Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks, your source of information
and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Fuck up, that's
a step hit on. Stay lot gosh. Here's your hosts, Jesse Souviere
and Victor Nuno Fantasy Hockey Live back once again to talk fantasy hockey. This
is not a test. This is the Emergency Fantasy Hockey Response System. I'm
Jesse Severe fan Tracks and joining me as always, Victor Nunio of Diaber Prospects.
Victor, how you doing? I'm no great, Jesse. I'm ready
to rescue people's fantasy teams. Is that a thing? There you go,
there you go. We got it. It's an emergency response unit because your
fantasy teams are failing. That everybody's are at this time of year. Who
knows, And we're here to help, just here to help. We're helpful
people. I don't know, Victor. We're talking about your favorite California team
today, right, No, maybe my third or fourth favorite, your fourth
favorite, the Barricout account. As far as I'm concerned, that's probably your
second. So yeah, we're talking about the La Kings today. It's gonna
be good times. The La Kings are. Oh boy, they're a tough
one to wrap your We keep saying this later, but they're a tough one
to get your your arms around. But one thing, Victor, it's easy
to get your arms around, and that is all the good things that you
can do associating yourself with this show. A discord is the first thing as
social media collapses around us, you need a place to get your thoughts off,
to interact with people in maybe the nice environment where people like to talk
about fantasy hockey, and our discord is just that. Hundreds of people in
there and daily discussions and it's free. All you have to do is join
up with us by emailing one of us. Fantasy Hockey Life at gmail dot
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email Victory. You can hit up Victor in New twelve. You can hit
me up fanhocul Life. But in addition to all that, Victor, we
got Patreon. What do you got going at the Patreon right now? Yeah,
lots of great stuff. We did our twenty twenty three ranks. You
can still see those. It's a separate tab in case you want to just
focus on the twenty twenty three's, but we're integrating those into the forward,
d and goalie ranks now too, so you can see where do these guys
that I have drafted or just got drafted, how do they fit in with
the overall rest of ranks. Where does someone like an Oliver More fit in
with the rest of the forwards in terms of like their upside all forwards under
a hundred games, It's tough. A lot of our drafts have these blended
drafts where it's mixed in, so you can go through the ranks and cook
out who the best top upside guys are. There's that. There's of course
Patron cast, there's Patron Priority Channel. We can do a row doctor go
over what you need to do with your team. If you're going through a
rookie draft, you can DM like who's available and help you out with your
drafts. There, so all kinds of great stuff. And of course we're
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us your draft, we can integrate that and we pump that back to the
patrons and quote some of these positions on the show and be happy to share
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your Andrew Christal's going right around pick eighteen. You might want to know that
in terms of how long can you wait on someone like that, it turns
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If you would be so kind of share that with us, all you
got to do is go to when your draft is done, go into fan
Tracks, click download the CSV, and share with us. If you could
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It's really good stuff. But that if you want to support the show,
you can do that at Patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life. And
one of the other great things is the Tier Dynasty. So the Tier Dynasty
that has been really good success this year, and we're moving forward with adding
a couple new divisions and it's going to be a true tier. This first
year it was all horizontal, but now we're getting vertical tiers one, two,
three, four by the end of the year. It's going to be
really great stuff. So if you want to take your Dynasty competition to the
next level. Got to check it out. It's going to be a great
thing. So you can see more information about that if you go to www.
Dot Fantasy Hockeylife dot com forward slash tidy tidy check it out. Absolutely
you should do that. If you want Andrew Crystal, maybe you can wait
a little longer, but you can't wait as long as Brian as long as
Brian McClellan did. So, Definitely check out that ADPD to get the advantage
on those people who might just be looking at a set of ranks or looking
at the NHL draft result. Heaven prepared. Let's take a break, come
back and going back to Callie to the Los Angeles King. We're welcoming to
our show. A guy who knows is Los Angeles Kings. It is Dennis
Bernstein from sirius XM NHL and a senior writer at the fourth period. Dennis,
how you doing today, Jesse Victor. I'm great to be It's glad
to be with you. And yes, i'd better know something about the Kings
since i've covered them since it's it's now Crypto dot com Arena, but it's
in Staples Center, open in nineteen ninety nine, so happy to come on
the podcast with you guys and talk about the Kings next season. Oh wow,
wow, that's a that's an awful long time to be following the Kings.
Yeah, back to the back to the previous millennium and yeah, and
following them all the way to the crypt all the way to the Crypto dot
com. Yes, let's talk about this team, the pro team, as
the Lieutenant Colonel Hannibal Smith used to say, from the A team. I
love it when a plan comes to because it did. For the King's last
year. They set the franchise points record, believe it or not, with
one hundred four points. They suppressed shots very well for the fewest against in
the NHL. The same trend showed up at shot attempts. Their Fenwick four
shot attempts four unblocked is almost fifty four percent. That was fourth in the
league. The problem, obviously, we'll get to the goaltenders, especially early
in the season eighty nine say percentage six worst in the NHL. Up until
February sixth, that was worst eight eighty two the league second worst. Why
did I pick that arbitrary date because that was the last night franchise legend John
Quick laced them up before Jonas Corpusalo came in and put up a great nine
twenty one for the King's Stretch run and made himself a lot of Canadian dollars
in the process. They gave the Oilers a good scare in the playoffs before
they got overwhelmed by McDavid dry Sidling Company. And the offseason they cleaned out
a few of their promising young guys, but they brought in stud who were
going to be talking about a little while. How did Kings Watchers assess last
season and do they think they have in place what they need to take it
a step up this year? Dennis. They have to start winning in the
playoffs, Jess, And it's as simple as that. They're good enough you
mentioned and sitting the franchise record, they still have never won a Pacific Division
title in their history. They did win a Smythe Division back in the day,
and I'm all enough to remember the Smythe Division. But this is a
team that should contend for the division title without question. You mentioned the goaltending,
the defense. What really crushed him last year in the playoffs was the
penalty kill. I think they killed maybe had fifty percent of the maybe a
little bit over fifty percent of the power play opportunities for the Evanton Oilers,
So they will be competitive. They should be in the mix with Vegas and
Vington for the division title. They could be a dangerous team. I thought
they could be a dangerous team last season. I really thought they had a
legit shot to get out of the West at Esta goaltending. Corporsala was great
down the stretch. With respect to his goaltending, really helped save the secency
the goaltending, if you go back, Compley helped save it early on,
and then they didn't just have enough faith in Compley getting the job done in
the playoffs, they changed for Covid Salo. He did a good job,
he was not good in the playoffs, guys. He got beat high a
lot, and with respect to that, goaltending wasn't great in the playoffs.
And then as you mentioned, he got four million dollars a year from Honor.
There's no way there's two bumped up against the Caps. So they're going
to go to try cam Talbot. Nadelkovitch was also an option for them in
the offseason. So it should be a really entertaining team. And coming out
of the Darrel Sutter era, whether the team really always struggled to score even
though they win championships. It should be an exciting team. But yes,
the questions will be goaltending, defense, and just the size of this team.
That's not a very big team, so that you're not going to have
a league leader in hits or anything like that. But they can be.
They're a contender without question, but it's now it's time to start winning playoff
rounds. They have to do that. Just making the playoffs. It was
good enough three seasons ago when they were rebuilding, it's not good enough now.
You really have to go deep in the playoffs with this team. Because
you mentioned the Dubois trade. There's no reason why this team can't go deep
with the quality have up front. Speaking of the quality up front, we
got a start, of course with Kevin Fiala. He was really great last
season. Jesse and I had him as tier two guys. I think we
underestivate him him a little bit. I had him ranked thirty fourth, Jesse
thirty seventh. He ended up sixty fourth best forward. But in his sixty
nine games he did really good stuff. He had twenty three points, forty
nine assist for seventy two points eighty six point pace. He missed some time
with lower body injuries in March and then had an undisclosed injury where he missed
playoff time, which was really unfortunate for the Kings, and some people wondered
if his point per game pace last season in Minnesota could continue in LA,
and we figured out that yes, it can. He did very well.
