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, Brennan Des, and Dobber

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The 2025-26 Fantasy Guide is available for download! Projections by team and by point totals, sleepers, drafted players, rookies, goalies, advanced stats, and much more!

The French-language version of the Guide can be purchased here.

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1. As we have been doing all week, today’s Ramblings is keeper-league focused, looking at decisions fantasy managers have to make between which players are kept and which are thrown back into the player pool. We have a lot more questions today than normal so let’s not waste any time. My last couple Ramblings covering other keeper questions, covering Dylan Holloway, Brandt Clarke, Quinton Byfield, Daniil Tarasov, and a whole bunch more, are here and here. (- Michael Clifford)

So, here are three from today's Ramblings – you can check out the others via the link:

@LTDan30728175 asked: Karel Vejmelka vs. Darcy Kuemper. SV%, GAA, W, SO.

On the surface, this is an easy one and it’s to keep Kuemper. I do think Los Angeles takes a step back this year thanks to replacing Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence with Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin, but this was still arguably the best defensive team in the league. If those changes make them 10% worse – which would be a massive decline – they’d still be a mid-pack defensive team. A starter on a defensively average team describes Vejmelka, so as for the team environment, Los Angeles’ worst-case scenario is basically being the Utah Mammoth.

The case for Vejmelka is that he’s 29 years old and signed for five more seasons, whereas Kuemper is 35 years old with two seasons left. So, if I had a keeper team that was rebuilding, I would probably keep Vejmelka, but if I were hoping to contend for a fantasy title in the next year or two, it’s Kuemper. (aug15)

2. ArminSafari1 asked: Would you keep Stuart Skinner for a 10th round pick that will be around 150th-160th overall?

This is one of those “yeah it’s fine” deals. I am not big on Skinner in any way, and it might depend on how managers in your league value goalies, but he’s probably a top-25 goalie off the board in most fantasy drafts. In two single-season drafts I’ve seen, he’s gone around the 125^th pick, so keeping him in the 150-160 range seems fine. (aug15)

3. @MoneyFronDaRose asked: Troy Terry vs. Aliaksei Protas vs. Dylan Cozens – Rotisserie league with Pts – Goals – Shots – PPP – SHP4 –  Hits + Blocks.

Let’s start with the projections from the 2025-26 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide:

• Terry: 21 goals, 33 assists, 178 shots, 28 blocks, 12 hits
• Cozens: 20 goals, 31 assists, 186 shots, 36 blocks, 195 hits
• Protas: 24 goals, 37 assists, 131 shots, 35 blocks, 34 hits

On the surface, it seems we can throw Terry back. The Anaheim power play is really crushing his value, so if that gets better, he can easily be a 25-goal, 65-point forward, but there aren’t a lot of peripherals to go with it, and he doesn’t kill penalties.

The thing with Protas is that I think he is a very, very good player but he’s also coming off a season where Washington shot 14.3% with him on the ice at even strength, the highest mark for any forward with at least 1000 minutes played in a season since 2007. Recent seasons with sky-high team shooting percentages that fell off the year after include Robert Thomas and Michael Bunting from 2021-22 to 2022-23, Andrei Kuzmenko from 2022-23 to 2023-24, and Elias Pettersson from 2023-24 to 2024-25. Those four players dropped by an average of roughly 2.7%, so if Protas drops just to 12%, he probably loses 6-7 points. He also skated under 17 minutes per game and the only Washington forward to reach 18 minutes was Tom Wilson. There isn’t a lot of TOI upside and he’s not someone who will get much of a power-play role.

There are ice time concerns for Cozens as well because Ottawa has Tim Stutzle as the top centre and they like their checking line of Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig. At the same time, Cozens is locked into a top PP role that Protas does not have, and Cozens could very well post double the combined shots, hits, and blocks that Protas will.

