Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks, your source of information
and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Fuck off to step
on, stay lost. Here's your hosts, Jesse sup Here and Victor Nuno
being a See Hockey Live back once again. We're a little bit of Washington
Capital talk. I'm Jesse Severe of fan Tracks joining me. It is Victor
Nuno of Dabber Prospects. Victor, how you doing. I'm doing great,
Jesse. It's always a special episode and we talk about one of our hometown
teams or teams we follow, So this time it is your turn, the
Washington Capitals. And yeah, there's definitely a lot of interesting story lands here,
so I can't wait to dig into it. But first we have to
know how are you doing. I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Yeah,
I'm happy to talk a little bit of Washington Caps, but I certainly
am ready to talk lots of things. Victor. We've got to tell people
about the Patreon going on because the NHL Draft is coming close. In fact
even closer by the time you're hearing this, because you're listening to us from
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Patreon, Victor, to be able to prepare for that draft and how should
they do that. Yeah, there's a lot of great stuff that we have
and Patreon you can check out the ranks and have twenty twenty three ranks.
We have all the prospects under fifty games for goalies, hundred games for skaters.
You can check out their upside where I have them ranked, and all
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and extra bonus content there. So there's a lot of great stuff there to
be Following, we're gonna have patron cast, so definitely follow or check it
out at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life. You're darn right you should
do all those things, Victor. I want nothing more than to talk a
little Washington Capital, So why don't we go do that, dispensed with the
formalities and talk cats ready event, please to welcome back to the program,
Sammy Silver of the Hockey News, ready to talk a little Washington Capitals,
Sammy rocking the Red. You're not actually rocking the Red, but collectively we
will rock the Red as the talking Washington Capitals. How are you doing today?
I'm doing great. My my demon dog catching up my couch. So
we're doing good. We're doing great. So she might she might appear at
some point, but we're doing good. How are you guys doing doing great?
We're loving life, We're loving going through all the teams. So these
Capitals, it was a year out of the playoffs, and I know people
say, or I know people who say that ted Leonsis will never tank,
never rebuild. In this year they did, the Capitals did. It's very
clear that with the injuries and performance, they saw the writer and on the
wall, they saw that selling was the rational thing to do, and they
made their choices with the guys who weren't coming back as free agents, and
that meant a lot of guys aren't going to be just previewed on this episode
where we talking about next year's guys, Marcus Johansson, Garnett, Hath the
Way, Dmitriorla Larzeller, Eric Gustafsson, and when all of that left and
all the dust settled, they had two second round picks, two third round
picks, and Erasmus Sandane. We'll get to him a little bit later.
Hard to sight season long stats for a team like that, because it was
a completely different team by the end. They buried themselves in the standings early.
Then they had a sizzling eleven one and one for the last thirteen games
of twenty twenty two. Then they sputtered into the break, then a fire
sale, and then we were watching the lottery odds climb. It seemed every
day, how much should we expect this year to end up? Sammy is
really seeing the acceleration of that aging slope downward and how much of this is
a soft reset to get Washington back in the playoffs perhaps next year. I
think it was a strange year, right. It was strange because you had
the injuries at the start of the year. You're missing Nicholas Baxstrom, You're
missing Tom Wilson, you know, for that first half, and those are
two key guys. And you see this team make a lot of changes for
this year coming in, you bring in a guy like Dylan Strom, you
bring in Connor Brown. Obviously, he goes down three and a half games,
and he's a big part of your plans, not just some top six,
but on your palty kill, all that you change goalies and whatever reason
it was, this team just couldn't find consistency. And then you have a
Vetchkin who still scores forty goals and helps carry the team, but he also
misses a lot of time himself, which oddity, you know. So I
think that this team, though, is in an interesting direction. They're an
interesting case because I don't Leons this. It's been said multiple times that Leons
doesn't want to rebuild. Well, Ovius still here chasing Golds record, you
know, And I think that this team isn't going to do that until really
blow everything up, until he hangs them up until he passes ninety nine.
And I think he won't play until he passes ninety nine. I won't see
him just hanging them up without doing it. But yeah, so I think
that we're getting into a point this off season where it's going to be a
there's going to be change. Is it going to be an absolute fire sale
of craziness? I don't think so. I think the priorities. We're finding
a new head coach, we're remping the top six, They're gonna get younger
faster, and they're gonna turn to Hershey for some of those guys waiting for
their chance. So I think right now we're entering a soft rebuild part.
We'll see how it goes next year. I don't expect things to really blow
up until the ov era officially ends until that Stanley Cup window is a officially
closed, and they faced a lot of questions. We'll see where it goes
for sure. That makes perfect sense to me. Like you said, let's
start with the captain. Victor and I we're fantasy players. Is the best
he is at the top of the charts pretty much, especially the way he
scores his goals, he takes his shots, he gets his hits. Still
a top twenty player for that and it was pacing for top ten. But
like you said, there was a lot of time missed and that is not
normal for OVI. Only seventy three games this year. But some of that
had to do with things like the tragedy of losing his father. There was
a little bit of late season injury stuff. I'm not sure how how much
he might have played through if the Caps were continuing for a playoff spot or
trying to contend for a playoff spot at that point. Do you think that
there was anything about this season that makes you think he's going to hang around?
I agree to keep chasing that Gretzky record, but is he going to
have a season next year more like that ninety point one twenty two season or
more like his seventy five point season? This are we starting to see a
little bit of the slowdown from the big guy. I forget who was last
year. It might have been Daniel Strong. Somebody one of them told me
he never bet against the big man, and I agree with them. You
look at a guy like Ovie and the way he takes care of himself,
the way he conditions you see him up close, and just how strong he
is, how big he is, how much passion he still has, and
you know how hard he still plays the game, and no matter what,
at this point, it doesn't matter if you know what's coming, He's still
going to find a way to find the back of the net when he shows
a time and time again, and saying that, you look at five point
season, but you also look at the numbers as a whole. And you
see a guy who, despite losing his father, despite playing through some gnarly
stuff, he puts up forty two goals and breaks the all time record for
the most forty goal seasons. That's a guy. You see him go out
every single time. He loves to score goals. He loves one of his
teammates score goals. He just loves the game. So I think with Ovi,
I think hopefully next year, carring any injuries, I think, hopefully
things in his personal life. I hope nothing but the best. He's a
great guy. By carring any injuries, I don't see him him slowing down.
There's no signs of it. There are no signs of it at all.
Even like Wayne was sitting three away from eight Hunter, he goes out
and scores a hat trick in that game. You know what I mean.
It's just it's it's amazing to watch him every night, It really is.
So I think we see another strong goal scoring season. I think that the
total points will depend on how many games he plays. But I don't see
him slowing down goal scoring department. He'll find a way of score goals in
any way. Though I believe it was once Alexelvetchkin, who said I liked
to score. I liked a goal. So you know the philosopher Alexilvetkin.
Well, you set me up for the next guy. Dylan Stromee, the
man who said that quote was really one of the bright spots of a rush
rough year. Really flourished on this team, Victor and I did not quite
see coming the heights that he reached this year. As a top one hundred
type producer for Fantasy helps to have your most frequent linemate be Alexelvetchkin. I
guess that's the first thing. He topped his prior career high of fifty seven
points by having twenty three goals forty two assists for sixty five points this year's
second on the team and less than two shots a game half a block per
game. But again, your job is to get the puck to Ovie for
him to shoot it. Oddly, Strom played less than seventeen minutes a game,
but still had the second most power play time on ice minutes on the
team as well, and a lot of his scoring came at the end of
the season. And I talked about that slide they had at the end,
twenty five points in twenty games, in that March April duldrum that they suffered
through. He was rewarded. Maybe maybe it was would be the new contract
he got mid season, a nice five year contract five million per in February,
making his future term actually the longest reaching on the roster. So Dylanstrome
was this improvement? For real? Is this a guy who's going to be
this Dylanstrom Or as this roster settles out and new guys come in, is
he going to slip down to a lesser role in the future, Sammy,
I think that Dylanstrom is definitely a part of the future. For can you
look at a guy who he's got quite the road so far? It goes
start overall. I goes to Arizona, cannot really find footing in Arizona,
and Arizona's Arizona. And then you go to Chicago and Chicago has its flaws,
but he also can't really find his solidified spot there. And then he
comes to Washington one year see it and he blows it out of the water.
