Continuing with Bubble Keeper Week, I'm going to turn toward some players that have recently experienced changes of value in salary cap leagues due to new contracts. Salary increases can create tough decisions in terms of who to keep, yet they may be earned due to a player getting better. Salary decreases can justify a player staying on a roster, but they also reflect a player decreasing in value. In all, salary changes are a double-edged sword.

All of these players would certainly qualify as bubble keepers if not outright drops in many leagues. This is a 20-team league with deep rosters to fill (3 C, 3 LW, 3 RW, 6 D, 3 Skt, 1 G, 6 Res, 33 Minor), so these might be players that don't generate a ton of interest in default-sized leagues. So I'll try to highlight where they hold value.

Max Domi

After a reasonably productive season (47 points in 80 games), Domi earned a slight raise from the Leafs from $3 million per season to $3.75 million per season. That didn't bother me. Not only did I keep Domi, but I also rejected a trade offer for him since he has the potential to provide solid value for this team.

Domi received his minutes with top-line forwards such as Auston Matthews and William Nylander, but he was also able to generate points outside of the top 6 and off the Leafs' top power play. However, that might have contributed to a lack of goals (9) and power-play points (2). A 6.6 SH% was another major hindrance, so he will need to find a way to get his shot total back up to at least two shots per game. Domi averaged just 1.7 SOG/GP in 2023-24. If one of the Leafs' core players is injured, then Domi should be able to move up in the lineup. For example, Domi posted 10 points in 12 games while Mitch Marner was sidelined.

Domi channeled his father Tie Domi in collecting penalty minutes in 2023-24, finishing seventh in the league with 118 PIM. Max's previous career high was 82 PIM, so this was a pleasant surprise if your league counts penalty minutes. Domi's penalty minutes were padded by six fights and four misconducts. He might be on better behavior in 2024-25, but that's something to keep an eye on in bangers leagues.

Anthony Mantha

In need of a relatively inexpensive scoring winger, the Flames signed Mantha to a one-year contract worth $3.5 million. That's a significant drop from the $5.7 million per season contract he received from the Red Wings that the Capitals and Golden Knights also took turns holding. I'm not expecting huge totals from Mantha this season, and I originally added him figuring I might drop him later. Yet it makes more sense to hold onto him with the lower cap hit.

With the Flames, Mantha could receive an increase on the 14-15 minutes per game that he had averaged over the past three seasons. Calgary is in a rebuild or retool (whatever you want to call it), so their depth isn't what it used to be. That means Mantha's icetime could return to the roughly 18 minutes a game that he used to see in Detroit. If the Flames are well out of the playoff race at the deadline, Mantha could be flipped to a contender. That wouldn't necessarily help his value, as he could be pushed down the lineup on a deeper team.

An increase in icetime might be offset by regression from higher-than-normal advanced stats in 2023-24. Mantha's shooting percentage was 20.4%, which is unsustainable for a career 12% shooter. In addition, nearly 50% of his assists were secondary assists, which means that he could also lose a few assists in 2023-24. Mantha is also a Band-Aid Boy, with his 74 games in 2023-24 his highest games-played total since the 2017-18 season. All of this means I'm not super high on Mantha, but he's a reasonable option in a deep salary cap league.

Jordan Eberle

Eberle's new contract comes at a slight discount ($4.75 million) from what his previous contract paid ($5.5 million), which seems fair given the overall decline in his production over the past few seasons. He continues to be rosterable in a league this size because of his scoring, but he does not offer much in the way of peripherals.

Eberle was basically the third-most valuable part of a big offseason trade that I made this offseason. I was able to trade up in the draft to acquire the eighth overall pick, which I used to draft Eberle's potential future teammate in Berkly Catton. I also acquired Sam Bennett, who scores and contributes shots and power-play points at a very similar pace to Eberle but also adds a lot more to non-scoring peripherals in penalty minutes, hits, and faceoffs.

This league doesn't have a specific deadline for when players need to be kept – only specific dates for when teams must be cap compliant and without injured reserve usage. So depending on what happens this season, I could decide to drop Eberle at some point if the scoring results aren't there. For now, I will be retaining him. 

Tyler Myers

Myers' five-year contract worth $30 million was widely criticized at the time it was signed. While he did not provide that kind of value to the Canucks during that contract, he still filled a need as a right-shot defenseman who can handle tough minutes. Now he is back in Vancouver on a three-year contract with a $3 million cap hit that is half of what he was earning on his previous lucrative deal. Maybe there's a hometown discount on this deal, but it sounded like Myers wanted to return to the club so he could continue to be close to his home in Kelowna, BC.

As the Canucks made their way back into the playoffs in 2023-24, Myers took advantage of a contract year and offered up his highest point total in five seasons (29 points in 77 games). By Fantrax's "score" in this league, Myers is actually a fairly productive player. He led my team in blocked shots (136) while finishing second in penalty minutes (77). That might not seem significant, but this is a 20-team league and there are six defense slots to fill. Suddenly Myers has some value, and at a lower price tag he makes sense for this team.

Kaapo Kahkonen

Kahkonen is also playing on a discount this coming season, having signed with the Jets for $1 million for one year after being paid $2.75 million over the past two seasons. The Sharks were hoping he would be their goalie of the future after they acquired him from Minnesota, but Kahkonen got caught up in their rebuild and ended up with some very poor numbers. After a brief stint with the Devils, Kahkonen will be competing with Eric Comrie for the backup goalie job behind Connor Hellebuyck.

In this league, I can only start one goalie per day, and my goalie minimum is two starts per week. I should receive that from Sergei Bobrovsky each week, but if he gets injured, I'm in big trouble. (I tend to live on the edge goaltending-wise on some of my teams, as you can read here.) After being acquired as a throw-in in a multiplayer trade where I added Shane Pinto and a first-round pick in the entry draft, Kahkonen is now my second goalie since Akira Schmid will probably start the season in the AHL. I don't expect him to start a lot for the Jets, but he may pick up around one game per week. Most backup goalies are already rostered in this league, so I'll be retaining Kahkonen for sure.

A side observation: Having 20 teams in a league obviously means that an individual team is more watered down relative to teams in other fantasy leagues. However, having 19 other GMs makes it easier to find a trade partner.

–

That's it from me for Bubble Keeper Week. I hope you've enjoyed reading what all the writers have had to offer and that we’ve helped you make your own bubble keeper decisions in some way.

Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads.