Miro Heiskanen was finally available for Dallas, and he played a lot less than his usual workload, generally taking short shifts, and showing the occasional uncharacteristic mishap. He's not 100%, but he did provide some solid play on the whole, added an assist, and Dallas came out with the win in the end. That means they're up 3-1 in the series.

The big performance of the night was Mikael Granlund with a hat-trick on three shots last night – two of them on the power play. He also had five hits on the night. Granlund's scoring pace dropped off a little since joining the Stars as he wasn't playing 21 minutes a night anymore, but he's settled into being about a 55-point-pace player with the Stars, which is still a solid number. He'll be turning 34 next season though, so the days of 60+ points may be over.

Have to say I have enjoyed the fans taunting each other's goalies in this series as the two of them jockey for the #1 spot on the US Olympic team next year. "Otter's Better" raining down multiple times last night kept making me chuckle. Jake Oettinger made 31 saves on the night for the win, and was the player of the game in spite of Granlund's hat-trick.

Lian Bichsel saw his minutes cut with Heiskanen back in the lineup, but he might be an interesting player to keep an eye on for next year. He had 13 Hits in game three of the Winnipeg series, and has put up more than three hits in more games than he has less than three hits. All of that despite barely averaging double digits in ice time. When that ticks up then the peripherals certainly will too. 

We only had one game last night as there was a two-day break in the Toronto/Florida series. The Carolina/Washington series is also on a two-day break at the moment, which are the only two-day breaks for any of the round two series.

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From Puckpedia, we have the offer sheet comp levels for 2025:

<$1.54M no comp

$1.54M – 2.34M: 3rd

$2.34M – 4.68M: 2nd

4.68M – 7.02M: 1st, 3rd

7.02M – 9.36M: 1st, 2nd, 3rd

9.36M – 11.7M: 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd

11.7M+: 1st x 4

I can think of a few RFAs who could be trouble for teams to retain if a poaching team aims right at the border numbers like $4.5 million or $7.0 million per season. Matthew Knies, Dmitri Voronkov, Marco Rossi, or the duo of Mason McTavish & Lukas Dostal as examples.

It worked well for the Blues last summer with Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, and while some teams might have additional space to sign their own RFAs with the cap going up drastically, some other teams may see a sudden jump in available cap space and look to weaponize it.

Rossi especially I think could be a really interesting addition for a few teams. After not being fully appreciated by the Wild, and being a few games from his 200-game breakout threshold, a change of scenery could really unlock the offensive potential that made Rossi the ninth-overall pick back in 2020.

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Aside from Rossi, below I have listed a few players who I have been making mental notes about, and I'm going to be targeting in drafts next year. Whether they're around their breakout thresholds, due for an increase in opportunity, or could see an uptick in production for another reason, these are a few of the guys I already have my eye on.

Pavel Buchnevich – Had an extremely disappointing season but managed to turn it around right at the tail end with 10 points in his last eight games, and that continued into the playoffs with eight points in their seven-game series. The 60-point pace from the last two seasons will keep many fantasy mangers from reaching on him, but I think we could see him bounce back to the point-per-game plateau next year. Keep in mind though that he did just turn 30, so the runway on that turnaround will likely be shorter, and without the same kind of peak (87-point-pace) as before.

Marco Kasper – A great rookie campaign was hidden behind the amazing crop of rookies that we saw in the league this season, but don't let that mean you have to be one of the people overlooking him too. He scored at a 40-point pace on the year, but in the second half that was up closer to 55, and that was with some awful power play luck (zero PPPs in over a minute of power play ice time per game in the second half). On top of that, Kasper added 156 hits (over two per game). The underlying numbers also say that he drove play in a role that was not at all sheltered, which bodes well for fending off any kind of sophomore slump.

Evander Kane – After missing the entire regular season, Kane has not missed a beat in the playoffs, scoring seven points in nine games, adding 10 PIMs, 24 shots, and 36 hits in only 16 minutes of ice time per game. Extrapolate that out for a full 82 games and you're looking at 64 points, a plus 27 rating, 91 PIMs, 219 SOGs, 328 Hits, and 46 Blocks. If you don't end up with Brady Tkachuk on your team, then Kane is the next best thing. Here are Brady's 82-game pace numbers from this past season as a comparable: 62 points, minus-one, 140 PIMs, 335 SOGs, 260 Hits, and 38 Blocks.

Tyson Foerster – The Flyers winger finished the season hot with 14 points in 20 Q4 games, where he put up 47 shots to boot. He's butting up against his breakout threshold as well, being only 34 games away now, and should see an opportunity to rise with whoever the Flyers bring in as their new coach to replace John Tortorella. His overall production of 43 points and a minus-nine rating is going to mask most of the potential for next year, but he could turn out to be an excellent secondary producer of offence, who also isn't light on the peripherals.

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I've been thinking ahead to what the Stanley Cup Final may look like at this point, and we seem to have a few favorites emerging, with Edmonton, Dallas, and Carolina taking respective 3-1 leads, while the Florida and Toronto series is tied 2-2 and could go either way.

If we end up with a Carolina/Edmonton series, then it's going to be a very drastic example of top-end skill versus a deep roster with a consistent system (though Edmonton's roster is deeper than some previous iterations). At this point it looks like the most likely outcome too.

If we end up with Dallas and Carolina, then we get another Mikko Rantanen revenge round, this time with Logan Stankoven on the other end to see if he can balance the scales. From a narrative perspective, this is the matchup I'm hoping for in the final (the hockey would be great too). Only one point for Rantanen last night, hopefully he's not losing his touch!

A couple other options we could end up with are a Canadian showdown full of star power, between the Leafs and Oilers, or a Cup rematch from last year between the Panthers and Oilers. A southern US matchup between Florida and Dallas would be an excellent series as well between two deep teams. With the Jets now down 3-1, Canada's hopes of a cup likely rest on just the Leafs or the Oilers.

What does all this mean for fantasy? Not too much, though a win for Carolina, Dallas, or Edmonton would lead to teams and their copy-cat styles maybe prioritizing high-quality offence a bit more, while if a team like Florida or Winnipeg pulls it out then that might lead teams to start filling out their rosters with even more size.

And if the Leafs win? Yeah right.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean, as that's now my primary platform.