He's got six years left at seven point eight seventy five million. When you
look at his underlying numbers, yeah, his like expected goals and COURSI isn't
so good. He's a little bit closer to average though, But that's not
why you have Fialla out there. He's an excellent offensive thrive and his expected
goals are near the top of the top five percent in the league. None
of his metrics to me, suggests regression. His shooting percentages in line,
his PDO is actually a little low, and his points participation where I think
where they should be for an elite player like him. So, Dennis,
are we in store for another point per game plus season from Fiala leading the
Kings in point pace? Yeah. One of the reasons, Victor why they
didn't win the divisions because Fiala did get hurt. The guy knee on knee
by Andrew Kalkilano late in the season. You mentioned the sixty nine games that
he played him his thirteen that was a major reason why I didn't come back
into the playoffs. Yes, this I love this. But this player changed
the paradigm offensively, made them a much more data je and creative team.
Offensively. Love this player. Now, who does he play with this season
is going to be Duba. If it's Fiala Duba, that's gonna scare teams
without questions. So this guy's a creator. He's not a huge goal so
he's not a thirty five goal scorer. But this guy is dynamic. I
love his edgework. He's an exciting player. So yeah, I think this
is a Tier one player for Fantasyls with the spect to fail. I hope
he plays eight games, and he had he played eighty two games, he
probably would have broken Copatar's streak of leading. I think he's led the team
in scoring for sixteen or seventeen years in a row. Filla would have broken
it had he not gotten injured. So this is a dynamic player. Who
if you're going to play with dude, washerpri even improve upon those numbers he
had last season very good. You can't talk about this team without talking about
a Jacopatar. For the sixth straight year, the captain led the Kings and
scoring, this time with twenty eight goals, forty eight assists seventy four points
in a full eighty two games. He ended up the fifty third ranked Fantasy
hockey player. That was added on to a two shot, one block,
close to one hit per game stat line and a Lady bingwin. He was
fourth in the NHL and assists and at thirty five average more than twenty minutes
a night. His with or without you the Wow. He shows an excellent
habit of pulling absolutely everybody he plays with to an better affected goals for at
five on five and he played with Kemp Band one wing all year and then
flipped from Fialla to Byfield about halfway through the year. More on Byfield later.
Although we just talked about Fialla. The biggest question I have is how
long can this last? If I read correctly, in the first six seasons
of his thirties, he's missed two NHL games. That's crazy. He'll be
thirty six when the Avs come to town on October eleventh to start this season.
He's got three more years of contract, one more really big year that
huge contract did he signed, and then two gently declining years of an extension.
So is this going to be another vintage on Jay year power or point
per game all the good play iron Man? Or how long can this thing
last? Tennis? With Dubu in the middle. Now, it might take
away a little bit from scoring. I think I think this is in with
respect to your TI years, I think this is a tier two player because
you mentioned the shots he's not. He had twenty eight goals, but he
hardly shoots. If he was really had a shooter's mentality, like a Victor
Orvison, he probably would have thirty ft to forty goals. But he's not
that type of player. He's a coach's son. He'd rather facilitate than shoot.
And so with respect to that, yes, Jesse, I expect him
to be at the same level. I do expect that probably Fialla will be
the leading score on this team. But this is a point of game player
without questions. Still, I think there's no degradation in his game, and
you mentioned a lady being I keep going back to the fact that this guy
played twenty minutes a night, had all the difficult matchups sometimes don't know would
take them, and had four penalty minutes. To me, that's the most
stunning statistic ball. How kind of guy who plays at that level and plays
against all the big matchups only have four penalty minutes and that was great.
So yeah, I expect the same for Copatar. I know him really well
known him personally. He's getting in shape back in Slovenia right now. I'll
come back at the end of probably August to join the team. But I
don't see any slide in his game. I think the expectations with respect to
his production should be along the lowns so which saw last season for a j.
Coopatar. Yeah, he's such a fun player to watch and another player
that's going to be really fun to watch for the Kings. They just brought
in Pierre Luke. Dubois played seventy three games with Winnipeg last season. Seventy
one point pace was the highest of his career. I think he was very
motivated to earn an ice contract in a landing spot outside of Winnipeg. He
obviously wasn't happy there. He had a slight decline or sorry, I had
a slight increase in a shooting percentage and pdo so maybe there's some regression there.
But I think there's a big unknown here. In terms of time on
ice, he was getting eighteen minutes in Winnipeg almost nineteen. Does he get
that in LA? That was That's part of the question. I would say.
In terms of block shots, hits ranked ninetieth his position. I think
in the past he's been a bigger hitter. I wonder if that returns more
physicality. The big contract suggests a big role, eight years at eight point
five million, And I guess here's the question, Dennis, what do you
expect from peld this season in terms of role and point pace? Victor for
context, David chasing his player for a couple of seasons now. They had
a strong interest in him when he got traded to Winnipeg from Columbus, and
the situation there was if Keklana had wanted some futures the Kings put together futures
package instead of a proven player like Patrick Lane, he would have been a
King two years ago. That's how much they liked this player, and you
mentioned the time, and I think in a perfect world, what would happen
with this team, you should play Copatas seventeen minutes, the No seventeen minutes,
du Bos seventeen minutes, and Lake Lazat nine minutes, a nation of
sixteen minutes. So I think he's an impact player. With that question,
he'll be the second line center. And you mentioned Byfield. If Byfield had
emerged at the center, the steal would have happened. And I know they
are continuing to pump up by Field, and yeah, he's still only twenty
twenty one years old, but he scored three goals last year, so you
had to do something. Now when you go Copatar Dubois and then down the
middle, that could beat Edmonton. So I think that's the goal of this
team, is how can we get out of the Pacific Division. And you
mentioned that you could also reference the great strength that Vegas has in the middle,
so Dua, I think he is a second tier player. So I
don't think he'll lead the team scoring, but he should be a thirty thirty
guy without question. And he's gonna play with Kevin Fiala, who's a facilitator.
He's gonna get shots, He's gonna get opportunities. The question is who
plays on that line with I assume because you wouldn't want to break up the
Dunnahole line with Arvidson and Trevor Moore, kemp A, Copatar and by Field,
So it's probably may be a guy like Victor Arthur Khalif who might have
to have a three year Kalief's gonna play with these two guys. This will
be the most exciting line on this team without question when you I can't wait
to see Dubois and Fiala once you get the training cap, get some chemist
together. This should be a dangerous line for other teams to defend. So
I think, like I said, a thirty thirty guy, maybe thirty five,
depending on how much he gets on the power play. Again, that
power play could be scary. And we even talked about that power play.
You put kemp A, Copatar, Dubois, Fiala, and Dowdy on a
power play that's that's not Edmonton's power play because nobody's Evanton's power play. But
this should be a top ten power play next season as well. So I
think really the expectations should be Victor, they gave up what three or four
assets for him. They're paying him eight point five million dollars a year for
eight years. That's expectangeous. That goes along with the assets you've traded for
and this contract you signed for him. So I expect a big season.
Plus, Dubo's gonna love living in Los Angeles. They've taken him everywhere.
They took him to a King's game, they took him to a Galaxy game.
They've done a full core press to just defeat the chatter about him not
being happy and being a malcontent and being as a cry baby. Look,
he played at Winnipeg in Columbus, right, so when he comes to Los
Angeles there's a lot more to do. He can walk down the streat Manhattan
Beach not get noticed. Like when you're in Columbus and you're a star player,
you get noticed. Just like Phil Donau came here on left here.
I think the same thing. Dubost is a dream to come and play Los
Angeles. I expect a big season. The season from this player. Well,
Adrian Kempey is the next guy to talk about. I have him ranked
this tier three for next year, victor tier two. I have a feeling
you might see this little differently than us. He had a career year regardless
of forty one goals, ranked thirteenth and the NHL and goals tack on twenty
six assists to that. On top of that, he took three shots a
game through a hit and a half, locked into that top power player,
producing twenty power play points, even scoring three short handed goals. As mentioned
before, a play next to Kapatar was a nice gig. He had eighty
plus percent of his minutes with Copatar for two years running now, and both
his offense and defense greaded out extremely well in advanced metrics. In that King's
playoff run, he led the squad with five goals and three assists in those
six games. And all this from a twenty six year old on a sweet
five point five million dollars deal has got to be something that Kings are loving.
