Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks, your source of information
and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Fuck off to step
on say lots. Here's your hosts, Jesse sup Here and Victor Nuno.
Fantasy Hockey Live back once again, and boy are we fired up? I
am Jesse Severe fan Tracks, and across the glass it is Victor Nuno of
Dauber Prospect. Victor, how are you doing. I'm doing awesome, Jesse.
I'm ready for us to hit our mid season stride. Here with these
team previews, it's like my one of my favorite times of the year.
So I know it's a little early for some, but we we don't do
the math. Takes a long time to get them all in and we are
nothing if not complete, right darn right? Yeah, if you don't know
what we mean. This is the first of our thirty two episode series previewing
the two twenty three twenty four teams, and boy are we excited by it.
It's gonna take a long time. Some of you are feeling like it's
the peak of the season. It's postseason. It's after the season. For
Victor and I. This is opening day in a sense because our previous start
today and we've got a wonderful format. We're bringing on, just as we
did last year, amazing guests to talk about the individual teams, experts on
the teams. Then we're going to go to we're going to go to a
brand new segment that nobody has heard. It is Cat's Instincts. Cat Silverman,
who we've had on the show, well known goalie Guru is going to
come on and do some breakdowns of some of the prospect goalies. And then
of course the traditional the wonderful Dynasty dig I got to break out that music
again. I love that intro to the Dynasty dig It just warms my heart.
So it's gonna be a great, great season. And that's not all
we have these episodes, Victor, But not only that, but we have
other things that patrons can enjoy, particularly or the Patreon. We should really
mention now what kind of things are out there during the season previous series.
Yeah, for sure, we have so many good things that through the Patreon.
You gotta check it out, see which tier might fit for you.
If you like to show, if you enjoy it, you want to support
it. We certainly have patron casts that are sometimes topic related sometimes Ama.
We also have roster doctor availability. We will help you break down your team.
Lots of extra perks too, like going over how to use evolving hockey,
how to use different tools that we have. Some of the people who
are recently requesting. On the Sellary Cap show, I was talking about how
I break down and project rosters dollar value per dollar. We'll make a video
for that. And of course we have our rank sheets where we have all
of the teams and all the players rank by for defenseman, goalie and who
the who. The top ones are under one hundred games for skaters, under
fifty games for goalies, so that's all out there. We also have organizational
ranks and team ranks. You can get hits, blocks and shot upside based
on their tiers with this, which is a really hard thing to be able
to find. And new this year, there's always new upgrades and improvements we're
doing. Jesse so great with spreadsheets. He really does a lot of work
with this. And one thing we're doing this year in our tears and ranks
is we're gonna be not only talking about you know, points and banger upside,
but also salary Cap, which which contracts are actually good for salary cap
leads and which players are maybe not worth their value, So we'll be tiering
those as we go along too. So so much goodness. Check it out
at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life. For sure, you are going
to want to check those things out into Patreon if you are so inclined,
If you're non acliner, you just kind of want to dip a toe in
see what it's like hanging out with us, hanging out with a lot of
the listeners who are into Dynasty fantasy hockey particular, hit us up and join
our discord Fantasy Hockey Life at gmail dot com or fan Hockey Life is me
Victor Nuno twelve as Victor. Basically, just ask one of us and we'll
give you an invite to the free discord. And there's all kinds of chatter.
People are forming the leagues right now, because fantracks, you can form
them all the way. Today people are talking about the Stanley Cup playoffs,
people are talking about offseason Dynasty trades, about their keeper decisions, and of
course about free agency and everything else coming up. And of course the draft
lottery is about to happen. After this episode is released. So Victor,
it's wonderful times, it's exciting times to talk about fantasy hockey, and we're
gonna do it today with a man named Ben Pope of the Chicago Suntimes.
Today. Episode one is the Chicago black Home. Right after this, we
are welcoming to the show, first time guest, but a excellent writer on
the Chicago Blackhawks. It's Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times. Ben,
how are you doing today? I'm great, Thanks for having me on.
Well, we love having you here. We want to talk some Blackhawks.
Unfortunately, we tend to do this series in order of finish, and the
bad news for the Blackhawks is we're starting with you, so like reverse order,
it didn't go well. If you were judging the Blackhawks on the performance
on the ice last year, probably not a great situation. And I'll rattle
off a couple of stats here in a minute, but I know that wasn't
the point in some ways, and we'll get to that. They're bottoming out
and they might not even be at the bottom right now given everything that's happened.
You know, there were one point out of dead last in the league.
And it's funny they could have had the best odds in the lottery,
but the second to last game of the season, they knocked out the Pittsburgh
Penguins by beating them with full two point win, which let the Florida Panthers
in, thus indirectly ruining the Boston Bruins. So congratulations on the black Hawks
for destroying the Boston Bruins. Incredible season this year indirectly anyway, on the
black Hawks, nobody managed fifty points. Unfortunately on this team, Andrea Satanasio
was the top surviving points guy by the end of the season who were still
on the team with forty. Of course, Patrick Kane Max Doomi probably would
have reached that mark quite easily had they not been traded away. The Hawks
had the fewest team goals, the second fewest shots, and at nine point
one percent, the fourth worst shooting on the shots that they took. The
captain, Jonathan Tays retired the last night of the season. The last ties
to those cup years are gone, but the Hawks are doing it correctly.
They made a lot of trades. They netted something like seven additional net draft
picks over the next three years. They have a top lottery pick today is
Sunday, Tomorrow's the lottery. By tomorrow night, Connor Badard might be headed
for the Chicago Blackhawks. We don't know. Bottom line, was this year
a palette cleanse or a disappointment for Hawks fans? Our hawksman is going to
have more reasons for optimism as soon as next year been. Yeah. I
mean, certainly, the expectations were very low, and they pretty much we're
right on those expectations. Honestly, even finishing thirtieth rather than thirty second might
have been exceeding expectations in terms of on the ice, although I'm not sure
management would have liked to see that happen. But yeah, I think they
were expected to be bad, and they were bad. There wasn't too much
of a surprise there. Certainly. On a more specific level, there were
some bright spots. I think Luke Richardson really showed really well in his first
season as coach and indicated that he can really be the guy long term to
turn to leave this turnaround when he has a bit or talent to work with.
And there were some individual player bright spots as well. But from a
team standpoint, yeah, it was pretty bad across the board. Almost all
their statistical finishes were in the bottom of the league if you look at pretty
much every offensive and defensive stat special teams were not quite as terrible, but
still in the bottom third of the league. So yeah, it was not
too surprising to see so much so much losing this year, But that was
kind of the point to try to get this this draft position and kind of
reset the roster. And I think next year they probably won't be too much
better in terms of unised performance, but they probably will be more interesting in
terms they'll have more prospects starting to move up into the NHL, and more
guys where even if the team isn't succeeding, you can see them start to
individually succeed and build some hope for the future by seeing that. So probably
going to be at least a couple more years before they really start to improve
standings wise, but this probably was gonna be kind of the rock bottom in
terms of relevance at least. Yeah, for sure. And there's there's such
a different team now from the beginning. You know, last year in the
team preview, I was when I was going over everything we had obviously kine
to brink it. Strome Taves, Doc GOUBA League. All of those guys
are gone. So when we talk about who the top fowards are this year,
I guess we're gonna have to start with Lucas Rachael because there aren't really
a whole lot of other options, And certainly this may shift by the time
Opening Night happens in October, but I think it's worth talking about Richele.
He certainly is looks like a new maybe corner stone or the franchise, or
at least a pretty decent player. Maybe we shouldn't annoint him with that tag
quite yet, but the seventeenth overall pick from twenty twenty. Basically, he's
been a point per game or better player in the HL the last two seasons.
We got to see him with some NHL action at the end of last
season and also this season. He put up fifteen points in twenty three games,
which was the highest point pace if anyone left on the team. Not
actual points, but point pace, and you know, that was pretty decent.
You look at some of his underlying metrics and of course some of the
expected goals and of course he against don't look great, but the whole team
was not great. He did show some offense and show a lot of speed
and skills. So what do you think about Lucas Richell, especially going into
next season where he looks like he'll be a full timer the whole year.
So do you think he'll end up next year with the highest point pace?
