Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks, your source of information
and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Talk Off has a
step hit on. Stay lock. Here's your hosts, Jesse Severe and Victor
Nuno. Fantasy Hockey Live back once again. Ready to talk fantasy hockey is
fan Track's Zone. Jesse Severe, Wait a minute, that's me and over
there ep ringside Zone, Victor Nuno. Victor speak to the people. How
you doing. I'm doing great, Jesse. We're about to talk about the
team that contains your adopted son. Ready to check? Yeah, John,
we are. I'm feeling great, Victor. There's nothing, there's no better
feeling. I'm a little insulted. We're going to get to the interview and
we take these players in order. And for some reason, Victor did not
at Brady Kuchuck first, but he did let me introduce Brady Kuchuk. So
I guess we're just going to call that a compromise. I wouldn't dare,
I wouldn't dare take him. You can't. I can't talk about your son
like that. Yeah, that's right, that's right. Oh, it's gonna
be good times. And if like me you're you're not going to get enough
Bradykachuck talk in the next hour. You could come to our discord. That's
another place you could talk Brady Kuchuck. We should just make a Brady Kuchuck
room there. Maybe it's just a general Kuchuck room and we could have subrooms
for Brady and Matt. I don't know, Victor. I'm thinking this through
on the fly, but people can talk about all kinds of hockey topics there.
It is a free discord that Victor and I curate. You just have
to hit us up or a link to pop in there, because that's how
discords work. Fantasy HOCKEYLFE at gmail dot com or at Fan Hockey Life on
X at Victor Nunio twelve on X Victor, why don't you tell some people
what they're doing in there in addition to just being awesome in talking hockey and
maybe even a little bit about some of the extras you've got for patrons.
Yeah, a lot of great stuff over at Fantasy Hockey Life. One of
the best things you can get into the Tier Dynasty. We've talked about the
Tier Dynasty on the show, and it's one of the best leagues we're opening
up a new division, so we'll probably have about ten to fifteen spots,
so you want to secure your spot on that if you want to be in
there, climb your way up to the top. It's a really fun,
cool league that I highly recommend, and that's a patron perk. Other patron
perks are like the patron Cast, patroon Priority Channel, and other cool things
that are on the website. You can look at all kinds of tools there
that relate to prospect cards, my ranks and list for the prospects forwards,
goalie defense. You can also look at really cool things like which prospects are
maybe scoring a lot in certain leagues or hit a lot, or block a
lot or do different things. You can check all that out at Fantasyhockeylife dot
com if you're a patron member and one of the coolest things of the prospect
cards, you can look at goalies forwards all of them, if they hit
a lot, if they block a lot, if they take a lot of
penalties, all that kind of stuff that's really hard to find. You can
find through patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life. We will be right back
talk Ottawa Senator welcoming into the show. A man who's gonna tell us about
those Ottawa Senators. It's Alex Adams of the Hockey News. How you doing,
Alex great, I'm really excited to be here talked to some senators hockey.
It's always fun to do that, and I'm excited to join the show.
We're darn glad to have you. The Senators, Oh boy, I
can't figure them out, and I'm hoping by the end of this conversation,
Alex, you will have filled me in and explained it to me. But
let's just lay out a couple of the facts that we can say about this
season, and I'll ask you about it. The Senators, of course,
started the the year very heavily in the news because the team was sold.
There was all sorts of optimism and happiness at that point, and not necessarily
Ryan reynolds'ism anymore, but there was at least happiness that somebody had bought the
team. There was high hopes. There was this young core. Really,
if you look at this young core, they're all coming into that age where
potentially they could have a breakthrough, and instead, there were a fair number
of injuries that took a bite out of the team. We'll get into some
of the players they lost, although there were some players that remained pretty healthy.
They're two hundred and eighty one goals allowed this year, tied for the
fourth or the fifth most in the NHL. That ain't good. They drew
the most power plays in the league, so they were on the power play
a lot, but the conversion rate was in the bottom ten and the penalty
kill was fourth worse. So special teams not so great. But the real
culprit might have been the same percentage that was tied for last in the NHL.
That's not going to get it done. How do you assess this season
overall? And before we start getting too individual players. Are the Sins within
range maybe of a playoff year next year. That's a very loaded question here
in Ottawa as to whether the Sentence are in a contention window at least to
make the playoffs. I'd say, how would I assess it? It was
a failure. I think you can't really say anything more than that they should
have been better. The team on the ice, that and the players in
the dressing room were talented enough to be close to a playoff team at the
very least, and they fell way too flat. Players like Tim Stutslill had
a down year. Brady Kitchuck played well but still needs to be better defensively.
You alluded to the goaltending. If you have the worst say percentage in
the NHL, it's very hard to win a lot of games. So overall
the team really struggled to play defensive hockey, even with Jack Malta, who
replaced the outgoing DJ Smith, and overall there's going to be major changes.
I think this offseason in Ottawa and I think this team will look quite different
than they did last year, and for good reason. And when you consistently
underperform, there's maybe, unlike in Toronto, maybe you need to change things
up a little bit. So I think for the Senators they need to add
some veterans to a really young team that's trying to learn how to win on
the fly. I love it, and I love that you got a jab
in a Toronto already right off the top of outstanding. Let's talk about some
of the individual players. The forwards. Him Stouchlow. We're going to start
with him, and we might reference our Tier Dynasty, our Tidy ranks.
He was in the top one hundred but you would expect him to be much
closer to the top, and he was much further back. And partially that
was due to him scoring thirty nine goals with a seventeen percent shooting percentage in
the previous season, and this year he was less than half of the number
of goals with a shooting percentage, also about half he played the similar number
of games, He had similar ice times, power play time went down maybe
a little bit. Overall, it was a pretty significant step back from Tim
Stouchel. A lot of people drafted him at the end of the first round
thinking he was going to be this perennial Pober game plus player, and he
had a good season, but it was slightly disappointing if that was your expectation.
I wonder what effect Travis Green will have on him. I've heard that
he likes to lean on his stars, and it didn't seem like Martin did
that quite as much with Stuttila. So, Alex, what do you think
we can expect from Stucilla next season? Will he be over under a point
per game pace? If I had to bet, I go over Being around
the team seeing him, I think he was pretty beaten up early in the
year he talked about in a wrist injury a neck injury as well that he
suffered in like the second or third game of the season. I think that
really hampered the goals he scored last year really until maybe the end of the
season. He just didn't have that same pop on his wrist shot specifically that
he had the year prior. Now, Is he going to shoot seventeen percent
next year? Probably not, But I do expect him to be not only
a better goal scorer, but a better player next year. Maybe Travis Green
plays him in a more defensive role, maybe having some more defensive duties than
he did under Jack Maultame, but specifically DJ Smith to start the season,
But overall, I think you should expect a better season from him. Is
he going to be ninety point guy? I think that should be his expectations.
Truthfully, at the very least, I think he can easily be a
perennial one hundred point guy in the National Hockey League. Now will that be
next year? I don't know. Maybe if the Sins finally breakthrough, I'd
expect Tim Stuts to be in that area all things considered, if he remains
healthy. But I think even in a down year, he was almost a
point per game. I think he's a year older, he's still super young,
super raw, and Travis Green has been really good developing young players.
