Every Sunday, we share 21 Fantasy Rambles from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week’s 'Daily Ramblings'.

Writers/Editors: Ian Gooding, Michael Clifford, Alexander MacLean, and Dobber

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1. It appears as though Gabriel Landeskog‘s run with Colorado is coming to an end. The UFA turns 29 in November but this isn’t just any UFA. This is their captain, a guy who was drafted by them second overall 10 years ago. He has 171 points in his last 181 games, plays a tough two-way game, and has been through all the up-and-downs of the franchise over the last decade. This isn’t an easy decision.

This obviously is a cap move. The baseline for Landeskog was Chris Kreider‘s contract, or seven years at $6.5M a season with a full NMC throughout. That is a hefty price for a 29-year-old power forward, and Landeskog will likely be more expensive because of his role on the team and his production of late. Nathan MacKinnon and Bowen Byram need new contracts in two years, Cale Makar needs one now, and they don’t have any goalies signed at the moment. Not to mention needing to fill out their depth. Assigning over $7M in cap space to an asset that will probably start depreciating right away isn’t prudent, no matter how hard the decision is.

The question is where Landeskog ends up. Not a lot of teams can afford him. Man, this feels like a Nashville signing waiting to happen. (jul15)

2. Still with the Avs, in a trade that had implications for Seattle expansion, Ryan Graves was sent to the Devils for Mikhail Maltsev and a 2021 second-round pick (the 60th overall pick originally from the Islanders).

Graves hasn’t been a huge scorer, as his career high is 26 points in 69 games (0.38 PTS/GP) in 2019-20. However, he has accumulated a plus-55 ranking over the past two seasons, including a league-leading plus-40 in 2019-20. That plus/minus will really be put to the test on a rebuilding Devils team where only three players finished with a positive plus-minus last season. Graves also led the Avs with 91 blocked shots and finished second on the team with 77 hits, so he might be able to build on those numbers with increased ice time in New Jersey, likely as a top-4 d-man.

Maltsev played 33 games for the Devils, scoring six goals and nine points. Expect him to compete for a spot in the Avalanche's bottom six. (jul16)

Elsewhere, some last-minute trades were made on Saturday before rosters froze for the expansion draft. And of course, we had you covered.

Fantasy Take: Flyers Land Ellis; Glass to Nashville & Patrick to Vegas

Fantasy Impact: Maple Leafs Acquire Jared McCann

Fantasy Take: Adin Hill On His Way To San Jose (jul18)

3. Jesperi Kotkaniemi's point total next season will be more difficult to project than Nick Suzuki‘s and maybe even Cole Caufield‘s. Is he ready to take that next step, or will he continue to battle inconsistency? Recall that Kotkaniemi was a healthy scratch for the final two games of the Stanley Cup Final. Having said that, it is also worth mentioning that Kotkaniemi was also one of only two Canadiens to appear in all 56 games.

Whether he is given regular top-6 responsibility could depend on the Canadiens’ offseason moves. Will the Habs find a way to re-sign two-way specialist Phillip Danault? After being scratched for much of the playoffs, Tomas Tatar is almost a certainty to leave in the offseason – could that open up a spot for a left-handed shooter on the first-unit power play? It might seem hard to believe because he only turned 21 and was born in the year 2000, but Kotkaniemi will be entering season four of his career. Next season could be the season that he takes that next step. However, keeper league owners might want to give him a little more runway if he doesn’t, given his age. (jul11)

4. According to his agent, Alex Edler is expected to hit free agency. The 35-year-old Edler has played over 900 career games, all with the Canucks. Between Edler and Travis Hamonic possibly leaving via free agency and Nate Schmidt possibly being traded, the Canucks defense could have a whole new look next season. Long-term, it is probably for the better. But short-term, it could be another disaster. The Canucks already had the third-highest shots allowed total in the league, which could make Thatcher Demko valuable if your league counts saves. (jul17)

5. The Leafs have reportedly granted Zach Hyman permission to talk to other teams. According to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star, the Flames, Canucks, and Oilers are believed to be the frontrunners. Bidding wars between these three western Canadian rivals should be nothing new, as the Oilers had serious interest in ex-Canuck Jacob Markstrom before the Flames were able to land him. 

When push comes to shove, Hyman is going to get paid. Probably overpaid by a GM like Jim Benning or Ken Holland that values old-school players.

I’ll take this opportunity to promote Scott Royce’s Geek of the Week about Hyman from back in April. (jul16)

6. The Panthers bought out the remaining two years of Keith Yandle‘s $6.35 million cap hit. The writing on the wall first appeared for Yandle when he was nearly made a healthy scratch to start the season. Fortunately  he wasn’t, so he was able to keep his consecutive games-played streak intact (922 games, just 42 short of the all-time record).

