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. Essentially 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 2026-27.

First up, let's set some parameters. 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. The league also finishes prior to the final week of the regular season, with some teams being knocked out of the playoffs earlier. This is relevant when we talk about the number of games a player was rostered for below as the max number of games a player could be rostered for would be something in the 75 range with no injuries and the team making the finals, with many full season holds in the 55 to 65 game range.

I have defined 'Bubble Player' as those players who were rostered on the most teams throughout the season. By definition that 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 Alexis Lafreniere. He was rostered by six teams over the course of the season but ultimately was only played by those teams for 34 games. This is a league that values contributions across the board, and at the beginning of the season the scoring certainly wasn't there. Lafreniere was drafted but dropped and then at the top of free agency for a chunk of the season. In the second half though, particularly after the Artemi Panarin trade, his production significantly picked up, and he was rostered through most of the end of the season. A lot of that had to do with finally securing a spot on the top power play We have already discussed Lafrenière in this column, but as a reminder: given his pedigree, his strong end of the season, and anticipated role going forward it seems very likely Lafrenière will be able to lock in a spot on your roster in 2026-27.

Josh Doan was also rostered by six teams over the course of the 2025-26 season but only ended up getting into 20 games. While Lafreniere was a longer-term hold by the end of the season, Doan was pretty clearly a short-term stream for teams with at most about two weeks on any one roster. On the season, Doan had a 52-point pace and without strong peripheral contributions, that isn't typically enough to maintain a roster spot in this league. Still a career high point pace, shot rates, average time on ice, and power-play deployment are all very positive things for Doan. He saw stretches on the top unit and in the top six. With Alex Tuch no longer in the picture Buffalo is going to be relying on some of the young guys to step up. They certainly have options, but there is some opportunity for growth heading into 2026-27 for Doan.

There is a pretty familiar story for Dylan Holloway. We have discussed that top line in St. Louis a number of times, and the trajectory for him in this league is almost exactly the same as Lafrenière. He was rostered by five teams for a total of 37 games. He only played a total of 56 games though, so those totals are certainly impacted by his overall games played. Holloway was only briefly rostered through the first half of the season where his combination of hits, reasonable shots, and a half point per game scoring provided some depth streaming value for rosters. Fast forward to the end of the season and he exploded with point production, putting up 34 points over the last 26 games. He was of course rostered through those final 26 games. Holloway again is someone we have discussed in this column before, but looking forward, there is no reason why that line should be broken up. So, while over 100 points seems unlikely a point per game season is not out of the question and he will likely be a mainstay on someone's roster.

Mikael Granlund played 58 games in 2025-26 and was rostered in this league for 34 of them. He jumped between five different teams but was held for larger chunks of time twice. Overall, he put up a 58-point pace with pretty strong time on ice numbers and mid range peripheral contributions. He was fine in this format, but the lure of the next best free agent was likely stronger than the relatively consistent, if unspectacular production of a 33-year-old. It will be very interesting to see his role for Anaheim next season. There is still some dust that needs settling with Cutter Gauthier's contract (and potential cap casualties), and no Troy Terry to start the season, so we will see what his deployment and linemate situation is. Overall, though, Granlund has been on about a 60+ point pace in four of his last five seasons, having played at least partial time on six different teams in that time span. He will be a year older, so maybe he ends closer to 55 points, but something in that range still feels pretty reasonable.

Finally, Logan Stankoven. He mostly follows the mold of Holloway and Lafrenière (though to a much lesser extent) with a glow up at the end of the season where he was rostered for most of his game total. Prior to that though he spent essentially the entire season in free agency. Ultimately he was rostered by five teams, but for never more than a stream until right at the end of the season. He only totaled 17 games played for fantasy teams, though he was rostered but benched for several games. It is really not too surprising, even with a decent run at the end of the season, as he only put up a 45-point pace overall. That is just not strong enough production in this league to stay rostered. Starting on March 6th though he put up 17 points in his final 20 games (a 70-point pace), and then of course went on to have a strong playoff performance as well. Unfortunately, a significant chunk of that production was Stankoven scoring goals at an unsustainable pace (a 21.7 shooting percentage). If that were to drop back to his career average, his pace would have been in the 45-50 pace range. He did see a slight bump in time on ice and shot rates during that run, so that is something, but ultimately he will have to sustain that plus a bit more to really be able to make a consistent jump in production.

That is all for this week.

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