This week on Frozen Tool Forensics we are joining in on Bubble Week. To set some parameters for the article today, I am going to focus on data that came from a home league I play in. I am going to use that league to determine some players that were Bubble candidates for a chunk of the season and then dive into what their season looked like overall and what we might expect for them going into 2025-26.

To start with, let's outline the setup. The league in question is a categories league made up of 12 teams that roster 19 players (including goalies). We will be focusing on skaters today, so the stats that are most relevant are goals, assists, power-play points, shots, hits, blocks, and face-off wins.

I have defined 'Bubble Player' as those players who were rostered on the most teams throughout the season, which means they were added and dropped the most – therefore Bubble Player. I was able to dig through our roster history and get a count of all the different teams that a player was rostered with. Essentially, these are guys that were truly the bottom spot on a bunch of people's rosters. We know that because they were clearly all dropped at some point, and then added, and then dropped again etc.

First up is Dylan Cozens. In this format he ended up on six different rosters throughout the season. He did spend the majority of the year on one roster (39 games) but averaged four games per roster for the other five. At the start of the season, he was coming off a down year, and there was some hope of a bounce back but that really did not materialize in Buffalo. Given his 42-point pace with the Sabres, it is not surprising he generally did not last long on people's rosters. He was held by the end of the season which ended up working out as Cozens put up a 60-point pace after being traded to Ottawa in March. That gives me some optimism for production going forward, as does his increased shot rates. I am not sure we will see an immediate return to his 69-point pace from 2022-23, but we should see an improvement on the high 40's of the past two seasons.

Quinton Byfield was also rostered by six teams throughout the season though in his case no one team rostered him more than 20 games. The rationale is pretty clear: He has been a hyped prospect for a while who seemed to have put it together at the end of 2023-24 and folks were biting at the potential breakout. It didn't really happen with Byfield putting up another mid 50's point pace. Again, though, we saw the potential at the end of the season again with a strong 19 points in his final 21 games. Deployment is going to be king here and a lot will depend on ice time, linemates, and power-play usage. If he can officially take over from Anze Kopitar as the top center for LA then we will certainly see a breakout, at the very least consistent top power-play time would help. There certainly is no guarantee what the season will look like, but the upside is worth the risk.

Jamie Benn was rostered by six teams, but only for a total of 44 games. He also didn't spend more than 12 games on any one roster. He had some value in this format given his category coverage but was only truly valuable when he was also putting up some points. He did that a few times, particularly at the beginning of the year, ending up with a 50-point pace. Unfortunately, he also had a few cold spells that hurt managers. He seems to have settled into a bit of a productive secondary role with Dallas and has been pretty relevant at times, especially given the category coverage. There doesn't seem to be any giant red flags on his production, but he is also now 36 years old and definitely on the declining portion of the aging curve. He has managed to be healthy for the last four seasons, which has been great, but I have to imagine his age and playing style are going to catch up with him soon. Looking forward, as long as he is healthy, it seems reasonable that he could put up similar numbers, but his production in 2024-25 is probably the ceiling.

Cole Perfetti was rostered by five different teams in this league, and by no team more than 12 games, and only for 29 games all together. Like with Byfield, his name has been bounced around for a while as a guy to watch and even better, there were big chunks of time when he was getting elite deployment in Winnipeg. He did struggle a little to translate that deployment into consistent production, but did put up a career high 50-point pace along with improved overall time on ice numbers. We have already touched on Perfetti in several other articles, but he has a real opportunity with Nikolaj Ehlers moving on to Carolina. Perfetti will miss Ehlers at even strength, but should get a chance at that top power play. He will need a couple of things to go right for him to break out, but this is a bubble player I am very interested in.

Jonathan Huberdeau was also rostered by five teams over the course of the season. He maxed out at 15 games and was only actually rostered for 38 total games. He had a bounce back of a sort in 2024-25, but a 60-point pace without a ton of peripherals was only so valuable given the format of this league. We talked about Huberdeau a lot throughout the season, and I don't have a ton to add here. He got good deployment and will likely do so again, but after three straight seasons in the 55- to 65-point range, this seems to be the new normal for Huberdeau. Given his lack of category coverage and fall from elite scoring, in formats like this he will likely be added and dropped throughout the 2025-26 season too.

That is all for this week.

Do your part to support organizations working to make hockey for everyone.

Professional Women's Hockey League

Hockey is For Everyone

Black Girl Hockey Club

Athletes for Hope