Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks, your source of information
and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Fuck off a step
hit on, stay lost. Here's your hosts, Jesse Suverre and Victor Nuno
Fantasy Hockey Live back once again to talk about the world of fantasy hockey.
Jesse Severe from fan Tracks and joining me it is Victor Nuno of Dabber Prospects.
Victor, as always, how are you doing. I'm doing awesome.
Jesse definitely excited to talk about one of the more interesting teams I would say
this offseason, But first of all, I have to know, how are
you doing. I'm doing good, man, I am doing good. Yeah.
This is definitely the Boston Bruins. Man. I remember I'm eating crow
at this point because I said coming into last year, boy, I don't
know about the Penguins, the Capitols, and the Bruins. They're these aging
teams. Maybe one of them will fall off. And I was right two
out of three, the Pens, the Caps, they fell off. But
the Bruins just the best team in NHL history, no big deal, just
absolutely laid waste to the league. So until the playoffs, and we have
one of our boy one of the big amazing guests that you have got for
this show, Victor Flutos Shenzawa of the Athletic one absolute top tier in terms
of his prominence in the national media. And you've even met him, right,
Yeah, I met him in Nashville and he was exactly how I expected
him to be. He was very straightforward, very direct, very cool man.
A few words, but when you ask him something, he will tell
you exactly what he thinks. And it's funny because last year he we there
was there was some changes. We weren't really sure and I think he was
skeptical as we all were about what was going to happen with this team,
and there was just so much change and now there's so much change, but
there was so much achievement this past year that it's on a wild swing if
you think about it just from a calendar year perspective for the Bruins. And
these are uncharted territories where there's a little bit obviously with bergeron Alzheimer kind of
retiring, but there's there's Yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch and
definitely a lot of opportunities that way. Guy listen to what Fluto has to
say about these guys. You absolutely do. And we've already recorded the interview.
And I'm not gonna embarrassed Fluto here because this is an indication that Fluto
is living in the serious world. But I did ask him about Immaculate Grid
and he's not playing the Immacula Grid, which is just things for the immature
policps like me to probably play. But if you try to get Victor this
Immaculate Grid game, is this not the Putoco? Is it something else?
It's it's the same. It's yeah, maybe that's what I should have called
it, because there's different brands of it. But on the Sports reference page,
Am I doing an ad for Sports Reference? Man? If I'm doing
an ad for you people, you need to give me the play index again
for free. But yeah, you do the thing where there's a grid of
it's like a little nine boxes and there's a grid at the top and on
the side, and you have to pick players who've been on both of the
teams, the one in the horizontal and the one in the vertical. They've
been in both teams, So like you have to pick a Toronto maple Leaf
who's been on the Sabers at Toronto maple Leaf, has been on the Predators
in then a Toronto maple Leaf that had a thirty win goalie season, and
it keeps going down the grid. But did you trade? Did you try
the puck douku at least? Yeah? I did, and it's not really
my thing. Also I was terrible at it, So those two things are
not related in any way. I think, Yeah, they do it for
all the sports, and yeah I struggle. I struggle because you're best off
if you like know the down roster guys. But I don't know. But
there is one player we're gonna talk about today who's very good in that game,
Victor. I think that is what I have to say about just general
life and hockey fun. But we create our own fund sometimes and we do
it in our Discord. It's free. You can join our Discord because other
social media is collapsing around us. It is folding up like a cardboard box,
and Discord is a safe haven where you can hang out with like minded
fantasy hockey fans and have fun chat. Not nasty people just die bombing in
because we're everybody's on good behavior. But we have chat going in there every
day, and all you need to do join that is hit Victor and myself
up at Victor Nuno twelve at fan hockey Life on the surviving the surviving remnants
of Twitter slash x at this point, and you can also email as Fantasy
Hockey Life at gmail dot com to get an invite. That's all you need
is you have to actually have a little link to get in there. But
there's also the goodness that is the Fantasy Hockey Life Patreon. Why don't you
tell people what's going on over there? Well, and by the way,
I'm going to refer to it as the artist formerly known as Twitter because I
don't want to call it X. We need an unpronounceable symbol. We need
a prince like symbol actually that I think that's what the one us must named
his kids. There you go, Yeah, great stuff over Patreon. We've
been doing a couple of interesting things. The tidy the Tier Dynasty is gotten
getting a really nice makeover. As we've talked about before, we had a
really good first season. But one thing that happened, Jesse is we did
have a kind of a few too many teams in kind of the initial division
that we're making into a second division, so we're gonna do some really fun
thing this next year. We're actually gonna pit the divisions against each other and
you're all competing for survival to stay in a Tier two and the division that
scores fewer points is going to all move down into kind of a Tier three's
situations. But you're all gonna keep your team, so it's gonna be interesting.
I'm you and I are in different division, so we're essentially on different
teams kind of playing against each other, which will add an extra layer I
think will be fun. And if you're confused by this whole discussion of what
it all means and everything in terms of the tidy, there are some visualizations
that can help with that, and that's where it's helpful to be in the
discord. As Jesse said, you can get some great information about it.
The tier dynasty is a great one of the great perks that we can compete
and win your way up to the top. There's actually going to be a
fast track option. All this inspired by a couple of our friends over at
Keeping Carlson. But this has a dynasty slant, right, so you're gonna
play with deeper rosters and have all the miners, and if you don't end
up getting promoter or relegated, you keep your team. If you do,
you lose your team. It's great stuff. Check it out. We'll discuss
be discussing the discord. We need a few more managers in a couple of
divisions before we're ready to move on in draft, so that's a good time.
We have the rankings, we have the twenty twenty three guys, we've
already started to integrate them into the combined ranks. Jess Jesse thinks for your
help with that, and all kinds of other great things, Like we did
a patron cast recently. We're going to do that every month. We have
Patron Priority Channel, all kinds of good stuff going on, access to the
show notes. So that's one of the some of the great stuff with the
Patreon and the other one of the other good things is that we're doing an
average draft position projects. So those of you that have completed your rookie drafts
or even if it's not a solely rookie draft, send us the CSV,
send us the results of your draft. We're compiling that. We're using that
data to help others know if you were interested in drafting a player and kind
of want to know. I wonder how long I have to wait to take
Zach Benson. You can look and see at the ADP where did he go
based on all of our drafts that people have been submitting. You may think
you can wait, but if you wait past position number seven, then you're
risking it because that's basically where he's been going. So it's really great to
have that information, and the more we have, the better we'll be able
to do. So some of our really great patrons, Jason and Brandon have
been working on that, so a lot of great stuff at Patreon. You
can check that out at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life for more info
and it really helps if you support the show through that, and I think
there's a lot of great perks, so check it out for sure. Let's
take a break. We're gonna come back and talk to Lutoshanzawa of the Athletic.
We welcome back once again from the Athletic Ludoshanzawa, our guy on the
Boston Bruins. Bludo, how are you doing today? All right? Jesse
Hi victor of doing great Bluttle. We really appreciate having you. You are
one of the major news breakers from the Boston Bruins in you got a lot
of good connection and good analysis in on this team. So I want to
ask about the Bruins, because boy, what a season. My theory is
that you can split the recent Bruins history for two periods, from October twelfth
to the beginning of overtime on April twenty fifth, and then from overtime on
April twenty fifth everything that has happened since. Unfortunately, or April twenty six,
I should say, I believe was the game, but the fickle hockey
GUIDs allowed one of the greatest, most dominant teams in recent NHL history to
let it crash down. Unfortunately, in the playoffs, they were up three
one, they were into overtime against the Panthers, and then we all know
they dropped three straight games and they exited the playoffs in round one. You
got a credit the Bruins for last year. They went all in. Sometimes
we can complain they went all in for this. They rented Garnett, Hathaway,
Dmitri Orlov Tyler Bertuzzi, but now those guys are gone. Taylor Hall
is in Chicago last week the long expected news came out that Patrice Bergeron has
retired. That closed out the narrative that started when he and Marshawn were seeing
hugging on the ice at the end of Game seven. Obviously, last year
could be remembered as a legendary regular season and as a crushing playoff disappointment.
But where do we stand after all that, We've got different Bruins team coming
back next year. Some of the people are still getting older, there's not
major reinforcements on the way. But do the Bruins believe their window of contention
is still open? And if so, what is your expectation for your team,
this team this year? Yeah, I think that they still do believe
that the window remains open. Now you have to acknowledge it's just a matter
of fact that there's just so many players that are missing from last year's team
that of course it's not going to be as competitive. And even if they
brought the same group back literally record setting year, So how can you manage
to replicate that it's just not going to happen? Patrice Taylor, Hall Bertuzzi
oral of Halfaway, Felino, no Sick Flifton, The list it's a massive
list of players that are no longer here, and who knows if maybe maybe
one other guy might go off if the Bruins managed to execute some kind of
hockey trade before the start of the season. But I think they look at
the first the goaltending that yes, Jeremy Simon is still unsigned as of now
arbitration, but that will get settled, and once that's done, then him
and Lenas that's the best goaltending tending in the league. And with another year
of experience and the difficulty and the challenge of going through last year's playoffs,
they'll be better for it. Defensively, how many other teams can send out
a McAvoy and Allen Home on different pairs. Not many. And then there's
a pretty good reinforcing core there with Carlo, with Grizzlick with the Forebird and
bringing Chatton Kirk. That'll be that will have to be the way that the
Bruins win in terms of goaltending and defense. And then up try there's not
that many players better than day the Posternac. Now you can argue, of
course that he will be diminished without David Okay getting out of myself, it
was David Craigie still hasn't announced what he's going to be doing, but I
think at least the Bruins are operating under the conclusion that until told otherwise,
David is not coming back. That's the way they operated with Patrice, so
we'll assume that's the way going forward. Okay, what is David Posternak without
David Kigi? Probably not the same, just because they had a really good
connection both for the club team and for international to check, So what is
David Postna without David Kragie. We'll see. I think David Posternak is the
type of player that realizes just personally, okay, guys are gone different team.
It's my term to emerge and I think he will take that seriously and
I think that will impact his game in terms of trying to elevate his performance.
But it's just different team around him, So what does that mean or
down the line. The biggest issue that the Bruins are facing is that center.