When playing with Ovie helps while you look at his play, he's showing
off the hands, the speed, you know, everything that he brings to
table, the playmaking the hockey IQ. It's all there. There's a reason
that he was the number one center, and you look at the future,
it doesn't look like a lot of those centers might be around for much.
Along me a Backstrom and there's questions surrounding Backy, and we have kuznets Off,
who it peers. Both sides aren't really headed in a positive direction right
now. And that's two top six guys right there who've made up your core
for a very long time. But you see a guy like Stromer and he
comes in and his voice carries in the room, and body loves him,
and there's a team too. He was telling me that he really feels at
home. It's been a road where he was in Arizona and then moved to
Chicago and was looking to really push and be like I am home. This
is where I fit. And he's at the perfect age and in the perfect
time where he's hanging his prime and he feels at home. And confidence carries
Confidence carries you, and it pushes you to Even when I play, if
you're playing with confidence, you feel like a different person. And he's feeling
it right now and saying he showed at the end of the season, though,
is that consistency. When he was like, Oh, I'm not gonna
just put up a bunch of points and then stop. He keeps going and
he can do it all. He can play several roles, he can win
face offs, and you know, he can make things happen. So I
think that five year deal was McClellan saying this guy was going to be a
voice in our room and a corps member and a part of our future.
He was a high pick for a reason. I think finally he's able to
show it, and I think Washington ended up being the fit that he needed.
Yeah, great to have a guy like him in his prime, as
you said, because nets you mentioned it, it looks like you said he
could be on the way out. He asked for a trade, that asked
that eventually got out. At least, as I understand the rumor mill,
his year was below his normal standard points per sixty, dropping to its lowest
rate since his sophomore year of twenty fourteen twenty fifteen. The talk this offseason
on Kouzi has really moved to whether he's even going to remain what happened with
kuznets off this year, Sammy, and is he going to be back into
Capitol's uniform next year. Yeah, Kouzi is an interesting case. I think
there were stretches where he played really good and he was really feeling like he
was in his element, and then there were just times where you know,
whatever, you know, inconsistency, effort, it just wasn't there, and
he just you look at the shooting percentage, it was at an all time
low. Like you said, the points per game just dropped and there wasn't
consistency that they needed from a top six guy, and McCollum said he was
disappointed. And with regard to the trade talk, talking to kuzets Off about
what leaked, he mentioned he's oh, I asked them where those reports came
from. And I don't think players are ever gonna outwardly come out and say
to the media, I want out, you know what I mean. I
don't know if that's a thing, but like it he I don't know.
I think with kuzets Off, both sides aren't really headed on positive track right
now. I think there's frustration probably for Kustzof, and there's frustration probably for
mccollin for washing him for the front office because is this gonna this happened?
In twenty twenty one two where he couldn't really put up a consistent effort night
and night. Ali ran to some disciplinary issues here and there, and then
you have a bounce back yere last year, and then he can't keep it
going. And this team means right now and effort where they can keep it
going. So looking at the situation right now and just where things stand in
the reason Fedtov comments came out from a friend of his who mentioned that he's
disengaged, disinterested in Washington. I think he may be on the way out,
and I think it might be saying that Washington needs because there needs to
be some kind of change if there's that desire to revamp the top six,
bringing in a top sixth center who would really do half of the job there
for you. But yeah, I'm very talented player, very skilled player,
and you see what I can do with his shootout moves and his hands and
his speed and zone. He just for one reason or another just couldn't keep
it going on night to night basis. And you could tell he was frustrated
as well with the results, and he said he was confident he could bounce
back next year. I just don't know if management wants to either believe it
until they see it, or if they want to revamp and just say okay,
we're done, let's turn the page here. Yeah, I still say
the year they won the Stanley Cup, you can't not give the Consummite the
Obie. But because Netsalf was the best player in that playoff run, to
me that year guy you never have to worry about in terms of effort.
Well Tom Wilson, Willie He of course, the big story of his season
was the ACL injury that took away the first half of the season, and
one of the questions I know we talked about last year is could this team
survive until he and some other guys that will talk about returned. They got
him back January eighth. He played a few games, then he took a
puck off the other leg, missed a few more games, but finally made
it back in played it out after the fire sale. Primarily for that final
run, mostly played next to Alexovetkin, and he scored twenty two points,
including thirteen goals in those last thirty three games. He also he made three
hits a game, two and a half shots a game of block per game.
He made up for lost time In terms of pimps. He wrecked up
pimps at his highest rate since twenty sixteen seventeen. So it's not like he
was shying away from contact after he came back from these injuries. So Tom
Wilson, to me, is a guy who, when he's fully recovered from
his injuries, is going to be back playing at that level, maybe even
a different level offensively. I don't know what do you see for Tom Wilson
next year. We're gonna see that continued sort of mid career trajectory where he's
become a pretty effective scorer and offensive in addition to being that physical presence on
this team. Sammy, I think so, I think, like you said,
you never have to worry about Willie's effort. He's a guy who bleeds
red, white and blue. He loves that team, and you can see
it every time I see him. He stares at the rink like it's his
first time there, you know what I mean. So you have a guy
who's that passionate, who his voice carries, He sticks up for his teammates.
He isn't going to shy away from playing the physical style he's known for.
That's not Tom Wilson to step back, you know. But he from
a disciplinary standpoint, he's played a strong, heavy, clean game when hasn't
ran into the suspension stuff he used to. And he's really coming to his
own I think we talked about Stromer hanging his prime. We're seeing Tom Wilson
really embody that. I'm a higher tier for former pick in the draft,
and there's a reason I went that high. And he's just he plays his
heart out every night. And I think you see, like you said,
playing on Alexovetkin's line helps, but he also had great chemistry. Wames with
facts from in Milano, the BMW line I liked to call it. I
don't know if it caught on. I always try to make things catch on
them they don't. But yeah, no, he and he plays a game
where he has that speed and I has that vision and where he's okay,
I can play physical, but I can wheel around guys too. I can
really shoot the puck. I can make smart passes, I can be crafty,
and you're seeing him become an all around player. And I honestly believe
when the ovar ends, he's the guy who gets the sea. There's a
reason why so I think he keeps it going and there's no reason why not.
He The ACL injury, I think really showed just how important he was.
He missed a lot of production because you look at that second half and
it was a heck of the second half. So I think him coming back
fully healthy, fully able to train in the off season, you're only going
to see him get better and better. I expect big things from Wilson.
All right, next guy we're going to talk about is Timothy Jimothy O'shee.
We had a preseason rank. I had him in the one seventies and Jesse
eighty. Of course he missed time, but he actually ended up right around
one seventies. That was accurate. I didn't hear him last year Jesse said
tier three. We have him at teeth tier three this year. Mentioned the
injuries, so he missed a couple. He was out several times with what
sounds like his back. He had a radio frequency ablation, which I do
know a bit about that procedure, but it shouldn't your take. When O'shee
was in he had fifty eight games played forty forty nine point pace. The
other thing is that his ice time has really been trending down for the last
several years. But when he's out there, of course fantasy gms want to
know and are interested still because he gets that power play time on ice with
Ovie and Carlson and all the heavy hitters there. It makes sense. But
that's really the time that he's out there, because his even strength contributions have
been pretty poor and his defensive metrics are not great. Dom does does the
market value in his five point a million dollar contract, which they have for
another year after this upcoming line, so two years he has a negative one
point nine surplus there because of his overall impact. But if he can still
put up powerplay points and get back to his scoring ways, and we're going
to be interested. So that's really what we need to know. What do
you know about his back conditions? I know that didn't really make sense for
him to keep going. It sounds like maybe he could have, but they
just shut him down. And this procedure that he hadn't doesn't really sound to
me like it's all that concerning. But is he going to be back and
ready for next season? And can we expect him to maybe get over a
fifty point pace? Yeah, it's rough. Couple of years for os which
you look at him and such a big part of their locker room, the
motor of their room. A high energy guy who when you talk to him,
he like never stops moving. He's like always doing something, always energetic,
always enthusiastic, and that's the kind of guy you need. The back
procedure isn't wasn't that serious. It took I think he told me like five
to ten minutes. His son was with him. He was playing trucks while
oh she was getting the procedure and he was in out painful. I don't
think double blish. It is something that is very pleasant but helped all I
said. I felt light years better after I got it, and for the
first time, I think, oh, the first time in a long time.
