Don't forget to purchase and download your Fantasy Prospects Report, which is now available at the Dobber Sports store! I've combed through the profiles for players on my larger salary cap keeper team, and I'm sure many of you that have bought the guide have done the same for your teams. This team of mine is deep enough that not all the prospects on this team will be covered by the FPR, but at least it gives me an idea of who I should hang onto and what their estimated times of arrival are.

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Before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, let's take a quick peek at the playoff leaders over at Frozen Tools:

Goals – Leon Draisaitl (13) – He still leads in spite of being eliminated after the second round! Among players remaining, William Karlsson leads with 10 goals.

Assists – Roope Hintz (14)

Points – Hintz (24) – Matthew Tkachuk leads players remaining with 21 points

Points per game (min 5 GP) – Connor McDavid (12 GP, 20 PTS, 1.67 PTS/GP) – He was always going to be a great pick for your playoff pool, regardless of how far you had the Oilers going

Power-play points – Evan Bouchard (15) – This might be even more impressive than the Draisaitl goal total. As a huge beneficiary of the Tyson Barrie to Nashville trade, Bouchard is definitely a top 100 player in redraft roto leagues next season. Yes, his value increases based on his playoff performance.

Icetime (min 5 GP) – Drew Doughty (28:14)

Shots on goal – Jonathan Marchessault (62)

Plus/minus – Best: Marchessault (+13), Worst: Dougie Hamilton (-11)

Penalty minutes – Max Domi (52) – Teammate Jamie Benn is second with 51 PIM. The two of them racked up 29 PIM combined in that infamous Game 3 against Vegas, which resulted in Benn being suspended for two games.

Goals-against average (min 5 GP) – Frederik Andersen (1.83)

Save percentage (min 5 GP) – Adin Hill (.937) – If Vegas wins the Stanley Cup, does he receive serious Conn Smythe consideration? The argument against it is that he made his playoff debut in Game 2 of the second round (vs. Edmonton).

Quality start percentage (min 5 GP) – Igor Shesterkin (85.7%)

Among all goalies with at least 5 GP, Vitek Vanecek had the worst GAA (4.64), SV% (.825), and QS% (0).

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Yesterday I discussed goal scorers who had both unusually high and unusually low power-play goal totals and what that might mean. Today we'll stick to the topic of goals, but focus on shooting percentage. Here is the list of highest shooting percentages from last season (minimum 40 games played):

Name	GP	S%	G
ANDREI KUZMENKO	81	26.8	38
BRAYDEN POINT	82	21.7	51
LEON DRAISAITL	80	21.1	52
PAVEL BUCHNEVICH	63	21.1	26
NIC DOWD	65	21.0	13
MARK SCHEIFELE	81	20.4	42
ROOPE HINTZ	73	20.1	37
REM PITLICK	46	20.0	6
KLIM KOSTIN	57	19.6	11
ALEX KILLORN	82	19.4	28
JARED MCCANN	79	19.0	40
GABRIEL VILARDI	63	18.9	23
CALLE JARNKROK	73	18.9	20
RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS	82	18.4	37
TOMMY NOVAK	51	18.3	17
CONNOR MCDAVID	82	18.2	64
MIKKO RANTANEN	82	18.0	55
MATIAS MACCELLI	64	18.0	11

Players like Alex Killorn, Pavel Buchnevich, Mark Scheifele, and 50-goal scorer Brayden Point all had high shooting percentages and high (by their career standards) goal totals. All of them also have relatively high normal career shooting percentages. I would imagine that all of them dip slightly in the goal department next season, but they likely shouldn't drop too much.

The names that stood out on this list don't have a lengthy NHL track record but showed a high shooting percentage last season. It's possible that they can also maintain a high shooting percentage, but it's also possible that they show a significant decline in goals starting next season.

Andrei Kuzmenko

A bright spot in another disappointing season for the Canucks, Kuzmenko led all first-year players with 38 goals and 73 points. Note I didn't say rookie, as Kuzmenko doesn't count as one at age 27. As well, only Elias Pettersson scored more goals (40) among Canucks.

Kuzmenko also led all players (minimum 10 GP) with a 26.8 SH%. This was only his first NHL season, so it's hard to compare it to anything. Yet this is quite a lofty shooting percentage, as the next-highest shooter with at least 40 games played shot 21.7%. That in and of itself seems like cause for concern. To put it another way, he nearly reached 40 goals in spite of taking fewer than 150 shots (1.8 SOG/GP).

As much as it has been a pleasure to watch Kuzmenko in his first NHL season, I'd have to bet on his goal total dropping from 38 in 2023-24. He will clearly need to shoot the puck more, and it will be critical for him to stay on the first-unit power play. Rick Tocchet isn't afraid of shaking things up if something isn't working, so Kuzmenko will need to prove his worth by continued goal scoring as well as better defensive awareness.

Tommy Novak

You may remember Novak's late-season run when all the pucks seemed to be going into the net for him. In case you forgot, Novak was a hot waiver-wire commodity with 35 points over his last 38 games after being called up from the AHL in December. Not surprisingly, Novak shot at a fairly high clip (18.3 SH%, 11.0 5-on-5 SH%) during the season.

We don't have much larger of a sample size of Novak compared to Kuzmenko. However, it's worth mentioning that he shot 16.4% over 25 games in the AHL earlier in the season, so a relatively high shooting percentage in an environment he can thrive in is possible. In a limited role with the Predators last season, Novak shot 4% for just one goal in 27 games. In addition, the return of Nashville veterans such as Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, and Ryan Johansen next season could result in decreased icetime and power-play opportunity. He will flat out need to shoot more, though, as he took only 93 shots over his 51 games.

On the bright side, new coach Andrew Brunette should also have a positive impact on the whole team's offense. He was in charge of a Florida team that scored at will last season and was an assistant on a New Jersey club that took its goal-scoring game to another level this season. Novak may have earned enough equity with his late-season run to secure a top-6 role next season, but that's not guaranteed. 

Matias Maccelli

Maccelli is a unique case. You might be wondering why I would include a player with 11 goals when discussing high shooting percentage, but stay with me. Maccelli's career games played and shooting percentage totals parallel those of Novak. The trouble is that Maccelli averaged just under a shot per game (61 SOG in 64 GP). He converted on 18% of those shots, which works out to 11 goals. A low goal total and a low shot total aren't going to help in multicategory leagues. Simply maintaining his shot total could mean that Maccelli's goal pace could drop even further. Or he's a pass-first player or very careful shooter.

In a previous Ramblings I mentioned that Maccelli is better for assists than goals, which is probably what you should expect again next season. That being said, he showed better goal-scoring ability in the AHL, Liiga, and the USHL. He may be a better goal scorer than what he's shown so far in the NHL, but right now his other advanced stats (eg. 9.9 5-on-5 SH%) don't show a player who will build on the goals he has managed to score.   

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