The LA Kings have signed goalie Jack Campbell to a two-year extension worth $1.65 million per season. The extension kicks in after this coming season, where the 27-year-old Campbell will earn $675,000.

In spite of the Kings’ woeful season, Campbell posted some solid ratios (.928 SV% and 2.30 GAA) over 31 games as Jonathan Quick’s backup. Among goalies who appeared in at least 25 games, Campbell finished third in save percentage and fifth in goals-against average.

In case you’re wondering whether Campbell will cut further into Quick’s workload, remember that Quick still has four more years on his contract that pays $5.8 million per season. So Quick should be given every opportunity to bounce back after a disastrous season (3.38 GAA, .888 SV%). It is worth mentioning that among the 54 goalies who appeared in at least 25 games in 2018-19, only Aaron Dell had a worse save percentage (.886 SV%) than Quick. As well, only three goalies had a worse goals-against average than Quick. If this trend continues into the season, new coach Todd McLellan might have no choice but to give Campbell a run of starts and see what happens. McLellan might be more inclined to do that than previous coaches, who would have just given the nod to Quick out of habit.  

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I didn’t have anything in particular planned for today, so I decided to try a mock draft. It wasn’t just for something to do for the Ramblings, but also so I can test a draft on the Yahoo phone app, and of course get back into the right frame of mind for drafts. I own a smartphone and use it regularly for a lot of things, but there are certain mission critical tasks where for personal usability reasons I strongly prefer to use my desktop computer. Such as live drafts. However, I may have to participate in a live draft or two while performing other tasks that don’t allow me to be in front of a computer. Like looking after my kids. Hey, this isn’t a parenting blog, y’know.

Anyway, here are my results.
 

Decided to give it a go on a mock draft tonight. 14 teams, standard Yahoo cats I believe (G, A, +/-, PPP, SOG, HIT, W, GAA, SV%, SO) pic.twitter.com/D4d3P5v4Ld

— Ian Gooding (@Ian_Gooding) September 8, 2019

I should also add that the Yahoo default settings for positions are 2 C, 2 LW, 2 RW, 4 D, 2 G, and 4 BN. So as great as I thought my Mathew Barzal pick was in the 10^th round, he might end up on my bench on a full slate of games. But if Connor McDavid misses any games to start the season (which I don’t think will happen, but is not outside the realm of possibilities), then that Barzal pick could come in handy. Oh wait, this is a mock draft, so I don’t actually own the players.

Not my finest draft I’ll admit, but it was only for practice. The fact it was 14 teams might make it look worse than it really was. Plus I believe they only give you about 15 seconds to make your pick, so there are obviously a few picks I’d like to have back and some missed opportunities. That would explain why I picked up Erik Haula before Sam Reinhart. I had about one second left on the clock and I instinctively tapped the button on Haula. I’m not targeting Haula in particular as a sleeper, although he was a decent waiver-wire pickup for me during the Golden Knights’ first season.

Dustin Byfuglien was another example of a player that was added because I ran out of time. I was actually looking for a position other than defense. By that time, I had three defensemen, no goalies, and only one forward in McDavid, who I picked in this draft at third overall (Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon were the first two picks).

Defense is clearly the strength of this roster, though. I’ve fared rather well in leagues in which I’ve drafted multiple defensemen early, provided that the d-men perform up to standard (last season’s P.K. Subban is an example of someone that didn’t because he fell short by 20-30 points). Positional scarcity is the reason that this strategy works.    

In my queue during the final round were Micheal Ferland, Eric Staal, and Josh Anderson. I was going to pick one of them (along with Kevin Labanc, who was picked before my turn in the final round). But then I realized that it might not be a bad idea to pick up a third goalie. Hence my Joonas Korpisalo pick. Aside from maybe the Ottawa Senators, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ goalies seem to be the ones that fantasy owners are least inclined to add.

Something I noticed while I was searching for later-round players was the following ADPs on ordinary Penguins’ players (particularly the last two). Just something to be aware of. Maybe as more drafts take place, the results start to appear more realistic.

Teddy Blueger – ADP 145.9

Erik Gudbranson – ADP 146.9

Brian Dumoulin – ADP 147.4

Blueger could be a deep sleeper, but he’s definitely not someone I have my eye on that early.

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In case you missed it yesterday, I believe there are still spots available for the 2019-20 DobberHockey Tiered Invitational. Compete against fellow Dobber Hockey visitors for a chance to become the ultimate champion, which I’m sure comes with some amazing bragging rights! More information can be found inside the link, which takes you to the Forum. If you do not have a Forum account, you will need to create one first in order to join.

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I’ll take this opportunity to welcome Ben Burnett, our new Geek of the Week writer. Ben has appeared several times on Keeping Karlsson, and he is also a contributor to Average Time on Ice. His Dobber Hockey debut article will include some defensemen to target in the later rounds of your fantasy draft. I think you’ll like it, or maybe you’ll have already seen it by the time you read this. At any rate, check it out. I took his advice on Darnell Nurse in my mock draft, as I was able to draft him at around his ADP (171).

And while I’m at it, thank you to Mike Zacour, the now-former writer, who is stepping down to pursue some other opportunities. Mike is a solid dude who I’ve gotten to know since he started earlier this year. Those of you who are regulars on the Forum will know him better as MZac.

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Finally, there was some hockey played on Saturday with guys in NHL jerseys. The prospects games, that is. I managed to catch the end of the Oilers/Flames prospects game, which was 0-0 in overtime before Matthew Phillips scored the OT winner for the Flames.
 

.@mattphillips_8 game-winner was a beaut.#CGYvsEDM | #Flames pic.twitter.com/7fQGBH8dJG

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 8, 2019

I’ve seen Phillips play live in the WHL, and he is an incredible young player to watch. My sense is that the 5-7, 155 forward is no guarantee to make the NHL, but he could be worth paying attention to in fantasy if he does. You can check out his Dobber Prospects profile here, where Joel Henderson will tell you a lot more about him.

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For more fantasy hockey information, or to reach out to me directly, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.