That's just Charlie Paulazaka and Charlie Coyle. You can't compare and it's unfair
to them to compare them to the Patrice Bersion On day to Craigie. But
that's the way it is. The check has come due, so to speak,
in terms of them going all in last year, in terms of their
futures, and in terms of them carrying a four point five million overage penalty
because of Burgi round Craigie's bonuses. And the bill has come due in terms
of past years of a drafting low because they had gone deep into the playoffs
and b because they had spent draft capital on oral of Hathaway Bertuzzi in previous
years Kasha which didn't work out. Lynnholm, you can go back to Rick
Nash. That's a lot of picks, and I think it's by next year
it will be six first round picks that they will have trade since twenty thirteen.
That's just how can you restock when you philosophically, and you can't argue
against the philosophically. Just because they made themselves better and they gave themselves the
best chance to win last year by adding all these players, they just they
choked the playoffs up three one and then up in the third period in Game
seven. They didn't get it done, but Joshnak been home, McAvoy,
Allmark Swayman that's enough to be competitive for the subcumin season. Yeah, brilliant
recap of what's going on and certainly been a great time to be a Bruins
fan. Fortunately it's just one cup in that time in the recent history,
but still, like you said, some really great players, and you mentioned
the guy we want to start with, of course, David Posternak. What
an amazing talent, and last year played all eighty two games, was actually
his first time going over the century mark and actual points he went over a
couple of times one hundred point pace, but did have the games played second
time playing eighty two games too, so they're definitely going to need that durability
moving forward with him being the focal point as you mentioned, sixty one goals,
fifty two assists, thirty seven power play points some of the highlights and
also for our fantasy metrics second at his position right wing, which is a
little scarce in block shots and hits, so pretty remarkable value there. He's
got eight years left at eleven to two five million, I think he's definitely
worth all of that, and obviously, as we as you just mentioned,
he's going to be the focal point now of their offense. If there was
ever a doubt before with Craichi potentially not coming back in Bergeron So you mentioned
it already, Pluto, But do you think Pasta can get over that century
mark again this season? Obviously depends on who he plays with, but he
certainly seems like he's good regardless of who he plays with. He'd be better
if he had someone like Craichi, But what if he has Zaca or Coyle?
What do you think he can do? And what can we expect from
David poster Knock this season. Yeah, it's a really tough question to answer,
Victor, just because A on the skill side, he absolutely this sixty
one, there's no mistake, the legit and he can absolutely do that for
you for not only this coming season, but for years to come, just
because if it's skill, his competitiveness, his health, like you know,
to everything, he's complete. And he's not the type of player I think
in terms of right wing that necessarily means to be a center, an offensive
minded center, setting him up in every situation. That he is a player
that can create his own offense one on one, off the rush, in
zone, that he can score in so many different ways. It's not just
that you can say, Okay, he's going to set up at the left
dot and the hammer away with the one time or which he will, especially
on the power player. But he's just he's so dangerous and what makes the
production i think consistent to project is that he can do it in so many
ways. But you look on the other side of the point, I'll argue
that the thing that really set the Bruins apart last year and made them the
most the winningest team in initial history was their death at every position goaltending,
defense, forward and when you can send out a third line at times of
Taylor Hall Charlie Coyle, a plan was for at full strength, it was
gonna be Tally BERTUZI. That's a second that's second line all day and maybe
even first line for some teams, and for that to be your third line.
That meant that if you're an opponent, opposing coach, what do you
do in terms of your matchups? Are you sending out your best to shutdown
guy against Poshnak? Maybe? But then what happens when what was the problem
with the Bruins for a lot of years was that they were top heavy when
they're rolling marsham Bergeon Postnak. Last year they didn't do that. So when
Posternak was doing his thing, would say, Kraichi and Zaka, what do
you do? Can you afford to send out your best to players against that
line? Then they're going to come back with Bersion, Marshan and Debrus and
that line is going to rip you up. And then when that line is
against your second bear, then here comes all In Coil and then your fourth
line was pretty good too with no Sick and half away in Felino. That's
just it's just not going to be the same. So what does that do
for an opposing coach? Maybe they're going to be more willing to say,
Okay, we'll live with Marshan and whatever, Marshan and Coil doing their offense,
but we don't want Passion scoring three holes against us. So it's really
hard to say, because I think there are those elements that he is a
willing, has a skill and knows and likes the pressure of being the man
without Patrice at least there so, and he will take that seriously and that
will impact his game. But it's just there are so many pieces that are
not coming back from last year's team that are to make it different and challenging
for Jim Montgomery offensively to say to give David passion Act the freedom that he
had at times last year. So maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle.
Victor. I'll say that in terms of skill that yes, he can
put up those numbers every day, all day. But there's something to be
said for dubth He talked about Brad Marshaun. Obviously he is the other superstar
piece, a reputational superstar coming back to this team for the second straight year.
Fluto, he fooled me into believing he was going to miss a long
piece at the beginning of the season, and for the second straight year he
showed up quick and performed at a fairly elite level, still, especially on
a team this dominant. There were a few flaws in the statistical ointment.
For the first time since twenty fifteen sixteen, he had below a point per
game pace eighteen thirty two average timonis was the lightest time burden since twenty fourteen
fifteen. Shots for game dropped from three and a half the year before,
or two more of his career norm of two and a half per game.
Still gets more than a hit per game, and of course, like you
said, the perfection line was split up a little bit. He only skated
with poster knock. Marshawn to only skated with a poster knock twenty three percent
of his minutes, but he was locked to Patrice Bergeron seventy eight percent of
the time. Look at this guy's charts. Man. With Marshawn, the
Bruins had a thirty percent better than league average offense expected goals for pers sixty
at three point three eight Boston without Marshawn and the ice was dead even league
average. It's just insane looking. And he improved their defense and he pretty
much dragged every other player on the team more positive in terms of possession stats.
What do I have to say about Marshawn? What's going to happen to
him without Bergeron? Without Bergeron? Last year? If you look at some
of the small sample stats, it wasn't great. But is Marshawn still a
point per game guy in this post Bergeron era. That's a tough one answer
too, Jessie. I will say no, because, okay, if you
go back to last year, I think he will say and it's absolutely reality
that he never felt himself in terms of really bold faced brat marshing just because
of the hip surgery, that's a major double hip surgery at the beginning of
the season. Now, he did come back early, earlier than expected,
and that's Brad, that's just him. That's his work ethic, his drive,
his will, his love to play and to compete. That yes,
that got him back on the ice sooner. But I think and he said
there were times where he just didn't feel himself and did he ever get to
that point? I don't know. So you take that into account for this
year, it should be healthy, so there shouldn't be that issue at the
beginning of the season. But the factors again, the depth and especially the
partnership that's just boy to go twelve seasons pretty much of everything. They did
everything together him power play, five on five, killing, that's just he's
never going to have another center to play with that has that kind of experience
together. They just they knew where each other was and they were just so
innate in terms of their thinking and their processing and their play that it absolutely
has to have an effect on Brad's production. And then you bring in the
fact that thirty five years old. Now there is that part that I think
he's going to be the next captain, and I think he will, like
David Pasha, I think he will take that very serious. He takes that
leadership and that responsibility very seriously, and I think that will impact his game.
I think that will touch upon his performance. But to what degree at
that age and with that much wear and tear and without Patrice, I think
there are a lot of elements there that make you say, boy, it's
gonna be really hard for Brad in terms of his own individual production to put
it out to where it has been historically. Now he'll still get as such
as he'll be right side half Wall guy down all on the powerplay, so
they'll be there. He'll get his cookies there with pasternakan who knows who else
will be there on the powerplay. But again, Patrise huge part of that
powerplay, and Brad was critical in terms of getting that puck to Patrise and
the bumper and then Patrise sometimes giving it back and opening up Brad for his
opportunities on the powerplay. So we'll see. And he's a tremendous athlete,
keeps himself in great shape. I think he is in terms of other thirty
five year old players. He's probably a little bit younger, so to speak,
just because of how fit he is and how seriously commits himself to fitness
and conditioning and strength and everything. But yeah, there's there is, there's
a lot of check marks and the negative column for Brad's future production. Yeah,
that's a very good point. And so the next guy we're gonna talk
about, and this already speaks to the depths because in past years we would
obviously be talking about Kraci and Bergeron and Taylor Hall perhaps, but Jake Debrusk
is going to hold this third spot for us now in terms of fantasy,
and he's certainly come a long way. He played only sixty four games last
year. Injured at the Winter Classic caused him to miss a few weeks,
but twenty seven goals twenty three assists for sixty four point pace was the highest
of his career. So we're the fourteen power play points and the time on
ice as well were career highs, and it's had an ice trajectory kind of
started off in that fifty point range, but this is a new threshold for
him. He has one year at four million left and it seems like he's
turned the corner. You look at his underlyings and his expected goals four and
against are well above one standard deviation close to two, so in the top
close to the top ten percent or so of the lead. Really good.
Of course this comes at a good time him coming to his own with some
other departures. And I guess the big question is Fluto, do you think
debruss can build on the season he had and get even more points with this
increased role. Is he someone who can flirt with seventy point pace maybe potentially
more because you have to figure he's going to get a more prominent role,
right, yes, and I expect him to be elevated in terms of production.
I think the most critical element in all this is a contract year,
and he's going to be very driven to cash in. Who knows if it's
with Boston or if it's with somebody else. But you look at his last
deal that in retrospect he's underpaid four million a year for the for two years
and this is a second season. Now that's partly because of circumstance that when
he signed his deal he was still possibility that he had his hand raised high
in the air to be traded at the time because majorly major factor was Bruce
Cassidy was still the coach and it was no coincidence that he pulled that right
off the table as soon as Bruce gets let go and Jim Marchin us in.
And he has absolutely proven himself Jake to be a very good all around
player too. That he's killing penalties now, he's checking better, and yes,
offensively and at right waying too. Let's not forget that for most of
his career in Boston that they had him playing on the left side. So
when he's been playing on the right side, he's been very good in terms
of creating for himself and for Brad and Patrese when those were his primary linemates,
and being a that front guy on the powerplay. That'll stick and he'll
get more reps there because he was at times he was competing with Taylor Hall
for that job and that would be a clear cut job for him. Yeah,
and he's been relatively sturdy. Yes, he missed a good chunk of
time, but that's tough to it out. Two major injuries during the Winter
Classic and he finished the game and scored it was a two goals, so
huge a tough kid. Yeah, he'll be absolutely motivated to cash in.
