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's time to make room for Dylan Cozens in single-season leagues. Entering Sunday, Cozens had four goals and six points over his last three games and 13 points over his last 11 games. Moreover, he was pushing into point-per-game territory over the season (21 PTS in 24 GP). He will probably cool off given his advanced stats (14.3 SH%, 11.5 5on5 SH%, 3.1 PTS/60), but his overall ice time is up a minute per game while he’s regularly taking a turn on the first-unit power play. If you like to compare prospects, Cozens is currently fourth in scoring among 2019-drafted players. (dec2)

2. Likely the biggest story surrounding the Minnesota Wild heading into this season was the anticipated performances from Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi. With the team so cap-strung thanks to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, and losing Kevin Fiala as a result, they needed these young potential stars to step up in a big way on cheap contracts. Boldy has been very good with nine goals and 18 points in 23 games, while Rossi had one point (an assist) in 16 games. He had been healthy scratched of late, and the writing was on the wall for what was to come: Rossi was sent back to Iowa of the AHL.

This is far from a death-knell on his career or long-term fantasy value. There are stars in the league right now who made it to the NHL and then were demoted back to the AHL. Names like Leon Draisaitl, Cole Caufield, Troy Terry, Tage Thompson, and Filip Forsberg come to mind. Rossi will get lots of opportunity to sort out whatever he needs to and be back in the NHL this season.

For fantasy owners in dynasty leagues, now would be the time to make a pitch to trade for him. He just turned 21 years old a couple of months ago and has lots of time to develop into the player fantasy owners were hoping for him to be when he was drafted in the top-10 back in 2020. Unless he just flames out, Rossi’s fantasy value won’t be any lower than it is right now, making him an ideal buy-low candidate for those building dynasty rosters for 2023-24 and beyond. (nov29)

3. Everyone is saying that the 2023 draft is loaded, we all know that by now. There’s the top tier of at least three players tha would have gone first overall in the last number of drafts. There are also a few others like Will Smith, Leo Carlsson, and Edward Sale that may have gone first in the last number of classes as well. It doesn’t drop off from there. The players in the 30-range from the 2023 class are looking to be equivalent in their projection to players in the early 20s from a normal draft class. It has the elite level you crave, it has the depth to make your other picks worth keeping, and it’s just around the corner!

What this draft does seem to be lacking is those can’t-miss defensemen prospects at the top of the draft, as well as a depth on defense. We see teams reach for defensemen every year, and this year will be no different. For fantasy leagues, defensemen typically fall more than the forwards due as a result of longer wait times and less projectability on their fantasy relevance. However, there are two names I want to draw your attention to at this stage of scouting the 2023 draft.

The one you’re more likely to have heard of is Lukas Dragicevic, who plays for the Tri-City Americans in the WHL. A third of the way through the season, he has 32 points in 23 games, and is in on a 38% share of his team’s overall goals – not just goals when he’s on the ice, but all of them. That’s 13^th overall out of all draft eligible skaters (thanks to Gavin Chiasson for those numbers). For context on the scoring, Dante Mateychuk put up 64 points in 65 games, and Kevin Korchinski notched 65 in 67 for their draft-eligible seasons last year. Those are two highly sought after and high-upside defensemen, and Dragecevic is blowing them out of the water. This draft doesn’t just end after Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, and Matvei Michkov.

