Every Sunday, we share 21 Fantasy Rambles from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week’s 'Daily Ramblings'.

Writers/Editors: Ian Gooding, Michael Clifford, Alexander MacLean, Brennan Des and Dobber

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1. The DobberHockey Prospects Report is now available for download! Get yours at the Dobber Sports Store.

Congratulations to Peter Harling and the DobberProspects team for releasing another fine product. It’s a must-read if you have prospects on your keeper team, or just want to get a head start on who’s coming. Buy it on its own or as part of a Fantasy Pack.

2. We all know about the Oilers’ stacked power play. However, entering today's Game 6, one major key to their success has been 25 consecutive penalty kills. In other words, the Stars had yet to score a power-play goal in this series. The Canucks also had issues with their power play later in their second-round series with the Oilers. (june1)

3. Remember when Stuart Skinner was pulled in favor of Calvin Pickard because he looked shaky in the Vancouver series? Since returning to the net for Game 6 against the Canucks, Skinner has earned quality starts in five of seven games. He still has a sub-.900 save percentage for the playoffs (.890 SV%), but his recent play suggests that goaltending isn’t a real concern for the Oilers at the moment. (june1)

4. The Stars-Oilers series has had some swings in momentum. It seemed like many were writing off Edmonton after they went down 2-1 in the series, which seemed a bit surprising to me. Now it’s the Stars down in this series. Maybe it’s too early to do the same to them? They have a tall order in Game 6 playing a road game with a lively Edmonton crowd on Sunday. Yet for some strange reason, the Stars have been much better on the road than at home during these playoffs. (june1)

5. In the East: After a 2-1 win over the Rangers in Game 6, the Florida Panthers will be making a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final, hoping this time they’ll get their hands on the holy grail.

6. The Panthers are a nasty piece of business right now. They will be a tough team to bet against. Sam Bennett's empty-net goal in Game 5, which turned out to be the game-winner, personifies the type of game that the Panthers play. Bennett elbows Mika Zibanejad to get the puck before skating down the ice to score the empty-netter, and then he was more than prepared to be hit by Chris Kreider.

In that Game 5, Bennett also did what he does best for fantasy teams, which is to fill multiple categories. Bennett finished with a goal and an assist, a plus-2, five shots, and three hits.

7. One question that was presented to me recently was how backups perform when thrust into starting roles. I’ve found a few examples to try to draw some conclusions. Keep in mind that this may not be a complete sample of backups taking over from starters in 2023-24 – just goalie situations that jumped out at me.

My hypothesis before I wrote this is that backup goalies tend to fare okay in the short term, but performance tends to falter over the long term. That may be a function of the team tightening up defensively to help their goaltender knowing the starter isn’t there to save them, but getting a little too comfortable in front of the backup goalie once things seem okay. Or perhaps defenses wearing down from an increased focus on blocking shots and other defensive functions.

For example, Dallas:

– Jake Oettinger out of the lineup December 15 – January 12
– Oettinger season stats: 35-14-4, 2.72 GAA, .905 SV%, 51.9 QS%
– Scott Wedgewood during that span: 12 GP, 7-3-2, 3.03 GAA, .888 SV%, 50.0 QS%

Wedgewood seems to fit my hypothesis, posting six wins and five quality starts over the first eight games of this period. After that, he seemed to tire under the extended workload, allowing at least four goals over each of the next three starts while failing to earn a win in any of the three games. Overall, there was a dropoff in goaltending stats when Wedgewood was in the net, but perhaps it hasn’t been as much as you’d think.

The 31-year-old Wedgewood has been a career backup during his NHL career, having never played 40 games in a season. Oettinger has one of the highest workloads in the league, so Wedgewood tends to play once a week at the most when Oettinger is healthy. (june1)

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8. To summarize the above, there tends to be a lot of worry in the beginning when a starter is injured and the backup takes over. However, it’s later into the injury when there should really be concern. That may not be the case in all situations, though.

Having a “handcuff” backup to your starter is an idea, but only for leagues deep enough for the backup to be rostered at all times. Otherwise, adding the best goalie available should be the ideal strategy when your starting goalie is injured. Also consider the potential increase in value for the backup if he will be starting most games for the foreseeable future.

The strength of the team really matters as well, particularly in leagues that count wins. Fantasy scoring systems don’t really isolate a goaltender’s true ability, so a talented goalie playing for a weak team will likely end up losing value because of the team in front of him. (june1)

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9. On a related matter, last week, I discussed the Zero Goalie strategy from the perspective of two of my teams, which you can read about in the Saturday Ramblings and Sunday Ramblings. If you’re tired of Zero G by now, I have only one more team to discuss. If you’ve been following along, I did not make Zero G the focus for this next season, and you’ll find out why and whether it worked. (may31)

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10. In case you missed it, Jaccob Slavin was named the winner of this year’s Lady Byng Trophy. Slavin registered just four minor penalties in 81 games this season, which is an impressive feat for a defenseman. In his nine NHL seasons, Slavin has a career high of 18 penalty minutes. This is Slavin’s second Lady Byng Trophy. (may31)

11. Columbus introduced their new general manager on Thursday as Don Waddell had a press conference with his new team. Waddell was recently with the Carolina Hurricanes but has moved on for this new challenge. The Blue Jackets are entering their 24^th season as a franchise and have yet to reach a Conference Final, so there is a lot of pressure for success.

