My favorite time of year is upon us, the fantasy draft season and with that comes plenty of talent evaluations to become prepared for your league's draft. There are so many players to go around so it can become overwhelming at times, especially if you're doing a conventional drafting format where you have about two minutes per pick (approximately). Given the draft board is always updating and your ideal target can always get drafted right before you're on the clock so it is always nice to have a pool of players that you like so you don't frantically pick a player for the sake of making the pick.

In every draft there are a few different tiers that I like to break the player database into, those being: core players (the guys that should be rostered across most leagues that are structured in a conventional format), fringe players (the guys that are mainly rostered in leagues that value specialty areas and guys that are best suited to be on your bench in an ideal situation), injury replacement players (guys that are normally only rostered if you have an injury on your roster), sleeper players (players that you deem to outperform their ADP or guys that you think are underrated in this sense), and finally the breakout players (the players that are poised to breakout in terms of production, whether it be from a new role, new team, better linemates, etc,.).

In this week's article, I plan on providing some of my insight on some of the players that I deem to have breakout potential written all over them. These are the guys that you're really banking on to pop and to produce in a bigger role than the year prior, the players that are expected to take a next step.


#1) Evan Bouchard – D – Edmonton Oilers

Contract: $863K – 1 Year remaining (becomes an RFA this upcoming summer)

The 22-year-old has been touted ever since being drafted just a few seasons ago as a big and mobile offensive style defenseman. In his first full season with the Oilers, he was able to produce a very impressive 43-point season (12 goals) through 81 contests while playing behind more experienced guys in Tyson Barrie and Darnell Nurse. With that being a very promising step for the young defender, expect him to potentially take a bit of a jump this season given his familiarity in the NHL, mixed with a higher level of trust with the coaching staff and the overall attitude that the Edmonton Oilers seem to possess. They seem like a team on a mission to win even more than ever, they didn't exactly finish the season the way that they envisioned they would while rostering two of the top five players in the NHL. Something to note as well is that they only had 43 games of Evander Kane last year, with him having the potential to play 82 games this season, that could bode well for the opportunity for this hockey team to score more goals, which overall can benefit Bouchard. This is a player who posted more than 40 points in his first full year in the NHL, over 100 hits, and just shy of being a block per game with 80. With the Oilers salary cap situation, Bouchard may receive a bridge deal and be slightly underpaid in future seasons. This is a player that I would highly recommend drafting if you have the ability to retain members of your roster going into future seasons.

#2) Vasily Podkolzin – RW – Vancouver Canucks

Contract: $925K – 2 Years remaining

The deal with Podkolzin is that it has always been a matter of when, and not if he will perform at the NHL level. His rookie season didn't have him be a point per game player or anything of the sort, this was certainly a year for him to figure out the speed of the game and the style of North American pro hockey as he has not played in the minors before. Through 79 contests, he managed to post a very respectable 26 points (14 goals) and on paper that doesn't sound incredible. With that being said, he was also only averaging just over 12 minutes per night while playing in a depth role in an organization that doesn't have the best depth in their forward group (sorry Vancouver fans). If Podkolzin can manage to be deployed in a top-six role with Vancouver this season, expect to hear his name a lot more from the mainstream media. I know it is a pretty big 'if', but generally in cap leagues you get to retain players across seasons. He is worth the gamble in the later stages of the draft when he has the potential of suiting up with some combination of Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland, and Andrei Kuzmenko. While being a 21-year-old he managed to produce over a hit per game, just shy of 120 shots, along with having an excellent giveaway to takeaway ratio (18 and 32 respectively). Having more takeaways than giveaways shows me that you're a responsible hockey player and that you're strong with the puck, along with your stick. This type of trait can certainly help fast track a player into a higher-end role within the organization. Plus, Ilya Mikheyev being hurt can help Podkolzin obtain a role faster based on having less competition around him as well, there is a reality where he can shoehorn his way into a top-six role sooner rather than later.

#3) Bowen Byram – D – Colorado Avalanche

Contract: $894K – 1 Year remaining

After posting 17 points across 30 games last season, expect natural growth and Byram being healthy to help him gain familiarity and comfort within the rigors of a full 82-game season with the Colorado Avalanche. Even while battling injuries over the last couple of seasons, he managed to pop for 0.57 points per game which was good enough to be second among rookie defencemen and the one who averaged more than him was the Calder trophy winner – Moritz Seider (0.61). When it comes to NHL playoff production, Byram led all rookies with nine points through 20 games, sure he played more games than the other ones, but to be able to lead in that area as a rookie defenceman is still impressive nonetheless. Given the quality of depth across the Avalanche roster, I would expect that to help insulate Byram well in terms of adjusting the way he plays with the puck at the NHL level. The former 4th overall draft pick is poised to breakout soon, in my opinion. He carries tremendous value in keeper leagues as well, mixed with his ability to produce hits and blocks as he had 26 blocks and 53 hits. This young defender should be on everybody's list this upcoming season, whether you draft him or not, keep him on your watchlist as a potential stud for this year.

#4) Alexander Georgiev – G – Colorado Avalanche

Contract: $3.4M – 3 Years remaining

After winning the Stanley Cup this last season, the Avalanche were forced to move on from Darcy Kuemper due to the salary aspect of it all. With Georgiev, they're bringing in a guy who has played across the last five seasons with the New York Rangers. While technically sound, he hasn't really had the chance to get that main starting role due to always having a guy in front of him. Going from being a backup on the Rangers to being a potential starting goalie on the defending cup champs is definitely a step up for him. While it isn't clear who their #1 is going to be, either him or Pavel Françouz, I find it hard to believe they would bring in a guy who makes more than Françouz just for him to ride pine as the backup. At the very worst, this is a 1A/1B deployment, and I lean that Georgiev is the A in this scenario. This is a team that is very talented from the top to the bottom of their roster. If your league tracks wins, this is a goalie who could potentially end up having 25+ wins.


Overall, these are some of the many potential breakout candidates that exist! There are many of them that exist, but some of the things that I look at to determine that status is development, an upgrade in role, new team, new coaching, better supporting cast, etc,.

If you’re looking to discuss anything hockey with me, check out my Twitter account (@JamieMolloy_DH), as well as on the articles themselves!