So I think that will be the primary factor in terms of his production,
being where the Bruins want, where he wants, and it'll be good for
him because it looks like the circumstances will be good in terms of the Bruins
that they will have way more free cash available next summer. So if they
believe that he is a long term piece here financially, they can make your
work. And then around the league, you look at the cap expected to
rise, that there'll be opportunities for Jake with other teams too, and who
knows what kind of price tag he'll command, But you look at if he
scores more than thirty, which I expect him to do, then yeah,
he's going to double that salary at least, and that'll be important. Yeah.
I think I remember, don't want to miss cool, but I think
I remember you've being on last year talking about this guy and the fact that
the new coach he expected would probably improve his situation, and certainly that is
exactly what happened. Acta is the next guy up in our list of guys
here. After spending the first seven years of his career in New Jersey signing
rights were traded to Boston last summer, and after signing a one year of
deal for last season, he extended for four more this past winner and twenty
six years old, some sites are projecting him as Boston's new center one.
I guess it's this is all a subject to Crecy and was subject to Burgerama
not anymore, and thinking about Zaka's possibly powerplay one as well, that would
be tremendous news for him, especially if poster Nak and Marshawn were reunited with
him there. It sounds like there's not an anticipation of poster Nak and Marshawn
being reunited as the wings for one center. But tell me if I'm wrong.
He hit a high sentil on the offensive end last year and although it's
not elite, it's very respectable. And are the Bruins looking for him?
Is potentially they're top center then for the Bruins in your term, Yeah,
and they have no other choice. That sounds demeaning to Pavel, but it's
yeah by default, Patriscan, assuming David h is gone, then yes,
Pavel, And and we saw some time at center last year and he was
good. He can drive play through the middle. He's got a really good
shot. He doesn't use it enough. I'm sure they'll be on him to
shoot more. But six to four skilled with the puck, developing a little
bit more confidence. So yes, by default he is their number one center,
just because he's just more offensive minded than Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederick.
Again, he's restricted and will assume that maybe he could be the third line
center assuming status quo, but that's going to be I think, not just
positionally but mental. That's going to be a big adjustment for Pavel. Let's
not forget that for most of last season he was there number two left wing,
and it's just there's just so much more responsibility mentally that goes with being
the number one center and Pavel from I don't know Pavel that well, but
from what I know of covering him last year, he's he's a serious guy.
And he even acknowledged that one of his problems in New Jersey was that
he'd go to three four games without scoring and that would get to him mentally
and he'd have a tough time trying to unearth himself from that kind of situation.
Now he's older, he's more mature. He had a really successful first
year in Boston, but I think that's just who he is as a person.
So I think that will be something that he's going to have to deal
with and how will he Because it's going to happen where he's going to go
those five game stretches where it's just not going in for him, his lines
not producing and the Bruins are not winning. He's getting all the tough assignments
that other coaches are sitting against him. How will that impact his game?
I don't know. I think that he will have to find work workarounds for
that, to just persevere and just fight through when things are not going his
way. So I think there's going to be some challenges for Pabel that certainly
skill wise, and you can pretty much guarantee that he'll be playing with Postnark,
so that's a plus. That's good for any center to be playing with
David, So that will impact Boubel's game. They have history together, they
have chemistry, they work well together, so that's a positive in his factor.
Who will be their left wing? Who knows at this point, Yeah,
I don't think that they will be putting Marshrin and pastern Ark together just
because that was such a big part of their success to be splitting them up
last year, and I'm sure situationally there'll be sometimes where they go back together.
But yeah, to be able to spread the wealth offensively, I think
that's something that will be Jim Montgomery's preference. So will be that left wing.
Maybe even Jake Debrest goes back to the left wing. Is it possibly
James van Riemsyke, who knows? There's Yes, there's a big opening there
at the left wing. And on the powerplay, yeah, Povell could in
theory be on the top power play. But the issue there is the shot
he's a lefty versus Patrise. So if they want to keep that template together
on the first power play, would they prefer a right shot in Charlie Coyle
say to stay in that bumper position. Who knows, because if they go
with Pavel and that bumper, that highest slot guy, then they have to
redesign the power play. I don't know how willing they would be to do
that. But in terms of merit, yes, he could certainly be a
top power play guy just because of the thinking and the shot which is which
is certainly first powerplay quality, but the handedness is something that they would have
to consider. Yeah, that's He's a tough one to project, just because
skill wise it's all there, but I think mentally there is some burden that
will be upon Pablo that he's going to have to deal with. And that's
a lot of pressure to deal with, to say, Okay, not just
top line guy, but top line center when for most of his career he's
been on the wing. That's going to be something that he's going to have
to adjust to and it's not going to be easy. That's a great point
about the handedness on the powerplay and then wanted to stick with such a successful
system in how maybe that's not the position that Zaca is most adaptable too.
Very interesting, all right, you mentioned both of these guys in our last
discussion, but I'm just going to throw two more veteran wingers at you,
two more veteran forwards at you, and that is James Rinsdyke Charlie Coyle,
both of them a half point per game guy at this stage in the career,
different points in their career, though, JVR in his sixty one games
for the Flyers last year thirteen twenty one or fifteen twenty one average time on
ice, and only four of his twenty nine points were on the power play,
even though I've always heard he's supposed to be the good NetFront guy on
the power play, So that wasn't working out in Philadelphia, Charlie Coyle,
he put up forty five points in eighty two games, sixteen fifty nine average
time on ice. Like you said, one of the remaining centerment options for
this Bruins franchise. Not especially strong in terms of the shots, blocks,
hits, which we like over here in fantasyland, but certainly a real life
contributor for these Bruins. If you line these two guys up, what do
you expect and which one of them you think? But maybe we'll have a
higher scoring year, the more important role for these Bruins overall next year.
Oh, Charlie Cole, for sure, just because a center be younger than
James and he's just there's no two ways around it. He has to emerge.
Okay, you can say all you want, and it's true that he's
optimized as a third line center, very good in that role, especially in
Boston behind Patrisan David. But that's just it's not going to be the reality
for him. So as your second mind center, there's been issues with Charlie.
They tried two years ago when David Krezi was playing over in check.
They gave Charlie a plenty of opportunities to be the second line center a lot
of the time with Taylor Hall and it just never really gained traction. That
year. It turned out to be Eric Halla was their best fit as second
mind center, and Charlie went back to the third line. It was fine
there, it just can't happen this year that it's it can So can he
be second line center with Brad? Yeah, there's there's had decent production together,
So perhaps that's a pair that they could go back to. And yeah,
Charlie, we've seen down low he's very going to possess in the puck.
I can extend shift time. Does that necessarily lead to chances, not
consistently for himself or for his linemates, But I think he is a type
the type of player that team wise is more than the numbers that he fills
a role. He does everything, especially last year he was first guy out
on the PK with no sick and need a very good job killing so he'll
get plenty of opportunities there to kill powerplay. Yeah, maybe he could be
if they look at the right shot and say, okay, can he give
us some of what Patriz gave us on the powerplay? Maybe he does slot
in there as the bumper on the first powerplay, But in terms of individual
production, I just don't see him. That's just never been his strength.
So I just don't see him even if they need it. It's just in
terms of numbers. I don't think will ever be there for Charlie. And
I think that's okay that he's as long as he's doing his job of winning
faceoffs, playing against top players, at least holding his ground offensively, that
they'll be okay with that. That Okay, you can say all you want
that they need him to be better offensively, that maybe it's just not within
this player, and they'll be okay with that as long as he plays that.
As long as the ice time is high, and I think the ice
time will be high, does that correlate better members for him. I don't
necessarily think so. But the ice tign will be high and the usage will
be high, as van riems like, I don't think the expectations at least
mine aren't that high bottom six wing probably second power play net front guy.
But yeah, you look at the trends and he's not. He's been around
for a long time, James, and see the type of player that he
was in earlier years. No, I don't think so. I don't think
they're expecting him to do that. And who knows if they have any kind
of younger presence pushing him from below. They don't. This is one of
the problems is that they're really thin when it comes to their prospect pool.
But if there's some kind of emergence from below, I don't think they'd have
any issues of putting down in providence because at his contract number, there's no
cap penalty in terms of burying a player like that in the American League.
Will it come to that, Probably not. Would it happen if there is
somebody there, they'd have no hesitation in doing that. Now, perhaps in
this kind of situation that he will not I don't know, rebound, but
at least hold his ground in terms of private production. But you look at
the age the style of play too, and now I think there is a
bit of a team wide transition for the Bruins. I don't they'll be as
explosive offensively, what were they the second best teams in terms of goals for
last year. That they're bigger, perhaps there'll be a more of a possession
element to their game. And maybe that's that certainly suits James's style, that
he's not going to be like the Florida type of just go that. Maybe
there is some opportunity for himself for possession. So we'll see, but yeah,
I'm not I don't think projections are high for family. One more thing
I want to ask you is we've heard, speaking of all this depth,
we've heard a lot of people speculate that, oh, they're not going to
go in this season with Coil and Zaka, They're going to go out and
land a first line center, which to me sounds pretty unrealistic considering the assets
they have and the cat flexibility, even though, as you mentioned, having
Zacca Coil as your one two isn't necessarily ideal. But do you think that
they will actually make a significant push for any of the potentially available top line
centers. I know guys like Schifley have been mentioned. Do you think that
they make a move like that or try. I think they'll try. Absolutely,
they'll try. But will they succeed No, I don't think so because
of the reasons you mentioned first. They I think it would have to be
a hockey trade just because of the salary cap. There's just they don't have
enough space. Once they sick Swaymon Frederick, they'll be down to depending on
who actually makes a team. There is some wiggle room there, but it's
not enough to bring on a five, six, seven million dollar player without
equal money going out the door, without salary retention. Now, perhaps those
teams, maybe Winnipeg, maybe Calgaries desperate enough to gain some kinds of assets
to say, yes, we'd be willing to retain salary, make it work.
But then you go back to the assets. Okay, let's put them
up against I don't know five other bidders. Do the Bruins have enough in
terms of future assets to make it worthwhile for in Winnipeg or Calgary when other
teams with deeper prospect pools are in the bidding. No, I don't see
it like there's not if you look at what the Bruins are offering, they
don't have. If they still don't have a first round pick, for twenty
four and I think they're still down a second round for twenty twenty four.
So there's that. And then you look at some of their prospects. Do
they really move the needle for you if you're a high end if you're the
owner of a high end center, not really? And can and then on
the flip side, can the Bruins a four to give up another prospect?
