For the last 19 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 20th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer/fall. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Gone – Dylan Coghlan, Evgenii Dadonov, Oscar Dansk, Mattias Janmark, Max Pacioretty

Incoming – Byron Froese, Adin Hill, Michael Hutchinson, Phil Kessel, Sheldon Rempal, Shea Weber (contract)

Impact of Changes – There's circumnavigating the salary cap the way that Tampa Bay has seemingly mastered and then, well, there's the Vegas Golden Knights. This is what happens when getting too creative can ultimately hurt what you'll be able to do. Let's start with the departures, and the first that jumps off the page will be the loss of Max Pacioretty, who was dealt along with Dylan Coghlan to the Carolina Hurricanes for future considerations. When healthy, Pacioretty can score in bunches which the Knights will surely miss, and for fantasy value on a loaded Hurricanes club the projections for Pacioretty only improved. Now knowing that he will miss at least six months recovering from Achilles surgery, his average draft position has dropped significantly as he is not expected to take the ice until around the All-Star break.

The Knights also traded away Dadonov to the Anahe- sorry, Montreal Canadiens, in exchange for Weber…'s contract. At the time of the deal with Price's unknown return to play status and Vegas in much needed cap relief, this could have moderately helped both sides, but losing Dadonov might be more of a blow to this roster than we realize. Dadonov was one of this club's best forwards down the stretch with 13 points in their last 15 games.

As far as additions go, does 34-year-old (will be 35 come Opening Night), does Phil Kessel move the needle for anyone? The Knights acquired him via free agency for 1 year, $1.5 million. If all goes right here, Kessel sees time on the Vegas first line to help give Jack Eichel some support at the top, but even in the past two seasons alone we haven't seen Kessel provide first line minutes to the Arizona Coyotes. It's likely that he will skate somewhere on the second or third lines and possibly play some power play.

The club recently traded for goaltender Adin Hill from San Jose to help with goaltending depth as it was announced that primary goaltending option Robin Lehner is expected to miss the entire season following double hip surgery. Say what you will about Hill playing on su-par Arizona and San Jose clubs, he has never started in more than 25 games in a season and may start under that number this season. The move for Hill likely means that current backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit will not be ready for the start of the season following an undisclosed surgery in May.

While it's not directly fantasy related, the coaching carousel keeps on moving. Bruce Cassidy was named the club's head coach in June, replacing Pete DeBoer.

Ready for Full Time – At this point Logan Thompson is a name that we're all familiar with in fantasy, as he's no longer seeing regular starts in Henderson, but he is someone to keep an eye out for as a possible later round draft pick. Last season Thompson was 10-5-3, with a .914 save percentage with one shutout and odds are helped swing a fantasy playoff matchup or two last season. He'll likely be the club's every day starter in net unless Brossoit is healthy enough for Vegas to platoon starting duties.

As far as prospects are concerned, Brendan Brisson may be ready for full time but only expected to potentially join the club following this upcoming college season. Brisson, a junior at the University of Michigan, played for the Henderson Silver Knights following his sophomore season and looked like he belonged notching eight points in seven regular season games. For those in dynasty leagues, if Brisson is available is worth drafting. While he may not see much time in the NHL this season, his upside is too tantalizing to ignore as he is a pure goal scorer finishing second in scoring on a stacked U-Michigan club only to Seattle's Matt Beniers.

Fantasy Outlook – Well, it's going to happen at some point in your draft, it'll be your turn to pick and Eichel's going to be there at the top of the possible player pool. His stats were okay last season coming off injury, with 25 points in 34 games but the issue is the players around him in the lineup and Eichel's ability to utilize those skaters.

It's unsure if Mark Stone will be available to start the season after going down with a back injury last season, Stone is hands down one of the best two-way wingers in the NHL but his uncertainty leaves question marks around how good Eichel and a Vegas top line can potentially be. For this season, Eichel may be a player to draft in the middle rounds of your draft. In regards to Stone, it'll be monitoring his availability come training camp to get a better idea if he will be ready for the start of the season or if he will miss time.

In regards of forwards to potentially target, really the entire Vegas second line of Jonathan Marchessault – William Karlsson – Reilly Smith could make an excellent late-round pick in fantasy drafts upcoming. Marchessault in particular led Vegas in points (66) as well as shots on goal (251) last season. For some reason Chandler Stephenson gets left off fantasy and DFS rosters as well, but there's value in potentially drafting him in the later rounds of your draft as well. If Stone is healthy and the Vegas top line and power play begins to put points on the board, Stephenson will likely be a big part of it.

On the blue line there's Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore at the top, both of which are fine as far as fantasy is concerned, but the worry here is focused on Pietrangelo for those in salary cap leagues. An $8 million dollar cap hit for around 40 points isn't exactly the value you're looking for and as far as these blue liners are concerned. Sure, Pietro and Theo will see the majority of the power play time but there is some value with Brayden McNabb and Alec Martinez as vets for players to put on a watch list following your draft. 

The uncertainty of health on this club is worrisome, and keep in mind with injuries, Vegas is as tight lipped as any organization in the NHL the past two seasons, which hurts when you need to make roster decisions. There's value here for sure, just be cautious.

Fantasy Grade – C- (Last year was a A)