Hello my Salary-Cap friendlies! This week is all about bounce backs and while I thought of a couple ways that this could go, the final decision was to go with one forward, one defenseman, and one goalie. There are multiple players that would make sense here, but these three players came to mind right away when I thought of writing a bounce back Capped while I was 100% paying attention in a work meeting last week.

*For this article roster percentages will be omitted with most fantasy sites undergoing offseason maintenance as well as some fantasy leagues not yet renewed for the upcoming season. Cap information from Cap Friendly.

Jonathan Huberdeau – LW,RW – Calgary – 30 years old
Contract: $10.5M – Eight years remaining – NMC, M-NTC (starting 2029-'30)

I mean, this has to be the poster boy for a bounce back, right? Jonathan Huberdeau was that player in fantasy last season that you couldn't necessarily take out of your lineup each and every slate he was on because of his past performance. It was a tough spot and honestly there could probably be three or four other Flames right in this article along with him. The other issue here is the cap hit of $10.5M that comes into play this season that will put him right behind Mitch Marner for tenth largest contract coming into this season.  

On one hand, I get it if I'm Calgary, you had to sign Huberdeau and keep him around long term otherwise the trade that they made for him would not age well at all. Granted, we can go back and forth on the trade itself one year removed, but the Flames wasted no time meeting with Huberdeau to get a deal in place. If this lingered on throughout last season with no extension for Huberdeau getting done, it would have been like the Islanders and Bo Horvat situation, leaving fans guessing.

So what does a bounce back have to look like for Huberdeau? I'd love to sit here and say that the ceiling is a Hart Trophy nominee but I'm thinking that his 2021-'22 season was sort of an anomaly. It's similar to Taylor Hall from his 2017-'18 season in New Jersey where out of nowhere he nets a 93-point season where up to that point he averaged around 54. That's not taking away either accomplishment from these two players but for Huberdeau, why can't he return to the player he was prior to last season? I don't see why 85 points this season along with 3.5 pts/60 isn't in play here?

I know the offseason has been sort of rocky here for the Flames early on, but I like this teams blueline and with an improved power play I don't think it's unreasonable that Huberdeau can't get back to some semblance of the past few seasons. With 15 points coming on the man advantage last season, if that number can get into the 20's I think it's doable for him to be a decent bounce back candidate this upcoming season.

John Klingberg  – D – Toronto – 31 years old
Contract: $4.1 M – One year remaining – M-NTC

Last offseason John Klingberg signed a one-year $7M deal with the Ducks because…well, the Ducks had to get to the cap floor somehow, I suppose? Klingberg is a big-time bounce back candidate, but I think bouncing back for him might go further than just the stat sheet.

Let's start with the obvious, Toronto is a better hockey situation than Anaheim. There, now that we got that off our chest, we can talk stats. I think Klingberg could be in a fanatic situation if he slots in as a second pair defensemen with a very talented top six for the Leafs this upcoming season. I don't see how 50 points is out of reach here, and that comes along with around 40 hits and potentially 70 or so blocked shots. I think sometimes on fantasy sites projections on peripheral stats can get a little out of whack so I wouldn't believe the 85-90 block projections that I've seen out there, but it's at the very least an encouraging sign.

Where I really think Klingberg can bounce back is just being able to stay on the ice, which he has had trouble doing the past few seasons. With his cap hit going down by around $3M and the possibility of 70 games, he makes for a perfect bounce back candidate on the blueline.  

Thatcher Demko – G – Vancouver – 27 years old
Contract: $5M – Three years remaining

Every season there is going to be that one goalie that just inexplicably can't put it together throughout the course of a full 82-game season. Last season there were a couple nominees there, but I'm going to focus here on Thatcher Demko. Last season I wrote about goaltending over on our sister site GoaliePost (app available to download now, tell a friend), and Demko was a regular on our Monday write-ups. After posting two back-to-back .915 Sv% seasons he dropped below .900%, just making it a cut above to .901% before the regular season ended and carried a negative goal saves above expected the entire season along with being one of the bottom five goaltenders in that category. There has to be a bounce back here and with no more Spencer Martin behind him on the depth chart it should be his net. This would be where if I was a news anchor, I'd hold my finger to my earpiece as this reporter has just learned that the Canucks have traded for Casey DeSmith as I'm writing this. Keep it here for more breaking news.

What does a bounce back look like for Demko? For me this is quality starts, it just has to be as two seasons ago he had 35 quality starts to 14 this past season. It's interesting here with Demko as well looking at his cap hit. If this Vancouver season resembles last season in any way in the standings, then I think there's a world where they look to shop Demko in a trade. I get it, it's a goaltender under 30 on a reasonable deal, but to me this just seems like a trade piece for a club at the deadline. Like I said, every year there's the goaltender that for whatever reason has a down season, but there's also in most seasons a club that is without a goaltender due to injury at some point. I really do hope that Vancouver as a whole can bounce back but if not, I don't think it would be outlandish to think that Demko's own bounce back could take place later in the season on a club looking to make a deep playoff run.

*For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.