Welcome back to Forum Buzz, where I peruse the DobberHockey Forums and weigh in on active, heavily debated, or otherwise relevant recent threads, reminding folks just how great a resource the Forums are. Nearly anything might be covered here, other than trades and signings, which usually get their own separate write-ups on the main site and are also normally covered in the next day’s Ramblings, or questions that are specific to salary cap issues, which is the domain of the weekly Capped column. To access the specific forum thread on which a question is based, click on the “Topic” for that question.

As is now becoming tradition, I'll start the column with a nod to the sadly now dormant "Who am I?" thread in the Forums where someone thought of a real life hockey player or persona, who can be from the past or present, male or female, in the NHL or not, and they give clues to help people guess who it is. You get to enter one guess per clue, and if you guess correctly you think of the next player, so it just keeps going indefinitely. For your enjoyment, here is a "Who am I?" sample. See how many clues it takes for you to guess who I am.

CLUE #1 – I'm a Canadian born defenseman

CLUE #2 – I played in the OHL and was a point per game producer in all my four seasons there

CLUE #3 – I also had success on the big stage at a young age, with over point per game scoring in each of my three appearances in the World Juniors Championship

CLUE #4 – Despite this success, and being a first round pick, I did not spend a full season in the NHL until age 22

CLUE #5 – And I was not a success out of the gate, averaging a point per every other game for the first time in my fourth NHL season

CLUE #6 – Once I hit my stride though, I did quite well in the NHL, with a scoring paces of 59 and 63 points in a three season stretch

CLUE #7 – I played all but four games of my NHL career with my first team

CLUE #8 – Sadly, my career ended when I was only 30

CLUE #9 – Due to the timing of when I signed my last contract, I was traded not once but twice after I had played my last NHL game, with the trades coming within three months of each other

CLUE#10 – I might even be traded again, as this is the last year of my NHL contract

CLUE #11 – The teams I actually played for, in order, were Nashville and Philadelphia

CLUE #12 – My initials are R.E.

So, who am I? Hopefully you figured it out. Check the end of the column to confirm, or, if not, to find out who I am. Now onto regularly scheduled Forum Buzz programming. 

Topic #1 – In a 12 Team H2H, keep 21 league with categories of G/A/Pt/STP/SOG/Hits/Blocks, how should these wingers be ranked: Jason Robertson, Matthew Tkachuk, Mitch Marner, Kyle Connor, Filip Forsberg?

Let's start with the easiest to rank, that being Forsberg in last. He's the oldest by nearly three years, which is not ideal in general but even more so due to rough and tumble players like him usually doing worse by or even before age 30. He's been an exception; but likely on borrowed time, as look what's happened to JT Miller of late. Yes, Forsberg is still shooting a lot, but his hits are down, which, ironically, might be a good thing since it could delay his decline. Still, his ceiling is the lowest of all five, and his solid hits and SOG don't add enough to compensate, plus there is that looming concern of him suddenly doing much worse.

For the second lowest spot I've got Marner. Enough time has passed to reinforce that for whatever reason Vegas is not going to have Marner on an ES line with Jack Eichel. Given this, it puts a realistic ceiling on his scoring, likely in the 80s, as he will have a spot on a very solid PP1, but that alone won't boost him higher than fourth among these five.

Jrob is third best to me. We know he's capable of pushing 100 points; however, he's yet to put two superb seasons together back-to-back. He is the youngest, but not by as much as I'd have expected, so that's not a factor in his favor. Maybe he finds a way to become a more consistent player at some point; however, based on what we've seen from him overall, he only ranks third.

Tkachuk is second in my book. He's approaching the age where he could be at risk of a decline due to the fact that he plays a rough and tumble style as well. Also, his TOI is the lowest of the five, making it difficult for him to be counted upon to be a consistent 90+ point player. His SOG rate has cratered, from 3.5 per game just three seasons ago, down to barely two per game so far this season.

