Every Sunday, we 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. There are problems with Josh Anderson‘s on-ice game and the Habs need to iron those out. But, uh, this guy put up 17 goals, 125 shots, and 139 hits in 52 games last year. That works out to 27 goals, 197 shots, and 219 hits in a full season. Those are straight up better than Tom Wilson numbers, and Tom Wilson is going a few rounds ahead of Anderson. Now, I get that it’s just one season with Montreal, but Anderson had seasons of 17/118/147, 19/188/109, and 27/230/214 in Columbus. To say that Anderson is a very real threat for 25 goals, 200 shots, and 225 hits is a true statement. Also, unlike Wilson, you don’t have to bake in 10 games’ worth of suspensions every time you draft Anderson in the regular season. The center situation in Montreal is a bit of a concern, but even if Anderson doesn’t score 25 goals, the peripherals are likely to be enough to ensure this isn’t a flop of a pick. (sep16)

2. It has been a common refrain that the Los Angeles Kings have lots of prospects coming and their cupboard is stocked. That is true, but it doesn’t get to the question that is important for us: which prospects will be helpful for 2021-22, and how much? The signing of Phillip Danault proves an impediment for guys like Rasmus Kupari and Quinton Byfield, their future centers – it takes away the potential of a top-6 role. The Kings don’t have (m)any high-end left-shot forwards, so if Arthur Kaliyev can ball out in training camp, he could get a big role here. Kaliyev led the AHL team last year – that had Kupari, and Alex Turcotte, and Byfield, and Akil Thomas, and Sam Fagemo – in points by five and put up 2.75 shots per game. All this as a 19-year-old. If he had a good offseason of training, I think he can at least start in the top-9, and could move up as the season wears on. (sep16)

3. While the talent surrounding him remains a concern, Max Comtois had over 180 shots+blocks in 55 games in what was effectively his rookie season. He should hover around 16-17 minutes a game this year, which’ll help peripherals. The power play should improve as well, making him a real threat for 20+ goals. He’ll have much more value in multi-cat leagues, but Comtois is entering his age-23 season and the team is turning a corner in a weak division. He should catch your attention. (sep14)

4. The Top 100 Roto Rankings have been updated for September. Feel free to use them if you have a single-season draft coming up. I like to get input from those who use the rankings, so by all means leave feedback. 

I did not move Kirill Kaprizov down the rankings, even though Michael Russo of the Athletic said on Thursday that Kaprizov won’t be ready for the start of camp. I was aware of the uncertain status of his contract, but it sounds like there are a number of other logistical issues that will prevent him from being ready even if he signs today. So maybe I’ll now include the caveat that you can feel free to move him down a few spots. His Yahoo ADP is 30, while his current Roto Ranking is 35. (sep17)

5. I’ll mention that the unsigned status of Brady Tkachuk, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes also did not affect how I ranked them, though I will definitely revisit that if they are somehow not in the lineup to start the season. Even though reports have suggested that no progress is being made, not being at training camp while the rest of the team is can definitely serve as an incentive to get a deal done. It’s possible that once one of these players is signed, then the others will fall like dominoes.

Thank you to those who left comments on my Twitter earlier this week about the Roto Rankings. Over the coming days, I’ll discuss a few of those players here below and why they fit in where they do. (sep17)

6. Linus Ullmark appears to be on the verge of joining the top 100, and he hasn’t even played a game for the Bruins yet. In Yahoo leagues, he’s currently being drafted on average at 93, right behind the aforementioned Jordan Binnington and rookie Spencer Knight.

Ullmark’s is a .500 goalie for both of the past two seasons. Not just .500 in wins and regulation losses, but also if you include overtime and shootout losses in those losses. That’s not bad playing for a team like Buffalo. You want to know what else is not bad? The goals-against average and the save percentage. Maybe you didn’t notice because he played in 50 percent or fewer of his team’s games in both of those seasons.

Imagine playing in 20 games for Buffalo last season and NOT ONE of those games resulted in a Really Bad Start? What that means is that his save percentage in any one of those games was never below .850. That’s impressive. Only Andrei Vasilevskiy and Alex Nedeljkovic started more games without an RBS last season.  

There’s also the positive goals saved above average for two consecutive seasons. Did I mention that he accomplished this while playing for the Buffalo Sabres? In 2020-21, Ullmark’s GSAA was better than many goalies, including Tuukka Rask and Binnington.  