That streak is likely what is keeping him in the lineup; otherwise, he would walk that Shayne Gostisbehere/Erik Gustafsson fine line of either being a power-play specialist or a healthy scratch. Yandle is not the point contributor that he once was (27 PTS, 0.48 PTS/GP in 2020-21), but his 18 power-play points were still tied for sixth among NHL defensemen. Expect him to find a new home with a team that needs to improve its power play. (jul16)

7. In related Panthers news, they also signed Gustav Forsling to a three-year extension with an AAV of $2.66 million. Yandle’s departure could benefit Forsling, as he received almost no power-play time in spite of being hot during the second half (15 points in his last 29 games). Forsling also averaged nearly 21 minutes over that span, so he figures to serve in a top-4 role assuming the Panthers don’t pick up any more defensemen.

The Panthers weren’t done there, as they also extended Anthony Duclair to a three-year term with an AAV of $3 million. After bouncing around with several teams, Duclair seems to have found a home with the Panthers, scoring at a career-high 0.74 PTS/GP (32 points in 43 games). Duclair was a must-start during the fantasy playoffs, as he took advantage of his spot with Jonathan Huberdeau and the red-hot Sam Bennett by scoring 15 points over his last 13 games. Some other extremes with Duclair: a plus-27 ranking (in the league’s top 10), but only two power-play points (Florida’s first power-play unit is the place to be). (jul16)

8. In the category of “bittersweet”, longtime Predators goalie Pekka Rinne retired after 15 seasons. He finishes as the Predators’ all-time leader in most significant goalie stats, and capped it off with a 30 save shutout in his final game. He has also won the Vezina in 2018, and the King Clancy in 2021. Hats off to an amazing career Peks!

He is retiring to spend more time with his son, and leaving the Predators’ crease in the capable hands of his favourite teammate, Juuse Saros.

It’s worth noting that the only realistic internal option to be backing up Saros next year is Connor Ingram. It’s possible he gets a long look in camp, as he has put up solid numbers in his spurts at the AHL level. The Predators could also look to the goalie market, where options such as James Reimer, Brian Elliott, and others will be available to play a reliable backup role. (jul14)

9. A bombshell dropped around lunchtime last Wednesday that Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were being bought out of their identical mega-deals.

In cap leagues, the values for Parise and Suter do a complete 180, but in most leagues they are still just depth options. Suter has been a respectable contributor the last number of years, and is worth rostering in most leagues. Parise will be found on the waiver wire list in most leagues, and can probably stay there. If you have space and can add players over the summer though, he may be worth rostering in case he joins a team like Toronto, Edmonton, or Tampa Bay.

This does open up quite a few minutes on the back end, and Calen Addison should be the main benefactor there. Even in one-year leagues he’s now someone to keep an eye on, because he should be the favourite to be running the top power-play unit next season. (jul14)

10. One of the bigger questions in the NHL is why Dominik Kubalik doesn’t get more ice time. Two seasons ago, he posted 1.7 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, far-and-away tops on the Blackhawks and actually the highest mark in the league as well. That fell this season to 0.96 goals per 60 minutes, but that was still top-60 league-wide, or a top-line rate.

Over the last two years, in aggregate, Kubalik is tied for seventh in goal scoring per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 and 10^th in scoring at all strengths. Over the last two years, at all strengths, he has a higher goal-scoring rate than Connor McDavid and Brad Marchand. Over the last two years, at all strengths, he has also played less per game than Luke Kunin, Luke Glendening, and Scott Laughton.

Does that change? If a healthy Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach are back, the Chicago top-6 could be absolutely lethal. But will that include Dominik Kubalik? We will see. I sure hope so. (jul13)

11. Who are we drafting as Boston’s PP1QB? Last offseason, I was adamant that it would be Matt Grzelcyk as Boston’s PP1QB, and he was. At least, he was until the end of the season, at which point Charlie McAvoy took over. The thing is, they were right to do that because the power play was much, much better with McAvoy than with Grzelcyk. The team also traded for Mike Reilly, who could be re-signed if they want, and can run a PP.

So, if we were to guess, who is the PP1QB next year?

I really do think it’s going to be McAvoy. The fact that he took over the role in the playoffs and held onto it tells the story here. When the chips were down and they needed to win games, they relied on McAvoy. Now, they won’t necessarily do that for all 82 games in the regular season, but I think it’s a good bet that McAvoy is the guy for a big chunk of it. This drastically alters his fantasy outlook. (jul13)

12. Chances of a big Patrik Laine turnaround? Out of the gate, I feel more confident about this than I did a couple months ago when John Tortorella was still the head coach of Columbus. To be clear, I think Torts is fine as a coach, but he’s certainly not a fantasy-friendly coach, and that’s all we care about.