Though not really. So they're up against it in terms of the cap and
in terms of what they have to spend in terms of their capital, their
pick and prospect capital, So they'll be in a much better position next year
and next summer to say, okay, all right, we couldn't get in
the bidding. Let's just say, for example, for Schiffling, okay,
because in that situation you have to pay twice in a sense, you have
to pay for the return, you have to pay the picks and prospects for
the player. And then you're not going to just acquire a player like that
as a rental. You want them long term to the place Pat Rise and
David, So you have to pay up in terms of the contract. So
would you rather just wait till next time when you have to pay once so
to speak, in terms of just paying the UFA price. Now that seeds
to speak a year of competitiveness. But again that's just the situation that the
Bruins are in this coming year, that the bill has come due, and
this is probably what they're just going to have to fight through that They're just
going to have to live with being centered deficients and rely on the goaltending and
the defense and passion rock to carry the day. Is that enough to make
you replicate last year? Absolutely? Note is enough to get you into the
playoffs? Yes? Is enough to get you one playoff round? Possibly like
they didn't want a playoff round last year. Maybe they could this way and
then reassess the situation going to UFA next year, but no, I don't.
Yes, they will explore the possibilities. Is it realistic to get a
top two center at this point in their situation? No, Yeah, makes
a lot of sense. One more quick one on the forwards. They're one
of their prime assets that they could give, which, as you mentioned,
maybe not as high end. But Fabian le So he seems pretty close to
NHL ready. He's had some pretty decent time in the HL. Do you
think that he plays a role on the NHL team this year or is he
gonna stay in the AHL. There's certainly opportunity for him, way more than
in past year or so. It depends on how he shows up. But
he was he was a first year pro last year who hit several walls,
hit a wall around world juniors, went to play for Sweden and was there
was nothing there for whatever reason, very poor showing and then concussion in the
playoffs American League playoffs which ended his season. So those are issues. Those
are some red flags on fabians checklists and what was his big issue last year
as a first year of pro strength? So has he put himself reinforced himself
his body to put himself in the best position to succeed at the NHL level.
We don't know. That will be quite evident in training camp and if
there's any kind of deficiency there, it's right back to the American League for
Fabian. So well, there be a window for him to push up top
absolutely just because of let's say, okay, they have a passion lockdown number
one right wing, Jake Dobrusque number two right wing. But depending on where
they seen Jake's strengths, maybe he goes back to the left side. There's
a second line job available for Fathing, There's a third line job absolutely available
for him, but it's just there's a gap between Okay, can is there
a need for him? Is he ready? We don't know, so that'll
be up to him. So that's a big unknown. Skill wise, yes,
speed scale it's there, but is he ready? I would lean toward
no at the start of the season right now, just because of how last
year concluded. He was limited even in their development camp at the beginning of
July, just because they don't want to then right wing they don't want to
do. They don't want any issues with head. There's that, So at
the beginning of training camp, perhaps the best solution is to go back second
year in American League and get comfortable there and perhaps dominate, but at least
be an impact player there, which he was at times, but not for
consistent stretches. I would say that is probably the optimal route for Fabian and
then maybe we'll see sometime during the year it gets called up perfect. Let's
talk about the defense. Of course, we're going to start with Charlie McAvoy
only played sixty seven games, missed the start of the season, had a
ton of assists forty five of them with seven goals for sixty four point pace
similar to the previous season, which is a smug better point pace. He's
actually pretty decent for those perpherols too, really excellent value and fantasy interesting though,
his time on ice actually went down a little bit last season. As
you mentioned, they acquired a whole lot of defensive support, and of course
they had Orloff. They're running the power play at times and Lynnholm, so
his power play time went down a little bit as well. He's the seven
years left on that nine and a half million dollars contract. He does everything
for them. Should we expect another sixty plus he's in from McAvoy with around
twenty power play points. I think so, just because of who he is.
First off, he's so good and he'll get he'll get us touches and
he'll be fully healthy at the start of the season, rather than working his
way back from shoulder surgery, and like Marsham, there were times where okay,
yeah, he did come back a little bit earlier than expected. It
just wasn't he wasn't Charlie for a good couple of months and that's why you
saw the ice time fluctually, which came at a time when Lindholm was amazing.
He was lyno was dynamic at the beginning of the season. I think
Hampis took it upon himself to really emerge without Charlie. They so that's why
you saw that. But absolutely Charlie will be counted upon for guests twenty four
twenty five minutes per game powerplay. We don't know yet is he is he
going to be the top guy. I think that's a coin flip right now
with went Home of being the quarterback up top on the first power play,
just because he's just not a Car's just not within himself to be that kind
of electric, dynamic offensive power play presence, which this is who he is.
There's some similarity there with Hampus. He's not that type of offensive player
either. So it's not a guarantee that Charlie gets that minute and a half
ice time on PP one. That will have to be settled. I think
that will vary even during the season, depending on how the player is playing.
And there's an issue there with Grizzick entering his contract year, who knows
if there is room for a hockey trail with Grizzlike at some time, and
Matt maybe he puts himself under a little bit of pressure knowing that he's up
for a new deal. Just because those two have been so good together for
such a long time, you can go back to college, so they make
each other better. Charlie's numbers are absolutely influenced by playing with Grizzlick, So
if there's any kind of issues there with Grizzlike mentally, that might have an
impact on Charlie's game. But as in isolation, yeah, that's in terms
of points. You should absolutely expect Charlie to be at a high level just
because all of the quality of player he is, and he'll have to take
on more responsibility in terms of leadership. I think there's still some more maturing
for Charlie to do in that sense, but I think he'll take that seriously
too, that at his age, of his point of his career, he's
not they're settled like or David Poshnok quite yet, but it is game will
rise just because he'll know he's got to be more of a leader. Without
Patrice, I want to dig into a couple of those guys you mentioned Hampas
Lindholme. First of all, his first full year in Boston was just excellent.
Second team All Star, fourth and Norris voting. He had a final
line of ten goals, forty three assists for fifty three points in eighty games,
two shots, a hit in a block while skating over twenty three minutes
a night. If you happen to plus minus, I'm not a plus minus
guy, but if you happen to like it, plus forty nine led the
NHL for Hampas Lindholme. He started with fourteen points in the first eleven games,
Like he said, when McAboy came back, the two sort of interchange
some roles there and the scoring remained steady after that. But obviously it dropped
off after that scorching start to the year. So yeah, Hampas Lindom,
you're saying, there is a chance he could maintain some of that upper level
power play time. It's so hard to sort out with a team this good,
who was most critical, who was making whom better on this team.
But you do have to look at the replacements, the wowie the with the
without you stats and basically every single defenseman when they were on the ice with
Lindholm got better, and when they were off the ice, when they weren't
out there with Lyndholm, they weren't as good. So they've got maciboy locked
up for seven years, or he and mciboy locked up for the next seven
years. Do you expect then that these guys, I guess you already said
that. You expected maybe to go back and forth. But Lindholme with another
fifty point production year, another maybe down ballot in Norris season, what is
your expectation for him specifically? Yeah, I think it'll stay the same.
Yeah, he made connerclift and a good chunk of change with Buffalo just because
Connor was. He played a lot of time on Hampus at the beginning of
the season without Charlie and Connor was excellent. So he, yes, he
deserves a tip for that. But yeah, Hampus also a lot like Charlie
in the sense of all situations defenseman and in the sense that he's just not
He's not like a high skinning level of offensive presence is steady, good first
pass, a shoot when necessary, Mark get up. It gets up a
little bit more often than Charlie in the rush, So that'll be there.
And that will lead two points. But yeah, just not dynamic, and
that's okay for in terms of team success. But yeah, I expect I
tigned to be very high twenty four twenty five minutes. He has a very
good thing going on with Brandon Carlo, who will probably be hit his primary
partner. And yes, per play one, maybe Parer play two, maybe
one or the other. Now they have a little bit of support now with
Kevin Shattenkirk there too, so there'll be some options for the coach to play
with there. But yes, you could absolutely see depending on how hamp is
playing. If he's feeling really good about himself, then yes he will be
that top power play point guy. And then he was I think he'd be
very motivated because he was terrible in the playoffs, terrible compared to the level
that he was at during the regular season. Now, some of that is
because of injury. He turned out and he didn't know Bruce did though he's
playing with the patric foot, and it was just it was clear that something
was just not right with Hampus, just because he had dropped off so dramatically
from where he was in the regular season to Round one against Florida so I
think he'll be quite anxious to prove that he is way better than he was
in the playoffs, So I think that will have an impact on his performance.
And again, second full season in Boston, there's comfort there and he's
the type of he's a pretty confident guy and thinks highly of himself, so
he I think he's the type of player that will understand and I think he's
eager to be part of that next waves beyond the Patrise generation, so he'll
take that seriously. And at his age, I think there's still a couple
of years where he should be at high peak threshold. So wherever he was
out last year, I think he'll be there again and the Bruins need him
to be and maybe even beyond. And yeah, high expectations for Hampus.
Two other defenseman. We can do a quick hit on Matt Grizzlock, Kevin
Schatton, Kirk boy two things you said about grizzlike really caught my attention.
I guess I'm not watching enough Bruins broadcast because I didn't realize that business about
Grizzlick and McAvoy being long term teammates. Grizzlick played seventy five games last year,
but he was only sixth in average tim and ice among defenseman on this
team. He didn't have a long minute role every game. Even if he
had a significant role. He was actually seventh of account Demitrio law in his
average timan ice when he was with the Bruins, twenty six points, far
back from the team's top scores, although he was third among the defenceman.
This log gam of defenseman is clearing out again, so there would be room,
presumably for him to move up the charts. And Kevin Shatton Kirk since
COVID he has been in Anaheim and now he moves on to his seventh team
in fourteenth year of his career. Last year he pretty much scored once every
three games and it doesn't get a lot of shots, blocks and hits,
a lot of bash. I would say this Fluto, I don't know if
you played that immaculate grid game that is caught on is sweeping the nation right
now where you have to pick Okay, he's a great he's a great player
for that because you have to get guys who play on multiple teams, and
Shatton Kirk has played on every combination of teams in the nation. So anyway,
these two guys, who do you think is going to have the more
significant role with the Bruins this year? I would say Grizzlick just because of
past history and because of who he is as a defenseman. He's a league
in terms of Okay, that's a heavy word to send out, but look
at the numbers. Nothing gets through the guide defensively, shot suppression, expected
goals. Again, the numbers are just tremendous. Now, part of that
is just because he's playing m Charlie McAvoy, but Grizzlies initiates a lot of
that himself with his footspeed, his smarts, stick, it's all there.