And what do you think his ceiling is? Yeah, the black Hawks have
been really patient with him the past couple of years. He was probably ready
to come up into the NHL a lot sooner than he did, but they
had just given him a few little brief stints before. Finally, after the
trade deadline, after they'd moved Patrick Kane, they decided to call him up
for good and put him in that role in the first line. And I
mean, yeah, he looked every bit the part. He was definitely the
team, one of their top two at least offensive players down the stretch.
His ability to enter the zone is truly elite. It's absolutely his strongest talent.
But he also has great vision once in the zone. He's a good
shot, a good passer, has good instincts of where to go. He's
not the biggest guy for sure. The Hawks have been working with him to
bulk up some more, get some more muscles, so that he can get
to the net front a little bit better, win some more puck battles.
But when he has open space, he's definitely one of the top players that
they have at the moment and knowing going to get better. So yeah,
I mean, it depends on depends on the lottery. I think if the
darter Fantilly, he probably won't be the most anticipated guy going into next year.
But barring that, he absolutely will be. He definitely has anough side
to be maybe not immediately, but at some point in his career a sixty
seventy point guy. I would think we'll see what he can do next years.
Only if he continues on the pace that he produced at this year,
he might not be even farved from that next year, but we'll see what
happens with that. He could benefit FIRS serve from getting some better linemates as
well. He was mainly playing with Andrea s FMC when Philip Kurzev, who
are decent players but certainly not exactly first line talent on a good team,
So to have a little bit better supporting cast could also help him with some
of those underlying numbers where he could get a little bit more help defensively,
But yeah, I think expectations are really high for him. He's he's definitely
developed as hope and next year is probably going to be his real breakout.
Taylor Radish, Yes, we were already to the Tiler Radish portion of this
kind of this podcast is our second guy up. He's not a guy Victor
and I rank coming into the season, but he really had a pretty respectable
year to the point where Victor and I think, I think he's going to
be a fringe contributor, a Tier three type guy next year. One of
three Hawks traded there from Tampa. He's a late bloomer for sure. He
thrived following the twenty sixteen on the Erie Otters with future black Hawk teammates Alex
to bring it in Dylan Strom. Then he labored three years in h L
Syracuse in the Tampa system before breaking into the Tampa lineup in twenty one twenty
two. For that that runner up finished against Colorado. It's a pleasant story
for the twenty five year old to rise to the top of an NHL depth
chart. But is Radish going to keep a big role on this rebuilding team
and could he cracks say the fifty point mark this year. Again, it
does depend a lot on what happens this offseason, because I think if they
do get the Darter Fantilly, they're probably going to be a bit more aggressive
bringing back bringing in some free agents to give them a little bit of top
six support. But I think it's it's pretty likely that Radish will have a
top six role next year. He was pretty much a maiden stay on the
second line this year with Jonathan Tabs when he was healthy and Tyler Johnson that
was his most frequent linemates. And I think we went into the year realizing
that even on a pretty terrible team, somebody was going to have to score
some goals, just because that's the way hockey works, and it ended up
being Radish that was kind of one of those guys that ended up scoring some
goals. So yeah, he certainly had a pretty pretty good year for him
individually. Took a step forward um maybe a little bit unexpectedly, and I
think, yeah, for sure, he could be kind of a fringe fantasy
relevant guy next year barring a big change in role. He has a good
shot, he can get to the net, He's a decent tipper of pucks.
He's not going to be, you know, a game breaker in any
regard. But um, he certainly has some decent offensive skills, and on
this team where there's a bit of avoid of that that they appreciate that.
Um, he's probably a bit more physical than than realized too. I think
he was one of the better forwards in terms of hits and us. He's
not afraid to mix it up a little bit along the wall. He has
a pretty solid frame, I would say. So, Yeah, he's definitely
once a more pleasant surprise this year, and he's still on the younger side
of things, even though as you mentioned, he was kind of a late
bloomer in terms of the normal career trajectory, so I would expect him to
still have a significant role next year as well. Yeah, for sure,
he did have a hit per game last year. He got close to two
shots a game half a block, so there are some good physical stats considering
the guy played sixteen or a half minutes per game. But yeah, good,
good for him, Good for Taylor Radish finally breaking in after several years
of trying to get to that level in Tampa was not the easiest lineup to
break into, so Anders Bjork the twenty six year old who apparently was born
a few miles from the Fantasy Hockey Light studios here in Wisconsin. He didn't
know that sounds like he shouldn't have been born in the US with the name
Anders York, But sure enough. He spent much of the season buried in
the Buffalo Sabers minor system before getting a chance to play in Chicago at the
end of the year. Put up eight points in thirteen games. Presumably will
be an affordable RFA this summer. Not somebody's gonna be in line for a
huge rays. I don't know. Could this guy hang on and maintain a
middle six role next year? Yeah, well, I don't think it's a
guarantee that he's resigned, but I do think there's a decent chance of it.
Like you mentioned, he won't be expensive whatsoever. He did show well,
and his stint at the end of the year kind of unfortunate. He
missed some time with an injury right after he was acquired, which kind of
limited the sample size he was able to put up. But when he was
healthy he did look good. He would look like a kind of a nice
find, considering they caught him for literally future considerations because Buffalo just wanted to
give him as a fresh chance somewhere, So yeah, I think he showed
well. He clearly loves playing in Chicago. As you mentioned, he's Alwaukee
native, he went to Notre Dame, he has a ton of family in
the area. He seemed genuinely just thrilled about the opportunity in every way.
So I'm sure he would love to come back, And I think he showed
well enough that he probably will get another contract. If they don't have such
a gutted lineup next year, it might be a little bit harder for him
to get a second or third line role, but you never know. I
mean, he could end up being a radish kind of guy where maybe he
comes in not really sure what he'll be, and he ends up carving out
that kind of middle six role and score some of the goals that somebody's going
to have to score. So we'll see on him. There's probably a wide
range of outcomes from this point, but if he manages to keep up what
he did in March, he definitely could be a little bit intriguing. Tyler
Johnson another of those Tampa refugees in twenty fourteen fifteen. This is a guy
who put up seventy two points in seventy seven regular season games at twenty three
and twenty six playoff games that was peaked Tyler Johnson. His teammates that came
up with that same corps have kind of gone on without him. Tampa's had
to make some pretty ruthless cuts in their salary, and Tyler Johnson was not
somebody who could hang on there. So it's been a long time since he
produced at that raid. He's chlora closer to half point per game in the
last few years from Tampa into Chicago, and his twelve goals twenty assists for
thirty two points in fifty six games this year was pretty good. Actually,
two point zero seven points per sixty minutes was his best since twenty eighteen nineteen.
So Tyler Johnson individually when he was in there had had a decent role
in decent production. I guess my question is is this a guy who again
we keep saying dependent on free agents because this team could change so much in
July. Could this guy have a top six scoring role just by being that
veteran presence next year? Yeah, for sure. I mean he's also been
pretty consistently in a top six role when he's been healthy. The past two
years, staying healthy has definitely been a problem him. For Tyler Johnson,
he missed a bunch of time after having a neck injury and ended up getting
ady our surgery last season, the same thing that Jack Eichel did, which
was a really interesting story actually to talk to him about, but certainly not
great um from an non ice perspective. UM. He's also missed some time
with a variety of other injuries this past season. Finally, the second half
he managed to stay pretty consistently in the lineup for the first time in two
years, so that was good to see. He is definitely on the older
side as well, so UM, perhaps not super surprising that maybe he's suffering
from a little wear and tear at this point. But when he's been healthy,
he has been a solid contributor. He can, he has some good
offensive instincts. He's he's a very smart player. Not the biggest guy,
maybe not the most talented guy. He was undrafted way back when when he
came into the league, but he's always been able to kind of just know
where to be in the right play it's at the right time, and just
to rely on his hockey instincts and intelligence to be a successful player, So
if he can stay healthy, he could absolutely continue to be that. Next
year, he's probably going to become an alternate captain with Tay's and Kine moving
on, as probably the most experienced forward they have left at this point,
and he is a good leader in the locker room, a well liked guy.
