The Fantasy Prospects Report was released on June 14! If you didn't pick it up, you can do so here. The NHL Draft is just a week and a half away!

Unrestricted Free Agency opens July 13 and the NHL Entry Draft is July 7.

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Congrats to the Avalanche – this year's Cup Champs! I didn't get a lot of series right this year, but calling the Avs was a no-brainer each round. Thanks for making it so that I could at least get one series correct each round. The Avalanche team was a bulldozer, and the rest of the NHL was just dirt and debris in their way. Nothing was stopping them, even if the Lightning put a brief scare into them.

And Cale Makar had my vote for the Smyth for sure. Like I said in the earlier Ramblings setting up McDavid vs. MacKinnon – I said it should have been dubbed McDavid vs. Makar, because Makar is the McDavid of defensemen.

Makar, 23, claimed the Conn Smythe Trophy five days after receiving his first Norris Trophy. He became the third player in NHL history to win both awards in the same season, following Bobby Orr in 1970 (age 22) and 1972 (age 24) along with Nicklas Lidstrom in 2002 (age 32).

Makar is also the first player – ever – to win the Hobey Baker, the Calder, the Norris, the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe. Don't forget: he's only 23.

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Without playing a single game in the final round, Connor McDavid won the NHL Postseason scoring title with 33 points in 16 games. Leon Draisaitl was second with 32.

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The injury tally:

Nazem Kadri – thumb broken in multiple places, required six weeks off. He took two.

Andrew Cogliano – Broken middle finger.

Brayden Point – Badly torn quad muscle. "Shouldn't have played until September" so said Jon Cooper.

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Last week I asked for a few players that you'd like my thoughts on. I wasn't prepared for so many.
So this week the entire Monday Ramblings will go towards this (apart from a bit on the game).

Which player do you most want to figure out for next season and beyond?

— Dobber (@DobberHockey) June 25, 2022

Kirby Dach – The thing with Kirby Dach is that he is a 6-4 player, but because he was the third-overall pick (in 2019) fantasy owners expect him to pop right away. The thing is – so does the team. And then both fantasy owners and the Blackhawks start to sour on him when he's not producing. He started out last year playing with Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat. He tumbled down the lineup as each month passed, and his PPTOI declined each quarter. They expect the world from him, but it takes time. A lot of these 6-4 players were 5-10 just four or five years ago. That takes a ton of adjustment. And they are also used to having their way with the opposition back in junior hockey, and that also takes adjustment. This is why I preach that big players such as Dach need 400 NHL games before breaking out. He's at 152. That means three more seasons of mediocrity before his breakout in 2025-26. As a high draft pick, perhaps his upside and skill allow him to adapt a little sooner, but I would be surprised if he has that breakout before 2024-25.

Alex Tuch – Another big man and another player fantasy owners are impatient about. Tuch is 6-4 and has shown flashes of what he will do. I think he has his breakout in 2023-24, which is the season after this one. However, with Tuch there are serious injury concerns and I question if he can ever play even a 75-game season. If he can put the injuries behind though, he's close. Much closer than Dach. His career high is 52 and say he gets 55 this season and then 65 when he breaks out (both in 70 games).

Vince Dunn – What I like about Dunn is how he trended last season. His ice time in the second half averaged nearly two full minutes per game more and his PP time tweaked upward a bit as well. He had 16 points in the first half and 19 in the second. The power play is his to run this season, but because Seattle will still struggle to score. They finished 29^th in scoring last season, but they topped last-place Arizona by just nine goals and frankly I don't see how Seattle doesn't fall to last place in the year ahead. So how many points can Dunn possibly get? Not 50, that's for sure.

Oliver Kylington – He flew out of the gates with 19 points in 31 games. The hot streak kept him in the lineup (he was getting scratched a lot last year, and sat out the second game) for good and his ice time increased as a result. But as the production slowed, the ice time slipped back down (just 12 points in his last 42 games). This guy could go either way, but I tend to think that he needs another couple of 'building' years. The analytics point to him doing well in terms of creating chances, and facing tough competition (not sheltered). I just didn't like how his production tailed off and it makes me think that he will need a couple more years to really get going. In the meantime I think 35 points should be the expectation.

Erik Brannstrom – The 22-year-old hasn't done anything in the NHL yet, though he did get nine points (four on the power play) in the last 22 games. I am still high on him and consider him a prospect – he has yet to play a full season in the NHL. He's still getting sheltered minutes, but drives possession relative to the competition. However, he does cough up some pretty big gaffs resulting in scoring chances and those need to stop. I'm not a fan of his being paired with Artem Zub, however there is Lassi Thompson and Jacob Bernard-Docker (both right shots, Brannstrom shoots left) on the cusp of the NHL and those guys have the potential to really help Brannstrom flourish. I aggressively (and successfully) tried to acquire him about three weeks ago in my dynasty. Tremendous upside, now is the time to buy.