That makes the top choice Connor. He's the only one of the five with a 90 point floor. If there was concern his success was a by-product of Mark Scheifele having a late career breakout, Connor's great start to 2026-27 despite Scheifele doing markedly worse, makes it clear Connor is not a passenger. Instead, it now seems likelier it was due to Connor that Scheifele has thrived. Connor looks to be elevating Cole Perfetti, who's been on the top line so far this season, to at or near point per game scoring after him having previously being only a 40-50 point player. Yes, Connor is downright lousy in hits and blocks, but he shoots a ton and is great on the PP. He's the clear top choice.

Topic #2 – In a 10 Team H2H league with goalie categories of W, GAA, Shots against, SV%, SO, a GM who has Brandon Bussi is wondering whether any of Daniil Tarasov, Joey Daccord, Philip Grubauer, Dan Vladar, or Joseph Woll would be a better own for the rest of the season, meaning whoever is the choice they would not be kept.

The emergence, and then sustained success, of Bussi was an amazing story for the 2025-26 season, as not only did he win 31 of the 39 games he played, but he stepped in for Frederick Andersen in the midst of the Stanley Cup Finals and played a large part in turning the tide for Carolina. While Bussi's stellar season earned him a three year extension, it was signed in February for a mere $1.9M per year, which is less than what Pyotr Kochetkov makes. Before Bussi's remarkable season, Kochetkov had been presumed to be the heir apparent to Andersen. Fast forward to now, and Bussi has looked shaky, while Kochetkov has been superb. So what are Bussi owners to do?

First off, Bussi's 2025-26 season stats are essentially without precedent. The previous high in wins for a North American goalie who debuted in the NHL at age 27 or older was 11 by Aaron Dell, who, if the name isn't familiar, went on to win only 50 of 130 games, bouncing between NHL teams and in and out of the NHL before retiring in 2025. I said North American, because there have been instances of older European and Russian goalies first coming to the NHL in their 20s or even 30s, notably Roman Cechmanek and Niklas Backstrom, and finding success. For North American goalies, what Bussi did was like nothing that had previously occurred.

That makes Bussi's struggles so far this season more concerning. It might be his success was largely a function of the team in front of him, as Bussi was undrafted and didn't play pro hockey until the end of his full college career. Boston didn't turn to him in any of the three seasons he was available in the AHL despite Bussi doing well overall. In short, if you don't make it to the NHL until age 27, but you had realistic chances to do so, there might have been good reason for that having been the case. Let's also not forget that even last season Bussi's SV% was under .900, so he was winning but not stealing games himself for the most part. Placing aside his age, if we look at first year netminders who won 30+ games despite a sub-900 SV% dating back to 1990-91, only he meets the criteria. To me, this is yet another not very promising sign.

All this notwithstanding, are any of the other options better? It looks like time share situations in Philly and Seattle, this despite it seeming like Vladar and Daccord had the inside track to being starters yet disappointing thus far. Daccord is signed through 2029-30, but Vladar's new deal doesn't even kick in until next season and runs through 2031-32. Whereas Woll is signed for two years, Grubauer is a UFA to be, perhaps making it easier for Daccord to continue to be the #1, or, at worst, 1A. Tarasov has looked quite good, and John Gibson is also on the final year of his deal. The issue is if the Wings want to trade Gibson they need to play him, plus Tarasov is signed only for this season, after which he too will be a UFA.

In the end, this could be a "lesser of all evils" situation, in that none of these netminders might thrive this season. With three of the categories being volume-based, I want the goalie who I see as likely to log the most games. To me, that's Daccord. The situation in Philly looks like it could be a true timeshare, while Detroit won't be incented to play Tarasov until/unless they can trade Gibson. Bussi would be my second choice, as he plays for far and away the best team and Kochetkov has had injury issues, plus Bussi's 2025-26 performance likely will keep him in the mix. I think it's Daccord by a whisker over Bussi, with it being so close as to be reasonable to hold Bussi instead. Tarasov would be the feast or famine, i.e., risk/reward, choice.

Topic #4 – In a league with skater categories and weighting of G (2pts), A (1pt), +/- (.5pt), PPG (1pt), PPA (.5 pt), SOG (.05 pt), HIT (.10 pt), a GM just traded their Alexis Lafreniere for Wyatt Johnston. They felt they sold high and bought low. Was it a smart deal to make?