Why is kemp A still successful in his current role? And do you
expect this to continue? Okay, jes so we've talked for about fifteen minutes.
You know me too well already. Yes, it's just a tier one
player. I think this is a star. This is a star player.
This is an elite score in this league. Why he emerged was he was
playing out a position for a long time. He was drafted as a center.
They tried him at center, and you mentioned the assist. He's just
not a facilitator. He's a shooter. He's a shoot first guy. And
I think what happened was not only was he playing out a position, but
he was a deferential player. Like when he went up with Copatar to start,
he always deferred to Anja and last year that alpha dog mentality took effect
and he's now a leader in the clubhouse. He talks a lot after games,
even when they lose. He's really gravitated and grown in the leadership role,
and I think that's helped him on the ice with respect to his attitude.
He doesn't defer to anybody anymore. Jesse like, so I expect,
well, do I expect forty one goals? Maybe not, But I didn't
expect it improvement over thirty five last year. And I don't think that even
Tom McClelland did, because he had mentioned when we at the start of last
season we spoke with Todd that he had a bunch of empty net goals as
well. So let's manage our expectations on that and he just broke through it.
I think he could easily get to forty again. He's going to get
the opportunities playing with Copatar Byfield creates space. He's byefields not get to score
that they wanted to be. I think he shoots. He's not afraid to
shoot. He's got to shoot the first mentality I think for you guys,
this is a Tier one player without question. I would not hesitate the draft
this player high in my fantasy leagues because I think that this guy will certainly
lead a team in scoring, in goals, maybe an outside shot at points,
but like you said, he's not really a facilitator. They want him
to shoot, and it's just he's put it together. He's always had the
tools. He's finally put it together, and sometimes it takes a player five
to six seasons. Is why it took Adrian Kempy to put it together.
But again, I think this is a top level elite scorer in this league
next season as well, because of who he plays with and because he's in
a featured role. Dang all right, I love that. I love that,
Dennis, This is good talk about kempe Let's move on to Victor Arvidson.
The Swedish winger is going into the last season of that seven times four
point two five. He signs long ago with the Nashville Predators. He turned
thirty on the third to last game of this past season, and by the
last game of the season had notched twenty six goals, thirty three assists,
fifty nine points in seven seven games, managed three shots a game, and
twenty five power play points. He missed five games on the year. That's
not bad. Three due to illness, two do to the birth of a
child. He missed no more. He missed more than that number five games
in each of the four preceding years. He missed fifty nine games over the
preceding four years if you add him up so with no shade meant to the
late stage Renee Preds. This is the best team he's played for in a
few years too. I would say, is he in the long term plans
of these new look Kings as a top six winger or is and is he
going to keep this deployment production for another year assuming good health? He could
be Jesse because they don't really have to pay another play at this point.
The one guy they would have had to pay. Who's a younger player would
have been Gay Villardi who went into Duwatrey Bofield has an emerged yet, so
even in you're coming out of the LCA so they can't keep up. They
was chatter that would be the player that you would trade to create cap space.
I love Victor Robertson because again you talk about shoot first mental, this
guy loves to shoot. Now, I think he's a Tier three player with
respect to his point production, but this guy will shoot and you mention his
health. Remember two seasons will go in the playoffs. Arburton had a back
issue. I think he had hurt him in a disk. Missed the entire
PLAYFFS and that was one of the contributing reasons why they lost. This is
a guy who's a veteran, who is dependable. I think it can count
on for fifty to sixty points. Again, I think he could easily replicate
the season he had last season. He's got great chemistry with them. And
then the question is could they move him up to play with Fiala and with
Duba. If they do, then you got to reset your expectations on his
point production is probably going to be higher, but this is a player I'd
like to see them resign, and you do need some veteran presence, and
I don't see the next player coming through that would replace Victor Arburtson. Could
they go into the free edge of market next season and replace Victor he decides
to walk out, But again, these are players that because we live in
Los Angeles and it's beautiful here and it's chum winners. Players come here swift,
especially to Swedes like alexand Edlar came here, love it, continue to
play here, then retired as a king. Arvitson loves playing here, so
does can't be as well. So I think he's a tier three player because
the production won't be there from a He's not a thirty thirty guy, but
I certainly think he can replicate his stature from last season, and he's a
valuable player of this team. I'd like to see them and he saw him
on a two to three year deal because of what you mentioned, he had
an injury history. He's been healthy and Los Angeles and when you saw him
healthy again, he's an influencer. I like this. I like the chemistry
he has on that line, so I'd like to see Victor arvitson stay in
Los Angeles, and I do think that he can equal his production from last
season. He make a good point about I talk about top six, but
this is a team with three really good centers because Phil Denaut is no joke.
He seems to have been largely as advertised since they signed him away from
the Cup runner up Halves a couple of years ago. Another thirty something Kings
are not necessarily that young. Even after the semi rebuild, Denaut netted eighteen
goals assisted on thirty six. That's fifty four points in eighty two games.
Like a lot of centerman his forte is definitely not volume shooting. He's got
other people for that, but two shots a hit in a block every game
makes for decent peripheral stats. Plays well on the power play, He eats
minute shorthanded only on Jacopatar had more time on ice on the short handed end
as a forward. It denotes a guy who definitely probably is better for an
NHL team that's winning than a fantasy manager who is looking for points and stuff
like that. But do you see him continuing to lockdown this middle sixth centerman
role for the foreseeable future or is pld's arrival maybe going to push him down.
What do you make of Philip Dino's future? Well, there was some
regression last year Jesse on his goal production, which wasn't surprising. He had
a great first season here. I think getting out of Montreal and not having
to answer questions in French thirty times after games, probably he had some relief
on that he on a championship team. And philm may not like me to
say this, he's a three Sea, but to have Copatar, Dubois and
Denos your three seed, that's as good as any. To be honest with
you, right, you can't get about that fills a quality player, a
leader in the room, great defensive player. And what it does, going
back to Dubois, it gives Dubois cover because Dubos never gonna have to take
a tough defensive zone face off with both Copetar and Denou. But Copatar has
won Selkies, Denote could win a Selkie at some point, so it also
gives comfort Dubo out there he can concentrate on offense. Phil's a great player,
but I think from a you're right, from a production standpoint, is
he a hydra fantasy pick. No way, he's not. He's just not
that type of player. But he's in the goal. With the spect to
winning a championship, you need a player like Phil Denot on your third line
to chip in some goals, timely goals, play great defense, work on
the penalty kill and that. So his role will change a little bit,
and I think Phil will say, Okay, great, you don't need me
to be a twenty five let's say thirty five player this year. If he
gets seventeen and I don't seventeen and thirty on a third line, that's going
to be a really good offensive team. So yeah, Phil is not a
high fantasy pick for me, but again, an important part of this team
as they try to go forward in the playoffs, especially important, as you
mentioned just all around defensively helps your goalies, helps everyone else, helps the
depth as you mentioned, scary down the middle. With those three, Wow,
let's move on to some of the more perpheral guys you already mentioned them.
I want to pose you a point to pick him here, and that's
quinnin Byfield and Arthur Kaliev, two young players that I've been excited about for
a while. Byfield as you mentioned hasn't quite come along as a center.
It's been nice to see him in the top six as a wing, though
thirty four point pace playing with some of the top sixers there over fourteen minutes
a night seems like he might have the edge, but Kaliev improved his point
pace from year one at twenty eight to forty one point pace, still only
getting under twelve minutes a night, though, so depends on the role I
assume for these two. Byfield seems a little bit better defensively, CALLI I
maybe with a better shot. I don't know what do you think between these
two? Who would you take? If you want it a little bit more
point production? Quintin Bifield has to score more than three goals next season,
and that was his production playing with Kempay and Copatar and the Kings have propped
this player up, and I get it. He's the second overall pick.
