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. The NHL's Trade Deadline has arrived, tomorrow, March 21^st. For those that may be new to DobberHockey this season, we have analysis of the trades as they are made. Please bear with us as writing up impacts can take time and if there are a lot of trades at once, it could be a couple hours before they’re all published. But the Dobber team (namely Dobber himself) will be here on Deadline Day to analyze the major trades and what they mean in the fantasy game. What better way to spend a Monday than checking up on what the trades mean to your fantasy rosters? Below is a listing of the past week's transactions with links to their analysis:

Giroux to Florida
Lindholm going to Boston
Hagel to Tampa Bay
Flames acquire Jarnkrok
Chiarot traded to Florida
Vatrano Shipped to the Rangers
Wild, Avalanche swap Sturm and Jost
Avalanche acquire Josh Manson

2. Josh Norris reached 25 goals for the first time in his career on Friday. He’s the first Senator in three years to reach that total, clearly emerging as a goal-scoring threat. Entering Saturday, only four players (Chris Kreider, Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak) had more power-play goals than Norris’s 12 PPG (although several other players were tied with Norris). He’s also the first Senator to reach 12 power-play goals since Mike Hoffman in 2016-17. Norris continued his run by scoring his 26th goal of the season yesterday against Montreal.

As mentioned here yesterday, Erik Brannstrom is expected to take a big chunk of injured Thomas Chabot‘s minutes and power-play time. Sure enough, Brannstrom assisted on Norris’s power-play goal while logging nearly 23 minutes and first-unit power-play time. His assist broke a 10-game point drought. Friday, Brannstrom was rostered in just 1% of Yahoo leagues (31% in Fantrax), so there’s a real ground-floor opportunity here in single-season leagues. (mar19)

BTW: My potential Chabot replacement in a deep league, at least in the short term: Rookie blueliner Sean Durzi. While Drew Doughty has been out of the lineup, Durzi has taken over PP1 responsibilities and has looked sharp in doing so.

3. Seth Jarvis‘s two goals on Friday were his first since January 21. In other words, he had gone 18 games without a goal. Jarvis had only recorded three assists during that time, so he had hit a rookie wall while falling out of the Calder Trophy race. A recent healthy scratch, Jarvis was moved onto a line with Andrei Svechnikov and Vincent Trocheck and it seemed to pay off. He now sits at 10 goals in 47 games. (mar19)

4. It looked like déjà vu, and not in a good way. However, it could have been worse. Aaron Ekblad had to be helped off the ice with a leg injury in the first period on Friday. You may remember Ekblad’s season ending early last season after he fractured his leg, but it doesn’t sound like anything nearly that serious, according to Andrew Brunette. The Panthers have already acquired Ben Chiarot, but he certainly doesn’t provide everything that Ekblad does if the latter has to miss games.

By the way, Chiarot did not make his Panthers debut on Friday, as he is still dealing with immigration issues. The Panthers don’t play again until Thursday when they start a three-game set in eastern Canada, so expect to see him then.

Mackenzie Weegar has been underutilized on the power play in spite of producing fantasy-worthy numbers both this season and last. However, Weegar was finally on the first-unit power play because of the Ekblad injury. In spite of finally receiving the plum opportunity, Weegar failed to record a point for the sixth consecutive game. He’s already a stat stuffer in multicategory leagues, so his value could shoot through the roof with any time on PP1.

As for Radko Gudas, he's known for hits, but over a two-day period he has been extra busy. Gudas delivered nine hits on Friday to follow-up on his 12-hit game on Thursday. No points in his last 11 games, but that’s not why he’s on your roster. Gudas is the runaway league leader in that category with 279 hits. He’s the very definition of a one-category wonder. (mar19)

5. With Gabriel Landeskog on the shelf for a while, Valeri Nichushkin is filling in nicely on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Nichushkin, who has goals in back-to-back games, has taken 11 shots – an average of nearly four per game – in the three games that Landeskog has been out of the lineup. Nichushkin has also now set a new career high in points (35), passing his previous career-best 34 points from his 2013-14 rookie season in Dallas. (mar19)

6. Roman Josi is flat out on fire with at least three points in each of his last four games along with 22 points over his last nine games. He’s passed Cale Makar as the top-scoring defenseman (with 75 points in 60 games), which puts him on a 100-point pace… as a defenseman! He would need 25 points over the Preds’ last 20 games to reach that. Seems doable, right? The last defenseman to reach 100 points in a season was Brian Leetch in 1991-92. (mar18)