So I think if I had to bet, I'd definitely picked the over that
he'd be an over a point per game player next season. I have no
questions about and Alex and I have even taken a moment to talk about how
much we both meettually loved this player, Brady Kachuk. We absolutely love this
guy, and boy, fantasy players love him, maybe more than anybody.
He had thirty seven goals thirty seven assists for seventy four points in eighty one
games last year. He's a top ten fantasy player based on that. But
but more to the point, he is what we call bash the blocks plus
shots plus hits. He had the number one ranking in the league, So
if you play in leagues with peripherals, Brady Kachuk is number one. He
was in the top twenty five in the NHL and expected goals above replacement.
This is really tough to do if you're on a team that is this far
out of the playoffs, so Kachuk was getting it done. He actually,
we might think of pims when we think of Kachuk, but actually he drew
twelve more penalties than he took last year. That is tremendous. Where is
this twenty four year old now in his career trajectory and what is twenty twenty
four to twenty five gonna bring Alex. I think what he established this year
is that he's a perennial thirty five goal player. I think that's back to
back seasons for him, with as you said, thirty seven goals last year.
It's good to see him maybe cut down on the pims a little bit,
maybe and maybe not fight as much just because he is such an important
player. So maybe that changes next season. But overall, he had fifteen
hits in a game I think against New Jersey. I think the hitting will
always stay at the forefront of his game, but he I think that the
good thing about him is that he's probably the most consistent player Knight in night
out in terms of what he brings to the game, the energy, the
goal scoring prowess, just such a smart player in and around the net,
finds himself in those quiet areas so often, so I think, yeah,
I think he's pretty consistent as you said the top ten fantasy guy. I'd
imagine he'll do that again. He has a lot of lineage with that name
in the NHL and Cache, and I'd expect him to be similar, maybe
even better, maybe more closer to twenty twenty three, where he had over
a pointing game. I think that's probably his bar for himself, maybe closer
to forty goals, maybe eighty eighty five points. I think that would be
a pretty good season for Brady Kuldchuk, and I'd expect that to happen for
him if the Sins take even a little bit of a leap into next year.
Drake Batherson was twenty six this year. He also had a career year
with sixty six points, that was good for third most points on the team.
You combine that with two and a half shots and over a hit per
game, and that's a pretty nice little fantasy profile Top one hundred. Anyway,
the Bash was a little bit of a fade from last year, a
little bit less shots, a little bit of fewer hits. He really didn't
get consistent linemates until the last twenty games of the season. Looking at the
chart here, Brady Kuchuk and Sheean Pinto got matched up with him at the
end, but otherwise there was a blender going on that was moving him around
a lot during the season. There seems to be a very big drop from
the higher scoring lines to the lower. Batherson you can see in the with
or without You charts that he is able to drag a lot of players back
to relevance when he gets with them, but more or less, he was
just in different positions throughout the year. What do you think of Drake Bathson's
year and what you could expect for him going forward. I think he's established
himself as almost in the same light as Kuld Chuck, except obviously not as
good a player, but as a twenty to twenty five goal scorer in the
league, getting about sixty points again. That's back to back sixty point seasons
for Bathson. He had a high ankle sprain about three seasons ago that really
hampered him, and I think now he's starting to really heal from that,
so barring any injuries, I think you should see him get twenty twenty five,
maybe even flirt with thirty goals sixty points again. And I don't want
to sound like a broken record. The sins improve. I'd probably hit the
over on these guys. They had a really good power play two season ago,
a terror power play last year. They're probably more in the middle of
that than they are bad power play in the NHL, so that might even
hike some of his points as well. He was on the first power play
unit for the majority of last season, so overall, I think I don't
know if what the over under is, but I think he's a pretty safe
bet to consistently produce points and get you sixty seventy points next season for the
Ottawa Senators, and looking at the heat map, I'll tell you the power
play was sure a whole lot better when Drake Bathson was on the ice,
even though overall it didn't net out as well as would be hoped. Claude
Drue also hung around fairly near the top one hundred fantasy players. He's probably
never going to hit those heights of the mid twenty tens. Again, we
shouldn't expect it of a thirty six year old, but he has had consistency
and a slow, graceful slope downward in terms of his longevity. But he
had sixty four points this year. Not only that, but again thirty six
years old, played all eighty two games, skated more than twenty minutes a
night. That's pretty that's pretty great. If you ask me. The word
at the end of the year, at the closing press conferences from Jeru himself
is that he's frustrated at losing. There's some talk maybe he could be a
flight risk or somebody who wants to trade. What do you think is can
Jeru hang on for another year and where is he going to fall out in
this lineup? Maybe as they start getting some more guys back to Yeah,
I think he'll be in a pretty similar role going into next year. Yeah,
he's as you mentioned, I don't know if he's a flight risk at
least to begin the season. If they suck again and out of the playoffs,
I could expect him to be traded. But he's from essentially Ottawa,
brought his family to Outawa, so I don't think that's necessarily at the forefront
of his mind. But if they keep losing, that might become another question.
Again, talking just about where he is in the lineup, the Sins
don't really have a lot of right wingers outside of Bathston and himself obviously,
Drew slides to the center, So I think you should still expect him to
play a lot, maybe a bit less, but he's a marvel. Just
what a competitor. He's probably the Senator's most consistent player, and probably through
the first fifty games he was the Senator's best player, and then he tailed
off. Maybe that's a bit of age coming back, but the team also
tailed off as well. So I think if he's I think he'll still be
a fifty to sixty point guy contribute. I think the power play if it
regained some muster, he'll get way more points. Even though he's on the
second power play unit. Ottawa has so many talented forwards that they essentially run
two power play units for the past two years. When you're at work,
when you're at didn't, so I expect him to still be pretty sensational and
still rack up the points. So moving on to Shane Pinto, and he
had a pretty interesting season. We only got to see forty one games played
for Pinto, but it was highly encouraging. I would say fifty four point
pace time on ice was high eighteen minutes. His defensive impacts were good.
I would say the bash it was nice, especially the blocks were forward was
really spectacular and he almost got to three shots of game, So he's looking
like he's gonna be a high quality bash player. If he can get those
points out, it'll be even better. So, Alex, do you think
that we'll see pinto crest the sixty point pace next season? That's a really
good question. I would if I had to guess, I'd go just on
the under, mostly because you alluded to it. He does shoot a lot,
but that's because he's more of a goal scorer than he is a playmaker.
He's not high on assists as much, he's not as much creating.
He's more the finisher, especially on the power play as well. So maybe
he gets more power play time and scores a couple more power play goals like
he did in twenty twenty three during a full season. At the same time,
I think sixty points is probably a reach if I had to guess,
just because even if Autawoad plays really well this year, he was maybe at
a point close to sixty points but had an elevated role that might be different
depending on offseason moves. Obviously, as well, Josh Norris is injury looms
large so if he's the second line center all season, then maybe sixties in
the cards. But if Josh Norris is relatively healthy, then he might be
a third line center, and it's hard to get sixty points to the third
line center. So I'd probably take the under if, just being me and
how I see it. Let's dig into that if about Josh Norris, because
he definitely is one of the players on whom the season could swing. He
had, of course, more injuries this year, specifically a shoulder injury that
was not his first. Either didn't really get first line minutes even in the
part of the season he's played. I don't know if that's injury related or
not, because that was earlier in the season. I believe in the three
seasons following that wonderful, promising rookie year, he's only played one hundred and
twenty four out of two hundred and forty six possible games. This year was
a slow scoring rate, though nearly two hit game was a pleasant surprise.
