Next week is going to be busy for me, as I have my usual Ramblings day on the 25^th, as well as pushing out the latest updates to the salary cap skater rankings on the 25^th for skaters and 26^th for goalies. On top of that, with all the season being finalized and having had the time to update all of my spreadsheets, I will also be releasing my updated salary projections. Keep an eye out for all of that!

With having been working on all of the cap rankings, salary projections, and the like, I have a few thoughts related to cap leagues and free agency this summer that I am going to dump here.

First off, it seems like this is the case every year, but there's an especially shallow group of both impact centres and defencemen this year. Centre-wise, we have Vincent Trocheck, Ryan Strome, Claude Giroux (who seems destined to end up in his hometown of Ottawa) and Nazem Kadri as second line options. We also have wild cards like Evgeni Malkin who has said he wants to play another three years, but Pittsburgh may not be able to afford him, and Patrice Bergeron, who is as likely to retire as he is to return as a Bruin. With only four top-six centres available (maybe five if you count Dylan Strome) there's a market shortage relative to the number of teams that will be seeking help down the middle. The teams that initially come to mind are Boston, Minnesota (lacking cap space), Colorado, Columbus, NY Rangers, Anaheim, Buffalo and Pittsburgh if Malkin doesn't return.

Something to keep in mind if you are a cap league owner of Trocheck, Kadri, either Strome, or even the likes of Andrew Copp, Nick Paul, or Max Domi.

Over on the wings there is a lot more depth on the FA list this year from the top down, starting with a pair of Flames wingers who are both projected near $10 million. Odds are both Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk will re-sign which then makes Filip Forsberg the big wild card, as it doesn't seem like any guarantee that he is back in Nashville.

Forsberg is a player who broke out just in time for his big paycheck, but everyone has been expecting him to make that jump to a point per game player who can score 40 goals. This is the kind of performance that should worry you before a big payday, however his underlying numbers actually all look fairly reasonable. Forsberg's personal underlying numbers last season were excellent, with high IPPs, a few extra points from lucky secondary assists, and over 10 shots per 60 minutes of ice time. This year, he again put up his 10 shots per 60 minutes, but his personal numbers actually dropped slightly. The reason that Forsberg's numbers jumped this past season was because of a career high shooting percentage of 18.6%, and a team shooting percentage of over 11% for the first time in his career (double what the team put up last year with him on the ice). All that to say, should all the numbers normalize, Forsberg could put up this kind of performance again.

The problem is that most fantasy owners who don't watch the Predators (98% of you) wouldn't be aware that the Predators actually had a great offence this past season. They were 12^th overall in goals for, and none of the teams ahead of them in that column are going to have any cap space to even consider putting an offer in on Forsberg in free agency. That means we're likely going to see the team numbers drop back down closer to where the Predators were in 2020-21, meaning that even if Forsberg's personal underlying numbers are higher, and he is healthy (a big if) then he should only be expected to score about 70 points. That's a little low for what my numbers are projecting as an $8 million man.

On defence, I think we see something similar. The top names are all puck movers, but aside from the 35-year-old Kris Letang, none of them are the kind you want as your number-one guy. John Klingberg, Tony DeAngelo, Ben Chiarot, Josh Manson, and Mark Giordano all make for reasonable complimentary defencemen in the two-to-four range on a depth chart, but there are no number one-guys available like Alex Pietrangelo and Dougie Hamilton the last two years. That means not only are the limited number of defencemen available going to be overpaid, but they will likely also be pigeonholed into slots that aren't the greatest for their production, and they will be over-extended one way or another.

In net, we have the usual goalie carousel shaping up, with Toronto, Colorado, Edmonton, Chicago, New Jersey, and possibly Montreal looking for a starting goalie. On the market we have Darcy Kuemper, Jack Campbell, Ville Husso, Joonas Korpisalo, and Marc-Andre Fleury free to choose their situation, while there are other options on the trade market such as Alexandar Georgiev, Petr Mrazek, Semyon Varlamov, and possibly one of the duo in Washington. The goalie values shouldn't change too much in terms of starters to backups, but like last year, the goalie who ends up as Colorado's starter is going to shoot up draft boards, while there are always a few who will get caught in a platoon situation. It's impossible to predict ahead of time though, except to be cautious of another Colorado goalie chasing the money on a lesser team, so be wary of overpaying for Kuemper next year.

On a completely unrelated note, what do you get when the clock strikes midnight on a Colorado goalie? Grub-hour!

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Sticking with the goalies, two of the top goalie prospects in the world inked their entry level deals earlier this week. Both Yaroslav Askarov and Jesper Wallstedt signed their ELCs, and should be making their North American debuts next year.

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Our writers put together their picks for the second round, and you can find those here. The consensus was Florida, Carolina, Colorado, and Calgary. I only deviated from that with one pick, and as a matter of fact, I was the only writer to select the St. Louis Blues to advance to the conference finals. They are the only team in the West that is as deep as the Avs are up front, and on the wing I think they are even more diverse and dynamic. On defence, no one can keep up with Makar, but the Blues do have enough depth and reliability there to keep up, while in net I think they actually have the advantage, be it Jordan Winnington or Ville Husso in the crease.

I also thought that the layoff will hurt the Avs, projecting that the Blues would be able to get an early jump on the series, taking game one on the road, and then the remaining three at home when they can control the matchups and let their depth reign. It can be tough to bet against a top favourite like the Avs here, but upsets happen and this looks as ripe for one as anywhere. Have to go with your gut when things speak to you like this.

In the other three series, I agree with the consensus, that the favourites shouldn't have too much issue dispatching the underdogs. That having been said, it is no sure thing, especially when you're betting against the Lightning, Igor Shesterkin, and Connor McDavid. It's a good thing I don't have any money riding on these.

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We might also see a hearing for Ben Chiarot's head-butt in last night's game, though it's likely this one will just result in a fine:

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The league announced their Selke Trophy finalists, with Elias Lindholm, Patrice Bergeron, and Aleksander Barkov earning the honors. No fantasy relevance here, but it is interesting to see that the second best defensive forward on the Flames' top line was nominated for the Selke just because he plays centre.

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One last entry-draft related note, don't shy away from the shorter players:

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Find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments. Cheers!