In case you somehow missed it, hidden amongst a full offseason of breaking hockey news stories, the 2025 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide has been released! It's actually been out for almost a week now, coming out a few days early, which is a testament to just how much effort Dobber, Mario, and the rest of the team put into the guide.

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One oversight from my articles in the guide was not including Matej Blumel in the One-Way contracts section, as he is on a one-way deal this year, which marks the first time in his career that he has that kind of contract certainty, after three years on two-way deals. I overlooked him because I, A) wasn't familiar with him and his trajectory, having lit up the AHL last year, and B) didn't pay attention to him as someone who I thought was likely to get lost in the shuffle in Boston with their 15 one-way contracts, in addition to also looking to find spots for Matthew Poitras and Fraser Minten.

Blumel could certainly come in to win a top-six, or even a top-nine spot this year, which could put him within shooting range of a very fantasy-relevant season. The god thing about the guide, is that where I got to highlight some other names, there was another writer who highlighted Blumel in his section, and Dobber had properly accounted for him in the Bruins section.

It’s a great part about how Dobber runs things around here, by allowing the insights and preferences of different writers to be expressed without being filtered or altered, meaning that you get multiple insights on the same player, allowing you to make the best and most informed decisions you can for your fantasy teams.

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An interesting thing I noted from the guide was just how many teams seem to have at least 15 possible forwards that might make sense to make up a top-12 with. The Islanders, Bruins, Canadiens, Kings, Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, Sabres, Jets, Maple Leafs, Blues, Sharks (?!), and Penguins make up a dozen teams that have at least 15 forwards that no one would bat an eye with them making the opening day lineup. It makes the camp battles all the more interesting an important, and should put you on your toes to manage your rosters around those teams.

On the flip side, you have the teams like the Predators, Avalanche, and Blackhawks who barely even have 12 forwards that make sense to open the season with the club. There's a few dark horse rookies that we could see from those teams, be it one of Matthew Wood or Joakim Kemell on the Predators, Zakhar Bardakov or Gavin Brindley on the Avalanche, or one of Oliver Moore or Lukas Reichel earning a full time spot in the Chicago top-six.

It also makes me believe a little more that the Predators might be eyeing Marco Rossi as the solution to their hole at center. If Minnesota doesn't appreciate him, then someone will. Colorado has been looking for centers too, but they don't have the assets to put together a package for Rossi like the Predators or Blackhawks could.

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In one of my fantasy leagues I accepted a trade a month ago that was an interesting swap of some players who present fascinating case studies.

The deal was processed in my 24-team cap-league dynasty, and included my Jakob Chychrun and Jonathan Marchessault being moved out in exchange for his Jonathan Drouin and Morgan Rielly. Take a second here to see if you settle on which side you would prefer in the exchange.

I spent a while pouring over this deal, and in the end the two differences that pushed it over the edge for me were the facts that I needed LW more than I needed RW, and that assuming Drouin signed for about the $5.5 million I had him projected for, it would save me about $1.5 million in cap space. I took the deal before knowing what Drouin would sign for, and while I liked the $4 million dollar cap hit, him signing with the Islanders dropped his scoring value down a bit as well.

Drouin is a wildcard outside of Colorado, but even if he reverts to a 45-point player, then he's a reasonable player to own on his new deal, and he might not be too much of a step down from the 34-year-old Marchessault, who just saw his production drop with the Predators. The odds are that Nashville will rebound, meaning Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, and yes, Marchessault, among others, should see their scoring rebound a bit. But on the other hand, the top-half of the Predators are all on the wrong side of 30, and maybe this is just a team whose name value is higher than their actual sum of their parts.

Tough to know exactly what either winger will be in 2025-26, but the smaller cap hit and getting the wing side I needed helped me see some balance in making the sway from the more productive and older Marchessault. Drouin does feel riskier though, even though he is younger.

Looking at the defencemen now, both Rielly and Chychrun are locked in on long-term contracts, with Rielly being $1.5 million cheaper. Rielly has also paced for two 60+ point seasons, two 50+ point seasons, and two 40+ point seasons over the past six years, while Chychrun has only paced for 60-points once in his career. The name value feels like Chychrun should be better, and in a league that rewards more points for goals, he would be. However, Rielly is coming off a disappointing year, and may be back on the Leafs' top power play, while Chychrun's inflated shooting percentage from the past year may keep him from jumping much higher than his 54-point-pace from the previous season.

Rielly is a full four years older than Chychrun though, and that can't be ignored as a defenceman. I felt it was balanced by the age difference in the wingers, but giving up on the only player with runway left in their 20s wasn't done lightly.

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I'm a big fan of what Carolina is doing with their contracts lately with the rising cap and impending legal agreement guiding their decisions. They're getting all their young guys locked in for eight years while they still can, using the loophole for the reduced cap hit thanks to deferred money while it's still available.

Best of all though, while their core ages into and through their prime, the cap is going to keep going up, perhaps exponentially. Five years from now they’re going to be a juggernaut because they have so much more cap space than everyone else, and a solid prospect system injecting some new young players into their system every year to boot. If I had to bet on one team to win multiple cups before 2035, it's the Canes.

At the moment, their system doesn't lend itself exceptionally well to fantasy stars though, as a point-per-game season is almost the limit of what we have seen from any of them over the last handful of years. Even 90 points from one of Nikolaj Ehlers or Sebastian Aho in the next couple seasons seems like it would be a bit of an outlier.

There are tons of fantasy relevant players on their team, as they run at least nine names deep with scoring forwards, and have multiple defensemen worth rostering too, on top of two worthy 1A goalies.

K'Andre Miller is also set for another step forward, and if he can grow into that role of the top-pair defenceman, then he could be the fantasy D-man to own there. Shayne Gostisbehere is still going to run the top power play unit, but the Canes also have enough firepower to run a solid second unit, meaning there could be two or three defencemen racking up power play points.

In fantasy, the more that you can build for a bigger contention window like this, the better. Targeting players that line up with the rest of your core, instead of getting tunnel vision for players that might only help you for the current year. It sounds simple, but it's a mistake I've made multiple times in the past. Easier said than done.

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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.