The 2026 NHL Entry Draft is tomorrow, and before the festivities begin, fantasy managers should read up on all the prospects they need to know from this year's group. To do that, head on over to the Dobber Shop and order this year's edition of Dobber's Fantasy Hockey Prospects Report! Not only does it cover this year's group of future fantasy stars, but it also dives into each team's prospect pool to discuss the future of some of their top youngsters, when they might arrive in the NHL, and a lot more. Help support the Dobber Prospects team and go grab a copy of the 2026 Prospects Report!

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There has been a slew of very important trades this week including Brady Tkachuk, Simon Nemec, William Eklund, Jordan Kyrou, and Bowen Byram. Each trade was covered from a fantasy angle and they can be read here.

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The Buffalo Sabres traded the rights to winger Alex Tuch to the Washington Capitals, and the Caps subsequently signed Tuch to an 8-year contract worth $10.5M per season. Our own Alex had his breakdown of the signing here.

One point that Alex brought up that I think is pretty important here is it seems as if the Washington Capitals are not expecting Alex Ovechkin to return next season. Whether that is the case or not, we'll see, but they've now added two genuine top-line wingers this week in Tuch and Jordan Kyrou. They already have Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas, with both Ryan Leonard and Ilya Protas showing a lot of promise as young flanks. Tuch, Kyrou, Wilson, the Protases (Protii?), and Leonard makes six wingers for their first three lines. Ivan Miroshnichenko signed an extension back in October, Anthony Beauvillier still has a year left on his deal (per PuckPedia),  they extended Ethen Frank for two years, and they could still bring back Brandon Duhaime. That is just a lot of wingers, and a lot of good-to-great wingers, for one team, and it makes me think that it means Ovechkin has played his last game in the NHL. I guess we'll find out in the coming weeks or months.

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Over my last few Ramblings, the subject has been the free agent crop of 2026, and Tuesday's Ramblings focused specifically on five defencemen: John Carlson, Rasmus Andersson, Jacob Trouba, John Klingberg, and Mario Ferraro. Earlier, we covered some top forwards like Alex Tuch and Bobby McMann (who is now signed), and then some secondary forward options like Mason Marchment, Viktor Arvidsson, and Mats Zuccarello.

To cap off this series on free agents, let's finish the defence crop. These are guys a bit further down the list but are intriguing names whom fantasy managers may be keeping tabs on, for better or worse. Player/team data for the charts is from Evolving Hockey or All Three Zones. Ice time data is from Frozen Tools.

Ryan Shea

A big reason why the Pittsburgh Penguins returned to the postseason was unexpected contributions from depth players, and one of them was Shea. He had a +22 goal differential at 5-on-5, which led Penguins defencemen, and backed it up with a 52% expected goal share, which led Penguins defencemen with at least 1000 minutes played. In his first two seasons with Pittsburgh, he had a -11 goal differential and 48% expected goal share.

Shea's fantasy production was the definition of a mixed bag. On a 60-minute basis, his overall value wasn't good, but he did have positive contributions to goals and assists, and aside from power-play points, his profile compared well with Filip Hronek:

Here is a fun stat: over the last three seasons, Shea is shooting 8.7% at 5-on-5. Among 186 defencemen with at least 2000 minutes, that ranks fourth, nestled between Cale Makar and Charlie McAvoy.

The problem is whether this was driven by the team or improvements from Shea himself. He was never a big producer in the AHL, is 29 years old, and the Penguins shot over 13% with him on the ice. That ranked third among all blue liners with at least 1000 minutes. Given his age, lack of track record at lower levels, and that his production is largely a function of a team shooting percentage spike, I would not want to bet on him equaling or improving on his 35-point output in 2026-27.