But I and then you look at last year he was at full strength.
He was the odd man out on defense just because in the playoffs there's always
been an issue because of the size. So they acquired or loved primarily for
the reason that Dmitri was going to be they do everything left shot defenseman for
them in the playoffs, and that it would allow them to put Grizzly in
the press box, which they did for part of it. So that's why
I thought during this past off season that Grizzlic would be one of their defenseman
that would be up for a trade just because a I think other teams see
value in him and be contract a year and not necessarily going to be brought
back. And there's always that issue the playoffs where and you can look at
the numbers, they do drop off every time, just because it gets harder
for Matt at his size to be able to withstand seven straight games of that
for check against whoever. But this being contract year, you can say he
will be anxious to prove that he's playing for possibly his final multi year deal.
Now, having known Matt a little bit, I think he's the type
of person that will stress about that. He's not like you take a guy
like Charlie mcawy. He doesn't worry about anything they possible. Yeah, I'll
go into my contract year. Fine, I don't have an extension. I'm
okay, it's going to work out. I don't think Matt is wired that
way. I think he will be a little bit anxious about the fact that
he doesn't have a deal and it might not come with Boston. Who knows
if there's a future here. Even if he is a local guy and he
served them well, he's been a really good. I think that will weigh
on him. So will that affect his production? I think so. That
might offset the fact that he's motivated to play for his next deal. And
perhaps there's some kind of opportunity for a hockey trade, maybe even the off
season or during the season for Matt just because he makes about roughly three and
a half million, that's still a decent number for a team to take on.
Maybe there's some way to figure out a center trade if one as possible.
I think there's some possibilities there, So that's Yeah, there's some variables
there that will be that are not that we're not in play for Matt in
previous years of his career. But in terms of individual player, he'll play.
Assumings everything is green light. He'll play a big role in terms of
five on five with Charlie mcboy that will help his numbers. But no,
not a powerplay guy doesn't kill penalties, so he's limited in terms of his
usage. Shattenkirk. They're a pair of right shot guy after mclvoy and Carlo
the complimentary second unit powerplay. If they want to use two DS at say
there's thirty seconds left in the power play, yeah, he'll go out there
and say with hampus and then finish up a power play. So maybe there's
some points there for him. And yes, he is a semi local and
to be you Connecticut, New England guy, So there's that kind of I'm
sure he'll be excited to be in the area. But yeah, at his
stage of his career, how much is left there? Probably not as much
as there was, say even in Anaheim or New York or Tampa where he
won. He'll be an important I would compare it to say, like a
Fellino type of presence in the past years of leadership. He'll be right there
in terms of commanding the room. How does that might impact his production in
terms of expecting a lot of himself. But yeah, of course give him
the skill set, offensive guy that will lead to points, good first pass,
all that get up, will be willing to shoot from the point.
But I don't know how much juice is left. All right, great rundown
on the defenseman. We'll switch over now to the goalies that you alluded to
at the beginning of the show. The Bruins gave up the fifth ranked expected
goals against per sixty according to Evolving Hockey at five they conceded the fewest actually
in the NHL, and Lina's Olmark the Vesner Trophy winner. I'm sure he
would like to forget the playoff performance he had. I know Bruins fans would
It didn't go as well in the playoffs, but in fantasy, we only
care about the regular season, and he was incredible. Twenty five and a
half goals save above expected one point six eight Delta Fenwick. That was the
best mark for goalies over five hundred minutes, just barely beating Sirokan and teammate
Jeremy Swayman his record forty six and one with the one eighth GA. These
numbers are just ridiculous. Two years left at five million for Omark, it's
really incredible stuff. As we've been talking about, the team probably isn't going
to be quite as good as last season, so might we see some regression
from Omark and potentially fewer starts as he shares the net a little bit more?
With Swayman, What do we think about Olmark this year? It's a
little yeah. I think you have to expect some kind of slippage just because
a okay, I remember their goalie coach Bob lessons As saying he believed in
Lanison, thought that this type of season was within him. But it's just
relatively it came out of nowhere. You look at historically where he was his
first year in Boston, Okay, there's transition, but never really any indications
of it in Buffalo. So where did this all come from? Okay,
that's part performance, individual growth, technical improvements, more comfort being in Boston,
families happy, It all comes together. But yeah, you have to
expect that team performance was part of that equation too. And if that assuming,
you have to assume that kind of regression team wide, you have to
just incorporate some kind of regression into Lenas. I don't expect it to be
major just because I think you could just okay, based on the eye test,
you could isolate on him and say they're really you can't think of that
many bad games. You can't even think of that many bad holes that he
let up last year. And yes, okay, maybe you can point to
the numbers and say, Okay, the team is really good about not giving
up that many high danger opportunities. But a lot of that was on Linas
himself to be really good in those situations. Yes, I expect some kind
of regression, and yes, I expect Swimon to take on a little bit
more, but the workload was relatively even these last two years. Yes,
Jeremy will be better just given career growth and where he is of his age
and of his career, but especially given how the playoffs went and how hugely
they missed it. In terms of not extending the rotation, I think they'll
be really the coaching staff will be really careful about just being straight rotations,
just because it worked so well for them last year and it blew up so
majorly for them in the playoffs that why not go back to what worked for
them? So if they're fifty to fifty I wouldn't be surprised, and I
think that benefits both. And Lenas will be fun and he's older and he
didn't want it to say what was wrong and physically during the playoffs, but
there was clearly something wrong with them, So can he get back to full
health. I assume so. But going fifty to fifty eight I will only
mean good things for Leness's durability. So I think we can count on the
fact that the workload will be shared barring injury, And I think we can
count on some kind of progression just because it's just not realistic for that kind
of season to happen again. But I don't I just don't see it being
major, just because of how good he was, how good he was to
the eye, to the numbers. Yes, the team's not going to be
as good around Leiness, but so much of it was on him, and
he made so many improvements technically that I don't expect those to be lessoned.
So he's a real student of the game that way, leaness in terms of
his technicality, his equipment, everything comes together is comfortable. I think it'd
be really good again, really good, Fluto. Everybody already knows they need
to follow you to keep up with the things that the Bruins are doing,
But why don't you let people know remind him how to keep a hold of
all the content you've got going out there on the internet. I hope people
subscribe to The Athletic pretty easy to personalize your feed for your author, team,
whatever. Hopefully people, and that's how we that's how we live is
through our subscribers. So thanks to everybody who does already subscribe. Hopefully people
will subscribe and then at Fluto Shehnzawa on Twitter. We can x or whatever
it's called now. Yeah, please subscribe primary. I'm in longtime guy subscribing
to the Athletic. Thanks so much for coming on Fluto and good luck following
those Bruins this year. My pleasure, guys, time to talk Boston Brewing
goalies and we got Kat Silverman here from En goldmag Get to hear your instincts
on these goalies. We're gonna start with Brandon Boosey, undrafted six ft five,
twenty five year old. Seems like he's really risen in their pipeline and
he was the main goalie in Providence last year of the HL and did quite
well. So his hockey prospecting, although it has trended down a little bit,
but he's looking. There's a couple of comps of guys that have busted
some Alex staylock in there. But the results on the ice seemed to be
pretty good at the moment. So what can you tell us about Brandon Boosey?
When they signed him, I thought it was a massive mistake. I
will be perfectly honest with you. I did not understand I had. I'd
always been lukewarm on Daniel Bladar. I thought that they'd only drafted him because
he was big, and they had Kyle Keiser in their system, they had
Jeremy Swiman in their system. I was like, they do not need this
big guy whose technique is all over the place. And they got rid of
Daniel Bladar and I was like, yes, they've moved away from size being
everything. And they signed Brandon Bussy, who was six foot five and two
hundred and nine pounds, and I was like, Ah, they're running it
back. We're doing it again. I think he's better than I gave him
credit for. He's not fast from a technical standpoint. He doesn't have a
ton of agility to his game, but he refuses to get chased, and
I respect that. A lot of bigger goaltenders who lack the speed to really
become like a Darcy Kemper, really lack the speed and quick movements to move
cross ice without having to retreat as far get themselves chase, and they end
up sitting a little too deep in their net. And Bessie doesn't really do
that. He stays out where he's supposed to be, stays pretty patient.
I think his read of the game is better than i'd given him credit for
I do think that the Providence Bruins are probably one of the best teams for
a goaltender to go to. From a development standpoint, I think they churn
out hits every year. They're like, now, that's what I call music
CD. They had. They even had Jordan Bennington and their system the year
before he went to the NHL. So his numbers are partially I think a
product of having a Bob as sensa overseen system. He has a really heavy
hand in all of their goaltending from the NHL level down to the ECHL level,
and it shows in how their players developed. But I also think they're
good HL team, so some of his numbers might just be because he was
playing behind a good defense. I think if he remains consistent with his numbers,
he could be a decent option as that third guy for them. But
at the moment, they don't really need it, just because they have Lena
Solmark and Jeremy Swiman, and that's a lot of talent that's in the prime
age of their careers, so I don't think they necessarily need to have that
fear cut air apparent at the moment. I think Brandon Bussi is a perfectly
fine third to have in the system, especially since they do also have a
couple other guys in the system that are perfectly acceptable to call up. And
really they have a nice, strong system. And he's not wowing me by
any stretch. But he's not doing as poorly as I thought he would just
based on how he played in the juniors. Nice. I've heard some rumblings
that Boston is considering moving one of their NHL goalie, so I don't know,
it seems like that's not such a glowing endorsement that they feel confident in
Blucy to step in. Maybe they their hand is their hand is forced by
the cap a little bit and whatever Jeremy Swimon is negotiating. So does that
change the decision for you at all? Or is it just kinda like he
could fill in but not really I think you could fill in. I think
I mean that to get off on the mini tange and there. I think
that's part of why they traded Taylor Hall was that they didn't have to trade
one of their two goaltenders. I think that if they were truly looking to
move one of them, they're enough teams out there that are a goaltending desert
right now. They're starved for a single save in a game. They're like,
please save anything that. They probably could have gotten a pretty good price
for one of their goalies, and instead they traded two of their forwards,
so I think they're probably gonna end up holding onto them. But if they
do need to move one of them. I don't know if Brandon Bosse's ready
to go up to the NHL, but he could surprise me. He's honestly,
he's got that mister cool and collected vibe when he's out on the ice,
where even if I'm nervous watching him play, he doesn't look like he
is. So I think if he did get called up to the NHL,
he'd be like, awesome, I'm ready, and I'd be like all right.
