It’s bubble time in the East. These are the players that you should be targeting in your keeper league redrafts and depending on the depth of your league the players that if you already own them you should take a second look at before dismissing them off your squad.

Only eight more days until the release of the Dobber Fantasy Guide, it’ll be chock-full of all the material you’ll need to rule your league.  The best part is as training camp and any player movement happens the guide will get updated.

Chris Kane and I have been slowly going through the league each week and looking at teams in detail check the West and East out.

Here are two players I think could provide your keeper team a boost this year:

Kyle Palmieri – It’s likely that Palmeri was not slotted in as a keeper by whatever owner was riddled with his injury filled campaign.  Depending on the size of your league Palmieri is an exquisite option waiting to be drafted this year.  He’ll be playing on a Devils team that keeps improving; Nico Hischier will be one year older and should ensure that the top line and power play stay formidable if Taylor Hall goes down with an injury.  Last year Palmieri was maintained his average of a 13% shooting percentage but had his season cut down by 20 games.  He was averaging 2.9 shots a game, and if you extend that to an 82 game season he would have scored based on his shooting percentage 8 more goals.  Adding the missed games to the goals scored in 62 games, Palmieri could have scored 32 goals.  Even with the surge in scoring this pace would have put him in the top-25 goal scorers last season.  His shot volume, which would have increased to 240 shots, which in any league that counts shots is an absolute steal.

Palmieri had and IPP of 62 but had been averaging around 70 the last couple seasons so it’s likely that he can add to his assist totals as well this coming year.  He has consistently maintained a PDO over 1000 for his career so you can draft with confidence that Palmieri is not just lucky but good.

Prey on your fellow league mate who may not keep Palmieri, and let your team reap the benefits.

Mika Zibanejad – As New York admittedly enters a rebuild, there will still be players that provide fantasy value in this campaign.  Enter Mika Zibanejad – Mika had by all accounts a down year last year. After being one season removed from scoring 37 points in 56 games, he only scored 47 points in 72 games.  Last season Zibanejad saw his TOI increased to a career high of 17:58 and was receiving 60% of the team’s power play time.  Knowing that 60% of power play time is a key stat in finding opportunity that can produce value, Zibanejad should be drafted knowing that his volume share of ice time will at least allow him to maintain his point floor of around 0.6 pts/game.  Look for Zibanejad to rebound on his 5v5 shooting percentage, with a career average around nine percent, it should increase from the six percent he shot last year.  He’ll likely be pivoting Pavel Buchnevich in what could be a break out year for Buch, so hopefully Zibanejad won’t have to do it all himself next year.  Zibanejad will not cost you much in a keep redraft, he’ll provide a lot of value to your center bench if you draft accordingly.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and don’t forget to get the Dobber Fantasy guide.