You're not gonna look he's not a bust, but he's got to score more
than three goals. And you're right about Artie. Artie when he's on the
ice, is a productive player. He shoots the puck a lot he can,
He finds the back of the power play. But as you mentioned,
Victor, he's not a good defensive player. He's a one dimensional player,
and that's a challenge with Arthur Calliff. If he's going to emerge and be
a top six player, he's got to be way better defensively. Because you
watch the playoffs, he was a scratch, not because he couldn't produce,
because he couldn't play. He couldn't put the other side of the ice.
From a point production standpoint, I just think that by default, Quintin's gonna
get more ice time. He's going to play on the top line or whatever
you want to call it. I don't know you could argue anyone in the
street linsco be a top line. He's gonna play more. He's gonna play
sixteen minutes a night. I think already he's only gonna play probably twelve unless
he gets up, as we mentioned, into that role where he's playing with
Duboin Fiala, and maybe it's a game changer for him. Right now,
I'd say Quentin Byfield, he's gonna be featured. He's gonna grow. The
problem Victim with Quintin is that I don't know what his shot is like when
you watch him play they say he does all the little things really well.
He goes into corners, he creates space for the other two players. But
when I watched them, what kind of a shot does he have? It
looks like he has a pretty decent risk shot, but he never shoots because
he's not in a position to shoots. That's some of the learning. And
he has a great role model and a guy like the president of the team,
Luke Roboti, who is never the fastest skater, was never the most
talented player, but he found the spots on the ice to go to get
the shot off. And that's what Quintin Byfield has to do. So I
think he'll scored more than three goals on this team next season. He better
look at the team. How could he not get the opportunities? And that's
the one thing I think And the Kings will not admit this, but I
gotta think that they thought he would be like the two Sea, the one
seed of the future. So when you go trade for du Bois and you
give him an eight year contract, now dual could play left free. I
think there was just a general dissatisfaction with Quentin Byfield's production, like he should
be better right now, so from a point standpoint, I think by default
Quinton would score more than Arthur Khaliev, but again it's going to be close.
I don't expect a breakout season from either one of these players, more
so Quintin because where he is and maybe he's got a little bit more confidence.
But already, if he gets a top six roll or a ministers role,
he'll produce as a fantasy player because they'll score power play goals and he'll
get his shot off. That's the one thing about him. And granted he's
not Altovetkin. I know people trying to draw that parallel with respectively shot I'm
like, slow down, this guy's gonna break the Oh he's gonna break the
goal scoring record, not Arthur Kalief. It's gonna be interesting. And Jesse's
one point. People was talked about the King's prospect pool and how great it
is, and it's a it's not a young team. They traded away a
lot of those guys. Now the one guy that might breakthrough would be would
be brand Clark this season, But again I would favor Arthur Callier from a
points production standpoint. Next season. Yeah, great point, and I have
definitely thought that too, about Byfield being the one or two C of the
future. I've said this on the podcast, but it certainly seems like that
is not trending in that direction. And you're right about the shot. He
reminds me a little bit of like Joe Thornton. I think Joe Thornton could
have scored thirty plus goals if he wanted to, but he just never wanted
to shoot. He hilariously scored probably five to ten goals of his career where
he really didn't want to shoot, but the net was just wide open so
he had to. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens between
those two and really good points on those. Let's switch over to the D
now we got to talk, of course about Drew Dowdy. Another solid season
for the now thirty three year old. It looked a little bit like Sean
Dursey was going to cut into his production, and he did for a while
there. Now he's in Arizona. Fifty three point pace for Dowdy is around
what we've been expecting from him. Nine goals, forty three assists is how
he got there. Twenty seven power play points is really fantastic, and with
the block shots, hits. He's definitely a tier one guy in my book.
I had him ranked sixteenth last year Jesse ten. He ended up at
twenty first for defenseman. Solid, solid, top twenty five guy for sure.
None of his underlyings are really out of line for me. Shooting percentage,
pdo IP or all either in line or low, So I'm happy with
that. His bash fifty six for his position. That's also pretty solid for
someone who gets all the power play points that he does four years at that
hefty eleven million in a cap league, you're probably not going there, but
maybe someone can retain money on him, and he'd be happy to have Drew
Dawddy in that case. But looking at some of his underlyings, his offense
seems like it's fallen off a little bit at even strength, but still really
good on the power play. So Dennis, I don't really see any reason
why Daddy can't keep doing what he's doing. Do you expect status quote from
him? I do. He's healthy, he's a horse. She's gonna play
the minutes. He's not. Look, he's not Eric Carlson. He's not
gonna score one hundred points. He's going to get around fifty points, and
his shot was a little bit more accurate. I always look like when Drew
Line's off for a slapshot, I'm like, okay, somebody watch out because
it's not going to hit the net, and I hit one of the players
or the backboards. So he was a little better accuracy last season. But
Drew's consistent, and I think he can come in that fifty point level eight
to ten goals next season. Yeah, he'll be a not a mountstar on
a power play, but his production will come through the power play. He's
not that great enough a five on five offensive threat anymore, not that he
ever was, to be honest with him, he was. He played what
I think the second most minute next season last season. So that's what you
do. You get consistent play from Drew, you get a super competitive player.
You get a leader in the room, like I was not afraid to
talk, which is the best part of my job talking to do daddy.
And he's a true leader on the side. So they can't win a championship
without him. Is he look? Is he worth eleven million dollars a year
in a tight cap era. No, But they signed the contract so many
seasons ago when they didn't think that they would still be at eighty three million
dollars on a cap. But again, yeah, I think a tier two
player at this point because his production won't be astronomical. But again I don't
see any regression in his game from an offensive standpoint. It's certainly a safe
pick when you go down your fantasy teams this season. Let's go further down
the right handed defenseman here and talk about Matt Roy. He had a decent
portfolio stats for the fantasy player last year two blocks, hit and half shot
and half and a point every three contest. Looking at Denot's numbers, I
noticed that when he and Roy were on the ice at the same time,
it was a cheek code. For some reason, opposition expected goals dropped like
a rock, while expectations for the King's spiked. That's just a little weird
thing. Anyway, Drew Daddy gets the power play time on ice on this
team. But now Dursey's gone, there's a little bit of difference in the
defensive corps here. A few candidates maybe could ease into a little bit more
playtime. Do you think that Roy is going to maintain that similar role in
production and all those physical stats we love in the next year, or do
you foresee some sort of a change. Yeah, now he's an underrited player,
Jesse. He was a top two any shop blocker last season, and
this team doesn't block a lot of shots. They're not an over They're not
a big hitting team. I think they've had two players in the top hundred
in hits. And he's got to think nine goals, which is surprising to
me. Matt never scored in this and again, this is a situation where
a player grew into his position, So I think this is probably for you
guys. I probably a tier two player, to be honest with him,
So I think the goals will be there. He might get an opportunity to
play on the power play. But he's not the fastest skater he I thought
he was always a stay at home defenseman. I remember he drafted him in
the seventh round from Michigan Tech. What great value they got for him.
Steady player, that's what this player is like. Is he going to lead
this team in scoring? No? He was. He as good an offensive
player as Sean Jersey. No. I was surprised at shot. He's got
a pretty heavy shot, so I think a second tier defenseman that will block
shots, play a lot of minutes. But I expect more of the same
from Matt Roy because again he's not called on to do the work that dirty
has to do. I think the second unit power plays probably been to the
fault of maybe Brand Clark, who's who saw in the YEO. He's done
amazing things. The question is can he played this level? Can he played
defensively? But Matt would be a nice safe pick in the late rounds because
I think he's an under the radar. When you think of the Kings,
you think of Dowdy, Anderson, Gabrikov, maybe Brand Clark, you don't
really think of Matt Roy. He doesn't come top to mind when you think
of fantasy selections, but could be a solid late round pick for some players
on the left side. Let me throw two of Matsha at the same time
and maybe get a pick him out of you, Mikey Anderson and Vladistov Gabrikov.