The other defenseman I’m starting to hear a lot about, is Axel Sandin-Pellikka – also he has an awesome name. He’s tougher to contextualize playing in the SHL and on the U20 Nationell team, but his PNHLe which is a single stat that weights a player’s scoring at their age and in their specific league to show what their future peak NHL production may be is currently at 69. He plays both sides of the puck well, but is always thinking offense. A good skater with an average frame, Sandin-Pellikka may still not be a top-20 pick come draft day, but he’s definitely one of the top offensive blueliners available in this draft class. (dec3)

4. Cal Petersen being placed on waivers wasn’t something I had predicted before the season, even if he wasn’t going to unseat Jonathan Quick as the Kings starter. Yet with an .888 SV% and negative GSAA (goals saved above average) dating back to the start of last season, it was becoming more and more apparent that Petersen hasn’t been helping fantasy teams for over a season. Entering Thursday’s play, Petersen and Quick’s combined .879 SV% was the worst of any team’s goaltenders in the NHL. Obviously a 9-8 pond hockey match doesn’t help matters, but only five teams had allowed more goals per game than the Kings prior to Thursday.

Finding a reliable goalie isn’t a worthwhile option when you already have nearly $11 million in cap space invested in goalies. Giving Petersen some time to clear his head in the AHL might be the best option for all involved, knowing that a team likely won’t take his $5 million salary given his recent body of work. Petersen should be considered droppable in single-season formats at this point. Don’t give him a look again until he can prove that he can string together some quality starts at the NHL level.

Maybe I’m giving more time to Petersen in particular because I specifically traded for him in my keeper league this offseason. The price was Tyler Bertuzzi, who has struggled with injuries this season and coincidentally was placed on injured reserve on Thursday. Sometimes trades work out for neither team (at least so far with this one). Anyway, goalies continue to be frustrating and hard to predict. (dec2)

5. There’s reason to be at least mildly concerned about Victor Hedman and his lack of production and power-play time so far. Hedman has scored just one goal all season, has been held without a point over his last five games and has only one point in the last 12. As you’ve probably heard by now, Hedman has moved to the second power-play unit to give hotter hand Mikhail Sergachev the prime power-play opportunity. Should this arrangement continue, Hedman’s run of at least 20 power-play points over each of the last six seasons (including the COVID-shortened ones) will be in serious jeopardy. That will cut into his production, although his usual even-strength production shows that he has a long, long way to fall before he should be considered droppable in fantasy leagues. Remember, he reached a career-high 85 points last season. You won’t find a defenseman with that kind of upside on your waiver wire, plain and simple. (dec2)

6. The 2022-23 season just went from bad to worse for Thatcher Demko. (And on Saturday, it was announced that he is expected to miss six weeks because of a lower body injury.) After allowing three late first-period goals within a one-minute span, Demko was forced to leave Thursday's game with a leg injury, needing assistance to get off the ice. Demko has just three wins and three quality starts in 15 games this season, but he appeared to be turning a corner recently with two of those quality starts coming over his last four games (including Thursday).

Although the Canucks’ lack of defense has made their goalies a risky start regardless of who’s in net, Spencer Martin deserves a pickup in many league formats (14% Yahoo/28% Fantrax). Entering Saturday action, Martin had the superior all-around numbers to Demko in nearly as many starts, which explains why Vancouver goaltending has gradually turned into a timeshare. Martin had just one Really Bad Start in 10 games compared to Demko’s five RBS, so he’s been half decent even if he’s not an elite-level goalie. One-time Dobber favorite Collin Delia was recalled from the AHL on Friday. Delia’s AHL numbers (3.85 GAA, .888 SV%) don’t state a strong case that he’ll be able to unseat Martin. (dec2)

7. Another day at the office for Jason Robertson. A hat trick last Thursday gives him a league-leading 22 goals, while he’s racked up 20 of those goals and 32 points in his 17-game point streak. Never mind the Rocket Richard Trophy, there’s now talk of Robertson in the Hart Trophy race. I’m going to really have to hike this guy up the Top 100 Roto Rankings when they next appear in mid-December. And yeah, not a good week to face him in head-to-head. Props to my opponent, who added Robertson as a prospect late in the season several years ago when his team was out of the race. (dec2)

8. Rookie Pyotr Kochetkov was expected to be the third-stringer for the Canes with Frederik Andersen expected to carry the bulk of the starts. Yet with Andersen injured, Kochetkov has jumped over Antti Raanta as the goalie receiving the regular starts. That’s one thing that we take into account when breaking down goalie situations in the Midseason Guide, so look for more of that when the Midseason Guide is ready in mid-January. (dec2)

9. Kris Letang missed Tuesday night’s game for Pittsburgh with what the team said was an illness. He wasn’t on the ice for practice on Wednesday and missing that kind of time with an illness made me think he had whatever is going on with Aleksander Barkov. Unfortunately, it seems a lot more serious than that, as he suffered a stroke on Monday. 

