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. Those who rolled the dice on Tony DeAngelo have reaped the rewards. The production (31 PTS in 30 GP) shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as the fact that he seems to be incident-free. 

Among defensemen with a minimum of 25 games entering Saturday action, only five other d-men had a higher point-per-game average than DeAngelo (1.03 PTS/GP). The fact that TDA has been able to deliver even more offense than Dougie Hamilton at a much cheaper cap hit should be considered a major reason that the Canes are at the top of the Metropolitan Division.

The takeaway from that? There’s a chance that Evander Kane might not be that bad of an investment. Not saying it will happen, but there’s a chance. Someone in nearly half of Yahoo leagues and over half of Fantrax leagues believes Kane is worth a roster spot. (jan22)

2. Because Thatcher Demko and Jaroslav Halak are both in COVID protocol, Spencer Martin received the start for the Canucks on Friday. Martin looked dependable, stopping 33 of 34 shots in an eventual 2-1 shootout loss. For those wondering why prospect Mike DiPietro wasn’t the next man up, AHL veteran Martin (2.24 GAA, .921 SV%) has been better than DiPietro (3.19 GAA, .896 SV%) in the A this season. The fact that DiPietro played only four games last season due to spending significant time on the Canucks’ taxi squad may be stunting his development. Martin seems like a probable starter on Sunday against St. Louis. (jan22)

3. Sergei Bobrovsky has been a wins machine lately, posting victories in eight of his last nine games. He’s being helped by the Panthers playing as dominantly as they are, but his numbers (20-3-3, 2.38 GAA, .925 SV%, 57.1 QS%, 11.83 GSAA) are easily his best of his three seasons in Florida. (jan21)

4. In his second NHL game last Friday, Jack Quinn scored his first NHL goal, also finishing the game with an assist and three shots. Quinn was the eighth overall pick in the 2020 draft following a 50-goal season in the OHL. Although he struggled a bit last season in the AHL, he is having much better results there this season with 35 points in 24 games. One thing he has going for him is his shot. (jan21)

5. Alex Tuch has 10 points in nine games with his new club. One reason for his success could be an increase in ice time. So far, he has averaged nearly 19 minutes, which is two minutes per game higher than he averaged in Vegas last season. Tuch has also logged at least 20 minutes in each of his last four games. It seemed like he was the odd man out of the top 6 for the Golden Knights, but it appears he won’t have that problem in Buffalo. (jan21)

6. David Pastrnak has found his scoring touch. Over his first 28 games (into early January), Pastrnak scored eight goals – a very low total by his standards. Since then, he has scored 11 goals in 10 games. Pasta is averaging almost five shots per game over those nine games, which isn’t a whole lot higher than the 4.28 shots he was averaging over the first 28 games. That’s why you don’t get sucked into trading these types of players when they are struggling. Eventually they come around. (jan21)

7. Kris Letang is riding a 10-game point streak which dates back to the start of January. Entering Saturday, his 14 points this month was the highest total among all defensemen. The Penguins have to find a way to keep him in Pittsburgh next season, right? Given his injury history, I thought he’d be out of the NHL by now, yet his 0.95 PTS/GP pace is his highest since the 2012-13 season. My shares of Letang in multiple leagues are still paying dividends. (jan21)

8. A potentially interesting goalie battle seems to be brewing in Colorado between Pavel Francouz and Darcy Kuemper. Given the recent injury history of both, this might come down to a war of attrition. Kuemper has picked up 10 wins in his last 13 games (with two really bad starts thrown in there), while Francouz has won each of his last five starts. Late this week, Francouz was rostered in fewer than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues, which might have something to do with the fact he’s considered the backup. Even if volume matters, I’d rather have a strong backup goalie than a poor starting goalie on my roster. Just a tip if you’re trying to decide between goalies. (jan21)

9. Timo Meier followed up Monday’s goal performance of the season with… just a single goal on Thursday (careful… he’s slipping!) Entering Friday action, only seven players had more points than Meier, who was also fifth in the league with 150 shots. None of those seven players had more hits than Meier (74 Hits). What an incredible return for a player with a 154 ADP in Yahoo… or to me, a player I drafted with the 215^th pick in one of my leagues. There are advanced stats that suggest a regression, especially a 4.1 PTS/60 and a 1048 PDO. However, Meier’s shot total doesn’t have me as worried as I might normally be when a player has had an abundance of good luck. (jan21)

10. The NHL released a revised schedule last Wednesday, updating all 32 teams’ future, given all the postponements in the past. Some teams were more influenced than others but every team has some significant schedule movement to discuss.

