Ramblings: Huberdeau Staying in Calgary, Scanning the Yahoo Rankings (Aug 6)

Ian Gooding

2022-08-06

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Flames fans can breathe a massive sigh of relief. Jonathan Huberdeau has agreed to stay in Calgary long-term, signing an eight-year extension with an average annual value of $10.5 million. That's $84 million total starting in 2023-24. Yes, that turned out to be more money than Johnny Gaudreau ($9.75 million AAV) and Matthew Tkachuk ($9.5 million AAV) are being paid by their new teams, but money didn't seem to be the reason that Gaudreau and Tkachuk decided to leave Calgary. It is expensive, but Brad Treliving probably knew it would be when he made the trade.

That trade is looking a whole lot better for the Flames, who were running the risk of having both Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar as one-year rentals for Matthew Tkachuk, who basically signed his extension at the time of the trade. Now the Flames will turn their attention to signing Weegar long-term. Suddenly their offseason isn't looking so disastrous after losing their two 100-point scorers in Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau.

In cap leagues, Huberdeau is set for a significant raise from the $5.9 million he will earn for one more season. He's the kind of player who has the ability to score no matter where he goes – it's just that his price tag has finally caught up to his production. During his career-best 115-point season last season, his most frequent linemate was center Sam Bennett, while the majority of his production with Aleksander Barkov came on the power play. While I'll be bumping his value down slightly in the Roto Rankings after his trade to Calgary, I'm not panicking at all about hanging onto Huberdeau in my keeper league. 

Yakov Trenin was awarded a two-year contract in arbitration with a $1.7 million cap hit, taking him to unrestricted free agency in 2024. Trenin scored 17 goals and added seven assists in 80 games in 2021-22, while he formed a true bangers line with Tanner Jeannot and Colton Sissons. You know all about Jeannot if you frequent this site, but Trenin is no slouch in the hits department either, finishing fourth on the Predators with 191 hits in 2021-22.

The Preds are truly Smashville, leading the league with 2,470 team hits in 2021-22. I'm stealing a bit from the Fantasy Guide here, but you have numerous streaming options on Nashville when it comes to hits. Jeannot is obviously the big one, finishing second in the NHL with 318 hits. You also have Borowiecki, who had 196 hits in spite of playing just 57 games. Sissons, the center of the aforementioned hits line, had 188 hits. Even Eeli Tolvanen had 176 hits. You might be ready to give up on Tolvanen in your keeper league, but he might have some sneaky good value in bangers leagues.

In case you haven't noticed already, Yahoo fantasy hockey has opened for business. I've been waiting patiently to try a far-too-early mock draft. As I (pre)write this, the mock drafts don't seem to be ready yet with no ETA.

For now, I'll have to settle for a quick glance at the rankings for a few players that seem out of place. I'll compare Yahoo's ranking of the following players to where they are in the Top 100 Roto Rankings. Both rankings could easily change before the start of the season, but this could give you a bit of an idea of what to look out for if you happen to be drafting early. 

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Mark Stone (Yahoo Ranking 38, Roto Ranking 87)

Because of a recurring back injury, Stone played in just 37 games. As a result, Stone underwent a lumbar discectomy after the season – an operation that will hopefully solve the issue. Yet Stone has dealt with his share of injury issues dating back to his time with Ottawa. The question is, would you feel that confident in drafting Stone early in the fourth round in a 12-team draft? I picked him in exactly that spot in one league last season, which didn't turn out so well for me. I may increase his roto ranking, but you won't catch me drafting him that early again.  

Claude Giroux (Yahoo Ranking 52, Roto Ranking 99)

I'll preface this by saying that I like what the Senators have done this season. As well, Giroux should have a higher fantasy ranking than he did in Philly last season. That being said, the Sens aren't the Panthers when it comes to offense, so I wouldn't expect Giroux to score at over a point per game as he did in Florida (23 points in 18 games). He's been more of a 55-65-point-pace guy over the last three seasons in Philly. He's also now 34 years of age, so I wouldn't be drafting him in a spot where I'd expect close to a point per game.

Brayden Point (Yahoo Ranking 105, Roto Ranking 58)

Even though he has scored at a point-per-game pace in the past, Point is not ranked among the elite skaters because he doesn't offer much in the way of peripherals beyond scoring. We've seen Point at his finest during the playoffs, where he had scored at a point-per-game pace during both of the Lightning's recent Stanley Cup wins. Staying healthy will be a concern again, particularly after he suffered a significantly torn quad. There's high enough upside that I would be fine drafting him well before pick 100.

Darnell Nurse (Yahoo Ranking 119, Roto Ranking 49)

If you're in a pure points league, Nurse is probably deserving of this Yahoo ranking, as he was only on a 40-point pace in 2021-22. However, Nurse fills so many peripherals that he should be pushed up much higher. Only five players had a higher SOG+HIT+BKS total than Nurse in 2021-22, while only two players had a higher ranking in 2020-21. Nurse scored at an over-50-point pace that season, so he has it in him for more scoring. By the way, Jacob Trouba in a similar boat as Nurse. Trouba is similarly ranked in Yahoo while also providing solid cross-category coverage.

Are there any other players you think are too high or too low in the Yahoo rankings or the Top 100 Roto Rankings? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

6 Comments

  1. Marc Nimigon 2022-08-06 at 10:43

    A few more that Yahoo rankings that caught my eye:
    Too high: Kreider(24), Pacioretty(40), Knight(69), rookies in general, e.g. Power(119), Slafkovsky(164), Sanderson(174).
    Too low: Barzal(134), Suzuki(141), Bjorkstrand(236), Voracek(286).

  2. forkthewendy 2022-08-06 at 18:17

    Roslovic @ 400 seems very low.

  3. Peter Parker 2022-08-08 at 15:15

    Sorry for asking… but where are you guys seeing Yahoo rankings?? Never too early to start planning!

    • Ian Gooding 2022-08-08 at 16:44

      You may not see them if your Yahoo league hasn’t been activated for the coming season.

  4. Peter Parker 2022-08-09 at 06:47

    Yup, exactly the reason… thank you!

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