I’m excited about Ullmark to the point where I made a trade offer for him in one league (it did not go through, unfortunately). Yet as far as the rankings go, I’m going to wait and see how he performs on a new team and with Jeremy Swayman (no RBS in 10 GP) also in the mix. But I certainly wouldn’t object if you picked him before pick 100. After all, drafts, league settings, and team needs are all unique. [Fantasy Take: Ullmark Signs for Big in Boston] (sep17)

7. Another observation of mock drafts that others have also noted to me is how criminally low Jacob Markstrom is being drafted. Currently, his Yahoo ADP is 139. In my most recent mock draft, Markstrom was picked at 174! I noticed this because I was going to select Markstrom as my next pick, but I was still able to select Anton Khudobin instead (at pick 194, also incredibly low!)

The Flames didn’t invest a 6 x 6 contract on Markstrom to have him sit on the bench. With that, only Connor Hellebuyck played in more games last season than Markstrom (42). With inexperienced options Dan Vladar and Adam Werner competing for the backup job, Markstrom figures to take on one of the league’s heaviest workloads this season.

You can hold your opinion on how quality a goalie Markstrom is. His .904 SV% and -4.19 GSAA from last season doesn’t help his cause. However, his first season in Calgary was a strange one with the COVID restrictions, so this year could be better for him now that he’s familiar with the new system. If Calgary can rebound with a playoff appearance, Markstrom could have a high win total from the volume he expects to take on.

Given his ultra-low draft value and results from last season, I don’t see Markstrom as a top 100 option at the moment. But that can change if he displays the type of goaltending he showed in 2019-20, where he was the backbone of a Canucks team that won two postseason rounds. (sep18)

8. Erik Gustafsson is going to Islanders camp on a professional tryout. After what might have been an outlier 60-point season in 2018-19, Gustafsson has struggled to under a half point per game with four different teams over the past two seasons. He has also been in and out of the lineup as a healthy scratch. Great offensive potential, but not a strong defender.

The Islanders’ top two power-play options (Ryan Pulock, Noah Dobson) are both right-shot defensemen, and left-shot Nick Leddy was traded earlier this offseason, so left-shot Gustafsson might be a good fit for the power play if he can make a strong impression at training camp. If he makes the team, don’t expect Barry Trotz to give him major shutdown minutes – just power-play time and little else. (sep17)

9. The nice thing is that, at least for now, Kyle Palmieri is being greatly undervalued because of one bad season. This guy averaged 30 goals every 82 games from 2015 through 2020, had one season where he shot a career-low 8.7 percent, and now he’s an afterthought. Re-signing with the Islanders was big because that likely keeps him on the top line with Mathew Barzal now that Jordan Eberle is gone. That should mean more minutes than the 14 a night he got when he was traded to Brooklyn. It should be noted that even in his bad season, he would have still reached 15 goals, 170 shots, and 100 hits. That is not nothing. If there’s a rebound here fuelled by better linemates and more ice time, on top of a natural rebound, maybe there’s a big season waiting. I will definitely be buying at the draft table. (sep16)

10. One housekeeping note about fantasy drafts. Over the last couple years, I’ve talked in my Ramblings about Best Ball leagues. They are very, very popular in NFL fantasy circles and I hope they start cropping up more for NHL.

In short, a best ball league has no transactions. You draft a team at the start of the year, and that’s your entire roster. Now, you may only count half the players’ point totals towards final standings, or three-quarters, but there are no trades and waiver wires. You set your lineup every day, week, or once a year, and it is a good way to practice early drafting without having to manage a team all year. You also have skin in the game.

Over at Underdog Fantasy – no sponsorship here, I just personally like the site – they have best ball leagues up for NHL. They start at 6-person drafts for $3 each and it goes up to 12-team, $50 drafts. There is also one big $10 tournament, sort of as an overall prize.

For anyone who finds that managing several fantasy teams in-season can get overwhelming, this is the perfect alternative. There aren’t many rounds, you don’t have to manage the roster, and you can play for as low as $3. Not bad at all. Hope to see some of you there. (sep16)

11. As a new dad of a now seven-week-old, I have no idea how I would manage playing in the NHL at a high level with the same kind of sleep schedule I have right now. It did make me think though, after Alex Pietrangelo had triplets and saw his game slow in the aftermath, then again after having his fourth child, I wondered whether it was something that affected every NHLer similarly or not. From some anecdotal research, it does appear that most NHLers don’t seem to see a noticeable dip in production following having a child. Triplets would definitely be a different story though – I can’t imagine even dealing with two! (sep15)

12. Where that leads me though, is having a (likely incomplete) list of NHLers that had kids in the last few months or so, and having it in the back of my mind that they will likely be somewhat sleep deprived, and how that may impact their play.

Notably, Torey Krug, Brock Nelson, and Blake Coleman have been through this before, and none saw their production suffer, so I don’t expect it to be an issue this time around. However, I wonder most about the goalies and the necessary mental sharpness that they need on such a consistent basis. With Elvis Merzlikins, Matt Murray, and Connor Hellebuyck welcoming children in the past year, I may look at other options at similar spots on the draft table this year (Joonas Korpisalo, Adin Hill, and Robin Lehner respectively).

Other notable names to keep an eye on are Roman Josi, Darnell Nurse, Patrick Kane, Mattias Ekholm, Travis Konecny, Bryan Rust, and Devon Toews. Right now I’m going to treat this as a notice, but not something I am going to act on for skaters. However, if these names do all show some signs of decline compared to numbers we would expect from them this season, then the baby theory will be something I keep an eye on in future summers. (sep15)

13. While everyone is chasing Aaron Ekblad coming off a catastrophic injury, I’ll look at the guy who was over 21 minutes a night down the stretch last year, averaging a point every other game. The peripherals might be tough to come by, but Gustav Forsling will be the go-to puck-mover for the Panthers outside of the top line, and if the team is as good offensively as we think they’ll be, that puts 40 points within reach here. He is a deep target for me. (sep14)

14. I’m going to be honest and say I just don’t have a lot of interest in the Sabres this year. The team has been gutted, Jack Eichel is hurt and will be traded, there aren’t any major prospects coming (Quinn and Peterka are likely another year away), and this was a 29^th-ranked offensive team last year as it was. Jeff Skinner had some decent seasons in Carolina when that team was really awful offensively 6-7 years ago, so maybe he can do it again. I do think he was genuinely unlucky last year and will be better, it’s a question of how much. At least he’ll be cheap. (sep14)

15. One thing I find frustrating (it’s silly, but bear with me) as a prognosticator is when an undrafted European never gets a chance, and it’s for the stupidest reason. Same goes for a promising prospect who was drafted late but has earned his way up the depth chart and is finally ready to get his shot – only to have it taken away. You may have read my rants about Toronto’s over-filled depth chart. Or Florida’s forward depth chart. Too many players are signed and we’ll never see what some of these guys can do. You already saw Denis Malgin stay put in Switzerland. I’m not saying Malgin would have been this breakout star or anything, but it would have been nice to see him in training camp, compete with one or two guys for a top nine spot, and get a chance to work his way up. Instead, he sees eight or nine guys he has to compete with. He sees that Nick Ritchie, Michael Bunting, Ilya Mikheyev and even Ondrej Kase will get longer looks and more opportunities than he would. So he’s staying in the Swiss League.

This is a direct result of over-signing. I see the logic behind ‘the more you sign, the more competition, the better the cream that rises to the top’. But there is a limit to that. What if Nicholas Robertson is ready? Well – doesn’t matter. He’s not on the team. No way. Because he is exempt from waivers. Even if he earns it, he's not on the team. Can you blame Malgin? (sep13)

16. Florida can say goodbye to Maxim Mamin. Not that he’s a huge loss, but how do we know? Mamin has a snowball's chance in hell of making this team because, like the Leafs, Florida signed a ton of forwards. Star prospects Grigori Denisenko and Anton Lundell are close to NHL-ready, but even if they’re absolutely one-hundred percent ready – it won’t matter. Best we can hope for is that the team makes room for them by Christmas, if they dominate the AHL and the few NHL shifts they get. (sep13)

17. I bring this up because now Calgary has done it. They had five NHL defensemen, plus Connor Mackey, Oliver Kylington and Johannes Kinnvall doing battle for the six and seven slots. That’s a good camp battle and the two best of the three starting the season at six or seven is pretty solid. Kinnvall is a 24-year-old, undrafted, right-shot defenseman who blossomed offensively in the SHL. It would have been nice to see him either work his way up to the second pairing… or flop and become just another Tim Heed. On the weekend, Calgary signed right-shooting defenseman Erik Gudbranson and right-shooting defenseman Michael Stone. The latter signing resulted in a collective groan from Flames’ fans. But Stone and the organization are loyal to each other, and although Gudbranson is barely an NHL defenseman – he’s quite suitable as a number six or seven. So now you almost certainly have your top seven. And Mackey, Kinnvall and Kylington battling it out for the press-box slot. Number eight.

This is the stuff that prognosticators have to work through. It’s not just about determining the better player and the better fit. I feel I can do that easily (and very well). Nope, it’s also about sifting through the hockey politics and figuring out who the organization will lean towards – and why. I think I do that part better than most, but I just hate to see good players with even minor fantasy potential get shafted this way. (sep13)

18. Still along the same lines – the Kraken have signed Ryan Donato to the league minimum. It’s a low-risk deal…but why Seattle?

