Welcome to Fantasy hockey Life presented by fan Tracks. Here sits your source of
information and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Block Off has
a step hit on stay lock. Here's your hosts, Jesse Sevier and Victor
Nuno Nittasy Hockey lie back once again to talk fantasy hockey. I am Jesse
Severe fan Tracks, and that right there you don't know him, is Victor
Nuno of EP Ring Side. Victor, how you doing. I'm doing great,
Jesse. This week was a fun no work week for me. It
was trying to be a no work week, but I had a bunch of
things that came up. But it was fun just hanging out. And most
of my leagues are in the playoffs now, playoffs, playoffs. How are
you going? We're there, I'm good man, I'm good. Yeah.
We're trying to get through some playoff lineup setting. But the trade deadlines are
pretty much done, so that's a lot. That was a lot there for
a little bit and we're past that now, so that's fine. I love
the playoff deadline, the trade deadlines, but it's just as well. It's
just as well if people have to move on with their lives. Yeah,
there's a couple of leagues. Most of the leagues that we run, the
playoffs already started. There's you know, two week matchups, kind of the
way it should be in our opinion. But I have a couple a few
leagues that are still going, and they're gonna go like the playoffs and the
trade deadline aren't even until April late March, which is just wild. So
it's gonna be. It's gonna be a little bit crazy. So it's weird
having most of my leagues in playoff mode and then a couple distant memory or
distant thought way off in the future. So it's gonna be. And I
have a couple of leagues where I have a first round by so that's always
fun to sit back and kind of see. In fact, the Diesel League,
I was lucky enough to get a bye, and so I'm watching you
guys all beat each other up while I sit back, although it's not as
fun because there aren't many moves to be made in that move In that least
sometimes as you sit back and you try to grab players when they get dropped
or whatever. Because of the rules of that league, it's not gonna happen
really so much. So it's not it's I'm happy to not have to play
this week, but it's less of a benefit because sometimes you can grab players
that get dropped, and that's a huge benefit. Yeah, that's not happening
in this one. We are. It's brutal competition. But because you take
the cap pits when you drop guys, you can't just be streaming away.
You have to. It's for keeps. It's for keeps, Victor. If
you would like to talk fantasy hockey with people just continuing on these wonderful conversations,
you can jump into our discord. It's absolutely free. All you have
to do to get in is hit Victor or myself up Fantasyhockeylife at gmail dot
com or catch us on the X at fan Hockey Life at Victor Nuno twelve.
You can get in there. You can chat with closing in on four
hundred crazies of fantasy hockey persuasion. And in addition to that, if that's
not even a enough for you and you want even more, you could join
the Patreon Victory tell them what they win. Oh yeah, there's some good
stuff. We have patron casts, we have Patron Priority channel and the discord.
You can do someone on one sessions. Fact, right after we record
here, I'm doing a one on one session with one of our newest members
so we can dissect your team and kind of strategize, do all that kind
of stuff with some help, so that's fun. There's also patron ranks,
prospect ranks, and actually spoiler alert here, we have some really big changes
coming up. I don't know exactly how long it's going to be, but
within the next month or two, we're going to completely overhaul how we do
that, including some really cool player cards and different ranks and visualizations. Thanks
to our buddy Brandon and Jason who helped out with that. So it's gonna
be good stuff. You're gonna want to be a part of that, and
if you're an ultra lifer, you're gonna get automatic access to that. There's
gonna be nothing different that you have to do, so if you want to
get ahead of it, you can join now or just check it out.
And if you want to be a tidy manager, you have to be a
patron, so coming into next year, coming in this offseason, you want
to get in on that. So check all that out at Patreon dot Com
slash Fantasy Hockey Life. No pressure, Brandon and Jason. We just mentioned
it on the podcast. It's no big deal. It's no big no pressure
on you guys. Let's just get it together. That's all, Victor.
This has been good stuff. We do have another of our posse, our
mafia, our core group here, the Tidy Admiral, coming up to talk
a few Tidy trades right after the time for another edition of Tidy Takes where
we dig into what's happening in our tiered dynasty, talk about some trades and
just general value and strategy. And to do that we have to bring in
our Tidy Admiral, Brian. How you doing, buddy, I'm back.
That's right, I'm great, Victor, thanks so much for having me back.
It's been a couple of weeks, had a couple weeks off. I'd
like to say that I relaxed and I refreshed myself, but the Tidy managers
had a bit more to say about that for me than I perhaps would have
liked. Yeah, the Admiral never did job, never truly rests right.
Yeah, the ship needs to keep going forward here, and actually we get
to take a little bit of a break from the trades now, at least
from the actual act of trading, because in the Tidy we've reached the trade
deadline as of this past week. It was a very busy trade deadline,
and I'm saying it's a busy deadline. It's been a busy like two months
since Christmas time, basically is when the deals started to pick up. And
we talked a little bit about this on previous episodes about like when is you
know, when is it going to be time for people to start trading,
especially the people in the startup leagues Lidstrom and Lord Stanley. This year,
you have a couple months with the team and you realize, oh, okay,
this is where I'm at. Yeah it. They had been pretty busy,
and we are going to be pretty busy now. On the Tidy take
segment here, we're going to be cranking out episodes. And here's an A
and W Canada reference for people. We're cranking out episodes like they're two for
six Papa Burgers at A and W. As someone who worked there as my
first job, let me tell you when that promo was on, we never
stopped and we're not going to be stopping here let's go through. Before we
get started here, I want to just let you know the scope of how
many trades we had since our drafts began back in August. We've been categorizing
these trades, collecting them, putting them in the document, and then posting
them in our Tidy Trades channel on discord for people to vote on. And
counted those up over the week here ninety five total trades. Victor, and
I want to put you on the spot a little bit and just ask you.
I know you have the numbers in front of you, but who did
you think would trade the most out of our divisions? Here? We had
those three divisions from last year, we had Or and Gretzky and Lemieux,
and we added Yager, Lidstrom, Lord Stanley, Lim and Lord Stanley this
year. Who did you think was going to come out with the most trades
this year? Before we even jumped into the season, of feeling that the
new divisions would have the fewest, well, especially the Lidstrom because they might
not know have a good feel for how the league's going and what to expect.
So I had a feeling that one might be the longest or the fewest,
and then the ones that had been around for more than one year,
or managers that had been around for more than one year, I'd imagine they
would have done more. But I still would have thought Lord Stanley would be
a little bit lower, just because the level of competition is so much higher.