There will be a lot more on this in the near-future here at DobberHockey. Our ‘Looking Ahead’ column, for starters, will be vital for readers to peruse on Fridays. (Or even more vital than before, let’s say.) There will also be updates to the schedule planner tool over among our Frozen Tools. We will have all these updates covered, do not worry, fantasy hockey fans.

February looks packed now. Starting February 8, there are now at least four games each day until February 28^th. That means lots of heavier-than-usual Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday slates, and that’s going to make season long fantasy hockey exciting for the next six weeks. There are going to be more viable players every week than normal, and players will really have to look ahead on individual schedules to figure the best waiver adds they can make. Fantasy owners will have to put on their best dancing shoes to survive into fantasy playoffs in March. (jan20)

11. I saw that Noah Gregor had a seven-shot game the other day and looking at his game log, there’s more here? Since the calendar turned 2022, he had 26 shots in eight games (entering Saturday) and two of those games carried a zero. In total, he was near the top of the league in shot rate per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 this month, and he has been skating a bit less than he was earlier in the year. Still, though, he’s over 16 minutes a night and shooting more. This is a guy who has generally had a good fantasy profile – generally strong shot rates, for one – so if he can really start firing the puck, the upside is obvious. The problem, as I see it, is he’s shooting 1.4% on the season and even, say, 9% shooting would have him on pace for 20 goals. Could he be in line for a big second half? Bigger, is perhaps the better word here. (jan20)

12. Remember a few years ago when the Florida Panthers had a prospect pool that teams were jealous of? Tippett, Knight, Denisenko, Heponiemi, and Borgstrom, among others, were the names to know. Three of those look like non-NHLers (whether in Florida or elsewhere) while the jury is still out on Spencer Knight as a young goalie.

Owen Tippett, though, has stuck around. It is worth nothing that while a lot of other top Florida prospects have completely fallen by the wayside, he’s been a fixture of their middle-6 this year. He isn’t playing a huge role, skating third-line minutes with some secondary PP time. But this is a true Cup contender and for him to have a consistent third-line role on a team this good means he has to be doing something right. Some of his play-driving metrics are strong over the last couple years and he turns 23 years old next month. He is just going to start hitting his prime next year, so could another step be in order? He has 29 points in his last 78 games playing just 12 minutes a night. It would be nice to see him around 15-16 consistently to see if he can take that next step. (jan20)

13. While I’m thinking about prospects, I made it a point to watch as much as I could of Matthew Boldy in his tenure with the Wild so far and he is impressive. To me, he looks like a guy that knows what he needs to do once they get in the offensive zone, whether he has the puck or not. He knows how to open lanes and appears to have a good shot. We are always on the lookout for players who have the brains to match the skill and in the two games I’ve seen from him so far, he has both.

This is a kid that is listed at 6’2″ and will turn 21 years old before playoffs start. It is very possible the Wild just straight added a second-line winger to the mix, if he can keep up this play. Either way, a very notable start to his career. (jan20)

14. Jesperi Kotkaniemi's turnaround continues. He’s playing for a new (and likely long-term) contract, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 60-point pace continue for the rest of the season. For those of you considering him in cap leagues, I have him projected for a $4.1 million AAV extension. (jan19)

15. Kevin Hayes underwent a procedure on his abdominal area and it sounds like it was a cleanup on his previosu surgical site. This could just be a coincidence, but the Flyers have had a lot of issues this year with players not recovering from injuries in a timely manner. Ryan Ellis, Derick Brassard, Sean Couturier, and now Hayes have all had issues with setbacks and slow recoveries. Something to consider if you’re wondering whether to hold/drop/trade any of them or other Flyers that may be injured at any point later in the season. (jan19)

16. For those of you holding onto Carey Price in one-year leagues you can safely drop him now, as he has begun rehab on his injured knee, meaning he will be out indefinitely. 

