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, Puneet Sharma, and Dobber

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1. My first Ramblings in 2025! Please excuse the rust. I plan to get in a lot more of these as things return to normalcy for me, health-wise. Targeting one every couple of weeks to start, and I hope to ramp things up after that.

So, I’m a patient fantasy owner. At times too patient. I think with a keeper/dynasty league mentality, this is a plus. No knee-jerk reactions to early slumps. No ruling out players before their BT season. I’m not that guy who, in roto leagues, drops a player after the first game, picks up someone else, drops that guy a few days later, grabs yet another…that’s not me. Below are some early-season impressions: (oct14)

2. Early on, my hunch that Nathan MacKinnon will slip a little has fallen flat. Now, to be clear, by “disappointment” I was referring to him getting 109 points instead of 125. Yeah. Big disappointment. But still, he’s looking like that 125-point guy easily. My thought was driven by the falloff in his production after Mikko Rantanen was traded, but Martin Necas has really filled in beautifully. (oct14)

3. I’m watching Gavin Brindley closely because I’m a big fan (of course I am, he’s 5-8!), but felt he was nowhere near ready for the NHL this year. I wanted to see a full and productive season in the AHL first, with his new organization. He had a goal in five games (entering Saturday), is playing on a checking line, starting in his own zone a lot, and not seeing PP time. I’m not sure if they’re trying to make him into a checking-line guy, or if they’re just rounding out his game, but in fantasy we can’t be thrilled with him making the NHL if it only means he gets this kind of deployment. (oct14)

4. A waiver-wire player who has emerged early on is Gage Goncalves. I graduated him from the Fantasy Prospects rankings when he was 91^st among forwards. He had high certainty, low wait time and minimal upside (60 points). But right now, it’s the very meaning of “upside”, for those who say I give them too high. It’s an ideal situation. Now, I don’t believe what he’s doing will keep rolling at anywhere near that pace, but one thing that is in his favor is that the Lightning do not have a lot of options to fill out those top lines and provide scoring depth. He’s keeping up with them, so for now he’ll get a look. But his possession metrics will need to improve or he’ll get bumped back down the lineup. (oct14)

5. Jonathan Toews is on the board! This week, he picked up his first point, an assist, since 2023. Toews has been playing on a line with Alex Iafallo and either Nikita Chibrikov or Tanner Pearson, and he’s been getting PP time (his point came on the power play). I still don’t think he can get 50 points this year, but the Jets are giving him tons of ice time, while his faceoff skills haven’t rusted at all. (oct14)

6. Jonathan Drouin is a sneaky-good dark horse and I’m glad I snagged him in my keeper (keep 12) league in the 12^th round. He’s being treated like a driver, not a passenger, averaging 19 minutes a game and more than five minutes per game of PP time. He’s not even playing with Mat Barzal – he’s on the second line with Bo Horvat, and making that line effective. Emil Heineman was the other member of that line. Heineman is a prospect I have liked from his Montreal days, but figured he would be buried on this team. And he still might be. But continued play with Drouin would change his outlook in an awful hurry. Heineman is also a dark horse for 200 Hits. (oct14)

7. Max Shabanov isn’t getting the “we need you” treatment that fantasy owners were hoping for, three games in. He’s averaging 12:01 TOI and second unit PP time. His linemates have mostly been JG Pageau and Simon Holmstrom, as well as Anders Lee of late. He’s being treated like a 40-point player, which he will be unless he can start proving the coach wrong. (oct14)

8. When I was doing the Fantasy Prospects Report on Emmitt Finnie, he was a player who had jumped out at me. Every year when I do the FPR, there are one or two prospects that weren’t on my radar suddenly become very much on my radar. And these guys always pan out, other than one guy I can remember – Rourke Chartier. But he had some personal things that kept him sidelined for a year and never really got back on track. Finnie was this year’s guy, along with Alex Bump (Philadelphia). But did I take him in any league? No. I felt he was three years away. But if he continued to progress (same with Bump), I would take him next year – provided he didn’t boost his value so high that everyone was grabbing him. My mistake. He took the Detroit training camp by storm, forced his way onto the team. He’s been entrenched on the top line and if he can continue getting even a point every two games, he’s going to start garnering some power-play time. He has taken Jonatan Berggren out of the lineup and may have crushed Berggren’s NHL future in the process. (oct14)

9. Still with the Red Wings, Axel Sandin-Pellikka scored his first NHL goal and first NHL point in the Red Wings’ 2-1 win Friday over Tampa Bay. Sandin-Pellikka also blocked four shots, giving him an average of three blocked shots over his past three games. The rookie is averaging 20 minutes per game while also being paired with fellow young Swede Simon Edvinsson at even strength. (oct18)

10. Talking about first goals, Alex Ovechkin has his first of the season, which is the 898^th of his storied career. Now 40 years old, the Great 8 is on track to become the first player in NHL history to score 900 goals. The question now remains whether he will hang around long enough to reach 1000 goals. That will probably depend on whether he can continue to be productive, although he is also on the final year of his contract. (oct18)

11. Meanwhile, Sidney Crosby sitting at seven points in six games wouldn’t be overly concerning most years, but the fact that he is now 38, and his shot rate and average ice time are both declining is a reason to at least keep a closer eye on him moving forward. He’s still a fantastic player, but this could be another little step down the age-related-decline ladder that we’re getting some hints of early on in the season. (oct15)

12. In case you missed it, the Vegas Golden Knights have signed Carter Hart to a PTO (professional tryout agreement). The earliest Hart can appear in Vegas’s lineup is December 1, as he is serving a league suspension until then for his part in the recent sexual assault trial involving members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team.