Hey, Josh, if you're hurt, stop hitting people, man, that's
only gonna damage you. Stop it. At twenty five, he's not quite
as young as I tend to think. I'm getting older. I'm still thinking
of these guys who I can remember their rookie seasons extremely well. I must
still be a kid. He's twenty five. Could Norris get back on track
and would he be the center one on this team if he did? What
would that type of a season look like? What do you expect? Yeah,
I think that's the million dollar question with this organization going forward. Is
really the health of Josh Morris. I think you talk about the goal scoring
dipping significantly last year from his thirty five goal year in twenty twenty two.
That shoulder to me seeing him being around practice, it just doesn't have that
same zip that it used to have with his slap shot and snapshot. Now,
modern medicine is great these days, very different than it was twenty thirty
years ago. But I think until you see him show that same caliber of
a shot that he used to have which really made him get that big contract,
I don't see him supplanting Tim Stutsla anytime soon because he isn't the same
playmaker as Tim Stutts, although he is arguably a better defensive player. So
I think with Josh Norris, I know it's a cop out answer, but
I'd say wait and see, thus meaning probably don't look at him, at
least not for the time being. He might be good to pick up later
in the season as well, But yeah, I think that's a really big
question here in Ottawa is what does he look like? Can you regain that
same form that showed saw him really show himself to be a top six the
top two center in this league, and he hasn't really lived up to it
ever since his first shoulders surgery and injury last season. A couple additional forwards
is to throw out two more for your choose him which one is going to
get more points? Matthew Joe's for Ridley Greeg. A little bit of background
information of both Matthew Joseph, of course, the veteran traded over from Tampa
thirty five points in seventy two games last year, takes a fair number of
hits and but otherwise maybe fairly well established, doesn't necessarily blow out the scoring.
Ridley Greeg played seventy two games identical number last year, scored fewer points,
only twenty six. But he's also six years younger and hits even more
actually, as it turns out, but shoots less frequently, so that could
be a problem. Which one of these two guys, Greg or Joseph do
you prefer for a points situation. I'd put all my money on Ridley Greg
just because he's a young player. He was he I think he was tied
for rookie scoring with maybe twelve games into the season and then that had a
high ankle sprain and being in the locker room and talking to him and bathroom
soon and both had high ankle sprains. They typically even though you're back,
you're not really back for maybe a good year or two until that ankle feels
fully recovered. And I think you'll just have a bigger role next year.
He's played eighty two games. I know that it was a bit of adjustment
later in the season to really go through the grind of eighty two games as
a young player, and Matthew Joseph had a career year last season, and
I just don't know if he'll do that the same way. In terms of
point wise, I still think he's a really good player on your as a
top nine player, third line winger. But when you see career year and
then a one rookie kind of making strides, I feel like Joseph will probably
have a few points next year, and I expect Greg to have more.
So I really think Ridley Greg will have more points than Matthew Joseph next season.
Let's move to the blue line. Jacob Chickrin, he is to me,
he's gonna enigma. I don't know, we'll get to it. But
Ottawa has taken some admirable swings over the last few years. If you want
your team to take some shots on guys and make some trades, and Chickeran
is exhibit a of that. His first two big years, or his two
big years were at the bookends of COVID in his career, the one season
before it and the one season right after it. Otherwise, his performance is
his scoring just hasn't It hasn't been at a superstar level, so to speak.
His batch block shots and hits was forty fourth in the NHL, and
again, half a point per game is pretty nice. If out of what
was expecting a superstar defenseman, it doesn't look like he is doing that.
On the other hand, he's playing, you know, very well. He's
got very good production, very good performance. And at the same time,
there's a couple of other very prominent defensemen who will be getting to in a
minute, who are also filling some major roles in the defense. Some may
have just been wish casting that late Arizona lull was just because it was Arizona
and what the heck, what are we even doing here? But it is
the Jacob Chickering we saw last year. What are your thoughts on him?
And is this pretty much what we're going to see from chicken going far?
And of course will it be in an auto with Jersey? Yeah, I
don't think he'll be. If I had the bet, I don't think he'll
be an auto with Jersey next season. I think if you read the tea
leaves from Staeos and even Chickrin at the exit meetings and just what's swirling around
here in Ottawa, I don't think Chickern will be here next season. Now,
to answer your question of just the defenseman he is, I think he
has awesome tools as an offensive defenceman, specifically unbelievable shot. He's a decent
playmaker, but pretty quick and just yeah, that shot just can get you.
I can't think of, off the top of my head how many goals
he had, but he had double digits of goals this year. I think
that's a consistency for him half a point per game defenseman sounds like it.
If he goes to a better team, I think maybe as a on the
top power play I could definitely see him producing even more. So. I
think he's probably in between that Arizona part where he had I think almost twenty
goals in fifty six games, compared to the guy here in Ottawa who's struggled
defensively and even scoring wise, where he's not at whare people expected of him
as that top two type defenseman, where he's really spin slotted in this the
more three to four. So overall, I think he's probably in a mix
between the two, and I think it depends on where he is next year
will really dictate how many points he'll get next season. Well, you're right,
the Jacob Chickron had fourteen goals, so definitely double digits. Well also
had double digit goals. That's the next guy, Jake Sanderson, he had
ten, and I think the Jake Sanderson managers just loved what you said right
there. If Shabad is out of the way, that certainly means more opportunity
for Sanderson, and he's been pretty awesome, steadily improving his defensive game is
just outrageously good. He's a stellar defensively. He may not be the most
offensively dynamic, but he still has a lot to give there and certainly,
if with more opportunity, could really see that part of his game grow.
Last season and his time on ice grew to over twenty three minutes, he
was at just under twenty two previously. His point pace was pretty similar thirty
nine compared to thirty four of the previous season, but the power play time
went down. I'm sure that chickenen had something to do with that. Despite
having more time power play time on ice and the hefty share, his number
of points went down. The blocks here are great, the hits are just
okay, and the shots are similar, so he basically blocks a lot.
The other two aren't as great. But what can we expect from Sanderson?
Do you think he can get closer to that fifty point pace, especially with
chicken potentially not being there. I definitely think so. And you talk about
shooting, I know he talked to us at the end of the year how
a big emphasis for him was shooting the puck more, not being as passive
and really just getting shots on nets. So that's a good thing for fantasy
owners talking about Jake Sanderson. But yeah, I think he's closer to that
fifty point guy. I don't think he'll ever be Eric Carlson here in audible.
