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, Puneet Sharma, and Dobber

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Happy New Year to all of the Dobber Hockey/Prospects readers! Hope everyone has been able to enjoy their holidays, and all the best from all of us to all of you in 2026. 

For an in-depth breakdown of the second half of the fantasy season, be sure to pre-order the 2026 Dobber Midseason Guide! It will have second-half projections, trends, prospects to keep an eye on, and a whole lot more. Head on over to the Dobber Shop to pre-order a copy today. 

1. Team Canada made their official announcements and here are the changes from the Four Nations roster:

• Sam Bennett, Seth Jarvis, and Travis Konecny are not on the Olympic team. Macklin Celebrini, Nick Suzuki, Tom Wilson, and Bo Horvat are the new faces.
• The defencemen remain the same with Thomas Harley added (and he was at the Four Nations as an injury replacement).
• Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault did not make the cut, but Darcy Kuemper and Logan Thompson did.

There are maybe some quibbles but I won’t argue here. Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel are tremendous together, Wilson may not even dress, and Horvat is very underrated, goal-scoring aside. There will be lots of time to talk about Connor Bedard, Evan Bouchard, or Mackenzie Blackwood in the coming weeks. For me, I would make a change or two, but there’s no outright snub that I find particularly egregious. (jan1)

2. Several countries announced their Olympic rosters on Friday, including the USA, Sweden, and Finland. You can view the rosters (at least for the 4 Nations teams) here.

The players selected on these rosters will be the source of much debate leading up to the Olympics, with no country immune to it. Like Canada leaving off Connor Bedard and Sam Bennett (among others), the US is dealing with the champagne problem of overflowing with qualified players. Jason Robertson and Adam Fox were two of the notable omissions from the US roster. Both would probably be on an all-fantasy roster of American players, although it’s important to note that selecting these real-life rosters has to incorporate real-life skill sets and not just a set of numbers.

Some of the players left off the initial rosters may find themselves in the Olympics anyway, considering the rate that injuries have occurred during the condensed schedule set up to allow for said Olympics. It sounds like Bo Horvat‘s injury won’t be serious enough for him to miss the Olympics, although he is expected to miss at least a week with a lower-body injury from Thursday’s game against Utah. (dec3)

3. Miami’s LoanDepot Park was the setting for this year’s Winter Classic, but the game was all New York Rangers. The Blueshirts (but wearing white jerseys for this game) skated to a 5-1 win over the hometown Panthers on Friday.

Mika Zibanejad had a Winter Classic to remember, scoring a hat trick while adding two assists for a five-point night. Zibanejad also took six shots, was 10 for 13 on faceoffs, and finished with a plus-3. He is on a slightly better pace than last season, also producing more consistently than he had last season when he endured an eight-game point drought. Zibanejad might not be the point-per-game producer he once was, but he still has the scoring chops to be rostered in just about every league.

On Zibanejad’s line, Artemi Panarin scored two goals while adding an assist while taking five shots. The Bread Man is hot with six points over his last three games. He is also above a point per game (44 PTS in 42 GP) in a big contract year.

In addition to the loss, the Panthers lost the services of Seth Jones in the first period with an upper-body injury. Jones was hit by a puck in the head/neck area. The Panthers next play today (on Sunday) against Colorado, so we may have a better idea of what exactly the injury is by then. (dec3)

4. We have reached 2026, and there is so much to look forward to – the men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments, an incredible Eastern Conference playoff race, one of the best free agent classes in recent memory the Artemi Panarin sweepstakes – that the next six months are a tremendous time to be a hockey fan.

Before looking too far ahead, let’s take a quick spin through 2025 to see some of the top performers for the year. All data is taken from Natural Stat Trick and is current as of the morning of December 31^st, 2025. We are using an ice-time cut-off of 800 minutes for forwards and 900 minutes for defencemen.

Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks)

Here are the top 10 forwards by points per 60 minutes at all strengths in calendar 2025:

There aren’t really many surprises on the list, and we know how good Celebrini has been in the first half of the 2025-26 season, but being a top-10 point producer despite turning just 19 years old in June is something else. A couple days ago, someone asked me if Celebrini is a top-5 player in the league and while I think he has some work to do defensively to put himself in that lofty of a conversation, if he has a second half of this season like the first season he just had, he might be a top-5 fantasy pick in September. (jan1)

5. Matt Boldy (Minnesota Wild)

Here are the nine forwards in our sample who are one standard deviation above average by goals per 60 minutes, assists per 60 minutes, and shots per 60 minutes:

At this point of Boldy’s career, his production in any single area isn’t among the truly elite, but the goals, assists, and shots are all high-end, and that kind of high-end across-the-board production is what makes him such a coveted fantasy option. It is also notable that he’s on pace to push close to, or past, 60 blocked shots again, so there is some peripheral value here too, even if he doesn’t rack up the hits. We can probably pencil him in for 30 goals and 75 points for years to come, the question is if he can reach that next tier and have multiple 40-goal, 100-point seasons like teammate Kirill Kaprizov. (jan1)

6. Darren Raddysh (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Considering that Raddysh was not drafted even as a top-100 fantasy defenceman in one-year leagues, he might be the first-half fantasy MVP among all skaters, not just defencemen. But this good production goes back to last season, as he had 23 points in the final 40 games of the 2024-25 regular season while skating under 18 minutes a night. Put that with the first half of the 2025-26 season, and Raddysh is among the leaders in points per 60 minutes for calendar 2025:

The real question arises when Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh are healthy and in the lineup. Raddysh may still take top PP minutes, and that matters a lot, but if those two are in the lineup every night, and with how JJ Moser is playing, Raddysh will be very hard-pressed to maintain the heavy minutes he’s had over the last 25 games. But as long as he gets meaningful minutes, this rate of production will keep him a name to follow in fantasy. (jan1)

7. Moritz Seider and Jake Walman

There are two defencemen in the sample to be above the league average by goals, assists, shots, and hits+blocks per 60 minutes:

It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Seider is one of these names. It has been a few seasons now that he’s been one of the top multi-cat defencemen in fantasy, but it’s always something to see that he’s in a company of basically his own. What separates him from Walman is that Seider gets heavy minutes – currently his second season in a row with at least 25 minutes a game – and that level of ice time provides such a high floor for both his production and his peripherals. The one concern is whether he ever loses his top PP role because nearly half his assists over the last 2.5 seasons (46/94) are with the man advantage, but as long as he holds onto that, he’s a top-10 defenceman in any fantasy league counting more than just goals and assists.

Seeing Walman’s name here should highlight the upside he has, but it also highlights why he’ll be in tough to reach it. In Edmonton, when he’s healthy, Walman will be playing behind Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, and probably Darnell Nurse at even strength, and behind Bouchard on the power play. He is still fantasy relevant because he’s good across-the-board with just 20 minutes a night and secondary PP time, but there is another level here in the right situation, it’s just not in Edmonton. (jan1)

8. In Thursday’s Ramblings (above), I looked at some of the top-performing fantasy skaters on a per-minute basis across calendar 2025, including Macklin Celebrini, Darren Raddysh, and Mortiz Seider. Let’s finish that train of thought and look at the 2025 calendar year among goalies.

Data is from Evolving Hockey and NHL.com. We are limiting the sample to goalies that made at least 29 starts, which gives us 50 goalies.

Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood (Colorado Avalanche)

In our 50-goalie sample, only two goalies won at least two-thirds of their starts, and to no one’s surprise, they were the goalies from the Colorado Avalanche:

It isn’t just that they have won a lot of games, which is the hallmark of their team scoring a lot of goals. It is that Wedgewood’s goals against average and save percentage were both legitimately great while Blackwood’s weren’t quite as good but still considerably above the median rates of our 50 goalies (about 2.70 GAA and about .903 SV%). That they often rotate starts is always a nuisance because you may not get more than one start from either in each fantasy week, but with how good the Avalanche are in front of them, their starts are worth considerably more than any goalie anywhere else in the league. (jan2)

9. Casey DeSmith (Dallas Stars)

As mentioned, the 50 goalies had a median GAA of around 2.70 and a median SV% of around .903. Out of those 50 goalies, just seven were better than those two numbers while winning at least 60% of their starts. Two were from Colorado and two were from Dallas, with backup DeSmith being one of them:

It is notable that DeSmith posted both a better GAA and better SV% than Jake Oettinger did in 2025. So far in the 2025-26 campaign, DeSmith has started 15 of the 41 games, putting him on pace for 30 starts. At this pace, he’ll be good for at least one start a week moving forward, and with this performance, he’s one of the better backups to have on a fantasy roster. (jan2)

10. Jet Greaves (Columbus Blue Jackets)

While not a fantasy stat, Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) can help identify goalies who are succeeding in tough situations by accounting for the team in front of them. Our sample of goalies had five winning at least 50% of their starts while requiring 35-or-fewer shots against for every GSAx. One of them is Columbus’ young starter:

Greaves is now the genuine starter for Columbus and a weak defensive team in front of him can lead to some bad games, but for a guy who is 24 years old and wasn’t even drafted, he was pound-for-pound one of the best goalies in calendar 2025. That is certainly a very good sign for his future fantasy value, and the hope is the team in front of him improves. This kind of performance on a genuine playoff team would mean a top-10 fantasy goalie. (jan2)

11. A quick shout out to Jake Allen. He was a big reason the New Jersey Devils survived their injuries early in calendar 2025 and made it to the 2025 postseason, plus he’s had a very good 2025-26 campaign thus far. He is from my hometown, so I always like to be able to highlight when he’s excelling, which has been often over the last 12 months. (jan2)

12. The Penguins have dropped off of late. Soon enough, the Pens are going to be moving out some of their deadline pieces, possibly including Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust. Rust is on track to pace for about 75-points for a third straight year, while Rakell had 13 points in the 19 full games he played entering Saturday action. Both are in their early-30s, and they’re going to fetch a solid amount on the trade market.

The problem for fantasy managers is that it’s very unlikely that they find a better landing spot than playing 19-20 minutes a night alongside Sidney Crosby. Maybe landing next to Auston Matthews or Jack Hughes would suit them, but those teams are also outside of the playoff picture at the moment. It’s a possibility that ending up in Minnesota or Tampa could put them with an elite player that could keep their scoring pace high, but it’s no guarantee. If you’re a seller, it might be best to move them in fantasy before they end up in Detroit or Long Island.

A similar story goes for the entire Pittsburgh second line: Anthony Mantha, Tommy Novak and Justin Brazeau aren’t going to be seeing more ice time with another team. However, if they end up sticking around after the sell-off, then they could even be in line for some top-line deployment with the Penguins. That’s the double-edged sword we have to consider this time of year. (dec31)

13. Columbus has finally traded winger Yegor Chinakhov, as he was sent to Pittsburgh for Danton Heinen, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick. Chinakhov looked to be on the ascent over the prior couple seasons before an injury in late 2024 seems to have derailed his entire Blue Jackets tenure. He now gets a chance to establish himself as a top-6 winger in Pittsburgh.

For now, fantasy managers should be cautious. There is still Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell kicking around, they seem to like Justin Brazeau, Anthony Mantha is having a solid season, and Rutger McGroarty was called up not long ago. But if Pittsburgh can’t get back to its winning ways, there are likely to be a few players moved by the Trade Deadline, and then Chinakhov will really have his chance to shine. Do not be surprised if he has a modest third-line/second PP role for the next two months before getting a bigger role over the final six weeks. (dec30)

14. Sam Montembeault played in his first game back from a conditioning loan this past week and went toe-to-toe with Sergei Bobrovsky. Both goalies were perfect for the first 50 minutes of the game, but then the cracks started. After goals from four likely Olympians in Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield, the Canadiens managed to eek out the overtime win on a marker, again from Suzuki. If only the Canadiens had a second-line centre…

It is great to see Montembeault back in form with the win, but that does cloud the goaltending picture in Montreal for now. Jacob Fowler hasn’t exactly stolen the job while he has been recalled, and sending him back is likely the short-term answer. However, this is likely not the last we have seen of Fowler this season. (dec31)

15. With the World Juniors on, it’s always fun to look at a few of those players who are making a name for themselves. For example: Sweden’s duo of Anton Frondell and Viktor Eklund always click very well when playing together. Unfortunately, they weren’t drafted by the same team, with Frondell having gone third overall to the Blackhawks, and Eklund property of the islanders.

