The 38-year-old Brent Burns was rejuvenated this year getting away from Erik Karlsson (though Karlsson seems to have benefitted a little more from the breakup). He paced for over 60-points for the first time in four years, in spite of playing the lowest number of minutes he has seen in nearly a decade. Being able to be a little more sheltered in Carolina was a great fit for him. Not only did his scoring jump, but his shooting and his power play production jumped as well. On the flip side, his peripherals unsurprisingly dropped off putting up the lowest hit rate of his career, and the lowest bloc rate since 2014-15. I would expect those trends to continue, and another season pacing for between 55-60 points should be in the cards. Last night he added a goal and an assist in the win.

Meanwhile, the Devils made some peculiar ice time choices in the lopsided loss. Michael McLeod played the most of all forwards, with 19 minutes. Meanwhile Tomas Tatar was benched partway through the game and only played eight minutes, and both Jack Hughes and Timo Meier played under 18 minutes. It was also interesting to me to see Dougie Hamilton see less than 20 minutes of ice time.

It's confusing to say the least that Hamilton has averaged under 22 minutes of ice time in each of the last two campaigns, while we watch players like Burns who are 38 and still playing 23 minutes a game very effectively. We saw Dougie post his best season, but if we see the Devils continue to improve, and Hamilton (deservedly) gets a further bump in ice time, then he may be in line to build on this season's excellent production.

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The returns of Jared McCann and Miro Heiskanen in the Seattle/Dallas game were two key players balancing out the impacts on either side. Not that Seattle has had much trouble scoring goals without McCann, but his return brings an added shooting and puck-control element that could really make a difference in the team closing out the series.

Miro Heiskanen is one of the better all-around defencemen in the game, so when he scored 10 more points this year than his previous two seasons combined, you would think that would have put him on the short-list for the Norris. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as he remains one of the most underappreciated players in the league. He's debatably a top-five option on defence in redraft leagues entering next year, and certainly entrenched in the top-10. I have a feeling he might not quite be ranked that way though.

I also just wanted to make a correction from Dobber's Ramblings on Monday where he jumped on Daniel Sprong's six minutes of ice time and was explaining how he didn't see Sprong as fantasy-relevant enough under Hakstol because of the limited ice time. To a point it's true, there were healthy scratches and limited minute games in the regular season that made him a frustrating own at times, but at the moment he is out with an injury, and didn't play in the last half of game three. I think I remain a little more optimistic on his future outlook than Dobber does, but either way it makes sense to be realistic here that Sprong won't suddenly become a regular top-six player seeing above 15 minutes a game, especially with how deep the Kraken are up front. 

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Is Vegas trying to build another Chandler Stephenson?

Brett Howden's career turnaround has my attention. pic.twitter.com/keZ2MCWiuB

— Travis Yost (@travisyost) May 4, 2023

Something to keep in mind as a late flier for next year. There should be room for Brett Howden to stick in the Vegas top-nine in 2023-2024. Him breaking out this season would be a little late from a points perspective, but the underlying numbers did take a jump for him around game 200. He then saw a change in linemates and usage this past year, which held his production down. His play in the playoffs has jumped back up with underlying numbers closer to the 2021-2022 season, and that along with the increased ice time has led to his scoring surge in the playoffs (five points in eight games).

If he can keep the ice time above 14 minutes per game next year, then I think the scoring will follow and we could see a 45- to 55-point player. Still not draftable in a lot of leagues, but someone to keep in mind for hot streaks, and an upside for more.

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Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog will undergo a cartilage transplant in his right knee on May 10. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Brian Cole at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The 30-year-old forward is expected to miss the entire 2023-24 season. pic.twitter.com/bM466EpL3G

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 9, 2023

Really unfortunate news out of Colorado with Landeskog set to miss his second-straight season. He will be 32 for the beginning of the 2024-2025 season when it's possible we see his return. As a physical player coming of major knee surgeries, his effectiveness even upon return would be limited. Unless a fantasy league keeps at least 250 players and has a deep IR bench, then I he's not worth holding on to at this point.

