Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks. Here's your source of
information and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Block off hot
a step hit on staylock block. Here's your hosts, Jesse Sevier and Victor
Nunho Fantasy Hockey Live Backward Again. Jesse Vicpeer Fan Tracks, Victor Nunho ep
Ringside. Victor h I'm doing awesome, Jesse. It has been a fun
couple of weeks. I think we've both been traveling. It's nice to be
back in studio so to speak with you and yeah, how are you doing.
I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I'm ready to get back to
a little bit of fantasy hockey talk. I've been missing it. I got
to edit you and some of our great listeners last week talking some fantasy hockey,
but it's just not the same. I don't know, Victor. How's
the season going for you so far? It's going pretty well. There's definitely
some of the leagues that I'm in are not going as well, but for
the most part, most of them are going pretty well. It's just a
matter of getting back in the swing and some surprises obviously, and some disappointing
starts and all that, but that's common usually, trying to not overreact to
early season shenanigans as per usual. How about yours. I'm doing good.
Yeah, No, I'm doing good in the sense of I'm happy. My
fantasy hockey teams are working on it. They're working their way up. But
yeah, I can't complain too much. Decent results so far, and it's
just been it's been pretty fun. The fantasy hockey season so far has been
pretty fun. The NHL season so far has been pretty fun. You know
what, Victor, There's only one way to enjoy that fun to the fullest.
And I think what it is it's showing up in our discord because there
are people always chatting a little bit of fantasy hockey over there, always lots
of topics on their mind, always onions on trades, on players, on
all those types of things. And you can get in absolutely free. All
you have to do is let Victor and I know you want to be in.
We'll give you a link. You'll be in. That's it, and
you can contact us on x fan Hockey Life Victor nan your twelve, or
email us Fantasy Hockey Life at gmail dot com. Victor, what's popping in
the what's popping in the Discord is anything you've if you noticed anything in the
Discord lately of great comment? Have there been great controversies I should be aware
of. No, I don't know that there are any controversies, but there
there have been some, yeah, interesting discussions. We have our our tiered
Dynasty League, and so people, some new players are posing some questions in
there just about how the league and the format, and we have some other
questions just about some interesting trades and what's going on in the league, advice
and and what's going on with this guy. So all those kinds of things
tend to be happening, and so it's been a good time within nothing that
I've seen that's been too crazy. Of course, I have been traveled a
lot, so it has been hard to keep up lately. Yeah, yeah,
it's The Discord is not just me and Victor standing on a soapbox.
If you thought that's what it was. It's not like an eternal AMA.
It's a community of fantasy hockey fans and there are some main characters in there,
and you'll enjoy chatting with them. Victor. There's more. Just wait
there's more things people can do, and that includes the Patreon. Tell people
what the Patreon is. Yeah, if you enjoy the show and you want
to give us a thanks or support or get some extra content, then that's
a good place for you to check out. And through the Patreon you can
play in the Tier dynasty. You can get access to Patreon casts and extra
content, extra access to things like the Patroon Priority channel and prospect Ranks and
all kinds of other cool things. So definitely want to check that out if
you're interested in a little bit extra or potentially just helping us out a bit,
because it does cost a lot to subscribe to a lot of the different
things that we do, so you could do that over at patreon dot com
slash Fantasy Hockey, Life, Matter Fact. Today's episode kind of builds on
some things that you could get if you wanted to join the Patreon tour,
and that is Victor does an amazing job and we get help also from our
patrons, which one of our patrons helps us out with that. I believe
that is Jason working on the prospect ranks. And there are reactions going to
be talking about on this episode to Victor's extensive prospect rankings that go on down
there. So that is the topic of our show. David san Lui is
going to be on and we're going to talk some prospects and some differences of
opinion. It's all about conflict, Victor. You got to sell the conflict
on discord. You got to sell the conflict on the episode. Everybody knows
that's the only reason people listen to fantasy hockey podcasts. Yes, that's obviously
the only reason, not for any kind of help or suggest are a good
time. It's just all the conflict. Yeah, yeah, people. If
it bleeds, it leads. The truth is it's not going to bleed,
it is going to lead. Freda very pleased to have on the show,
a guy who does some arrieting over EP ringside Victor's colleagues. There. It
is David san Lui talking a little bit of hockey prospects. David, how
you doing today. I'm great, you good good. I'm ready to hear
some of the opinions because what we're doing today, folks. Just to queue
it up, is Victor and David have slightly different takes on some of these
guys, or at least would rank them higher. Or lower among prospects throughout
there. So we're going to allow them both to have their words on some
of these players and maybe compare and contrast. And how about that, David,
how you enjoying the season so far? I guess I should say too,
it's been really great. I follow that draft mostly, and it's been
a really interesting draft. Not as good as the twenty twenty three Peter Salon
with Connor Bedr, the Mishkov and all those players, but it's been really
interesting to follow. And I've been following some of these prospects on the college
shide, on the NDCCHL and over in European Leagues two and some of the
NHL, so I tried to spend my time as much as I can.
But yeah, it's been really fun. Honestly, today is somewhat more about
already drafted guys and guys who are already in systems, and then, yeah,
that draft coming up. I'm looking forward to a lot of the draft
coverage, getting near takes and reading them on EP rings side as well.
But let's go and talk about some of the guys who it sounds like you
might be a little bit higher on than our co host Victor Ninho, and
that is going to start with Frank Bizarre, the third a center right winger
from the Chicago Blackhawks. Victor ranks him thirty fifth among forwards. He's a
point per game over the first ten games at the University of Michigan so far
this year. But you like him even better than maybe the thirty fifth past
forward. Tell us your take on mister Bizarre and why he's a high rated
prospect in your opinion, David, Yeah, we really liked him in his
draft here, Frank, we gave him the highest upside in the draft.
Maybe that was a mistake from what persting from him so far, but he's
been injured life over the past a season. He hasn't really in the previous
year he was had I think he had a shoulder injury or something, and
he didn't play for most of the year. He only had thirteen games at
the end of the year, and he wasn't really himself. And I think
this is really his freshman year in college, so he's starting to come into
his own and were starting to see the skill and the energy that he displayed
in his draft year. So I think there's a high upside with him.
There's certainty of him reaching it, and the point production it's not as as
certain as a player like Logan Cooley, with whom he played in his draft
here. But I think if he really figures it out this season, he
could be a high upside guy for Chicago and they have spots for him in
the lineup, and I think he's going to play maybe this season, maybe
the season, maybe the next one. In collegeend Dow he's probably going to
get a tryout in the team stops six because he has that kind of energy
to speed and they really want to play with speed in that team and he
really has it. So I think he's going to enter a top six spot
for them at some point, and he has the point production potential, maybe
not point per game, but like up there still. Yeah. Part of
the reason why he's a little bit lower is, as you mentioned, he
missed that whole basically that whole year, and coming back when the team is
pushing, went to the frozen four at the speed and the pace, it
was a little hard and because of that, his some of his statistical profiles
and projections point wise are just a little lower because he didn't have as much
to go on a lot of his like Hockey Prospecting and even RP Ringside colleague
J Fresh has him at just five percent chance of being an NHL R right
now, which I think is insanely low, and also his star potential being
very low. So I think that he's, like you said, he's probably
going to show who he really is this year, but he is a little
bit behind in terms of his development, and that's always hard to gauge because
everyone develops differently. So I still think the upside is really high there.
But yeah, he's gonna he has a ways to go, I think,
Yeah, I agree with this, and it's really I think the other issue
attends that he might be more prone to injury than other players with his style
of player, Like he's smaller, but he's very physical and he had text
insight all the time, so he might accumulate those injuries really his career,
and it might really the lights development and then maybe seven stunted at some point.
So there's a higher risk with him, but I think the upside may
be a bit harder than where you have him, not too much though.
Matthew Coronado, a winger for the Calgary Flames, Victor likes him as his
twenty sixth best forward prospect. He's already got ten games in the NHL so
far this year. He's across town in the AHL now, and of course
he's not an entry level side guy, so ten games is not a problem.
But why do you like Matt Coronado even better than the twenty six best
forward David Surely the development career, because we had this guy pretty low when
his drafted to where he was drafted by Calgary, and he just kept improving
every year. Harvard is a pretty good development system, and he was smoothly
a guy who in his draft here would skate down the wing and shoot on
that he would do everything himself. He learned to use his teammates in college,
became a much better pointmaker, and then in pre season with Calgary he
look really good, like with his line mates, it's pre season, and
then the issue is that Calgary right now has a lot of issue with their
teams, so it doesn't really looks super good. He has only two points
in ten games, but I think for the future this is someone who can
play with anyone in the lineup like he has those complimentary skills. He works
hard, his defensive game is improving and he has that kind of energy that
coaches usually love, so I think he's going to get his chances. And
these are two developed forward so he can score, he can make poys.
The speed isn't up there. Like Frank Nazarda, which just talked about,
I'm not sure if he's going to again. These are not future certain first
liner, but they have those complimentary skills that should make them play in the
top six and produce alongside the right player. Good environment, and the issue
I think is that Calgary right now is very uncertain. So we all know
about this season, how he's going to apply. I think over multiple season
he's going to get up there. Yeah, Calgary having some issues, of
course, a bit of an understatement. They're struggling. And it's funny.
