The 18^th annual Fantasy Guide is available for immediate download in the shop. Last week I updated this Guide for Tomas Tatar in Colorado, four or five injury notes and adjustments, as well as the latest tryouts. Business is about to pick up in the NHL – and those updates will come flying at you often.

Goalie Post has a FREE app! Email (and soon to have push) notifications of any last-minute goalie changes. Please rate and review. Within the app's Starting Goalie Grid are probable win projections – a bar that goes right or left towards the team the calculation favors…goes further, the more of a favorite that team is. There is also a projected save bar for each starting goalie.

Get it on your iPhone here.

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And get ready for the new Dobbernomics app, which is coming very soon. Hoping within a week…

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https://twitter.com/RyeseRichards/status/1703570218029822379

Give me Miller here. He'll get more than 80 points (I project 85), decent PIM (over 50), solid Hits (185). Meier is more of a 70-point guy, with a bit of upside for more. His PIM is probably going to be slightly below Miller and his Hits will be lower as well.  Push comes to shove, I can see him only topping Miller in goals and even that will be close (I have it 35-32).

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Kris Letang or Noah Dobson. Redraft H2H categories with G, A, +/-, PPP, SoG, Hits.

— Alex MacLean (@alexdmaclean) September 18, 2023

Good one! Because on the surface, my instinct was Dobson – a player on the rise versus a player on the decline. But digging deeper, the points projections for both of these players are close. As are the SOG and PPPts projections. Dobson, to be honest, wins or ties all of those categories…but it's close. However, he is nowhere near Letang in Hits. Letang will help so much in the Hits category, at minimal loss in the other categories, that he gets my nod. The risk is in him playing at least 70 games. That's key here or this could blow up in my face. He missed 18 games last year but has missed just 23 games over the last three seasons combined – that averages just under eight games missed, or a projection of him playing 74 games.

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MacKinnon or Pastrnak. Redraft H2H categories with G, A, PPP, SHP, SoG, Hits and Blocks.

— jval91 (@jval91) September 18, 2023

This one is so close that it's not worth agonizing over in that league format. I ran your categories on Fantasy Hockey Geek along with my projections. The result spit out Pastrnak at sixth spot… and MacKinnon at eight. MacKinnon is the greater injury risk, which makes the Pastrnak call a little easier to make.

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Jeff Skinner or Kuzmenko (multi-cat league)

— Dave O-Evans (@daveOevans) September 18, 2023

Skinner. I think he gets back to at least 70 points, even though a decline is likely. Kuzmenko will also decline, likely falling short of Skinner's production by about 10 points. He won't have as many SOG, and neither player really throws a check or blocks a shot. So for them it will come down to the points, and Skinner gets the nod.

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Robertson or Kucherov

— Michael Walsh (@mikewalsh86) September 18, 2023

Robertson. I think Kucherov will end up with about five more points than Robertson, but he won't score as many goals, take as many shots and his plus/minus won't be anywhere close. Your follow-up tweet didn't indicate a plus/minus category, but SOG and goals were categories so I would stick with Robertson. Only take Kucherov here in a points-only league.

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Points only + PPP, Bratt, Laine, or Tuch

— Jason Cheung (@jasonkcheung) September 18, 2023

I think Bratt will come close to 80 points this season, and I don't think Tuch plays 70 games. I don't see Laine playing 65 games. On a per-game level, all three of them will be pretty close, so for this I would lean toward the guy with a healthier track record.

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10 team banger keeper league who do you spend your last keeper on, Trochek, Nurse, or go off board and keep Evander Kane? We get to keep 8 and my other guys are no brainers.

— Tommy C (@TM_Cunningham) September 18, 2023

For this one I have Kane about equal to Nurse, with Trocheck tailing a little ways behind. I generally prefer to fill a D slot over a wing slot, so I would lean Nurse here. Nurse will obviously give more BLKS but fewer Hits. Nurse's low-40s for points as a defenseman will be more important than Kane's low 50s in points as a forward.

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Reinhart vs Konecny. Categories G, A, Pts, PPP, SOG, HITS, BLK

— Philippe V. Gagné (@Insane_Crayfish) September 18, 2023

This is a close call, as I have both players in that 72- or 73-point range. The other categories are close as well, though I think Konecny will take more shots and maybe 50% more Hits. So go with Konecny.

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Keeper league where you're drafting your bench. Banger cap hit league. I have ~15 mill to draft 6 skaters and a goalie,

Couple good teams couldn't wait on Laf, Byfield or Kakko to develop.

Leaning to Byfield because of potential deployment, or more value from Kaliyev/Tomasino?

— street hockey hasek (@vanleygoodtakes) September 18, 2023

If you league counts SOG then I would lean Lafreniere here. But otherwise, yes, Byfield. Kakko will beat him this year for points, but in the long run with bangers categories, Byfield is your guy

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Hagel or Toffoli.