Roman Josi has now set career highs in goals (17), assists (58), and points (75), and still has 20 games left to play. Looking at his advanced stats and luck metrics, it’s surprising that none of them stand out as extremely out of line. Josi has always been an excellent offensive defenceman, but it’s all just coming together this year where the team is scoring around him, the power play is clicking, and his underlying numbers are all on the higher end for once. If you own him in a dynasty, obviously you should be looking to sell him high either at the deadline or in the offseason if you can get the right return for the 31-year-old. However, he’s not someone you need to be pressured into giving away if you’re being low-balled, as he does have a lot of mileage left, and the numbers really aren’t all that unsustainable. Pacing for 60+ points for the next few years is extremely realistic. (mar16)

7. Chris Kreider has reached 40 goals. That’s probably not a prediction you would have made before the season. Barring an injury or a major slump, it looks like he’ll be able to reach 50 goals. If you’ve been expecting him to slow down and he hasn’t, he’s still shooting at 20.2%. That’s not much different from last season (19.6%), and he’s typically has a double-digit shooting percentage anyway. Regardless, Auston Matthews (46) and Leon Draisaitl (41) are the only player who have scored more goals than Kreider.

Digging deeper on Frozen Tools, I learned that Kreider has 15 tip-in goals, which far and away leads the league. As well, Kreider has 21 power-play goals, while the next-highest player (Leon Draisaitl) has 17 and then four players tied with 13. If you don’t watch the Rangers regularly, that summarizes how Kreider typically scores his goals. Seems like Coach Gerard Gallant has implemented a system that is maximizing Kreider’s production. (mar18)

8. Remember when William Karlsson came out of nowhere and scored 43 goals in a season? He’s back to what we originally thought William Karlsson would be. His goal on Thursday was his first since February 8 – a span of 15 games. He had recorded just four assists over those 15 games as well. Karlsson has logged (close to) 20 minutes in three of his last four games. (mar18)

9. Morgan Frost is an interesting case. It seems everyone (not literally everyone) believes in his offensive talent but it hasn’t happened for him, at any level; 48 points in 65 AHL games as a 21- and 22-year-old doesn’t scream ‘superstar’. He has 19 in 24 AHL games this year but is also under two shots per game. It has been a struggle, but he’s getting some prime slotting in the immediate term.

His development is interesting for the Flyers. They, presumably, want him as a full-time 3C next year, if not in the top-6 on the wing. He has more work to do if he wants to get there. Now is not the time to give up on him, though. (mar17)

10. Quietly, Robert Thomas is having the breakout season we’ve been waiting for. He has 48 points in 51 games, skating nearly 19 minutes a game. He is the second-most used forward St. Louis has at the moment, behind only Ryan O’Reilly. He is neck-and-neck with Jordan Kyrou for the team lead in primary shot assists per 60 minutes and controlled zone entry percentage, two good signs for his playmaking and transition game. He is driving the play, making his linemates better, and doing it all at 22 years old on a playoff team. That line mate statement isn’t conjecture, either: according to Hockey Viz, not a single Blues skater has a higher expected goals-for per 60 minutes when skating away from Thomas than with him. [Follow the link for the full analysis]. (mar17)

11. So, the Sharks signed Tomas Hertl to an eight-year extension with an AAV of $8M. There really isn’t a lot to say about it, fantasy-wise. It is a big raise and he’s not exactly an elite fantasy option. He could be good for 30 goals or so, but he’s not a heavy volume shooter, not a big hitter, and the team around him is declining. In other words, point-per-game seasons are not likely in his immediate future. Cap league owners are going to have a real decision to make.

This is a really funny contract from the Sharks, though. Marc-Edouard Vlasic has $28M left over four years, Brent Burns has $24M over the next three, and Erik Karlsson is at $11.5M per for five more seasons. None of those players are worth the money they’re getting, and Vlasic is completely cooked. Add in Logan Couture‘s $8M a season, and the Sharks now have over half their cap tied up in five players for the foreseeable future. I guess the teardown will come at a later date. (mar17)

12. For the second time this season, and the 25^th time in NHL history, a goalie has posted a shutout in his NHL debut. This time it was Erik Kallgren‘s turn as the Auston Matthews-less Maple Leafs blanked the Stars. Kallgren stopped all 35 shots he faced, and has bought the Leafs a brief respite from their goalie woes of late. The former seventh round draft pick (2015-ARZ) was signed by Toronto less than a year ago after putting up a solid season, and an excellent playoff run in the SHL. He doesn’t have the upside to grab a full-time job with the Leafs when everyone is healthy, but like Joseph Woll, Kallgren can be relied upon in spot-start duty when called upon. (mar16)

13. Looking at the length and value of Rasmus Ristolainen's new contract, you do wonder about Ryan Ellis, and how healthy he may be as he tries to work his way back from an injury that has robbed him of all but four games this year. Surgery is being considered there, so we really don’t know what next year will look like. It also does call into question the long-term future of Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim with the team. One of them could be moved by the deadline, though more likely in the offseason, as part of an attempt to re-mold the roster.