Andrew Peeke

A running gag I have is that when someone gets a lot of minutes and doesn't produce much with them fantasy-wise, they're pulling a Mikey Anderson (with all due respect to Anderson, who is a great defensive defenceman). When looking at fantasy production per game relative to league average in 2025-26, Peeke was quite literally Mikey Anderson:

This is one issue with saying some player has value in banger or multi-cat fantasy formats. Yes, Peeke provides good value in hits and blocks, but he's also a drag in literally every other category. On the right fantasy roster where the other defencemen are production-heavy, that could work out, but when a player is an across-the-board negative in all fantasy categories except hits and blocks, it has to be a very specific type of fantasy roster, or fantasy league, that makes him a useful option.

Peeke is 28 years old and, including playoffs, has nearly 400 NHL games to his name. We know who he is at this point, and he can bring hits and blocks, which is appreciated, but he has yet to show he can be relied upon to consistently contribute anywhere else.

Nick Blankenburg

From a fantasy perspective, Blankenburg is one of the more interesting free agent defencemen on the board. It isn't because he has great production numbers, even on a per-minute basis, but it's what he does on the ice that can lead to good production down the road. By contributions to scoring chances (assists and individual chances), zone entries per 60 minutes, and carried zone entries per 60 minutes over the last two seasons, Blankenburg maps on near-perfectly with Shayne Gostisbehere:

Blankenburg (5'9") is a bit smaller than Gostisbehere (5'11"), but neither is a towering blue liner.

For his career, Blankenburg has posted 5.6 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-4, a rate in the neighbourhood of names like Evan Bouchard, Mikhail Sergachev, and Victor Hedman. The diminuitive defenceman has never earned heavy minutes, but he's been able to put up reasonable peripherals despite that, averaging 102 shots, 91 blocks, and 80 hits every 82 games over the last three seasons. A number of teams like the San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, and Chicago Blackhawks ostensibly have a top PP spot that could be assumed by Blankenburg, and he has good puck-moving skills that can help his new team offensively. He won't suddenly turn into a 23-minute defenceman, but he does have the look of a guy who can be a Diet Shayne Gostisbehere.

Logan Stanley

Before his career year in 2025-26, there were a few things that were true about Stanley's fantasy value:

1. He averaged 104 PIMs every 82 games from 2022-2025. His rate of 5.1 PIMs per 60 minutes was third among all regular defencemen.
2. He averaged 104 blocks and 136 hits every 82 games in that same span.
3. Putting those three rates together, he was 1 of 3 defencemen to average at least 100 PIMs, 100 blocks, and 100 hits per 82 games from 2022-2025.
4. He managed those peripheral levels despite skating under 15 minutes a game.

Then, in 2025-26, Stanley had his career year. As fantasy managers know, a big reason for his successful season was he shot 9.4% when his career average to that point was 2.2%. On a 60-minute basis, Stanley's fantasy value in 2025-26 was mostly the same as in 2024-25, just with a massive spike in his value from goal scoring:

The difference between Stanley and Peeke, whom we discussed earlier, is the penalty minutes. As long as your fantasy format counts PIMs, Stanley will be a useful fantasy option, whether he shoots 1% or 9%. Just don't expect him to bring a lot more than those PIMs, blocks, and hits.

Tony DeAngelo

On the topic of known quantities, DeAngelo turns 31 years old in October and, including playoffs, has over 500 NHL games played. He is a very good puck-mover but is poor defensively. It makes it hard for teams to rely on him for heavy minutes unless absolutely necessary, like in the 2024-25 season when the New York Islanders had all the injuries on the blue line.

There is a question of declining skills. He is on the wrong side of 30 years old and that's when age-related questions are relevant for any player. If we look at some of the tracking data from the last two seasons, and compare it to DeAngelo's performance in the two years from 2021-2023, there are sizeable declines in his contributions to scoring chances as well as the percentage of zone entries he carries in:

This isn't to say he's a bad offensive defenceman now. It is to say that maybe he's not the guy he was when he was 26 years old, and maybe he's a 40-point player now rather than a guy who can push past 50 points. If that is the case, with his modest block and hit volume, he really needs to be in the right spot to have a successful fantasy season in 2026-27.