Gabrikov watch was a long concern last year. We were talking about that
guy for a very long time coming at the trade deadline, and you have
to admit he worked out just fine for the Kings as far as I'm concerned,
goals scored while he was on the ice tilted seventy to thirty in the
favor of the Kings. And if you set the minimum time on ice at
three hundred minutes at five on five Gabrikov when he was on the Kings,
that King's debut placed eighty or eighth of six hundred and seventy two skaters in
that percentage metric in terms of outscoring the opposition while in the ice, and
he signed it to your deal. Anderson assigned for eight more years. He
did that mid season and both these guys scored around twenty points. Anderson has
the better peripheral stats, the better bash. What do you make of Mikey
Anderson and Gabra Kober? Are these guys going to be mainstays for the long
term for this team? Enton better be because he signed an eight year deal
a nice price. It's a funny thing. Mike Anderson is the biggest guy,
but he was top hundred in hits when he was in the top hundred
and hits along with Gunstons. But from a production standpoint, look, gaff
came in and really helped save the season. They had no depth on the
left side, they're playing Alexander Edlar. Over there, they're playing Sean Dursey,
who's a right defenseman on the left side. This guy helped save their
season, helped them get in the playoffs, a great guy in the room,
a funny guy in the room. Mesh as well. Interestingly, he
took a two year deal so he could sign an extension after this season.
Loves Los Angeles. I think a full season. People you mentioned at the
top about goaltending, people forget that Gave only played in the regular season.
I think twenty games for this team. Having a full season of Gavrakoff will
certainly help this team defensively. He should be a better point producer. Mikey
is a solid kid, a great leader in the room. Well, we're
a letter in Los Angeles. At some point, he's just not an offensive
player, so he'll help you with the hits. But that's a late round
pick for Anderson. I just think the better player, the more well rounded
player, is Gavrikoff at this point in time, and I think in the
next season, giving a full season, will Sentators will be the more productive
offensive player as well. Well. You mentioned earlier a little bit about brand
Clark, and I just wanted to ask you straight up, do you think
what do you think the chances are he plays more than eight NHL games this
season ninety nine point nine percent. This is the year for Brant Clark,
because the other option would be Jordan Spence. I just think you put Grant
Clark on the third pair on the right side and let him go and let
him do his sting and let him grow into it. He has played,
he played what nine nine games last season? Didn't look out of place?
Wasn't the dominant player obviously that he is in the LHL. He's gonna play
this season without going He's gonna make the roster. He's gonna play. He
may not play every game, Victor, but he's going to play a lot
of games. And this is a player and I know that they've draw parallels
to maybe a Dowdy because he's precocious and he's a great offensive player. Not
there yet on him, but I certainly think he will be part of the
unless there's an injury. I think he's on that top six. Defensively.
You might see George Spence come and spell him sometimes. But I think this
is maybe not a breakthrough season. But if you look at the tools that
he has on this team, if he quarterbacks a second unit of power play,
he's gonna get some points. So but I definitely think he's going to
play this season in the NHL Victor. It's time for brand Clark. They've
waited on this player, and now I think it's time. I think the
team is good enough to give this player cover where if he's playing on a
third unit and he makes some mistakes defensively, they can cover for him.
But I do expect him in Los Angeles this season. That's exciting for everyone
who's been waiting for that to happen. I definitely have been too. Yeah,
that's great to hear, and I agree. They definitely have some good
defenseman that they compare with him to help mask any defensive inefficiencies. Let's move
over to the goalies now. The Kings gave up the fourth ranked expected goals
against for sixty two point three eight according to Evolving Hockey, but conceded the
seventeenth actual goals. Not great, but big change for them as the first
season since the eight o nine season that Jonathan Quick won't play well at least
seventeen games that was his low mark, but he's been the mainstay there.
Of course, cal Peterson gone and now it looks like a tannem of Phoenix,
Copley and Cam Talbot. So let's talk first about Copley, since he
was there last season, played twenty seven games in eighteen nineteen with Washington and
then since then played two games over three seasons before playing thirty seven this past
year. What a crazy trajectory for him. His goal save above expected this
season was nine point two six that's great at even strength Delta Fenwick point nine
percent and he had a really strong record in the regular season. One year
left at that one point five million dollar nice contract. It seems like the
Kings believe Copley is their man, at least it seems that way at least
according to the contract as well. Is that true? Are they gonna potentially
bring in someone else? I guess is the first question? And if not,
what do we expect from Compley this season? Dennis Victor In the big
picture, they want Eric Partillo to emerge, who was going to be playing
in the Ontario League in the HL this season, came out of Michigan a
big Now, the King's really never had big goaltenders like Jonathan Quick. Look
he's the goat right in Los Angeles. He's gonna retire. They're gonna put
his jersey up to the rafts. Maybe get a statue, whatever, because
everybody gets a statue in Los Angeles. No disrespect on my buddy, Dustin
Brown. That's the big picture. So this is a transitional period goaltending wise
for the Kings. Copley did nothing. Look, Copley helped save the season.
Lessons you mentioned about Jonathan Quick not being here anymore. Look, Jonathan
Quick played its way out of Los Angeles. He wasn't good. Cal Peterson
lost confidence somewhere down the road, was playing in the HL last season.
It was a bad contract for Rob Blake to give an unproven player five million
dollars a year for three seasons. Coppy came in early and helped save the
season, but they didn't have a confidence enough in them to think that he
could lead them in the playoffs, so they went and got corpus Aalo.
Think the same thing applies this season. I think it's a forty forty split
at this point in time. And the thing about Todd, unless you go
on a real big streak, he's probably going to alternate goaltenders. So do
I think that Phoenix Compley would play sixty games for this team. Absolutely not.
Do I think that Cam Talbot, who's played for Todd in the past
and they might be a connection there for miss Evington days. I think that
Cam Talbot could have emerges the number one. It's a big question mark.
Cam had a bad season in Ottawa last season. The two prior ones were
pretty good. And here's the thing. If we've talked about their offense for
what forty minutes, If the offense is as we expected, they don't need
they don't need Vasilevski, they don't need to start get they need a nine
ten, nine fifteen guy save percentage wise, could one of these two guys
do it? Yeah? Could it be Phoenix Company? Sure? I would
have went the Copley in the playoffs, and I know that Corporsala played well
down the stretch, but again he got beat high a lot in the playoffs,
and so they decide to move on. Phoenix could emerges them number one.
But I think at this point before the season starts, you gotta think
this is a forty forty split net with respect at a time that the two
players will play with the specta Copley and Ken Talbot. Yeah, really great
stuff there. I also, just the record have been a long standing corpus
Allo skeptic. But anyways, he definitely looked good for a while there in
LA. You talked about Talbot already. I just wanted to also remind people
that David Riddick is there. I don't expect much from him. I don't
know if you do, But do you see anything different there with the goalie
situation aside from what you just said. No, I think Riddic will be
in the O in the HL as a tandem. It's the veteran presence behind
Portillo helped titor him probably on the ice as well. But I think,
look, if David Riddick's going to be on the team next season, something
went wrong with either Copley or Talbot. It's a nice insurance policy. If
he's playing for the King's Victor like then something went wrong and that's not a
good sign because I think that that's why he's there. So it's an insurance
policy. Don't expect a lot. Short of an injury, he would be
the first call off unless Portello really shows himself well in the early season,
but British has ticketed for Ontario on the HL and I think he played at
the entire season showed up something happening to the first two goalies. All right,
Dennis, this has been some great information on the Los Angeles Kings,
the team everybody would be watching very closely next year. How do we closely
watch all the work that you'll be doing out there and keep up with your
content this coming year. I'll be a challenge, Jesse, because I'm doing
a lot now, just kidding. You can go to the fourth Period dot
com is where I right. Probably every seven to ten days, I'll do
a column on the Kings Serious XM. We do the Hot Stove that goes
on from eleven to one Eastern on Saturdays. I also sit in once a
week with Steve Kolias on the Powerplay, which is three to six to Eastern.