I'm definitely great to talk to from a media perspective, So I'm not
sure if that's stup as fantasy relevant, but he definitely has a role on
this team and will continue to to have one no matter what ends up happening
this summer. Well, your alternate captains tend not to get scratched anyway,
so that's a that's a good thing if he gets a role like that and
can stand the ice. And I guess beyond that, I mean this forward,
this forward group for the people coming back next year or is. It's
pretty rough, but I would throw it open for anybody else. And the
one guy who I think you have brought up, Philip Kurushev. He played
a preponderance of the season for the third straight year now. From our fantasy
perspective, he's not been much of a score, So he's not a guy
who's been a whole lot on the radar. He averaged a point every three
games fairly consistently over this career, half a point, half a block getting
slightly bigger role by the end of the year. Could Philip Krishev be a
guy who is getting an increased role in the future of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Ban Yeah. Talking to Kyle Davidson the GM after the season, I was
a little bit surprised to hear how happy he was with Karishev's season. To
him, I think he said that he went into the year not really sure
what kind of player Karishev was going to end up being, and left the
year really confident that he is going to be a solid NHL contributor moving forward,
which was a pretty big, pretty big praise coming from Davidson. You're
right to Statistically, this season was pretty much the exact same as his first
two seasons. He's been pretty much the exact same guy statistically all three years.
But it sounds like internally the team really believes he can take a step
forward moving forward. He's in RFA this summer, but it sounds like he
absolutely will be brought back, probably on a multi year contract, and he's
still on the younger side. I mean, he came into the league fairly
young, so I think he's only twenty four or so right now, so
it sounds like they're kind of penciling him in for a bigger role. He
definitely but played on the first line a lot down the stretch when they really
had so few forwards available. He and Riitkol have a good bond because they
both speak German, and I know that that the Hawks were using Kurashev a
lot to kind of help him acclimate into the locker room and everything, so
and they become close friends. So I think with Rachel's upside and the fact
that they probably want to keep Kurashev playing with him a lot of the time,
that could also help Kureshev from a production standpoint, So certainly someone to
keep an eye on. I think obviously he hasn't shown a lot of potential
statistically to grow, but perhaps that finally could come next year in his fourth
seasons. So we'll see how that ends up playing out. But he's definitely
some of the team has high helps for that's great stuff with the with the
language, and the bonding there. Let's let's move over to the blue line
now, where we don't We didn't have a whole lot of data on this
and some of the fours because most of the ones Jesse and I ranked last
year are gone. But in the preseason we ranked Seth Jones me twenty third,
Jesse eleventh. He finished twenty ninth, and Seth Jones is the only
player on this team that he and I have faith it can be a top
tier fantasy producer. And so he's the only Blackhawk under contract beyond twenty twenty
six. If you look at their cap friendly page, it is it is
gonna change a lot in the next few years, and I think that was
kind of the point. And even though this team wasn't wasn't great, Jones
put up pretty decent numbers. His forty two point pace, I'm sure was
a little disappointing compared to the first season in Chicago, where he had fifty
four point pace. He actually got pretty unlucky though His shooting percentage was a
touch high, but his PDO was low, and his expected goals per sixty
far outpaced his actual goals for per sixty, So give him a few more
secondary exists and maybe another goal or two and his numbers look a lot better.
Plus the fact that he could keep his head above water defensively and actually
drive play as a net positive on such a weak team was says a lot
about him. So he actually, I think probably did quite well, but
in terms for fantasy gms probably underwhelmed their expectations just because of all the noise
around him. So the big question is what do we expect from Seth Jones
moving in the next year? Ben, do you think he could get back
to that fifty ish point pace. He still continues to put up monster hits
and block numbers, and the shots are pretty good. I don't think those
are going to change, So it really depends on the point pace. What
do you think he has in store for us next season? Yeah? I
agree. He probably could have had some more points this season than the it
up with. He was a little bit unlucky shooting wise, particularly on the
power play. The Hawks had an outrageous streak of not scoring a powerplay goal
by a defenseman that lasted the entirety of his first season and a half on
the team. Just kind of ridiculous, And finally they broke that in around
New Year's but I think definitely in the power play he's probably due to get
a little bit more production there. His partner is going to change for sure
next year. He was with Jake McCabe a lot of this year and really
that did that did help him out. Those two were united and early December
and Seth Jones really play really improved after that point. Obviously, McCabe was
dealt to Toronto at the deadline and then he had kind of a rotating cast
of partners down the stretch. Next year, I think it's almost absolutely going
to be one of the two top defensive prospects the Hawks have moving up into
the NHL, either alex of Blastic or Kevin Korchinsky. If it's Korchinsky,
that would be great news from a fantasy perspective for Jones because he is a
very complete offensive defenseman. Seventh overall pick last year has really dominated the WHL.
He's the top prospect in the system. He's probably going to come in
and put up quite a few points already as a rookie, So if he's
with Jones, that would certainly help Jones out. Lastic is a bit more
of a defensive guy, but he can skate well for his six six size,
so maybe that would free up Jones to be a little bit more aggressive
offensively, with Lastic backing him up, kind of the way McCabe did this
past season. Really, though, not too much is going to change for
Jones. I don't think other than the maybe his linemate and his luck.
He is locked in on this long term contract for better or worse, and
he is the number one defenseman is going to continue to be for a long
time. So pretty much you know what you're going to get with him.
He is the one constant on this team moving forward. He could be the
captain. We'll see what ends up happening with that. But yeah, I
don't think anything that's going to change too drastically with his situation. Oh,
I didn't know you were going to talk Kurtynsky that. That's pretty exciting.
He's definitely on the top prospects. I'm curious about that, because, yeah,
we were going to talk about him later. I didn't really I don't.
I mean, obviously he is tearing up the WHL, but I guess
it certainly depends on what happens in camp whether he can actually make the team.
That is a there's a pretty big jump. But if you're saying that
there's a good chance of that's that's pretty exciting. And him being a lefty
and Jones being a variety that might seem like a pretty obvious pair. You
think that's somewhat possible. Yeah, I think definitely. I mean, yeah,
it's no guarantee he makes the team, but at this point I would
say it seems fairly likely just based on how well he's played in the WHL
this year. I'm not sure he has much more to gain at that level
and just how high the Hawks are on him in general. We'll see what
happens as summer. We'll see in camp he's he's going to have to earn
a spot, but it seems like he probably will be able to earn a
spot, And if he does, I think they would be very inclined to
put him with Jones to to just help out his development by having the best
possible partner and someone that he can learn from and gain confidence from and can
mentor him. I think that would be a very very likely situation for him
if he does move into the NHL. It's not like this is a team
where they're gonna want to protect themselves by having their rookie play in the third
pair. I mean they're they're not caring too much about the results. They
just want those guys to develop. So they would have no reservations at all
putting him on the first pair with their best defensemen and letting them got to
figure it out in the fly, because that's just what's going to be best
for him long term, even if it's going to create some short term struggles.
So he's definitely a very intriguing, very intriguing guy. I mean,
he's he's look amazing since being drafted. I think it's stock as only Risen
from last year. He's a guy where the expectations are really through the roof.
Will he meet those immediately maybe not, But I think at some point
down the line he's going to be a top offensive defenseman in the NHL most
likely, and it could come as soon as next season. Yeah, that's
very exciting. I'm interested too in the guy. I thought that you were
going to mention and I wanted to bring up and that's why At Kaiser,
who was a twenty twenty third round pick. He's been at University of Minnesota
Duluth the last of a couple of seasons, and he represented the US and
the twenty twenty two World Junior Championships three points in five games. We did
see Kaiser after the NC double a season, suited up for the Blackhawks nine
games, got three assists. He looked pretty good out there. He's a
great skater, pretty pretty good mobile defenseman. He's also a lefty. Actually,
all the guys we mentioned Kurtynski, Blastik, and Kaiser are all lefty,
So I guess any of these guys could be I'm sure that's going to
be everyone's desires to play with Seth Jones. But you know, like you
said, there'll be a lot of reasons considered who gets that spot. But
do you think that Kaiser could make the jump or do you think he goes
back to the HL for a year, And what do you think his upside
is? Yeah, Kaiser is definitely a great skater, as you mentioned,
that is definitely the strongest part of his game. He's he's really good on
the breakouts. That's something that immediately impressed the Hawks. As far as next
season, I think he probably will spend at least a decent amount in the
NHL. I wouldn't be shocked if he spends some in Rockford just to get
a little bit more ice time and more confidence built up, considering how patient
the Hawks have been with their prospects. But it also wouldn't be surprising to
see him spend the full year in the NHL. He was kind of in
and out little lineup down the stretch there after coming up from Duluth. Just
Luke Richardson to kind of give him some chances to just watch from afar and
just settle into the league without overwhelming him. But I think he responded well
enough, and next year he'll probably be a bit more confident, a bit
more comfortable, and could end up being a regular. We'll just have to
see how things sort out in camp, but definitely another guy that the Hawks
have high expectations for. Really the whole defensive prospect pipeline is pretty exciting at
this point. Definitely the strongest area of the franchise really between those two guys
and Plastic as I mentioned, and even other guys like Ethan del Mastro.