While we’re on the Habs, they named Kent Hughes as their new GM. We don’t put out Fantasy Take articles for new GMs being hired, but having someone at the helm like Hughes who has personal experience with contract management and player development, there is some reason for optimism in Montreal.

All this to say that in Cap leagues, we may see a few more manageable contracts in Montreal (nothing drastic, but a smidge better), and their prospects suddenly have a little extra shine in my eyes after the team has bungled the development of so many others in the recent past. (jan19)

17. While I was looking through shot rates earlier this past week, I noticed that Nikita Kucherov was in the top-10 by shot rate since his return earlier this month. He had at least three shots on goal in each game at that point, managing 23 shots in the five contests. That might be a bit high for a per-game mark, but it was just a few years ago that Kucherov managed 3.5 shots per game over the course of a season. That would be a nice tick up from what he’s done his last couple regular seasons, and a boost to the fantasy profile of an already-elite winger. It really is nice to see him return and look healthy. It seems like forever since we’ve been able to regularly enjoy some regular-season brilliance from the former Hart Trophy winner. (jan18)

18. Ian brought up Trevor Moore yesterday in his Ramblings, and I want to expand on that a bit more. Ian is bang on about the significant improvement in his situation, but I want to talk about the player. Looking at some of the player-level data such as shot-assists, shot rate, and zone entries, not a lot stands out. He has improved in most regards compared to last year, but the entire team has. It is hard to say if there’s been improvement from him, or just a better team is giving everyone a little bit more shine.

About the same could be said about his line mates. Moore is getting a lot of shots off from dangerous areas, but is that because he’s getting to dangerous areas, or Moore’s line mates of Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson being excellent regardless of who skates with them? We should note that he’s playing well regardless of which line he’s been on this year, so this was a deserved promotion. And that the instant chemistry he’s shown with Danault and Arvidsson is more important than deciphering if he’s in the 50^th percentile of NHLers or 40^th percentile. They’re playing well, he’s getting ice time, and that’s basically all that really matters.

I do find it interesting how well Danault/Arvidsson have played all year and that Moore may have made some genuine adjustments. We need more games before seeing anything definitive, but the Kings seem to have two very good scoring lines now. (jan18)

19. For as much as the fantasy community, present company included, has been clamoring for an Andrei Svechnikov breakout, there don’t seem to be a lot of people victory lapping this one. He is on pace for over 30 goals, over 70 points, nearly 150 hits, and over 250 shots. That is a monster fantasy season but again, surprisingly little in the way of celebrating. Everyone waiting to see how the second half goes? (jan18)

20. I’m curious to see how things shake out between Linus Ullmark and Tuukka Rask. Rask is the hero. The legend. And he’s obviously not rusty given his first start of the season. But Ullmark hadn’t allowed more than three goals in a game since November 11. After that date, he is 11-2-0. Those are stellar numbers. How do you make ‘that’ a backup? Especially considering he gets paid $5M this year while Rask gets $1M. I wouldn’t be so quick to grab Rask and assume he runs with it. I think you’ll see a 50/50 split until April. (jan17)

21. In order, Top 4 backup goalies with the best chance to steal starting gig:

• Ville Husso, St. Louis – the Blues will push Jordan Binnington. They need him to be their No.1 because that’s what they’re paying him to be and that’s what they’ve anointed him. They’ll play him against easy teams while Husso will get the Colorado games. I see it all the time. But eventually they need to see that Husso is the better goaltender.

• Tuukka Rask, Boston – is he technically the backup? According to salary and games played: yes. So obviously he has a good chance of stealing the top gig. As I noted above though, I suspect this will go 50/50 until April.

• Pavel Francouz, Colorado – He had a rough first start, but has been better in his last three. With consistent games I think he can steal it from Kuemper.

• Chris Driedger, Seattle – Grubauer has been ridiculously terrible. The worst. And although Driedger’s numbers aren’t great, he is actually 3-4-0, 2.77 GAA and 0.916 SV% in his last eight games. He won’t get a lot of wins with this team but I still think he could steal the job. (jan17)

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Rest in peace Clark Gillies, a legend from those dominant Islanders teams of the early 1980s.

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Have a good week, folks – be safe!!

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