Hello everybody, I am once again back in action. I must apologize for my absence, my personal life got turned upside down there for a little bit, but it's all worked out and straightened away now. Thus, my hiatus has concluded, and I will be back with the 'Capped' series for the foreseeable future!
In my absence, I was still following the playoffs closely, there has not been a dull moment from the time of the second-round commencing, up until this moment where Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals has been played.

With this article I plan on detailing a couple of players from the Stanley Cup finalists that I believe will end up carrying a solid amount of value going into next season. We all know players like Stamkos, Kucherov, MacKinnon, and Rantanen will be coveted in just about every league around the world. My plan for this article is to touch more on the players that you don't always think about when you think about these hocky clubs.

With the NHL regular season ending, Fantrax doesn't have the roster percentages showing currently so I will be omitting them for the foreseeable future! The positions listed for each player come from the official website of the NHL. With the contract years, I will be listing any UFA/RFA as just that and specifying what type of FA they are. Anybody who has a contract guaranteed for next season, I will be listing the number of years left that as if we have started next season. Sam Reinhart for example has 3 years remaining as of this moment, the remainder of this season, and then 2 more after this one.

#1) Anthony Cirelli – C – Tampa Bay Lightning

Contract: $4.8M – 1 Year remaining
Roster Percentages: 64% ESPN, 28% Yahoo

After improving his overall points per game pace from last season to this season (36 points in an 82-game pace last season, 46 points through the same pace this season) it seems as though Cirelli may finally have his offensive output match the level that his defensive play is at. Cirelli is one of the games premier two-way forwards, with his high-end defensive game he brings an element to the second line in Tampa that not many other players out there can bring. He allows there to be more space available for the teammates that he has around him. With the direction that Tampa is seemingly going in (still competing) thye will need the younger guys on the roster like Cirelli to continue making an impact. He may be an average height and weight (6'0"/191lbs), but he isn't afraid to throw a hit from time to time given his approximate hit per game average this season. While Cirelli may not be the most dynamic offensive forward out there, he has the potential to play with some of the best in the game, he is a player whose average ice time per game has increased by 34 seconds this season, and he provides a solid floor across the majority of the major categories that league's primarily track. This is a player who I would expect to see valuable production from next season, Tampa isn't going to be able to fully rely on their stars forever and at some point, the workload should balance a little bit more for the depth guys on this roster.

#2) Ross Colton – C – Tampa Bay Lightning

Contract: $1.125M – 1 Year remaining
Roster Percentages: 6.3% ESPN, 14% Yahoo

While he may not be putting up 60 points each year, if he can consistently score around 35-50 points, he will continue to provide tremendous value. The stats that Colton has posted this season are solid for a player who has a total of 109 regular-season games played to date (79 from this season). He makes just over $1M next season, for the stats that he is providing he should be making more money than what he is. This is a player who shouldn't really be your main off-season acquisition but adding a player who has the flexibility to play up and down the lineup in Tampa is valuable. Something to keep in mind is that 12.8% of his total points came on the powerplay, and that is average ice time is less than 13 minutes per game. Let that sink in for a moment; this player finished one point shy of 40 points while playing less than 13 minutes each night (on average). I don't believe that Colton will become a 70-point player in the NHL, I do believe that he can be a very effective middle-six forward who can throw the body, win a faceoff, if need be (won 404 faceoffs this year), and put-up offensive numbers along with shot totals. He may hurt your time-on-ice category in a dire matchup but adding a player like Colton isn't to bolster your starting lineup. Acquiring his services is to help try and deepen your bench.

#3) Artturi Lehkonen – LW – Colorado Avalanche

Contract: $2.3M – RFA this summer
Roster Percentages: 5.6% ESPN, 7% Yahoo

Lekkonen was praised fairly well going into his draft year and somehow ended up being a second-round draft pick by the Montreal Canadiens back in 2013. While he didn't become the player that we all envisioned him becoming back then, he is currently having the stretch of his career though. With 16 regular season games under his belt in Colorado he managed to amass nine points (6 goals, 3 assists) in that span. During the playoffs, he has 14 games played with a total of 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists), and while we shouldn't expect Lehkonen to stay at this sort of pace forever. We should be considering if the Avalanche re-sign him, based on the way their roster is configured financially they have a lot of questions to make this off-season. One of the ones that should be an easy choice is to bring back Lehkonen. With Kadri being out currently, Lekkonen is slotted on the second line, with how much Kadri is poised to make he may be out of Colorado entirely. There could potentially be an opening in their top-six forward group for Lehkonen to slot in. He's shown that he can play anywhere in the lineup, he has great defensive abilities as well. With his total career points-per-game being 0.38 across 412 career regular season games. I don't really see him getting a massive raise, if I were a betting person, I would estimate that he would get anywhere between $2.5M-$4M per season. If he ends up back with the Avalanche next season for anywhere in that salary cap range, I would take a chance on him and try and deepen my bench while rostering a player who would be playing on one of the best teams in the game. While he may not be directly with Nathan MacKinnon every night, he would still be making a major contribution alongside of other high-profile players.

#4) Bowen Byram – D – Colorado Avalanche

Contract: $894K – 1 Year remaining
Roster Percentages: 17.1% ESPN, 23% Yahoo

Byram is a player who had a very rough season when it came to off the ice, I won't begin to try and describe the things that he faced. But he needed time away from the team for a bit, he faced injuries along the way as well. Byram has had a lot of things thrown at him at a young age and the crazy thing is that he still managed to put up over half a point a game in his small sample size this year. At the time of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, scouts were salivating over Byram and what seemed to be a limitless potential. I think we saw flashes of that this year. I know 30 games is a small sample size, but at the same time he managed to put the numbers up in a position where he would be playing behind guys like Makar and Toews which is rather impressive in its own. Based on the depth of the Avs roster, and the decisions that they'll have to make in the off-season, I could see a reality where if Byram is healthy he could step in and produce 40 points. Overall, Byram should see an increase in minutes going forward, he's always going to be that two-way defender who isn't afraid to finish a check or block a shot when need be. At this point Byram shouldn't be a starter on your team at the beginning of the year, he should be seen as a depth piece to your blueline. A guy who could work his way into being a consistent starter for your fantasy team!


Again, I am sorry for the hiatus that I took there for the last couple of weeks. I needed the time away to collect myself and get things back on track, so thank you to those who were super understanding and supportive over the last little while.
I am very excited for the Cup Final, this could be one of the most electrifying series that we have seen in the finals in a very long time.

If you want to have any questions answered or interact with me, please feel free to interact with me on the forums or in the comments of the articles, or on Twitter @JamieMolloy_DH.