New coach Brad Larsen already said he’s going to play to Laine’s strengths and surround him with good players. That, alone, is a step in the right direction.

There are still concerns, of course. This team really doesn’t have a bone fide number-1 centre, and if Max Domi doesn’t right the ship soon, Jack Roslovic is really their only contender to be a number-2 centre. It is possible that Roslovic and Laine develop some chemistry, but that duo was awful together this year. Just as a side note: Columbus has two regular forwards signed past 2022. There could be a lot of turnover coming soon, which may mean trading Laine again.

The chances of a big turnaround here feel remote. His 40-goal seasons feel like a thing of the past until the team reloads or until he gets traded. We will have to see where his ADP lands. (jul13)

13. Everyone has their opinion of the Duncan Keith trade, and mine won’t differ much from most anyone else. It is the fantasy value this could bring that’s important, though.

Tyson Barrie is likely done as an Oiler, and he’s coming off a season where he had 48 points in 56 games playing under 21:30 a night. Last season, Keith was playing 23:25 a night in Chicago. Even if that TOI gets cut by a couple minutes, we have a baseline for what is possible for an offensive defenceman playing PP1 minutes. The question is if it’s Keith that gets those minutes, or Darnell Nurse. That is a question for another day.

It is worth noting that Keith put up over two shots per game last year and was about 1.8 hits per game. Even a 40-point season with two shots and 1.8 hits per game is a good fantasy season. As bad a real-world trade this is for the Oilers, this is about as good as it could possibly get for Keith fantasy-wise. I still think he’s a decent puck-mover, he’s just not very good defensively. Being a decent puck-mover on this Oilers team, with PP1 minutes, is enough to threaten 40 points. (jul13)

14. Whoever signs Taylor Hall is going to overpay. I’m not saying he’s not going to rebound. I think he will. Maybe even close to 70 points. But it won’t be enough to justify whatever number he signs for, and in the end the contract will be an anchor. (jul12)

15. To hear Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams speak, you’d think that they have Jack Eichel back on board and they’re not trading him. But if we believed that, then the trade rumors would stop. And they don’t seem to be stopping. Anyway, trade or not…surgery or not… I’m in two dynasty leagues and a keeper league, and all I have to say is – thank goodness I don’t own Eichel him in a single one. It’s someone else’s conundrum. (jul12)

16. As impressive as Brayden Point was in this season’s playoffs, he was even better last season with the same number of goals and more assists in the same number of games. One advantage that Point did have during the playoffs was having Nikita Kucherov, who was Point’s linemate for over 75 percent of the time. Kucherov and Point were often paired together during both the 2019-20 regular season and postseason, so not having Kucherov during the 2020-21 season had at least a minor impact on Point’s production. Assuming neither player is LTIR’ed next season, Point could return to the point-per-game club that he was a part of in 2018-19 (79 GP, 92 PTS, 1.16 PTS/GP). (jul11)

17. So, the 2021 Fantasy Prospects Report is finally available! Over 500 prospects are covered, which makes it a must-own for even the deepest of keeper leagues. Take my word: it helps me navigate through the prospects that I need to target in my dynasty league. Secure yours today by itself or as part of a Keeper League Pack or an Ultimate Pack over at Dobber Sports.

Browsing through this year’s FPR, it is much like the ones you’ve come to know and love from other seasons. Rankings for both drafted and undrafted prospects, player profiles listed by team, upside projections and ETAs for drafted prospects, and more. And there’s still more to come once the 2021 entry draft takes place.

The first thing I did when I opened mine was to check out the rankings and read the writeups on my keeper team’s prospects. Those include the likes of Anton Lundell, Grigori Denisenko, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Victor Soderstrom. Then it was time to check out the 2021 entry draft rankings and who might be available at pick #10. Of course, that league draft won’t happen until sometime in August, so I’ll have a bit of time to figure that out. But at least I’ll know where to look. (jul11)

18. Every year a few prospects jump out at me thanks to working on the Fantasy Prospects Report. Guys who had been doing better than I thought. These generally turn out to be good finds, as historically they’ve dug up Gustav Nyquist, Jake Guentzel, Kevin Labanc, Sasha Chmelevski (still waiting on him, but he looks good) and Anthony Duclair among others. I also remember giving Brayden Point a huge boost in my mind after researching him for that year’s FPR. I remember getting an email about it asking “are you sure he can get 75 points?” Even I went into it believing he’d top out at around 60. But after researching for the Guide, I went with 75 and glad I did.