So we'll see how that all shakes out in terms of the pecking order of
those guys into the next season, But I would definitely expect Kaiser to play
at least a significant mount in the NHL and be able to show off his
is skating ability. Well, a couple of guys who are at least gonna
remain in there. We got until all these guys appear from the miners.
Caleb Jones not just an epotism high because the brother of Seth had a reasonable
season. There's some good things. Don Lucian's model showed that he performed higher
than his salary of one point four million. He's worth two million according to
that. Last year, he soaked up a lot of minutes for this franchise
and had sixteen points and seventy three games, both career highs ninety first in
bash. That's blocks, plush shots plus hits among defensemen in the NHL.
One imagines he wouldn't have had quite as much oxygen on a different team in
quite as many minutes. But could Caleb Jones be a reasonable player for this
team again next year? Yeah, that's actually one of the biggest questions of
the summer for me. He is an RFA and with the number of prospects
coming up, it seems like his fate is kind of lying in the balance.
It might end up being determined by whether they buy out someone like Nikita
zeit Sev, who they took on to get a second round pick with from
Ottawa at the deadline, or if Cortsinski makes a team, or if they
keep Zeitzev and Korchynsky makes the team. I'm not sure the numbers necessarily work
out for keeping Caleb Jones, but um, if it's certainly possible that they
do resign him, he seemed at least kind of confident at that talking to
him late in the season that he would be back. And like you said,
he plays a pretty high event game. I would say there's there's always
something happening when he's on the ice. Some of it is not always great
for the Hawks. Sometimes it's some coals against, but um, he does
create offense, he does take some shots, he he does give out some
hits. He's definitely a noticeable player one way or another, and I think,
yeah, he continues to if he resigns, he could have a significant
role next year, just because someone has to play minutes and he has now
been here for two years. There's a little bit of familiarity and he does
have some strong areas in his game. He is. He does have some
talent offensively for sure. We'll see how that sorts out. I feel bad
for saying that for every single player, but like you mentioned, there is
a lot of change coming. But yeah, definitely a guy worth keeping an
eye on. He I think when he when he was a choired in summer
before last, it didn't seem like kind of just fother to get Seth Jones
to come. But he has definitely shown that he can hold his own and
be an impactful defenseman in his own way, for better or worse. A
guy in the defense who's even longer tenured than him, Connor Murphy. He
came all the way back in the days of the Nick Nicholas Helmerson trade to
the Arizona Coyotes. Six years Connor Murphy was number twenty seven a batch.
This guy throws some hits and blocks. He gets a lot of those things,
not a ton of points. Thirteen and eighty games. That sums up
the stats that they print in the newspaper, but the advanced stats weren't real
great with him. With his possession numbers. They were kind of buried this
year as a lot of Blackhawks numbers were they weren't to win in the Fenwick
Battle, or of course he battle on a nightly basis. He's going to
be around for a little while longer. Three more years. At four point
four million, marks the second longest commitment contract commitment on the club right now.
So is Connor Murphy going to continue to be a mainstay and is he
going to be here the next time that the Hawks get good again. Yeah,
as far as the final question, there will have to see kind of
on the timeline of things. But he definitely is a big leader on this
team. It's really going to come down to him or Seth Jones to replace
tays as captain if they decide to name a new captain. I think it's
certainly possible they go a year or two without one, but if they do,
it would be one of those two guys. Murphy is extremely well liked
around the team, great leader in the locker room, really active in the
community, just an extremely popular guy on all fronts. So, and he
does have that contract stability moving forward. He's another guy where you probably know
what you're gonna get. He's he's thirty now. He's definitely on the defensive
side of things, but yeah, he does it does to give out some
hits. He can fight even occasionally. Um, and yeah, he's he's
he's really a rock on the defense for the Hawks. Um, someone that
that is valuable just for his consistency and his leadership. So I will have
to see what happens. Certainly, his advanced numbers were poor this year.
I think playing with Jack Johnson most of the year might have been a factor
in that. Unfortunately for Jack, who the nicest guy but does kind of
have a reputation of tanking people's advanced stats, so that that did not help
Murphy much. But yeah, I don't know if he's going to be super
fantasy relevant. He kind of is what he is at this point. But
um, definitely someone that in terms of actual hockey, the Hawks really do
appreciate having a round. All right, now, let's move into the goalie.
So this was definitely we kind of knew going into the season it might
be a little bit of a rough go for all Chicago goalies, and we
saw a few different ones. We saw most of the games go to Mrazik
and then Alex Daylock actually played twenty seven. That was a bit surprising.
I'm not sure, there's much to say about him because he's a little bit
older and not in a contract than we saw Jackson Stabber and Arvid Solder Bloom
and so I kind of want to, you know, dig into each one
of these. So Mrazik, based on the cap hit, he is the
starter, and so I guess we'll think about him that way for now.
He did play the majority of the games I mentioned, had some injuries.
He also was quite clearly the worst goalie by goal save above expected and save
percentage. What do you think we can expect from Marazik moving forward? He
is the not only the highest paid but the only one at this well the
main goalie under contract for another year. Yeah, we're just about waiting the
goalie situation overall. I think Stalock was great this year, but it does
sound like he will probably not be back just based on the contract situation,
which is unfortunate because he was. He was a joy to deal with,
a really fascinating story coming back from missing two years with a myocarditis and then
overcoming a concussion and vision issues this year, and he really did perform extremely
well behind a pretty rough shot defense. But it does look like Marozik and
Soda Bloom will probably be the two goalies in the NHL next year, just
Marozik based on having another year in a contract, and then soda Bloom being
really the guy that the Blackhawks see is their potential long term starter, whether
that's next year at some point in the future. He's he's an RFA,
but he's definitely gonna be extended, and he's really the guy among the current
NHL goalies to keep an eye on. In terms of him, he's his
big size, he's very calm in the net, he has good reactions.
His numbers took a little bit of a hit at the NHL this year just
because he was kind of thrown into the fire in the first half of the
season when things were especially rough on the ice. He was just taking a
lot of scoring chances that not many goalies were going to stop. But in
terms of his his long term upside, the Blackhawks have really high host for
him. His stats at every level up until this season had been spectacular.
He was really good down the stretch for Rockford in the AHL after dealing with
some adversity in the winter there um and he's really the guy that whether he
becomes the starter next season or the year after that is really the one with
some long term relevance. Marazik is who he is. Certainly his numbers weren't
great. They did get better the second half this season, and he will
be back next year. It might be more of a fifty fifty split season.
He dealt with some groin issues this year, which has been a recurring
problem for him throughout his career. I think he missed like three or four
a different stints with different groin injuries, so definitely a concern with that,
But it does seem like, barring any surprises, it'll be him and Soda
Bloom as the two goalies next year, with Stauber is kind of the third
string to get called up at other times. For Stauber, there's there's definitely
some optimism with him too. He went five and one this year. He
was that was the best start to a career in Hawks goalie history. He's
probably not as high as touted a prospect as Soda Bloom, although he was
good at Providence in the NCAA before signing this past season and kind of adjusting
to the pro level. So between those two guys and then Drew Comesso,
who's kind of be coming in from BU next year and was a second round
pick in twenty twenty, another fairly highly touted prospect. They they have some
guys starting to move up in the goal a side that the has some long
term potential. Obviously, goalie is gonna be pretty unpredictable, so well,
it'll end up seeing what happens with that, but I would expect that once
we get past next season, it'll probably be some combination of those guys with
Marazik is basically just a stop gap for for another year or two. But
for next year, I would expect Marazik to still play a significant amount.
Right on. Yeah, definitely. You answered almost all my questions right there.