So I would have guessed the top and the bottom would have the fewest,
and then the middle divisions would be even. But I'm not sure that
was exactly sure the correct thing, right, No, And I will get
to that in a bit. But here it is from lowest to highest,
the by division, the amount of trades tidy liedstrum. As you predicted,
the newest division, the lowest tiered division mostly managers who are new to this
format, had only eight from August until now. Next was Lemieux at nine
or at thirteen, Gretz at twenty, Yager at twenty one, and Lord
Stanley the top tier in the tiered Dynasty Fantasy Hockey Life Tidy League with twenty
three. So congratulations to Lord Stanley on being the division that was shaken up
the most cens our draft. Although those of you with keen eyes may have
noticed that our numbers in Lord Stanley really got pumped up when we brought Tim
in to manage the last place team. You may recall, Victor, we
talked a couple weeks ago and we've been teasing and we'll tease again today the
upcoming episode featuring manager Tim who took over one of our neglected last place teams
in Lord Stanley, and he joined the league and we brought in a ringer
with eleven trades in the past give or take five weeks. Any thoughts on
how on how the divisions have shaken out here, Victor, and any thoughts
on Lord Stanley's rush to the finish line with these trades. Yeah, I
think it makes sense in hindsight. I would expect that the Lord Stanley managers
know how to properly evaluate their team than when it's time to sell, it's
time to sell. When it's time to buy is time to buy. So
I would imagine they would wait until the correct time and then there'd be a
florry, which is what happened. And Tim is definitely a champ, and
we'll talk more with and about him later in terms of just all the moves
he pulled, and so you love to see that that kind of action.
I'm a little surprised that the Lemieux division was so low Lemiu and Orr,
Gretzky and Yager basically doubled them up, which is surprising because the managers have
more or less been the same. There was certainly a little bit of turnover
even in those divisions, but I think that's a bit of an interesting disparity,
especially when you consider that these four divisions are in a points race to
be in Tier two, to become Tier two, and I find it interesting
that Lemieux has the fewest total trades and they're leading the points race. So
I'm not sure what that means. Maybe sometimes it's not necessary to shake things
up, but Gretzky is right behind them, and we have the second most
just basically right there with Yager. So I'm not sure that anything you can
really drag out of that, but it is definitely interesting. Yeah, a
lot of the trades that we've mentioned on past episodes of The Tidy Takes Here
feature managers from Gretzky and Yager just from sheer volume, and a lot of
our more active managers are in those divisions too. Just an interesting point of
order about Lemieux. A third of the trades were conducted by your co host
Jesse Severe. So even we break it down to fourteen thirteen of those teams,
we're responsible for six of the trades and Jesse was responsible for three.
Even then, it's interesting how that worked out. But we're done with talking
about the past for right now. We'll be teasing a couple of upcoming episodes
at the end of our segment here, but let's dive in here, Victor
and talk about what we're going to talk about today. And we're trying to
mirror what our Tidy managers have been doing. They've been busy loading up for
the playoffs, getting these pieces that are helpful to them as they try to
move up in the division or move up to another tier. You're also picking
up veterans who maybe can really give you that punch to get you to the
top. You're looking for minors eligible players you can shift up and down,
and there's a lot of different types of players we'll be talking about here today,
and we'll be using some of the trades that happened prior to the deadline
to get into that conversation. And the first one I want to talk about
here, Victor, is from Tidy Yoger, one of our more active divisions
as we've just figured out, and two of our more active managers from that
division who have somehow found a way to connect on a number of trades this
year, some from the one I think about specifically, and one we're not
going to really talk about is a veteran swap of Dylan Strom for Branda Dillon.
Pretty clear what each manager is going to get from that. And I
asked JB before we get into the deal here, but the process of negotiating
with Surly Bird. This is JB and Surly Bird from tidy Yoger and why
they keep going back to the well and before we get onto the topic of
the trade, I want to know what you think about this, victor.
JB has this to say. First, Surly Bird responds and is active,
which is not the case for all the managers in the league where the ying
and yang heading in opposite directions. He's all in terms of winning now and
I'm looking to grab more young guys, and I think it's hard to trade
guys like the veteran piece who will talk about shortly and obtained full value.
I prefer to obtain something, but it's hard to trade when half of the
teams are not interested in trading. It doesn't give many options. You were
telling me before before we started recording here that you found yourself in a similar
situation with another manager. Care to elaborate. Yeah, So, in the
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that I'm in that I started about five years ago,
I've been biting my time. This is the league that I went on keeping
Carlson and talk to Elon's in that league. And I started that league as
a sort of rebuild, immedia rebuild in a sort of three or four year
plan. And this summer I made a lot of trades to be a little
bit more competitive, and I worked my way up to right on the borderline
of playoff contention. Eight teams make the playoffs out of twenty. And it
literally came down to the last game. I was fighting with JL and I
barely snuck in, so I had to wait until all the games were done,
and the trade deadline was about three hours after that. So I got
home from my hockey game and I got on the computer and I started sending
out trade offers, and exactly what JB is saying, there's some guys that
I know will respond in some that just won't, and or it just takes
them a little bit more time. And so I made four trades in forty
minutes right before the deadline, after I knew I made the playoffs to try
to, you know, bolster my team, and I had a lot of
cap space, which is the good thing, which is always why you want
to leave yourself cap space and not just fill it. And so yeah,
I was able to make some trades with some people that I know respond quickly
and are reasonable in terms of your I'm heading to the playoffs, you're rebuilding,
why don't I give you this guy. I'm not trying to pull the
wool over anybody's eyes, but I'm like, here, I'll give you this
reasonable prospect for this guy that you're probably going to dump into free agency at
the end of the season kind of a thing. So yeah, I totally
get going back to the well with people who you know are reasonable and respond
quickly. There were a couple guys that I sent to and I just I
didn't hear anything back from and you know, I think it's maybe it was
a little late or they don't respond as quickly. And I would have liked
those players maybe a little bit better. But it just wasn't the right timing
for them, and that's understandable. But yeah, I totally get the going
back to a trading partner that you know and work well with, Victor.
This is why you're the expert and I'm just the host. You made four
trades in forty minutes. I made three trades in seven months in this league.
And we'll be talking about that a bit more next week. But that's
awesome. It's the timing of that is really wild. Just getting to the
end and realizing you have three hours to remake your team in your own image.
Wow, incredible. They weren't like big trades. There were more depth
trades, but still it was those tweaks that sometimes can make a difference at
the middle to bottom of your roster. And speaking of depth, that's exactly
what JB has acquired here in his deal with Surly Bird, and let's get
into it here. JB acquired prospect left winger Andrew Christall, prospect d Oliver
Bonk, prospect, goalie Olivier Rodrigue, and center Joe Veleno, who has
factored in a little bit with Detroit this season, from Surly Bird for Ryan
Toverberg, who is Toronto Maple Leafs prospect who I've been following a little bit,
and left wing veteran forward Jake Gensel, And this is who I was
talking about teasing earlier. We have a big deal here, Jake Gensel moving
in real life almost likely from Pittsburgh and moving here from Surly Bird's team to
JB. Clearly, Gensel's the piece of importance here, Victor, with Christall
is the main piece of the return. You might say something about Bonk.