With the top power-play role and massive edge in peripherals, my answer is Cozens. (aug15)

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4. Here are a couple of from Thursday’s Ramblings:

@foleyd7 asked: 13 team, keep 7… 4 pts for G, 2 for A, bonus for PP&SH & 0.25 pts for blocks/hits/+/-

My last keeper between Konecny (262 pts last year) Batherson (272) & Byfield (201). Leaning Batherson, but does new coach give Konecny more upside? Can Byfield get to next level & surpass them?

This is an interesting one. Let’s break it down player by player.

Over the last three seasons, Travis Konecny has averaged 33 goals and 44 assists per 82 games, and done so averaging about 15.5 PP points every 82 games. In those three seasons, 39 forwards have averaged between 0.85 and 1.05 points per game, and of those 39 forwards, Konecny ranks 37^th by power-play points per game (0.19). The average of those 39 forwards is 0.3 PP points per game, or about 25 PP points every 82 games. All that means is if Konecny can produce PP points equivalent to similar overall per-game producers, he’s easily a point-per-game forward. His projection in the 2025-26 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide is 31 goals and 47 assists in 79 games.  

Quinton Byfield has seen his even-strength points per 60 minutes rise each season of career from 1.18 as a rookie to 2.09 last season. Over the last two years, his even-strength points rate is that of a bottom-end top-line forward, somewhere in the Nazem Kadri/Pierre-Luc Dubois range. Like Konecny, he has had very little PP production with 21 PP points in 161 games over the last two years. Also, with Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, and Kevin Fiala, Byfield is no higher than the fourth PP forward, and may be fifth because of Andrei Kuzmenko. If the Kings decide to go back to a 4F/1D power play, Byfield may be on the outside looking in. His projection in the Fantasy Guide is 23 goals and 41 assists in 81 games.

Lastly, Drake Batherson has averaged 27 goals, 40 assists, 194 shots, 124 hits, 32 blocks, and 27 PPPs per 82 games across the last two years. Each of those marks is better than anything Byfield has done over those two seasons. Batherson is 27 years old, so there is no significant age-related decline to contend with, and he’s a near-lock for top PP minutes.

5. In real hockey terms, I think Byfield will be the best of the three in a year or two (and he might be already), but this is fantasy hockey – Byfield doesn’t shoot much, doesn’t put up big hit/block totals, and has an uncertain PP role. He might be the team’s top centre now, but he doesn’t have the fantasy profile of a high-end multi-category producer.

I lean Konecny between the three. What separates him from Batherson for me is that Batherson needs a lot of PP production just to be a 65-point player where Konecny has averaged 77 points/82 games over the last three years with 44% less PP production than Batherson. If anything happens where Batherson loses his top PP role, then his upside is cooked, whereas Konecny doesn’t need high-end PP production for a very valuable fantasy season. And if Konecny ever does get Batherson-like PP production? He can be a top-25 fantasy skater. (aug14)

6. And from Twitter, here's one from @BernyBoyD: J. Eriksson Ek, RNH, Tippett, maybe Newhook?

Bernard added it’s a points-only cap league with weekly lineups. Each roster has 10 forwards, four defencemen, one goalie, and five bench spots.

Off the hop, Alex Newhook is tossed aside. I think he has a better season than the 26 points from last year, but with Kirby Dach (hopefully) coming back healthy, with Ivan Demidov in the fold, and with how much the team likes Jake Evans, Newhook is, at best, a third-line/PP2 guy. That just isn’t enough compared to the rest.

Owen Tippett is also left aside. With Konecny, Matvei Michkov, and Tyson Foerster (if/when he’s healthy), Tippett is no higher than the fourth winger and isn’t anywhere close to a lock for top PP time. If this were a multi-cat format where his hit and shot contributions mattered, he’d get a lot more consideration, but that ain’t this, and this ain’t that.

On a per-game basis, the Dobber Fantasy Guide has Joel Eriksson Ek (0.71) slightly out-pacing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (0.7), but Eriksson Ek has 10 fewer games projected with 70 to RNH’s 80.

