In case you missed it, Robin Lehner is expected to miss the entire 2022-23 season, as he will require hip surgery. His status for the upcoming season was already uncertain. It's worth mentioning that he already underwent shoulder surgery earlier this offseason along with battling a separate leg/knee injury. Lehner is already a Band-Aid Boy Trainee who will probably advance to the full list with this laundry list of ailments.

Laurent Brossoit also underwent surgery this offseason, and his status to start the season is unknown. That means the Golden Knights could start the season with Logan Thompson and Michael Hutchinson as their two main goalies. I mentioned Thompson in my Goalies to Watch article in the Fantasy Guide, so this news about Lehner further cements Thompson as a goalie to add or draft in most fantasy leagues. That is, if the Golden Knights don't try to acquire a goalie from another team. The salary cap has been a self-inflicted problem for Vegas and one that fans of other teams take a certain amount of schadenfreude from. Yet the Knights might have some space to add a decent goalie once Lehner is placed on LTIR.   

Thompson appeared in 19 games in 2021-22, posting 10 quality starts for a 52.6 QS%. That percentage was 25^th among 67 goalies who played at least 15 games. That percentage was also exactly the same as former Jets backup and potential Sabres starter Eric Comrie, while showing a similar percentage to Darcy Kuemper, Jonathan Quick, Semyon Varlamov, and Marc-Andre Fleury. In terms of goals-saved above average per 60 minutes (GSAA/60), Thompson was 20^th among the same 67 goalies, ahead of the likes of Varlamov, Sergei Bobrovsky, Cam Talbot, and Connor Hellebuyck. Based on that sample size, Thompson has the upside to be an average NHL starting goalie. Draft accordingly but not too high, as he might lose some of that value if the Knights land another goalie.  

Also, if Brossoit is in fact ready to start the season or his injury is short-term, Vegas seems less likely to reach out for another goalie. That would allow them to focus on acquiring another forward. Maybe they didn't need to trade Max Pacioretty (and I'm not going to delve into the alternate universe of whether he would have injured his Achilles if he wasn't traded). As it stands, the Golden Knights are in the market for another forward. Maybe they sign former Golden Knight Paul Stastny or one of Evan Rodrigues or Phil Kessel, to borrow some names that Mike mentioned in his Ramblings yesterday.

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Just a reminder that tomorrow is the start of Bubble Keeper Week. If you're not familiar with Bubble Keeper Week, our writers will discuss offseason keeper decisions that we have to make, with the focus on those players that are on the bubble. Perhaps you have some of the same players on your roster, but if not, hopefully these articles guide you through a thought process for your own keeper decisions. The Bubble Keeper Week idea was started by a reader who suggested it could be an appropriate mid-summer topic when there's hardly a peep of anything hockey-related.

I'll kick things off in my Ramblings tomorrow, as I need to make a keeper decision by the end of the month on several players. My analysis won't necessarily involve a flat-out keep or don't keep recommendation, as these decisions tend to involve numerous factors particular to a league. Perhaps that analysis will help you if you are stuck on the fence with a player or two.

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I know Bubble Keeper Week doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but there's some recent player news involving a player on a salary cap team that I just took over this offseason. Philipp Kurashev has signed a one-year extension with the Blackhawks worth $750,000. This is a super-low cap hit and even slightly lower than his entry-level contract ($842,500 per season), so the risk of keeping Kurashev on this roster in this extremely deep league (20 teams!) seems low.

Although Kurashev does not really have a selling point in terms of a particular roto category, he has an opportunity for top-6 icetime on what is shaping up to be a barren Chicago roster. Because he can play center, he will be able to add a few faceoffs while being slotted in as a left wing or utility player. As well, he is projected to receive second-unit power-play time. Add to that the fact that he is in another contract year and you could say he may not receive another potential opportunity like this if he doesn't produce this season.

The Blackhawks also signed defenseman Caleb Jones to a one-year, $1.35 million contract. At least that's a more bearable cap hit than that of his brother.

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You may have also noticed that we have also started our Offseason Fantasy Grades articles. You can find all the ones we've written so far on The Dobotomy page. So far, we've covered Anaheim, Arizona, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, and Carolina. You'll see Chicago on the site later today, if you haven't already.

I also need to take this opportunity to give a big special thank you to all the writers who have stepped up to help with these articles: Brad Hayward, Peter Ryell, Scott Royce, Brandon Little, Andrew Santillo, Vlad Zorila, Grant Campbell, and Flip Livingstone; and of course, fellow editors Mike Clifford and Alex MacLean. Also, Mario Prata for the graphics, and to Dobber for allowing me to bring in the writers to assist. If I've missed anyone, it is certainly not intentional. All of these contributions have resulted in far less work for the editors. Hope all of you enjoy these articles. 

With all of the help, I was still tasked with writing articles for four teams: Calgary, Colorado, Philadelphia, and Vancouver. If you're wondering why the Flames were a B this year and a B- last year when they had a better team, last season's grade was assigned before the season. The Flames at the time were kind of an underachieving team that had missed the playoffs the season before. Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Elias Lindholm were all loaded up on one line and all posted career-best seasons. Had I known that would happen, the Flames would have received at least a B+ and would have maybe even been in the A range. And although I might not be as bullish on Jonathan Huberdeau as Dobber is, I still think he'll reach 100 points.

Speaking of the Flames, I appeared on the Fantasy Hockey Hacks podcast earlier this week. I discussed player projections for the Flames, Oilers, Kraken, and Canucks with the Hacks. Have a listen (or a watch). I even wore my retro Stan Smyl t-shirt for the occasion.

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And of course, don't forget about the Fantasy Guide. Purchase yours today if you haven't already. Dobber updates the guide as news happens (including what is listed below). To view the updates, go back to the Dobber site and download yourself a new copy of the PDF guide and the Excel spreadsheet.

Some other updates on the Dobber site:

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Finally, I thought I'd throw this poll up on my Twitter:

I'll be honest – I haven't been watching much of the World Juniors. The two reasons listed below have both factored in for me, as have other personal responsibilities during this time. I will probably tune in once Canada plays more important games, but to be honest, the actions of Hockey Canada have left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm not sure a Canadian gold medal will carry the same level of pride as it has in previous years. That's probably not fair to the players playing in the tournament this season, like Connor Bedard, but we have yet to see Hockey Canada take real action from the events of 2003 and 2018. The World Junior Tournament is a topic that I could probably discuss at some length here, but I simply haven't given it much bandwidth. Maybe that will change as the tournament goes on.  

As for the poll, I certainly thought more respondents would have answered Yes, since my Twitter is targeted toward hockey and fantasy hockey. Sorry if you clicked on the article hoping for more of a breakdown of the game, but I wanted to share my thoughts and also find out where others were at. The low turnout at games (especially those not involving Canada) reflects the poll results.

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.