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. Of course, the big news this week was the announcements for the rosters of the Four Nations Cup. Back on Tuesday, I took a shot at building my Team Canada roster using their first six players named and then the players I would take to the tournament.

There are two names on this list that weren’t on mine: Bennett and Jarvis. I had Connor Bedard and Zach Hyman instead. Bedard not being there is less surprising than Hyman. I get Hyman had a tough start to the season, but he plays a great forechecking game, has chemistry with McDavid, and is a high-end net-front presence on the power play. I suspect that two months ago, Hyman would have been there over Bennett, but the tough start and the injury seems to been enough to have tipped the scales to the defending Stanley Cup champion. And Team Canada historically likes having a bevy of centres and it gives them another one to use should the need arise. (dec5)

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2. (As mentioned above, on Tuesday), I wanted to take my shot at filling out the roster for Team Canada. We are going with a 23-man roster with 12 forwards, six defencemen, two goalies, and a spare at each position, along with an assumption that the players selected will be healthy when February rolls around. These are my preferences, and not who I think the management group will take… (dec3)

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3. As has been rumored since the summer, Jacob Trouba was finally moved out of New York. Trouba was traded to Anaheim for Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick. Read the Fantasy Take here. (dec7)

4. That wasn’t it for Rangers transactions on Friday, as they signed Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year extension worth $11.5 million per season. Shesterkin is on the final year of his contract paying $5.67 million per season. Since Trouba has another year left on his contract after this one, trading him seemed to free up what was needed to finally get Shesterkin over the hump. Just like shedding Trouba, the piece of mind of having the #1 goalie under long-term contract might ease tensions for the Rangers. (dec7)

5. Jared Spurgeon picked up a power-play assist on Friday, giving him five points over his last four games, as he entered Saturday action. Spurgeon is rostered in just 15 percent of Yahoo leagues and 37 percent of Fantrax leagues, making him worthy of being added in many leagues.

Meanwhile, Brock Faber had assists and a plus-3 in back-to-back games, but he had barely gotten a sniff of the power play over those past two games. Faber is a skilled offensive defenseman, but both his power-play usage and his advanced stats are trending in the wrong direction. Something that stands out is that nine of Faber’s 11 assists this season are secondary assists. He could continue to log enough icetime to remain fantasy relevant, but you could try to sell based on his fine rookie season. (dec7)

6. Luke Hughes scored his first goal of the season on Friday. After an offseason shoulder injury and a slow start of one point in his first 10 games, Hughes has been coming on recently with seven points in his last seven games. Even if he isn’t on the top power play, Hughes should be rostered or added in many fantasy formats. (dec7)

7. Shane Wright started the season with just two points in his first 18 games, then he was healthy scratched for the next three games. That seemed to be what Wright needed, as he has seven points in seven games since then. With a goal on Friday, Wright now has goals in back-to-back games. Playing on a line with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen seems to help, although his icetime (usually under 15 minutes) should probably increase some more before he is safe to add in single-season leagues. (dec7)

8. Thatcher Demko dressed for Friday’s game as the backup, although he did not see any action. Demko sounds like a possibility to start Sunday against Tampa Bay, but with that being an afternoon game, I don’t think it’s a certainty. But get ready to activate Demko if you’ve been holding on to him for this long. Hang onto Kevin Lankinen, though, as I don’t expect Demko to take on his usually heavy workload once he’s back in business. (dec7)

9. The Chicago Blackhawks fired head coach Luke Richardson on Thursday, replacing him with Anders Sorensen as interim coach for the remainder of the season. Expected to improve at least slightly this season, the Blackhawks were holding both the league’s lowest point total (18) and the league’s lowest winning percentage (.346) with an 8-16-2 record at the time of the change.

The initial thought is that a coaching change has to help Connor Bedard, who has often looked frustrated this season. Bedard has been a better all-around player this season, but that has perhaps come at the expense of his scoring. Bedard has just five goals (and 14 assists) in 26 games, and we all know he has the potential for a lot more. New coaches can have positive short-term effects on certain players.

On the other hand, the Blackhawks as constructed simply lack the high-end talent needed to compete for a playoff spot, no matter who the coach is. Bringing in Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi was supposed to help, but both players have only two even-strength goals each in 26 games. Richardson had opted not to stick Bedard with Teravainen or Bertuzzi for extended minutes at 5-on-5, instead frequently rotating linemates in an attempt to find something that will click. At the rate the Blackhawks are going, the Dobber fourth-year breakout theory might have to apply to Bedard. He may even need more time than that to show his true upside if he can't be surrounded by players closer to his caliber. (dec6)

10. The early-season struggles in Montreal certainly aren’t all on Sam Montembeault, but I wonder why he was picked over Logan Thompson for Team Canada at the 4 Nations – latter is having a much better season. It may not matter if Canada turns to Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill during the tournament. (dec6)

11. Brandon Hagel has been heating up at the right time to be selected for Team Canada at the Four Nations. Entering Saturday, Hagel had 14 points over his last seven games. He also logged 28:45 in one game last week – extremely high for a forward – and regularly plays at least 20 minutes per game. Hagel’s and Anthony Cirelli‘s selections might look debatable given some of the bigger names that were left off, but both are key penalty killers for the Lightning and could also serve in that important role for Canada. Hagel is also scoring at a point-per-game pace for the first time in his career. (dec6)

12. The Dallas Stars announced on Wednesday that forward Tyler Seguin will likely miss the rest of the regular season with another hip surgery. At the low end, Seguin could be back in time for the end of the regular season. At the high end, his season may be over unless they make it to the Stanley Cup Final. Either way, fantasy managers need to move on. (dec5)

13. Some more tough injury news for the Minnesota Wild, this time regarding Joel Eriksson Ek, as he'll be week-to-week with a lower body injury.

The team already has Mats Zuccarello out for an extended absence and Jonas Brodin will also be missing in action for a while. One of the top teams in the West is going to have its depth challenged for the time being.

In the fantasy realm, this is good news for anyone with Marco Rossi on their rosters, and if Ryan Hartman is somewhere on the waiver wire, it might be a good idea to look into him. He might be in line for an extended run on the top power play unit. (dec5)

14. Cam Fowler returned to the lineup for the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night. In his place, Pavel Mintyukov was scratched. It has been a tough start to the season for Mintyukov, who has not found his footing defensively and that has led to this point. I am still very high on him, but this is a long-term project that will take time for his fantasy upside to show through as he, and the team around him, mature. (dec5)

15. Brayden Point has been money since returning from an injury. It hasn't slowed down Anthony Cirelli though, and actually sees his shot rate improve with Point in the lineup. Might be a feature of not having to take all of the toughest assignments like he would when the number one centre is away. Cirelli really seems to be coming into his own as a fantasy relevant C2. The boosted shot rate this year is really making a big difference. (dec4)

16. Rick Roos is looking for a few more mailbag questions to be answered in next week's article. To get your questions to him, private message “rizzeedizzee” via the DobberHockey Forums or email [email protected] with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line. No one does a deeper dive on your questions than Rick, and now is the time to get those hot & cold start questions in before it's too late. (dec4)

17. The best event on the hockey calendar is only a few weeks away now. Yes, the World Juniors are coming! For fantasy managers, especially in dynasty leagues, it means we can get overly excited about prospects that are still a couple years away, based on how they perform in a tiny five game sample.

For that exact reason I like to try and load up every year on a few guys that may stand out in the tournament, and then see if I can flip them before the trade deadline for actual meaningful pieces. Sometimes it works, like a couple years ago when I managed to squeeze value out of trading Ludvig Jansson (D – 10pts in seven games) of all people. Sometimes it almost works, like last year when I added Theo Lindstein before he went on to lead the tournament in defenceman scoring… but I couldn't find a trade for him and ended up dropping him in the offseason. Other times it just doesn't work out, like last year when I went into the tournament owning Easton Cowan, Nate Danielson, and Julian Lutz, then they all disappointed and dropped their stocks a bit. (dec4)

18. All of the above to say, don't pay anything extra to load up on a few guys before the WJC tournament, but if you can add a player or two then watch to see if they take off, then it’s an easy way to find money. Here are a few names I'm looking at prior to this year's tournament:

19. Otto Stenberg is one of the key cogs expected to lead Sweden's offence. He was a late first round pick by the Blues, but has generally flown under the radar since then because he's playing over in Sweden. The transition of these players to North America is hit and miss, though a smart and talented player like Stenberg seems more likely to hit than miss. It wouldn't be surprising to see him pace the Swedes in scoring, which should turn some heads in his direction. Still available in 87% of Fantrax leagues, but he'll already be owned in the deepest ones. 

Adam Jecho is a hulking six-foot-five winger with decent puck skills. If he could put together his consistency and up the skating a bit, he would be a menace to try and handle even at the NHL level. He should be a top-six player for the Czechs who have medal aspirations. (dec4)

20. Jesse Kiiskinen was drafted by the Predators in 2023 but has already been traded in a prospect swap deal that landed him with the Red Wings. It looks like Detroit bought in at the right time, as Kiiskinen's production has really jumped this season after transferring to a new team in the Liiga.

He projects as a middle-six scoring option for the Finns, and should be available in most dynasty leagues. 

Tanner Molendyk is my longer-odds pick to lead the Canadian D-core in points. Leaving Carter Yakemchuk and Zayne Parekh off the selection camp roster means that there isn't a clear power play specialist. Molendyk is the least hyped of the options Canada could be loading onto the top power play, but his skating and agility would really be an asset with a creative forward core that could use movement instead of chemistry to create with the man advantage.

I was going to look into picking one specific goalie to talk about, but in tournaments like these you never know who the standouts goalie will be. Take a flier with someone and while it probably won't work, if it does the value can skyrocket for a short period after the tournament. I own Carson Bjarnsson, though often the goalies from a team like the Czechs, the Swiss, or Germany are the goalies who really have to stand on their head and steal the spotlight. (dec4)

21. ICYMI: David Jiricek, who had been rumored to be on the trade block, was moved to Minnesota early in the week for Daemon Hunt and draft picks. I also wrote about this trade in a Fantasy Take here.

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Be sure to also grab your copy of the 2024 Dobber Fantasy Hockey Prospects Report!

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Have a good week, folks!

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