Hello and welcome back to Geek of the Week! In this week's article, I am going to highlight three players with high floors that and can be drafted at value in multicat leagues based on their ADPs.

When looking at a player's range of outcomes for the season, I like to ask myself, "What is the worst-case scenario for this player?" For many fantasy-relevant skaters, being pinned to the third line and second power play is that scenario to go along with a subpar shooting percentage. If we can still gain value from those players in that worst-case scenario, that would be considered a player with a very high floor. For the following players, I am going to highlight what I think their worst-case scenario is as well as their most likely scenario. I will also be revealing my projections for each scenario. For a player's worst-case scenario, I will be ignoring a substantial injury if the player is currently healthy. Although there are Certified Band-Aid Boys, these injuries could happen to anyone and thus anyone's absolute worst-case scenario would be to miss the entire season due to an injury. I am not going to predict this.

Sam Bennett – Yahoo ADP: 166.5, Fantrax ADP – 172.1

Most likely scenario – Top 6 (13:45 Even Strength [ES] TOI) and some looks on PP1 (2:30 PP TOI), a 10% SH%.

Projection – 29G, 33A, 62P, 15PPP, 271 SOG, 202 HIT, 39 BLK

This is similar to Bennett's pace from last season, with a small bump in shooting percentage (of which last season was near a career low). With Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad both unavailable to start the season, one of Bennett or Carter Verhaeghe will join the top power play alongside Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Gustav Forsling. I do think Verhaeghe has the inside track, but Bennett should get some looks as a net-front presence to compliment all the skill on that unit. This even strength projection also bakes in some instances where Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues beat out Bennett in the top 6, but these instances won't last long.

Worst-case scenario – Top 9 (13:00 ES TOI), PP2 (1:42 PP TOI), and an 8% SH%.

Projection – 20 G, 27A, 47P, 10PPP, 243 SOG, 190 HIT, 37 BLK

In this worst-case scenario, Bennett still puts up monster peripherals to go along with respectable offensive numbers. His per 60 shot and hit stats have always been impressive and this 8% shooting percentage would be near a career low, similar to last year. This floor is still very valuable in multicat leagues and should be more valuable than Bennett's current ADP.

Bennett should be a multi cat beast and there's tons of value to be had, even in his worst-case scenario based on where he is currently being drafted.

Sean Durzi – Yahoo ADP: 158.3, Fantrax ADP: 159.3

Most likely scenario – Top pair (18:45 ES TOI), mostly top PP (2:43 PP TOI), plays 33% of the PK (2:00 SH TOI), and a 5.5% SH%.

Projection – 8G, 35A, 43P, 18PPP, 136 SOG, 99 HIT, 202 BLK

On a strong Kings team, Durzi had very high blocks per 60 numbers. These number should continue to be high on a weaker Coyotes team, giving Durzi many more opportunities to get in front of shot attempts. Alongside an increase in ice-time and PK utilization, Durzi will be near the league lead in blocks. This will provide great value to compliment the points, power play points and respectable hit numbers. In this scenario, Durzi is a potential top 20 fantasy Defensemen this year.

Worst-case scenario – Top 4 (16:30 ES TOI), a mix on PP1 and PP2 (2:13 PP TOI), not really utilized on the PK, a 4% SH%, and a low On-Ice SH%.

Projection – 5G, 28A, 33P, 14PPP, 117 SOG, 86 HIT, 164 BLK

In this scenario, Juuso Valimaki and/or J.J. Moser beat out Durzi on the top power-play unit at times and Durzi yields some ES TOI to them as well as Matt Dumba. He is also not utilized on the penalty kill much. This may seem unimportant to many fantasy managers, but Durzi has had insane blocks per 60 numbers on the penalty kill in the past two seasons. Even without much PK time, Durzi would still be in the top 30 in Blocks and only 1 of 4 players in my projections to have 33+ points, 160+ Blocks, and 80+ Hits. This floor still provides you with a valuable defenseman in multicat leagues that count blocks.

Owen Tippett – Yahoo ADP: 158.3, Fantrax ADP: 159.3

Most likely scenario – Top 6 (15:42 ES TOI), PP1 (2:48 PP TOI), and a 10.7% SH%.

Projection – 31G, 23A, 54P, 15PPP, 287 SOG, 130 HIT, 80 BLK

Tippett started the season with only 13:30 ES TOI, but he gained favour with Tortorella throughout the season and was getting 17:00 ES TOI to finish the season to go alongside a top power play role. He also increased his ES shots per 60 minutes from 8.2 to 11.3 in the last quarter of the season, while shooting 10.4% at even strength. Tippett also blocked plenty of shots last year, a behaviour Torts will likely still encourage this season. This scenario and projection assume Tippett picks up where he left off the finish last season, albeit a little bit of a decrease in even strength ice time. He can provide great value for goals, shots, hits and blocks.

Worst-case scenario – Top 9 (14:00 ES TOI), on and off PP1 (2:20 PP TOI), and an 8.7% SH%.

Projection – 22G, 20A, 42P, 12 PPP, 252 SOG, 115 HIT, 71 BLK

This scenario would see Tippett enter Tortorella's dog house and return to a middle-six role all season. Even in this role, Tippett provides great value in most categories. With an ADP of 158, it seems as though Tippett is being drafted with this worst-case scenario as the expectation. If this high-floor scenario occurs, Tippett would still be in the top 150 in multicat leagues.

Hope you enjoyed! See you next week.

Follow me on Twitter/X @fantasycheddar, where I will be posting my personal projections very soon and will answer any questions you may have.