But at the same time time, I do think that offensive part of
his game will be developed, and I think each year he's such a hard
worker. I think each year you'll see a little bit of a progression in
terms of his playmaking, his goal scoring. He has a pretty good shot,
and I expect him to be closer to that fifty point mark. I
don't know if he'll get there, but I think i'd be surprised that he'd
have less than forty points next season if he's relatively healthy in place a full
eighty two or close to that game season. So I think it's a pretty
good bet on a twenty one year old defenseman to take another leap, especially
offensively, because that's really the area of where he can he's trying to improve
the most. Love hearing that about Sanderson, but not so fast, my
friends. Don't forget about Thomas Shabbat. Don't make him the forgotten man,
because he has been good for this team for quite a while. He had
a rough year there's just no way around it. He had a broken tibia
at one point that made him miss kind of the two twenty twenty three in
and then risk surgery after the year he had some upper body stuff. I
guess that was probably the risk. You probably know better than me. Still,
after all that, he had a very nice block total nearly two blocks
a game, a hit in more than two shots in the games that he
was able to get out there the fifty one games, and a forty eight
point pace if it would have been over the full eighty two, whether for
injuries or strong performances from the Sanderson's of the world. And I guess maybe
it sounds like the chickerns won't be as much of an issue. Still,
it looks like Shabat has lost his hammer lock on the power play he had
for a few years for some of those others, and that can be the
key to his scoring. So I do worry about that. But you tell
me, maybe it's a two defenseman that we're going to expect. But do
you expect Shabbat to come back strong from this injury, and what kind of
a role is he going to have when he does. I think you'll still
have a very big role with this team. I think he's going to be
on the team next year, just because his contract is so large and for
so long. I thought, honestly, in the games that he played,
he was very good offensively, and if the team maybe around him had played
better, specifically had been scoring more goals, I think you see him closer
to that fifty to sixty point mark now, as you alluded to it.
With Sanderson, there is a bit of a clog there just because typically you
can only have one defenseman on the power play, and I think that I
think for the most part, it'll be very much one A, one B
with Shabon and Sanderson in terms of manning the first power play unit. That's
essentially what we saw this year. Even when Shabah played, it didn't mean
that he was always on power play one, but also didn't mean that he
was necessarily on power play two. And he had developed a bit of a
chemistry with Chickrin on a power play unit where Chickrin was the guy in the
slot that they tried to feed. That might change a little bit with Chickrin
gon, So I think if with Chickrin gone, I'd imagine his role offensively
might even increase just because of the low placed upon him. I don't think
they're bringing in an upright shot defenseman that's a creator. So I think for
the most part, I think that forty to fifty point guy, if he
can stay healthy, I think that's where Shabbat lands for next season. We're
going to talk about one of my formerly favorite players. I had high hopes
for k Branstrom early in his career, but it seems like he's settled into
kind of who he is now. He's much better defensively than he ever got
credit for. Initially, he was always billed as an offensive defenseman who couldn't
defend too well, but that narrative has changed. He was actually pretty good
defensively last year, but it seems like the offense has gone away. So
I think that's the question here, Alex. Is there any hope for more
offense from Eric Branston or is he just going to be a twenty five point
pace, more defensively responsible defenseman. I think the hope is for him to
go somewhere else and maybe flourish. I would be surprised if he's back in
Audawa. As you said, he's a very good def I like him as
a defenseman. I think in Ottawa it probably doesn't make a lot of sense
him the third left shot defenseman, especially where he isn't having any power play
time really at all. So yeah, I don't. I also don't think
that he'll be back in Autawa similar to Chickrin, I don't think they will
qualify his qualifying as a restricted free agent. So maybe if he goes to
an up and coming team, maybe a Chicago, maybe a San Jose,
gets a bigger role. I could definitely see him flourishing. But if he
remains in Ottawa, I don't think that he's gonna take a step up in
terms of points wise. I think he'll be in that twenty twenty five point
guy. But I also don't think he'll be in Autawa. So then hopefully
he's somewhere else and you can flourish and be that defenseman that you said,
Victor, that you were high on two years ago. Yeah, he should
go to San Jose. They literally have zero options there. That'd be perfect.
That was what I was thinking about. That Chicago just feast. Yeah,
although they have a couple of guys who could do Yeah, yeah,
yeah, all right, that's great. I the best fer Branstrum. Let's
move on to the goalies. The Senators, as Jesse alluded to in the
intro, they had the eighteenth ranked expected goals per sixty but conceded the thirtieth
ranked actual goals. That is obviously not good and we saw all the goalie
struggle. Obviously Corporslo got the most of it. And on Forsburg, Matt
I had played thirty games and Matt Sguard had six. So it was the
first season of this corpor Solo four million dollars per five year contract. I
was pretty skeptical about this from the beginning. I didn't think that it was
a smart move. You know, you knew he was going to get the
majority of the starts because of that cap hit, and he certainly did,
and it was not great. Both of the main goalies had ross a percentage
under eight ninety. Corporsolo had negative seven point five four goals save above expected,
a negative point four to two delta Fenwick. Forsburg had negative six point
four to seven goals save above expected and negative point seven to four delta Fenwick.
Soguard got into six games. I managed as I mentioned, and managed
to have worse stats. It was actually dramatically worse. He had one of
the as Jesse alluded to, the one of the most unfortunate, hilarious goals
scored against him, where he wasn't even looking at the puck. So that's
a time for a better play from so guard in the future. But we
all know Alex it was bad. So what can we expect from the Centator's
goalie situation next season and where corpus Salo still see over fifty starts. I
think Corpuslo will be back. I don't think the Sins are buying him out,
which has been the conversation here in Ottawa, which is crazy after signing
a five year deal and then after the first year already thinking about buying out
the player. I think, if I'm being honest, it couldn't have gone
any worse, so it probably will be better, is probably the rationale around
Corpusalo and even Anton Forsburg. I do expect that, if I had to
guess, hearing the reading the tea leaves is that Orsburg probably won't be back.
I think the Senators will try to through free agency, maybe through through
the trade group, try to acquire another established goalie to pay alongside Corpuslo,
and I think that the team goal will be to be a better defensive team
next season in front of Corpuslo, because, to be honest, for many
stretches of the season, it wasn't just because of Corporas Salo or Forestburgh letting
the team down. The team let them down as well. Although at the
same time, as you alluded to it, a lot of goals went in
that should never go in the National Hockey League, and that was pretty routine
and that just can't be the case. I think that the good thing is
that none of those goalies have really shown themselves to be that throughout their career,
outside of maybe one other bad year for Corpuslo after an injury. I'd
expect them to improve, but I don't think we're probably trying to pick them
up early in a draft with a bunch of other goalies out there. I
think that's maybe Bargain been shopping or on the waiver wire with both of those
goalies. But I do think that they will be better next season, just
because I don't know how they could be worse than they were last year,
so bad that it can't get worse as they say, right, But it's
interesting you say Forsberg probably won't be back. So what is the team and
what do you think of Matt Soguard. Obviously he did not show very well
this year, but there were a lot of reasons for that. Do you
think that he could get twenty thirty starts? If that's the case, that's
pretty interesting value for him, especially if the team can turn things around defensively.
I don't, just I don't think that's the plan for so guard.
It's been he's an interesting test case just because he's done very well at the
AHL level and every time he comes to the NHL he's fallen flat on his
face, as he alluded to his terrible numbers in those six games Victor.
So, I think he's the third goalie. Could he play twenty games maybe
if something happens, injuries happen, especially to go goaltenders, but I don't.
I think heading into the season, unless there's injuries, he'll be the
third goalie in the depth chart. Maybe he shines, and goaltending such a
fickle position as we all know, right, So maybe at the end of
the season he's the starting goalie. But I think heading into the season.
I don't expect him to be in Ottawa. I expect him to be in
Bellville at least for one more season until they have to really make a decision
on them. Alex, this was some great information on the Ottawa Senators.
Why don't you let people know how they can keep up with all your work.
