It was announced on Thursday that PA Parenteau would be retiring. The now-35-year-old Parenteau could not find a home to play in the NHL in 2017-18 and given the league’s propensity for infrequently providing contracts for players of his age in this era, the writing was on the wall.

Parenteau’s hockey career is one of the more fascinating in the last 20 years. By the age of 26, he had just five NHL games under his belt. He was initially drafted in 2001 as a ninth-round pick (when those existed) and after spending a couple more years in the QMJHL, he spent basically six and a half seasons in the AHL before getting his chance in the premier league in hockey. He made the most of it as he turned two years with the Islanders into five more years in the NHL. After having just five games in the NHL at the age of 26, he finished with 491 regular contests in total.

To be certain, Parenteau’s best years were on Long Island when he was often skating as a winger for John Tavares. To say that he was solely a product of Tavares, though, is misguided. From 2012-2017, his NHL service post-Tavares, he managed 1.73 points per 60 minutes at five-on-five. That is the exact same production rate as Henrik Zetterberg. Again, his best years were with Tavares, but he was still productive without him.

Congratulations to Parenteau on grinding in the minors for so long and eventually parlaying his opportunity into a solid NHL career. It’s a valuable lesson for anyone in hockey (and elsewhere).

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Dobber writer and editor Cam Robinson released his top-130 rankings yesterday. Cam has been working tirelessly all year to end up at this point so I would recommend going through it thoroughly to get a read on more than just the top-end guys. 

And don't forget to grab your copy of Dobber's Prospects Report from the Dobber Shop!

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The Edmonton Oilers signed Drake Caggiula to a two-year extension with an AAV of $1.5-million. He’s probably an NHLer.

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Some news for Canucks fans on former(ish) Vancouver defenceman Nikita Tryamkin as reported by Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet:

After 79 NHL games, Tryamkin went back to the KHL following the 2016-17 season. The now-23-year-old had 11 points in those 79 games.

I’m sure there are dynasty owners still holding onto Tryamkin at this point and he put up very, very good real time stats numbers in his 66-game 2016-17 season, especially considering he played under 17 minutes a game.

Alex Edler has one year left on his deal while Chris Tanev has two, though he’s constantly in trade rumours. Beyond the injured Olli Juolevi, there really isn’t a whole lot of competition for Tryamkin should he decide to return in a year or two. A lot can happen in two years but he could step into a much bigger role if he returns for the 2020-21 season.

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The Toronto Marlies captured their first Calder Cup since the team moved to Toronto in a thorough domination of the Texas Stars. While the Stars hit three posts (by my unofficial count), the Marlies had the game in hand pretty much from start to finish.

Travis Dermott was a scratch and it’s likely due to injury. We’ll see how serious it is as more information becomes available.

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It’s been a pretty good week for the hockey team in America’s capital while it’s been the complete opposite in Canada’s. That only continued with this blog post from TSN’s Travis Yost on a random Twitter account that appears to have pretty good information in the inner-workings of the Sens, and staunchly defends management.

This all comes on the heels of the Bryan Colangelo debacle in the NBA, though this Twitter tirade in Ottawa isn’t even close to what happened in that instance. This is someone largely taking the side of management on certain decisions, not outright attacking players.  

Some of you may not remember several years ago when Yost was reporting on the finances of Eugene Melnyk and, by coincidence I’m sure, he was hacked by an IP originating in the Ukraine associated with a charity which had Melnyk as an honourary director.

Oh, and if this weren’t enough for one week:

James Duthie on TSN1050: “Sad thing is from everything I am hearing we may not have heard the end of craziness out of Ottawa. There might be more coming down the chute. I don’t know what the more is yet, I’ve just heard there is more.” #Sens

— NHL Prospects Watcher (@Prospects_Watch) June 14, 2018

The clown show in Ottawa has been going on for years. And continues…

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A few days ago, these Ramblings discussed name value in the NHL. That particular Ramblings covered forwards. It’s worth going through some defencemen as well. Let’s remove the name plates and review some performances from 2017-18.

As with the forwards, these numbers will be on a per-game basis.

Player A: 0.17 goals/game, 0.34 assists/game, 0.54 PIM/game, 2.46 shots/game, 0.18 PP points/game, 1.95 hits/game, 0.96 blocks/game

Player B: 0.15 goals/game, 0.32 assists/game, 0.21 PIM/game, 2.71 shots/game, 0.16 PP points/game, 1.66 hits/game, 1.27 blocks/game

Player A is still in what would be considered his prime, having just finished his age-26 season, but is slowly moving to the other side of that aging curve. He was on a low-scoring, non-playoff team but rebounded somewhat, particularly in the shots department, after a disappointing 2016-17 season. There had been some discussion that this player may be traded from his team which would be beneficial from a fantasy perspective were he to find himself on a more potent offensive team, but it appears he’s likely just to re-sign with the team that drafted him.