So it sounds like you think there's definite a chance that that solder Bloom
competes for the net this upcoming year. And I'm also wondering if if you
have any thoughts of what his r fake contract will look like. Said you
said, it sounds like the team is going to resign him. Do you
think that will be like a one to two year or do you think they
might be ready to long term commit to him? And what you know in
terms of how much do you have any idea. Yeah, I think it
is going to be in the two year range, just because goalies are unpredictable
and they'd like to see how we can do as a full time NHL player
before making any crazy long term commitments. Um. But I wouldn't take it
as a sign that they're that they're out on him or anything. I think
that's just kind of the standard operating procedure for a guy moving up into the
NHL, and if he performs well, which there seems to be every indication
he could do, um, then I would fully expect them to make a
long term commitment to him in two years when he comes back to our face
status again. Um. But it does sound like there's there's a lot of
optimism about what he can bring and with his size and with his calmness and
with his reactions, he really checks every box. He's been compared a lot
to Corey Crawford by Jimmy Waite, the Hawks goalie coach, which is high
praise obviously. I mean, Corey Crawford is one of the best goalies in
franchise history, so if he can be anything close to that, that'll be
huge for the team moving forward. So we'll We'll see how that goes,
but yeah, definitely a guy to keep an eye on moving forward. Okay,
Ben, thank you for these wonderful insights into all these Chicago Blackhawks players.
It's going to be, oh, quite a quite a ride to go
through free agency, in the draft and everything this summer and see what kind
of product gets back on the ice. And I think it'll probably be a
couple of years before we see the black Hawks back where they intend to be.
Tell people where they can follow your work and what you got going out
there in the internet. Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at Ben
Pope's CST and you can also read my work in the Chicago sometimes online and
in print. Well we still print every day here in Chicago. I'm not
sure how many people are are going to be picking that up from this podcast,
but I love if you would. And yeah, I'm just looking forward
to what's going to be an eventful offseason. Um, certainly tomorrow's draft lottery
is going to have a huge effect on that, but even beyond that,
the Hawks still have an additional first round pick from the Lightning and then they
have four stuckond round picks some two third round picks, so it's gonna be
a busy, busy summer and um, it'll be interesting to see how everything
plays out. But yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate coming on,
all right, Thanks Ben Wilson. Then I'll lets get fired passed off.
Oh my goodness, low wo go with a cat quick grab. Now
it's your weekly goalie talk with Cats Silverman Cats instincts. Please to have a
Cat Silverman back from End Goal mag to talk about Cats instincts. We're gonna
talk about the prospect goalies, of course for the Chicago Blackhawks, and the
first one we're gonna talk about is Drew Comesso and Comeso, twenty twenty second
round pick for the Hawks. Six foot three, one pound goalie. He
had three strong seasons at BU ending in the frozen four appearance this season a
stellar twenty eight twenty four and eight record to four AGA nine thirteen save percentage.
We'll reference this a lot in these team previews. Expected goals per goal
conceded is something that instat provides, and it was above about one point four
his entire college career. Anything over one is really good, and looking at
his hockey prospecting, Drew Comeso hovering in that twenty seven to thirty two percent
chance of being an NHLer, which may sound low, but for goalies that's
not terrible. He's got some comps, guys like Charlie Lingren, who's kind
of coming around these days. So I imagine Comiso needs some HL time now
that he's kind of done with his collegian career. But Kat, how have
you liked his progression and is he looking like a potential starter for the Blackhawks
in a few years. I would say so. I think just taking a
look at the Blackhawks future and just the bigger picture for them, he's their
best bet moving forward. I think he was interesting because he was right below
Spencer Night. They were on the US national development program together. He was
one year younger, and they just played like polar opposite games. Night was
known for being just this really almost controlled goaltender who stayed a little farther in
his crease when he wasn't handling the pock, but was a really skilled puck
handler. And Camso's big strength for me was his skating. I thought that
he was a little aggressive at times, got a little over excited, and
sometimes made a few of those creative saves. I guess is the best way
to put it, where technique isn't something that he necessarily stays super rigid on
on some saves that maybe he didn't need to, but he showed that he
could reign an end when he needed to and didn't really see any dips in
his game when he transitioned and from playing in the juniors to playing at the
collegiate level. And I know he's signed, so he's technically with Rockford now,
UM, so his his career view has fully wrapped up. I think
that he's he looks good and I thought that it was a really fun test
that we don't usually get to see for goalies that are his age. That
he was able to join the Olympic team, UM, that's something that obviously
not endorsing what Gary Bettman did with holding the NHL he's out of the Olympics,
but it was it was cool getting to see some of the guys that
really we wouldn't have expected prior getting a chance to play at the Olympic level
and getting a chance to see the experience and getting just they're through the international
tournament. UM. I do think that he probably needs some seasoning at the
HL level, partially because of his game, just because I think he needs
that adaptation decision making wise, because he does like to get a little aggressive,
but also because there's no need to put him on the Blackhawks right now
because they're bad. There's no need to take a goaltender who really likes to
kind of do it all, like he really likes to make sure that everything
from the hash Mark's back is something that he is in control of, and
take a team that's controlling almost nothing and throw him in there. I think
that's a really easy way to essentially create some bad habits for him that they
would then essentially have to undo as the team progressed in what I'm sure they're
hoping is a forward moving, a linear moving rebuild. Yeah, for sure,
you're right. It was really fun to see him at the Olympics,
and he definitely didn't look out of place. He looks strong, but as
you mentioned, definitely needs like a structure in front of him to make some
of those you know, aggressive acrobatic saves. Yeah. I like him.
I definitely am eager to see him in the pro level. The next guy
that we're going to talk about we have seen professionally, Arvid Solder Bloom is
apparently how you say it, or Solderblom. I think it's Solderblom. Actually
he is undrafted and he signed with Chicago, got into fifteen games this season
with the Hawks three last season. The raw numbers don't look so hot,
but under the hood, he was outperforming his expected goal His delta Fenwick is
positive at even strength on the penalty kill, it was kind of a disaster,
but hey, that's okay. That's a tough situation for a goalie.
And it's really interesting when you look at solder Bloom. Solderblom's hockey prospecting,
he was kind of hovering in the high twenties until last season in the SHL,
and then this season this past season also in the HL, where he
shot up to nearly seventy three percent, And that gives him some really nice
comps guys like oh, I don't know, Martember dur O'Connor Hellabuk, Elias
sampson Off, and Henrik Lundquist. So I think kat we buried the lead
and Arvid Soderblaum is the next Henrik Lundquist. Right, that's a that's such
a bold thing to say, even though I mean he's he's from that system.
He played for Flundo, Over and Sweden before getting signed by Chicago.
I thought that was a savvy signing by them, which was kind of making
up for some really lukewarm goaltending decision making choices that they've sort of exhibited over
the last couple of years. They drafted kind of questionably for a little bit,
which I know we're gonna talk a little bit about one of those prospects.
I think he does need some time to develop. To me, I
assumed they signed him as a stopgap for Commisso who by all accounts seems like
that's who they drafted to their air apparent they used a second round pick on
him. I do think that the numbers looked pretty good. I thought that
he looked It was telling seeing that when you looked at essentially how he was
performing given the team in front of him, he looked like he outperformed really
the last two prospects that we saw attempting to to salvage their own development path
in Chicago, which was when they had Colin Delia and Kevin Lincoln and essentially
trying to trying to get their their feet wet in the pros at the NHL
level with Chicago. Both of them really sort of crumpled the longer they were
behind that team. And I think that Soderable, I'm really looked like he
was looked like he was staying at least consistent. He was making mistakes,
but wasn't seeming like he was compounding on them, like you'd watched him throughout
a game, and it didn't seem like he would make a mistake and then
make a new one that you hadn't seen him make before. He was really
just sort of sort of shaking off some of the some of the decision making
things that really you have to get used to when you're moving over to North
America. And I think that he's got a good teacher in Rockford. I
think that the goalie coach that Chicago has down in Rockford, that's Peter Aubrey
last I checked, does a really good job of establishing good habits for those
guys so that when they do make it to the NHL level, they're prepared
for it's preparing them for a unique situation on the ice in front of him,
because that team's kind of become the new perennial rebuilders here over the last
couple of years. But I think he. I wish I'd seen a little
more HL seasoning for him to really know what would have happened when he'd come
into the NHL and like a just just like a golden opportunity. I think
it would have been nice to have seen like an exemplary trajectory for him.