I think our tidy managers voted overwhelmingly for the Genseil side here, ninety two
percent for the Gensel side. What do you think, Victor? Yeah,
I think it's hard to not obviously say who the best player in this trade
is. We know that, but as they said, going in different directions,
it makes sense. I think Joe Veleno he's a guy who's below replacement
level, but he's turned it up. I'm not sure that he really gets
above replacement level, but I like that bet because he's right at that two
hundred NHL game mark. Maybe he makes something of his career still, maybe
he has another gear. This is also a cautionary tale for me in the
sense of watching guys at the World junior who just excel and then thinking they're
going to be great NHL r's, which which was the case for Joveleno and
it may still be, but he hasn't really quite figured that out yet.
He's one of those guys that maybe we'll see I like betting on guys like
that at the end of the season, though, because you can give him
a few months in the next year. If it's nothing, you just drop
them. So I like that Kristall we're going to dig into in the second
part of the show. He is a very strong prospect though, if you
can stay on the weight. So I like that. Olivia Rodrigue is not
a goalie. I would bet on. This was like a throw in whatever.
I get it. You look at the depth in Edmonton and you're probably
like, sure, he's a guy who might get some play, and he
might. He's like the goalie coach's son, I believe. Yeah. I
was gonna say, like, maybe his dad can can get him a job,
you know, get him a position here with the Oilers. Who knows.
Yeah, I'm I'm pretty sure that's the only reason they picked him in
the first place. But anyways, the yeah, maybe, but I really
he's not someone that I would put much stock into. Bonk is really interesting.
We actually we're going to cover him on an upcoming DPR show when we
do some game reports on him. But he's a very strong prospect. He's
trending up this year. He's looking great in the OHL and I like him.
He's got the pedigree too of his father playing in the league, Radic
Bonk, and yeah, I really like him. The fact that the JB
is getting Crystal and Bonk both really strong prospects. Both. The weight might
be a little long in terms of tidy terms, just because might be a
couple two to three years for both of them, but there's still a pretty
good chance. I also think even in tidy and in other leagues, you
have to think about not just when they're going to be valuable to your team,
but if these are prospects that are trending up and up, even if
they never hit in the NHL, that's an asset that you can move in
a year. Right, So even if you don't end up hanging on to
Bank when he's on your team, you could trade him next year, maybe
for even more if he continues to excel. So that's just good asset.
Management something to think about. So I like that I don't really know anything
about this vert to Vergberg or however you say his name Vergberg, but he
doesn't look like much in the hockey prospecting model. Yeah, he was a
very late draft pick back when DUBIS was still in charge. DUBIS and by
extension Wes Clark, who is the director of Scouting I believe is his official
title. He's an assistant GM with the Leafs. Still, they look for
these guys with high compete. They may not be the biggest, they may
not be the fastest, but they look for those Easton Cowen types, and
I think to verb Berg is the same thing. I believe you could correct
me if I'm wrong here, but I think to verr Berg also came out
of that Chicago Steel program. Possibly, or I might be thinking of someone
else, but just a very high compete guy. Not sure if he'll translate
some of his skills over though. Yeah, I'm not someone who I don't
think he's going to be much, but maybe if he get if he plays
when he gets some time, that would be useful. Now, he looks
like he went to University Connecticut and he was in the junior Toronto, so
he started playing in the GHL, so maybe he's known to someone in that
area. Anyways, that's a minor part anyways, not really a big deal.
Genseil is the big piece that certainly Bird acquires. And this is also
an interesting question. Do you worry about acquiring a player like Genseil who's most
likely going to be moved and might be in a different situation. Personally,
I don't really worry about that too much, and I think especially it might
depend on the player. But a player like Genseil, I'm pretty sure he's
going to be fine no matter where he goes. He's a top line winger.
But there are some players who we think about Timo Meyer last year,
who was getting everything and then went to a team where he wasn't needed as
much and it's slowed down. There are some situations where you might worry a
little bit about that. So would that worry you? Right? Yeah,
I don't think it would worry me. With Gensel, I think we've seen
enough of a sample size of him his career to know that he is legit
as a top line winger. I always think about this is actually a deal
with a lot of famous dads. We've got Raddick Bank and the son Oliver
Bank. For some reason, I thought it was Olivier. Nope, Oliver
Bonc. We also have Jake Gensel and his father, coach Mike Gensel,
I believe, coached for the Golden Gophers at various points in his career,
so he's a coach's son. And I'm not worried about Gensel no matter where
he ends up. I think he is probably going somewhere, But wherever Goensel
ends up, I'm not really that worried about him because I think that he
can adapt his game to play in any kind of scenario. He's been playing
with Sid and with Malcolm for the past a number of years. I think
he will be very solid wherever he ends up. So I'm not too worried
about Gonsel. Yeah, I think that, Oh my gosh, what was
I gonna say? I've been making the case about Goensel that he is trending
to be the best player on that Penguins team for a while now, but
he's just been under those two Hall of Famers. But that shouldn't be the
brahmer by which he's measured, because he's an outstanding player so even if you
say, oh, he's the third or fourth best player on the Penguins,
he could be the best player on many other teams and so that you shouldn't
really hold that against him. And I think he's going to be just fine.
I wanted to circle back to Bank though real quick. Next week we're
going to be talking about Bunk on the DPR Show. And in case you're
wondering, he's doing a lot in the OHL right now, three point one
shots. I remember, he's a defenseman, one point sixty five blocks,
point three eight hits in the OHL, and he's playing on a London team
that is doing pretty well, so his stock is just trending up and up
and up. So that's someone that you want to really think about. And
the other thing I wanted to mention is just philosophically, this idea of should
I trade or not? If you're in Surly Bird's situation and you have the
question might become is this the package that I want? Or or sorry JB's
side who traded away Genseil, is this a good enough package? Would I
rather get nothing or would I rather get this? And I think that's a
really interesting question because you might not find other suitors, you might not find
other options. And I hear this a lot with people asking trade advice,
and personally, I just feel if I don't get what i'm comfortable with this
player the value, then I'm just not gonna do it. And especially with
someone like Gonsel, who is clearly going to be good next year. It's
not like he's gonna it's not like this is his only year and then you're
done. Yes, his contracting situation may be different next year, but I'm
someone who would rather just hold firm than accept less than I feel comfortable with.
How do you feel about that? Right? Yeah? Same Here.
We're in an interesting situation in our division in Lord Stanley. We finished right
above the cut line for the relegation tournament round robin, and we kept a
lot of our stars and we didn't really move on from them because they're still
going to be useful to us next year. I could see if you have
Malkin, if you had an old man on your team. I think we
did move Joe Pavelski from our team for a similar reason. I can see
if you have one of those guys who's maybe you know, on the decline,
but Jakensel he's going to be a no doubt first line winger for a
couple more years. I think so. I think I would want to retain
that kind of asset, and it would have to be a great package to
knock my socks off to get me to move them. Yeah, me too.
I'm not sure I would have done it for this package. I probably
would have just held. But I also understand maybe it won't be You never
know what's going to happen. It's possible that things will get worse and you
won't be able to get a better package. I doubt it. I think
at least over the summer you probably could get something better, but who knows.