It's going to be full normal summer of training, full summer of focusing
on areas that he wants to and like you said, when he's in,
he was thought. He racked up quite a few goals for a guy who
spent a lot of time in the lineup, and there's a clear oh she
effect or where the team kneel in. He provides so much on the ice,
but off the ice, he having that energy and that person in the
room is contagious, and it excites your roster, it jolts your bench.
So I think with this procedure, I'm not really there's not really concerns about
anything bigger happening. He said. He felt light years better. It didn't
really sound like anything else is coming through the pipeline. The back was the
biggest issue that shut him down at the end, because these there are three
more games. You have a guy whose back is clearly hurting him. Why
are you going to put him out there if there's no playoffs to put one?
Obviously, you want to play for pride, you want to play games.
You're in the NHL, but you're not going to put a key player
out there who's hurting for three games aren't going to make a difference in the
standings department. I think we see a good year from Motion. I think
he comes to training camp, ray to rock and hopefully that one procedure keeps
him feeling light years better. I'm not a doctor. I wish I was.
That'd be cool, but I'm not sure if it's a precursor to anything.
If it wears off, maybe things get worse. I don't know,
he said. He was sealing there. He sounded really positive and excited about
it, and I think he comes to training camp and we go from there.
But he's another guy I haven't seen injuries. Yeah, but even the
playoffs last year, he was fighting through a lot of stuff and was leaning
the team with a huge postseason stat wise. I think you still see big
things out of Oshe. It's just a matter of staying healthy at this point.
Awesome, Yeah, thanks for I was gonna offer my insights because I
am a physician and a neuromuscia skeletal specialist, So I'll just mention a little
bit about this procedure because when you're talking about back issues, it can be
scary, right, There are a lot of issues that can happen people didn't
have chronic problems. That tends to be the case if there's major structural issues,
disc problems, if there's herniations, if there's instability ligmentous issues. What
it sounds based on what o'she had, is that there's a part where the
two parts of the spine come together they called the facette joints, and the
facette points. That's where it moves. That's like the pivot point. And
so when things get inflamed or irritated. It's really uncomfortable anytime you move.
And so what this procedure is you can go in there with ltocaine and numb
it up and it feels great, and then if that helps the pain,
they basically just go in there with a little probe. They heat it up.
There's a nerve that innervates that fiset specifically, so it burns the nerve
so to speak. It doesn't fully burn it, it just stops it from
being so sensory, so easy to be excited. And that procedure can be
repeated multiple times. So if he was good after one, that's great.
It is something that can be done multiple times, or you could just inject
latocaine. So if that's all it is, I would be very not worried
about his ability to be better. If it was something where they're taking out
part of a disk or other kind of arthritis or other issues, that would
be much more concerned. But read, when I read what was on the
Road to Wire and what people were reporting, it sounded much worse than based
on what someone I think Udie finally reported what the actual procedure was, and
I was like, oh, that's nothing if that's all it is, But
then you don't always know if that's all it is. There might be other
things too, and some people get radioblation and then don't do well with it
and need something else. And so that's great to hear that he really felt
good after that, because that's really that, like you said, should be
fine, then it should be able to contribute and do really well next year.
So hopefully that was helpful. I'm happy to do this on other players.
But the thing is we don't usually know. Teams and players don't tell
us usually what players have done, and so people always ask me, and
I'm like, I don't know unless I know what they had done, specifically
what procedure. Victor, I think you're too indurted this man. That sounds
horrible. I know he said it's not that bad, but that sounds horrible.
I never want to do that to my back. He said it felt
like knives, was what she was say. He got on Friday, and
he said it took five to ten minutes. He didn't look like a guy
who had anything else taken out. Yeah, I think we're good on that
front. When you talk about painful injuries, hips supposedly are like the worst.
Let's talk about Nicholas Backstrom. Future Hall of Famer. You heard me,
Future Hall of Famer. Nicholas Backstrom will turn thirty six early next year,
and he finally came back from his injuries in January. Boy twenty one
points in thirty nine games. That's not Backstrom numbers. Eleven of those came
on the power play. His defense actually came back a little bit this year
from the advanced metrics and the power play, but the offense was not there
for him this year. I guess you wonder it could be a recovery trajectory
or this could just be maybe the beginning of the end. I don't want
to be too negative, but what can Backstrom still be? Sammy a fifty
point fifty point center to power play specialist? Or you think there's still some
big upside for this guy? Yeah? No. You look at a guy
like Nick and I know I say all the question stuff. I'm like,
you see how much they care about hockey. There's some of the most passionate
guys you'll ever meet, and Backstrom is definitely one of them. He worked
incredibly hard to come back from something that not a lot of people, if
any come back from and this one was a doozy. That's a big procedure
to undergo. It's a big decision. It left a lot of questions for
management, being like, is he even gonna skate again? But he's been
living pain free for the first time in a long time, and he's been
skating without pain for the first time in a long time. And yeah,
you look at the numbers and his play and maybe not as much speed as
there once was, maybe not as much flashiness as there once was. You
look at the point tools still put them on pace for around like forty four
forty five points in a fully two game season, So it's not they're like
fourth line numbers. You've totally spiraled downward. But mccollin. Backstrom was very
optimistic when we talked. No, he was happy to finally look forward to
a full summer where he can do what he instead of rehabilitating, which was
every single year since that first surgery in twenty fifteen, and last year you
saw a guy who was very done from a standpoint of like his how much
pain he could tolerate anymore? He could not tolerate it anymore. And now
that's not there, and but you're coming back mid season, You're dealing with
line changes on the fly. You're essentially coming in without a full training camp
you know you have to, and without full offseason train You did your rehab,
escape by yourself, escape with the team. A couple of times,
you get contact and you're thrown into a game again, and that's a lot
to come back from. If Backstrom will be Nicholas Backstrom again, you got
to see how it has come training. You know, from a drive standpoint
from who he is, I expect Backstrom to come back and bounce back and
be the nick that everbody knows. But mccollin wasn't completely sold on the optimism
that Backstrom had. He was he needs to make a decision here about his
career because he said, how much better does it get? Because you look
at Backstrom and it's not like you said, like, it's not the Nicholas
backstrum from two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine. But I think
at this point what we look for is how camp goes, and that I'll
answer a lot of questions. I think he'll still be here for the start
of camp and we'll see how that full summer really benefits and a lot of
it too. I mean we had the physicians standpoint here, but when you
also had the hip, but you also he has to get a lot of
strength back in that like too. It's not just the hip, but you
gotta get He was very big on getting the strength back in his left leg
and I think if he does that, getting that muscle back in the place
you need it, that's going to help your skating and improve it. Twofold,
you know what I mean. So I think we see what a full
off season can do from him, and I honestly think we'll see a better
Nicholas Backstrum if he's able to have that full summer of training, because he
pushes himself to be the best that he can be, and I think with
a full summer he'll do that. So well, one more group of four
is to give you in just a pick them between two sort of more down
ballot boards on this team. Right now, you got Sunny Milano, you
got Anthony Manantha Milana was a very happy surprise to me. Thirty three points
and sixty four games coming in off the street rewarded with a respectable one point
nine million for three year contract. Not bad for a guy who was basically
cast off by the Anaheim Ducks, who were like the worst team. And
Anthony Mantha is down to the last year of his contract. Things probably have
not gone particularly well in his time in Washington. I think everybody would probably
agree. But yeah, of these two guys, who do you think is
going to be the better impact for Washington next year? I'm gonna go with
the guy that I definitely know we'll be here next year, and that's Sunny
Milano. Like you said, it was a good surprise. There's a reason
they were worn in with the three more years because he came in, he
saw the opportunity and he ran with it. He plays a smart game.
He's a very young, fast talent, and that's saying that Washington needs right
now. I think I think you look at Manthon and there's there's a guy
who he came in red hot when it came over from the deadline, and
then he comes in for his first full season DC and separated shoulder comes back,
can't really find his game after that comes into this season, he can't
find consistency. He's getting shots and he's getting breakaways. He just can't finish.
There are times where he looks good and there are times where he just
doesn't, and then that leads to the minutes just going down, and then
the healthy scratches, and then you see a player whose confidence has just gone.