He'd roll with it, and he might get lit up one or two
times. But he does bounce back from bad goals really well, which I
think is something that sometimes some of those bigger goaltenders don't necessarily do. They
allow one bad one and then they spend the rest of the game sitting on
the goal line just like refusing to move. And he stays really consistent with
his game after that, so who could get called up. I think he'd
survived. I don't know if he'd thrive, but he'd survived for sure.
All Right, Well, the next guy we're going to talk about Mike Dpro.
I used to be really high on Dpro. He's a little undersized at
six foot, pretty athletic guy from what I remember and what I've seen.
But he's now twenty four and spent most of this season in the ECHL for
the Bruins affiliate, and his equivalency has really trended down since his OHL time
and a reasonably strong first season in the HL. He also had some injury
troubles, so at this point he's not looking like more than a backup at
best. But what do you think about Dphro? Is it time to cut
bait on him? What do your instincts tell you can't? Honestly, so,
I was really high on him for a while. I thought that he
was despite being undersized. I think he's listed at six feet two one,
and usually when a goaltenders listed at six feet that's like the catch off for
everyone who's between five foot eight and six foot one. I think he did
a really good job of remaining technically sound, but Vancouver, that's such a
hard system to develop in, and we've seen a couple guys within that system
just really struggle with getting called up too early. I think that was a
big issue for him. He got called up to the NHL when the team
was I think it was like right in the throes of their biggest freefall two
years ago, where they were just like openly nosediving, and they called him
up and threw him out there in his first NHL game against the team that
he really shouldn't have played his first NHL game against, and he got understandably
lit up, and they chased him back to the HL and then brought him
back up again, ill equipped, and threw him back out against another hard
team and a head to head like I think it was in a back to
back on the road or something crazy like that. They really didn't set him
up for success there, And when he moved out of the system, I
thought, great, that's an awesome fresh start for him, and he got
moved into a system that had a lot of really good goaltending talent already in
it. Worst case, I am a little worried that he'll be like another
Connects prospect to Michael Gartigue, who had really good numbers in the minors but
was never really given a full opportunity to play, ended up in the Toronto
system, played for their ECHL team, ended up winning them the ECHL Championship,
and then realized that he could get more consistent career. Essentially, he
could stay with the same team for a while, playing overseas and played in
Germany and he's still there doing incredibly well as a starter. And that's something
that I think ultimately, if he's not able to move up in a system,
Michael Gartique could end up or not Michael Gartique, Dpietro could end up
doing as well. I do think a lot of that's going to come down
to what happens this year for the Bruins, if he gets to move up
to the HL, because his numbers looked good last year. He had decent
numbers in the ECHL, had one game in the HL, had a nine
forty three save percentage. Like I said, the Providence Bruins are the Providence
Bruins are an easy team to do that with. But nonetheless I still think
that was good for him, essentially showcasing that he can still play at the
higher minor league level. If he doesn't get consistent HL starting time this year,
I think it's worth considering that he's not really classified as a true NHL
prospect anymore and he might just be a minor league guy moving forward. But
I'm looking to see they do still have Kyle Keyser or Kyle Keyser in their
system as well, and I think that Michael DiPietro if Kaiser ends up not
playing as well again, he had mediocre numbers last year and he's had,
I believe, a couple concussions. That's a spot that d Pietro could step
into and really essentially sneak his way back into contention as a prospect because he
has another couple of years before I think it becomes a red flag for him,
and he asked to consider a different path versus potentially heading to the NHL.
Yeah, I was actually watching that game that your reference from Dpietro where
it was against the Sharks, and I remember he got called up, and
I remember watching that game and just he was getting destroyed and the Canucks weren't
helping him and the Sharks were just lighting him up. And I just remember
thinking, I'm literally watching the demise of this guy's confidence and potentially career.
It felt terrible because it wasn't Yeah, maybe he made some mistakes, but
there was a lot that was not in. It was so hard to watch,
hard to watch, and they didn't take him out, and it was
like, oh God, please, though I don't think they could take him
out if I remember correctly that game thatcher Demko was out with the concussion and
whoever their backup was had played the night before they needed him to play the
next night, so they couldn't take out d Pietro. And in Syrie they
probably should have regardless, like they should have pulled him out anyway, but
they didn't. And it made me think back to when the Blackhawks were so
bad and they had Colin Delia and Anton Forsberg and then they called out Jeff
Glass and in his first NHL game, the Blackhawks were such a bad team
and they almost played like chelseafc. They parked the bus in front of him
and they said, we won't score a goal, but you won't get scored
on either, And that was just such a stark difference from what Dpietro's first
NHL game looked like, where they conducts their defense wasn't. It almost didn't
even show up. So yeah, I think there was some unlearning there in
his first year within the Boston system that he had to do, and there
was some confidence building that had to be redone. Almost his best case scenario
is Jack Campbell, Right, that's a guy who really had his confidence just
decimated there, went to the Kings, had a team that was really patient
with him in rebuilding his confidence over almost a year and a half there,
and then brought him back to the NHL level and he got himself back into
starter contentions. So I think we could see that from Dptro. I think
he's at a disadvantage because he's six feet tall and teams are less likely to
give a smaller guy who's struggling a second and third and fourth chance like they
do some of the bigger goaltenders. Absolutely, And you mentioned Kyle Kaiser.
One of our patrons wanted to know about him because there had been some rumblings
about him having some upside last year and he couldn't find as much information about
him this year. He's a twenty four year old unsigned, six ft two
goalie comes from the hockey hotbed of Coral Springs, Florida case anyone's wondering,
played a lot for the for the Providence Bruins the last two seasons. As
we mentioned, dpro not able to play for the Providence Bruins, so he
was in ECHL and one of the main guys in the HL was Kyle Kaiser.
So what do your instincts tell us about him? Initially I really liked
him. He and Jeremy Swayman entered the Bruins system at the same time.
I remember watching a ton of film on both of them and thinking that they
were to me, they were equivalents where I watched them next to each other
and thought, oh, either one of these guys could ultimately end up becoming
their next air apparent and then I'm looking to double check. But if I
remember correctly, Kyle Kaiser ended up with a number of injury issues that essentially
set him back a ton where he didn't get as much playing time as he
needed, and then he ended up down in the ECHL for a little bit,
and then he didn't get to play. I believe it was at all
one season. I think he I'm looking to see, Yeah, he had
one season where he played seven games combined. Then really That's where I wonder
if maybe he just isn't what he could have been, because I watched a
few of their games last year and I didn't think he was a goaltender that
I was in love with anymore. But I don't think the Bruins really have
anyone in their system that I look at and think, oh, this guy
shouldn't be playing right now. I think everyone that they had, even at
the ECHL level, they had. The starters in the ECHL were d Pietro
and then Francis Brossard, who I believe was initially a senator's prospect and then
quit playing hockey for a while and came back to playing the ECHL, and
he's a lot fun to watch too. So they really just they keep guys
that I think help keep their team in every game. There are a couple
of teams, most notably the Rochester Americans are the easiest one that comes to
mind for me that their goaltenders are sometimes hurting their chances of winning. But
for both Maine and the Providence Ruins, I think those teams the goaltenders always
help their chance of winning, So I think any one of their guys could
get called up and survive in an NHL game. But I just don't know
if anyone right now stands out as being a clear cut number one in that
list, which honestly, I don't think they needed. They have too much
number one at the NHL level as it is, so I think that would
cause the problems they had another clear pet number one down in the HL.
Too many number ones in the NHL get stuck with fifth and six options down
in the minors. Thank you for giving us your instincts. Cat on the
Boston Bruins goalies, Grace, we'll be back right after this dynasty dig.
Boston Bruins. The dynasty dig. That's good. It's not quite what we're
gonna see from some of the other teams because these guys are in that point
of the success cycle where they're killing it. So the system, according to
Victor's Fantasy Hockey Life rankings, ranks twenty eighth among the teams. The bruins
big moves this year meant they didn't draft until pick ninety two, which did
not necessarily bolster they're already rather weakened farm system. Nonetheless, there are a
couple of very prominent and prospects talked about here and it starts Victor with your
no brainer. Who is it? He's such a no brainer. We already
mentioned him on the main part of the show, and that is Fabian Lee
Sell, Boston's twenty twenty one first round pick, twenty first overall, one
of the very few first round picks they've had in recent memory. He's a
five eleven hundred and seventy six pound right wing, has some injury troubles,
as Fluto mentioned, came into dev camp but still suffering the effects of a
concussion which really limited him in terms of what he could do. That was
from the WHL playoffs previously. He ended up with fourteen goals twenty three assists
in fifty four games for HL Providence, which was pretty good, and he
went to the World Juniors competed for Sweden. I'll have more to say on
that in a minute. He should compete for a spot for the Bruins this
year. As we mentioned with Fluto, he has a lot of opportunity,
and I think this is one reason that if you're in a shallow keeper or
dynasty, you want to gravely Sell because the door is wide open. He
could end up playing opposite David posterdock and that'd be pretty amazing anyways, or
potentially even getting on that top power play. He should. He still has
three years left on his entry level deal, so he's in a cap league.
He's also really great, And I want to get back to this point
about the World Junior being a bust for him. A lot of people were
talking about that, about how he even flew too mentioned it. He didn't
really have it. He didn't look good. I would disagree with that.
I didn't want to discrew with him on the main show, but I would
say that isn't necessarily entirely accurate, because he actually if you look, if
you watched the games, he looked really good. He was creating chances.
Things did not go in. The whole team as a whole, did not
look in sync for a part of the time. And yeah, he took
a bad penalty and got kicked out, I believe in one of the games.
But if you look at his underlying stats, and Mitch Brown actually tracked
a bunch of these, and the thing is he looked amazing in these underlying
numbers. He had some of the best, most dangerous passes to the lot
expected primary systs, expected goals, his transition data. This is specifically at
the World Junior for Fabian Lacel was incredible. He was moving the puck around,
he was driving play, he was kind of everything for Sweden. Nothing
went in while he was on the ice, basically, is what it comes
down to. Does that mean that he was bad? No? Does that
mean he could have been better? Possibly, but the reality is that he
was way better than a lot of his peers and a ton of these metrics,
but even things like advantages created game score board battles, like all these
things he was really good at. So I think it's a little it's a
little inaccurate to say that he wasn't good or didn't have it. I think
he could have been better than I think he made some bad decisions that kind
of overshadowed the rest of his performance. And it's a small sample size seven
games, so it's hard to say that really reflects a whole ton on him.