It was interesting to see this quote from Brian Hedger (@BrianHedger): #CBJ POHO/GM Don Waddell: “I keep repeating myself, but I wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t think we had a chance to win next year.”

12. Still regarding the Waddell hiring: In NHL parlance, ‘win’ means Stanley Cup. This is something coaches/GMs will say to show faith in their team, but being that direct about it is an odd choice. To go from a Lottery pick to the Stanley Cup in 12 months would be remarkable (and some would say impossible). He could have just said “we have a great mix of young, high-end prospects and good veterans that we can win with down the road” or something to that effect. This specific word choice is a curious one because it’s not as if people should expect a Stanley Cup, but now the floor is set for a big, quick turnaround. Anything else is a failure, and that’s setting a high bar very early.

13. We’re also in the part of the year where the coaching carousel is starting to slow down. Dan Bylsma in Seattle will be one of the last dominoes to fall this summer. Cliffy had his take here. (may29)

14. This is the final team in my offseason reviews of the 16 non-playoff squads. Today’s focus is on the St. Louis Blues, who finished with the most points (92) of all teams that missed the postseason.

We have already gone over the San Jose Sharks, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Anaheim Ducks, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Montreal Canadiens, the Arizona Coyotes (now in Utah), the Ottawa Senators, the Seattle Kraken, the Calgary Flames, the New Jersey Devils, the Buffalo Sabres, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Minnesota Wild, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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15. I know I have focused a lot on prospects that are eligible for the upcoming 2024 Draft, but for most fantasy leagues those players aren’t as relevant. However, Memorial Cup teams give us a great spot to start looking at a few more developed prospects that could make a fantasy impact in the NHL in the fall as well. 

Both Brayden Yager (PIT) and Jagger Firkus (SEA) of the Moose Jaw Warriors have made positive developmental strides this year, and neither has all that much blocking their way to an NHL roster spot. Pittsburgh needs to infuse some young talent, so Yager could see a few games to test if he’s ready. If not, it’s likely back to the WHL for one more year.

Meanwhile, Seattle could really use Firkus as a power play specialist after he put up two points per game in the WHL. Despite Yager only putting up about 1.5 points per game this year, his PNHLe grades out a little higher than Firkus’ because he’s a year younger. (may29)

16. Sticking with Moose Jaw, Denton Mateychuk (CLB) and Matt Savoie (BUF) are the other two big names there, but both have a lot more in the way on their teams’ depth charts. I would expect their career trajectories to out-perform Firkus and Yager, but there’s less upside in the next two years or so, barring a trade. (may29)

17. The Montreal Canadiens’ lack of centre depth nearly led to Owen Beck being called up for a quick stint last season, and he got his first taste of NHL action with one game back in 2022-23. He could get more than the nine-game stint this upcoming year, as he is smart enough to handle a bottom-six centre role, and the Habs don’t have a ton of forward depth past the top-six. He’s never going to be an elite scorer though, so despite the Montreal fanfare, temper expectations there.

18. The better name to chase on the Habs roster is Lane Hutson, who is featured on the cover of our Prospects Report, and who I already have up in the top-100 for the cap league skater rankings. He has a sky-high upside, and should be a full-time player this season with the team. Mike Matheson has been good as the top power play man, but if Hutson is on the team full time then he should take a big chunk of that, which means putting up a lot of points right away in the NHL. (may29)

19. Speaking of tempering expectations, it seems like a lot of people are having trouble doing that with Easton Cowan, and I’m having a tough time blaming them. His rise has been amazing to watch, and he has been setting different records all year for a London Knights team that has a very talented history. It seems like he has a 50/50 shot at this point to make the Leafs next year past a nine-game stint. If he does play with the team, then he replaces something similar to Max Domi‘s role as a top-nine winger. If not, he heads back to Junior and continues to rise in the prospect rankings. His perceived value seems to be moving ahead of where his floor and ceiling warrant it being. (may29)

20. One other name to put (back) on your radar is Will Smith, who officially signed with the Sharks for the upcoming season, leaving college after just one season. Cliffy already mentioned the breaking news on the impending signing yesterday, but I just wanted to add my two cents.

Smith is similarly skilled and as talented as Logan Cooley, landing in a similar situation with a roster that has limited support pieces, and needs a lot of work towards being a playoff contender. That makes it a little harder to insulate these young players, but the bonus for Smith is that he won’t necessarily have to start at centre if he isn’t ready there. With Logan Couture, Mikael Granlund, Thomas Bordeleau (already putting up solid FOW numbers), and Nico Sturm already around, Smith could begin on the wing, put up some better numbers, gaining the confidence to then make a shift to the middle when he is more developed. (may29)

21. Quick congrats to the Czechs for winning Gold at the World Championships, and Switzerland on the Silver. It’s fun to see some of the non-favourites win these.

A fun piece of NHL trivia: Radek Dvorak is the only player in NHL history to have played for all four of the remaining teams in this year’s conference finals of the layoffs. He was drafted by Florida in 1995, played seven full seasons and two split seasons with them, spent his first three years outside of Florida with the Rangers, and then moved on to Edmonton for 2.5 seasons. He only spent one year in Dallas near the end of his career as he was winding down in the role of a depth forward. Wonder who he’s cheering for… (may29)

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Have a good week, folks!

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