He's working with a mental coach though he's really trying to set look at
his game and be like, Okay, what's going on here? Is it
my effort? Is it my shooting? Isn't my skating? What you know
when you see a guy who says that he wants to improve that, But
you also see maybe Key and Lava Led didn't see eye to eye on a
lot of things. Mantha was like, I don't know if it was really
me and Lava La. But you also see the healthy scratches and Mantha not
being able to find consistency within lov Lex systems, and you wonder, hey,
is a coaching change going to bring out the Anthemantha that the Caps traded
Verona for or is this a time like with kusensof where you look at a
player who mccollin's, Okay, this was a disappointing season. Are you gonna
wait for the coaching change see what it is? Because maybe the trade value
is not that high right now, or there's one year left, are you
gonna look maybe to move on and say, okay, let's just see what
we can get in return and maybe have a younger god come in. Not
that man, not that Mantha's getting up there in years at all. It's
just a matter of Okay, are we gonna wait and see how he does
with a new coach and maybe having a new system, we'll bring out that
player that we want, or are we just gonna revamp because we haven't seen
a lot. He's a very It's a strange case to me because you've only
had one full season of Mantha. That's been this one, and it's been
but and you look at twenty twenty one, twenty two, and he misses
so much time with that shoulder, and when he comes in in March,
and you only get so many chances. But you look at this year and
you're just you're not blown away. So yeah, I think if we're looking
at impact players for next year, if you want a surefire, what you're
getting pick it's sunny Milano. But we'll have to wait and see what happens
with Mantha. I think he could really be somebody who benefits from a coaching
change, and I think that might just be as good for him as a
change of scenery would. So it'll be interesting. He'll be interesting to watches.
It's a fun team to cover, let me tell you so. Never
a dull moment. A lot of things to follow here, for sure,
and we're almost done with the forwards. Those are the main guys. I
wanted to ask a couple more small short questions here. One of them is
on even mursh Nashenko. He was able to recently terminate his KHL contract.
We're going to talk a lot more detail about him in another part of the
show, but just wondering what you think the chances that he makes the team
and plays with the Caps next season, or is he destined for the HL.
I think the Caps are very thrilled that he's coming to North America.
Regardless of where he ends up. You either see him up in DC helping
your top nine, or you see him adapting to the game at the HL
level with a very good Hershey team. I think, looking at the way,
looking at the way that things stand now, I see him starring in
Hershey just because you got to adjust that North America. He's still, he
was great this past season, moved up to the KHL, deservedly, fought
through a lot of things to come back and be a strong presence and be
cancer and all of that. And you want to continue to develop him and
get him to his full potential. So I think starting him in Hershey is
the best bet. But a training camp is also a thing where anything can
happen. You saw it with Hendricks Lapierre a couple of years ago where he
blew everybody out of the water. You saw it with Protaz this last year
where he went from being a part time Hershey call up to full time nhlre
sent down a couple of times. I'm mainly up with NHL roster and in
the lineup because of the job he did a training camp and taking that opportunity
further and running with it. I see Marischenko starting in Hershey, but I
wouldn't be surprised if he gets a couple of games up in DC. Nice.
That would be fun to see. And the other question, I know
we talked a lot about Ovie back from Kouzi Strom who played with Opie,
who do you think spends the most time with him, Because that's really going
to dramatically boost their fantasy stock. I know it's impossible to say, but
if you had a sense just based on where they're all out in their careers
and the team dynamics and who works well who plays the most time with Obie,
if we're talking one player, I think you have stromer. That was
the best combination this year was the one where Ovechkin was on Strom's wing.
The two just have very good chemistry. I think Strom knows exactly where to
find him, and I think they just work very well off each other and
they mutually benefit each other. We were talking about how Otkin makes Strom better.
Strom also keeps and you have a guy who's also planned on the paraplay
with him making a great one two punch with him. You don't know where
KU's nuts is going to be. I don't think the Ovechkin Backstrom deo is
in a place to be what it once was. I don't really think with
what both have been through, I think that the Strom fit has been very
good. Not to say that back from my own about ton chemistry, because
they do and on multiple levels. But I think looking at who plays with
the most, I would imagine that's that's still in Strom and keeping Tom Wilson
on that top line. I think it is something you're going to see.
All right, you just made Strom and Wilson's fantasy stock rise, so thank
you for that. They're very well. Let's move over to the defense now.
So they lost two of their better defenseman at the trade deadline, or
Lav and Eric Gustafson. I know Olav and his media availability this summer.
Or talked about the fact that he wouldn't rule out coming back as a UFA,
but he's not signed right now, so we're not going to include him.
But we have to start, of course, with John Carlston. Coming
into this season, I had him ranked as the seventh, the Jesse fifth.
He ended up eighth. Of course, we know he missed time and
he's a Tier one guy all day as long as we're concerned. What a
scary injury if people hadn't heard, he was hit in the head with Brendan
Dillon slapshot. If you watched the video, he sees it come and turns
his head, hits the side of his head and that's a really a sensitive
area where the temporal artery is and it's very adherent to the skull and he
actually had a lot of bleeding and it was really scared. Luckily, the
trainers and everything were able to quickly help stop that and he was able to
get the medical attention. And I think you can make the argument that his
absence was one of the main reasons the Caps missed the playoffs. They were
in a playoff position when he went down in December, and they were out
of it when he did return. But thankfully he returned and looked great and
doesn't seem like he's gonna have any long lasting effects from that, because that
was scary. When Carlson was in the lineup, he was pretty close to
his usual self from the least offensively, the point pace was down slightly from
the last few years, but I think you could forgive all that with the
injury. His defensive impacts continue to slip a little bit, but according to
Dom's model, he still has the two point five million dollars surplus on his
eight million dollar contracts, so he's pretty worth it. Sammy, what do
you think are we going to see more slippage from Carlson in the role that
he has maybe with razum Nandine in town or is it still Carlson's power play
and all the ice time he can handle and keep him what we've thought of
him in terms of production for the last couple of years. Yeah, you
Hugh said it. I mean we even talking to Ovie about what the turning
point was this season. It was when John Carlson went down. It was
in that moment you could tell Y was pretty shaken up. And I think
what happened after that is this team was just missing such an important piece.
And I think that kind of answers it all. You know, this is
John Carlson's blue line, It is John Carlson's power play. You see a
guy like Sandy come in and he can move the pock and he can fire
at home. He can make have fifteen point nineteen games. And John Carlson
is still John Carlson. He's still great offensive asset. He can still score.
You can rip it from the point, he can make those passes.
He still has great chemistry, and it's very scary and I think that injury,
like you said, it's a scary one. Defensively, Yeah, there's
some slips there, I think, but also depends on what we might see
again. New head coach might have a different system and things change. From
that standpoint, you never know, but this is still John Carlson's team.
Like you said, the injury fractured school, severed temporal artery, a lot
of blood, three months miss. But I think the hardest part for him
was just so your way for so long and you feel good, but you're
basically told no, you gotta sit. You gotta sit a little bit longer,
you know what I mean. And when he finally does come back,
there there's russ to shake off. Even after that first game, he was
like, yeah, sometimes Pops came up and I got a little mean or
I felt a little bit of ross. But he's a guy who makes an
impact. He can still pull it off. I don't see I don't see
a lot of significant slippage. I still think John Carlson. It is John
Carlson and the injury. From an injury standpoint, he thanks said he felt
fine for the most part. There wasn't too much lingering pain to worry about.
Obviously, when you get hit in the side of the head, it's
gonna hurt, you know, I mean, and when you get stitched up.
And what happened is he told me the helmet actually went into his head.
The puck hit him in nine miles per hour, and the inside the
helmet actually cut the temporal artery and went into his head, fracturing the skull,
which hurts, but luckily no long lasting effects. He was never diagnosed
with a concussion, although he says, okay, it was a blow to
the head, did I have a concussion? But no, no lingering headaches,
anything like that. So I think from a health standpoint, from a
cognitive function standpoint, I think he's perfectly fine. I think you can expect
Carly to be Carly. So ho key players, man, all right?
Martin Martin Favari was another guy I thought was a nice surprise. This Slava
native I'm going to brought Aslava in a few weeks. Maybe I'll look him
up. Was taken in the second round of the twenty eighteen draft, and
would you believe he is fifteenth and Hockey reference point share in his career from
that draft nineteen in games played of the two hundred and seventeen guys who were
picked that weekend. His contributions don't come up so much in scoring. He's
more of a defensive specialist. He averages a point only every four games,
but two blocks, three hits per game, did some good things for the
Capitals. This is this a guy who ever could get an offensive role in
What do you think his contributions will be with this upcoming Caps team? Yeah?
No, you hit the nail on the head. He's a defensive defenseman.