I was listening on Twitter. Watching on Twitter. Someone was asking who are
the best players in Calgary right now, and all the Calgary fans were just
naming all the prospects, right, we just want Wolf and Cornado and Zara's
looking really good, so I think that says a lot about what's going on.
And every time I watch him, he just looks so good. He's
got that motor that's really high and he's got the shot. So I've always
really liked him, especially in his draft year, had him a little bit
higher, and his production has always been on the high side. I think
that what you pointed out at the end there is the question is he a
for sure top liner or is he just more of a top sixer? Is
he that complimentary piece? And then you start to wonder a little bit about
what Calgary is going to look like when he's full time, Like he might
be the centerpiece, and that's not ideal, Like he'll be great if he
has other really talented players around him. Obviously everybody wants that right, So
that's a slight concern for me too, But I really like the player a
lot, very good On back to the Blackhawks, Oliver More. Victor likes
him as his forty seventh best forward. He's a golden golfer up in Minnesota
this year, the other top pick for the Blackhawks last year middle first rounder,
has seven points in eight games, so he's already doing pretty well for
himself. And the NCAA tell us about Oliver More and how you look at
him as is perhaps even being better than where Victor's ranking him. David,
Yeah, that's not under player where I think in two years, like he's
going to have some spots in the lineup two and he fits Chicago's new identity
of all speed. You know, He's wanted the fastest players in the world,
like I'm not the stalking in college or anything like, even compared to
mill Sanchev. He would be them in straight races and even in terms of
agility, like he's an excellent skater. In terms of point upside, it
really depends who he plays with more than other players, and I think it's
a team with all the players we talked about. Production in general is really
dependent on context and who you play with and when you're not a true play
driver. Because he has those playmaking skills, but they are not like high
level, they're just really good distinction here. So if he gets a top
six spot and he has the right players around him, I think he could
produce a lot of points still because he has that speed, because he has
that skills too. But I think Victor has him in the right spot off
and rights. But I would maybe bump him like ten spots out or something
like this because of the space he's going to have in that team and because
I think he was overlooked by some teams at the draft too, that they
thought he was mostly a speed stirred and have as much hockey since we really
disagree with that hockey sence assessment in the sense that I think he has those
playmaking skills. There's just not elite maybe, but they're still good enough to
produce like sixty points sixty five five points, seventy points in the NHL if
he gets the right line light still, So he's a rush game fits at
Chicago's identity, and I think he's going to have open spots in the line
up and play with the right players too. One of the things that's interesting
about More is that you start to wonder, is he crearently going to be
locked as a two C playing on the same team as Connor Berdard right,
assuming Bernard stays down the middle, something what happened with David Crazy when Boston
with behind bergeron. It's okay, he's fantastic, but he's never going to
be the guy, and that's part of the concern I think a little bit
with More. I also, like you said, some of the skills are
good, but not you know, necessarily elite. They're all just pretty well
rounded and then the speed, So that's part of the reason to have him
a little bit lower. But does that factor in it off for you or
do you think he he might be like top line and Badard complimentary on the
wing to some extent. Yeah, I think I'm not sure if he's really
a center at the next level. Maybe he's going to be a winger.
He has that two way game and enough size to play that the in the
middle. But maybe they're going to like him on the wing of Betar that
that could happen too. And in his draft, sure he was really playing.
There was a main line with will Smith, Little Bill and Ryan Leonard
and he was playing on the second line. So that's exactly what happened for
him. He was downgraded for that second second line and he didn't have a
lot out of support. Still he still produced a lot of points by himself,
Like we're having really much lower quality players on his wing. So he
has that play driving ability. It's just not up to the point of Will
Smith. I was drafted in with the Sharks, so there are questions with
him that I think it's perfectly fair, But in terms of upside, I
think it's a bit higher than how he's perceived around the public sphere and around
the NHL. And I think there's a chance he plays with Bedar because of
the kind of identity that Chicago wants to put in and because he has that
speed, has that skill, and he's very responsible to So it could help
betre perform at the center level in the Mourd NHL. We're getting away from
like the front production, but when you have a weaker defensively, which is
bet Are, it helps to have someone in a wing that can play to
that center role, downloaded defensive zone and have help with those responsibilities. So
I think there's a chance like it, really it gets on the wing at
the place of Lookus raycol maybe John Jason Peterka I call him JJ. We're
that close. But he's a left winger, right winger for the Buffalo Sabers.
Victor's got him ranked fifty nine. He's spent a whole season in the
NHL last year. Some might say calling him a prospect at this point is
rough. Victor Knight to tend to rank prospects based on a little bit more
than one season, but he has a five goal, three assist eight point
line through his first thirteen games this season, inching his way to the Casey
middle stat line in recent weeks. And of course Buffalo has got from a
recent history of their prospect starting slow and breaking out. But you think perhaps
it's even better than the fifty ninth best forward David tell us about JJ.
Yeah, he's a bit like the utter prospects we talked about, like in
the sense that I think just because the skill set again more complimentary guy,
he could rise in the lineup still, and it's all about the development curve.
And Petracas has been really much better than other prospects drafted around him,
Like he just keeps getting better and he adds to his game much faster than
we anticipated too, especially for someone with his background, like he started in
Germany in lower leagues, not as competitive leagues, and he's he made a
big jump in his draft plus one, big jump in the draft plus two,
and now he's starting to find his way in the NHL. Like he
has ten points in fifteen games. It's a bit better of our production pace
as last year. Again we're not talking about eighty points guy, But if
he can get his way, he can find a role on the maybe first
line at some point. Second line, I think he can improve on maybe
where you have him in terms of ranking there. But again, it's not
like the world beater here. It's just someone that keeps improving and has all
the right skills, and he's lopping his habits in the NHL. So I
think the ghosts are going to reward him with more ice time and more ice
time as he gets along. That's exactly one of the reasons I love him
so much. As you just mentioned the ice time. He's such a Swiss
army life or maybe he's a German army knife. No, we don't want
to make that analogy, but he's so good in every Like when you're a
coach you're looking down the bench and you're trying to figure out who you want
to put on a certain situation, it's his name is always going to pop
up, right, Oh, let's put a jerk out there, doesn't matter
if you're up or down. He's just he's His compete level is so high
and are that's part of the reason why I have him this high and maybe
even higher. I'm a little concerned about how much the points are going to
come, but he just seems to will himself into points. Like I've seen
so many plays already in the NHL where he just takes over a shift.
There was one recently where he chased down a guy and stole the puck on
a backcheck, put it right in front someone tapped in the goal. So
he's going to do things like that that not a lot of other players have
the speed and smarts to do, and so some of them are going to
come. But I'm just not sure how high the upside is. But I
was looking at hockey prospecting and he has the exact statistical profile as Gratzki brand
Gretzky, that is, who is a total bust. So that makes me
a little bit concerned that he's not going to have the total points upside as
someone else. But what, I don't know what you think about that the
statistical profile David that is quite low, which is a little bit disappointing because
then you watch him and you're like, no, this guy's definitely better than
that. So for me, it's trying to marry those two opposite To some
extent, Yeah, I fully agree, he's not like I've said, he's
not like that future first liner. It's just complamoratory skill set. And I
think I keep bringing this up, but if you just look at match In
with the Bruins this season, like he doesn't have anything special, but he
still found himself on the first line for some games if there's a spot open
and you have the right habits, and that counts for a lot in terms
of production too, And I think that's going to be the main team of
my appearents on the podcast today. Sometimes you don't need the high level skills
or even the history of production to really get those numbers, as long as
there's open spots for you and you played it right whye and you have just
that extra layer of skill compared to most prospects. But that's an excellent point,
and I often will say that, and I feel like sometimes people they
just want the guy who's putting up a lot of points. But you have
to remember, like you're saying, if you have the right habits, if
you play on the right side of the puck, if you're responsible and do
all the things, the coach is going to put you in good spots.
And then if you continue to do those things, you're going to stay there
at Lora. Like you're saying, so sometimes it's not the most exciting,
like this guy scored so much in junior or even in the AHL, although
that tends to be more more correlative. But you have to do all the
other things because that the coaches are going to like it if you are just
cheating for offense and then you get scored on constantly. So that's absolutely important,
which sometimes I think us fantasy gms tend to overlook those real hockey aspects
of the part of it. It's doesn't have to be your main thing when
you do it, or less or anything, but just have to keep that
in mind. Like ECE, time matters a lot, especially for defensemen,
and a lot of this, like it's half the situation that you're put in
your opportunity that matters a lot. On to Jimmy Snugger Root, a right
winger for the Saint Louis Blues. Victor likes him as his twenty seventh best
forward. He's also up in Minnesota with the Gophers. Six goals and two
assists for eight points in his first eight games, most recently had a ten
shot game against the Louth. According to Elite Prospects, Tell me about Jimmy
snugger root and why you think he's going to be a really good prospect.