My answer is I would go with Eriksson Ek. I am not sold on Marco Rossi being their top-line centre to play with Kirill Kaprizov and Nugent-Hopkins saw a big downturn last year in his overall effectiveness.Was it a one-year blip, or the start of a trend for a 32-year-old who has 1055 career NHL games between the regular season and playoffs? Only those with a crystal ball know, but that threat of age-related decline is real, so I’ll go with Eriksson Ek, who will be on the right side of 30 years old for the next 17 months.

I will say that it is close enough where if someone believes that RNH will have a rebound year and get back to 65 points, I have no quibble with keeping him over Eriksson Ek. But when it comes to players with similar keeper value, I will usually go with the younger option, and that means tossing RNH back into the player pool. (aug14)

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7. For Bubble Keeper Week, I always look at a couple of my keeper dilemmas to talk through my logic and reasoning on why I pick one player vs another. Maybe it's the actual player analysis that helps in your case, maybe it's the method, or maybe nothing helps and it's only entertaining. (- Alexander MacLean)

In my 12-team partial keeper setup that scores by categories in a H2H matchup and has a decent weight on peripherals, we have limits of six forward keepers, four defencemen, and one goalie – plus a "prospect" keeper slot that has a bunch of intricacies that aren't worth explaining. My team lost in the semis this past year (winning the third-place matchup) after finishing second in the regular season. That means I'm squarely in a contention window and looking to keep that open.

I have options in goal with Jacob Markstrom, Lukas Dostal, and John Gibson. With only 12 goalies kept, it’s also very hard to sell one, and the top ones that aren’t kept often go early in the re-draft. Now, Markstrom may be 35, but he was the best option last year, should be on the best team for this year, and again because only 12 goalies are kept, there are always replacement options. However, after holding onto Markstrom for a few years, I’m wondering whether a switch at this point might make sense, to milk some more future value out of a different option that is younger and might only be a slight step back.

The 25-year-old Dostal is a full decade younger than Markstrom, played 54 games last season, and should see improvements with both the team in front of him growing, as well as working on his conditioning so his numbers don’t continue to drop off in Q4. In the end, it’s going to be a tough call but I’m leaning Markstrom.

John Gibson is an option as well, but he feels like the middle ground between betting on current or future upside, and that’s how you get stuck in the mushy middle.

To add some background to my goalie debate here, Jesper Wallstedt is going to be my keeper prospect, so I do also have the future goalie base possibly covered anyways, which helps in leaning towards just taking the best player for 2025-26. (aug13)

8. On defence, I have Roman Josi, Darnell Nurse, Seth Jones, Erik Karlsson, Ryan Pulock, Sam Rinzel and Denton Mateychuk, who are all worthy of consideration here. The first three are holdovers for me from last year and feel like easy locks again this year, even though Josi’s health is a bit of a question mark. Nurse isn’t the sexiest name anymore, but his peripherals are excellent, and finding a defenceman that’s solid across all of our categories isn’t that easy to do.

The debate then between the veterans versus the youth for the last spot is an interesting one. I profiled Karlsson versus Pulock here last year, and Rinzel versus Mateychuk isn’t a clear win for either. Down to personal preference I would likely decide between either Pulock or Rinzel, because I’m not as high on Karlsson this year, and Mateychuk has a lot more blocking his way towards immediate fantasy relevance (though I like his upside more long-term).