I also don't fault JB at all for making this trade. No,
certainly not. And you have to think about promotion relegation in this league.
You have to think about other different categories that you might not have considered.
Perhaps we all evaluate players differently too. That's another thing I think that we
can get into trouble with when we have these kind of polls in the Tidy
Trades channel or whatever is. It's very subjective. Perhaps he've used Gensel as
a lower quality player. Perhaps he's really high on Kristall, We don't really
know right, Certainly, there's a lot of different ways to look at these
kinds of trades, and I think we'll be getting some more reaction from you
here on the next deal here to in Tidy Gretzky. And this is a
storyline that you and I, Victor, have been following in our Tidy command
center since this deal was completed. And it's kind of a two party here,
So stick with us here FHL listeners, as we take you through this
from Tidy Gretzky. We have manager Aaron acquiring center Sam Bennett, very solid
player in our league, scoring multi winger Mason Appleton, and left wing prospect
Callan Lynde from new to the Tidy manager Pish who manages Highway to Hellibuk also
known as Anthony Pischentelly, great guy who acquires from Aaron Pavel Minchikov, center
Iszach Lindstrom and left winger Dylan Holloway. So before we get to the manager's
thoughts on this deal, I need to throw up right to you, Victor
for an instant reaction. I remember you having a pretty strong reaction to this
deal. Care to share, Yeah, I was shocked that this return landed
Pavelo Minchikov. This is my division, and I remember thinking, is that
all it took to get Minchikov? I mean, it just seemed not enough.
I think that, even especially considering I don't think much of Lundestrom,
but Dylan Holloway, who could still be something. But even by itself,
I don't know that I would have accepted that package for Mitchikov. So I
was a bit surprised that it was so low. I think that Pavel Minchikov,
I think I've extolled his virtues. I think he's the next to do
everything defenceman who could absolutely be one of the most valuable defensemen in this format
for years to come. So I was a bit surprised. I also am
just someone who's pretty skeptical about Sam Bennett. I know that they are believers
in sort of his raid and underlying per sixty stats, but the guy just
never gets enough actual minutes to make it worthwhile. In the last few years,
he's had the most time on ice he's ever had, and it's I
don't know, it's still only around five points per game, which is decent,
but that's only like a point above replacement levels. I don't know.
To me, it just seemed like an overpay or an underwhelming return for Michikov,
however you want to think about it. Yeah, and let's not forget
with Sam Bennett. We talked about his big competition for that second line center
role, Anton Lundell nipping at his heels especially recently, so that would give
me some pause as well. Before we get into more of this deal and
the second part of it, which is just as interesting, I want to
just share what Anthony had to say about this deal, and I haven't been
able to get to Aaron to respond to my DMS curly bird as well.
If you guys are out there, accept the friend request I sent to you,
and you can have your thoughts aired here on the Tidy takes as well.
The full context for Anthony here is that he took over the team fairly
late into the season and was still getting his head wrapped around the tidy scoring
at the time of this deal. Not sure he's too happy with it,
even though he got a great player here in Minchikov. So here's what Pisch
has to say. The trade for mine Chikov is one where I sent out
some players in hopes of using Mitchikov as a trade chip. I am not
as high on Minchikov as many others in the league. The first trade of
two here was about getting Halloway and Minchikov. I didn't like having two Panthers
centers and I wanted to move on from Bennett. In this trade, I
wanted to play around my miners that I can move up and down for the
rest of the year. Who would help me hit the seventy five games per
week. I've since made all the other minor waiver moves, etc. And
some trades to find such players, and he has quite the strategic move here,
Victor acquiring Minchikov and Halloway as potential trade chips. Does this square with
how you view the deal? I know, because if I got Minchikov,
I would just be holding on him for deal life, for ever and ever.
Amen, I just think he's that good. But sure, I think
that if you're lower on someone the general strategy, I totally agree with you.
If you're low on someone, then everyone else and you can get him
for really good value and then flip him because maybe for more because you don't
have as much faith in them. Then overall, I agree with this strategy
for sure, and I do wonder what Aaron was thinking. We talked about
Bennett, and maybe he just is one of those Bennett truthers out there.
I'm not exactly sure, but I do think it's just interesting, and Holloway
is someone who could still work out. I don't think Lunderstrom is even going
to be above replacement levels, so I'm not really sure about that one.
But the other interesting caveat to this whole thing is that Pitch and I are
actually against each other this week. This matchup in tidy Gretzky, so I
may actually be living to regret some of these takes if he ends up pulling
out the victory. Right now, we're pretty close, I'm slightly ahead,
but there's a whole other week to go, so we'll see how that works
out. But yeah, I'm like trepidacious about what I say here because it
may come back to bite me. Trepidacious a big word in hockey culture this
week, especially for Connor Bedard. But you use it flawlessly and certainly,
but you don't want to give him too much bulletin board material victors, So
I'll take it over from here this dovetails our discussion perfectly towards the second deal,
where Pish indeed followed through on his promise to use Minchikov as a trade
ship. So he sent to the Portland Pirates in the Gretzky Division, another
competitor of yours, Victor. He sent Pavel Minchikov along with Philip Karashev,
Nate Schmidt and prospect goalie Trey Augustine. Who I know, you're pretty high
on two Portland Pirates four And here's the veteran package that comes back, left
wing Michael Bunting, d Ivan Provarov and left wing right wing a Ley Tolviden.
Carrying the thread over from the previous trade. Here, Pish had this
to say, I shopped Mint as I was happy to get three players for
him, all producing more than four points a game, which was about what
Minchikov was doing. If I don't get promoted, I'm sure that trade will
be a loser for me. I did mess up my lines a bit and
ended up thin at center as a result of these two trades and had to
move out Bunting for a little bit less than he was worth. And he
did move bunting back to the Pirate it's for Dickinson from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Hatfield, who is port Portland Pirates, a repeat customer here on the Tidy
Takes, had this to say to me, Minty was the only piece I
was willing to go hard for, especially since the Ducks had just shipped out
Drysdale. Kurshev is intriguing to me as he was getting good minutes on the
top line with Padard before he went down. His numbers could rebound here with
a bit of regression positive regression. He thinks that Augustine is a weird ad
and I'd love your thoughts on this victor since he will be likely a few
years away from being a productive fantasy asset. Goldie's being voodoo and in this
league in particular, the tidy prospect goalies are tough since the goal is to
be up and out of the division before they are even useful. Hatfield thinking
he will likely be in this division for a few years, so a top
goalie prosseect makes a little bit more sense than it would have. Schmidt easily
the worst part of the trade, but that he is very lacking on d
so it's fine. For now. There's a lot more to share here,
but I really want to get to your thoughts here. Victor, our tidy
manager's voted this deal as a loss for Pish he moves on from Mitchikov.