I would assume Hart would challenge Adin Hill for starts once he is ready, with Akira Schmid likely being sent to the AHL once that happens. Although fantasy teams will undoubtedly be adding Hart over the coming days (he is currently on waivers in the Yahoo player pool in my leagues), his near-two-year layoff related to the events of the trial have me wondering how much his talent level might have fallen off. He’s still worth adding where it makes sense, but expectations shouldn’t be sky high.

Hart was at one time a top-level goalie prospect, but he is now 27 years of age. That’s not old by goaltending standards at all, but he has missed out on game action and important development around a professional hockey team during that time. Hart had also struggled in recent seasons in Philadelphia, but he may benefit from moving to a top team like Vegas. (oct18)

13. Brady Tkachuk will be out six to eight weeks due to surgery on his thumb, according to Bruce Garrioch. If that timeline holds, it looks like he’ll be out until December. If Tkachuk returns on December 2^nd, that would mean 22 games missed, or a quarter of the season. That is a huge chunk of time missed for fantasy purposes, though he’ll clearly be back in time for both the Olympics and the fantasy hockey playoffs. Arthur Kaliyev was recalled. (oct17)

14. For those keeping score, Shane Pinto had, at time of writing, as many goals (6) in five games as he had in his first 32 games of the season last year (update: he is now at  seven goals in six outings after his marker on Saturday). Just a terrific start for a guy who really looks to becoming a pillar of this franchise that Ottawa hoped he’d be (and that dynasty managers were hoping, too). (oct17)

15. I'm wondering whether we see another contract dispute in Colorado, as Martin Necas (with his nine points in five games entering Saturday action) is up for a new contract next summer. If you need a reminder of what happened the last time the Avs had a top-line winger approaching free agency and he asked for too much, they turned around and traded him, which is how Necas ended up in Colorado in the first place. (oct15)

16. It has been good to see that the new contracts for Logan Thompson and Igor Shesterkin haven’t led to any slacking, with both looking like early candidates to help carry a few championship fantasy teams. Shesterkin has the upside to be the best goalie in the league, and it looks like he’s putting together that kind of stretch. On the flip side, Edmonton seems to be a strong goalie away from finally winning a championship. Stuart Skinner has flashes of dominance, but the lows are much lower and more frequent with him. Oilers fans and fantasy owners are always going to be wondering when they’re getting which version. (oct15)

17. Those worried about Thatcher Demko getting his starting role back after Kevin Lankinen was so amazing last year, are starting to feel better. Demko has been fantastic and just needs to stay healthy. (oct14)

Meanwhile, the power must have gone out in Elias Pettersson‘s neighborhood in Vancouver, because his alarm hasn’t gone off yet. My supposed comeback player of the year, ladies and gentlemen! Three points in his first six games, and losing faceoffs. Hopefully he shakes himself out of the slumber soon. (oct14)

18. Former Rangers, Chris Kreider may be getting back to his old form but this time with the Ducks. There are going to be a lot of up and downs with this Anaheim team but Kreider‘s transition to Anaheim looks exactly like what the Ducks were hoping for, a veteran finisher who can immediately elevate their pace and give their young forwards a north-south anchor.

Even this early, Kreider’s impact is showing. He is still playing that hard-nosed, a net-front style Anaheim has not really had in years. His presence will help create space for his linemates and makes the power play more dangerous. At time of writing, he was rostered in under 20% of Yahoo! leagues, which feels low. If Anaheim’s power play continues to click, Kreider has the potential to chip in solid value for fantasy rosters this season. (oct13)

19. New Jersey announced a recall of goalie Nico Daws as Jacob Markstrom is expected to miss a couple weeks with injury, which is the reason for the Daws call-up. We saw Jake Allen have a great extended stretch in early 2025 when Markstrom was out, so let’s see if he can do it again. (oct16)

More injury trouble, as Evgenii Dadonov heads to IR with a fractured hand suffered on opening night, according to Amanda Stein. The Devils had a tough go last season with injuries to the lineup, and it is starting to feel like deja vu. The missing players this year may not be key pieces like last year, but they are still creating noticeable gaps and impacting the team’s depth. Dadonov had just been inserted on the top line with Hughes and Bratt to start the regular season and that experiment barely got going.

Aside from Jacob Markstrom, the team is also missing Stefan Noesen, a key contributor on their first power-play unit and a source of grit in the lineup. Adding Dadonov’s absence on top of that is a hit. I was one of the few pegging the Devils to win the Metro this year, but that prediction leaned heavily on them staying healthy. Two games in, that now feels like a stretch. (oct13)

20. Tampa Bay is off to a slow start with just one win in six games. Brandon Hagel is the most notable Lightning player affected with just a single assist in his first six games. Hagel is capable of breaking out of the slump at 5-on-5, as he was fifth in the league with 72 even-strength points last season. Yet the lack of consistent power-play time seems concerning. I had a suggestion to move Hagel up from #68 in the Top 100 Roto Rankings, but I don’t think he should be any higher than that right now. (oct18)

21. If you missed out on any of the major Tampa player during your draft, Oliver Bjorkstrand might be a player available on your waiver wire who is quietly muscling his way into relevancy on Tampa’s power play unit alongside Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Jake Guentzel. Bjorkstrand and Hagel may trade places on the both powerplays from time to time but it is still a positive to see Bjorkstrand getting that early look. Small sample or not, you do not stumble into that kind of assignment by accident. Tampa is testing him as a finishing piece and if he sticks on PP1, even for half the season, that is a decent waiver wire add in your fantasy leagues especially with the power play points that come attached to it. His even-strength trio with Yanni Gourde has not produced much yet. If this setup holds even marginally, he is going to be one of those players whose fantasy value hinges entirely on his powerplay TOI, but those minutes are coming with the best possible company. (oct13)

Have a good week, folks!

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