But I think he's done well with what he has and he hasn't seemed like
he's back split at all. Some of the goaltenders that come over from Sweden
seem like they get caught a little flat almost. They really like to drop
to their knees. They like to make a lot of those lateral movements through
the paint. I don't really like to hit their marks super crisply. They
like to play a more fluid game. And when you're playing behind a defense
that can kind of crumble on you throughout the game, that can get really
messy looking. I think that we saw that with Anton Forceburg for sure in
Chicago a couple of years ago, and I think that Soderball managed to avoid
that, which was reassuring. It's just I mean, he's still young,
but he's he know, has two years of North American pro hockey. So
I want to see him take just a little step forward next year in order
to really feel confident that he could challenge Comesso and sort of usurp him as
the guy that they hope to be their next number one. Yeah, definitely,
And I'm kudos for not taking the bait on the lun Quis comparison that
was obviously a joke. And you're right, it seems like trial by fire,
right, It's like, hey, if you can survive playing in front
of this team, good, you know, good on you. And it
seems like what, I don't think that. I don't think that was really
the plan. But with Razak's injury and the inconsistencies they had, they you
know, they kind of threw him out there. And kudos for him for
doing still well. But yeah, it does seem like he's the in between
guy. Although sometimes that in between guy will surprise you, right, Sometimes
a stop gap ends up being a little bit better than you thought. So
I'm definitely still interested in him. The next guy you think you kind of
alluded to him is dominic bass or basset. I'm not really sure if it.
Do you know which one it is? I don't. I think it's
bass m but I'm I'm not entirely sure on that one. Yeah, I
wanted to be Bassie, so we can just assume his nickname his Count,
so we can call him Count Bassie. But anyways, he's a twenty nineteen
sixth round pick by Chicago. Six foot six ninety two, big guy.
Played a color college for two seasons, but then now seems like he's he
transferred over to Saint Cloud. Steak had state, had one season there and
I did pretty well, you know, his say percentage kind of trended up
this past season. His hockey prospecting has him in kind of the low thirties,
high twenties. UM some comps of guys like Cure Schmid who's developing still,
Michael Hutchinson, and Jonathan Quick, but it doesn't really look that similar
actually, because Quick really kind of ascended at the end. But anyways,
what can you tell us about Dominic b A s s um. He was
a really strange pick for me. I was at that draft covering it,
and when he got picked, I it's that was a really strong year for
goaltending. There were a lot of really good goaltenders available in that draft class,
and when they picked him, I texted a couple of goalie coaches that
I knew and said, what am I missing here? At the time,
he played for Gonzaga Prep, which is a high school in DC. He
played for the Maryland I think it was like the U sixteen and then the
U nineteen team, in which I'm from Baltimore. Like, I love the
DMB area, no disrespect to it, that's not a hockey hotbed. I
was wondering, just, you know, kind of what I was missing there,
and a couple guys got back to me and said, honestly, the
only thing I can think of is he had really it looked like he was
playing at a level below what he could. His numbers were above and beyond
everyone else playing at that level, and he's huge. He's six foot six,
he's listed at one eighty. I think he's probably a little more than
that. He's really solid guy, but technically, like from a technique standpoint,
watching him plays pretty frustrating. I didn't get to see much of him
this year at St. Cloud State. I'm hoping that he's started to trend
upwards a little bit, because it seemed like he's stalled out with Colorado College
for sure. I watched him a lot when he was playing for the Phantoms
in the USAHL get an eight eight seven that year when he made the move
to playing at you know, just a slightly higher tier than he had been
prior to the draft. He just struggled a lot with reflex speed. You
see that with some of those bigger guys who their advantage is that they take
up a lot of space in the crease, not necessarily they can get to
the puck quickly. So it's kind of the opposite end of the spectrum from
a guy like Drew Comso, who can get anywhere as quickly as you need
him too. But I didn't really see that improving during the games that I
caught him at Colorado College, So don't really don't really know where that one's
headed. I think that's they need more depths in net at the minor league
level, and I'd assume that's where he's going to end up falling. It
would be a best case scenario Saint Cloud State really manages to essentially give him
some of that foundation that he was missing and get him up to speed a
little bit more, give him some creativity to his game because he was missing
a lot of that just just that upper tier when watching him. Um,
but I don't know that's He's a guy that I assumed when they drafted him
that he wasn't even gonna end up signing. Um. Maybe they'll, maybe
they'll end up using him in a depth role. But I for sure think
that it's the comesso sodable embrace here to see who who really stands out the
most? And then no, no disrespect to Dominic, but I think he's
he's a level below the rest of them for sure. Dig then dynasty Dig
Victor. I missed this. I missed talking the dynasty. Dig this if
you are with Fantasy, if you're a lifer for the first year this year,
if you don't know, this is the time when we talk about a
couple of the top prospects. We talk about the system of the Chicago Blackhawks.
And here's the deal with the Blackhawks. They have a top lottery pick,
which maybe by the time you've listened to this you know where it lands.
They have Tampa's pick, which Ben referenced in the first half, and
boy, it turned out to be a better pick than Tampa would have thought.
It's gonna be picked twenty I believe. Plus they have three extra second
round picks and an extra third. They kind of a triggered away a couple
of their late picks, but that's okay. They'll get plenty of prospects out
of this draft victory. You have their system ranked as tie knight. That's
part of the cool thing about Victor's new ranks is we actually have Victor's rank
for systems kind of summed up from the top ten prospects and how highly you
have them rated. Tell us why this system is so good, and then
let's move to your patented three man formats starting with the new brainer. Yeah,
for sure, they got a lot of really great prospects. I mean,
in my mind, they're kind of doing it right. You know.
They they really traded away a lot of their long term contracts. They got
a lot of great assets, and you look at their you know, top
guys, and they have some really good ones we will talk about them,
but they also have some great depths beyond that. Guys that we are going
to talk so much about, Sam Ronzel, Ethan del masstro both look like
NHL ors, Ryan Green a little bit, and Drew Comesso, who we
alluded to why at Kaiser's in there, Alex Regula, Alec Regulam, Colton
doc. Even so, they have some pretty decent upside guys and a decent
amount of depth too. So they got some good guys at the top would
talk about in a minute, and some decent depths. Not the best.
That's why they're not in top five, but they're they're up there. They're
kind of retooling this and doing it right. And in terms of their no
brainer, he's actually the top prospect that I have, and that's Kevin Krtchinsky.
Ben already alluded to him. Couldn't keep him out of the pro part
of the conversation. That was great to hear that he thought that he had
a pretty good chance, Kortynsky, of making the team. That's great.
He was drafted seventh overall by Chicago twenty twenty two. Cortchinsky, he just
had an insane as having an insane season. It's still going for the Seattle
Thunderbirds of the WHL. Seventy three points in fifty four games of the defenseman
is just incredible, and so that's I mean, that's just incredible to think
about right now. He also looked really good for the for Canada in the
U twenty World Junior Championships as well. So those are those are all really
good good things that think about it, looks like his Seattle Thunderbirds have just
been thumping the wall competition too. I mean the first two rounds that his
team won four games to zero. Right now it looks like it's a little
bit closer against cam Loop's three games to two. But I think most people
fully expect Seattle to win the WHL Championship and be a contender for the Moroyal
Cup. We will see if they make it that far, but Kevin Kotchinsky
is doing everything for them right now. Just kind of looking at some of
his underlying numbers. Two in case you're curious, he is someone that doesn't
really hit a whole lot. He has barely a hit every five games.
Are still his blocks are pretty decent, though close to a block per game,
but you expect someone who played as much time as he did to have
more in the realm of blocks. Two point six shots per game is pretty
decent, But it's really mostly about the points for him. He's going to
be a little bit of an empty calorie a guy. As we'll see later
that is alluded to, but his Corsi and Fenwick is just absurd. I
mean, sixty five percent play driving. That's just completely tilting the ice in
the other direction. Let's hear a little bit from our FHL scout Jeremy about
Korchynsky. So there's a great full skyding report on the one note on that
you could access through through Patreon. So I'm not going to read the whole
thing. But in terms of his skating, he's a really good skater.