What do you think, Victor, I definitely agree with them and Joel Hatfield
Portland Pirates. I definitely like that side much better. Pitch said he wanted
a few players above four. Krushev is basically right there, and especially with
Badard coming back, he's going to be basically in that same neighborhood. Minchikov
is already there, and he gets basically one more player that's at around that
threshold, maybe a little bit higher. So I guess it's like a three
for two. But I just think long term, I really like Joel side
much better with the Krushev Mitchikov, and you mentioned Augustine, I do think
that it's really interesting what they have there because Augustine, I think, you
know, we saw him at the World Junior. He's such a gamer.
He's you know, he's someone who may not have all the skill in the
world, but man, he just is He's been there, he's done that,
and he knows how to compete, and I think that regardless of whether
he's the one or obviously they have in Detroit the Kosa Sebastian Kosa, who's
been trending in a better direction, but they're so different, I could see
both of them being timeshare or like splitting the net at some point. So
I do that for Augustine, and like we talked about, even if Augustine
is an Angels team producing for him, as he trends in a good direction,
he can be used as a positive trade chip. So I still think
that's a move in the right direction. So I like that. I don't
care too much about Kershev, but he's going to continue to be relevant there
for at least one more season because he's under contract. But Dard is there,
the team is probably going to be getting a little bit better as their
forwards mature. Maybe Nizar plays, we'll see, But I like that general
move, and I think in general, Pish probably got a little bit more
middle depth in the lineup, which is a really positive thing. I just
think he could have aimed higher for Mitchikov. He and I briefly discussed a
deal, but it was too difficult because we're in the same spot and then
we end up playing each other. But I would have given more to acquire
mental CoV, even in the position that I'm in, as I'm not sure
I'll get promoted, I would I would give more from Mitchikov, as I've
already stated my case for that. What about you ry? What do you
think? Yeah? Before I say what I think, I just want to
share a little bit more about what Joel had to say about what he gave
up to get Mitchikov in tolvin and Provarov and Bunting that Tolvinen was a centerpiece
of the deal, a piece that he didn't want to move, especially as
a rebuilding team, but that he felt that getting Korashev and Minchikov back the
upside with those two players made it worth moving on from Tolvanen on a pretty
stagnant Seattle Kraken offense if we're being honest here, Provarov has been a good
piece this year. At points he's the only one of the only d who
was able to get anything going when Marensky was hurt. At the time of
this deal, Warensky was a couple weeks away from returning from the injury,
and we were talking about it, Joel and I and Provarov hadn't provided a
point since the trade at this time. He's been a little bit here and
there since then. And then the last piece of Michael Bunting, Joel describes
this is a bit of a red herring. And you'll remember Bunting had been
getting terrible deployment for several days. He's found some solid ground in his line
with Nachus and Drury recently, but he's been shunted around the lineup, and
he was in a similar position in Toronto, so I can understand that he
did end up. Joel ended up getting Bunting back for Dickinson just in time
for that line to take off. Joel, you might be a little bit
omniscient here, or at least prescient to the inner workings of Rob Brandamore's mind.
I think, with so many moving pieces, Victor, I find it
helpful to ask myself which is the best piece for right now and which is
the best piece for later. And I think there's certainly an argument to be
made that Michikov is the answer to both of those questions. And you'll recall
I love this kind of defenseman the do it all guy with a bit of
offense. I can understand the argument for tolvin and from Pish either way.
As Anthony stated, his goal was to compete right now, there's no denying
that provarof tolvin In and Bunting have been reasonably consistent veterans through the season.
If you're not somebone who wants to roll the dice on the likes of a
Korashev or a Mitchikov and you want a more sure thing, I think I
can understand the deal, but I want the Minschikov's side, and I'm an
owner of Kurashev in several leagues. I'm hoping he picks it up here as
well. Great, and that brings us to the end of our time here,
Victor. And before I go, I want to just tease a little
bit of what we have yet to come in the Tidy Takes segment. We're
going into overdrive here. We've got a couple over the next few weeks coming
your way, and the first one will be we'll be talking about here as
on next week's edition of The Tidy Takes. We will be analyzing a host
of trades, and by that we will be analyzing trades by the hosts of
this very segment, and I've written here pause for laughter. I'm sure everyone
is laughing. I won't give you credit, Victor for the pun that you
made, which I am now saying, but it's going to be exciting.
I'm looking forward to it. What do you think of the prospect of dissecting
all of your tidy deals right here on the tidy takes. Well, if
I'm taking the l next week, I guess I will know how it worked
out, so we'll know a little bit about that. But yeah, I
think there's just a lot of fun strategy because we're all in different positions in
our divisions, and we've had a lot of different things to think about,
and so I think that'll be useful hopefully for everyone in terms of how they
can use it in their leagus. Yeah, that one's going to be a
bit of a rapid fire. We got ten trades between the three of us
to talk about, plenty to dissect as we put our reputations on the line
and try and walk the walk after doing so much talking this year, and
finally, as promised several times during this episode, we're hard at work and
well, what I'm going to be calling the Timmy Cast. That's right,
Tim a, the manager of al Iafratey's Broken Flow in Toddy. Lord Stanley,
will be joining us to discuss retooling a neglected team on the fly and
how his check sttes eleven trades in five weeks worked out for him. We
were responsible for two of those as the BFFs. Was he able to avoid
relegation? We don't know right now, but we may know by then.
Let me just say, Victor, you saw this photo. We've to photo
at the tidy offices of Tim's handwritten notes dissecting all of his various moves,
and let me tell you you won't want to miss this. Oh yeah,
it's a really it's gonna be a lot of really good content and really good
interesting strategy thoughts. If you want to hear how like really map out a
plan forward for your team, no matter what the situation, you're gonna want
to tune into that because it's a really interesting case, no matter how it
work works out. Yep, it's very exciting. I'm looking forward to talking
with Tim and letting him have the reins. I'm really excited to see what
he's come up with. He's been telling us about the plan for this episode
for a month now, so it should be a lot of fun. Thanks
Victor, as always for having me on. I'm looking forward to next week
when you explain to all of the FHL listeners why you have given up on
Thomas Bordelo, Simon Evanson, Cam York and Matt Fay Mitchkov and why you
hate each of those players. Now. Thanks again, I look forward to
that. Thanks Ryan two excellent are serious injury? When back for the X
gamers once again, our little featurette of some of the guys that Victor has
been writing up for that wonderful website ep Rinkside. Some of the guys we
want to analyze as to hit, you know, milestones of their early careers.
But these are guys still on the come up, still, guys were
wondering what they will turn out to be. And the very first one of
these Victor Andrew Christall of the Washington Capitals. A left winger. Christall,
it's not just the swanky champaign anymore. I think it's a champagne, right,
Isn't that what Christall is? I only heard it for rap songs.
That's the only way I know what a Christall is, but I assume that
it's very important. I love hearing what Andrew Kristall is doing so far this
year, and you gotta love it. But I will say I don't understand
why it's quite so exciting this year compared to last year. His scoring base
is actually about the same as it was last year, but the buzz is
out of control right now. The Kelowna Rockets of the WHL is where mister
Kristall plays. He's got eighty six points in fifty games so far. He
was, of course a second round pick of the Washington Capitols last year.