After an incredibly impressive year in the second-tier Swedish league last season, Frondell has moved up to the top men’s league, the SHL. His numbers there are still impressive, but aren’t quite as eye-popping. Still, it is an excellent sign and it makes a great stepping stone before joining the Blackhawks, perhaps as soon as next season. Eklund has moved up through the ranks with Frondell, and his scoring numbers are nearly as high. Eklund, without the same game-breaking ability and size that Frondell has, might need a little longer to season before making his NHL impact, but once Frondell leaves for North America, it would make sense that he might want to follow him over as well.  

Adam Jirickek of the Czechs has been having a fantastic resurgence year in the OHL with Brantford, putting up 29 points through his first 25 games, and most importantly, he has been healthy. His older brother David Jiricek has fallen off the last couple of years, and people were starting to wonder whether both brothers were set to be busts, despite their high pedigree. Adam at least has quelled those fears on multiple stages this year, as the Blues continue to have defencemen shine at the WJC. (dec31)

[Follow the link for more WJC standouts…]

16. The big injury news from last Monday was that Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is having surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season. He had six wins in eight starts with an .899 save percentage.

For us in the fantasy realm, this is a massive bit of news. Carolina is one of the top teams in the league but with their three-goalie rotation, they were very unreliable for netminders (or at least volume from their netminders). This leaves Brandon Bussi and Frederik Andersen as the starters, in that order. Given Bussi’s strong play this season, it’s hard to argue, and for the time being, he can knock on the door of being a top-10 fantasy goalie.

I do wonder if the Hurricanes don’t go find another goalie before the Trade Deadline. Andersen is having an awful year and if his play doesn’t improve between now and the Olympic break, it’s hard to imagine a team with Stanley Cup aspirations leaving him as the sole alternative should anything happen with Bussi, whether injury or performance. But that is a bridge to cross in the future, and it’s now officially Bussi Szn. (dec30)

17. Steven Stamkos scored his 600^th career goal (PP) to become just the 22^nd player all time to score 600 goals, another monster milestone from him as the first-ballot Hall of Famer had a great December. (jan1)

18. The St. Louis Blues announced that Pius Suter out a month with a right ankle injury. If anything, this should ensure that Dalibor Dvorsky falls no lower than the third line for the time being, so that’s good news for any fantasy managers worried about his role as he had been skating under 14 minutes a game over his last five games. (dec30)

19. Juraj Slafkovsky's growth has not jumped out in one clean spike and while he is tracking toward a 60-point pace while playing around 18 minutes a night, most of that value comes from stability with a  top-six, PP1 role for a third straight season. At times it seemed like he was not going to survive the influx of talent Montreal had but looking at it now, most of his even-strength minutes come next to either Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield or Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen. He has just over two shots per game, shooting at 16.7%. A touch warm, but not outrageous given the quality of his looks and his net-front usage. Being stapled to the top-six is the real safety net and looks like a stable fantasy floor. (dec29)

20. It has been a hard swing in the wrong direction for Kent Johnson. He posted 57 points in 68 games last season and had just 11 points through 38 games entering Saturday, pacing for just 24 points. His ice time is down more than three minutes a night, which usually tells you the coaching staff sees a player whose offense has stalled, not one who is simply snakebit. The finishing has fallen off a cliff. Johnson was shooting at just 5.4%, less than half of last season’s rate. Some of that will correct, but it does not explain everything. The opportunity just is not there the way it was before, not even on the powerplay where he was playing over 70% last year to this year’s low-40’s. He may be a buy low for anyone who is getting frustrated with his lack of production. (dec29)

21. Lucas Raymond has quietly crossed that line to a star player and should be considered a higher draft option in your leagues next year. Through 40 games before Saturday action, he was sitting at a 90-point pace while playing essentially the same ice time as last year. At 5v5 this is the best version of Raymond we have seen. His scoring rates have jumped into legit top-tier territory. The Dylan Larkin-Raymond pairing controls the ice regardless of who the third winger is, which is a big shift from earlier seasons when Raymond’s results were more dependent on lineup context.

Raymond has been living in that same healthy S/60 range for years now. It does not hurt to also play alongside elite teammates in Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, and Patrick Kane. His 90-point pace is very much in play but more importantly, his floor has moved. (dec29)

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Have a good week, folks!

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