He's a Martin Fervari is a force to be reckoned with. He can
lay the body. He's very strong, he skates extremely well, very fast.
But I think his strongest assets are that physicality, that strength and that
skating. You can tell he can back checks. There's no tomorrow. He
can win those board battles. He doesn't mind sacrifice in the body when it
comes to offensive roles. And he the guy can move the puck. He
has a good first pass out of the zone. Spoo skating doesn't hurt when
you're carrying up the neutral zone. Certainly doesn't hurt when you're joining the rush.
He can shoot, he can get to the right places. I think
you've also seen him. He has a wide open slot and what he can
do with time and space makes a heck of a different now. And I
think Marty, though, you look at him and he's the shutdown defenseman that
the team needs on the top four. And that's why I think he's a
good guy. That that compliments Carlson very well, because you have Carlson who's
the offensive minded guy and who can show Marty a thing or two when it
comes about you joining the rush and being the mover in that catalyst. And
then you have Mry who can hang back a little bit and worry about that
defensive role. That Carlson his priority is going to let me be the offensive
defenseman you shut down. That's gonna make a great tandem then there and but
yeah, like you said, the point shares all that stuff. He logs
a lot of ice time, he can play heavy minutes. There's a team
that is really leaning into youth on that left side. Carlson's the right handy,
and you got TVR on the right, you got him on the right.
You know, you got Jensen on the right. But on the left
you have all twenty three year olds right now, you got Marty, you
got Rasmus, and you got Alexeiev and leaning on that youth. Relying on
that youth, you're going to see Ferrivori logging even more ice time, and
you're going to see him probably an increase in his rule too, because like
you said, there's no Warlove. I don't think we're Loove's coming back if
we're looking at that from that standpoint, and rule out Washington. But he
also said if they treated me, I don't really know if it's gonna work.
And from what I mccollin saying, oh, he was leaning toward exploring
free agency, and both sides can really come to something. I just don't
see him fitting in, especially with the team that wants to re vamp up
front. You're gonna be happy with Rasmus Sandean and your blue line and maybe
adding one more guy. With that being said, you're missing a guy like
orl Up on the left side. You need somebody to step up, and
now you have sandin. But don't rule out Fairrevari. He can move fast.
He's a big guy too. It's not like he's like a small dude.
He doesn't have a booming shot. He very strong. A lot of
strength and size and speed doesn't hurt when you're trying to join the rush.
Like I said, so, I think he's still coming into his own.
He has a long way to go, and if he keeps playing with Carlson
down the stretch for these years to come. I think you're going to see
him take on a bigger offensive role as time goes, and as the Carlson
era winds down, you gotta have somebody else step up, and I see
them relying on him. You mentioned his name a couple times already, Rasmus
Sandean gotta mention him. I had him ranked right around the one hundred mark
Jesse a little after that, and he did finish ninety seventh in Turn of
Fantasy Skaters. We didn't rank, we didn't tier him last year, and
this year we'd think of him more as a Tier two guy. Getting out
of Toronto was huge for Sandeine. I've been a fan for his for a
while, but he he didn't really receive the role. And with Carlson down,
we saw a little what Sandeen can do. Twelve points in nine games,
assuming I counted those correctly. You mentioned fifteen and nineteen either way,
some pretty strong production there in spurts and the limited sample size that we saw
from Santene, his offensive impacts in terms of his expected goals for Purcier are
really high. His defensive impacts are neutral to maybe slightly negative. Is according
to Dom's model. His one point four million dollars salary was way under his
eight point seven million dollar market value, So that was pretty awesome value for
him. And he has one more year with the Caps at one point four
million until he's in RFA, So this is a really excellent opportunity both for
the Caps to reap that surplus value and for him to prove that he's worth
a lot more than that for his next deal. So you already mentioned a
little bit, but what do you expect from Sandeene in twenty twenty four.
Sounds like he'll get more secondary power play time and maybe a secondary scoring role
behind Carlson. But do you think he can get over that forty five point
pace mark? I think so. I can you look at mccollins acquisition of
Standin, and you look at a guy like Gustison who was really coming into
his own important part of this year's blue line. When you see the first
round pick that they acquire from Boston, go right back out. When I
think you look at a guy like Sandein and he's a twenty three year old
up and comer who can move the puck really well, Like you said,
never really received the opportunity with Toronto, and once he gets in Washington,
he takes it and runs with it. I think you saw some maybe a
couple of defensive struggles in his first couple of games, just because you're still
adjusting to a change in scenery. But he came into his own, he
really did. And he's a guy who can log power play time, he
can play heavy minutes. He skates really well, makes a good first pass,
can find guys really high hockey iq I. He immediately fit with a
vetch game was setting him up for his one time or so. You have
a guy who knows where to put the puck, knows when to pass,
knows when to shoot, knows when to jump up in the rush, knows
when to get back, hustles, works hard, and I think that looking
at Sanden, you're going to get a guy who is coming into his prime,
wants to be a part of the team's long term future, and when
given an opportunity, seizes it. You see a guy finally get Okay,
we're gonna believe in you and we're gonna give you a top four role.
And what was he do with it? He puts up fifteen and nineteen.
So if he keeps that a role next year, and he always says,
I don't want to be just given a top four spot just because I'm here.
I want to earn it. And he's a driven guy, so I
think he's going to have to win it when he wants to win it.
He want to sit back and just get a top four spot. To get
a top four spot, you want to work for it. I see big
things for him. I see him hitting at least a forty five point mark.
Good puck mover, and I'm really good pick up for them and definitely
something that that they wanted to get and they bought in A good guy.
Yeah, definitely really excited about him too. That's good inside. On the
defense, Let's move over to the goalies. The Caps had the twentieth expected
goals against per sixty at two point seven to four, but conceded the eighteenth
actual goals per game at three point one eight and a big part of that
playing above expectation was Darcy Kemper, coming off the Cup win somewhere pretty skeptical
of the signing, but it worked out pretty great, at least for this
season. Kemper wasn't the reason the Caps didn't make the playoffs. He exceeded
his goals save above expected and Delta Fenwick. Not only that, he was
really awesome on the penalty kill, which is sometimes a little bit difficult in
terms of having a more difficult job. And even though he did really well,
he didn't quite live up to his market value according to Dom's spreadsheet a
million dollars under. But still he provided what the Caps needed. It wasn't
really his fault, as I mentioned. So moving forward, do you think
that Kemper is just going to get fifty five to sixty starts to get next
year and be just about as proficient. Yeah, I see, I see
him still saying about Kemper that I've noticed over the course of his career is
he's a very consistent presence, Like I don't see his numbers really go up
and down kind of guy. Maybe this year was a little bit harder,
but you also look at a team that as a whole struggled quite a bit.
I see they bought Kemper and on the deal that they bombed him for
a reason, that's to be the starting goal. He's able to keep the
workload going. And I do think that I think both goalies I know we're
gonna get to Chucky after Kemps, but I think that both of them really
are a good tandem. They like working with each other, and Kempers he
puts in the work, he can start multiple games. He has a stamina
too, and I think that's management's hope if they turn to a point next
year where they ride the hot hand. I don't know, because you also
see lingern stands on set in December and then Kemper comes back from injury and
it goes back to Kemper's going to start the majority here, and I think
that's the expectations. You have a Stanley Cup laying that minor here, You're
going to start him for sixty games. You're paying him to start fifty sixty
games. It might depend on the coaching, it might depend on where things
stand with the club going into the season, but I would expect the same
workload for the goaltenders, because, like you said, a goaltending I think
was something that really hurt them in with the Samstone on Vanicheck, but this
year it's not really a reason for why things went the way they did.
So yeah, I mean I see the same kind of situation plan out all
right, and yeah, yeah, of course we're gonna talk about Charlie Lindren.
I have to say I was pretty disappointed with his performance overall this season.
He had a really solid limited action with the Blues, or at least
in the Blues organization HL. He looked really good, and I really liked
the Caps move. I thought it was smart. They signed him to be
not just a one or a two year deal, but a three year deal
at one point one million. That's a really good value for a guy who
had proven maybe not quite enough but a little bit, and so great for
those of us in CAP leagues we could get a really good value there.
But it really didn't go so well. He didn't really outperform his expected numbers.
