The DobberHockey Fantasy Guide is now available for download! It's the same guide that you've come to know and love every year, which includes player projections for scoring and peripheral categories in PDF form by team and by Excel list. Included are sleepers, draft review, Calder nominees, stock drops, goalies, and much more.

In addition, the Dobber 2024-25 projections are now in the Fantasy Hockey Geek system! If you have tried to generate Geek rankings with no luck, please regenerate them to receive the update. I've just tried them out for one of my teams, and they work. My first order of business was picking out…

… bubble keepers for Bubble Keeper Week, which will be from August 11-17. In case you're not familiar with it, our writers will share players that are on the bubble on their various keeper teams. I have a few interesting names picked out, which I'll share with you that week.

The Offseason Fantasy Grades articles for each team will debut on Tuesday, starting with Anaheim and working our way down the alphabet. Follow along at this link.

It might be the middle of summer, but there's lots happening here at DobberHockey. Doesn't seem like a holiday to me.

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Here are the top Frozen Tools searches for the past week:

Several of the names are on there because they recently signed contracts. I mentioned last week that I'd focus on players on the list that weren't on the list for obvious reasons, but I'll change course this week and write about three players that signed some significant contracts during this offseason.

Travis Konecny

Even if the Flyers are in a bit of a retool, they didn't waste much time in signing Konecny to an eight-year extension with an $8.75 million cap hit (to start after this season). That contract will expire when Konecny is 36 years old. He is easily the Flyers' most important player, leading the team in goals (33), assists (35), and points (67). He has also led the Flyers in scoring for three consecutive seasons. On top of that, Konecny's goal and point totals have all increased over each of the past two seasons.

There's still time for the 27-year-old Konecny to grow on that point total. Philadelphia has numerous young forwards with promising upside. At the top of the list is Matvei Michkov, who has to be an early favorite for the Calder Trophy and may surpass Konecny for the team scoring lead one day. Scoring increases from the likes of Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, Morgan Frost, and Bobby Brink could also boost the Flyers' offense and ultimately Konecny. Only five teams scored at a lower rate than the Flyers (2.82 GF/GP), but that number could turn around in 2024-25.

Brock Faber

Following an impressive rookie season, Faber cashed in with an eight-year contract with a cap hit of $8.5 million (to start after this season). He wasn't considered a high-upside scorer entering the NHL, as he scored 27 points in 38 games in his last NCAA season. Yet injuries to Jared Spurgeon and trading the inconsistent Calen Addison resulted in Faber taking the top power-play job and not letting it go. Faber finished tied for second in rookie scoring with 47 points, but what might be more impressive is the fact that he averaged nearly 25 minutes per game as a rookie defenseman, leading all rookies and sixth among all players.

Is it possible that Faber fades from that rookie total in 2024-25? Possibly, although it seems like he'll be able to hold down his role on the top power play in the near term. Spurgeon could re-emerge in that role should he remain healthy and should Faber find Year 2 of the NHL more challenging. Zeev Buium, who the Wild drafted in the first round, could pose more of a challenge to that spot long-term. But for now, Faber looks like a potential star defenseman who will be able to hold his own in the scoring department.

Kaiden Guhle

It isn't the Faber contract, but the Canadiens also consider Guhle an important part of their future, signing him to a six-year contract with a cap hit of $5.5 million (to start after this season). That is quite a commitment for a 22-year-old defenseman who has played in 114 games and has 40 points over two seasons, although this contract has the potential to really pay off for Montreal. Guhle was a near point-per-game defenseman in his final season in the WHL, but he seems to be trending the other way as an NHL defenseman.

Guhle has emerged as a shutdown defenseman for the Habs in each of his two seasons, first with David Savard in 2022-23 and then with Mike Matheson in 2023-24. If Guhle continues to be used in that role, then the offensive opportunities might not be ideal for a fantasy defenseman. Moreover, Guhle averaged just 16 seconds of power-play time per game, so he is simply not viewed in that role in Montreal. He has enough offensive ability to chip in a few points, but it seems like he can be ignored in points-only leagues.

Guhle might offer something in peripherals. He was five shots short of reaching triple-digits in all of shots, hits, and blocks. He finished third on the Canadiens with 388 SOG+HIT+BLK.

Pyotr Kochetkov

Kochetkov didn't sign a contract over the summer. That is because he will be entering the second year of a four-year contract with a cap hit of $2 million. That seems like a bargain for the goalie who appeared in more games among any other Carolina goalie (42) in 2023-24. He could lead the Canes in games played again, although Frederik Andersen still has one year remaining on his contract and still has the larger cap hit ($3.4 million).

As I mentioned in the Fantasy Guide, I think Andersen is probably the opening-night starter. But our projections have Kochetkov appearing in more games. That's what an injury-related timeshare looks like. Although Andersen is not listed as a Band-Aid Boy, he has been limited to 24, 34, and 16 games over three of his past four seasons. That is why I'll say if you're drafting a Carolina goalie (which isn't a bad choice), you should be drafting Kochetkov.  

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