Jeremy saw him blowing by forwards effortlessly at times at the WHL level. Puck
handling is a very solid entry exit guy above average there. Shot is pretty
average, doesn't use it too often, but he's good at getting the puck
on net, you know, and kind of floating the shots in. Not
a big slapper kind of guy. IQ is elite offensively and kind of just
average defensively. His defense is pretty average. He's got good size, but
he doesn't use it quite as well as Jeremy would like. He isn't really
aggressive for rebounds or loose us or board battles. Best asset definitely his offensive
instincts. There's no doubt there's some talent there for making great passes, joining
the rush. Biggest concern for Jeremy's a compete level. He just looks disengaged
out there at times, not battling for pucks or fighting hard. Top tier
potential for Korchynsky. Tier one definitely has that sixty seventy point upside thinks he'll
have if he has a good surrounding cast. He could definitely do that,
but he's not seeing him in the vein of Romagnosi or Jacob chick Rand,
guys that lead bad teams in scoring and also have all those peripherals. That's
probably not going to be Kortchinsky and most likely tiers. Maybe Tier two doesn't
have the strong press as I mentioned, but the points in power play points
should be there. Diilistic comparable, he has his Keith Yandel, a big
guy who doesn't really hit, offensive defenseman who doesn't shoot as much, and
without those blemishes, Kortchynsky can become the kind of guy who constantly is expected
to be more impactful than he actually is. He should be a regular though
in the NHL and on good teams. He could accumulate a ton of stats,
but not sure. He's a fortune changer in Chicago, maybe a taller
Tory Crewe. And for a little bit more on that, we're going to
hear briefly from Jeremy himself on how he's Krtchynsky running a power play in the
NHL. I wanted to elaborate a bit further on my comments about Kevin Kritchynski's
ability to run a power play. My issue is that he isn't really a
threat on the power play. He's a very good distributor, but that's all
he is. He stays within a foot of the blue line and moves back
and forth like a pong paddle, and he's used to switch fields like a
soccer. He's not really a shooting threat and never creeps in to put peresher
on tired penalty killers. An NHL comparable to that is Tyson Barry or Tory
Crue. It can be successful, like these guys are players who get a
lot of power play points and have run pp ones for many years, but
it's entirely reliant on playing with other good players and picking up assists and especially
secondary assists. I feel like he's always going to be the default choice,
but he's not going to take the power play from anyone else. Compare that
to Kale Makarr on the power play, who holds onto the puck, attacks
downhill and forces the defense to account for him. Otherwise he's suddenly ripping a
shot from the high slot and probably scoring even looking at like Evan Bouchard.
Evan Bouchard will creep in and get passes from the high slot and really cramp
the box and put pressure on the defense to catch. In another way,
when Makar receives the puck on the point on the power play, his first
step is always forward towards the net, while Kurtchinsky's is always sideways to make
that outlet pass. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's very boring
and very low ceiling. So now I'm moving on to the US the NHL
rank King. Our buddy Mason Black ran some comps for Krtchinsky, and I
also, before I did that, actually wanted to just mention the tracking data
that Mitch Brown has for Kortchynsky. And you know, if you're not familiar
with these, you're you're basically just looking at how he compares in a bunch
of different metrics to the rest of the league. And passing and shooting is
elite for Kortchynsky. He's also really good at you know, total game score,
expected power play, involvement, advantages created. These are all really strong.
What's not so strong for him is like preventing entries, which is kind
of interesting because he's such a good skater. He's tally is a long stick
that kind of speaks to the disengagement that Jeremy alluded to. He also probably
should be much better in transition than he is according to this data based on
how he plays, so that's a little bit disappointing. So defense rates out
at a fifty four, but overall he's a ninety nine offense and ninety six
overall. And the comp that Mason came up with is Lane Hudson. So
if we look at Kevin Korchinsky's p NHL, it is it was ninety seven
this season and it was eighty seven last season. And Lane Hudson, if
you hadn't heard, had a pretty historic season at Boston University, breaking records
and setting news standards, things that we haven't seen since to Brian Leach days,
you know, thirty years ago, thirty forty years ago. And he
has PNA Chili. Lane Hudson's is one eleven, really high. If you
look at the Hockey prospecting, they actually look pretty similar. Korchinsky's star potential
shot up from twenty six to seventy eight percent. That's a really high star
percentage, and you always love to see these guys increase in their D plus
one year. Most guys go down, So when you see a big jump
up, that's a huge, huge bonus. Lane Hudson went from fifty three
percent chance of being a start to seventy four percent. That's also huge,
especially going from the usnt P to the NCAA. It's really hard to increase
your star potential there. So the poll went as such, sixty four percent
to Lane Hudson and just thirty six percent for Kevin Kortinsky. Jesse, do
you agree with that, Well, here's what I'm going to say about this
victor. These two guys. In addition to this season where Lane Hudson just
got all the oxygen, their hype coming into the season was in exact opposite
directions. Kortchinsky was the guy who Chicago shouldn't have traded Alex to bring it
to the number six pick to take him. Everybody was shocked. It was
a reach. Lane Hudson was such a value, and I think that plays
into people's heads of Hudson is so much better because he was drafted low,
and while that draft capital, it doesn't matter where you were picked, it
only matters who you are. Now. I think that the narrative on Kortchinsky
is so negative Hudson so positive, that the values are a little bit crossed
up in I see an arbitrage opportunity here. I know what you said about
Lane Hudson potentially or Kortchinsky not necessarily having great bashed potential, and Hudson does.
Weirdly enough, though, Hudson's four inches shorter and twenty five pounds lighter
than Kortchinsky is. So yeah, are we gonna get the Keithy handle?
I don't know. I think if the poll is spread this widely, I
like them closer together than this. Maybe there's an opportunity for me to train
Lane Hudson for Kevin Kortchinsky. Plus in my league probably are umabled to get
that, So it's very even to me. I think I might actually like
Kortchinsky, although probably somebody will convince me of Lane Hudson when we get to
our Montreal episode. Have a feeling he'll be featured rather significantly in that episode.
So I'm gonna take Kurtchynsky by a hair victor just because I you know,
I want to stir it up. Yeah, that's really fair. I
don't actually disagree with you at all. I think there's a lot of hype
going on right now for both of these guys, and that's why this is
a really fun poll. I'm surprised that it's so close. I Mean,
the thing is that as fun and as good as Lane Hudson is, he
is still very small. And even though he's grown a little bit, and
some of the data that he's showed based on his bone age and all that
suggests he could even grow a little bit more. I mean he's now five
ten. Supposedly, if he gets you know, five ten, five eleven,
much better chance. But he still has a lot of deficiencies in his
game, things that the Kevin Krtchynsky is just not going to have to worry
about, you know, the skating, the physicalness, his body size,
So all of those things. I agree with you, though, Like if
someone wanted to give me Kurtynsky plus plus for Hudson. I would do that
in a heartbeat, but I'm not sure that I would invest the other way
so heavily. If I had Kurtchinsky, I might just hold, you know,
because he has such a first of all, as Ben mentioned, he
might be ready as early as next year, so I don't have to wait
two or three years for the Lane Hudson to arrive, right, And so
I really like that aspect of it. So I think that I am I
personally like Lane Hudson more and I think that he has a higher upside.
But if I had to choose in my league, unless I was like really
rebuilding and ready to be patient for the highest possible outcome, I think I
would just go Kurt Chinsky too. Next up, Victor, who is your
need to know prospect need to know? Is Frank the Tank Nazarre. He
didn't play much this season, he had injury, suited up for just thirteen
games for Michigan, scored seven points. Still has a very high pedigree.
He's the thirteenth overall pick from twenty twenty two. Still very small, He's
also he's just five nine and so that's a big concern for him. Not
only is he five nine, but he's a little slight one hundred and seventy
four pounds. Definitely needs to improve on those things. Probably needs an another
year or two of college and then maybe another year or two of the HL.
So he is a ways away. I think if you look at some
of his numbers at Michigan, half a hit per game, not really much
in the way of blocks, and not really much in the way of shots
per game either. I mean, this is just a nine game sample size,
so who knows, but there's some there's some concern there for lack of
lack of bass. He probably is going to be one of these empty calorie
type forwards that you know does a lot of playmaking but can certainly give you
those cardio shifts where you know he doesn't really do a whole lot if he's
not scoring. Let's hear a little bit more about Frank Nazar from our FHL
scout Jeremy. His skating is above average, really good north south puck handling
is elite, seems to not even lose speed when he's carrying the puck,
has really quick hands, and his shot is average. Didn't shoot that much
there are definitely some games where he didn't really see this too often and not
not something that he defaults too very often. I Q is elite. He's
infinitely patient with the puck master has mastered the art of holding on to it
for guys to get open worth without losing it or holding it too long.