It's a bit like oliverur Moore. It's I guess a Blair breaking out when
given an unfortunity because he was playing mostly as a compliantry player in his draft
year within the USNTDP like many others. But then he went to college.
He played with Logan Cooley for a bit, so that that helped definitely in
his first year. But now he's he has to drive his line a little
bit more and I think he's been doing it well. I'm pretty sure as
a season going to remp his production is going to increase still because he has
all the right skills except for maybe the speed he's that he can make plays.
He can shoot the park too. Like he has all those offensive skills,
they're not backed up by as much mobility as more. That that said,
but it's high and in terms of an Angel caliber. So again say
Luis is maybe in a sort of sort of a retool right now. He's
probably going to find the right spot in the lineup because he plays that kind
of style too that they like a bit of a heavier star time while still
having that kind of skills again, maybe more not that first line playover for
sure, but definitely someone who can complement those players and still pick up points.
Definitely one of the players that had one of the best D plus one
seasons, just really exploded and so you love to see that. You love
to see it continue. Although at currently a little bit lower paced than he
was last season, but some pieces have moved around there at University of Minnesota,
so you understand that. But yeah, he right now now he's on
the Jerome Againlet trajectory of kind of modest star potential in his drafts year and
then exploding to great heights. So it'll be fun to see if that continues.
With Jimmy Snugrud, he definitely was more, yeah, just another guy
on that NTDP and all of a sudden he's WHOA, okay this guy And
you always wonder about that in fantasy. Do I really want to go after
this guy? Is he really going to be this good or did he just
have did everything go right in his D plus one season? And that's part
of my ranking is I'm not one hundred percent sold that he's like a for
sure top line guy. I think it was great to see that increase,
but I still think he's probably more of a top six but not necessarily the
guy, but could be really good if everything works out. I think that's
the right. That's says but thirds of your ranking, I think it's about
right. I just mostly wanted to talk about him because he's really interesting.
Leo Carlson, center for the Anaheim Ducks, well known prospect, this guy
and the Victor's, but Victor's never been that high on him. He's got
seven points through his first nine games as a Duck, getting a hat trick
in game nine. That is something that one would hope would get him that
magic tenth game. I gotta look second in average time on ice among the
forwards in Anaheim, so he is getting the deployment when he is out there
and playing a major role for Anaheim. What do you think, David,
Why do you think that Leo Carlson has already shown that he's more than maybe
where we're looking at him in these rankings. It's it's been really interesting to
watch him because the Ducks have a special development plan for him. They're not
playing him every game, so that already affects his potential as a fantasy guy.
And I think the points overseeal how good he has been right now,
So I'm not arguing for my position that he has well. But he plays
in really advantages spots right now, so he plays with Ziegres. I think
for most of his game he has a PP one a half wall spot,
and he can hang under that and just put bucks in and that's how he's
mostly scored. Is hat trick with a great shot too, But the rest
it was pretty easy to play for him, and that the speed looks fine.
It was the main concern in this fracture. It's still below average in
terms of the league right now, so over a long term it's not going
to be an asset for him. But I don't think it's going to be
an issue either, So it maybe rejects' average. He's maybe prone to injuries.
Sometimes he doesn't look like fully himself right now. There's maybe something going
on with him. That's maybe why they're not playing him as much. But
so he doesn't look like a fully ready NHL or. But the passing game
is already high end for the league, so yeah, as that kind of
potential, and he plays really good. He's really good at the net front
position too, and then that so if you have the passing game down,
you can find your teammates all the time on the ice, and you get
those advantages spot and you can play the net front role, You're going to
score even in your rookie year like he's doing right now. I'm not sure
it's going to sustain that kind of production over the full season. Based on
how he's played in those few games, I think he has had some lucky
bounces. But over his full career, if the speed is fine and he
has that passing game and he can play a physical game and he's healthy and
he has those advantage of spots, like he could be that kind of play
dupline driver and how I have that point per game, especially if the Ducks
consider him their main center. So we'll see how he evolves. It's been
really interesting, but he has that kind of potential I think. Yeah,
so I definitely had will Smith ahead of him, And I'm sure that seems
crazy to you, David, but in fantasy, if you look at the
if you look at the top outcome for will Smith, he could be a
much higher point producer. I always knew Leo would be a better real life
player. I didn't know that it would translate this quickly. And I have
to say I love the Anaheim Ducks development plan for him and the team.
It's brilliant. They give him plenty of time to work out and analyze how
things are going and not burn out. It's super frustrating for fantasy because you
want to put him in every game because he's so good when he plays,
and then he's and then they're giving him days off and just like shaking your
fist at the sky. But he is really fantastic and just goes to show
that when you're solid in every asset of the game, even if you're passing
and shot isn't elite, you put yourself in such good situations that you you
get more points. And I think that's a classic example for him. And
just looking at j Fresh's card for him, he is the number four ranked
prospect of all the prospects he tracked, and that's incredible. He tends to
be really conservative and has him at ninety one percent chance of being a star,
which is incredibly high. Those of who listened to this show. That
doesn't happen. He doesn't have those high numbers almost ever, apparently really high
only with Carlson, especially because hockey prospecting is much lower down down to twenty
percent, so it's it's pretty pretty interesting. And yeah, I definitely love
this player. I just was my ranking was a little bit concerned that he
wouldn't have the high points upside, And we still won't really know, obviously
for a while until he's playing consistent NHL games. But you like the trajectory
of the Ducks and the town that they're accumulating around him. So he's gonna
have plenty of really good, complimentary players to play with and he should.
He should be just fine, if not elite, for points as well.
I would say at press time, we're waiting for him to get that magic
tenth game to mean that he has passed his entry level slide. But it
looks like he's going to get that here on Sunday. Mason mctaviash, also
centerment for the Anaheim Duck. Spector likes him about thirty eight after a forty
three point season. He's basically a point per game this year on the second
line, centering Frank Patrono and Ryan Strom, And yeah, overall, Mason
mctabash is coming into his own in the NHL. Tell us David what you
think of him. Yeah, I'm pretty happy about this one because I put
him on the list and then he scored a bunch of points, so I
look good now. But it's just McTavish. It's always an issue of energy
with him, Like he has those stretches of games where he can do everything
on the ice, like he has everything in skill set. He can play
at pace too, But it was the same thing in junior he had long
stitches a game where he just became half as effective. Because it's not an
issue of work ethic or anything, but just more urgency. And I think
this season is really playing with some more fire, so it's helping really translate
his skills to points. And I thinking to continue because again he has those
spots open for him. He's really a player the Ducks are now relying on,
and he can poyner than that. He can make passes as the shot
like it's a really high end shot, and he can play that physical game.
He's pretty responsible defensively but when he wants to, so he should continue
to earn minutes, and he has all those skills necessary to score. I
think it was perfectly fine to draft him as high as they did in the
draft here. He had a great progression the second half of it, and
we really ranked him high because of it. It's just that he's a player
who's who was hopefully inconsistent, but hopefully that's really the right player right now
that we're seeing. Yeah, I know I've gotten a lot of flak about
McTavish from certain Ducks fans. So the thing is that, yeah, that's
always been the question is you know, we didn't see a lot from him
in his draft year, we saw just a snippet after that, and then
last year it was pretty mad. He didn't necessarily get the best deployment and
the team wasn't necessarily so good. But yeah, now he's definitely looking like
it's interesting when you look at his deployment and you think, okay, that's
not so good, but then you starting to enter the point where you're thinking,
okay, maybe he's just making Stroman Vitrano that much better because of his
play instead of needing someone good to play with. Yeah, that's pretty fantastic,
and it sure seems like they're going to like him down the middle behind
Carlson long term, and so that's a really great one. Two punch,
and they should have some other decent wingers for him. But that's always been
my concern with mctaversh is how you know, how high can it be?
Right now he's on a heater. I don't think this is necessarily going to
continue at this pace. He's really redlining in terms of a lot of his
metrics. He might be able to keep up a relatively high shooting percentage,
maybe not fifteen, maybe yeah, somewhere in that range, and then some
of his pdo is probably going to regress a little bit. But still he
seems like closer to seventy eighty point player than what he was last year,
which was sub fifty. So maybe I'll bump him up a little bit.
We'll see, okay. Moving on Ridley grieg centerman for the Ottawa Senators.
Victor had him as ninety fifth. He has seven points in his first nine
games, or had seven points in his first nine games this year in the
NHL, but now he's off to the IR with lower body injury. Seems
to be some kind of foot ankle situation. He was among the scoring leaders
for rookies when he went out. But Ridley Greeg is a guy who sounds
like you like a lot and maybe will like a lot when he comes back
from the Nagerie David tell me about him. Yeah, it's a blur that
we really didn't like in his draft here we ranked him super low. He
just brewed us strong every year since then, so I just stopped betting against
him. That's pretty much what what's happening. And it's pretty funny that he's
injured right now. The issue with him, it's not funny that he's injury,
but the issue with him is that he's always out for a reason or
like he's injured, he's suspended. That's might be an issue during his career.
