less than White, I'd have to go with Woods even if their fantasy points are similar.

Rickard Rakell vs Andreas Athanasiou

Rickard Rakell – Anaheim

Rakell entered into the bubble sphere last season for the first time in his seven seasons in the NHL and he might not make it out. He had 89 FP and 1.7/game after a career-high of 312 FP and 4.2/game in 2017-18 and consistently being above 2.1/game in his career. Not only is it his plus/minus on a bad team, but it is his declining production with only nine goals and 28 points in 52 games last year. His salary isn't that much at $3.8 million AAV but he is entering the last year of his contract this season, so perhaps a rebound is in play.

Andreas Athanasiou – Los Angeles

Athanasiou signed a one-year deal with the Kings at $2.7 million, so isn't that expensive to own. The temptation with him is to look fondly at his 30 goals and 54 points in 76 games in 2018-19 and gloss over his 2019-20 season of 11 goals and 26 points in 55 games while being a minus 46. Last season is probably more the norm for him with 82 FP and 1.7/game with similar production of 10 goals and 22 points in 47 games.

If Rakell were making north of $5 million in salary this year, I think this would be a much easier decision to drop him over Athanasiou, but because he makes similar money, I'd go with his history for at least one more season and see if he can produce to at least a higher level than last year.

Mattias Janmark vs Evan Rodrigues

Mattias Janmark – Vegas

Janmark entered the league in 2015-16 with Dallas and had a very good rookie season with 14 goals and 29 points in 73 games good for 145 FP and 2.0/game. He missed the whole next season due to a knee injury in 2016-17 but did bounce back with 19 goals and 34 points in 81 games while a minus 13 in 2017-18 good for 121 FP and 1.5/game. In his last three seasons with Dallas, Chicago and Vegas, he has been consistently less productive between 1.2 and 1.4 FP/game. He is with Vegas now so if there is a team where he can get back to his rookie numbers it is there. He is 28-years old and makes $2 million this season.

Evan Rodrigues – Pittsburgh

Rodrigues signed a one-year deal to go back to Pittsburgh for $1 million. He does have an offensive component to his game after 61 points in 41 games in his last year at Boston University before becoming a pro and signing with Buffalo in 2015-16. His career highs are nine goals and 29 points in 74 games in 2018-19 with 110 FP and 1.5/game that year and last. His role is as a bottom-six forward and his ceiling is more than likely what he produced last season with seven goals and 14 points in 35 games pro-rated to 70 games.

Of the two players, I think I would take Janmark over Rodrigues because of the team they are playing on and Janmark's ability to play a little higher up the lineup in Vegas over Rodrigues in Pittsburgh.

Damon Severson vs Marcus Pettersson

Damon Severson – New Jersey

Uncannily, Severson has averaged 1.6 FP/game for the past four seasons every year, including last season where he had a broken toe for a few months and played through it. His plus/minus has been terrible in New Jersey with seasons of minus 31, minus 27 and minus 20 and his career-best being minus eight (which he matched last year in 56 games). With the addition of Dougie Hamilton, it will be tough for Severson to get his production to where it was but his defensive numbers should improve. Unfortunately, he earns $4.17 million AAV.

Marcus Pettersson – Pittsburgh

Pettersson had his first bubble year last year with only two goals and nine points in 47 games for 83 FP and 1.8/game. He will be entering his fourth year and has consistently been averaging 2 to 2.4 FP/game with a career year in 2018-19 of two goals and 25 points in 84 games while being a plus 17 good for 205 FP. The concerning part for Pettersson going forward is that his ice time has been reduced by almost three minutes from 2019-20 and he earns $4.025 million AAV.

The only reason for a GM to look to move either of these guys would be if they had salary cap issues as both players are still productive but might be at risk moving forward for what they are making. If I had to choose between them, I'd go with Severson as his ceiling is a little higher.

Trevor Moore vs Ivan Barbashev

Trevor Moore – Los Angeles

At 26-years of age and only 123 NHL games under his belt, Moore should be still improving. Last season he had 10 goals and 23 points in 56 games good for 86 FP and 1.5/game. He makes $1.875 million AAV so there isn't much risk to having him on your roster. With all of the prospects on the KIngs, Moore will need to battle to keep his regular role on the 3rd line over the next few seasons.

Ivan Barbashev – St. Louis

Barbashev is entering his sixth NHL season at the age of 25 and his career-high is 14 goals and 26 points in 80 games in 2018-19 which was good for 99 FP and 1.2/game. In 2019-20 he had 11 goals and 26 points in 69 games for 115 FP and 1.7/game. Last season he only played 38 games with five goals and 12 points for 1.6/game. He now makes $2.25 million AAV so he will need to increase his production to be justified holding on a roster.

I'm going with Barbashev on this one because I'm a little concerned about Moore keeping his role with the Kings, even though both players have similar ceilings. If both players don't improve they will be undrafted next season.

Last year in writing this article, I made mention that the goal should be to not have bubble players on our rosters. I have not been successful in doing that yet but am working on it but easier said than done. We should always be looking to improve upon these ‘bubble’ players.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or players you’d like me to look at please message or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.