Thanks so much you guys for having me on. This was a lot
of fun. I hope I helped in the fantasy realm, but yeah,
I cover the Senators for the Hockey News in the dressing room talking to players.
I always try to do some cool features with players. I cover PWHL
Ottawa as well, which has been a blast. Hopefully the playoff drought here
in Otawa for hockey teams ends next season and I can cover some playoff hockey
and then at the same time I have a podcast called Behind the Play.
A lot of hockey people have been on it. Ron McClain, David Amber,
Gordon Miller, James Duffy. Those are more people in the Canadian realm,
but I've had Greg Wishinski obviously, American Big and ESPN here for you
guys in the States. Check it out and subscribe and have some cool Senators,
but also hockey content coming out all summer. All right, thanks Alex,
thanks so much. Thanks will sit then that's good fer passed off.
Oh my goodness, grow long a with a cat quick grab. Now it's
your weekly goalie talk with Kat Silverman. Kat's Instincts joined once again by Kat
Silverman of Ingold mag to talk goalies. Of course, we're doing Outawak Senators
goalies this time, and we're going to start with the great Dane mads so
Guard. And Mad's the six foot seven, one hundred and ninety eight pound
twenty nineteen second round pick. He'll be twenty four this season. Played six
games the NHL after this season after nineteen last season. Mostly he was in
the AHL, and he was better this season than previously. His goal save
above expected was a little bit better this season than in the past. He
has hovered around the good mark in the AHL above one point zero, and
I think that's been the story in the AHL. He's been good. When
they brought him up to the NHL, he hasn't looked quite as good.
His hockey prospecting equivalency still looks really strong based on those AHL times close to
Anton Fordsburg equivalency. Last year, Kat, you talked about how he needed
a little bit of a technical overhaul and how inconsistent he was, opening up
too many holes in his movement. So what do your instincts tell us now
about Matt Sogard. The good thing is, it looks like he listened to
that was watching some of his highlights, both from the AHL and the NHL,
and it looks like he's controlling his movement a little bit more. That's
always going to be an area of notdinary difficulty, but a point where he
has to make a conscious effort on it, just because he is so tall
and so lanky that if he gets a little too loose or tries to do
a little bit too much, even though he's big physically in terms of taking
up the top of the net, he opens up so many extra holes just
because as soon as he starts to put his arms out he doesn't really have
that brick wall physical presence. And he used to have this really bad habit
of coming out too far. He would try to make those really he'd try
to make those last ditch effort saves on fairly easy looking routine saves, and
it looked like he was doing a better job of discerning when he needed to
do the most and when he could really dial it back. That being said,
I think he's still working on maintaining consistency with that so essentially baking that
into his game, which is something that It's interesting that Anton Forstburg is a
good comparable for him, because that's someone else who when he gets a little
stressed during a game, he lets in a few too many bad goals.
He plays for the Chicago Blackhawks, he starts to do a little bit too
much, and you notice him almost drawing himself away from saves, just trying
to get as much space covered as possible, when he could really just sit
and wait for things to happen. But when he's playing a patient game,
he's a really stellar goaltender. And that's something that I think we're seeing from
Soguard, which is something that I didn't think he necessarily had in his game,
Especially during his draft year. I was watching some of his games and
looked like he was going to be someone who was just constantly on the move
and constantly trying to do too much. And it looks like he's finally figured
out how to go down a little bit and if he's able to continue doing
that consistently, I think he's got NHL potential. Obviously he's been playing in
the NHL, but in terms of just staying power there, I think he
can. I think he can do it. Do you think he can be
either a next starter or do you think they should still be on the hunt.
That's really tough because there, with all due respect to Otto, they're
not a great team yet. They're getting there, but they're not a great
team yet. And I think he looks like if he's playing with a consistent,
strong team, he could be there. He could have that starter potential.
But it's almost like looking at the way that Carter Hart performed with the
Philadelphia Flyers. If a team is struggling enough in front of a guy who
is still trying to find their footing, that can almost knock their feet out
from under them, And that's something that I think he runs the risk of.
But if the team manages to see even just a little more consistency between
from them, not necessarily a huge step forward to where they're setting records with
points throughout the year, but just some defensive decision making consistency I think would
go a long way and give him a chance to solidify what I think could
be starting power, if not tandem power, which is something that Ottawa may
want to even be aiming for moving forward as tandem not a peer starter,
just based on their style of play, or maybe at least not hand out
a bunch of money to an unproven starter. No that that'd be great for
them, Maybe a good step forward. All right, enough, Shade,
Let's move on to Levi Marilina and the next goalie we're going to talk about.
Twenty twenty third round pick. He's six three hundred and seventy four pounds
and he will be twenty two over this summer. He's an August birthday,
came over at the end of last season to North America. Mostly played in
the AHL, but also spent some time in the ECCHL that I think was
more of a situation of getting more playing time. He looks decent in the
hockey prospecting model, at least in the sense that he started with a really
low equivalency based on a low equivalency league, and he's been trending up since
then. Twenty five percent chance now being a starter. The comp here in
hockey prospecting is Jake Allen in terms of potential, not necessarily style. Of
course, last year you talked about how Marilina entered the Carpat system around the
time Joe blunkwisted and just as Enin were there, and how he was pushed
down the depth chart a little bit. I think you mentioned you would put
Marilina and ahead of Sogar last season. I wonder if you still feel that
way or the steps forward that Soguard have made maybe change out a little bit.
What do your instincts tell us about Marilina. I think that so I
was watching some of the games for Marilina last year, and I'd put them
more on equal footing now because I do think that so guard that's not necessarily
a knock against Marilina, And I don't think that he took a step back.
But I do think that Soguard took that huge step forward last year of
just solidifying his technique, because that's where I had my biggest reservations about putting
him at the top of the depth chart. I did look like Marilina needed
a little bit of a learning curve when he came to North America. He
didn't seem to have a super seamless transition. Because his numbers were fine,
but they weren't stellar. It looks like he, honestly, from a style
perspective, looked a little more. I know that from a number's perspective has
comparable there is a Jake Allen. From a style perspective, he looked a
little like an anti Ronto, someone who plays with energy but stays within the
blue paint and doesn't really try to become too overactive. And that's something that
I love seeing from a goaltender. But there were a couple save sequences that
I watched where I was like, I thought that he probably could have controlled
his movement a little bit, especially from a depths management perspective. He spent
a lot of time moving from his goal line up to the top of the
blue paint, and he did a good job of not coming all the way
out of it, but he just kept going back and forth, and he
was doing so much depths of roaming that I wanted to see him just pick
a spot and settle down a little bit. And that may have been him
just trying to find his comfort zone in North America with the speed of the
game and just trying to figure out where he feels most confident situating himself for
the bulk of the game. But there was a little bit too much movement
to come out to challenge and then immediately move back to the goal line.
And I think that's from an energy conservation standpoint, even if that worked effectively
during the game, that's something that if you need to play two or three
or even four games in a one to two week span, that can drain
you and to almost leave you right for the picking. Kind of when you
look at the way that a guy like Mike Smith played back to backs and
would do really well one game and then just tank the next one. That
sort of lack of energy conservation from a goaltender can drain them so that their
next game looks like they don't belong out there anymore. And so that's where
I find hesitation putting him clearly ahead of Soguard because I saw a lot of
additional conservation from Soguard that I hadn't in the past. Just from an energy
excuse me, an energy efficiency standpoint, I would put them a little more
on par now. So Guards looked even a little bit better, So we'll
see. I think they're both still super promising goaltenders. I think Ottawa has
a wealth of riches coming up in their system. It's just a matter of
when we'll see them take that final step to being a consistent one hundred percent
NHL goaltender. And I do think that Marilynon's not there at the moment.