Points lg. Goals 3points assists 2. Sogs 0.20

— Beerbot (@Go22rd) September 18, 2023

Toffoli will beat Hagel in all three of these categories.

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Morrissey or Hamilton in standard points league but with hits (0.25) and blocks (0.5) counted

— Username (@Pepepopo88) September 18, 2023

Go Josh Morrissey here. He'll decline, but I still think he gets to 70 points. And he beats Hamilton in Hits and BLKS too.

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Cap league, points league with banger category points included.

looking for inexpensive production.

Tolvanen or Sharagovich

Kakko or mittelstadt

Luostarinen or Sprong

Dorofeyev or Eyissmont

— Andy Sardz (@sardz2121) September 18, 2023

I think Sharangovich is a safer pick, but I would take Tolvanen for the upside and hope.

Mittelstadt easily, if he can stay healthy – which he did last year.

Luostarinen here, as Sprong's boom-or-bust risk is a little much and Luostarinen I think will be a steady guy.

If he makes the team and plays all year, Dorofeyev will be pretty good. Eyssimont is safer but has little upside.

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J.Staal or C.Coyle? Need FW but league also has ppp, shp, shots, hits, blocks..

— phinepick (@phinepick) September 18, 2023

I have Staal getting over 750 faceoff wins, while Coyle settles in at around 500. But Coyle will get you a lot more points and SOG. Staal also offers better Hits, but overall I would say take Coyle.

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Rebuilding this year after taking on a new team. I have picks #2 & #3 and am going young given it's a 12th mean keeper league (6p, 1g). Debating between michkov given his guarranteed superstardom and the likely hood of someone scooping him up, fantilli and Cooley. Thoughts?

— Patrick Labbe (@PatrickLabbe8) September 18, 2023

In such a small keeper league, only keeping six players, you don't want to use up a spot like that for two years on Michkov. You have to take Fantilli or Cooley, and there's no wrong answer. Myself, I would prefer Cooley.

12 team keep 15 league (G/A/PPP/+-/PIM/HIT/BLK). I won a couple years ago, and still have a relatively young/talented team. Traded up to 3rd overall pick this year. Would you take Fantilli or Keller?

— Sean Murphy (@SeanMurphyHFX) September 18, 2023

Keller all the way. He's still on the rise, and will pay immediate dividends as opposed to waiting on Fantilli to get going.

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Petterson or Draisatl (points based keeper league)

— Juan Tavarés (@Juan_Tavares_) September 18, 2023

Much as I like Petterson, we're talking about Draisaitl here. I mean…Draisaitl! He just about reached 130 points! Petterson will never do that.

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Do I keep DeBrincat or Meier or both in a points only keeper league. They are both starting a year with new teams (Meier has a few games on NJ). Sometimes it doesn't work out on a new team right away.

— Jake Blumes (@JakeBlumes) September 18, 2023

I like DeBrincat, both in terms of my projections (77 points to 71) as well as upside.

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Robert Thomas or Matty Beniers

— pharmAziz (@pharmaziz) September 18, 2023

Thomas will get more points this season and probably has higher upside in the long term. If your league is points-only, then Thomas is the better choice.

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Kartye or Krebs?

— Hot Take Harry (@charlieplante80) September 18, 2023

Krebs is a better player for points-only leagues. This is only a discussion in banger leagues, but even then I just like Krebs' upside too much to pass on him.

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Marchand, Hyman, or Laine in a keep 7 banger league?

— Rene Rail-Ip (@RRailIp) September 18, 2023

I take Marchand here, even though his production is going to dip. The PIM and Hits will still be tops among these three, and he'll be close enough in points (or even lead the three) to make points a non-issue.

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Pts only Keeper League. PP pts valued more. Keep 8 max 1 goalie.

Keeping: Zibanejad, Panarin, RNH, Kyle Connor, Scheifele, Josi, Oettinger

I have room for one from below unless I swap a keeper:

Toffoli or Verhaeghe?

Jamie Benn or Elias Lindholm?

Zuccarello or Sam Reinhart ?

— EthanKPM (@EthanKPM) September 18, 2023

I have Verhaeghe with a tiny edge over Toffoli in PPPts (by one) and a bigger edge in goals (by six) and points (three).

I have a lot of faith in a Calgary rebound. Couple that with Benn coming back down to earth a bit, and you have to go with Lindholm.

As for Mats Zuccarello vs. Sam Reinhart – Reinhart is likely going to play the full season, whereas Zuke gets hurt a lot. Reinhart will have a lot more goals and similar end result in terms of points. PPPts will also be similar. Fairly close, but Reinhart is the safer pick – if Zuke stays healthy then he'll win. But that's a big "if".

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See you next Monday.