Is why he gets exciting to me. However, when I see eighty six
points in fifty games and an amazing stat line in the Canada Hockey League for
a Washington Capital prospect, I wake up in a cold sweat Victor. I
look at twenty nineteen twenty when for the London Nights of the OHL one hundred
and two points and fifty two games four That would be Connor McMichael, who's
in the NHL. But is nobody's idea of a superstar right now? So
I don't know if Victor Andrew Kristall seems to be getting the buzz the helium.
He's the five to ten young man nineteen years old. Is Andrew Kristall
okay for me to believe in? Yeah, I think so. And I
think that it's funny. I thought you were gonna ask me who that was,
and I actually knew who it was just by looking at the Jesse didn't
put the name Connor McMichael. He just put the stat line. But I
knew who that was because anyways, I there aren't too many players at nineteen
twenty, but the London Night score one hundred points and it was Connor McMichael.
Anyways, they're very different players, I would say, and I think
Connor McMichael, to his own potential detriment, in some ways, he's a
little bit too well rounded, and so he's being asked or forced or whatever
you want to say, to take the brunt a little bit more of that
five on five play, how to be a little bit more too way responsible,
which is not something I would say that is probably ever going to be
the case for Andrew Christal, even if he gets to the point where he's
competent, I don't think you're ever gonna mistake him for a Selki Trophy winner
or even someone who you can pin to drive a lot to be a little
bit more responsible. That's just not who Christall will ever be. But I
do think McMichael is someone who can flourish and kind of that two way role
and can you know, help transition the puck, help be a little bit
more of a stabilizing force at even strength and doesn't need to be on that
power play though he can be quite good and in fact, recently McMichael,
as much as we're talking about him, maybe not being as exciting, he's
trended up recently and had some pretty good scoring in the last you know,
several weeks. So I think there's still I know we weren't planning on talking
about McMichael, but you brought it up. So I do think that he's
a little bit too good for his own two versatile for his own goods like
Dawson Mercer as I wrote about recently, And if you look at some of
McMichael's even Strength contributions, he's a net positive goals four for sixty and not
terribly negative on that Washington Capitalist team is a little bit more even anyways,
Kristall, that's The issue with him is that he needs to be in that
insulated role where he is almost a power play specialist. I think in the
NHL right now for Kolowna, he's just ridiculous and scoring almost at will.
And the funny thing is that some of his defensive metrics are laughably poor,
but he has trended some of them in a little bit more of a positive
direction. In twenty twenty one to twenty two, he had some of the
worst defensive metrics in the WHL despite his great scoring, and he's improved that
a little bit over the last couple of years. So he just needs to
get to be defensively average. If he can get to that point and not
a liability on the ice, then he will get all the goal scoring.
I think he's a much Chrystal is a much more dynamic playmaker and offensive sort
of wizard compared to McMichael. McMichael was certainly more of a transition player.
He can skate really well, he can get the puck into the offensive zone,
and he can score once in there. But he's definitely more of a
transporter transition type player that can also leverage some of those other skills. So
I think it's one of those things where Christall needs to be in an offensive
situation. McMichael can do it, but he also can do other things,
and so that's what the team needs from him, which was always a worry
when he was coming up. You're looking at this capitalist team a few years
ago and you're thinking, who's going to be left when McMichael gets there,
And now we're seeing it. It's not so pretty. It's a little bit
of a skeleton crew, but they're hanging in there. They're hanging in there
on the playoff race, and I would think I would say that McMichael is
part of that. He's been part of the solution, not part of the
problem, even though you look at his numbers and yeah, maybe you want
more, but I think that Chrystal has a whole lot more to offer Jesse,
So it's okay to be excited about him. Okay, we got into
the McMichael comparison, but the one that we put to Mason Black to put
out on a poll on X was Andrew Christall versus Matthew Savoy, and wouldn't
you know, it came out dead even fifty fifty. Is that the way
you would break this down Victor a coin toss a pick them. I think
it's pretty funny that one hundred and twenty six votes and came up exactly dead
even So yeah, I think it's interesting Savoy, who's injured right now.
I you know, he's gone through some ups and downs. You look at
his pnhle and it's wandered from first line potential to just a little bit under.
And I think there's some questions about Matthew Savoy's translatability, so that would
make me a little bit concerned about picking his side. I'm still not one
hundred percent sold on Savoy transferring his skill. Translating his skill to the NHL
has a smaller forward No Zach Benson, who we saw do that immediately,
and he did have that stagnant D plus one season and then increased it in
D plus two. For Savoy, so he's been up and down. As
I mentioned Christal, even though he's trended slightly down this year, he still
has a super high equivalent seat. And I think that if he can just
like I said, if he can just get that defense to average, his
skill set at least on the power play is super translatable. He's someone who
demands top power play time if he's in the NHL, But maybe he's a
second or third liner and not a top liner. The rest of his game
is going to dictate where he can be, and it probably depends on who
they pair him with. So maybe he'll pair with one of their really good
prospects, maybe a Ryan Leonard, who knows, and we'll see how that
goes for him. But I between these two, I think I do think
it's close. I don't think it's unreasonable at all that the pole was tied,
But I would lean Christall just because I have more questions about the way
that Savoy is going to translate at all strengths and whether his offense will will
translate, So I would just lean a little bit more towards Kristall. But
both of these players have a lot of questions to figure out, and that
would make me a little bit concerned about having either of them on my team.
All Right, we got a few guys, so we got to keep
them rolling. Next up, we got Riley Height of the Minnesota Wild,
also a second round drafty last year. Cene left winger five eleven, who
is playing for the Prince. George Cougars up in the WHL and also really
scoring like crazy ninety five points and fifty four games. His fourth year on
the dub he keeps creeping up the charts. The team composition is similar to
the prior year in Prince George, although Zach Funk, who we've talked about
a little on the show, has passed him on scoring for Prince George.
The draft eligible Zach Funk, I believe Cowhen Zimmer has been hurt for the
past three months too, so actually the talent has probably thinned out on that
team a bit, but the team has been more successful from second to first
in their division of the WHL. I have read a little bit around about
Height and it seemed to suggest that his expected upside is a middle sixer.
But what do you think of Height's future potential? Is that a decent assessment
of him or is there maybe even more there? I think there's possibly more
there. I think he's one of the more polarizing players I would say in
terms of how to project him, I think you can't deny the production and
what he's done. I think he has first line upside. The question is
just whether can he get there, and that regardless of the draft position.
One of the guys that I really trust their evaluation is our hYP hearing site
of colleague Daniel Gee. I've always liked the things that he said, and
I've asked him about a lot of different players, and one thing I appreciate
about him is sometimes, even if it's a WHL player, he'll tell me
I've only watched him a few times. I don't really know, but Riley
Height plays in his backyard and he's seen him. I forget the number he
told me, but many times. So he had a lot to say about
Height, and I'm just going to read to you what he said because I
think it's really insightful. So this is from Daniel Gee. This season,
Height's game has taken a step. He uses his outside edges more in transition
to create advantages. He's a primary penalty killer for Prince George the Cougars and
scores more five on five. He's more engaged off the puck, supports his
defenders better, and faces shutdown qualities every game. Something to remember is that
Height has always been a top line player in the WHL his whole junior career.