Looking at Rinzel versus Pulock the offensive upside in Rinzel really tops what we’re likely going to get out of Pulock now, even with Noah Dobson gone. The Islanders have Tony DeAngelo, and maybe Matthew Schaefer, before Pulock gets a sniff of powerplay time, while Rinzel might be the one running the top unit in Chicago. In the peripheral categories, Pulock does have Rinzel handily beat, but Rinzel’s shot volume with 2.4 per game last season does help keep it close. Pulock is also more likely to be someone who could be redrafted, and would be less likely to be expensive to acquire mid-season which makes me lean, towards taking the chance here with Rinzel. (aug13)

9. Up on forward, I have a big issue of too many options and too few spots. Jack Eichel, Brayden Point, Sidney Crosby, Filip Forsberg, Aleksander Barkov, Matt Duchene, Timo Meier, and Adam Fantilli need to be pruned down to six players. Positions do play a bit of a factor, with there always being lots of centre options, and it being tougher to find very productive wingers in-season. The first five names are likely locks, which brings it down to Duchene, Meier, and Fantilli.

Whether Duchene has winger eligibility really determines whether he could find a home as the sixth option here. If he does, then his faceoffs from the wing are a big plus in this setup. He tops Meier and Fantilli on scoring, but he is on the older side, and after a close-to-career-year, he might be ripe for a slight disappointment. Meanwhile, Meier has the peripheral upside if he could get back to his peak shooting days from San Jose. It seems unlikely after his numbers have fallen for three straight seasons (especially after joining the Devils).

Fantilli is a bit of a wildcard here, and based on trade value alone in this league (which places more value on youth than there maybe should be), he would be the pick. Often, knowing which player would be valued most in a trade points you in the direction of the better keeper, as picking keepers is really an exercise in finding the most value.

Fantilli likely does have one more season before a big point-per-game breakout, so this season would be a building block before that. Last year he posted a 54-point pace, so we might be looking at the low-60s as a natural growth step before the big jump in the breakout year. Does 60-points, PP2 exposure, and some high Hit totals from the center position make Fantilli a better choice than Duchene or Meier? Maybe not, but I think here he is a safe choice, and the trade value cannot be ignored either. On that note, in the meantime, all three will be shopped to see if there’s a fit to recoup a draft pick or two. (aug13)

10. One of my other leagues is a keep-six, with eight teams, and I have a lot of players to choose from. The stats counted are G, A, +/-, PPPs, Shots, Hits, and Blocks, with W, GAA, Sv%, and SHO for goalies, and it’s a H2H league just like the one above.

Here, Jack Hughes, Zach Werenski, Brady Tkachuk, and Evan Bouchard are the likely locks. For the last two spots, I could realistically select any of Jason Robertson, Josh Morrissey, Tim Stutzle, Matvei Michkov, Jake Sanderson, Timo Meier, Juraj Slafkovsky, or Igor Shesterkin.

I don’t often like keeping goalies in this league, but I have kept Shesterkin the previous couple of seasons. However, with the Rangers dropping out of the top-tier of teams, and Shesterkin a few seasons removed from his all-star numbers, it’s no slam dunk. Keeping three defencemen is also an option, though I think four would be too many, which means there’s a decision to be made between Morrissey and Sanderson to help narrow things down. On the surface, I was expecting Morrissey to be the front-runner, but the underlying numbers all seem to favour Sanderson. The Sens youngster is still growing, as is his team, which is a different situation from where Morrissey finds himself. The two put up very similar point paces last year, close to 60 points for each. Sanderson has the lean in shots and blocks though, and still some developmental runway to take advantage of. For now, we’re crossing Morrissey off the list. (aug13)

11. When it comes to the forwards, in a league where only 48 players are kept, we need top-50 players, and we don’t have to worry too much about finding the next young star, because there are always new options available every summer. With that in mind, I’m going to toss back Michkov and Slafkovsky, who are unlikely to reach the heights that Robertson or Stutzle will. Meier is also going to get nixed, because as we discussed above, his offensive ceiling has collapsed, and we don’t need to be drafting for peripherals early in a league this shallow.

That leaves us with Stutzle, Robertson, Sanderson, and Shesterkin for two spots. I’m leaning against a goaltender, even if it is Shesterkin, because with two goalie spots for eight teams, there will always be options I’m comfortable rostering and streaming, but the top guys are more variable when you can’t afford a keeper mistake.