As the team said, there doesn’t seem to be lasting effects here which is clearly good news. There will be a lot more tests and planning that need to be done before a return to the ice is even thinkable. Frank Seravalli reminded everyone that Letang also had a stroke back in 2014 and that forced him to miss over wo months of the regular season. That situation does not mean the same will happen with this one, and GM Ron Hextall said this one was much less severe than the one back in 2014. It is scary to see this happen in a person that is still so young. All the best to Letang, his family, and his friends as he recovers. (dec1)

10. It’s a wonder if Pavel Buchnevich is fully healthy right now. He missed time earlier in the year and has seemed normal, but the shot rate has not been good. He is currently sitting with a four-year low in shots per game even as his ice time is consistent with the prior two seasons. His shot attempt rate is down a bit from last year and the culprit seems to be missing the net too much, but could that also be related to some lingering issue? This is just a bit of conjecture in an attempt to look for reasons why his shot rate is a bit worrisome right now.

St. Louis is not a team that typically takes a lot of shots, opting to focus on quality more than quantity. That approach has worked well for a few years, but it can also lead to spells like Buchnevich is enduring from a shot perspective. At the least, his point production is still there and that’s good news for fantasy owners. (dec1)

11. The Stars signed Roope Hintz a couple days ago to a huge eight-year extension with an AAV near $8.5M a season. Alex MacLean wrote a bit about this and his own salary projections in yesterday’s Ramblings, so go check that out.

In all honesty, Dallas has been one of my favourite Western Conference teams to watch for years now, going back to the Benneguins heyday 5-6 years ago. Part of it was being invested in them being a very up-tempo, high-paced team for a few years, part of it was enjoying watching John Klingberg in his prime, and part of it was being invested in Valeri Nichushkin as a prospect. After a couple of lean regular seasons, Hintz, Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen, and Jake Oettinger have my attention again.

Back to Hintz: He is just shy of a point-per-game player over the last three seasons (141 points in 144 games) and the only knock might be that he doesn’t shoot a lot. It seems to me that he’s just a tremendous offensive talent and he’s good defensively to boot. This seems like a real good deal for the Stars.

For cap league owners, this contract is fine. Supposing Hintz can be a 30-goal/85-point/25 PPP/200-shot/80-hit guy, that is very playable in cap formats. The only issue might come in cap leagues where faceoff wins matter. He switches off a lot with Joe Pavelski and that means maybe a few hundred FOWs a year for Hintz. He lags far behind other centers in this price range in that regard. If FOWs aren’t a stat in your league, there’s not much need for concern here. Not only do he and Jason Robertson make a phenomenal top-line duo, but the young prospects are starting to make an impact. Hintz should be fine at his price for a few years, at least. (dec1)

12. Matthew Tkachuk made his return to Calgary this past week, but Jonathan Huberdeau made a bigger impact in the game, scoring a power play goal and adding an assist. Huberdeau has points in three straight games, though over six of his 13 points so far have come with the man advantage. He needs to pick things up at even strength if he has a chance at hitting the point-per-game (or better) mark again. He's back up with Tyler Toffoli and Elias Lindholm on the top line and that’s his best shot at getting things going again. (nov30)

13. It’s been on my mind lately to take a quick look at the top scorers from a few previous seasons, and to compare those to today with the idea of feeling out how the top of the league’s scoring changes over time. I arbitrarily picked to look at the league in three year intervals, and to list out the top 12 scorers in those years. Follow the link to check it out… (nov30)