But he has that best identity that I really likes, like he's an
identity player for them, like the way he wanted to play under the DJ
Smith and all of this. So I think his way to continue aur a
ece time and we really underrated his hockey sense in issued after it just kept
improving his playmaking too. He can make some really high employees right now,
like spin passes and fine teammates instantly after getting the puck, Like he's much
more than we gave him credit for. And he has that kind of energy
and that for checking ability that I'm sure I was going to continue to really
like. And it's the same thing with Brady Chuck. I think that's a
player that was really skilled, but he's also he got those opportunities and was
drafted there because he asked those he had those same that time kind of style
that they like. And that's partly why he's been scoring so much over the
years, because he's getting those minutes and he's playing that that brandard hockey that
they like. So that's always a plaus When you have the right fit inside
a team, it's usually translates to some extra production. Still because of the
extra minutes and all this. It's not a player I think you should beat
against just because the amount of energy and willpower. It's not the main thing
you base your ranking on. But he tends to prove people wrong. Being
quite ladies, I'm with you, I did not think that highly of Craig
and he just yeah, he keeps doing really well. Happy for him,
but it's also frustrating because you're like you're scratching your head like what was I
not seeing? What was I missing? But you know, looking at his
rampam trier or evolving hockey. His expected goals against in corsi against are literally
like top seventy fifth percentile for the entire league, and it's okay, that's
amazing. The other thing that's funny is that his actual goals are way higher
than his expected goals, so he I definitely is scoring more than he only
has two goals right now. For this season. He probably shouldn't be like
a sixty four point pace player. I think that will probably regress a bit,
but he will cantinue to get ice time. He will continue to get
opportunity. It's also interesting to me he has a comp on Hockey Prospecting,
a Vincent Trocheck, which reminds me a little bit of how he plays.
He's rough and tumbled, he hits, he's physical. He's decent, although
great, might be a better play driver than trow Check, because shrow Check,
for all that he did, he was never great at actually driving play.
But he was someone that coaches gave a lot of ice time too.
So I don't know any think about that camp, David, but it's interesting
maybe for where his points might play out too, which has been that fringe
like sixty five to seventy or maybe sixty to seventy five range. That's probably
the high end of it. I'm not sure over all of the season's going
to reach that, but maybe once or twice it could happen. Again,
Well, when we get into that range of the ranking is more if you
need to add those first your team. Still he could be a good option
to consider, but again, not the top blind guy, just someone who
could have a couple of seasons that are really exceed expect because of roll,
because just pure will Honestly, this has to be a typo. David says
he likes William Eckland more than Victor does. The left winger for the San
Jose Sharks, a traditional Victor favorite at number twenty nine forward, he has
four in his first fourteen points this year. He's getting the minutes. He's
in top three in average time on ice for a troubled San Jose Sharks team.
But tell us what you're seeing about Eckland that makes you think he could
be the player that we were hoping he'd be coming out in the draft.
I'm just still hoping That's what I'm doing, just crossing my fingers and keep
holding. Every season, I keep saying he's going to break out. I
had him him as second or a third overall in his draft here, like
he was doing some insane things in the Swedish and the SHL, and I
thought those things would translate sooner to NHL ice. But I probably underestimated that
the size and skating combo that has been holding him back. When you're average
to slightly be lavige skater in the NHL and you're five foot ten five foot
eleven, it's always hard, especially when your game is based on evading opponents
on the boards and making plays from the wall. So he's a small player
with a kind of power forwards style in the sense that he doesn't absorb contact,
but he was really good at evading it in the SHL, and we're
looking really back in This doesn't matter as much right now for his production.
It's just that the Sharks are horrible, right So I think the main issue
right now is not necessarily his skills, but the environment. And he doesn't
have the kind of speed to really drive along on his own and make plays
like others, So again it's when you need the right formation around him.
But at some point, hopefully he's going to have those teammates that chemistry and
his skills are really going to shine because he doesn't have anyone to really connect
his place with at this stage. But I'm still a believer he's in the
right spot. Don't push him too much on your ranking because his environment is
is bad right now and he hasn't had the history behind him over the last
few seasons to really jump him up. But just keep him in mind always
because he could really break out at some point. Santase Sharks are better than
the Edmonton Oilers, though according to oh in recent game, no, you're
right, it is bad. And what's been frustrating with Ecklun is I've seen
this playing for the Barkud I've seen this playing for the Sharks, is that
he will make some really good plays. He'll evade some contact, he'll steal
a puck, he'll skate down and open up some space, and he'll look
for teammates and nobody is open, nobody is moving, They're not in the
right spots, and that can make you look like you're not as good as
a player, because then you hold onto the puck longer than you should because
you weren't going to make a bad pass. So it's been really hard for
him and I think, as you said, a huge part is the environment
that you just can't do anything about that. But he still has all the
skill. In a points only league, I think he's higher, but if
you count the peripherals, he's going to be lower because he's not gonna shoot,
hit and block as much as some other forwards do. It's also money
to me that he looks very similar in like a hockey prospecting model to Logan
couture, which is that would be a good outcome in terms of like points
production. In terms of that would the similarities there, I probably end in
terms of the style of play, but he could have that kind of points
upside. I should also mention that Jay Fresh has him as the seventh ranked
forward in his data set, sixty one percent chances to being a star.
J Fresh also agrees William Cklinn could be great if we can get enough help
around him. Marco Casper centerment bore the Detroit Red Wings, number forty three
in Victor's rankings. He made his NHL debut last year, but he has
qualified finally for the AHL this year and is off to a little bit of
a slow start. He is an inner Circle member of the we dare you
to bet against a high Stevie, why draft pick circle right now? So
tell us about Marco Casper and how he is moving up in your estimation.
Yeah, you should probably keep him a bit lord And what I thought before,
like he has one point in TENHL ten HL games, and he hasn't
looked great in the league. Honestly, I've watched him for a bunch of
games and he's missing passes, he's forcing them, doesn't really fun, hasn't
really found his marks on the ice, and that usually happened for most players
who make the transition from Europe to the NHL eye the HL Ey, it's
actually much more difficult. We've seen it for a little Coston even in the
NHL, but with cash Bury it's a bit like it's the same phenomenon but
up to a lot more. He looks really lost right now. But with
his style of play when you project over multiple seasons, like he has shot
down that shutdown game. He has a big motor, he has its speed,
he can he can usually make plays in transition and yet apart from the
defensive zone to the defensive zone and then he's an amazing player around the net,
like he finds space, he bangs bucks and so again it's not a
player who is going to score with its purely a skill. But at some
point, if we project him as a shutdown center, two way center in
the NHL, he's going to get those minutes and probably score a bit like
other shutdowns and NURSIVE league like Philip Dano and orders like maybe a sixty point
season, sixty five point fifty to fifty five around this range. He doesn't
belong higher on the list. I don't think so, especially with his start,
But someone you should keep in mind, just because of the opportunity is
going to get and he has that enough skill that when he gets the right
teammates and the right minutes, it's going to translate to some points. At
least. I think Dano is probably a great comp someone who he's going to
get plenty of ice time just because of the way he plays. But yeah,
that's my concern is that he's just not he's not going to get enough
points, especially the deployment. He's going to be in a role that is
probably more defensive and not necessarily getting given all the best offensive minutes. So
that that's my concern with Casper. So we'll see, maybe it'll work out
a little bit better. He certainly has he will get a this amount of
time on I so that that will help. But whether he's in the right
role concerns me and down a little bit in Victress Frank he's number seventy nine.
Calum Ritchie centerman for the Colorado Avalanche. He was the first round for
Colorado last year and he's skating ready for his third go with the OHL's Ashawa
Generals. I don't see that he's there's any stats so far this year,
but he's injured rich again, always injured again. All right, that's your
starting point. But what do you like about Calum Richie in his game?
Yeah, he wasn't. This is someone who was really a sleeper. I
feel right now he was a top playark coming up. He in his draft
er he played for a pretty bad General's team where he was the only played
driver. Everyone else on his team even was pretty lower quality prospect, except
except for one who's illigible for the draft this season, Bret Bikatt Seiniki,
who is a player to watch for a twenty twenty four draft. But he
still scored at a point per game base and he had a pretty good U
eighteen tournament. He has a lot of skill. The issue skating is not
his project more as averaged in above average, but the rest is all there.
Yes, the defensive game, he can play on the walls, make
plays off the walls. He's the playmaking game on the power play too.
He's very deceptive and the stick only skill, so he has that a large
base of skill. He was just in a bad environment in his draft year,
and he was a top player coming up too. And usually when you
look at prospects, the best players tend to stay the best as they move
up and level. So he was drafted at the end of the first round,
but I think he was more like mid round value, Like maybe between
town and twenty was really the spot he should have gone. We'll just see
if he gets the apportion in Colorado. Maybe when the team shifts, he's
going to rise up in the lineup. That's the issue with fantasy wise,
but he's a prospect you should keep in mind. Honestly. Yeah, I'm
eager to move him up once we see more data, once we see that
he takes off this year, but he hasn't done that yet. I totally
agreed that I thought This was a steal by Colorado where they got him,
and I think he could be really good, especially being one of the few
good great players on that team he was on. So we'll keep an eye
on him for sure, because he's someone you may want to be buying.