I’m leaning towards keeping Stutzle and Sanderson, with Robertson as the last cut. Robertson’s name value carries some extra weight after his 109-point season, but the production hasn’t been able to keep up the last few years. Stutzle provides similar (or better) scoring, and better peripherals, despite a slightly higher upside on Robertson.

Again, I’ll be shopping for upgrades, but it’s tough to find teams in need of more bubble keeper options. (aug13)

12. Here's one of the three that were posted in Mike's Tuesday's Ramblings:

Jake Blumes asked: Would you keep Wyatt Johnston or Dylan Holloway? I'm in a points-only league with 12 teams and get to keep six players.

Let’s provide three answers here.

First, the most recent skater keeper rankings here at Dobber Hockey have Wyatt Johnston 47^th overall and Dylan Holloway 59^th overall. Holloway has seen a huge, huge rise over the last 10 months as he was 282^nd at the start of the 2024-25 season and is now inside the top-60. Johnston, meanwhile, has been consistently inside the top-75 for over a year now. While the current keeper rankings are close, Johnston still has the edge, and has had the edge for a while. (aug12)

The second answer is going to use the 2025-26 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide. In the guide, Dobber has Johnston projected for 72 points and Holloway for 73, which would give a slight edge to Holloway. Johnston is projected for 32 goals compared to Holloway’s 28, so that might tip the scales back the other way, but for just raw point output, Holloway has a slim edge in projections. (aug12)

13. The third answer is my own, and I will say Wyatt Johnston is the player to keep. Over the last two seasons, his 2.37 even strength points per 60 minutes leads all forwards under the age of 23 and with at least 1500 minutes played. While Holloway had a great 2024-25 season, Johnston has had two years that were just as impressive, and that should make us feel better about his true talent level.

To go with that production is the ice time levels. Johnston has been Dallas’s most-used centre as a share of even strength time over the last two seasons. While that share of even strength time was similar to Holloway’s in 2024-25, the power play time differed. Johnston was a regular on Dallas’ top PP unit while Holloway floated between the first and second units.

The last reason to go with Johnston over Holloway is the team around them. Over the last three years, Dallas has been the third-highest scoring team in the league. Over the last two years, they are again third by goals-for rate. And, in a shocking twist, Dallas was third by goal scoring in 2024-25 alone. Meanwhile, St. Louis hasn’t been a top-10 team since 2021-22. I have no problem believing St. Louis will improve with young skaters like Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Philip Broberg improving, but Dallas already is what St. Louis hopes to be. On top of that, Dallas’ core of Johnston, Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen, and Thomas Harley are all under 30 years old. Even with some aging players like Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, there is plenty of young talent to carry them for a few more years at least.

It sucks to throw Holloway back in the pool because he does have a bright future, but Johnston already has two seasons of better production than Holloway’s breakout year despite being two years younger than Holloway, will get more ice time, and has the better offensive environment around him. (aug12)

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14. I’ll keep the Bubble Keeper Week ball rolling with thoughts on Jackson Blake, Jonathan Drouin, Mats Zuccarello, and Josh Norris in today’s Ramblings. (- Brennan Des)

Jackson Blake – Carolina Hurricanes

Blake, who just turned 22 last week, turned heads late last season as he racked up 12 points in his final 14 appearances. He benefited from an increased role, skating nearly 17 minutes per game during that stretch – a big step up from the 13-minute average he held prior. On one hand, this is a promising young player who should take another step forward this year, but on the other hand, the quality of his opportunity may be reduced with Nikolaj Ehlers knocking him down the depth chart. 

A third of Blake’s points during that aforementioned hot streak came on the man advantage, as the young forward was seeing 68% of Carolina’s total power play time. Ehlers likely pushes Blake down to PP2, which means that Blake’s promising PP production down the stretch can’t exactly be extrapolated to a full season this year. Still, Carolina’s second unit features a fair amount of talent and should help Blake put up a few points. At even-strength, Blake spent most of his minutes beside Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho last year. Although there’s a chance those three reunite this season, it’s more likely things get shaken up with Ehlers in the mix. Here’s where things get complicated, because there are so many different possible line combinations, and the configuration that sticks will have a huge impact on Blake’s fantasy outlook.