This is the first season where he's playing against peers of his same age.
Height may have issues translating to the NHL game, but it's clear that
some work has been done to improve his overall game. He probably won't play
center at the NHL level, but he should be able to flex offensively off
the wing, especially with sustained pressure in the offensive zone. If he's unable
to sustain a career in Minnesota's top six, specialization may need to happen.
Developing the role of a skilled pest like player who can contribute on special teams
would be a fine career for the second round pick. So that's what Daniel
had to say. I think the note there, the off puck and the
engagement that was criticized a little bit about height in the draft discussion, and
the fact that can he round out the rest of his game, and it
seems like it's working in As you mentioned, I think a little less to
work with this year. So sometimes you look at the dipping points and you
say it was there a reason. Not having some of the talented teammates around
him is going to make a difference. So yeah, those are my initial
thoughts on Height. Jesse and Mason Black. The NHL ranking put up a
pull on x Riley Height versus Gavin Brindley, and Height comes out ahead fifty
three point eight to forty six point to Victor over Brindley. Yeah, in
short, I would say yes, I do think that I would lead Height
in this comparison. They were. Brinley was taken a bit earlier thirty fourth
overall just last year, so might have the draft pedigree. And I do
really like Gavin Brindley. We saw him at the World Juniors and he was
awesome. He and Hiszzar basically were at times the top line for the Americans.
And even though he's a smaller player, he doesn't really look like it
out there. He's just such a feisty player, high motor. But he
has a lot of skill too. He made some really strong skill plays that
weren't just strong for checking. So I really like that about Brinley. But
I just think that the scoring with height and the offensive acumen is just undeniable,
and I like them the maturity and what he's improved in his game so
far this year. If you look at hockey prospecting, has almost double the
star potential as Brinley, even though they're both on the rise, which is
really hard to do in your draft plus once he and then Mason Black's PNHL
E Height is dwarfing to some extent, or at least he's trending up.
They're both trending up, actually really well, maybe Brindley a little bit sharper,
So I really would be happy with both these guys. But I think
that Height probably has a better profile as a high end scorer compared to Britanley,
who might be more of a grinder third line who contributes some offense here
and there. But both these guys are our front guys are root for,
and I think that you'd probably be happy with either of them on your team
as a not for sure, but the guys that are trending in the right
direction. Let's move over to Philadelphia. Per guy you wrote up about a
month ago for ep Rinks side Owen, Tippett and tip it feels like one
of those guys who took a while, but his feet are firmly on the
ground now mid fifties points based guy an emphasis on the goals over assists pretty
much all the time in the NHL, which, hey, if I can
only have one or the other, thirty one of his thirty five points are
He's not juicing it up on secondary says, that's for sure to cam Atkinson
look same Jersey even sometimes maybe peaking at sixty points someday with more goals than
assists. He's already twenty five. Owen Tippett debuted in the NHL in twenty
seventeen eighteen. He debuted when the Sedines were still playing and Phil Kessel was
a top ten scorer. Now, Mija, that was one of those rookie
appearances, and then he disappeared for a couple more years back in the minors.
But just to point out that even though we still think of Tippett probably
as a pretty young guy because he's just establishing himself, he's been around a
while, getting very nice deployment in Philadelphia. I got a little with or
without you chart that shows he does a pretty good job improving the offense of
teammates when he is on the ice with them. What we're seeing right now
this fifties point pace Tippet. Is this peak Tippet or is this empty calories
that Tippet's getting on an under talented team in Philadelphia where he's just taken on
a bigger role. That is the crux of the article. That I dig
into. That is a really difficult question. And I actually wrote that before
he got extended, and I am a little skeptical about that extension providing positive
value. I think he's a really good player, and I think he has
shown that he can do one of the hardest things to do in the NHL,
and that is score goals. So you love to see that. I
think that the Flyers were brilliant in making that move, because you know,
go roll back the archives. I remember we talked about Tippett back when he
was a prospect and I was pretty high on him, and then even when
he was in Florida, thinking if he could just get more exposure to Barkhov
in the top six, I think he can score more because his rate stats
were always really good, but he was not getting the opportunity, and lo
and behold, he finally gets a little bit more time on ice than he
does really, so I'm not super surprised by that. Is six point two
million the right amount for a player who you know, how much is he
going to score? Is the question, because if you're talking about a forty
goal scorer, then six million is great. If you're talking about a twenty
five goal scorer, then maybe it's not so exciting. Right now, he's
on pace to get closer to thirty and so that's pretty decent. But in
terms of the overall impact, what else does he do, I'm just not
sure about that. And that's the thing is that he right right now he's
on a fifty four point pace, which is what he was on last year's
They've tried to play him a little bit more, but some of his other
metrics don't really align when you play him more, and that's that's part of
my concern is can he be a twenty minute a night kind of player,
And I'm not sure that's the case, even though his rate numbers are good,
But just giving someone more time on ice doesn't necessarily mean it's going to
translate to being more productive because you're going to have tougher matchups and all that.
So I'm a little bit skeptical about that. I love what Russ Coen
said about him in the article is that when all he has to do is
just get in the right position and shoot, he's fine. But sometimes when
he's out there too much and he has to think too much and he's not
with the right centerman, he can get a little confused about what he needs
to do, so I still have faith that he can figure it out.
I'm just not sure that he can be like a forty goal scorer. I
think that he's probably more in that thirty thirty line, which is still positive.
But it's like you have to view him through the appropriate lens on your
team. And I would just caution to not get too excited about Tippett because
I'm not sure that he's someone who can consistently be seventy points or more.
So that's my little caution with him, and I dig into it a little
bit more in the article, Jesse, don't think Nuki'll just hurt the team.
Owen Tippett up against Jared McCann in the head to head with Mason Black
the NHL rank king and this was a shocker to me. Victor seventy point
nine percent on the Owen Tippet train over Jared McCann. Boy, that's not
how I would see it, But I might still be irrational a little bit
about McCann from some of the advanced metrics he's put up over the years.
Is this the same way you rank him tip it over McCann. No,
way, I was surprised by this as much as you were, like,
not even close. It's totally in the Tippitt camp by a landslide, and
I definitely would favor McCann here, and I'm surprised it's not even close.
If it were close, I would say, Okay, I understand. Maybe
it's just the kind of thing where it's a little bit of who's exciting right
now and Tippet he is showing more promise right now. He's a little bit
more exciting but still an exciting sort of breakout. Tippet is a fifty three
point player? Is that really all that exciting? And a Can has been
that for a few years and he's broken sixty seventy point pace even with the
same amount of time on ice. I will say, I'm as frustrated as
anyone that Seattle does this sort of even deployment of their lines. And so
McCann I think deserves a lot more time on ice because I think he is
a top line winger. But the fact is that he's still producing even with
this amount of time on ice, and he's he's hit the forty goal mark.