But I just I want to see how he does this here before doing that.
I want to see how that shoulder works. I want to see how
that shot is looking before buying into him a little bit more. Den Mittaichuk,
let's move on to the defenseman here. He's our first one to talk
about. He's a Columbus blue jacket. Victor likes him as his fourteenth best
defenseman. David has some positive things to say. He's started his fifth season
with Moose Jaw in the WHL with twenty points over his first thirteen games.
That is better than his paces have even been in the past. So Mateichuck
is blowing it up right now out in the dub. What's going on with
this guy? And why do you think he's going to be a success.
Oh, the preseason of Hokieky channel lie, But honestly, you look amazing
with Columbus. At the start of season, he looked like an NHLR someone
who could stay this year and really make plays on a fire play and even
five on five. He was not comfortable at first, but near the end
of preseason he was like, he's a smaller defenseman. You have no problem
handling khanda, accivating for checkers and all of this, and he looks like
as good as Zach Warrensky at some point to he's going to have some issues
translating his game to the NHL. Right now, he's perusing a lot of
points into the WHL. But he's a smaller player for sure, so it's
always going to be harder for him in the league for sure. But he
has the defensive game down. He can defend the rush very well, and
he can handle physically the players like I said before, and he has all
those moves at the offensive line, he can make plays. He can evade
opponents and really go down the wall and make plays inside. So it's going
to be potentially a high point producer for Columbus if they gave him the right
spots on the power play and in the lineup two. But they feel like
they really believe in him too. They drafted him super high for our smart
defenseman at well overall. So that's already pretty indicative that they're going to give
him some spots. And right now we're seeing a season from him that's about
as good as Zelweger had in his final season in the WHL. So I
think there's a camp there and you have Zelwegger much higher on your list.
I I don't remember exactly where, but it's about the same type of player,
highly mobile that after really can make plays, and they have a good
projection to dnhl's by being smaller players. Yeah, Zulagger was five, he
might come up later. So Mittaichuk, Yeah, it's interesting to me you
mentioned Warrensky When I look at hockey prospecting, he is the main comp for
Denti Mittachuck his his future teammate, and za Warnsky looked a little bit better
in his D plus one season just because of that massive outpurson he had in
NC double A. But yeah, they look similar in terms of their point
projection upside and yeah, Mitaichuk and a lot of models is just redlining looking
really fantastic. They just have so many good defensemen. My concern has always
been how does he fit in there? I don't know your check is such
a fantastic, like all around, all situations type defenseman, and he might
even run the power play over Warrensky at some point. That might be like
preference depending on the coach or system. But Mitaichek also great. But I'm
not sure if he is going to steal that any of those offensive roles from
those guys. So that's the part that concerns me just a little bit.
I don't know if you have thoughts on that. Yeah, that's always the
issue to project, Like, I don't know, I do know where Columbus
is heading exactly either as a team, so it's a bit unknown. That's
probably the right spot for him down if you think about it's like you have
to project not only that the player his talents, but the fitth in the
lineup, and it's always very hard, just as hard as projecting the player
in general. So you have two very variables always to account for. We'll
see, but the one thing I can say is that he has the skills
to play it to be a power play one guy. Maybe he gets traded
to it becomes a trade ship and goes elsewhere instead, we'll see one of
the Anaheim Ducks, Pavel Mitchikov is a defenseman who's already up Victor's number thirteen
defenseman, but he is blown up in the NHL. People are talking about
him with great praise nine points through his first thirteen NHL games. Boy,
and he won't even be the last duct talked about a few so far.
Tell me your opinions of Michikov and why you think he might even be better
than the thirteenth best prispect. I've given a lot of bad fantasy advice in
my Caaris analysts, but this one I'm pretty proud of because I told my
friend to pick this guy before a season, and he's been really good,
honestlie. It was just as good as the other defenseman in his draft class.
So that's your check. I think, yeah, and NEMX and and
all of this. It's just that he came out of nowhere. He was
an older birthday, so he was born in the Larry part of the year,
late birthday, so we weren't sure about him as much. And there
were some questions about his shot and is skating and those are out of the
window, like he improved those massively as a instance draft here. So he's
a very complete defenseman, and that's always great because he has those offensive skills,
but you can rely on him to bucks out opponents. He has that
physical ability and the defensive game too, So when you have that, you
can layer your offensive skills on top and earned the minutes because the coach that
coaching staff costs. And also a play on the bar, play and make
plays at five on five. So he's always activating in the play with his
forwards. So I think he's going to produce at a high level. Maybe
not this kind of point base, Like this is early season. We'll see
the other there's a lot of space on the ice, but you should be
a point producer in NHL, and you can already we can already adjust his
project his projection as maybe a number one defenseman instead of a number two.
He looks really good, really comfortable. He's confident, like all the quality
is necessary to play up in the lineup for years for the Ducks. Yeah,
a lot of times early in this season you're cautioning people like, Okay,
he's doing too well, and you know, be concerned he's going to
regress. But honestly, I think I'd rather just pump the hype up on
Minchikov because he's been just so impressively fantastic from an early age, and yeah,
I was I'm always a little skeptical two of the older guys because maybe
they were just dominating their smaller, younger competition. Obviously that's not going to
be the case when you jump into the NHL and you literally look like the
best defenseman on the Anaheim Ducks, which maybe isn't the highest bar now,
but it's still an impressive fee to handle those minutes, to produce offense like
he's done. It's been a very long time since they'd had an interesting power
play quarterback as a defenseman in Anaheim. Cam Feller is the most boring one
ever, Like he's okay at it, but he just he never really produces
that much and he's certainly not the most exciting or interesting guy to do that.
Yeah, I absolutely love Minchikov. I have been a Zelweger stand for
a long time. But it's hard. You can't ignore what Michikov is doing.
And if there's one thing that he has for sure that al Zelweger doesn't
is the size and the ability to be a little bit more physical. Even
if Zelweger is a better skater. I'm not sure it's going to matter.
I think Minchikov might just be the future one D and never give that roll
up, And so I not that I don't think Zelweger is going to be
good. When we had Mitch on he talked a little bit about how both
these guys could basically be like a top pairing defensemen and they might just split
him up like when they unfairly had Chris Pronger and Scott Needemeyer. There might
be more similarities though Mitchkov is no Pronger, He's not that big and mean,
but there might be some similarities just in terms of the size and how
each one of them kind of move. I don't know what you think about
that, David. I really like this Zelwiger. The only reason I mentioned
him as someone who you might have slightly lower is that he's really struggled in
in preseason, like he wasn't ready for the level of play at all,
and I didn't expect that, Like he was trying to do everything on the
ice, that he was nervous and really wanted to prove himself, but he
just ended up being everywhere and not being effective. Like he didn't have the
same timing or poise as Mintchukov. Look really comfortable playing at the pace of
the NHL, and sometimes in the HL it's not about trying to outpace everyone
and play faster because that usually doesn't work, and that's what Zelweger tried to
do. So again preseason always lie like he cannot take into account that too
much. He's looked pretty good in the AHL, and I think he's going
to build up his defensive game too. It won't be that physical, shutdown
defenseman in the defensive zone like Minchukov, but he's going to be even more
mobile and capable of absorbing Russias and killing plays in transition, creating dornovers and
sharing offense dot way. So I fully agree. I think he has that
number one upside still as Elwegger. It's just a bit less certainty than with
Intukov, like because of the size weakness and the defending in your own zone
weakness that we can predict will happen. But yeah, and they have a
lot of interesting prospects with the Ducks for sure. Proc Faber, defenseman for
the Minnesota Wild, Victor's thirtieth Best defenseman Prospect. The captain of the USA
World Junior team last year's back in the NHL this year pretty well locked in
with Jonis Brodein on the top pairing. And I don't know if he made
Kalin Addison redundant or what, but Kalin the other big prospect there is off
the team Oiver in San Jose now and Brodein seems to be getting the minutes.
Of course, Jared Spurgeon just came back too, but we'll see what
happens. What are you seeing in brock favor and how Why do you think
he's even better than the thirtieth best defense per prospect. Honestly, I think
it's about his range. But it's just a player who we have to keep
an eye on because again he has the offensive game, the mobility and the
size to play long minutes in the NHL. And in his draft here and
in college he showed a lot of slashes of pluck moving abilities I feel haven't
developed fully, but in a good environment and with heres in the NHL,
at some point you could see him have some kind of offensive not explosion,
but maybe blossoming still just a bit. And reached thatt forty forty five fifty
points that it would be surprising, but you could see a season or two
like a bit higher because he can move the puck. Well, we haven't
seen those seals as much right now in the NHL, but he has everything
else needed to succeed in the league. So he's planning to earn some minutes
probably produced because of secondary resist and all of this, and at some point
I think the pluck game is going to translate to some real repeatable production,
not a lot, but someone just because of the minutes you can't really discard
that much. Yeah, I love brock Favor. I've said this on the
show. I just don't know that he's going to be a strong fantasy asset,
mainly because he's just too good in real life. Like he's just someone
you put out in all situations. He's going to get tough assignments. He's
quite literally already nearly the best two way defenseman on the while Jonas Burden is
just a smidge ahead of him defensively, And that's just amazing that he's already
better than all the other regular NHL ors that they have in Minnesota. And
he's so young, but he's he's so smart, he's so capably puts himself
in the right situation. He kills plays before they happen, those kinds of
things which don't always translate to points, but sometimes they do. As you
mentioned, David, so he's right now clicking around a thirty five point pace.