Defense is above average. He's a responsible player in his own zone, but
not stand out. Best asset is his puck handling and vision. He's good
at finding the open guy and not over stick handling. The biggest concern is
that he gets muscled off puck's pretty easily still and loses some battles in the
corner. Top tier potential definitely Tier one has Nazarre has one hundred points stealing
upside according to Jeremy and the most likely tiers. Tier two thinks that he'll
settle nicely with at least like seventy ish points, but his biggest concern is
the bash. He doesn't, as I mentioned, hit or block much,
and there's a pretty big drop off from the NTDPT the NC double A,
although of course small sample size stylistic comparable. He has jack q's and even
though his head is always up and he's moving with his feet with him without
the puck, he's going to be a headache to cover once his body fills
out and adjust to the NHL game. So that's a little bit more on
that, Thank you, Jeremy. Let's look at some comps. So NHL
rank King Mason Black has the following comp for Frank Nazar and that is Rutger
mcgrorty, former usn TDP teammate, and mcgrordy is a Winnipeg Jet prospect.
He was taking fourteenth overall and Nazar at thirteenth overall, so pretty close here
in draft pedigree and the p n h L for Nazaar well based on based
on his University of Michigan time, it was only thirty one, so pretty
low, but it was higher than that at the usn TDP and mcgordy this
season at at Michigan also a teammate there fifty nine. So between these two
the star potential both went down from draft season to now. For Nazar it
went from twenty to five and from mcgrordy went from thirty two to twenty,
so both went down a pretty fair amount and they a McGroarty still has a
slightly higher potential now but also he had a much bigger sample size and a
much better season between the two. The people out there a couple hundred votes
voted pretty handily for Frank Nazar sixty four percent to Rugram mcgorty's thirty six percent.
Jesse, are you with the people here? Man? I must be
starting rough this year because I'm gonna go McGroarty. Look, he proved it
this year. He was the guy who's doing it on the ice. They
were both in the same situation in Michigan. Michigan course had a pretty good
season of a stacked team. But how are you gonna fault what mcgourty did
based on the fact that Nazar wasn't as much on the ice this year,
And it's it's not a perfect game that he Scott. It sounds like there's
some good things going for Nazar. But yeah, right now, I'm gonna
take Gordy Victor, how about you, and I'm gonna disagree with you.
I hear what you're saying, and yeah, I mean it's it's definitely concerning
that the Nazarre missed so much time. It's also hard to evaluate that Michigan
team because they had said so many good players, and it's like, you
know, it's kind of hard to know who's who's all doing what, But
and you can't discount what mcgordy did. I certainly think that he opened a
few more eyes than I think some people thought that he could be. And
so yeah, this isn't really a knock on mc gordy. I just think
Nazar still has more upside. So if you're okay being in if you're in
a league that you're not going to be so punished for not having those perpherles,
especially like in a points league where you know the goals and the power
play points might count a little bit more than Nazar is clearly the choice here.
If if having a sixty ish point forward that it hits and blocks a
lot is more valuable than a seventy five point player that doesn't really do much
else, then you know, then mcgordy might be just fine, because I
think he definitely looks like an NHL. He doesn't have the size concerns.
You know, he plays really rough and physical, and he's he's already a
little bit more mature. So I like that. But in terms of pure
points upside, I think it's got to be bizarre for me. So it
kind of depends a little bit on what you're what you're looking for, I
guess. And last picture, who is to keep your eye on? Prospect?
Yeah, well, we already kind of talked about rachel but we're going
to talk about him a little bit more in the context of him still really
being a prospect, and so we'll talk about Lucas Riche one hundred and eight
points in one hundred and eleven HL Games. Incredible production. I know last
year Caleb and I talked a little bit about his lack of elite skills,
but it's hard to kind of deny the production that he has done. And
you heard a little bit from Ben already about what he thinks from Richel moving
forward. I definitely think he's going to be one of the features of this
offense moving forward for the next several years. But I do think he is
still more of a complimentary player or not someone who drives the bus entirely himself.
And you know, we had a different scout take a look at Rachael
this year. So this Skydi report is from Tony and mentioned his fact that
he's a good skater, great shot, great passer, but he also gives
up the puck a lot, is about as many times as he keeps it,
so that's a little disappointing. His shots are good, both wrists and
snapshots, has a pretty medium panic meter. He does play really really fast,
so that's part of it too. His defense needs works and what needs
work and probably is more of a third or fourth liner according to Tonya,
so that means he's going to have to play better defense, which I agree
with. Best asset is his offense, snap and wrist shots. Biggest concern
again here is this is and I didn't coach Tony at all on this,
but he saw a lot of the same things that I've seen with Caleb,
is that nothing in his game is outstanding. It's all just good. And
so that's a little bit of a concern that there isn't one of these elite
skills. Now, sometimes these guys that are just all around good do kind
of produce pretty well, but I think it's more rare. Usually you have
one great or exceptional talent, top tier potential, tier three offense, good
offense, good shooter. Probably he says thirty points that might be a little
low. I think he can get a lot more than that, but bottom
six forward with average bash most likely tier tier three average player will have to
work on defense, hits some blocks to be a regular player stylistic comparable,
he says Darren Darren Helm without as much speed, and a good bottom six
forward needs to work on defense, is what Tony says. So again,
these are some of the concerns. I mean, we see the production,
but also the question is how high is the ceiling for Lucas Richele. I
definitely think that he's someone who I'm a little bit more excited about than I
was last year seeing what he's done at the HL and now a little bit
at the NHL level, But I still have those concerns of like, Okay,
how high can he go? Because even Ben mentioned him being a sixty
to seventy point guy might be the high water mark for him, and I
think that that's probably accurate. So anyways, looking at comps for a Richle,
we have NHL Rankking Mason pitting Ricle against Cutter Gautier, and so Gautier,
one of the NTDP guys from last year, ended up being the highest
drafted fifth overall by the Flyers. He had a pretty nice transition to Boston
College this year with thirty seven points in thirty two games, really nice freshman
season. His pH LE is up to sixty nine percent, and Richele with
his HL time has a sixty two pH L and with his NHL time has
a sixty seven p LE. So in that's sixty to seventy point range,
so pretty similar to Gautier. Richel has increased his NHL star potential on hockey
prospecting up to a fifty six percent with a really strong season. That's this
equivalence he is based on his NHL time, and Gautier is keeping pretty steady,
went up just a tiny bed from twenty five to twenty six percent star
potential with his NC double a season. The people like Gotier here sixty five
percent to thirty five percent. All of these Chicago ones are pretty clear,
Jesse, and I don't know if it's as clear to you, but the
people like Lucas Rachel here pretty handily. What about you, ye? First
of all, I find this incredibly depressing that we literally let off the episode
with Lucas Reichel is like the top guy in the pros and not only not
only does he make the minor section, but he's the third guy in a
minor section to keep your eye on. I will take Lucas Reichel here.
Look, he's produced in the pros Cutter. Gautier was great in the World
Juniors, he was great at Boston College this here, But I like Lucas
Reichel better than him. How about you, Victor, Yeah, I mean
I definitely agree Rachael here. I was never really a huge believer in Gotia.
I thought that that was a little rich picking him at fifth overall.
I think we talked about that in last year's draft series. I still think
can be a good player, but I'm just yeah, he needs to prove
it a lot more. I like how close Ricle is. I mean,
Rachael is basically now ready. He's someone who can who can It's really just
going to depend on the cast around him, as we've talked about all season,
all episode. But I really think that he has a high floor.
He isn't NHLer. He has a lot of tools that maybe he can refine
a little bit. I don't think he's in point per game guy, but
I definitely I like his floor with upside for more, and that's why I
would definitely take Lucas Racle. All right, so there's more guys that we
could talk about, but there's not much time. If you're a patron,
we're gonna do some top ten prospect recaps for each team on Patreon, so
listen for that. And if you're interested in doing some skiding with us,
you can shoot me a DM on Twitter, Discord, or email us.
So my bag to cools out of the show. Hey, before we get
out of here, Before we get out of here, after this great episode,
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