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Ilya Samsonov is day to day with an upper-body injury. Sheldon Keefe did not consider giving Game 4's start to Matt Murray.

This is Joseph Woll's net.

— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) May 9, 2023

What an interesting twist that Matt Murray is healthy and was not considered… and somehow that makes sense. I was hopeful for a turnaround from him when the Leafs made the trade, but there have been few bright spots this season for him, marred with the injuries and inconsistency we were all warned about.

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I will preface this next bit of the Ramblings where I want to talk about the 2023 draftees as I always do, by saying that I am not a scout. I do however play a lot of fantasy hockey, and do a lot of reading on the incoming draft class from a variety of sources to try and get an amalgamation of diverse viewpoints on each of the relevant players. With the lottery now in the rearview mirror and the draft order set, here are some thoughts on a few of the players and groupings.

Connor Bedard – Will be the first overall pick to Chicago, and should be the top pick in dynasty rookie drafts as well. In redraft leagues there will be some intrigue to his overall average draft position, but I would not be selecting him expecting any more than the 68-point-pace that Patrick Kane put up with a similarly depleted Chicago roster this past season. Dobber had a similar range on Monday, expecting production in the 60s with a likely ceiling comparative to Auston Matthews' 69 points from his rookie year.

Adam Fantilli – The likely number-two pick could be a Jack Eichel level consolation prize, and it sounds like he is going to be pushing to make his NHL debut in the fall. Anaheim should not have any issue with that fact, and has an excellent young core for him to develop with. Could have a similar 60-point rookie year to Bedard if he gets the right deployment.

Leo Carlsson, Will Smith, and Matvei Michkov – This trio should round out the top-five, and they aren't your typical three-to-five set. Michkov has the timeline issue, where he won't make his debut for a number of years due to his KHL contract. In cap leagues though that is a god-send, being a full superstar scorer on an ELC in his prime years. Carlsson and Smith could also grow into Jack Hughes level fantasy contributors, or at least be reasonable top-line members. They won't be contributing right away either though, so in reality, the timeline downside of drafting Michkov isn't as steep as some people think.

Oliver Moore, Gabe Perreault, and Ryan Leonard – The USNTDP group all have some questions surrounding their individual games transitioning to the pros and how that mixes with their eventual upsides, but their play to this point has warranted the hype as top-15 selections.

David Reinbacher, Mikael Gulyayev, Axel Sandin-Pellikka – The top defence trio will all be picked a little earlier than they probably should due to the scarcity of defence in this year's draft. That doesn't mean they won't be good but don't expect Adam Fox or Victor Hedman here. These might be closer to middle-pairing players that add some puck-moving talent to a lineup, topping out under 40 points unless they end up running the top power play unit.

Some players that I seem like they should go earlier in fantasy drafts than they will in the NHL draft mainly due to size, skating, and/or awareness in their own end: Andrew Cristall, Gavin Brindley, Brayden Yager, and Jayden Perron. All four are players that are in the top-20 on my draft list at this point (though things can change between now and the fantasy draft, namely seeing what rank each of these players are drafted at, and what team they are drafted to.

There aren't many top goalies this year. Probably none that should be selected in the first round, and maybe even the first two rounds. That being said, the top names to keep an eye on are Mikael Hrabal (the top one on my list), Trey Augustine, Carson Bjarnasson, and Adam Gajan. This isn't a year to overthink the position. Draft the forwards because not only are they the better group, but they develop faster, hit the NHL sooner, and retain their trade value longer.

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I know some of you fanatics for draft eligible are familiar with the work of Byron Bader (and if you're not then you should be) but I have also recently found a few other folks working on modelling prospect development and projections. This includes Thibaud Chatel who I find has done an excellent job providing more context and comparison for the leagues outside of North America.

📊🏒 New Post

Projecting the career potential of any prospect in any league

Based on their Win Shares performances, age, position, league. Using the 270,000 player/seasons we have in stock
This is the early stages of something we want to put online soon!https://t.co/ToWzWIZ18q pic.twitter.com/dqCfyLPSRq

— Thibaud Chatel (@Thibaud_Chatel) May 4, 2023

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See you next Wednesday. In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.