That's probably where he will live. I would imagine in that range,
it will be seasons where he, like you said, a secondary assistanm pokes
up a little bit more. But he's not the kind of guy that you
expect to run the power play per se like he can, but that's not
really that's not really going to be his bread and butter. So love brock
Favor. He's someone I would absolutely take on my team if I was building
an actual team, But in terms of my fantasy team, he probably will
be rosterble in some formats, but I'm just not sure it'll be that valuable.
Plus because he's always in such good situations and kills plays, he ends
up not blocking too many shots because he doesn't need to the play's already going
the other way. So that's part of the I guess, bad part for
him for fantasy because he's just better in real life. David Ryan Backer a
top pick in this past year's rookie drafted defenseman for Montreal Victor's thirty fourth ranked
defenseman. Back over in Switzerland again this year. While Lene Hudson and Kaden
Gooley get all the time in North America to make some impressions. Ryan Backer's
not scoring a whole ton over there, but he's in a man's league,
as they say, and he is getting minutes over there. You got around
twenty average shamanis in his game so far according to the Lead Prospects data.
So tell us about David Ryan Backer in why maybe we're still just a little
bit too low about him. He compares to Rock Favor, but I think
he's a bit more favorable offensively than Favor as or was at the same age.
He's more willing to experiment, more willing to build his skills, and
we've seen a great progression from the beginning of struct here to the end in
terms of willing to be jumping into the play and making plays at the offensive
line. Doesn't always translate to production, and he doesn't have that playmaking instinct
necessarily, But I think the development pight resemble Cateren Gooley in some aspects because
skatering Gully was also a very shut down heavy the defenseman industryt here, but
he had the offensive tools to build a better offensive game. So he had
the skating ability and able to make the plant to make play still and at
some point I think it translated to more production. Not a great fantasy stuff,
you say, with a rock favor, but in terms of offensive ceiling,
I think it's a bit harder than Faber. So just because of the
minuts he's going to play, and because of the willing and that's to activate
into the play and to try those plays. And when players younger players are
willing to try some things, usually they improve the door and at some point
you see the results. Not always, but usually it's the players who experiment
who developed the most. So we'll see. Yeah, I'm really eager to
see what happens with rhan Bacher. You made a really good video too,
David, if I remember correctly, comparing him with was it cider, Yeah,
cider yeah, because that was a lot of people, idiots like me
just making the simple German speaking defenceman playing really high in men's league, and
then you said smart things about the differences between them. It's really interesting.
We have to see where he goes from here. I think people way overreacted
to the draft pick by Montreal and he received unfortunate nasty comments, which is
really uncalled for. But he could still end up being pretty decent. He
has a lot of time to develop and he could end up having some pretty
decent point seasons. He's going to play in the league. I think that's
the important thing. So a lot of these picks, especially after you get
past ten, aren't necessarily going to play in the league. He's someone who
ended up with a couple of spots because I had later first round picks and
people were fading him, going for the high upside forwards and whatnot. So
I was like, sure, he's going to play NHL minutes. It may
not be great offensive minutes, but he's going to play. So I think
you take that bet all day because you can always make a decision later and
you never know. Maybe he does end up more like Cider than we all
think. Probably not, but it's possible. Last one in this segment,
Kilan Addison defenseman San Jose Sharks. Victor's number thirty seven. He was about
half point per game last year. He was skating second pair of minutes.
Then Jared Spurgeon got back and Killan Addison was moved out to San Jose,
closer to Victor to watch. What is up with Kilan Addison And why do
you think he's a little bit better than where he's ranked. This is me
trying to not think about the real game and really trying about the upside and
fantasy, which I really do. I'm alre the other way around, because
if he gets the spot on the power play, he has enough skill to
really put up points. And we've seen that little while at some with some
stretches last season. She said the coach didn't really trust him with his minutes
because he can't make any players defensively, like he's a smaller player, but
he has those distribution skills and he shot is really great, Like he can
score some goals too. So if he gets in the right system, there's
plays for him. Maybe he can start putting up points, but that depends
always on the strength of the power play itself. So now he's with the
Sharks, I don't know at what rate their power play is running, but
I'm not sure it's going to be the exact right spot for him either,
just because maybe he gets that powerplay one spot. I don't know who exactly
is on the Sharks back, but if there's the parkplay is not running very
high, it won't matter too much. So we'll see he's a part to
watch. I can't put it like this. Not the best hockey player in
terms of NHL th your NHL game, but the defantasy upside is there,
and it's probably so it's probably because why he's ranked at thirty seven, just
thinking of that, but also accounting for environment and the other issues he might
face. Yeah, so I actually just wrote a whole article on EP ring
side about Addison for fantasy perspectives, a really deep dive. And you're right.
He doesn't play in the NHL. It doesn't play anywhere if he's not
on the power play. That's his role, Like he is an offensive defenseman.
You don't put him out there to shut down the other teams that players.
That is a really terrible idea if that's what you're thinking. So that
he's going to get the opportunity, And yes the San Jose Sharks that power
play is poor, but it is still a power play in the NHL.
There's that, and he's getting way more time on ice than he ever has
in Minnesota. In fact, he had one actual game that was hired time
on ice in Minnesota, but I believe there are other people that had injuries
in that game. So that's really the only time he ever got high time
on ice was out of necessity. And in San Jose, they're already showing
they're going to use him a lot. They're going to give him a lot
of opportunity because why not, he's in our faith this summer. They're gonna
let him see what he can do, and maybe he shows great and maybe
they just don't resign him and they cost him a fifth round pick in hl
OR. So pretty easy gamble there. That is going to do it.
For this first segment, we're going to take a brief break, come back
and talk some more prospects. This two excellent, our serious injury boom back,
and the first segment we talked about the guys David likes a little better
than Victor. Perhaps this second segment, we're going to flip the script and
we're going to talk about Victor's guys, starting with Lucas Reichel, Chicago winger,
Victor's number seven forward prospect. His season right now is off to a
slow start in the NHL one point through his first twelve games after a decent
first season, played with a whole lot of tailor radish in his first two
years in the NHL. But I don't know, David, what is your
take on Lucas Reichel and why do you think not necessarily all the way up
to the number seven forward. My think is not really based on this year
in Chicago. It's a player and I don't really believe him, and it's
been the same for a few years now. The only thing I see in
this game is so he works with other speedy players who can outpace defenses and
create off turnovers and all this, but there's not a lot in his skill
set. So unless he plays with Connor Belar in the right spot, I'm
not sure he's going to be an HL point producer or even a great NHL
or so I'm not sure he's going to get the minutes. I think that
the team believes in him a little too much right now for what he has
shown in the AHL in terms of play. So he is producing, but
the DHL is a game of mistakes, So as long as you can get
to loose box and turn them into scoring chance you're going to produce a lot,
and we've seen some players who are tailor made for the HL game who
don't picially produce in the NHL. And I wouldn't say it's exactly that,
but you have to be careful with him because he's not a very diverse player.
He scores in one way and has been the same thing for a year,
So unless he gets the exact right fit or player like Connor Bedauer who
can just make anyone score, it might be difficult for him. So I
would bring him lore. Honestly, this is an interesting case because I agreed
with everything you said initially, and I had him really low and I was
like, he's just really fast, and he skates by people and he doesn't
necessarily analyze the best play and not as much of a playmaker. And then
I think I got a little too enamored with not just the HL play,
although I agree with you that was impressive, But then also like his twenty
three games last season, again super small sample size, but I watched some
of those and it seemed like he was doing some different things, like it
was mostly similar, he had some breakaways, and I just remember thinking like,
maybe he can translate to the NHL, right, maybe he can,
And so I got a little I think enamor with that, and then of
course thinking like he's gonna play with Badard, which he hasn't really and then
he's gonna play so you like that, I push those guys up a little
bit that are like for sure going to be playing in the league. But
yeah, he is not necessarily as diverse in his skill sets, so that
that does concern me a bit, and I maybe should move him back down
a little bit. I actually ended up with him in multiple places, and
I'm a little regretting it because it hasn't really gone very well so far this
season. But I'm still looking at the long view and still looking at on
a power play with Badard and other competent players down the road, it still
could be pretty good. Although I also agree with you he's not the best
like end zone player. He's much better like rush player. So is he
even going to be that good on the power play. That's a little bit
of a concern for me. He needs to develop new skills to really or
flesh out other skills to really be able to take advantage of that. Yeah,
I feel like this was a Yeah, I agree with you more than
myself on this. Yeah, it's just if he plays when Ben are,
you could look really good with his start ranking. But it's just he's not
someone who's going to drive a line by himself, even the last and some
of the other players like Oliver Moore and then we've talked about, so just
be careful what we crack oy. He well' see. His career will dip
down on who he plays with more than other players. We're playing the Hits
today. Some of Victor's favorite guys in the next one. Marco Rossi,
Minnesota Wild centerman, Victor's number thirteen forward and with half point per game so
far in his first fourteen games this year with the Wild, his second tour
in the NHL looks a lot better than his first did last year. He
has got a couple of games with Caprizov and Boldy mixed in there that was
nice, and that was about when half of those seven points happened. So
let's see if he can get that roll back because it's not coming to him
every night. But tell us your take on Marco Rossi, David, He's
one of my favorite players. So sad at having to tule him down there.