All right, let's talk about the last one. Kevin Mandalis twenty eighteen to
six, round pick six, four hundred and eighty eight pounds. Third season
in the AHL. He talked a little bit last year about he seemed to
struggle a bit there, spent a little bit more time in the ECCHL this
time, only a couple ECCHL games with mostly AHL time and a little bit
better numbers in both. So it seems like maybe he's improving a little bit.
But also I think we talked that he was trending more like a backup.
I wonder if you still feel that way. He had a couple NHL
games last season on this season, but der instincts tell us that Mandalise is
just more of a backup placeholder or should we have a little bit more hope
for him from a decision making standpoint, Watching the way he makes some of
his safes and doesn't make some of his saves. In all honesty, he
still to me looks like a backup, just because some of his decision making
looks still a little baffling and not quite instinctual for me, like I'm still
waiting to see him make consistently good decisions on the ice, both from a
depth management perspective and an energy perspective. He looked a little better, but
not great, and especially since they have two goaltenders ahead of him who were,
in my opinion, still clearly demonstrably better in terms of upside. I
don't necessarily see anything that he's shown. I guess at this point for him,
it's more of a has he proven otherwise? Has he proven that he
can very clearly be that starter versus a backup? And I haven't quite seen
that from him just and that may even just be a luck of the draw
thing for him that he has two more highly touted prospers who are doing a
little bit better in their development than him, so he has to prove that
he can versus some goaltending prospect or able to afforded that opportunity to hands the
opportunity right back. They have to prove that they can't, and I think
for him, unfortunately, he's going to have to prove that he can.
I think we'll see. It's nice having depth, though, because he does
look like, at least from a movement perspective, he's fast, and so
even if he ends up being a tweener backup for them, someone who spends
most of his time in the AHL and then pops up to the NHL when
injuries and necessitate it, that's not a bad thing to have in your system.
We've seen so many teams recently really scramble when it comes to finding someone
to fill that role, and if that's what he ends up being for Attawa,
that's not a bad thing, especially if he's able to stay on for
an affordable rate. So awesome, Thanks so much for giving us your insights
on the Ottawa Center. Goalies will be back right after this. Big is
the Dynasty gaw Senators An addition, Victor, you don't care for the Ottawa
Senator's prospect system very much. It's gonna be a little bit of snark today.
I think you got to bring twenty fourth. I guess that's not bad.
They pick seventh overall in the draft, and they've got an extra first,
three, extra fourths, but they are missing their own third, six,
and seventh. They're all over the place. These guys we are starting
with, uh, Normally we have a no brainer. Apparently today we're going
to have a some brainer. Who is a victor? Yeah, snarky is
right. What is to like about this system? Our some brainer? Because
it's not quite as great as you would like for your top prospect. But
it's Zach a Stapcheck. Zach Stapchack with a twenty twenty one second round pick,
thirty ninth overall. He's sixty three, two hundred five pounds left wing.
He had a really strong WHL career. He was with the Vancouver Giants
for most of it and they moved over to the Winnipeg Ice for part of
last the previous season. He's played internationally for Canada at the World Juniors.
No more of a depth center role, which intent I think is where he's
gonna end up in the future. But he did have a really strong season
for Belleville of the HL first professional season, twenty eight points in sixty nine
games, getting close to that half point per game mark, which is pretty
solid. He did actually get into seven NHL games. I know, hard
to imagine you didn't hear much about it because it's Ottawa and he didn't really
do too much and that team is not good right now. But his FHL
player card, Oh, he didn't score any of those NHL games either,
But the FHL card looks pretty solid. In terms of his peripheral production,
He's got pretty good hits and blocks. Doesn't really shoot much and doesn't really
score much is the big problem. His assists for sixty near the bottom of
the league. His goals for sixty are around average. His bash is pretty
low because it doesn't shoot a lot, but his hits and blocks are good.
Looking at some of his play driving numbers, I mean, it's not
terrible considering he was a first year AHL player, first professional season, but
overall, in terms of related to his peers, a lot of his scoring
chances, puck battles, scoring entries, and play driving was poor. But
let's hear a little bit more about what makes Zachostatchek a potentially interesting player from
our FHL scout. This scouting report comes courtesy of our man Grant. Zach
Ostapchuk has excellent balance as far as his skating is strong on his skates,
lacks separation speed at the AHL and NHL level, so he's going to need
to work hard to get to open spaces, but overall slightly below average for
passing and handling. He's not going to dangle the puck or drive play at
the NHL level, but he sees the ice well and has a nice accurate
path in all three zones. Lack of elite puck handling is what will keep
his ceiling lower than it could be for shooting slightly above average snap or wrist
shot when he has a time or space to get it off. Most of
his goals at AHL or NHL level would be inside the hash marks for his
IQ average anticipation at best, but sees the ice well in both the offensive
and defensive zones. He's comfortable in his own end and has shown patience with
the puck at the NHL level well stopchuk as far as his fore checking can
be very physical on the fore check, works hard to get in quickly,
wins more board battles than he loses defense. Needs to work on his positioning
down low in his own end, but very responsible leaving his own end as
the last forward on most occasions. Depending on where he plays at either center
or wing, he's going to need to improve on picking up the different assignments
on the fly for each of those positions. So the best asset was the
fore checking and defensive responsibility. The concern lack of offense if he's not winning
face offs, being physical or winning puck battles. Doesn't have much to fall
back on if there is little production, says Grant. So the top tier
outcome if everything breaks right, third line center big plays a heavy game,
could ship in fifteen to twenty five goals, thirty five to forty five points,
and win his fair share of face offs. Maybe a valuable penalty killer
boy. Fiftieth percentile fourth line center, and this is where Grant says he
believes he's going to have a role in the NHL, but probably only as
far as his production takes him. He could be an eight to twelve goal,
twenty to twenty five points center who gets one hundred hits per year as
his floor and Nicholas roy Is the style is the comparable. Final thoughts,
hard working, big bited center has a floor and ceiling between the third and
fourth line, and the NHL could take him a year or two to become
a regular NHLer who gets sixty games plus. And our friend Mason Black on
Zach as this comparison that he puts up. It's Zach a Stopchuk versus Danila
Klimovich. Victor, don't correct my Russian pronunciation on this one, man,
I know where you're going Kolimovich or something. And here is what the competition
comes out. A stopchuck wins in a route on this one. Seventy one
to twenty nine is what is going on, Vancouver supporters that you're letting in
an Ottawa Senators prospect get a major outvote to you. Is this the way
that you would stack these two up, Victor? This is a hard choice
because I don't think either one of these guys are really all that terribly interesting.
They are probably both gonna end up being more preferrale guys. A Stopchuck
I just mentioned hits and blocks a lot. Klimovich actually hits a ton and
shoots a lot shots and hits for Klimovich hits some blocks for a Stopchuck.
