John Klingberg finally found a home, although it may only be short-term. In case you missed it, Klingberg has signed a one-year contract with Anaheim for $7 million. I already broke it down in the Fantasy Take, so you can read all about it there. Now we just wait for what happens with Nazem Kadri. 

–

The Flyers have signed Owen Tippett to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.5 million. Tippett was acquired in the Claude Giroux trade, scoring seven points in 21 games as a Flyer. He skated on the Flyers' second power-play unit while averaging about 15 minutes per game, which was nearly three minutes more per game than he was averaging with the Panthers. Tippett likely slots in at around the third line for the Flyers, although injured players returning could cut into that icetime increase a bit. Regardless, it looks like his fantasy value has improved from before the trade.

Fantasy Take: Giroux/Tippett Trade

–

As the Managing Editor of Dobber Hockey, I'll take this opportunity to make a couple of announcements regarding August content. Although August is usually as slow as it gets for NHL news, you'll have at least two more reasons to visit Dobber Hockey once the Fantasy Guide is released on August 5 (and yes, be sure to reserve your copy, if you haven't already).

Starting August 7, Dobber's Offseason Fantasy Grades will return. Check daily for a new article, where one of our writers will break down a team in terms of its offseason moves and grade its fantasy outlook. These articles will run for approximately one month.

From August 14 to 20, Bubble Keeper Week will take place. That week, our writers will focus on discussing their own keeper decisions and evaluating players that are "on the bubble." The idea is to evaluate players that you might be unsure about keeping, as well as guiding you through the thought process involved in making a keeper decision.

–

In writing the Hits paragraphs for each team in the Fantasy Guide, I've noticed that Frozen Tools now compiles combined HIT+BKS and SOG+HIT+BKS columns, along with recording each of these stats separately. A few leagues might combine these stats into one, but you still might find these combined columns useful if your multicategory league records these stats separately. You can target players that will cover multiple peripheral categories for your team.

Here are the SOG+HIT+BKS leaders from 2021-22:

Several observations:

I mentioned in a previous Ramblings that Jacob Trouba was the leader in this category. This is why Trouba was so valuable in multicategory leagues last season. His scoring was at his highest in his three seasons with the Rangers. One point I didn't mention earlier: His 11 goals in 2021-22 was a career high, so that total could decrease slightly. But that's probably not why you're adding him.

The top eight players on this list are in the Top 100 Roto Rankings, although the rankings don't include blocked shots. I may change that soon, with blocked shots being included in so many leagues.

Most of the shots on goal leaders are forwards, with Roman Josi the only defenseman within the top 30 in that category. If you take away shots and just add hits and blocked shots, most of the league leaders are defensemen (even more so than the above SOG+HIT+BKS list). One strategy to fill your non-scoring peripherals is to fill your last couple defense slots with specialists in these categories. That way, you could mainly target scoring in the earlier rounds.

Something I've learned in single-season league drafts: If you pick Brady Tkachuk early, great. Just don't pick a player with a somewhat similar profile later, such as Tom Wilson. You may be sacrificing scoring in picking one of these players at their ADP, when it is easier to find players that specialize in the hits category later. This is an example of where autopicking can work to your disadvantage, although maybe you can work out a trade later if you have a surplus of something.

If you're opportunistic enough, you may be able to grab the next Tanner Jeannot from the waiver wire before anyone else is on to him. At least a few players that provide strong peripherals with decent scoring will surface every season.

If you're looking for a potential roto league sleeper, Alexander Romanov might be your guy. From many accounts, Romanov had a tough 2021-22 season with Montreal. However, he's a high-event player who could become extremely valuable in multicategory leagues if he can improve his scoring with the Islanders. Romanov finished within the top 20 in both hits and blocked shots, which makes him at minimum a late-round pick that could effectively fill those categories for your team. The Islanders could use him in a top-4 even-strength role and on the second-unit power play, which would help build his scoring. He scored just 13 points in 79 games last season, but at 22 years of age he has played just two NHL seasons.

Martin Fehervary could be an effective set-and-forget option for hits and blocked shots, and he may even score a little more than expected. While Romanov finished fourth with 371 HIT+BKS, Fehervary finished sixth with 368 HIT+BKS. In addition, Fehervary led all rookie defensemen with eight goals and 251 hits. If you're worried that Fehervary is down the depth chart because his name doesn't jump out at you, John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov were the only Capitals defensemen to average more icetime than Fehervary (19:39 ATOI). I don't think Fehervary has the scoring upside that Romanov has, but Fehervary also has the potential to be a deep sleeper in roto leagues.

–

Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.