Below are four prospects from this year’s FPR that jumped out above initial expectation:

Riley Damiani, Dallas – I kind of already knew about this guy in that he was a point-per-game player in his first AHL season. I really like it when a player translates offense to the pro level immediately, skipping the usual one- or two-year development curve. It bodes well for the next (and final) level. These are the type of players who generally succeed, and are good, deep finds for dynasty leagues. (jul12)

19. Jack Dugan, Vegas – As already mentioned, I love it when players move to a different level of hockey and promptly dominate. And Dugan has done it again and again. If Vegas wasn’t so deep with the top six I would seriously bump this guy up the list. You probably already noticed he shot up to 26^th in the Top 200 Prospect Forwards list I posted on the weekend.

Sean Farrell, Montreal – I know he’s a long shot. And I know he’s a long way off. And we reported and projected as much in the FPR. But he caught my attention and is on my radar. That ‘project prospect’ that I’ll be rooting for over the next several years. So no, this isn’t a player I’m drafting this year. Or next (as the FPR agrees). But I found that next small, skilled player who could become a ‘Dobber Darling’.

Robin Salo, NY Islanders – The defenseman has been developing nicely in Sweden, with offence that is really coming along. As a higher draft pick (46^th overall) he is going to be given tons of opportunities, and the fact that he’s been in the system for a long time (drafted in 2017) tells me the wait time will be minimal. Me likey. (jul12)

20. The Top 100 Roto Rankings have been updated for July. Many players have remained about where they were last month, but a few players’ values have changed drastically (I’ll discuss one of those in a minute). Feel free to review and leave feedback, which I may reply to. You get to respond to me, so I get to respond to you. Seems fair? That response is important, because it gives me something to think about as I determine exactly where a player should be.

So with that, I’m going to respond to a couple of comments on social media (I’m paraphrasing these, not direct quoting). 

Where is Tyler Seguin?

Good question, so I’ll add Seguin to the wait list next month. As a player who quietly suited up for three end-of-season games this season (scoring two goals), Seguin might be a forgotten man in fantasy circles. The fact that he suited up for those end-of-season games should bode well for his chances of starting 2021-22 healthy.

Seguin was slowed by a torn hip labrum during the Stars’ playoff bubble run. You may remember that he could only score two goals during that entire 26-game run, while his 13 points also seemed underwhelming for a player of his importance to the Dallas roster. During that regular season, his 0.72 PTS/GP pace (50 points in 69 games) was his lowest since joining the Stars.

Whether you believe that Seguin can bounce back to a near-point-per-game pace, you have to discount him at least a little bit in your fantasy drafts. He is now 29 and has been in the NHL for a decade while coming off a major injury, so there is now going to be some wear and tear. Don’t forget that he also plays at a deep center position. Circling back, though, he is a player that you shouldn’t forget about in fantasy drafts either and could make a sneaky pick once the usual big names at center are off the board. (jul17)

21. Kirill Kaprizov is ranked WAY too high. Especially since he might hold out. 

Kaprizov was the player I increased the most from last month, as I moved him up to 35 from 57. I realize that’s a major jump, and the possibility that he remains unsigned and could even return to Russia will scare a few fantasy owners away. However, there is another fantasy hockey site that has Kaprizov ranked even higher than 35, which is one reason right off the bat that I believe this spot is justified.

There has to be substance behind this change. As a rookie, Kaprizov finished in the top 10 in goals (27) and also tied for 22^nd in league scoring, numbers he should likely build from. Hopefully you don’t need evidence of his talent, but all you need to do is look up his highlight-reel goals. There’s that Calder Trophy as well, which he earned as the rookie scoring leader. His goal total was 10 clear of the next-highest rookie. There’s just too much ceiling here.

I think the chances that he doesn’t come to terms with the Wild and ends up as a holdout/in Russia are slim. The Wild have cleared the deck by buying out the Zach Parise/Ryan Suter contracts to make a major move. Imagine how foolish that would look if the Wild massively upgrade at center by acquiring Jack Eichel and Kaprizov is a no show? Talent seeks out other talent. The Wild will deal with the dead cap space later; they appear primed to take a run for it in 2021-22. Kaprizov might be the main reason that they would even entertain that discussion.

If you have Kaprizov targeted in your fantasy league, you’re not going to be able to sneak him through your draft mid-to-late round again. If his unsigned status drags on throughout the summer, then I’ll probably act accordingly and bump him down further. But at this moment, there are still many unsigned players. (jul17)

Have a good week, folks – be safe!!

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