I don't think either of them are going to score a whole lot, but
I do think the scoring will favor a stop chuck. But I think we're
probably talking his pnhil is. I think he's You're probably talking about a thirty
to forty point score versus Klimovich being like a ten to twenty or something like
that, really low. So you have to keep that in mind here when
you're talking about who you pick. So yeah, I would take a stap
chuck, but I don't. It's not like a ringing endorsement anyways. And
I'm not going to correct your Russian. But Klimovich has a great nickname called
the klim Reaper. That's pretty great a stapchuck. Neither of these guys actually
have a really good hockey prospect team. Both of them are basically graduated the
model with zero percent chance of being a star, which is really rough.
A little bit decent on the NHL or probability, but still sub twenty percent,
so neither really great. I was looking for some reasonable comp for Zakop
Statchuck, and the only one I came up with was Wayne Simmons. And
Wayne Simmons certainly tough guy, big body. Both these guys are big dudes,
and he was. Wayne Simmons obviously had some pretty good skill too,
and he was able to have some reasonable, reasonably productive seasons and maybe a
stop trup can get to that point. But I think that's a high end
outcome the j fresh card. One percent chance of being a star, eight
percent chance of being NHLer. Pretty pretty graham there, Jessie. For the
guy that you might want to know a little bit about some brainer, Yeah
that ironically, normally next would be our need to know. But this is
the wouldn't mind knowing about prospect? Who you got Victor? Yeah, this
is going to be Tyler Cleven. He is twenty twenty forty fourth overall pick,
six foot four two one pound. The first HL season this past year
with Belleville, he ended up with twenty one points in fifty three games for
the Senators the Belleville Senators three points in seven playoff games, so not bad,
close to half point per game for defenseman. Looking at his FHL player
card, pretty decent bash he hits and it hits a little bit more than
average. He shoots and blocks close to average, so he's going to be
just above average for BASH. But I think when his time on, when
he gets a little bit more comfortab professionally, I think he is going to
actually be a pretty good bash guy. It's just the question of whether the
scoring will translate. He didn't have huge scoring numbers at the University of North
Dakota or the us NTDP, so he's never really been a big time scorer,
which I guess is the issue here. If you're really hoping on that
to translate, it doesn't seem like it will. He might just be a
more play driving type of guy. Most of his underlying stats don't suggest he
did really well in Belleville this year. Most of his puck battles, scoring
chances on entries, defensive game, it was all pretty below average. Maybe
he can turn that around in his second season. He definitely seems like he
needs at least one more HL season, But we'll see what happens. And
let's hear a little bit more about Tyler Clevin from our FHL scout grant.
Maybe he's a little more optimistic skating for six four defender, Cleveland skates very
well. He can join the rush, ship needed, activate from the point,
get back to cover, can play either side on the defense if called
for. Average skater in general, but above average or his passing and handling.
He has a crisp accurate breakout pass and makes the short passes well.
He is an average stick handler, but slightly above average as a passer,
shooting a heavy snap and wristshot which he can get off quickly from the point.
Iq good vision in all three zone scans. Frequently when going back on
the puck, knows what he's going to do before he gets it. He
shows above average anticipation and can break up entries with his stick quite well.
He shows his low painic threshold with the puck in his own end, makes
the correct play more often than not for checking. Does quite well in board
battles adept to keeping possession or moving the puck to a teammate. Clivin has
a very long reach and a good stick, which he gets into passing lanes
and breaking up zone entries. He has a good gap control and defensive awareness
in his own end, keeps his head on a swivel and is used on
the penalty kill quite often. Needs to improve on his reaction time on plays
down low and behind the net. So the biggest asset was the defensive awareness,
active stick composure. Biggest concern lack of offense and the physicality will go
down the top outcome the top role potential here, top four NHL defender who
can put up twenty to thirty points, one hundred hits, and one hundred
blocks while playing over twenty minutes a game. He's been a shutdown defender in
college, averaged twenty three to twenty four minutes and was an important penalty killer.
Got limited pro experience at the age of twenty two. Might need another
year in THEA, but already has seventeen games in the NHL fiftieth percentile in
the sixth or seventh the EHL defender the floor is a twelve to fourteen minute
and that would be even if you lost half a step. He should make
it to this floor. He should get the opportunity and unless he has a
confidence crisis, should be in an NHL defender on any team. Stylistic comparable
and this is maybe a little bit higher than cleveland is rating here is Mattias
et colem and that would be pretty decent. So Tyler Cleven in Mason Black's
NHL ranking poll is up against Ryan o'brourke of the Minnesota Wild. I think
we talked about him on the Wild episode in fact, and Clevent wins that
competition. Sixty two to thirty eight, Victor, is that what you're seeing?
Yeah, definitely. I really agree with a lot of the things that
were said there on the report by Grant. I do think that Clevin is
going to be a top four defender. I'm just not sure that he is
going to be a big point score. But as Grant mentioned, he is
someone who is used to getting a lot of time on ice and I think
that should continue. So even though I mentioned the rate stats for his periffs
were just above average, you multiply that by a lot of time on ice
and you get some pretty decent numbers. So remember these are based on per
sixty. But when you get when you play twenty four to twenty five minutes
a night, which he might even in the NHL, or twenty two to
twenty three, those numbers are going to be pretty good. So he's still
should be pretty good for priffs. He should get a lot of time on
ice. He should be someone who is an NHL or Ryan O'Rourke. I
have liked Ryan O'Rourke is a good depth defender. He's pretty mobile. I
like his skating, his ability. He's a little bit smaller, he's six
to one, not small but I've liked him. He had a really good
junior career with Sue. Right now he's playing in the OHL, sorry,
the AHL for the Iowa Wild and isn't scoring a lot but holding his own,
So I think he's someone who He's a Minnesota Wild prospect. By the
way, for those who maybe don't remember, he was a second round pick
in twenty twenty. So O'Rourke I think is probably more like a five to
six defender who scores even less than Clevin, and Clevin could be as high
as top pairing or top four at least with pretty good priffs and also minimal
scoring, but I think more than a work So I definitely would take him.
But again, these are more depth options in terms of conveying them to
other players. One of the better comps that I saw here on Hockey Prospecting
is is Justin Hull, who is certainly not the most exciting defender, but
is definitely an NHL or has some decent peripheral coverage. I think Cleven's upside
is even a little bit higher than Hull. We've seen Hull play a little
bit high in the lineup, though maybe higher than he should have, but
that's I think Cleven can get a little bit more ice time, but that's
maybe similar to what you're looking for, and I should mention that in the
Hockey Prospecting model, both these guys, all these guys are pretty low.
Levin graduated with zero percent chance of being a star, seventeen percent chance of
being an NHLer. I think he's definitely going to be in NHL, or
it's just the scoring is pretty low. Looking at the j Fresh model,
zero percent chance of being a star, four percent chance of being an NHL
or very low on Tyler Cleven, Yeah, I think Grant played painted a
little bit rosier a picture which I would agree with From a real NHLer perspective,
I think the Senators should be pretty pleased with what they're getting in Clevin.
I'm just not so sure that from a fantasy perspective you should be as
excited and Victor. The third is the key half an eye on prospect who
is that you might want to keep half an eye on a Roby Jarventi.