Also do Kings of the podcast so that which is a King's driven podcast
with my partner John Hoven, the Mayor. That's a lot of great content
there as well. So I think that basically covers that. I do radio
appearances around with America, some TV spots as well for V san and some
with Scottie Farrell. So I'm not hiding. If you guys want to find
my content, it's going to be pretty easy to find. Next season,
Tremenis, we will definitely be doing that. Thank you so much for coming
on today. I was great being a podcast. Jesse and Victor appreciate the
time. Wilson, that's good. Fired passed off my goodness. Walk go
with a cat quick grab. Now it's your weekly goalie talk with Cats Silverman,
Cat's instincts. Time now to get Cat's instincts on the Los Angeles Kings
goalies. Cat Silverman joining us from in goldmag and we have to we were
talking about this beforehand and this system is not great. They didn't make a
really good move though, And I would say and acquiring Eric Portillo, who's
the main guy, the only guy that we're going to talk about system,
the lone savior. He's a six foot six, twenty twenty five pound twenty
nineteen third round pick by Buffalo. He was traded to Los Angeles in March.
It sounds like they weren't going to sign him or be able to sign
him, and then he signed with LA. Played a lot at Michigan for
the last two years, who was a really strong team based on some of
the other prospects that they have had, and from what I heard, his
time was up and down there and this season will be great to see him
playing professionally for the first time. His equivalency is not great. It's on
the teens in the mid teens, like fourteen percent. Most of the guys
that he looks like are either bus or average at best. He does have
a nineteen YEMI comp who had a crazy low equivalency was an incredible company.
Really okay, so tell us this system is thin Portillo. For Portillo has
to be the clear favorite, but what do your instincts tell you about him?
So initially when Buffalo drafted him, I was like, Yes, finally
this team that desperately needs goaltending has drafted someone who can go through the collegiate
system and then step in at the NHL level. This is perfect for them.
And then they ended up getting Dylan garrind from I believe it was Tampa
Bay in a trade and really didn't have a spot I think for Portillo,
who it sounds like wasn't going to sign there anyway, So they ended up
trading those rights, and boy did LA need it. I think it's incredibly
funny that the Anaheim Ducks ended up trading for a wealth of young goaltending talent
and they have every good goalie prospect in the league, and then the King
said, who needs a goalie? We have Jonathan Quick who they don't anymore,
so we're going to see how things go for them. I liked Portillo's
game. It's surprising to hear that he has such a low percentage there,
just because I thought his game was a lot of fun to watch. He's
huge. He's like six foot six, two hundred and twenty pounds. He's
truly like Ben Bishop sized, and he's not as slow as a lot of
guys who are his size. He's not as inflexible as a lot of guys
his size, especially once you get into those guys who are over six two
and well over two hundred pounds. Sometimes those guys have trouble with agility and
with being able to move laterally and up from their knees with the kind of
speed that they need at the NHL level. I feel like he always had
just a really consistent baseline to his game, so it's surprising to hear that
he's not just looking at the underlying numbers as likely to be a success.
I do think that the Anti Miami comparable there is hilarious because Anti Miami is
one of the wildest goaltenders to watch, outside of maybe Alex Staylock, who
you never knew where he was going to go or what he was going to
do, And you could guess what Miami was going to do, but only
one out of every four stops he made were predictable. Orchilla is a little
more consistent than that. I think he's a little more calm. I do
wonder if as he continued to play, he started to look a little predictable,
which might be why because he did have good numbers when he first came
over to North America and was playing I believe it was in the USHL,
and it looked like he was putting up some pretty good numbers there. And
then he went to college and yeah, his first two years at the University
of Michigan he had obviously the first year, he only had seven games.
After that and he played a full season, looked great. Last year's numbers
weren't amazing, but we're still solid, just not unstoppable, solid, so
it'll be interesting to see. I don't know what playing for the Ontario Rain
will do for a goaltender right now, because I don't know what the rest
of the King's prospect pool looks like, but I know that they have some
slim pickings in certain areas, so we'll see. He's not one that I
am necessarily delighted about anymore, but I did at one point think that he
was the best option in the Buffalo system ahead of Ukapeca Lukanan, who was
already playing in the NHL, so that should count for something. I think
he's the best that LA has, but it's still not that great, especially
compared to their Southern California rivals, who have two number one goalies in their
prospect pool, as we previously discussed. So yeah, if you're wondering who
else we should talk about, the answer is no, and it's gonna some
teams we talk about multiple but in LA, we're gonna just move on.
So thanks for giving us your instincts. Cat On, Eric Portillo, We'll
be back right after this the dynasty, but watchings King continue to have a
very good prospect system. Victor's FHL ratings have the system ranked tenth, which
is not quite what they have been. I don't think there maybe, but
there is such high end talent on this prospect system, and it all starts
with one of the most prominent prospects out there on the defensive side. You're
no brain or Victor. Who is it? Yeah, that would be Brant
Clark. LA's twenty twenty one eighth overall pick, six foot, two hundred
and eighty five pound right hand in d played a lot of played for a
lot of teams this season. It was definitely a lot of moving around for
him. He played nine games with LA had two assists. He played five
games for the Antia Rain had one goal, one assist. Then he won
a gold medal with Canada at the World Junior Championships the U twenty eight points
in seven games. Went back to Barry after the World Juniors and posting sixty
one points in thirty one regular season games in the HL and then twenty three
points in twelve games for the playoffs. Was definitely one of, if not
the best defensemen in that league. In the playoffs, he was fantastic.
He's now twenty, so he should be done with the HL and in the
HL for next season. If not the NHL, I think there's a decent
chance that he makes it there. And in cashare wondering. I have him
as my sixth defenseman and my fantasy ranks, so there's five guys ahead of
them. Who might they be? You can guess. Let me know what
you think. Mitch Brown tracking data has him overall at a ninety fifth percentile
really good. His offense and defense are both good. Where he really struggles
in some aspects is the transition game. And we've heard about his skating before,
but his relative percent of controlled exits is really where he struggles. According
to this data set, along with control exits per sixty, his entries are
good. Who gets the puck in really well, but getting the puck out
defensively is a bit of a struggle for him, and also his retrievals going
back and getting the puck. Those are two areas where he really struggles and
that might limit him, at least initially from having a professional impact. I
think that those are things obviously he can work on and get much better at.
He's got some other things in his advantages created expected primary points involvement.
All of those things lookally really good for brand Clark and what else looks good
is our Fantasy Hockey Life scout report, Jesse, What does that tell us?
Let me tell you Victor brand Clark was scouted by our guy Brandon.
He says. The skating is incredibly agile, player of dynamic momentum, possesses
elastic acceleration, as he seems to be championing at the bit, champion at
the bit, chomping at the bit. It's been discussed to get an emotion.
Clark has access to a full range of skill at different speeds and looks
equally comfortable and confident, be it leaving the rush or slowing down the play
and pulling attention to him in a similar way dots or Yager would pass here.
In handling, clear that Clark likes to hold onto the puck carry it
into advance the play if possible a half zone passer. His stretch passes could
use some work, as more often than not the past attempt winds up incomplete.
In shooting, the shot is subtle in effect and smooth in motion.
It's almost like a firm and lofty pass directed to the net. He demonstrates
varying degrees of tempo and his movement before the shot is released. Wouldn't go
so far as saying the shot is harmless, as it has high potential to
create secondary opportunities. However, the crease around the crease if it doesn't sneak
through the goaltender, however, the shot does not have the aggression or bite
Brandon says the IQ. Clark is extremely comfortable with the puck and under pressure.
His skating ability opens up options for him to alter the look of the
developing play at his whim spatial awareness with his mobility, continually looking to make
the best play possible as opposed to the most obvious for checking. Not normally
active on the four check as a defender, but he showed glimpses of what
his spatial pressure can accomplish defense. He's adept at closing gaps on opponents while
defending the rush. After encroaching on the player's space, his long reach guards
against puck movement and eventually becomes the final play disruptor. He's shown the willingness
to box players off. He flexes the ability to not only disrupt the play,
but to then force a turnover and move the puck in his team's favor
while on the PK tends to fall back into a collapsing a more passive posture.
His best asset then is the skating with an honorable mention to spatial awareness.