But anyways, we have more to say about Fabian Lacel, and that
comes from our scouts Jesse, absolutely, and it's our good buddy Nate who
does the scouting for all the guys in this episode, has been our content
curator back behind the scenes, and we thank you for all that. A
few highlights from a very extensive scouting report from Nate Skating for mister Lazelle above
average. A pleasure to watch when he turns up the ice, great two
step quickness and straight line speed. Might need a little bit more strength to
go up against the bigger defenseman in the NHL, as even in the HL,
tends to stick around the perimeter and avoid contact a bit. Puck handling
also above average. Has the puck on his string most times in the offensive
zone, keeping the puck tight to his body to hold off defenders, and
he does run into trouble, sometimes forcing pucks in the middle of the ice
which gets broken up by pro defenseman. But as the smarts to adjust.
Shot is average, He's probably never going to be a big goal scorer.
Won't blow you away with the shot, but again, this is something that
could benefit from putting on some ranked and muscle to adjust to the pro game.
IQ, as mentioned before, is above average, great vision in the
offensive zone, thrives on finding open teammates. He's not as engaged physically,
again, but a not a panic meter despite the fact that maybe the physical
game isn't coming as quickly. He will hold onto the puck to find the
open man, sometimes his own detriment. And of course we talked about the
concussions that end of the season last year that probably hurt his performance a bit
defense average. He won't hurt you on the on the ice offensively, but
not a guy who's necessarily going to thrive there. Coach Jim Montgomery's system is
something that is gonna benefit him when he shows the tendency to fly the zone
early to try to gain an offensive advantage as a high skill guy, Coach
Montgomery isn't necessarily averse to that. So the biggest asset, as we said,
skating concern physicality, strength, top tier potential. He could be a
first line playmaking forward according to Nate in a perfect world if he picks up
the physical game and is a pass first forward who skates next to somebody like
Pasternak. If he gets into that type of a role, it could be
great times for Lisell. Most likely tier, maybe more like a middle six
er and eight thinks so many question marks in Licell's game, it's hard to
see him as more than that right now. Stylistic comparable some of the smaller
guys in the league, like Mitch Marner, Matt Barzala, or some examples
the Nate Gibs won't blow you away physically or with the shot, can be
an elite playmaker with a high hockey IQ. You can only dream. The
Bruins can only dream he'll end up as effective on the defensive end as Marner,
who was never regarded as a two way forward but garnered enough interest to
become as Stealky finalist this season. But a guy can dream. NHL ranked
King Mason Black helped us out by putting out a poll on Twitter between Fabian
le Sell and Braden Yeager, the first round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins this
year. The NHLI similarity score for Lisell was Connor Doer. It was one
of his top one of his top matches. Maybe not quite as enthusiastic as
one would want to be about that, but anyway, Lisell versus Yeager.
The three hundred nineteen votes out there ended with Bradon Yeager at fifty five percent
to the advantage of Fabian Liesell. Now me, I see this maybe as
more of a product of prospect fatigue. Lisell's been out there. As you
said, people have started to sour on him a little bit, but concussions,
some of these things that he may still be growing into. I think
it's probably a little too soon to discount his ability to impact the game.
And also, again we'd like to say that just because a guy might be
the most relevant forward left on a team doesn't necessarily mean he's going to score
a ton, because it's not all the scoring has got to come from some
teams the Coyotes. Sometimes the scoring comes from nowhere. And maybe that will
be the case when Lisell hits full maturity in the mid career up there,
when some of these other guys raging out a little Postern which is likely to
be hanging around for quite a while. But I think Lisell would still be
my choice here between the two. But Braden Yeager Fabian Liesel, which one
do you prefer? Victor? This is an interesting one, and I totally
agree with what you said about prospect fatigue. I think people are really interested
and excited with the new and shiny toy and Braden Yeager, and I do
definitely like that Yeager is the prize joy of this Penguin system, like li
Sell is for Boston. Actually the only top forward is really in either system,
being a little farther away. Yeager I think gets the nod for me
because where he is at his stage of its development and how good he was
this year. I think he has room to grow. Lisell has grown in
the last couple of years, but it's still trending down in terms of his
overall top tier potential. So at this point I would trade him unless I'm
ready to compete and want to Lisel up and down. I think there's a
there's an argument to be made if you're ready to compete now, I would
trade a Yeager for Lacel just because you get those However, many games you
can flex him up and down and get that production. If he's playing in
the NHL and he's so close to NHL ready, Yeager is going to be
at least probably three to four years between his OHL or sorry WHL time and
then the HLS. But long term potential, I would take Yeager if I
can be patient with him and looking at hockey prospecting his star potential, Yeager
is eighteen percent and Lacelle started at fifteen and then trended down. He's now
at two percent. So it looks a lot better in terms of upside and
how you know what they could hit in their top very top potential. And
you look at the rest of Lisell's comps and they're sad. Most of them
are bus or average or replacement level producers. There aren't really too many good
ones to choose from. Nate, our content curator here picked a recall,
sorry me call Repick who was a bust. There's maybe someone like Matt Collin,
who's pretty was a pretty average producer. So it's not super exciting if
you look at the numbers. I think it is somewhat exciting and that he's
going to get the opportunity and he has a chance to be relevant in fantasy.
It's just a matter of how high he can hit that upside. I
should also mention that in terms of other systems, the Jay Fresh Top Down
Hockey model is very pessimistic only so just two percent chance of being a star,
just sixteen percent chance of being an NHLer. I think that NHLO chance
is way low because I think he's got a much better chance than that,
but definitely pretty pessimistic on him becoming a star, which isn't terribly unreasonable,
Jessee, for sure, I think that's what we could say about this guy
at this point, fabian Lis. But nonetheless, let's move on to the
need to know prospect. Our need to know prospect is Frederick Brunette, twenty
twenty two fifth round pick by Boston six two eighty five left handed d finished
fourth his fourth season in the Q. Seventy three points in sixty six games,
split between Ramuski and Victoriaville, was over a point per game for the
Tigers and just under with the Oceanic played one game with Providence had to assists.
That's pretty nice. Although he will be twenty this season, has one
more season of eligibility with the Q due to COVID, so he could play
there. He also could play in the HL if that were or something that
Boston wanted. He's still unsigned with the Bruins, but he'd played in Providence
on an amateur tryout, so we're interesting to see where he ends up in
what he does this year. But we need to know a little bit more
about what makes Frederick Brunette special. So Jesse wanted to tell us what our
FHL scout had to say. Back to ninth's scouting report, he's been checking
him out on the video. Skating above average for brunette effortless skating style you're
only see in a select few offensive defenseman special to watch him work his way
up the ice, beating four checkers, creating odd man rushes and scoring opportunities.
One of those defenseman who gives opponents fits in defensive zone coverage, nearly
impossible to keep him covered in man to man puck handling also above average.
The skilled puck carrier as Brenette, using his abilities to walk all over the
offensive zone while controlling the puck while identifying the target a threat all over the
ice when he quarterbacks the power play. Shot average here doesn't have the strongest
of shots to the ability to pick his spot to score a ton of goals,
but he does excel at getting shots through traffic from the point to create
his own scoring opportunities or rebound opportunities for his teammates. I accuse average tendency
to hold up a puck for too long and forced plays in the offensive zone,
which causes him to give up opportunities the other way. For what it's
worth. In his one game in Providence this year, he didn't make too
many mistakes and he picked his spots a little better than he did in junior,
but too soon to tell whether that will carry over into his career from
now. Fourth defense average needs to work on his defensive game in order to
excel at the pro level, but Nate's not that concerned with it because he
plays well enough in the defensive zone that he's not hurting his team at this
point. So back to the biggest asset here was the skating. The biggest
concern offensive IQ top tier potential. What would make him get to that level
bottom two parients power play specialist or how would he peek out what the best
he could be bottom two parients powerplay specialist. If Burnette's going to play in
Boston, he's going to have to play to his strengths, which is creating
an offense and being willing to take risk. But the problem is there's a
lot of guys on this team right now who would limit his opportunity of being
a Keith Handle or Shane gosss Bear most likely role or most likely tier.
He is probably going to be a depth defenseman on this team the last few
seasons. First round pick jac the Boreal is the seventh defenseman some of the
time in the Bruins roster, maybe expect something more like that and a stylistic
comparable. He's a classic news school offensive defenseman in the Eric Carlston mode,
trying to play that type of a role. Though Eric Carlson plays everything these
days, but watching the ice on the offensive zone, you're just as likely
to see him in the corner trying to retrieve the puck than to see him
at his usual spot on the blue line. So gonna come down to coaching,
the way that they can use him and the way he can bring things
together. The NHL rank King Mason Black always likes to put the poll out
there and give some stylistic comparables in his model. Marco Scandella Colin Miller come
out as a couple of the top comparables for Brunette and Brunette has put up
against Ryan Chesley, the second round pick last year, not this year,
of the Washington Capitals. Plays at the University of Minnesota and was part of
the US National Development Program team. Which do the people out there on the
internet think is going to be the better fantasy player in the long term.
Ryan Chesley soundly defeats Frederick Brunette two thirds to one third. I don't know,
Victor, this is this is a little bit of a down ballot choice.
To me, I think that's where we are here. I don't know
that I'm all that enthused to have either one of these guys doing the job
for me on my fantasy team, because I'm not sure about Brunette's role,
nor am I that enthused with Ryan Chesley's scoring At this point, Who is
it that you would rather see on your team? Frankly, I would rather
Brunette. And it's interesting because Chesley, I think is a much safer guy
to play in the league. I think he's someone who can move the puck,
he can skate, he can be your third pairing guy who's just reliable,
can play some minutes. But yeah, I don't think that he's really
super offensive. That year at the US ENTITYP with Casey was James Casey was
not the best for the program. And we've seen some other years be really
good, obviously with Hughes, Hudson and York, and that was just not
the year for defenceman. And it's not really a knock on him. He
does what he does well, but it's not being super offensive, and I
think that Brunette, even though he has some more awarts in his game,
he has the offensive up to upside to be more special if it all works
out. So is this all comes down to like defenceman philosophies, which I
think is interesting Jesse. So many people think that I don't like having defenceman.