They actually gave him pretty good protection, better than Kemper, and Kemper,
even with less to work with, outperformed that by a pretty good margin,
and Lindgren they were given better protection and he was pretty far under that,
so that was a bit disappointing. Of course, this is unique for
him. He's never played this mini games. Thirty one was by far the
most he's ever played. In fact, I think pretty much more than he
had in all the other seasons combined at the NHL level anyways, And that's
dating all the way back to the fifteen sixteen season for Lingren, where he
just had one, two, five, six games here and there, so
it wasn't really like it was a lot. And that's a big difference in
role and routine and all that. So I imagine there was some of that.
But do you think that Lingering can really bounce back? You said they
worked well in a tandem, and certainly it seems like they're going to be
rolling into the year with these two. So do you think that he can
be relied on a little bit more and provide a little bit more value for
his fantasy gms? I definitely think so. I think, like you said,
Hungering, there's an interesting case because you're talking about a goaltender who doesn't
qualify as a rookie anymore based on the NHL terminology of what a rookie is,
but is playing his first full season up at the NHL level. He
comes in for a red hot December, and then you're sitting for a long
time, sitting for a long time, not getting the consistent games played that
you did when you were up for five games a Saint Louis and then you
play with Springfield all year and then you're going in out and out kind of
thing. In your first full year with a new blue line in front of
you. You look at a guy like Lingern and you see a goalie that
something I love about his game is it's not the most structured, like he'll
jump around and he's very reactive, very reflexive, very flexible. When I
think Darcy plays a much more structured kind of set up, whereas Lingren isn't
that kind of goaltender. I think their styles are just different. By Lingern
shown he can come up with those big saves, he can come and clutch,
you know, and the blue line arguably wasn't always the best in front
of him. You're also missing your number one defenseman for three months. So
I think with this team coming back and the expectations higher, and maybe Lingern
sitting sometimes so long and then finally getting back out can hurt sometimes, like
when you see your starting goaltender. Obviously you're starting goaltender is going to start
a lot of games, but when you got one really long stretch where you
perform really well and then you sit for a while and then you come back
and the playing from you might not be what you want it to be,
and then you struggle with consistency and you're not able to go out on night
by night basis and really lock things down in your first full year up at
the NHL level, it's gonna shake you a little bit. But he's a
guy who hates letting in goals. I imagine anybody does, but he really
hates laying goals even at practice. So I see him bouncing back when I
say even. I think that they can rely on him. I think he's
still coming into his own and finding his style, and there's a reason that
they signed him for three years, and I think that he's gonna be a
much more reliable, steady force. Just maybe the first year on paper wasn't
everything he wanted to be, But I think that from a save standpoint,
from a clutch standpoint, he led them through that December. He was a
big part of that surge. When he's come up with some big saves when
they get him too, and he's come in relief pretty well when he's had
too, I expect figure things from him next year. Long answer too,
short question, Well, Sammy, that's tremendous. Our pledge to you is
we will try to make BMW line happen extra Milano Wilson. We will try
to help you with that effort, and we want people to know where they
can find your work out there and keep up with you with capital. How
do people follow you on social media and keep up with your stuff? You
open a browser and you type in website now, I'm just gonna You can
follow me on Twitter at Sammy Silber. You can follow me on Instagram at
the Kids Sammy. I'm on YouTube now, which is hysterical Sammy on Hockey
and that's my channel, so we'll have more fun stuff coming up there.
I'm up in the media game. I'm at the Hockey News now, so
I might check out the Washington Capital site on the Hockey News THHN dot com
slash Washington. You can find all my stuff there now. Very happy to
be there, very fortunate to be there. And there's no off season when
you're a hockey reporter, which is delightful. Yeah. Just thank you guys
for reading and thank you for having ma'am. I love being on podcasts with
my demon dog. I know you do a tremendous job. Thank you so
much for being on with us today. Sam, Thank you Wilson. That's
good by Good Cat Quick Grab. Now it's your weekly goalie talk with Kats
Silberman Cats Instincts. All right, we're here for another edition of Cat's Instincts,
Washington Capital's episode and we just got to be frank about this one.
Cat. It's Graham over there in Capital's Land. And yeah, you mentioned
before we started, it's almost like they felt like they didn't to worry about
anything, or maybe they couldn't use a guy like Feenix Skopley, and turns
out that they were wrong because he was pretty good. He was pretty good
this year for LA. But they do have some goalies. We will talk
about them. They I think overall we can agree these are not ones that
are should be high on your list in terms of guys to run out and
grab, but we'll talk about them. We'll start with Zach Fucali, who
is Who's a guy who's been around for a while. He is a bit
on the older side, even as far as goalies go. It's twenty seven
years old. He was drafted back in twenty thirteen, but in the second
round by the Montreal Canadians. He's six two one ninety, a little bit
perhaps undersized by some standards, and he pretty much dropped every almost every year
in terms of his hockey prospecting probability of being an NHLA, And when he
graduated the model a couple of years ago, he was down to twelve percent,
looking mostly like guys that didn't really amount to much and Arundel who might
also fall into that category. Yeah, well, your instincts tell us about
Zach Kelly. He's fun. He's somebody that I not so secretly root for.
I want to see him do really well. I didn't. It's funny
because I didn't love his game initially. When he was first drafted, I
think he almost had too much pressure on him. He was drafted by a
huge hockey market. He was the heir apparent for the Team Canada goaltending depth
chart. He was their starter, I believe in fourteen, might have been
twenty fifteen at the World Juniors, and I remember looking at that and being
a little irritated that he got to be their starter because from a stats perspective,
he wasn't the best goaltender in Canada that age group by a wide margin.
But eve been playing behind a very strong that was the Max Domi team
Canada that really sailed through the World Juniors because they had so many good guys
on that team, and he really wasn't tested a ton. He ended up
winning a medal, and then he hit the pros and just stumbled a little
bit, and it seemed like his game just kept backsliding, and it seemed
like he was second guessing himself a lot. And you could almost watch you
watch a lot of prospects develop and it was like we were watching him devolve
instead, and his game was just almost getting more hesitant, and he was
losing a lot of consistency to his game. He'd always been a really good
fluid skater. He'd always had a lot of poise and a good depths management
to his game, and he was even losing some of that, and it
almost reset for him. He ended up signing some almost like miners only deals
where he was really just an HL goaltender, moving to some slightly smaller markets
where he wasn't expected to be the guy, and got a chance to really
rebuild his game from the ground up. It's something similar to what we saw
from Jack Campbell. And I'm always a little hesitant when we see a success
story like Jack Campbell's, where obviously he managed to go from being a first
round pick to an East a guy who was barely hanging onto an ECHL job,
worked his way back and ended up being a starter for multiple teams.
I don't want to say, ah, we're seeing something similar from Zach Fucali
book it he's going to be Washington starter, because I think we're a ways
off from that. But at the very least, he looked like a really
confident go to guy in the HL this last year for the Hershey Bears,
and I think that's a testament to the fact that he may be a guy
that could finally make his way to the NHL. And I think he's only
played four games at the NHL level so far at this point in his career
really still has the opportunity to be one of those slightly older rookies. But
I think he looked good and they really don't have a lot else in their
system right now. They had Garon Bjorkland, who only played one game in
the ECHL last year. I believe he ended up hurt. I don't know
what his status is at the moment, and they really don't have a whole
lot else beyond that. So seeing a guy like few Cali who really showed
the work ethic to essentially rebuild his game after after watching it fall to the
point where Montreal didn't have a ton of use for him anymore, is it's
easy to ref him at this point. Love it, love the comeback story,
and Kat says will be as good as Jack Campbell. You heard it,
you heard it here, just kid. Yeah, that will be fun
to see how that evolves it. But as you said, opportunities king and
he has very little competition, especially as someone who could step into a role
right away or at least very soon. He has four games in five sort
of HL seasons, but all of those four games came in one season,
and that was last season, so it's not like he's even sprinkled them around.
They all came at once and then that was it so diff for Calli.
So the only other guy we're gonna mention, we could say the other
names you said york Lund, There's Mitchell Gibson who's been around for a while.
There's Clay Stevenson. Not really going to have much to say about those
guys, But Chase Clark is someone we did want to mention. Chase Clark
is the twenty twenty one sixth round picked by the Caps. He's six foot
two hundred twenty pounds. He's now twenty one years old. He was drafted
at the USHL played for Tri City Mouskegan. This past season, he played
for Quinnipiac so way ago getting a national championship. Though he pretty much backed
up Janef Peretz, he actually didn't get any decisions, and so that pretty
much tells me that he just went in when Peretz got pulled eight forty save
percentage in those games. And he's not even sticking around with Kinnipiak. He's
going to Sacred Heart, which, Kay, you can crrect if I'm wrong,
but they are not an NCAA powerhouse. So what do your instincts tell
us about Chase Clark. I'm always interested to see how goaltenders who transfer midway
through their collegiate careers. I'm always interested to see how they turn out because
goaltending is one of those really tricky things in the NCAA where if your team
has a guy who's their go to guy, it's really hard because there's so
few seasons. Essentially, you get your four years and then you're done.