His biggest concern is that long range breakout puck movement the top tier outcome
for him. Assist heavy minute munching, top pair of D with first unit
power play shot development could bring him closer to the seventy plus point range boom.
That would be nice. Fiftieth outcome tier roll second pairing, power play
specialist that could be used as a pesky penal to kill option to capitalize on
turnovers, ensuring rushers. Stylistic comparable skating shows shades of Scott Niedermeyer, while
his puck carrion and proximal game resembles the slick one on one stylens of Eric
Carlson with a dash of Yager Datzuk keepaway playmaking. It sounds like we're making
the genetic monster hockey player right there. The NHL rank King Mason Black shows
he's coming close to first line potential, above first line potential, getting starting
to hug superstar potential in terms of his p NHL equivalences, But the poll
that went out there from NHL rank King Mason Black was Brandt Clark versus last
year's number two overall pick, Simon Nemich of the New Jersey Devils, and
Brant Clark easily handling Shimon Nevitch with four hundred eighty eight votes. He won
by a fifty seven to forty three margin. Brant Clark I think has the
better offensive reputation from everything that I have studied up until now, Victor over
Nimich, So I know Nemi was not your guy in that draft class.
Would you continue to take or would you take brand Clark over him? Yes,
definitely I would, And now I'm gonna have to go watch his skating
again after Brandon says he has shades of Scott Niedermeyer. That is incredibly exciting,
and I don't remember seeing that, so I'm gonna have to look again.
Anyways, Yes, I would definitely take Clark here. NMIs, You're
right, was not my guy. It was definitely your check and I had
even I think metaycheck ahead of him. Menchukoff maybe was in there, but
right now I have Nemich ranked fifteenth in my d and Clark at six I
mentioned, so I definitely have Clark ahead. I definitely agree with the people
here, and the opportunity is great, greater in LA, even not that
I usually weigh that so heavily, but Brand Clark definitely has, you know,
all the opportunity. Obviously, Drew Dowdy's still there, but he's the
next in line. He's the chosen one. Is Brand Clark in that LA
system to run the power play for years to come, and they have definitely
emerging from this retool. He's going to be the guy and they're gonna be
a good team. New Much is still a good player. Don't get me
wrong, he's great. He definitely looks like he's going to be a really
good professional player as well. He was great in the HL. But he
is blocked because there's Hamilton, There's Hughes there, He's got some competition there.
That doesn't mean he can't be moved and be great elsewhere. But I
definitely would take Clark. I think he has more offensive prowess and just the
way that he sees the game and finds teammates. I think he has more
offensive creativity. They both have ridiculously high star potentials. If you look at
these two in the Hockey Prospecting model, they're both over eighty percent chance of
being a star, which is incredible. The comps here are ridiculous Victor Headman,
Phil Housley, Bobby or That's absurd. So all both of these guys
have really great comps. But I would definitely think Clark for all the things
I mentioned and looking at his specific call. He's also got Tony D'Angelo,
which is whatever. But also Evan Bouchard is a guy he looks a lot
like in this model, and I think Evan Bouchard would be a pretty reasonable
comp in terms of what to expect for Clark. Obviously he's not done developing
either, but he's obviously shown some pretty excellent prowess. The top down Hockey
model, which is always a bit more conservative than Hockey Prospecting, is a
little more conservative on Clark. It has him at just twenty three percent chance
of being a star. That seems really low to me, but ninety six
percent chance of being an NHL or so pretty good upside with near Locke to
play NHL games. That's I think we can comfortably say that about Bran Clark
dressing. Yes, sir, Bran Clark. Boy, that's a pretty exciting
report on him. I think everybody already knew Brent Clark was top of the
list, but boy, that's pretty good. Let's move on, Victor.
Who's your need to know prospect in the LA King system? Yeah, this
is actually a bit tough. As you mentioned, the system is not what
it was a lot of those guys have graduated and so a little bit down
the pipeline here. Ryan con Me is who we're going to go with,
and he was LA's sixth round pick just from this past draft, twenty three,
five ten eighty seven pound right wing, very old for this class.
He's a October twenty third birthday, so just under thirty days away from being
eligible for next year's draft. Always a bit interesting. Sixty two points in
sixty games for Sioux City of the USHL, and he's going to New Hampshire
for the NCUBA next season, so that'll be good to see how he transitions
there, and so he's definitely going to be at least a few years away.
Then Mitch Brown's data set, he's overall eighty three. Pretty good his
offense though, hello, but a little bit blow average in terms of expected
goals and assist per sixty. That's not what you want to hear, but
the rest of his game looks really good. Defense, transition game all looks
pretty excellent. So let's hear a little bit more about Ryan Conny from our
FHL scout Jesse just indeed and the FHL scout in this point. In this
one is our boy Yarnow coming off the top rope over there in Finland.
His skating is an energetic skater bit smaller players. Skating draws are quite short
ones, but still effective in small areas of the ice, fast on those
short situations, but in a way lacks the very high end speed and also
the downside of his skating that after a couple of draws starts to look a
bit heavy. Passing not usually so much, keeping the possession of the puck
and the offensive zone. Instead, the play style is quite direct, either
going with the shot or moving the puck quickly average puck handling skills. Tries
to dribble the opponent sometimes but not always with good success. On the power
play, he can keep the puck on left hand side distributed back to the
d or try to find the bumper guy from the center, or send the
puck behind the net that can lead to scoring chances. Shooting very good,
especially the one timer from the left circle and the powerplay powerful wrist shot from
breakaway situations. Definitely a shoot first type of guy i Q. He's not
a puck carrier, but can read the play well to get him into scoring
chance. Is extremely good and anticipating the attacking situations in the game that can
lead to his team getting fast counter attacks, three on two, two on
one breakaways, even in the pedal to kill. When those situations of not
getting a direct shot, he can distribute the puck by his backhand good to
find space for his shot in the offensive zone and if the shooting lanes block,
can distribute the puck to other players defense, usually the last man back
in his own zone to help the d mostly because of his attacking style of
play when in the D zone, not hesitant to do checks with a stick,
not much necessarily with the body or a heavy hitter. So the best
asset overall here that one timer on the power play ready to fire shots from
the left hand side of the circle and can distribute the puck if the shot
line is blocked in a very dangerous finisher at five on five. Biggest concern
the size. He needs more of it to be in two hundred foot game
type player in the National Hockey League. What's the top outcome for this guy?
Middle of bottom six winger says Yarno utilize both on the penalty kill and
the power play. Valuable in fantasy even if he doesn't break into the top
lines because of shot volume. Gives that feeling of a goal scorer, especially
if given the power play role and the stylist of comparable Yarna went with Alex
to brink it slash Justin Danforth. A little bit of a delta there,
but triangulates where we're at p NHL similarity scores. We got Max patcha Retty,
Patrick Sharp and Eric Fear. I like that, although that kind of
takes us around the second line potential between second line and first line is where
Conny comes out in those equivalences and up in the comparison. He puts Ryan
Conbie up against Quinn Finley of the New York Islanders. My wife knows his
mom the Quinn Finlay's It's cool to see him make it up here. Who
would you rather have on your fantasy team? And Quinn Finlay comes out decisively
ahead the third round pick of the Islanders last year, fifty seven to forty
three victor. I don't know, is that how you see this breaking down?