There’s a world where Carolina stacks the top line with Ehlers, Sebastian Aho, and one of Andrei Svechnikov or Seth Jarvis. However, I’m expecting a more balanced distribution that allows each player to focus on what they’re good at. Jarvis and Blake are both strong defensively, with Jarvis of course being more established. I think it might make sense to have Ehlers and Aho as the offensive duo on line one, complemented by a defensively conscious Blake. Jarvis could then be the defensive conscience of line two, centering Svechnikov and Taylor Hall/Logan Stankoven. Of course, that would require Jarvis to make strides in the faceoff department as his percentages haven’t been great so far in his young career. Sharing the ice with Aho and Ehlers would really help Blake improve his offensive output in year two, but that’s one just scenario of so many.

At this stage of his career, Blake isn’t an established play driver and would need exposure to high-end talent to produce strong offensive numbers, so ending up with underwhelming linemates may result in underwhelming production, especially without a top-unit PP role this year. If you’re following the money, it’s worth noting that the Hurricanes are slightly more invested in Stankoven ($6 million AAV) than Blake ($5.12 million). I still think Blake can improve on his 34-point rookie campaign, but with so much competition for favourable deployment, it may be more of a small step forward than a massive leap ahead. (aug11)

15. Jonathan Drouin – New York Islanders

In the last two years, Drouin has scored at a 71-point and 58-point pace – strong offensive output that would be valuable in most fantasy formats. However, that output came in Colorado, where Drouin saw plenty of exposure to superstar Nathan MacKinnon, both at even-strength and on the Avs’ star-studded top power play unit. While the Avalanche ranked eighth in the league with a 24.8% PP success rate, the Islanders’ 12.6% success rate put them in 31^st place.

Moving to New York will give Drouin some exposure to high-end talents like Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, but it’s still a sizeable downgrade from the elite offense he had access to in Colorado. Although I’m not overly high on Drouin this year, I think there’s potential for him to provide some fantasy value. Right now, the prevailing belief seems to be that Drouin’s impressive production in Colorado was a product of the superstars he played with. It’s a red flag that will prevent many fantasy managers from targeting him. That isn’t the only red flag with Drouin, who has missed significant time with injury in recent years and will be hard-pressed to replicate last year’s lofty shooting percentage of 19.6%. Again, with all these concerns, fantasy managers are likely to steer clear of Drouin. That means he should fall in fantasy drafts, and you should be able to snag him at a discounted rate, leaving more room for him to outperform expectations. He’s a decent offensive player in his own right, and although a 70-point pace may be out of reach now that he’s left Colorado, he could flirt with a 60-point pace if things click with Horvat and/or Barzal. (aug11)

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16. Officially, last Sunday was the start of Bubble Keeper Week: (as mentioned above) our writers will focus on players “on the bubble” when it comes to keeper league decisions. No elite players will be covered here – just very good ones at best. The idea is to share our own knowledge and decision-making process to help you with your keeper league decisions. (- Ian Gooding)

I will focus on players from one of my keeper teams that I have to decide whether to keep. I have three players that fall into this category, while my remaining players from last season must either be retained or let go to auction bidding.

Tony DeAngelo

Following a 2023-24 season where he scored just 11 points in 31 games, DeAngelo signed in the KHL after he could not secure an NHL free agent contract. After scoring 32 points in 34 games with SKA St. Petersburg, DeAngelo landed a rest-of-season contract with the Islanders after their blueline was hit with numerous injuries. He made good on that opportunity, scoring 19 points in 35 games (a 45-point pace) while spending time on the Isles’ top power play. Even more impressive was the fact that TDA logged over 23 minutes per game, the highest single-season average of his career. 