While mentioning Sanheim, for his fantasy value, he really needs to get traded somewhere that will give him some power play time. He has averaged only 22 seconds per game with the man-advantage this year, but has the vision, and puck skills that would serve him well running a power play. (mar16)

14. Caleb Jones was skating basically 13-13:30 a night for most of the season, but entering Sunday action, he was around 18:30 a night over his last 15 games dating to the All-Star break. In that span, he had eight points, 16 shots, 32 hits, and 19 blocks. Whether he maintains those rates or not, we’ll see, but in multi-cat leagues, any defenseman that can pace for nearly 40 points, 100 shots, 150 hits, and 100 blocks is valuable. The points are what might disappear here, but the uptick in peripherals (particularly hits) could make him a nice depth option in banger leagues. (mar15)

15. Jason Robertson was a guy I wanted to see a TOI increase from. He has been one of the top forwards in all of hockey, not just among rookie/sophomore stars, over the last two seasons, but was skating 17 minutes a night. Well, that has completely stopped, as he’s pushing 20 minutes a night over the last six weeks and has passed 21 minutes in three of his last five games. He has 14 goals in those 17 games, though just one assist, which is hilarious. As long as the ice time stays here, there could be big upside for the rest of the season. (mar15)

16. Tristan Jarry, 26, is having the season of his life. As things stand now, he has career bests in GAA (2.32), SV% (0.922), QS% (59.6), RBS (8.5%) and GSAA (+15.20). Not to mention career highs in games and minutes played, wins and shutouts. After a weak postseason last year, I was surprised when several readers questioned why I had him ranked so high in the goalie rankings. Because his youth, the fact that he was the unquestioned No.1 goalie for a team that was still pretty good, and two years of pretty good numbers in the regular season pointed to an upward trajectory and a safe bet. (mar14)

17. The Sabres are finally icing a pretty decent three offensive lines. Besides the Alex Tuch – Tage Thompson – Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo – Casey Mittelstadt – Victor Olofsson lines, there's a third line of Vinnie Hinostroza, Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs. Insert Jack Quinn and John Peterka into this mix and things could finally start turning around next season. A goalie should be tops on the wish list now. (mar14)

18. Filip Forsberg, who is a 100% guarantee to miss 10 games in a season and likely 15, is still going to flirt with 80 points this year even though he’s missed 13 games (so far). At 27 years of age, he’s finally having his breakout. As a rookie, Forsberg tallied 63 points and his production has hovered around that level every since. Until now. A lot of this year’s jump is puck luck and absurd S% (he’s scored 22.3% of his shots!). His offensive zone starts are down and his shot volume is down. I would consider Forsberg a ‘sell high’. (mar14)

19. Anaheim’s Sonny Milano has just one point in his last 12 games. The book on Milano back when he was a prospect was that he was an inconsistent player with the talent to have tremendous upside, but couldn’t bring it every night. And that hasn’t seemed to have changed. He’s still playing with Trevor Zegras, and that’s the most important thing for Milano owners. (mar14)

20. I can remember when Jacob Markstrom, who has a league-leading nine shutouts, struggled to earn even one earlier in his career, not recording his first career shutout until his third season of regular duty with the Canucks, which happened to be his eighth season in the NHL. Markstrom had eight career shutouts over 11 seasons prior to this season, so he’s found an extra gear to his game in his second season in Calgary. Markstrom’s 2.06 GAA and .928 SV% are also easily the best of his career. He should be in the discussion as one of the league’s top goalies. (mar13)

21. I often wonder why Kailer Yamamoto doesn’t produce more given the elite linemates he usually lines up with (which is why I often pick him in the Tim Horton’s Hockey Challenge, for those of you who play), so I’m willing to give him a little more rope than others with similar numbers. I’d be okay with you adding him as well, since (entering Friday) he was rostered in just 9% of Yahoo leagues and 36% of Fantrax leagues. (mar18)

Have a good week, folks – stay safe!!

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