14. Alex Galchenyuk is back in the NHL. Colorado is still going through it with injuries, so this became a bit necessary. Whether there is anything to give here fantasy-wise, well, I have my doubts. With that said, I did not have J.T. Compher Gets PP1 Minutes For Colorado on my Bingo card before the season, so there’s no telling what can 

15. Matias Maccelli's offense is improving as he grows more comfortable with the NHL. An under-the-radar Arizona prospect who I had ranked pretty high in the summer, and I’m kicking myself for not drafting in my dynasty league (opting instead for Noah Ostlund). He wound up being the highest-ranked player on my list who didn’t end up getting drafted. And now he’ll be a Top 10 pick next summer. I remember one of the guys in my league not even knowing who he was, when he saw him on my list (I share my list after the draft – lots of curious people in that league!). Maccelli returned from a double-scratch Sunday and posted two assists. He’s a future 40-assist player I’m almost certain, with upside for 50. Not much for goals though, as he doesn’t shoot enough. Or…at all. Okay, I guess that’s why he was scratched. But at some point down the road he’ll flirt with 20 goals I’m sure. (nov28)

16. Juuso Valimaki really sticks out, and in a positive way. Perhaps his future doesn’t lie in being a fantasy stud after all, but instead more of a shutdown guy who can chip in points. Either way, his stepping in as a tremendous shutdown player. Valimaki is 24 years old now. (nov28)

17. Sam Steel has been enjoying life lately as the centerman between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. He seems to be getting more comfortable there and I think he hangs onto the spot a little while longer. If he can truly find his mojo and start producing before he runs out of leash, there’s some potential there. The next Ryan Hartman scrapheap salvage? (nov28)

18. The preseason ‘pronouncement’ from out of Winnipeg that new coach Rick Bowness will run his offense through the defense has certainly come true. And while Neal Pionk is marching along at a similar pace as he does every year, it’s been Josh Morrissey who has truly flourished. Morrissey, 27, is up to 25 points on the campaign in just 22 games. Two years ago, in the shortened 56-game season, Morrissey had 21 points. He’s already topped that, just a quarter of the way in. This is at the expense of his defense, but when you’re on a 93-point pace, who cares? While this torrid pace won’t continue – I’m nonetheless not betting against him hitting 70. And when a defenseman gets to 70 points, he has punched his ticket. It will mean that for the next few years, he will get all the PP time and quality offensive-zone ice time he can handle. He will get lots of leash, be allowed to ride out long, drawn-out slumps – because coaches love proven production. Just look at Erik Gustafsson! He’s been horrible for over three years now, but keeps getting contracts and good PP time just because he had 60 points once. Once! (nov28)

19. Andrei Kuzmenko is becoming the biggest UFA European signing since Artemi Panarin. Now completely comfortable with the NHL, he is absolutely lighting it up with his linemates Ilya Mikheyev and Elias Pettersson. I’m kicking myself for not trying to get him when he had just two points in seven games. Since then he has 18 points in 16 games. Ten (10) goals already, putting him on pace to flirt with a 35-40-goal season? (nov28)

20. Both Vince Dunn and Justin Schultz are on pace for a 55-point season right now. Dunn is currently seeing more PP time, but Schultz has points in six of his last seven games (four on the PP). Tough to see which way this will go, but I’m sure an injury will determine the loser. Both players tend to miss about 10 games, judging by recent seasons. (nov28)

21. Some ‘buy low’ players for you to consider acquiring (at time of writing early last week, but still applicable), in no particular order:

Tony DeAngelo
Elias Lindholm
Sam Reinhart
Alex DeBrincat

And for keeper leagues…

Alexis Lafreniere
Marco Rossi
Nicholas Robertson (nov28)

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Have a good week, folks – stay safe!!

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