Two red flags have been prominent in DeAngelo’s career: 1) His subpar defensive skills, and 2) A reported negative attitude toward others in the organizations where he has played. In his half-season with the Islanders, DeAngelo was able to improve his overall game to the point where Natural Stat Trick described him as an “average top four two-way defenseman” compared to the previous season in Carolina where he was a “struggling sheltered defenseman.” We’d also have to assume TDA was a good citizen with the Isles, as they re-signed him to a one-year extension on July 1 worth $1.75 million.  

With Noah Dobson shipped to Montreal, the opportunity for a defenseman on the top power play is DeAngelo’s for the taking. Among currently rostered Islanders defensemen, Adam Boqvist led with six power-play points in 2024-25, although only three of those were with the Islanders. On top of that, Boqvist has been in and out of the lineup and dealt with his share of injuries. First overall pick Matthew Schaefer might be the only real competition for the top power-play job, and he’s not even guaranteed to make the team. Even if he did, it’s also rare to see a player as young as Schaefer (18 in early September) run an NHL team’s top power play.

In this league, I’m keeping DeAngelo. In fact, I’m sold enough on him that I’ve added him on a second team. I guess I believe in second chances! TDA’s league point total last season wasn’t high because he spent half the season in the KHL, and that point total should be much higher over a full season. The risks that have plagued him throughout his career don’t appear to be as apparent now. To manage those risks anyway, I will keep him for one season in this league, even though I have the option to retain him for two seasons if I wish. Keeping him for one season aligns with his current NHL contract of one season in case his situation changes for the worse again. (aug10)

17. Matias Maccelli

Leafs fans may have been eager to wave goodbye to Mitch Marner after years of playoff runs that failed to launch. One question: How do the Leafs plan to make up for Marner’s 27 goals and 75 assists? Well, I suppose a good place to start is with a Utah castoff who managed just 18 points in 55 games last season. 

All kidding aside, Maccelli may have preferred that the Coyotes stayed in Arizona. Following seasons where he put up 49 points (in just 64 games) and 57 points with the Coyotes, Maccelli struggled mightily in the Utah Hockey Club’s first season, even being a healthy scratch at times. The Leafs didn’t seem to mind, adding Maccelli for a third-round pick this offseason. That would be a small price to pay for a winger who could potentially thrive beside Auston Matthews. At least that’s the hope. 

A look at the Leafs’ depth chart doesn’t show a ton of real competition for a top-6 spot for Maccelli on the wing. Max Domi? Bobby McMann? Nick Robertson? Scott Laughton? One of the main reasons Maccelli failed last season is that he was used at a bottom-6 forward. Another was a super low 6.2 5-on-5 SH%, which seems guaranteed to improve in the 2025-26 season. On top of that, Maccelli has played 224 career NHL games, which is just the right time for a breakout. 

The sleeper potential for Maccelli is enticing enough for me to keep him. Like DeAngelo, it will be for just one season. A major rebound season in Toronto could catapult him into a longer-term extension with the Leafs (or elsewhere). Another poor season could mean Maccelli is out of the NHL and signing somewhere in Europe. (aug10)

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18. To continue with Bubble Keeper Week, yesterday, I wrote about four players that I had to drop from my salary cap league during the offseason. For some context, I had to trim my roster twice during the offseason. The first time by the end of April so that no players were left on IR, and a second time in early July to allow roster spots for players selected in the draft.

Scoring categories are as follows: G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, PPP, SHP, Hit, Blk, FOW, FO%, W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO. This is a 20-team league, with a salary cap of $114.6 million. 