So if it looks like you're not going to be the guy and then someone
else has already committed who's coming up underneath you, you have to move to
another program to find the opportunity to play games. And that's what Chase Clark
has done here. He's moved from ironically a powerhouse because Quinnipiac has produced some
really good goaltenders in the past, to Sacred Heart, which I maybe the
low pressure environment's going to work a little better for him. Not a whole
lot to say there. He didn't look like he did super well when he
was with Quinnipiac. I'm interested to see if he'll get more reps. Usually
when you see a goaltender transfer like that, especially when it's been drafted,
there's an unspoken agreement that they're going to be able to contend for that starting
job at their new school. Obviously it's not a guarantee, but usually there's
at least the reassurance that, yes, you'll get more opportunity at this new
school. So we'll see how that goes for him. But yeah, Washington,
it's fascinating to me that they're a team that it's not like Bradenholte left
last year. They've needed a prospect pool for a little while now. And
outside of Buckland and Mitchell Gibson, who was released from his tryout contract with
the team last year, so they obviously aren't super high on him. They
really haven't done anything, and I don't know what they're I don't know what
their plan is there. Maybe they're hoping to snack some of those free agents
from teams like Anaheim that or Pittsburgh that have done a good job of drafting
and developing. So we've certainly seen a couple of teams that have employed that
strategy of looking ahead other teams to draft and develop their goaltenders and then they
take them when they're NH already. So maybe that's a Washington's up to now
we'll see. That's instincts tell us that Washington is copying their neighbors. Notes.
That's what I heard. So I would generally steer clear of these guys,
except for Kali. I would keep my eye on because he's someone who
might get the opportunity and if it just costs you a roster spot nothing else,
why not. Thanks Kat for giving us your instincts on the Washington Capitals
goalies. We'll be back right after this dig. So the dynasty dig,
Victor Nuno, we are ready to talk Washington Capitals dynasty dig and that's not
so great. At least they got the number eight pick. This year.
They have all their picks except their third and their sixth rounder. Your system
actually ranked them twenty first. Would is good news. I thought it was
going to be worse than that. But there are a couple of decent guys
in this system. It starts out with your no brainer. Who's your no
brainer prospect for the Washington Capitals. It's Ivan Miroshnishenko, CAP's twentieth overall pick
from back in twenty twenty two. He fell in large part because of his
hodgkinsling foma diagnosis. He also started off strong but had a bit of a
slow finish. I think you could make the argument, and we did at
the time that was because he was developing or maybe had undiagnosed cancer, so
that was a big issue for him in his draft season. He's fully recovered
as of last summer. He had some training in and played the entire season
This year. I was split between the KHL VHL MHL, so that's always
a bit difficult, and he struggled with only four points in twenty three KHL
games, but really killed it in the MHL with fourteen points in twelve games,
as you would expect for someone who's a D plus one like him,
and he at this time we don't really know where he's playing next year.
Avant Garde Omsko agreed to terminate his contract. It sounded like that was a
mutual decision there, just for the direction they're going. And he's apparently wanted
to come to North America for a long time now, even before his draft
season, even before his D minus one season, so it sounds like he's
going to be coming over and the Cap signed him already. We did hear
from Sammy which he thought about what he would do. It sounds like HL
time, but maybe he gets a call up. We'll have to see a
couple of cameos. Maybe he could blow it out of the water and really
gel with Ovie. You never know. That would be amazing. But for
a little bit more on Roshanshenko, let's hear from our FHL scout. That's
right, Victor. Our scout for this one is Jeremy scout Jeremy. He
says the skating from Moroshanshenko is elite. One of the fastest skaters in all
the games he watched. Often streaks up the ices the second or third guy
in a rush to create opportunities. Backchecking, he eases off a bit,
but that could be fixed by coaching line pairings. Puck handling. He's got
Marshanshenko above average created stick handler and passer in the open ice shot above average
rist shot is good, able to get it off quickly. The IQ always
a critical element of the game elite. I feel like he's always opens his
Jeremy in the zone. He's able to split off of defenders and get a
stick on the ice. Teammates no to look for that with an elite passer,
he could be very dangerous. Defense average effort level on d's not the
best, but I don't think it will hold him back either. Best asset.
IQ really has a right place, right time, quality and the offensive
zone. Biggest concern obviously the last year development due to the health impacts,
but the other is consistency of his effort. Shift to shift and we'll see
how his World Junior and MHL game translates to men's leagues in North America top
tier potential. What's the upside that Jeremy sees Tier one? That's the big
boys has all the tools to be a top line, top our play point
per game producer in the NHL. Also should have above average shots and hits.
That's what we love to hear. Most likely tier Jeremy says, probably
Tier two is more likely. Not sure he's a lock for point per game,
but with his nose for the net, should hit sixty to seventy points,
shoot a lot, get above average hits for scoring. Forward two stylistic
comparison will have victors sit up straight in his seat because as Joe Pavelski without
the god tier tip game, Jeremy says, obviously, nobody is Joe Pavelski
in that area. Morosa Schenko is a good skater and shooter with a nose
for the net. Likes playing net front, crashing for rebounds, scot shooting
and puck talent as well. Loves to digging in the corners and create chaos.
Who is the NHL rank king? Mason Black going to compare him too
in the poll? Sure enough, it's the man who has picked one spot
ahead of him. In last year's NHL draft. That's Liam Ogren, who
was drafted by the Minnesota Wild. There are similar trajectors. Actually, Ogren's
NHL or probabilities and star probability have dropped some with this year. Memroshashenko's NHL
probability has gone up to a little bit higher than Ogrin is right now,
but his star probabilities is a touch lower than Ogrin's. One of the guys
I believe that Nate found as a similar comparison here was match Perot as a
guy who might compare Tomroshanshenko. But in terms of the vote between Yvonne mrosh
Nashenko and Liam Ogrin, it was a dead even fifty fifty split. I
don't know how that works with one hundred and fifty nine voids, but there's
some kind of a decimal rounding system there. Victor, sounds like a coin
flip. I know you're an Ogrin man, So which one of these two
guys are you taking? This is really hard. I do both these players,
I think for bash reasons. Murshashenko has that I would say, of
course, he hasn't really ever played a full season, so we don't really
know how that's gonna go. We know that Ogren. I really like o'gran.
I mean he's got he's got so much smarts and all around is really
good. And he was part of that Drew Gardens team that was relegated and
we thought would be back in the SHL next season and they came up just
a little bit short. He was also really great in the promotion playoffs,
but they couldn't quite get it done. And he's another one who's going to
be on loan to a different team next year and so we'll get to see
him there. I think there's a lot to be said also for having the
player in North America like close to being NHL ready, and Moroshashenko is that
with the Caps. He also has a wide open opportunity to join the team
and to be relevant very soon Ogrin and the way that the Wild are right
now, they have a lot of options. He's certainly relatively close playing in
the SHL and the als Fenskin, but he might be another two three years
and then where does he fitting the roster. Marshashenko is clearly someone who could
play near the top. I would say top six for sure, So I'm
taking him. I like the wide open path for him to be an NHL
regular. I like the bash, I like the scouting report, I like
everything about Marshashenko, and so it's close. I like both of these guys.
But I'll take Marshashenko and what about you, Jess. Yeah. I
think in the end we're going to find out both of these guys were drafted
lower than they should have been. But Morosiashenko's trajectory is sailing up now that
we know he's number one able to get out of Russia and number two recovering
from that illness. Victor next up, you have your need to know prospect
to wizard Alexander's Who's Dalev is the next guy. His name sounds a little
Russian, but he's actually split Russian Swedish nationality. Twenty twenty two, third
round pick six, two hundred and seventy six pound left winger. He played
in Sweden growing up. He was in HV seventy one system for a large
part. Last year he was mainly at the J twenty level. Looked really
good there. A little bit hard to evaluate because he just looked so much
better than everyone. But he came over to North America this year. He
played for the Regina Pats in the WHL eighty six points in sixty six games.