He is a twenty twenty second round to pick thirty third overall six y two,
two hundred and fourteen pounds left wing, and he played his third HL
season twenty points in twenty two games was pretty solid production. This year,
he got seven games with the NHL Ottawa Senators. He had some injuries which
limited him the rest of the action. Last couple seasons, he's been pretty
good in the AHL as well, thirty points in forty games last season,
so overall looking pretty solid. Looking at his FHL player card, you can
see that he hits and shoots a fair amount, he doesn't really block a
lot, and his scoring is actually pretty solid for the league that he's in
nine out of ten in terms of his point scoring. I looked at his
evolving hockey for his NHL games and it looked pretty low in terms of his
expected goals for and against. But it's a really small sample size, so
not really sure what to say about that. But to learn a little bit
more about Robi Orventi, we get to hear from our HL scout. That
is right, We got our FHL scout on Arobi. Here it is again
Grant and here's what he has to say on the skating. He watched Jarventi
in pre season before twenty two to twenty three, thought the skating was a
little below average and lack the ability to get separation, but he thinks that
after twenty three twenty four, it's actually slightly above average now in terms of
top speed average and acceleration, slightly below average in edges. In turns the
bad news good news. Bad news is season ending knee surgery in February twenty
twenty four that had been ailing him for a few years, so maybe he'll
come back stronger. Passing and handling, Jarventi has good hands in tight long
reach, and a good touch on his passes, whether fourhand or backhand.
He uses his size effectively to protect the puck while stick handling won't dangle through
a whole team, but he can certainly beat a defender one on one on
occasion. The shooting excellent one timer, which he uses on the power play,
which reminds Grant of Elias Peterson. Has a nice wrist or snapshot and
can surprise goalies on the backhand now and then the IQ. He sees the
ice well both on offensive defense, and the puck seems to find him because
of the size and long reach. He holds the puck well and is comfortable
with the puck at any spot on the ice for checking. Yarventi is strong
and on his skates and uses his size well along the boards. As he
gets stronger and his confidence grows, he should win more puck battles than he
loses defense. The play without the puck in his own end has improved quite
a bit since he's been in North America, and he's learning to play in
a role which might not be on the top line. He protects the area
between the face soft circles quite well and doesn't leave the zone early. But
Grant thinks he's expanded his chances to play in the NHL to include all four
lines, whereas before he thought he was top two lines or no. So
the best asset, the one timer, potential to score some power play goals
and bunches. With the size and skating, got the chance to be a
center that thirty two teams are looking for. The biggest concern the injuries.
He missed almost fifty games the last season over thirty the year before. His
knee surgery. Could make his knee better, the lingering issues he's had,
or it might be a concern on a yearly basis. So the top outcome
second line center. He's got the offensive capabilities to do that, but it'll
be the defense that will keep him there and the fiftieth percentile fourth line center
in the NHL top six AHL forward. That's if he's forced to change his
game away from carrying the puck to dumping and chasing in the corner, that
could take him to a fourth line stylistic comparable. Boy, he loves the
rists shot in the one timer again reminded him of Elias Petterson, but the
skating in size remind him of Brock Nelson. So Robi Jarventi versus Noel Goomler
of the Carolina Hurricanes, what do we have here? Ruby Jarventi wins decisively,
sixty eight to thirty two percent. Victor, Is that how you see
it? Yeah? I do? I do. I think Jarventi has shown
a fair amount in the AHL the past couple of seasons. I like that
he's in North America, that he's had some NHL opportunity. We know we
were hearing already the quality of the prospect system in Ottawa. It's not amazing.
We know that Carolina has a pretty deep system. That's where Noel Goudler
is and he hasn't really been showing out too well. He was someone drafted
back in twenty twenty and in the second round. He's someone who I've always
been a little skeptical of because he plays a little bit more of a perimeter
game and he's struggled a little bit to translate into the SHL. And he
came over to North America, Goodler did and didn't really show out too well.
Eighteen points in thirty one games for the Cogo Wolves last season, and
then he went back to Europe this season and had eight points in twenty four
games for car Pott, who's a really good team. But I just don't
know that it's ever going to really fully work out for Gundler, and his
pinch ly has trended down to just two percent or sorry to eighteen nineteen p
n Chile, which is really low. Jarventi is up to forty four,
so I think it's a little bit better there. I think that he can
has Grant mentioned he does have some pretty strong skills that he could leverage,
so I like him a little bit better. In the hockey prospecting model,
both these guys look pretty pretty bad. Zero percent chance of being a star,
thirty ish percent chance for Brventi to be an NHL or lower for Gundler,
looking at some of the comps here, I think in Anthony Cirelli is
maybe a high end outcome for Jrventi. Someone who's an average producer can have
some decent production in the deep league. Maybe is interesting, certainly not for
your more shallow leagues, but that's just where we are. Jarventi in the
FHL or sorry, in the j Fresh model, six percent chance of being
a star fifty nine percent chance of being an NHL are So yeah, this
system is not great. There are some reasonable options if you're in a deep
league, but no one likes super exciting. But on the other hand,
a lot of their young ish players are in the NHL doing good things,
so they have some pretty good young NHLers. Their prospect poll is just not
super exciting. That's it for this Autoa Center's dig. If you're a Patreon,
you can listen to my top ten prospect recap, which I'll be doing.
I'll be starting once the draft happens in at the end of June,
and if you're just in doing some scouting with us, shoot me a DM
on Twitter, discord, or email us. We'll be right back to close
up the show. A couple of things, you know, what I'm going
to mention right now, you know, say it with me. Fan Tracks
that's the place to play your leaks. They got ten different sports, the
most options for scoring, salaries, contracts, You can do about anything you
want on fan Tracks. In terms of setting up the league, I encourage
you to try it if you haven't yet. Fantraks hq has lots of fantasy
content. There's articles on fantasy hockey and other fantasy sports. There. There's
a whole crew doing this thing that we call Fantasy Hockey Life. Content curator
Kevin Adams comes up huge helping out with show prep and the notes that we
have contributes a lot to that. We have the tidy leagues. We are
currently in the mode of preparing for next year and we've got a whole crew
of commissions. Now we got Ryan Yes, but we also have Chimone,
timm Ay, and craftser who are all going to be a commissioner team for
next year. Jeremy v is our lead scout and this is scouting season as
you know. Jason helps with our prospect ranks. Brandon is our website guru.
A scout helps with the prospect ranks visualizations. Those FHL player cards.
If you've got skills you'd like to lend the show, tell Victor. Victor
would love to hear from you. I guarantee you and find him on the
discord on email Fantasy HOCKEYLFE at gmail dot com, or on x at Victor
Nuno twelve. You can get me on x at Fanhockey Life. We're also
brought to you by Dabra Hockey and Dauber Prospects. Victor is an editor there.
Follow us work as well as his other podcast, Dauber Prospects Report with
Peter Harling, where they are getting draft crazy right about the time you're listening
to this. Be sure also to check out Victor's articles at EP Ringside.
He's part of the fantasy team there with Cam Robinson and Mike Clifford. I
do a solo show called Dynasty Sports Life. I talk tons of different dynasty
sports multiple at the same time on some shows, sort of Dynasty theory because
it crosses over more than you would think. Rate and review this podcast on
Apple Pods, Spotify, wherever else you get your pods. That would be
much appreciated because this time of year is sort of a low point for podcast
listening. On fantasy hockey. We are going strong right now because it's going
to take a while to get all thirty two of these suckers ready. I
hope you enjoy today's talk on the Senators. Until next time, keep living
that fantasy hockey life.