In the Forum thread, the consensus is this was a great deal. Objectively it was, but it's not as much of a slam dunk as it might seem. It is true Johnston not only has had more success but also has been on an upward trajectory his entire career. Yet 42 of his 86 points last season were on the PP, with 27 of them being PPGs, boosting his overall SH% to 21.7%. The last player who had 25+ PPGs, a 20%+ SH%, but under 90 points was Chris Kreider, which is a concern. Going back in time, Tim Kerr also did so twice, but routinely he was averaging 3.5+ SOG per game. At least for the time being Johnston still has some question marks.

Laffy's struggles have been well-documented. He finally flirted with some success at the end of 2023-24, only to come back to earth the following season. So when his Q4 2025-26 stats were similar to those of Q4 2023-24, many wondered if this was another tease. The difference was ten of the 23 points he scored in his last 22 games for 2025-26 were on the PP, in stark contrast to 2023-24 when he had 21 points in 22 games but only one on the PP. Also, in Q4 of last season he had 1, 2 or 3 points in those of the 22 games where he scored, while in 2023-24 he had a big boost in the form of a five point game and actually went scoreless in half those 22 games.

Also, Laffy did what he did last season after the departure of Artemi Panarin, and now, on top of that, Vincent Trocheck is also gone. He's faring as well as he is without concern of him being boosted by better talent around him. In fact, it seems that part of what has led him to finally thriving was his ability to land a permanent spot on PP1 plus becoming more of a focal point. His Q4 success extending into this season, plus the lack of talent in the Big Apple now versus previously, has all but ensured Laffy will stay in the top six at ES and on PP1. If so, that should mean at least 90 seconds of added TOI, with the vast majority of it coming on the PP. Now it is Laffy with the inflated SH%, standing at 30% as I write this. If his SH was where it had been for his career upon entering this season, that would drop his scoring rate to 63.

Also, if we compare them side-by-side, Johnston has a minute more TOI per game, much of it on the PP. But despite Laffy having played 150 more games than Johnston, the difference in age between them is a year and a half, which is inconsequential. Focusing on the categories, Wyatt has the edge in SOG and +/-, but Laffy in HIT. The biggest factor, however, is that both goals and PPGs are counted as categories, and those do seem to tilt the scales quite a bit to Wyatt.

To reiterate, I think this was an objectively good trade to make. Although I do consider it correct to say it was buying low on Wyatt, I'm no longer sure it can be seen as selling high on Laffy, as even though his SH% is inflated, his IPPs are superb and he seems like a totally new player. To me, selling high happens when one's numbers are grossly inflated or outlying, or if a player's name value far exceeds his actual value. In fairness, those don't seem to apply to the situation with Laffy now. So yes, a good trade to make objectively, but not, per se, a sell high.

Topic #4 – In an 10 team, keep 20 roto daily setting league with 4C, 3LW, 3RW, 5D, 2G, 1UTIL, 3IR+ rosters and categories of G,A,PTS, +/-, PIM, PPA, PPG, D PTS – W, SV, SV% a team with Jake Sanderson, Roman Josi, Erik Karlsson, Morgan Rielly, Brandon Montour, and Rasmus Andersson as its d-men is wondering if they should hold Rielly, or drop him for any of the following waiver wire d-men: Braydon McNabb, Hampus Lindholm, Vladislav Gavrikov, Mattias Samuelsson, Sean Walker, Justin Faulk, Mason Lohrei, Cam Fowler, Sean Durzi, and Jacob Trouba?

Seeing the names of who's available is helpful in several ways. First and foremost, it's clear there isn't a "no brainer" upgrade out there. Also, if Reilly is dropped to pick up one of these guys, chances are there would be someone else comparable to grab if that one doesn't work out. Since the league has daily starts, could the spot be used for streaming? If not, I'd want whoever is getting the most PP time, as every PPG counts as a goal, a PPG, and a D Pt, and every PPA as an assist, a PPA, and a D Pt. I'd ignore PIM, as it is an unpredictable category. Or the other basis to help decide, again given it's a daily starts league, is off night games. The Rangers have 39 off night games, second highest in the league, in turn making Durzi and Gavrikov alluring, although in fairness of the rest only Fowler has fewer than 32, but a lot fewer, at 24.