Jaden Schwartz (Cap Hit: $5.5 million)

A certified Band-Aid Boy for quite some time now, Schwartz reached 80 games played in 2024-25 for the first time since (looks down) the 2013-14 season. As well, his 26 goals last season was his best total since (looks down again) 2014-15. Schwartz was able to increase his shot per game average over half a shot per game to 2.4 SOG/GP, and he logged his best average icetime total (17:53) in three seasons. The 33-year-old Schwartz is also on a contract year, and I’d have to guess his cap hit decreases in 2026-27 as he attempts to secure another NHL contract.

I could see the benefits of keeping him, as he has consistently been close to the 0.5-0.6 PTS/GP range over the past five seasons. He should also be able to maintain a top-9 role with the Kraken, a team that divides its icetime and power-play time in a way that gives everyone a turn. However, I don’t believe that pace provides the best bang for my buck, so to speak, especially with peripherals such as hits not all that high. Then there’s the injuries, which have been frequent. This adds up to what I’d expect to be a slight downturn from his 49 points from last season. (aug16)

19. Josh Anderson (Cap Hit: $5.5 million)

Anderson is also well-known as a Band-Aid Boy, although he may be falling off the list after playing 78 and 81 games over the last two seasons. Part of the reason for Anderson’s run of injuries throughout his career is his physical style of play, which has generated at least 100 hits in each of the past five seasons. Anderson was at one time considered a desirable power forward in bangers leagues, as evidenced by his 27 goals and 214 hits (both career highs) back in 2018-19. Along with the hits, Anderson still provides penalty minutes, with his 90 PIM in 2024-25 trailing only Arber Xhekaj on the Habs.

That being said, Anderson’s scoring pace has taken a nosedive since his career highs. In his two healthy seasons of 2023-24 and 2024-25, Anderson averaged a scoring pace of about 24 points or 0.3 PTS/GP. With the younger talent taking over the top 6 in Montreal, Anderson has now fallen into a bottom-6 role, which won’t lend itself well to improving his scoring totals. He seems like a possible stream if you need immediate help with bangers categories, but there’s no way I can justify the cap hit for his current level of scoring. (aug16)

20. Anthony Mantha (Cap Hit: $2.5 million)

IR slots seem like a necessity in salary cap leagues, otherwise Mantha would be completely non-rosterable. Another certified Band-Aid Boy, Mantha has reached 70 games in a season just once since 2017-18. As a result, he has seen his annual salary decrease from $5.7 million to $3.5 million last season to just $2.5 million on a one-year contract with Pittsburgh for 2025-26. That seems like a worthwhile gamble for the Penguins, who don’t have a ton of other forwards blocking the way. 

Remaining injury-free is the one main concern with Mantha, so the news that he is expected to be 100 percent for the start of training camp is good news. It’s too bad that injuries have derailed his career, as he has never reached 50 points in a season even though he was a highly-touted first-round pick with the size (6-5, 234 lbs.) that teams salivate over at the draft. If Mantha can in fact stay healthy and secure top-6 minutes, he may get flipped at the deadline if Pittsburgh finishes where we think they will. (aug16)

21. Ryan McDonagh (Cap Hit: $6.75 million)

McDonagh has consistently logged over 20 minutes per game dating all the way back to the 2011-12 season, so the opportunity to accumulate counting stats has always been there. McDonagh has reached 30 points in back-to-back seasons after last reaching that mark in 2018-19, so at least you could make the argument that he is worth rostering in leagues that carry 5+ defensemen (this league starts 6 D). He is also a consistent shot blocker, having reached at least 100 blocks every season dating back to 2013-14 (except for the shortened 2020-21 season). For what it’s worth, he also led the league with a plus-43 in 2024-25.

McDonagh was a midseason injury replacement to my defense, but he became expendable when I added Tony DeAngelo during the offseason. McDonagh’s real-life value has always exceeded his fantasy value, and at age 36 he shouldn’t be expected to surprise us with anything for the remainder of his career. Add to that a $6.75 million per year price tag for a blueliner who receives minimal power-play time, and it becomes difficult to roster McDonagh in even a deep salary cap league. (aug16)

Have a good week, folks!

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