Michael Rasmussen – The 6-6 forward had a solid season, playing nearly every game and posting 15 goals which was actually fifth on the team. Despite the huge junior numbers, Rasmussen is destined to be a top checker. A third-line guy who may blossom into a Mikael Backlund-type that chips in 50 or 55 points, but is likely going to settle in as a top penalty killer and big body for the secondary power play. That could change, as he's only 23 and a player his size won't see his upside until he's 26 or 27. But right now that's how it's looking. Unless my league counts Hits and PIM I have very little interest in him.

Cam York – I really liked York's second stint with the Flyers when he posted seven points in his last 17 games before suffering a hairline fracture in his foot blocking a shot. But he has a lot of competition ahead of him on the depth chart (Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim also shoot left). I think he makes the team and posts modest points (around 30). But the 21-year-old should build on this quickly.

Owen Tippett – A natural goal scorer but the pucks need to start going in for him. With Bobby Brink now in the mix, Tippett needs to start making his presence felt on the scoreboard. He'll need to do it from a depth line because I don't see him being handed a top-six spot with the depth chart as it is now. The Joel Farabee surgery helps, and if the Flyers trade James van Riemsdyk then I can re-write this entire blurb. But for now, Tippett is buried and will struggle to score 20 this year. I rate him a 'sell'.

Vasili Podkolzin – He just turned 21 last week. His potential is probably high-60s, but don't expect that this year or next. A classic case of 'patience is needed'.

Mason Marchment – Probably the biggest mystery in the league to me right now. A plugger through and through, makes the NHL against all odds at the age of 27. And now he's Johnny Superstar? The analytics scream 'luck'. He's also injury prone. I rate him a 'sell', even though he's still probably underrated. I can see him settling in and becoming a productive NHL player. But 71 points (his full-season pace)? Nonsense. Until he plays 70 games, I will assume he can't. I consider him 65-game player who will get between 40 and 50 points, depending on which team he signs with. His value in Hits (likely approaches 200) and PIM (likely hovers around 80+) makes him very valuable in roto leagues.

Jordan Kyrou – We just saw Kyrou's coming-out party. This is him. This is what we can expect from this guy. He's a point-per-game player. And since he's only 24, he could surge even higher. Kyrou is still seeing low ice time (just 16:35 per game) and that's going to see an uptick. Don't have any reservations about Kyrou.

Max Comtois – This is a tough one. Anaheim's leading scorer when the entire team couldn't score and needed one badly. But a fourth-line nobody when the Ducks actually had themselves a few options. I don't know what kind of offseason regiment he went through last summer, but he needs to step that up this time around because his career is in the balance. The metrics do not point to bad luck as the reason, and he started the year playing with Troy Terry (and don't forget – Terry started on fire) and finished the year playing with Trevor Zegras on a part-time basis. So they tried to get him going. I will write it off as a sophomore slump (though 'technically' it was his third year but one year was just 29 games) combined with recovery from hand surgery. I would normally consider him a small 'buy', but because of his proneness to injury I do not have interest in this player.

Pavel Zacha – Zacha failed to build on the promise that he showed in 2020-21 when he posted an 82-game pace of 57 points. But I still like him. The Devils rushed him into the NHL a year or two too soon. He's a bigger player (6-3, 210 pounds) drafted sixth overall in 2015. He's played 386 career NHL games, so his BT is actually in 14 games. That's right, this season will be his breakout according to our model. He's a blossoming analytics darling who drives possession and creates more chances than he gives up. He saw ice time with either Jesper Bratt or Nico Hischier last season so the Devils still have faith in him.

Kaapo Kakko – The impatience with this player is nearly as bad as it is with Jesse Puljujarvi. If Kakko goes out and finishes next season with 38 points in 80 games I still won't give up on him. In fact, I would be happy because he played an entire season. Kakko needs time. Give him at least two more years. I rate him a heavy 'buy' because his owners have soured on him. I don't expect much from Kakko this season, but in 2023-24 I think his time will come.

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And I like this question:

Pick 1 or all 3 but I can't help but think of all these players involved in the same trade that all seem like busts (one because injuries):
Nolan Patrick
Cody Glass
Philip Myers

— Pat Quinn (not that one) (@FHPQuinn) June 25, 2022

Nolan Patrick – Injury prone and I don't know if he can ever shake it. Bust Odds: 75%

Cody Glass – I like how he stayed healthy for a full season, even if it was in the AHL. He needed this. I like his odds of salvaging his career. Bust Odds: 20%

Philippe Myers – He's 25 years old now and even though he's 6-5 and needs time to adjust to his big body…he's pretty much had that time by this point. His analytics were brutal, his production has been terrible. He's looking more and more like an AHL star. Bust Odds: 95%

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See you next Monday.