They just take so long, But it's this is a classic example of
don't hold Ryan Chesley on your team because in the end, what are you
going to get? A replacement level producer who bangs and has some priffs and
maybe a twenty to thirty point guy, which is really not that interesting.
So you don't roster him, but you roster Brunette. And if he continues
to progress and show promise, maybe he pops off in the HL next year.
Now you're really happy you have him. And if he doesn't and he
kind of transitions to the professional ranks and doesn't really do anything, we just
let him go, no big deal. So you're not invested too much in
him. You don't worry too much about dropping him. And he's a fifth
round pick, so if he became that really high end upside, you're laughing.
And if he doesn't you expected it wouldn't really go that anyways, and
you just drop him. It's a zero G strategy for d. Yeah,
you pick up this guy who has high upside, but it also could just
not play and you just roll with that. But I don't really see any
reason to have Ryan Chesley on your team. Frankly, I don't think he's
It's one of those points where if you cheer for Ryan Chesley and he ends
up becoming everything you hoped he could be, which, like I said,
is like a third pairing guy that eats some minutes and had some prifts,
then you're disappointed and that's on you because that's who we always was going to
be. Anyways, about a little bit more about these two. The hockey
prospecting, it's not super high and Bernad just eight percent chance of being a
star, forty five percent chance of being an NHLAR. But he's holding steady,
if not increasing those numbers, which is really good, and that's what
you want to see. Chess Lee trending down in terms of just three percent
chance of being a star and actually lower NHL or probability. So despite what
I just said, that's interesting, but I think he has a higher probability
than that. Frederick Brunette in this model has some decent comps. Justin Schultz
is one who kind of ended up becoming a fringe star, but definitely mini
busts and not super exciting guys. Also as comps for Brunette, So don't
get too don't go too crazy. And the Jay Fresh topped on hockey card.
It's sad Jesse zero percent chance of being a star in that model,
which is awful, and just three percent chance of being an nhlar really pessimistic,
incredibly pessimistic on someone who just had a fifty pH L for the victoria
Ville Tigers. And I know that Mason gives a little boost for defenseman in
this model, but still, that's that's pretty harsh. Yeah, Jay Fresh,
that's rough. Why are you so harsh? Yeah, we could probably
move on to talk about her. Keep your eye in prospect picture. Yeah,
let's keep our eye on Mason Larey. He is our next guy.
Twenty twenty second round pick six four, twenty d ten pound, left handed
d He was in the NCAA this past season and he had four goals twenty
eight assists in forty games at Ohio State. That's a slight regression from what
he did as a freshman. It was an amazing transition Mason Larrey had from
the USHL where he was well over a point per game and that was like
really good but a weeker league, and then he went to Ohio State as
a freshman and he was nearly a point per game. This season, he
was eight points from being a point per game, so quite a bit under
what still showed growth in other areas. He should be in the HL this
season. He did play five games with Providence at the end of the season
and had one assist in eight games that included playoffs. So yeah, he
should make another transition, another big lead. It's a really tough one going
from NCAA to HL, but I'm interested to see how he does. And
let's hear a little bit more about what makes Mason Loray an interesting player from
our FHL scout So Nate says, Laurie covers a lot of ground in his
skating. Skating his average due to his six four frame, and he can
get up the ice quick with long strides that keeps him helps him a lot
in the transition game. But the agility is a bit of concern it's going
to be harder for him to catch the faster forwards when the game gets a
step quicker. Puck handling above average. Laurie has great puck handling skills for
a bigger defenseman, possessing the ability to carry the puck up the ice in
transition bind forwards with accurate smart passes. Has a lot of confidence with the
puck, barely makes a misstep shot. His average more of a past first
defenseman, preferring to distribute, which is shown by his only eight goals in
seventy one games at the NCAA level. One doesn't shoot it. He has
a nice snapshot that couldnt have some goals to the pro level, but doesn't
utilize it nearly enough to be more than an average shooter. IQ is elite.
That's where Laurey is at his best. Intelligent at both ends of the
ice. Logs heavy minutes at five on five quarterbacks of power play, anchors
a penalty kill the offensive end. He has elite vision, employs something that
will make him an above average playmaker an assist getter during his career. Makes
a great first pass at the defensive end, jump starts the breakouts and takes
it upon himself to carry the puck up the ice when the situation calls for
it, clogs up the zone with his long reach and high IQ defense is
above average. A lot of his solid defensive play is a result of that
IQ, which will make him a fixture on propower penalty kill units. Again,
biggest asset IQ biggest concern is the skating. Even though he does have
some of that speed that we talked about that goes along with his size.
His top end potential star defenseman, Laurie has the tools to be an elite
defenseman if it all came together. He already has the IQs, so the
biggest things he should add some weight to this frame, work on his foot
speed, but he should always be able to contribute offensively. Most likely tier.
Where's he gonna land top four defenseman says Nate is most likely tour is
just in the top four somewhere. That could be a big contributor to the
Bruins and your fantasy team. He should rack up assist hits, shots and
blocks. Stylistic comparable, Laurie's body is a little bit more wiry, but
if you manage just to add some more weight, Nate sees maybe a Coulton
Parako type physicality type role could be a bit disappointing after Parako has disappointed a
little bit more recently. Oh, Preco's still doing all right for the Blues.
But Laurie's college numbers are already better than Preko's during his time in those
ranks, and there is similarity there as well. The NHL Rank King coming
out with him into a couple of comparables, one Brent Seabrook, another Matt
Grizzlick interesting, another Bruin comparable there, and clearly the twenty one twenty two
season he peeked in his projection and has come down in the last year.
So we compare him to Carson Lambos, who was drafted late by the Minnesota
Wild in the first round of the twenty twenty one draft, and Lambos versus
Lore in the NHL Rankking Pole came out decisively, Lambos completing the anti Bruins
sweep of the Mason Black Poles. It's hard to say I'm hearing a lot
of very optimistic things from Nate on Lore, but I'm wondering, is that
how you see this competition and Lore's future prospects breaking down. I love that
the anti sweep or the anti Bruin sweep, that is. I'm sure a
lot of people sharing that sentiment. The Bruins are revered in some circles and
despising others would say, but no, this is how I would have it.
Actually, I think Lambos has a lot more upside to his game.
Of course, we're going to see what happens this next season for him,
because he's twenty now and so he can be in the HL. He's a
WHL guy and he was great forty eight points in sixty one games for the
Ice, and yeah, he's maintained his star potential, hovering around twelve percent
fifteen twelve percent. Lambos has Lare started at the token five percent in the
model and went down and then back up, so he's sub five percent,
although I've really that ended his first year in college which brought it back up
a little bit, but he's still lower end in these statistical models. As
laure and Lambos much more likely. Both of these guys have decent sized.
Laurie's a little bit bigger, Lambos a little bit smaller. Both left shot
d so you know some similarities there. In Minnesota has a few other nice
aspects. So in terms of Lora, if you want the one main guy
in the system, then if you like that strategy, then LORI is definitely
your guy. But I think in terms of just the player who has more
upside and likely of playing, it's definitely Lambos for me. Pretty similar,
I would say in terms of that percent, yeah, two thirds roughly,
and the looking at some other Lore comps, he's got some a lot of
ones that look like nothing, some busts, he's got some. Colin Miller,
Paul Martin is one that he looks a lot alike, and he was
a pretty average NHL producer, and I think Lore could end up being like
that. I think not unlike he said in his report, Nate said Grizzlick,
right, I think there's also some comparables to someone like Brandon Carlo,
even on the same team. So in terms of fantasy, not super exciting,
right, but definitely plays games right, And so that's fear into that
if you like that. The j Fresh card also pretty pessimistic on Lora just
one percent chance of being a star, twenty percent chance of being an nhlor
But again, both these guys, especially laure and and lisall should get some
pretty decent NHL looks here within the next season or two. So you gotta
like that. You gotta like the opportunity there. That's what's available in Boston
because their prospect pool is so poor and Jesse. There's definitely more guys that
we could talk about, but we don't have time for that now. Encourage
anyone who wants to know more. Son up for Patreon. You can read
the reports from our scouts. There's more detail even that was read here.
And if you're scouting, shoot me a DM on Twitter or the artist formerly
known as Twitter Discord email us. You get some really great access to go
along with putting in a couple of reports a month, so definitely worth your
while. If you're interested, we'll be right back it close up the show.
Back to close out the show, a couple of things to be to
you. First of all, you should be playing all your leagues on fan
tracks. They've got all the options. They've got ten different sports, you
can set up hundreds of scoring settings. You can do your dynasty leagues all
year round. You can pretty much find every rookie you want, and you
can set up the eligibility anyway you want, you want rookies. You want
people to be rookie eligible to go into the green slots, your rookie spots
on your roster until they've played five hundred NHL games or five NHL games.
You can do it. It's up to you. Some of those come with
the premium product, a lot of it comes with the free product. So
start up your new leagues over there on Fantracks fan Track's HQ, tons of
fantasy content over there. Hockey is just kind of starting up for the year,
but there are lots of podcasts, including the Prospect Pod, Full Count
Fantasy Baseball, The Fly Fantasy Football, and p twow Fantasy Football. That
Prospect Pod, Rick Hawk is the host of that. I had him on
my other podcast, Dynasy sports Life last week. Heck of a good guy.
We'd like to think our content Cure or Nate Duffett, who's been helping
out with the show prep did a lot of great work for this Boston episode.
And we're brought to you by Dauber Hockey and Dauber Prospects, where Victor
is an editor. Follow his work there as well as this other podcast,
Dauber Prospect report that he does with Peter Harlan. They talk fantasy hockey prospects
every single week. I do a second show I just mentioned it, Dynasty
Sports Life. It's called I talk four different Dynasty sports sometimes more than one
at the same time. And yes, indeed Rick Hawk from Prospect Pod is
the guest this week, and we cover about a dozen interesting baseball prospects that
you're looking at in fantasy baseball, some really deep guys, and that is
going to pretty much do it. You should follow on Twitter at fan Hockey
Life, at Victor Nuno twelve, Subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts
or wherever else you get your podcast, Spotify, whatever. We really appreciate
it. Thanks for listening to this Boston Bruins preview and until next time,
keep living that fantasy hockey light.