If streaming is an option, that's the route I'd go. Otherwise, none of these guys is seeing more than PP scraps, so I'd likely grab Durzi who, if healthy, could produce in the same range as Rielly but plays more off nights. Otherwise, Samuelsson, despite essentially no PP time, seems to be turning into a productive d-man, making him my second choice.

Topic #5 – A GM has a chance to pick up Philip Broberg, but to do so the likely drop would need to be Shea Theodore. Should they grab Broberg, or stay patient with Theodore?

With me being one of two who chose Theodore as their rebound player for this season in the DobberHockey Season Predictions, I'm quite surprised to see him doing so poorly. For sure the Knights, despite changing coaches and Pavel Dorofeyev now being a Ranger, having gone back to a 5F PP1 is not helping matters; but is there more to it than that?

He's shooting the puck at the same rate as when he was scoring more, and is +11 on the season, suggesting goals are being scored while he's on the ice. Sure enough the team is shooting 12.8% at 5×5 with Theodore on the ice; yet he has an overall IPP of 18.2%, which is not only low for him, as he had ranged from 49% to 56% in six of seven seasons before last season, with the only exception being 63.6% in 2023-24, but really low in general, since an average defenseman should be 30-35%+. Even last season, which for sure was a disappointment, his overall IPP was 44.3%. He should have more than double the ES points he actually has so far, although in truth not really, since 12.8% is high. Still, he's been unsustainably unlucky, no question about that. And he is getting some PP time; yet of the four PPGs scored with him on the ice, he has a point on just one, with that rate of 25% being well lower than his norms, which were routinely higher than his overall IPP and even last season was 45.5%.

Is it possible he might not rebound, or only slightly? What do player comparables tell us? Theodore had a .75+ scoring rate four times by age 29, but, due to injuries, never actually scored more than 57 actual points. Only three other players met the same criteria four times by age 29, those being Kris Letang, Brian Leetch and Torey Krug. Both Letang and Leetch also had huge offensive seasons, such that I think they are not apt comparisons; however, Krug might be. Even before Krug's career ended prematurely due to injury, he'd morphed into more of a point per every other game scorer, like Theodore last season. Among those who did this three times were Tyson Barrie and P.K. Subban, and they too became shells of their former selves by or at the age Theodore is now. Although past results do not predict future outcomes, this is not reassuring data.

Still, is Broberg a clear upgrade? He has seen time on PP1 of late; however, that role has been a revolving door between him, Cam Fowler and Adam Jiricek. Broberg is in his prime, plus is on year one of a deal playing him $8M per season for six seasons, which would seem to incent the Blues to try to use him there. The issue is he's never been in that role, although that also means he could do well if given a true chance to seize the reins. His PP IPP last season was a very respectable 55.6%, suggesting he has a nose for scoring with the man advantage. Fowler though actually has done well on the PP in his career, with better PP IPPs. Still, he's not the answer at age 34, nor does it seem to be Jiricek, at just 20 years old.

In the end, I think this is a close call, and I can see arguments both for and against each player. Also, right now Vegas has Mark Stone healthy and the young Trevor Connelly doing well; and either or both of those things might change, which seemingly would pave the way for Theodore to get back on PP1. Although my confidence level in him is rightfully quite a bit lower than it was when I made my prediction, especially also after seeing the player comparables, I think I'm still opting for Theodore, as Broberg just does not feel like enough of an assured upgrade to let Theodore go.

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THE ANSWER TO WHO THE PLAYER IS……….Ryan Ellis!

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Questions for Mailbag column needed

I have plenty of room for mailbag questions. To get yours to me, you can either private message “rizzeedizzee” via the DobberHockey Forums, or email [email protected] with “Roos Mailbag” as the subject line.