I know he played a little bit with some guy named Connor Berdard,
but that wasn't really the main thing. And I know I talked to Joel
Henderson a little bit about this, and he didn't necessarily play with him all
the time, and so that wasn't That doesn't explain all of the production,
but certainly the gravity effect of everyone moving matching up towards Dard and trying to
shut him down allowed more opportunity for Susdalov, allowed him to play against a
little bit weaker competition and allowed him to flourish a little bit more, and
so that that won't be the case next year. We presumed Dard will be
in the NHL and Suzdalov will probably be back in the WHL, so we'll
have to see about that. He did get a couple of games in the
HL, was a sign there this season, but he didn't get into any
games, so Dalav is still a little ways away. I'm a little concerned
that he really struggled to drive play in the WHL, especially after playing in
the ALS Fenskin and the j twenty level in Sweden. He was really good
over there, but he didn't really have the best underlying numbers in the DUB
Next season, I guess it's unclear where he's going to be, because it
sounds like he could be in the HL, but we'll have to wait and
see where he's going to be. It will be his third league in three
seasons, and that's always hard moving around to different places. Looking at some
of his analytics that are there for the WHL, he's really good at primary
shot assists for sixty as well as ozone passing. He's got some pretty good
transition numbers in terms of controlled exits control entries. He's got some pretty decent
for checking numbers. His shooting is a low though his shots for sixty are
quite low as ours expected goals for sixty, so that's unfortunate. Doesn't do
much with blocks and hits, but has some pretty decent other defensive metrics,
so all in all, not super exciting. The shooting is a bit disappointing,
but his tracking data for Mitch Brown, he's got an overall of ninety
nine. This also reinforces his really poor shooting, but that's really the main
thing that's negative here. His passing is really good, his transition game is
really good. Some of his defensive numbers are really good. A couple of
them are not so good. But overall his offenses a ninety five, his
defense is a seventy two, and his overall ranking ninety nine percentile. So
that's pretty good for Alexander Suzdalov. Jess, you're gonna let us know a
little bit more about him from RFHL scout. Yes, indeed, victor our
FHL scout Tony has some things to see on Suzdalov says he's a good skater,
very good puck handler. Uses his puck handling to escape defenders or get
a pass to a t made. Has got good shots, a good wrist
shot and one timer iq hide a very high according to Tony, lots of
offensive upside, panic meter load of medium. Seems able to handle his way
out of trouble in defense decent, does not shy away, willing to engage
a player or take a hit to make a play. Will block a shot.
Needs work, but he's willing to do it. Boy, that's not
something I'm willing to do. Mostly block a shot, best asset, Tony
says, his puck handling and passing boards. Uzdalev able to get his own
shot, also willing to play defense. Biggest concern skating and becoming too much
of a peripheral player. Top tier potential, what would be his best outcome
Tier one, he said, in the sense of our tier one also includes
players who are seventy to eighty points, but our top six power play time
if he gets some good bash skills are slightly above average anyway, and most
likely tier Actually, he's going to put him down in Tier three, but
somebody's going to get maybe forty points, but he will have to work on
his skating, be willing to keep up on defensive play. Stylistic comparison comparison,
He's going to say a cross between Johann Franzen and Tomash Holpstrom. Better
skills but not as much physicality. Good player, top six guy is what
he's hoping that Suzdalov will be by barbage skills, and he needs to work
on some of the defensive areas. The NHL rank King Mason Black gave us
a comparison of Alexander Suzdalov versus Amadeus Lombardi Hey Philadelphia are a Detroit draft picks
are Victor's favorites. So we're gonna hear a little bit of his take on
this comparison, Susdalav Versus Lombardi and our guy. Nate also picked Stefan Nelson
as a potential comparison to Suzdalov in terms of his trajectory so far in his
career. So, Lombardi and Alexander Suzdalov, if you compare them on the
NHL Rank King Pull, this was somewhat less popular one, but out of
seventy seven votes, Lombardi comes out ahead fifty seven to sixty three percent.
Which one do you have, Victor, Alexander or Amadeus. Yeah, this
is a good one. And I did do all the write ups for the
Dauber Prospects Fantasy guide for Detroit, So I'm pretty familiar with Amadeus and he
is someone who should be probably on people's radar. He's looking pretty good,
he's trending up. He's I like him. He was in the OHL this
year. He's got he's got some really good offensive instincts that when you look
at his when you look at his numbers on hockey prospecting, it looks very
discouraging, but I know that his PNHL E numbers are a little bit higher,
as you quoted, really close to what Suzdalov has didn't and even got
into a couple of HL games there, So that was pretty fun to see.
For Amadeus, I think he has he has got a big step that
he needs to take and so we'll have to see if he can do that
in the AHL. But he is someone who is interesting, especially being a
fourth round pick, it's going to be it's already a win that we're even
talking about him in this conversation. But Suzdalov I think, I think he
just has more tools to work with and I like him a little bit better.
It's interesting to hear those comps. I wouldn't have thought that necessarily,
And if you look at the hog your prospecting, as I mentioned, it's
no question who's better. So in some ways it might be which would believe
a little bit more, But I think both these guys have a lot of
room to grow. There's still a lot of development that needs to happen.
Certainly could go either way, but I would believe I believe a little bit
more in suzdalo Jesse. What about you. I hope that Suzdala is able
to come up. I was at a little bit put off by the report
and sounds like maybe he's not all that a beg of donuts. But we
are talking a little bit more of the down ballot prospects at this point.
Victor. Third prospect for the dig who is to keep your eye on?
Guy? This is Vincent Iorio, twenty twenty one second round pick by Washington,
sixty three, right handed d twenty two points in sixty three games for
the Hershey Bears of the HL, and then four points in nine playoff games.
Got into a few games with the Caps, one assist, nothing major
to write home about. His small sample size of evolving hockey data, has
pretty low or poor defensive impacts, and some of his underlying numbers don't look
great. But again it's a really small sample size even in the HL.
But his shooting and even blocking doesn't look too great. But let's hear what
our FHL scout has to say about Vincent Ioio. Jesse, our FHL scout
and great friend of the show, Nate, says the following. He says,
the skating is above average, moves up and down the ice, with
ease, smooth controlled skating style with smooth, good speed and agility. Puck
handling below average. Looks a little uncomfortable when handling the puck and it can
be a grenade when it gets on his stick. Shot below average when he
does shoot the puck, low percentage riskers From the point in Nate's view,
not enough shot attempts to get an opinion other than that Aorio is never going
to be a goal scorer. Defenseman Q vision offensive The IQ for the player
average start with a positive. When he's in defensive zone coverage, he's an
asset, picks up the check even when on the ice for a goal against,
it usually isn't his man who gets free. That's why he gets big
PK minutes in the HL defense average. As outlined above, his defensive coverage
and PK workout you know very well while defending the puck. The biggest asset
was his defensive zone play. Biggest concern is his offensive IQ. So what
is he going to be the top upside the peak of his potential top pairing
defenseman. If he can reiner his propensity to get caught joining the rush focus
more in his defensive game, he could be a two way shutdown guy,
most likely tier second or third pairing depth defenseman probably never get to a point
where he can be the guy who matches up against the other team's top lines,
but there's a need for defenseman who can match up against the better teams
in the league, who have skill up and down the lineup, and the
stylistic comparable Brandon Carlo a complimentary piece on the team's blue line, maybe not
the top pairing guy Orrio. NHL Rank King comparison our poll of the week
is Vincent Irio versus Ronan Seely, another guy who's a fairly recent pick.
He was a late Carolina pick a year before Ario's twenty twenty one selection,
and our guy Nates, who also did this. He also found a Jason
Smith comparable as somebody he thought might be interesting. So viscent Irios, Ronan
Seely. The NHL Rank King, put it on Twitter, put it to
the readers, the listeners, the Hockey Twitter, and Ario came out the
winner sixty to forty percent. Victor, is that what you would have said?
Yeah, I think so. I like Iorio. I like that he's
already playing NHL games. He a though some of the under hanging numbers don't
look good for his NHL time, but that's okay. I think that we
can forgive that. But I do like that he's a bit closer. I
like that he can have some better upside with the peripheral categories. So it's
this is a deep cut, but I'll take Ioia. What about you,
Jesse? Yeah, I think that's fair. I think Diorio could be a
good selection for this team. Hey, everybody, a couple of things to
mention before we get out of here today. The first a reminder, Rush
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