We are now in full-on offseason Rambling mode. I'm not going to lie, this hurts me. Normally, we have to slug our way through this seek and destroy situation for about four months. We already did it from March to July and now we're looking at four more months of offseason rambling before the puck drops again in early 2021.

Ugh. 

But, fret not! We're pros here at DobberHockey and will search high and low for interesting storylines and poignant opinions. 

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So, how is next season going to work? Players sure aren’t signing up for six or seven months away from their families in the hermetically-sealed bubbles. Well, Frank Seravalli gave a glimpse of how things may shake out.

“One concept for the hybrid bubble that has been around on a preliminary basis – but not in a formal manner yet – includes four to six ‘bubbles in various locales around the NHL, preferably in cities where fans would be allowed inside arena. At least one hybrid bubble would be located in Canada.

This hybrid bubble concept would include a rotation of two weeks in the bubble, followed by one week at home where players can regroup with their families, then rotating back in for another two weeks…

The thinking is that each team would be able to play approximately 12 games per month. Which is doable given that there will be no travel between games other than flying in and out.”

Let’s just say this, it will not be easy to find a way to keep players, coaches and staff safe all while allowing gate revenues to accumulate. I don’t want to be overly pessimistic, but I won’t be shocked if we have an extremely truncated 2020-21 season that runs from late winter through the summer once again.

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The Rangers are about to enter the post-Henrik Lundqvist era of their franchise. Something they haven't had to do since the godly goaltender landing on Broadway back in 2005. And now we officially begin the period of Shestyorkin. Shesterkin. Whatever. That Russian knows how to stop pucks.

In fact, I'm ready to say that Igor Shest-whatever, is the absolute number one netminder to own in keeper/dynasty leagues. That's right. My apologies to Andrei Vasilevskiy, Connor Hellebuyck, Carter Hart and the rest of the elite, workhorse netminders on top teams. Shesty is young but not too young, he's surrounded by the perfect storm of young, supreme talent that's coming up. 

The Rangers are coming hard in the near future and he's going to be the backbone. If you're looking for a locked-in number one for the next five or six seasons, it's hard to argue against him. 

Now, I can just hear the naysayers. "Cmon, Robinson. He has 13 NHL games under his belt!"

You're not wrong. But all this guy does is stop pucks and rack up wins. Going back five seasons, playing against top professional players in the KHL, AHL, NHL and World Championships, he's posted a ridiculous 138-34-18 record. Oh, and a 0.937 save percentage.

It's unheard of. 

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This is an interesting bit of news. Valimaki split 2018-19 with the Flames and their AHL farm team before tearing his ACL and missing the entirety of the 2019-20 campaign. He’s undoubtedly an NHL player and would be expected to skate in a top-four role for the Flames next season.

By heading to the Finnish Liiga – and to the club team that he spent his junior hockey with way back when, he’ll have an opportunity to get reps in on the knee. The club will be able to recall him when training camps finally break late in 2020 or early 2021.

Additionally, since he was not credited with a singled pro game in 2019-20, I believe this means he will be exempt from the Seattle expansion draft.

Long term, Valimaki projects to be a multicat stud on the blueline. He chews up minutes, can rack up points, blocks, hits, the whole meal-deal.

I’m curious if we see more young, not-quite-locked in full-time NHL players start heading overseas.

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Darren Dreger reported that Boston and Edmonton are pushing hard to obtain OEL. I wrote some words about the Swedish defender a few weeks back, but the gist of it is, that at 8.25M for seven more seasons he’s not an ideal target. His impact – both offensively and defensively has deteriorated over the past three seasons.

He is no longer a number one defender.

That said, he can absolutely still provide value – especially in some more sheltered situations. However, if I’m the Bruins, I’d probably prefer to extend Torey Krug at fewer dollars and fewer years and save the cost of acquisition price.

The Oilers don’t have that luxury, but they probably don’t care either. They need to get going right meow.

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Speaking of Krug, reports indicate that the Bs offered him six years at 6.25M. To me, that seems like a nice ceiling of an offer for a player of his ilk. Sure, he’s an incredibly useful offensive player and one we love to have on fantasy rosters. However, you do not go bananas on a player leaving their prime who needs sheltering at even-strength.

Call me crazy, but I’m not paying a player 7-8M per into their mid-30s and be forced to have them start 70 percent of their shifts in the offensive end while seeing all the juicy power-play minutes. That’s the type of deal you end up choking on.

He’ll undoubtedly end up in a worse offensive situation than the juicy B’s top PP he’s lived on for the recent history. Selling time.

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More trade rumour talk (let’s all just admit we live for deals). In Vancouver, it sure sounds like Jake Virtanen is on his way out. Reports are indicating the Tyler Toffoli will be re-upped before hitting the market. That locks down the top two RW spots with Brock Boeser and him. Vasily Podkolzin is on the way for spring 2021.

Virtanen is an interesting character. He was on his way to a 20-plus goal season, can bring a bevy of hits to the table and owns some of the top straightaway speed in the game.

However, he remains an enigmatic, frustrating player.

Some team is going to trade for him, give him 3M over a multiyear deal and then hope he blossoms late like many power forward types. My expectation is that if that does come to fruition, the acquiring club will put him in spots to succeed early and make him feel comfortable. We could see an early blast. Let’s see if/where he lands, but I’d be open to working an angle where you draft him, hope he gets hot early and then look to dish him.

Or just hope for a 20/20 season with a boatload of hits and PIMs.

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Over at Dobberprospects, I took a historical lens on second-overall selections and compared them to expected number two overall, Quinton Byfield. It was a fun exercise. One I did for Alexis Lafreniere and the top dogs a few weeks back. 

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@Hockey_Robinson