Yesterday we covered more players to target if your league counts penalty minutes. For today, let's head in the opposite direction, which is players who do not accrue high penalty minute totals and thus might be worth moving down the rankings slightly in bangers leagues.

Lowest penalty minute per point totals, 2019-20 season:

You'll notice that there are many players whose overall scoring numbers don't jump out at you, so they might fit the definition of players that keep a low profile while on the ice. However, there are a few names in here worth mentioning.

The Rookies (Nick Suzuki, Victor Olofsson)

I've grouped these two together because as rookies, they don't have much of a track record when it comes to projecting anything. However, one parallel is that both have very low penalty minute totals in prior leagues. Suzuki received just 12 penalty minutes in 59 games in his final season in the OHL, while Olofsson also accrued just 12 penalty minutes in 66 games in the AHL last season. If both continue on upward scoring trajectories, then they could both be future candidates for the Lady Byng Trophy.

If you had to pick one in a super bangers league (assuming scoring remains equal), then Suzuki would probably be the better choice. Suzuki took 64 hits this season, while Olofsson took a very Phil Kessel-like 10 hits.

Auston Matthews

Given his high profile in what might be the NHL's most significant media market, Matthews should be an immediate candidate for the Lady Byng. In his four NHL seasons, Matthews has never accumulated more than 14 penalty minutes. Of course, he has played more than 70 games in a season just once, but that means little when there are already so few penalty minutes. The Leafs as a team had the third-lowest penalty minute total in the league, which is also a factor here. Matthews reached a career high of 40 hits this season, so you're going to add him to your bangers league team strictly for his scoring.

Teuvo Teravainen

Teravainen has reached 20 PIM in his career before, which was in 2015-16 as a member of the Blackhawks. Since then, his penalty minute total has slightly decreased in each of the last four seasons all the way down to eight penalty minutes this season. Teravainen also has a very low hits total, topping out at 35 hits last season. The nice thing about Teravainen is that he's consistent, as he was on pace to match his 76 points from last season. However, you should be supplementing him with other players that can add penalty minutes and hits if you own him.

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I was recently asked for my thoughts on a fantasy league having a draft for junior players. As long as your league is deep enough, I believe this is something worth adding in order to make things more interesting. I have both a fantasy hockey team and a fantasy baseball team in which newly drafted prospects (NHL) or minor league players (MLB) can be added this way.

Something that I like about my fantasy baseball league, which is what I would recommend if setting this up for the first time, is to provide the prospects with specific minor league slots. Players in these minor league slots can then be held for an unlimited period of time until the prospect reaches the NHL, since the time that it can take for a prospect to develop can be significant. At that point, the prospect would need to occupy a regular roster spot, and maybe even be given an NHL-type contract (if you use a salary cap or auction-type format.)

For every Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews that sets the league on fire right away, there are many more blue-chip prospects who won't debut in the NHL for another season or two (or more). During that time, the prospect's value can change (you can easily follow those changes over at Dobber Prospects). Once that prospect reaches the NHL, he may need additional time on top of that before becoming fantasy relevant. Following the fourth-year breakout theory, this development period could last 5-6 years. Having a separate minor league slot ensures that you're not forced to make a decision on whether to keep a prospect before he reaches the NHL, as there's an opportunity cost of having a non-NHL player taking the place of an NHL player.

This isn't an example that is directly related, but it kind of has a similar thought process. You would probably now consider Nathan MacKinnon as the same level of player as Matthews or even McDavid. All of these players went straight to the NHL upon being drafted first overall. However, by about MacKinnon's third year, I saw questions in the Forum from fantasy owners in shallow to mid-sized keeper leagues who were wondering whether they should simply cut him loose. These certainly weren't questions that were asked about McDavid or Matthews at that point in their careers.

MacKinnon's point totals, Seasons 1-4: 63, 38, 52, 53

MacKinnon's point totals, Seasons 5-7: 97, 99, 93

Sometime between Seasons 2-4, a fantasy owner could easily decide to bypass MacKinnon for a player/prospect whose NHL experience is more limited. Hey, the unknown is more exciting. Yet what are the chances of that player being better than MacKinnon now? Maybe I've gone off on a tangent here, but the points I want to make are that a) Not every prospect will follow the same development curve, and b) Not every prospect that you value right now will blossom into an NHL superstar. Whatever prospects you end up choosing, it's nice to be able to keep them homegrown as long as possible.  

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Celebrity retro hockey tweet of the day:

Since this was from around the time I started watching hockey regularly, I couldn't agree more. The only thing missing from this picture was the token veteran player who was still playing without a helmet during that time.

I'll also take the time to agree with Hanks' statement about the home whites, as well as the Flames' original jerseys.

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For more fantasy hockey information, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.