It's just I really believe in him, but his style of play is
an enabler. He really needs to play with the right players to be shine,
Like he's someone who connects plays more than he creates them. And are
getting to the nitty gritty here, but I mean that if he plays with
skill player is going to make them shine even more. But if he plays
with more role players, he's not going to score as much. Like he's
not the affiliate than all, but he plays more of a give and go
game than that deceptive, manipulative kind of game, like a heroic Kaprizov.
And he can play the power play half wall, but maybe not as well
as someone that I like the Caprizov. So the skills are high end,
but maybe not elite. It's just that he's placed in the right position and
he makes others shine. The issues that he's small, so his best position
is at center. But I'm not sure that over the long term Angel coaches
are going to keep him as the first line center. It's just that my
take is basically that I don't think people are going to love him or trust
him as much as maybe Victorian I would, And I think it's going to
affect his caller and continue to affect his career, even if he's king to
getting those minutes a bit more now because there are spots open, we'll see
if he really sticks in that kind of role that's going to make him shine
over the long term. Even if he can play actual I'm not sure others
are going to trust him as much. So it's projection based on perception of
others more than myself actually, But I have to insist on this. I
really like Rossing, and I think he has the skill to play and to
produce at a high level like eighty points. I think that's possible for him,
but just easy going to get the right opportunities. Yeah, I'm also
going to just die on that hill that Rossi has all the talent, And
like you said, if he gets the right opportunity, if we knew that
he was going to be between Boldie and Capriso for the next ten years,
then we could easily say he's a point per game player. But we don't
know that, and we've seen that he hasn't necessarily always gotten that, in
fact, rarely gotten that deployment. So yeah, that's totally what it is
too. But I usually rank based on upside and top end potential, and
so I'm not moving him because I still think he can do that, and
it's nice that we're seeing some signs of them actually trying it. Hopefully they
can keep that up. It just makes sense to me too, Lyrics and
k is more of a matchup guy, and then they have Ryan Hartman,
who is also a good complimentary piece. Why not put your three best offensive
players together. It just makes sense, But we've seen some hesitance to do
that, so totally agree with you and hoping that they can keep him there
because he has actually been taking a fair number of face offs. He is
not very good at them so far, but then there's also other play.
He's been able to keep his head maybe just barely above water defensively, and
I think for someone with that kind of offensive skill, that's all you should
really want, especially if you're playing with Boldie, who can make anyone look
good, and Kaprisov obviously is an offensive genius. So it also just seems
to make sense from like a how you build a great line. You think
about the perfection line with Marshaun bergeron Imposternok and how they all do things differently
it's not always about putting the best three guys together, but the guys who
work the best together. And I do still think that's those three, but
apparently not everyone in Minnesota and the coaching staff agrees with that. It's going
to be a fight here, folks. I'm just preparing you because we're talking
to Logan Stankovin and Logan Stankovin. Of course, Dallas Starr sent a right
winger, Victor's number eighteen prospect, finally able to graduate the WHL and in
the AHL, he's already put up fourteen points where he did put up fourteen
points in his first eleven games. People have talked about a big addition to
the Stars to give them a push this year. I say, why not
Stanky because he could he could maybe make an impact from an offensive perspective.
But tell us your take on Logan Stankovin, David, It's just is he
going to get that top six spot? Early's Scottish probably like Cold Caffield with
someone like this, he's a smaller player who has that shot. We can
make plays. He just doesn't have the same base or skating capability as Skull
Coffeel. I feel his skating looks more average, shoes slightly about average in
the AHL. The quickness is there, it's just a speed over a long
distance. The agility it's not as good as some other smaller players in the
league. It's just to score a bit. Like Rossi, he needs to
be trusted into a top six role and remain there for a while. And
I feel like a shell. Coaching staff are still going to prefer some other
players sometimes to players of stank Covin, but he has the skill to play
in those spots. Is that when he enters those spots, is it going
to be more shaky or not as certain as other players would would have in
that same spot. I don't know if that makes sense with this, but
it's just I think the skill is there, the upside is there. The
uncertainty and their care projection is not as clear with him as other players.
The one thing I've always seen with stank Covin as a smaller player is you
look for those elite skills, and he certainly doesn't have the shot of Coffield.
But what I do like about stank Covin is that it seems like he
can score in different ways and so he has other creativity. I think he's
a much better playmaker than or he maybe not much better, but he seems
like he's a better playmaker than Cowfield. So he has other ways and he's
maybe not fast, but he is really good. He's high effort, high
motor defensively, so he can pickpucks off opponents. He can do other things.
It's not, like another example, not necessarily a small player. But
you need to mention when we talked about Rachel, there's guys like Alex Holtz,
like they're out there for one reason, and that isn't the case with
stank Covin. He can thrive in multiple roles, and so I've always liked
that about him because if you are just trying to flex one skill like it
better be elite. But that isn't necessarily the case with him. So I
agree with this skating, but he's just so smart and he seems to see
the ice so well. He's showing that in the HL. Can that happen
in the NHL, which is a whole other level obviously remains to be seen.
But I just love the guy and I think that they should But then
we're talking in should land giving him the right opportunity. Obviously that may not
happen. Yeah, I've always been a bit lower on Steinkloven than Done,
mostly so then most other public unalysts, so that might be what's going on
here. I really like his start in DHL. When I watched him,
he was really good. And he's playing with Medleigue Book who's an art player
who is breaking out right now. So we'll see. It always depends if
he gets the spot that you're right about the playmaking, and that's something that
I should have mentioned. He has though this deceptive skills. It can make
play true opponents like, Yeah, he's pretty impressive in that aspect of the
game. Two. Yeah, somehow I wish the Stars could move Tyler Sagan
for somebody and then move him up in the top six. Nevermind, I
don't know what I'm talking about. Riley Height, Minnesota Wild center left winger,
Victor's number thirty three prospect. He's in his fourth ter in the WHL.
He has twenty seven points in his first sixteen games this year. I
know Victor talked about him and from Nashville this year the draft music guy who
came up a lot in that context, tell us about Riley height, maybe
why you are a little bit lower on him than others. Yeah, I
think if there's a risk with him that he's mostly a junior score, not
an NHL score. Again, there's a size concern, but we don't talk
about this with every player, but it's mostly that the skills are are good
but not exceptional. And he's last year he used to score a lot on
a power play and because he played with the right teammates Zeemer. I don't
know if he goin Zeemer. There's another the same production right now, but
about the same production base who's a much more physical player. We can go
on the boards and get Bucks to height in the middle of the eye.
So I think he in the thing timmy boys with. He has a lot
of chemistry on his line and it's easier for him to make plays. So
even if he's his skill is clearly above our ridge in his league. But
when he gets the NHL, that skill gap is going to shrink, and
I'm not sure he's going there's going to be enough in this game anymore to
really make him shine in a top six role. So he's scoring like a
top six future top six player in the NHL. It's just that in terms
of skill evaluation, I would be a bit more careful with him in terms
of where I put him on my list, I don't disagree at all.
He is a low percentage outcome, but if he hits, it's going to
be great. So that's I've always wanted to add some sort of like volatility
to the ranking, and the volatility here would be high for Hight for sure.
He's the kind of guy that in fantasy, you know, like an
NHL team, you're more careful, but in fantasy you pick this guy later
in the first round or second round because if he hits great, If not,
you just drop him. You don't have to invest time, money,
capital in trying to develop this player, like the why I'll do. It's
going to be tricky to try to turn him into an NHL player, but
if they can develop him right then it'll be really worth it. So that's
yeah, I definitely agree on Riley Hyde. Okay, Quentin Musty Sandals a
Shark pick this year. Left winger Victor calls him number fifty three on the
forward board, another late first round pick. He's on his third tour of
Sudbury. I challenged somebody to tell me how to make a hockey nickname out
of Quintin Musty. Do you call him Must's, muster, Quint's, I
don't know, Quinty. I don't know how you do it. But anyway,
regardless of what we call him, David tell us what to expect from
him, I would have him higher. I think it's one of player's.