Top-nine locks: Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, Calle Jarnkrok, Alex Wennberg, Joonas Donskoi, Jaden Schwartz, Yanni Gourde.

In the mix: Colin Blackwell, Mason Appleton, Brandon Tanev, Marcus Johansson, Morgan Geekie and now Donato. Six players going for two spots. Johansson, Geekie and Tanev could also play on the fourth line… but what about Riley Sheahan and Nathan Bastian? These are 15 legitimate NHLers. And I won’t even get into Alexander True and Carsen Twarynski, because they’re pretty much screwed.

So now, instead of Colin Blackwell fighting for respect as an NHLer and trying to show that he can be a regular in the top six… he may well be on the outside looking in. Or Donato will be. Instead of Blackwell having a promising year, I can now see this playing out as a Daniel Sprong/Conor Sheary scenario with Washington last year. Sprong and Sheary bounced in and out of the lineup in the first half last season before finding their place. But Sprong was never able to truly get a foothold. He might have, had they not signed Sheary. Blackwell is the Sprong in this story. (sep13)

19. Big things were expected of Josh Morrissey after scoring at over a half point per game (0.53 PTS/GP) in 2018-19 and with several other defensemen leaving Winnipeg. However, his production has declined over each of the past two seasons. In addition, Neal Pionk has asserted himself as the top offensive-producing defenseman for the Jets, pushing Morrissey for power-play minutes in the process.

There is some thinking that the offseason additions of Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon could help with the shutdown minutes, which could free up Morrissey for a more offensive role. Morrissey should continue to log minutes as a top 4 defenseman, but the question is can he wrestle the top power-play job away from Pionk? Even though Morrissey averaged more power-play time (2:51 PPTOI) than Pionk (2:05 PPTOI), Pionk seems to be the odds-on favorite to earn the top power-play job.

The second-unit power play might not be such a bad place to be, though. Those who roster Nikolaj Ehlers will lament how he is never moved up to the first unit, and it looks like Pierre-Luc Dubois will be joining him on the second unit as well. Despite his second-unit power-play standing, Ehlers finished tied for third on the Jets with 13 power-play points. If the minutes can be divided up somewhat evenly, Morrissey’s value might be in decent shape.

Morrissey was ineligible to be kept in my league, but I would consider adding him again. I won’t say for sure, as other owners are already bidding on him (this is a slow auction league). I’d put him ahead of the next two defensemen listed below, though. (sep12)

20. Dmitry Orlov isn’t a superstar in fantasy leagues, but at least he’s a known quantity. Over the last six seasons, he has contributed between 0.35 and 0.45 PTS/GP, which included a career-high 0.43 PTS/GP last season. That’s not a huge amount, but he might be okay in the right size of league, which to me would be one with more than 12 teams and/or six defensemen.

Orlov was inconsistent in his effort to be consistent, though. Over the first half of the season, he had scored just three points (all goals) over his first 22 games. Then over the last half, he scored 19 points in 29 games, including a red-hot 10 points over his last 13 games. Power-play time had a lot to do with that, as he had averaged 1:44 PPTOI over the last quarter while averaging less than 0:30 over the first three quarters. Late-season injuries to John Carlson and Justin Schultz were the main reason for the power-play spike, so power-play time might not be money in the bank for Orlov in 2021-22.

Orlov was ineligible to be kept in my league, but I probably wasn’t going to anyway. I’m going to try to catch bigger fish in the defensemen pool before I target Orlov. At this point, he’s probably more likely to be a waiver-wire add at some point. (sep12)

21. You can argue that many goalies have at least a little bit of value, whether it be in terms of volume (starts which can lead to saves and wins) or performance (ratios such as GAA and SV%, or simply fewer goals allowed). However, I’m having a hard time trying to find either of those for David Rittich.

After forcing his way into a timeshare in Calgary, Big Save Dave was pushed to the side when the Flames signed free agent Jacob Markstrom. Eventually Rittich was traded to Toronto, where he was used sparingly, then signed by the Predators to be a backup to Juuse Saros.

Failing a Saros injury, don’t expect Rittich to play a whole lot aside from maybe back-to-backs. Nashville is probably a borderline playoff team at best, which means that unlike Elliott you’re probably not going to target him for a lot of spot starts. But who knows – some goalies play better in limited duty, so we’ll have to wait and see if that happens to Rittich. For now, I have absolutely no reason to keep him. (sep12)

Have a good week, folks – be safe!!

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