No, not really. I mean I think in general, if you
had to choose between a no offense to your wife knowing their family, but
if you had to choose between taken an LA King's prospect in a New York
Islanders prospect, just in general, I think you should take the La King's
prospect. But I do think that Finlay is interesting. He's someone to keep
your eye on. He definitely had a well in case people don't know,
twenty twenty two third round pick by the Islanders, and he went from the
well he was in the USHL and did really well, got traded to Chicago
well over a point per game, and he's going to be at Wisconsin next
year. That Wisconsin team is going to be interesting. They had really rough
year this year and sounds like there was a lot of chaos with the coaching
and they're getting the Minnesota state coach who took them all the way to the
final. I believe we're neared and he's gonna have a lot more structure and
it sounds like things are going to be better over there in Wisconsin, so
Finley might be someone that kind of pops off a little bit. But I
actually like Conny a little bit. He's starting off in terms of what he
did in his draft season much higher than what Finley did. I also like
this comp because they're both USHL guys, So if you just look at their
equivalent season, their d's in their draft season, Conmee was way higher than
Finley, so starting off at a higher point. So that's why I would
take him. But I'm definitely as depth pieces interested in kind of both these
guys, and a little bit more on Conny. Yeah, he's got that
fifteen percent chance of being a star on the Hockey Prospecting model, forty five
percent chance of being an NHL or he's got some decent comps. Of course,
a lot of these guys end up busting out. He's out of Jesper
Fast in there, as well as Connor Brown, who I think is probably
a reasonable comp average producer, And yeah, that's what you'd hope for from
a pretty late pick in conmy the top down hockey model as usual, more
pessimistic five percent chance of being a star fifteen percent chance of being an NHL
So yeah, definitely a little less optimistic, but still there's there's some there's
something here I think with Conme and he's still pretty raw, but we have
to wait and see how he turns out. Jesse, Yes, indeed,
and our keep your Eye on prospect is a guy who's been talked about on
this show a number of times because he's been kicking around those top prospect circles.
Were those top prospect talk circles because of his draft position for a while?
Who is it, Victor? Yep, it's Alex Turcott. We certainly
have been keeping an eye on him for a while. Twenty nineteen fifth overall
pick by LA. People probably could go back and look at that twenty nineteen
draft. I think you'd be surprised how early he went compared to some of
the other guys there. And then the narrative on how last season went.
He had seventeen points in thirty two games for LA Sorry sorry for Ontario.
No points in four games for the for the Los Angeles Kings when he played
a couple of token games there. He missed the start of the season,
had a concussion from May twenty twenty two that kept him sideline until November.
He's had a lot of issues that have disrupted his development, has Alex Turcott,
and there's obviously some disappointment maybe by some and how he's turned out in
terms of what the upside is. But he still has a lot of potential,
i would say, and he's very close to being in HL ready and
played some games with the Kings last season. He also played eight games with
the Kings and he's basically been in Ontario in the HL for the past three
seasons. Potentially some frustration there kicking in terms of maybe him thinking he's a
little bit closer to getting an opportunity than maybe the Kings are allowing him.
But of course the King's being competitive. Now that's tough to crack in with
such a petitive group there, so that makes it a little bit difficult as
well. But you have some really high potential here with Turcott and he's coming
this is the last season of his entry level deal before he's going to be
in RFA and you have to really decide if you're going to pay him or
not. So that's what we have to say initially about Turcott, but we
have more from our FHL scout, don't we just see this? Indeed,
Pniche Charmatt had a look at Alex Turcott and says this his skating strong skating
abilities at a Turcott powerful stride, remarkable speed, excellent acceleration making a challenging
for opponents to dispossess him. Relentless energy, continuous motion provide him with a
competitive advantage passing and handling. He demonstrates slick passing skills and offensive awareness,
capable of making difficult passes through type spaces whenever the opportunities arise. Moreover,
soft hands have given him the ability to score goals effectively in close proximity to
the net, shooting excellent risk shot with a quick release. Snapshot and slapshot
are equally impressive. IQ. He could use some improvement making quick moves and
changing the angles to open up passing lanes and find open teammates. He's a
smart player who reads the play well, keeps the puck moving effectively, but
is often forced into taking the safe route making the pass instead of the scoring
chance for checking. Turcott's game could benefit from honing quick moves, changing angles
to open up passing lanes, find open teammates. He tends to offer safe
passes instead of taking risks to create better scoring opportunities in the defensive zone.
The defense, Alex Turcott excels by reading plays a deptly positioning in himself effectively
between the opponent and the net. He can poke check with a stick.
He can intercept passes. He makes some impact on the penalty kill especially.
He has a relentless work ethic. His best asset then overall offensive prowess with
smooth passing, heightened offensive awareness, soft hands, excellent risk shot. Biggest
concern the injuries. We talked about it. They've really messed up his opportunity
to show what he can really do while other prospects on the Kings have surpassed
him the top tier outcome for this guy. The injuries are probably too much
to ignore. But there's a chance that if he got back to his true
form, he could fit into maybe a second line maybe even a first line
center position, and that would take us to a tier two in terms of
our prospect rankings. Is maybe a sixty point type guy fifty percentile tier or
role. Possibility of making a true impact as a center is starting to fade.
He's fallen behind some guys, so you know, maybe a third line
center somewhere in there. Stylistic comparable when healthy, he's been compared to Ryan
O'Reilly type, but that remains to be seen good at the face off circle
though that's an Oiley type of thing. In terms of looking at the NHL
ranking Mason Black and his data, his potential has been falling a lot.
At the time of his draft, he had superstar and it has gradually been
declining to now he's even below second line potential on Mason's computations. We compared
him, Mason compared him to the silly Pid Colson out there, a guy
who's already been in the NHL a bit for the Vancouver Canucks. Turcott versus
pod Colesen. Pod Colesen won easily sixty seven two thirty three, and it's
hard to argue with that. Pod Colson's already shown he can have a role
in the NHL, and I don't know, Turcott can't seem to establish himself.
Would you agree with the people on this one, Victor, No,
I would not. As you said, Pod Colson has established what he is
in the NHL, and what that is a very non exciting career twenty three
point pace guy that is not interesting, not fantasy relevant. He does hit
a lot, so sure, maybe you could stream him for some hits blocks
when he gets good deployment, but he really doesn't do much in terms of
scoring, and I don't really see that changing. He's averaged twelve and a
half minutes over his career. He's only one hundred and eighteen NHL games,
so maybe he has a little bit more as he gets closer to hundred games,
maybe he could break out a little bit more. But I think we've
seen what particles in is and it's not interesting or exciting for fantasy. We
haven't seen, as she said, what Turcock can be. He's had some
injuries, he's had difficulties being blocked deployment wise, and it is true,
as I always say, the best always the cream rises to the crop,
the cream of the crop rises to the top, and he has not done
that. There have been some extenuating circumstances in terms of the injuries and such
that have limited him. But and of course having Bifield ahead of him,
and then them trading for Deno and now PLD, so it's becoming very crowded.
And difficult for him to establish himself and that's tough, but at the
same time, he has to do better and that has been a little bit
on him. But in terms of the potential, as you mentioned, he
was a sixty eight percent chance of being a star when he was when he
was drafted. I always thought when he was drafted, though, that he
was more of a middle six than for sure top line center, and now
it looks like he might be more of a bottom six type player. But
he still has that offense there if he has been able to translate it to
some extent at the professional level, just not all the way at the NHL
level, which is tough when you're not getting the opportunity. But he has
been pretty darn good in the HL. Hovering from half point a game to
two thirds point per game is really good. He's trended now down to twenty
six percent chance of being a star, but that's still really high and I
still think that there's upside there with Turcott, so I would definitely rather take
him, especially because he's not as far down in the funnel, even though
he's drafted a while ago. He doesn't have too many NHL games, only
has twelve, so you can still stuff him in your minors. If that's
stuff, you have that rule. And I think in terms of Philly Nhlly,
he looks much better than put holes into me some of his individual comps.
He's got guys like Elias Lindholm. I think there's still a world where
he becomes a little bit like that other guys like Keith Primo. Maybe not,
but I still really like Alex Turcott. I think he has a ton
of potential and there's still a world where he ends up becoming a really good
fantasy asset. The top down Hockey model a lot less optimistic as usual.
Just one percent chance of being a start, ten percent chance of being a
nhlor. That seems extremely pessimistic, but he has struggled a bit, and
that's all. Though they have time for Jesse, there's more guys we could
talk about, but we don't. We don't have time. If you're a
patron, you can read more from the scouting reports. There's more information in
there than what we read, and you can listen to my top ten recap
lists. And if you're interested in doing some scouting with us, shoot me
a DM on discord, Twitter or email. Us there you go. Come
back in just a minute. We'll close out the show where Hey, y'all.
A couple of things to remind you of before we get out of here
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