Can you do it again? I don't know. We'll see it.
He did shoot a little high last season when he got to forty, but
he's shown that he can do it and he's only twenty sevens. I'm not
sure that is Tippitt even going to get to that same point. I'm a
little skeptical. So I definitely like McCann. Not only that, but it's
really funny. I looked at these Mason has these great spider grass If you've
never looked at this in the app, it's really cool. It shows you
all the contributions in terms of percentile in all the different categories. And these
two are like a mirror image of each other almost because because Tippitt actually blocks
a fair amount and hits a fair amount, whereas whereas McCann has a lot
more assists and power play points and a little bit more in pims. So's
they have multi category benefit, but in different ways. It might depend on
your league which one could be more valuable. So you just have to kind
of think about that. But I would have a hard time Jesse voting against
Tippett or voting against McCann just because he's been there, he's done that,
and even though Tippet is on the rise, I'm not sure he gets even
to the same level war McCann is and has done for the last couple of
seasons. Yeah, it's mind blown to me. But then Tippets, it's
a attractive fantasy profile. You get the hits, you get the shots,
you get the goals, even if it's not coming entirely with the points,
and I can get it. But Victor one. Two last players to talk
about, but we'll start it with Colin Graff. You wrote about him in
EP Ringkside. Second straight year for a player on this last year's champion team
to score point and a half per game and yet still go undrafted. A
twenty one Quinnipiac University's Colin Graft. He easily the leading scorer on that national
championship team. He's not small, Victor, I don't get it. Now
we have to wait for him to be a college free agent, Graft to
figure out where he will be in the NHL. This is one of those
Victor where you have to tell me, what is the reason why this guy,
even though he seems to be producing like crazy for a national champion college
team, can't get himself an NHL gig. I wish I knew the answer
to that. I asked a lot of people that question, and there were
a lot of confused responses too. He has absurd numbers. I don't understand
how you don't at least take a chance on someone who scored fifty nine points
in forty one games last season, led his team to the national championship,
was good in clutch moments. Like you said, he's not small. He's
six one hundred and ninety four pounds, so he's not tiny. He skates
well, he's competitive, he was hard to knock off the puck. Maybe
yeah, he's maybe not the most dynamic player. I think both of these
guys that we're going to talk about, graf and and Lipkin, who's in
the poll, they're both more product of their environment than other people, just
because that team is so good. They're older, they're coach really well,
they play a really strong system that creates opportunities, and they're strong defensively so
they create turnovers. But still you watch him play and you're like, yeah,
that seems like he could. He's probably not a top liner or even
a top sixer, but he certainly looks like he could be a middle sixer,
and he could provide twenty goals, maybe fifteen twenty goals in the NHL
at least. So I was confused and surprised. This says everybody, and
I talked to a lot of people asked that question, and they were like,
I don't really know. It seems like he should get a chance at
this point. He's gone to the draft too many times to be drafted,
but he can be signed as a free agent, so I'm sure teams are
going to line up to sign him. And that's probably the calculus that a
lot of them made, is that I don't want to waste a draft pick
on this guy. I'll just sign him next year, meaning this year.
So that's probably what's going to happen. But yeah, I think you got
to take a chance in terms of what to expect in your dynasty league.
Plaid it out in the article, But I think he's someone in a deep
enough league, like I'm in a twenty team, fifty man roster, he
should absolutely be rostered in that league. If you can take someone who hasn't
been drafted or hasn't been signed by a team, or you wait until he's
signed this summer and you add him, he should definitely be on a team.
If your league is that deep. But I wouldn't expect him to be
one of your most exciting prospers. Even though he's putting up gaudy numbers even
this season forty two points in twenty six games, I don't think he's really
going to do that. He's probably going to be more of a forty maybe
fifty point player in the NHL. So temper your expectations in terms of translating
to the NHL. But he absolutely should be on people's radar, and it
should be rostered in deep formats. If it's like a twelve or fourteen team
league. Maybe not, It depends on how deep it is. But yeah,
I think everyone's just as confused as you are, Jesse. No one
really had any good answers as to why. I think teams are just playing
chicken with each other and saying we'll just sign him next year. Yeah.
That's the thing is that for certain boy, you can't be drafted anymore.
And I suppose if you get him in the last year that you can't be
drafted. He might be like, look, I'm winning national championships here and
I'm not necessarily going to sign your team, So we'll just see how it
turns out anyway. Colin Grapp versus Sam Lipkin. You mentioned in Victor,
the other pride of Quinnipiac University, the defending NCAA champions, and Mason Black
put him up in a pole just to see what would happen. Lipkin at
least got drafted at one point, but Graf wins decisively just to see does
in the scoring category seventy basically seventy one to twenty nine is how it broke
down, But not too many votes on this one. Is Graf over Lipkin?
An accurate summary of the result here Victor. Yeah, it's interesting,
probably, but I think it's funny because Mason put up that poll. No
one was voting because no one knew what to say, and then he posted
a little explainer because it's not The equivalencies weren't in the app but he did
have some backdoor ability to add them, and he showed some graphs of their
potential, and graph has a little bit higher potential even than Lipkin. But
Lickman was drafted. He was drafted by the Codies in twenty twenty one in
the seventh round, so basically like the second to last pick possible, like
almost mister revelevant, and he's also got good size six two h and ninety
two pounds. Maybe a slight difference is that maybe they took a little a
chance on him because maybe they thought that he had a little bit more to
offer. He was drafted when he was in the USHL, and I don't
know that he was committed to Quinnipiac. As you mentioned, sometimes teams are
a little bit reluctant to sign players that are in college or going to college
because they worry that their rights are going to expire and then they get nothing
for him. So I guess the fact that the Coyotes have the rights to
him and maybe they'll give him a little bit more opportunity is interesting. But
if you just look at side by side their production, there's no question that
Graf has more production in the same or similar role as Lipkin. So I
think you have to lean that way if you were choosing between these two.
Although it's interesting you look at Hockey prospecting and graph is not in there,
but Lipkin is, and he just looks like a flat zero percent chance of
being a star. So that's a little bit, you know, humbling or
bringing you back down to earth. So to speak. So I think that
I still would choose Grap a lot of leagues. You probably can't add him
right now, and as Graf if you're wondering, but when he is able,
if either of these guys can be added in your league, I would
definitely add him. And I'm in a few leagues that are deep enough and
can add already. Draft are players that have been passed over in the draft,
and so they're already rostered in those kinds of leagues, and he should
be, and both of them should be. But if I had to choose,
I would take Craft as well. Jesse tremendous Victor. That is the
run through of the prospects we have to talk about today, and right after
this we'll come back to close out the show. Our reminder, our shows
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Let me tell you what, folks, I was kidding them a little
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