I think there's a confusion here. It doesn't really matter, honestly, but
he's just he has Quentin Musty as the NHL bill. He has clearly in
terms of projection above any average NHL skills. He can make plays, he
can shoot the buck. The skating is a bit of a concern, but
not too much. And it was a top player coming up, so,
like I said, usually top players tend to state top players as they grow
up. I think he was drafted a bit light considering his package of skills
and what he can do and how he's going to give up. Because if
you think he just adds a bit more speed to his stride, he could
score a lot in junior. And he has that top six NHR skill too,
and he's going to play for the Sharks who need those kinds of flowers.
He's someone I would look very intensely at and in terms of fantazzy even,
Yeah, that's good that you think he's a little bit higher. So
I when I went to the prospects game in San Jose where they had Will
Smith and all the top prospects, it was the Quinn Musty show. He
was the best player on the ice by far. He outshined Will Smith.
It wasn't even close, and it was everything about his game. Smith was
cheating for offense, he was doing the things that Will Smith often does,
and Musty was stealing pucks and taking them in for breakaways. He was on
the right side of the puck, generating offense in the right way. You
just you love to see that. This skating is a bit of an issue,
and there were a couple of times where he did get chased down or
wasn't able to separate. But he's just so smart and he can score in
a lot of different ways too, like we've been talking about with some other
players. So I really like that about Musty. And the reality is that
those two obviously are going to play together and it can probably help each other.
But in terms of who's probably more available and you can get better Vaue
how are you from in fantasy, it's gonna be Musty because everyone's gonna want
Smith and everyone's gonna think he's the high pedigree guy, which he is based
on where he was drafted. But they're sleeping a little too much on Musty.
Yeah, and he's a July sixth birthday like he yes, did the
weight of NHL right now, but he's going to do a lot more like
he's a young player right Moving on to the defenseman in this category, we
already talked about Owen Zolweer. He's the flip side of the conversation about Pablo
Minschikov. So let's go on to Alexander Nikishkin, defenceman for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Victor's number eleven ranked defenseman had a couple of really good years at Scott
Saint Pete. That's legit accomplishment for a twenty two year old. So tell
us about Alexander Nikishkin. What nikishan in? What your opinion of him is,
David, I think, honestly you have him in the right spot.
It's just that, like Chase Roylt on our website, if hearing, sorry,
there's been a decline in Russian hockey in general in terms of competition level,
and he's in the right spot in his team, and he's pu a
lot because he gets the minutes and because they work off his point shots a
lot, so the offense runs through him mostly, so that's why he's getting
a lot of points. So I think the points are over selling his ability
just a bit. Like he's probably going to be a tough four defenseman in
the NHL. He has the mobility, he has, the size, can
the fund he can activate into the play. So he has a lot of
interesting offensive skills. It's just that maybe don't take the production like it used
to be for the KHL defenceman. If you approved a lot in the league,
you were high in prospect. I think over the last few years it's
not as true. For sure, would just be careful with the production in
the KHL, but not too much. I think you have him in the
right spot. Yeah, we're actually gonna have Chase McCollum on the show in
a couple of weeks to talk about that factor, because that is a really
interesting point. And I don't know about you, David, but I'm always
a little skeptical when a prospect does not much and then gets traded to SCAT
and then explodes and you're like, Okay, he's playing for an All Star
team and he looked great, Okay, Like you would expect that, right,
So I think people were a little too high on him, like he's
obviously a good player and fantastic value for drafting him where they did in the
third round. But people need up cool down a little bit, like he's
not the next coming of Scott Needemeyer or anything like that. But yeah,
he definitely yeah, seems like a decent range, right. Lucas Cormier defenseman
for the Vegas goal of the Knights, Victor's number seventeen defenseman four points in
twelve games so far in the AHL. Vegas has a crowded roster. I
always talk though about how Vegas's salary issues mean that a productive rookie might get
a shot in a way that some of the teams don't always give them.
Lucas Cormier, what is your opinion on him? David? I think it's
he's a huge or red flag. If there's a long player on this list
that I would really insist on became careful with. It's like he has some
massive skating issues, like he's very agile laterally, but he has no speed.
It's a real problem. And he's a smaller player, and with the
Vegas style of play, I don't think he's going to see NHL unless they
need like a powerplay quarterback in a weird series of event or they don't have
anyone for that spot. He produced a lot in the AHL last year at
the start of the year, and he's very dynamic in the way he thinks
the game and the plays he can make sometimes. But he doesn't have an
HL package and he never really has, and he's a third rounder, so
he doesn't have a great status around the league. I'm not sure there's going
to be much interest in terms of straight for him either. So yeah,
just be careful about him, Like I would be surprised if he plays in
the league for for a while, and even more if he gets a power
play one on the spot. Okay, I'm sending all my trade offers getting
rid of my Lucas Cormier shares based on No, I'm just kidding. Yeah,
No, he definitely has. He's that volatility factor. He always knew
that, especially coming out of the queue, like he was great, but
you knew that there were issues with his game. But yeah, like you
said, if they can shelter him, if he can bring some things along,
if maybe there's a lot of conditions to the success story that you're trying
to write for Lucas Cormier. But the reason he is where he is because
if it does work out, it'll be great because he'll be in the offensive
role. He'll be on a good team. As Jesse mentioned, contract wise,
they may be forced to give him a role because they just have depleted
assets. So there's that question as well. It probably won't happen, but
if it does, then it'll be it'll be fun for you. Yeah,
he's a bit like it Kyleen Addison in a way that skating is a notch
billo. So we'll see. Yeah, you got about five hours before this
episode drops. Victory, better move it on those trade offers and don't send
them my way. Every Thrun defenseman San Jose sharks Victor's number nineteen. Anyone
noticed that every one of the Victor over David prospects is a Western Conference prospect
West Coast bias. I say the Grand Admiral Thrun spent a college career at
Harvard ending as the captain and is now going between the two teams in San
Jose, the Sharks and the Barracuda. Three points in eight games so far
for the Sharks. Henry Thrun. What's your take, David, I don't
know him as well as other prospects. I know a lot of these prospects.
I haven't watched a lot of drawn but from my perspecsion of him,
from what I saw, he's more of a defensive defenseman than an offensive one.
And the time I watched him the most was in his draft here and
a bit in college some HL games. The way he skates, in the
way he thinks the game, it's more like, say safety first. I
think so in terms of upside and fantasy, I think there might be some
issues there, but he's going to play minutes in the NHL. It's just
I'm not sure he's going to bring the firepower with him. No, I
don't think he will. Part of that was definitely based on they didn't really
have any other options offensively, but now they have Kialan Addison and Shakira Mucammadolan.
None of these are really great defensemen. Like all around, I think
Macamadolan and Doron are probably better, like you said, two way guys who
can play. Dron definitely has some skating issues but can do some other aspects.
But now with Addison here, I doubt that he gets much of an
opportunity. Unless Addison completely flames out and doesn't really do what people hope he
will, then maybe Thrown gets another opportunity later in the year or next year.
But San Jose, part of this is they don't really have that clear
pedigree guy who is absolutely going to run the power play for the next several
years, So you're just looking at, okay, who might do it,
and he might. He does have a lot of perferal coverage, which is
nice for throwing. So in terms of a high floor for fantasy that is
something to think about. One reason why I like him, And if you
sort by like fantasy points in Fantasy League's Thrown is someone who's still up there
because the few games that he played he did great and then they sent them
down to the HL. But yeah, it's not a super high upside.
I would say, Okay, well, this has been a treat. We've
gone through a lot of cool prospects. David, You've got some stuff going
on out there. Why don't you let people know where they can follow your
work. Yeah, my twitter is that did under that st underscore. I
just changed it a couple of years ago and I still haven't memorized it.
And you can find my work on eperioding. Sorry, and then the Pictoris
too. I'm writing currently about saying I have a video on our YouTube channel
for unknown him too, I think a bit later this week, so you
can check out to check that out. And we're running some deals on our
website. I think now we can subscribe only for our thede editor side of
the site, so if you want to read our work you can do that
too. Tremendous, Thank you David, and everybody should go out and follow
him and appreciate you coming on today. Yeah, it's been great. It's
been really fun. I love talking about those players. Thank you. A
couple more things to mention before we get out of here today. One of
them is we're brought to you by fan You can move your links over to
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They got the most options, scoring salaries, contracts, rookie eligibility. You
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also a podcast, we're the Hockey podcast right now, although there's some affiliation
going on. There are other podcasts that show up there. We'd like to
thank our entire FHL crew. It's not just Victor and I anymore. We've
got content curator Kevin Adams who's been helping out with show prep for many of
our shows. Ryan Downey, the tidy Admiral who helps commission all the tiered
Dynasty leagues, which is a heck of a lot of work. Boy,
Ryan is saving our Bacon this year. Brandon is our website guru. He's
doing a fantastic job. There's a lot of cool stuff coming in the Fantasy
Hockey Life website. Jeremy Vee our lead scout. You've heard him on this
show. He does good work coordinating everything from our scouting team. Jason helps
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I do a solo show, Dynasty Sports Life. I talk for different
Dynasty Sports sometimes multiple at the same time. Time. Tomorrow's or Tuesday's episode
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It'll be a good one talking about some guys on the baseballs. You like
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