Player B was more or less left for dead from a keeper/dynasty perspective before a very solid 2017-18 season provided hope. He was a mid-first round pick five years ago and spent a few years in the minors before finally making a big impact at the NHL level. He managed 10 goals and 32 points despite not really being a full-time player until late October, and even then played under 19 minutes a night. He, too, was on a non-playoff team but it was a much different situation as the team was a very high-scoring one. There is still some talent on his team’s blue line with which to contend but he made the case that he should be a go-to for them on the power play.

Player A is Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Played B is Ryan Pulock.

To say that Arizona was a low-scoring team last year does not necessarily mean they will be again this year. With a shooting percentage rebound from Derek Stepan, a progression from Clayton Keller, Dylan Strome turning into a top-end producer, and some added scoring depth, this team could be a lot better offensively. Those are a lot of ifs, however.

Pulock’s outlook also depends on a lot of factors. Does he take over the top PP billing from Nick Leddy? Does John Tavares re-sign? Can both Josh Bailey and Anders Lee come close to repeating their brilliant 2017-18 campaigns? None of this is a certainty.

One thing that is likely is that Pulock remains a shooting machine. With his first full year under his belt and just scratching his potential, there isn’t much reason to think he has a shooting decline. As long as he keeps shooting, he should be fine.

Ekman-Larsson will undoubtedly be a much higher draft pick than Pulock will be come fantasy drafts in September. Not that there is anything wrong with drafting him, but there seems to be a lot of upside with both he and the Islanders defenceman. If everything breaks right for Ekman-Larsson, he can be a 15-goal, 50-point blue liner. On the other hand, what if everything breaks right for Pulock?  

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Now for a couple defencemen whose perception may be trending in opposite directions.

Player A: 0.08 goals/game, 0.48 assists/game, 0.66 PIM/game, 2.49 shots/game, 0.32 PP points/game, 2.82 hits/game, 1.52 blocks/game

Player B: 0.09 goals/game, 0.40 assists/game, 0.97 PIM/game, 2.46 shots/game, 0.21 PP points/game, 2.23 hits/game, 2.9 blocks/game

Player A, at one point in time, was regarded as the pillar defenceman of the future for his franchise. He was a top-10 pick in the draft five years ago but hasn’t progressed to anyone’s expectations. Though he logs heavy minutes, he hasn’t performed well in those minutes at all. Though his team has been poor besides his performance, he certainly hasn’t done anything to lift the players around him. All the same, he’s been very good fantasy-wise because of those heavy minutes and there really hasn’t been anyone on the roster to challenge his position.

Player B, at one point in time, was his team’s go-to blue liner in all situations. Whether it be locking it down in the final minute or as the quarterback on the power play, he could do it all. Age and injuries caught up with him, though, and he largely lost his power play role, though he still played a lot of minutes. He did regain that power play position in 2017-18 and that resulted in his best offensive season in six years. Without (m)any in-house options to push him out of that slotting, he should have it until he’s traded or his contract runs out at the end of the year.

Player A is Rasmus Ristolainen and Player B is Alex Edler.

Here’s the issue for Risto: how much, or how little, does Rasmus Dahlin cut into his production? For the life of me I cannot fathom an 18-year old stepping in to run a top PP unit in the NHL, no matter the level of prodigiousness. For at least this season, I am assuming that Ristolainen’s top PP job is safe. And that’s important, because all his fantasy value outside of hits/blocked shots is derived from the power play; 59 percent (!) of his career production has been with the man advantage. If he loses that, in non-real time stats leagues, he’s waiver wire fodder.

Last week I wrote about how Troy Stecher lost all his PP time from 2016-17 and that was essentially given to Edler. He replied with 15 power play points after having just totalled 13 from 2015-2017. The team lost the Sedin twins to retirement but there is still enough talent to provide a good first power play unit. The question for Edler, as it has been almost his entire career, is health. He has 10 separate 82-game seasons under his belt and has played more than 75 games twice. In the five full seasons since the lockout, he’s played more than 70 games once. He has 40-point potential provided he keeps that top PP billing and can play over 75 games. Neither is certain, the latter seems unlikely.

We have two players with their own question marks. Can Ristolainen come close to fulfilling outside expectations? Does he lose PP time to Dahlin? Can Edler stay healthy? Does he keep the top PP role?

ADP data will tell us a lot more about the risk involved with the two but taking a gamble on Edler as a fourth or fifth defenceman, even in leagues that don’t count real time stats, might be a prudent investment.