Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks.
Speaker 2: Here sits.
Speaker 3: Your source of information and analysis to help you win
your fantasy hockey league. Block off, hot a step hit on,
stay lock. Here's your hosts, Jesse Severe and Victor Nuno.
Speaker 4: Fantasy Hockey Live once again. Jesse Severe, Victor Nuno. I
am of fan Tracks. I guess I should say, Victor Nunio,
the Fantasy hockey doctor of Dabber Hockey. How you doing today, Victor?
Speaker 3: I am doing awesome. Jesse, how are you doing, my friend?
Speaker 4: I'm doing good. Man, I'm doing good. I'm I'm ready.
Is this is this our last team preview? I forget
the release schedule? I think is the last one to record?
Speaker 3: Anyway, Yeah, we did it. We finally got to the end.
It's when we started. We started prepping this way back
in April, and I think we recorded our first one
at the end of April. So it's been a long road.
It's fun, but also yeah, it's a bit of a grind,
so it feels like an accomplishment to do all thirty two.
Speaker 4: It is an accomplishment, man, and this is my annual.
Let's give Victor a slow clap for doing this, getting
all thirty two guests together, because that is Yeoman's work.
That is outstanding stuff. Man. I always appreciate you for that.
But I think everybody should appreciate Victory. I think we
should all appreciate Victor a little bit. Why don't everybody
go into the Fantasy Hockey Life discord, give Victor a
little pat on the back, give him a thumbs up,
just anywhere, just post memes of Victor. I don't know
what you're gonna do. Just be creative because it's an
appreciation of Victor time. And you can get into that
Fantasy Hockey Life disc to do that or to talk
about your drafts.
Speaker 1: So maybe that.
Speaker 4: Would be a relevant topic since it's the height of
draft season right now. And to do that, you just
give us an email. Fantasy Hockey Life at gmail dot com.
There's stuff popping up in there every day, a few
hundred people involved, and it's free, did I mention free,
And it's a place to talk about all recruit people.
There's still time to do a draft. Why not get
in there and say, hey, people, you want to set
up a leak, want to get together, set up a
dynasty league. There's still time for all that, But Victor,
that's not the only thing that people can do at
this time of year. What else might they be tempted by?
Speaker 3: They might be attempted by all the bonus content that's there.
There's a bunch of player cards on the website for ultralifers.
That's one of the best things. You can look at
all the preperle contribution of each player. You can look, well,
how good they are at play, driving, fighting, puck battles,
things like that, things that are hard to see in
all these leagues for all these players. You can also
look at my tiers and ranks for all the prospects
under a hundred games played. And then there's other cool
things too, like being part of the Tidy the Tier Dynasty.
You can get access to patron casts and bonus content,
so check all that out over at patreon dot com
slash Fantasy Hockey Life.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, we'll be right back after this to talk
Tampa Bay Lightning. Welcome back to the show. Eric erlandson
of Lightning Ininsider dot com, our man on the beat
of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Speaker 2: How you doing today, Eric, I'm good.
Speaker 1: It's the fact that we're talking means that hockey season
is right around the corner, and it's always an exciting
time of year for me. This is gonna be year
twenty five, twenty six. It's so much I've lost count
on what I'm doing, but this is always what the
beginning part of September means to me, at least for
the last number of years.
Speaker 4: That's outstanding. Yeah, that's a long time to be covering
an NHL team, man, kudos on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for the reminder that I'm old.
Speaker 4: Hey, you, me and everybody at this point. But if
those of our listeners are old and have been watching
the Lightning for a long time, if you're really old,
you probably remember some hard times. But the Lightnings have
bad more good than bad, to be honest. For the
eighth straight year and the eleventh time in twelve, the
Lightning made the playoffs. A lot of franchises would love
to have just that. Unfortunately, for the third straight year
after their Stanley Cup level success, they did not pass
the first round last year, and for the second straight
year they never made it outside of Florida in the
playoffs because, unfortunately, their cross state rivals suddenly are real good. Actually,
their goal differential from last year suggests they might have
been unlucky in some ways. During the regular season, they
were first in goals for and fourth best in goals against.
Their penalty kill allowed the least goals the smallest number
goals against the PDO gods. Of course you say that,
but the PDO gods could be angry at the Lightning
since they had second in shooting percentage and best in
our second in save percentage. Those things sometimes don't last.
We're gonna be talking about it somewhat aging team today.
The salary cap, the winner's curse of being so good
for so long has come hard for the Bolts. What
the Lightning watchers take from last year and is the
window still open for this team?
Speaker 1: I think people who watched the Lightning from a fan perspective,
their takeaway is frustration. Because you just touted all those
regular season numbers. You thought, Okay, they're back, right, They're
gonna be a team to contend with. Unfortunately, they ran
into the Florida Panthers once again, and Matthew Kachuck comes back,
and the salary cap situation, which the league is apparently
going to fix heading into this start of this season.
In terms of a playoff salary cap. The air a
ec Blat injury allowed them to go out and get
Seth Jones, so they were a much stronger team than
even during the regular season the Panthers were, and the
Lightning just ran into a as we saw a team
that just forced their way through the Eastern Conference once
again and ended up being the Stanley Cup champions. The
way the playoff format is set up, sometimes you're gonna
get this situation where you have a pretty strong division
like the Atlantic Kids. But you see all those numbers
and highest scoring team in the league, and even without
Steven Stamkos there, the power play was still efficient in
terms of the number of goals they scored and the
percentage that they had. But you run into the Panthers
and you hit a wall. I guess in a ways
and a lot of ways that's true. You go back
to the aironec blad hit on Brandon Hegel in Game
three and the hit from Matthew could shock on Jay
Gensel at the end of Game three. They literally ran
into a brick wall in some ways facing the Panthers
in that series. But as the window closed, I don't
think so. You mentioned an aging team, and certainly Kuchirofv
is now into his early thirties and Vasilewski is into
his early thirties. Brandon Hagel's what twenty five years old,
and Anthony Cerelli is still only twenty seven years old.
They still have some players that are key contributors on
this team that are still in their prime. Although the
big part of their core is the Koutrovs, the Headmans,
the McDonald's, the Vasilewski's. Even Brighton point has reached the
age of thirty now at this point in his career,
I think that there is still optimism. There's certainly a
lot of internal optimism. And I think if you look
at the offseason moves or lack of moves that the
Lightning did, they believe in this team and they believe
that they can be a contender. It's just on the
NHL sometimes it just doesn't go your way. There's so
much parody in the league that, Okay, they have been
knocked out in the first round for three straight years.
Speaker 2: There's no denying that. That's a fact. You can't get
away from it.
Speaker 1: But the funny thing is in twenty twenty two, when
they beat the Maple Leafs in the first round, the
Leafs were the better team. The Lighting just found a
way to win it in seven games. And the next
year against the Leafs, you look at the stats, the
Lighting were the better team, but they lost four of
those games in overtime and get knocked down in the
first round. That's just how close it can be sometimes.
And I think with the Lightning have proven, even going
back to twenty nineteen when they were swept by Columbus,
they don't react emotionally to situations. They react more analytically
and take a step back and look at things and
take that kind of a perspective. But I think that's
what's helped guide them to continue to be one of
the top teams in the league still despite the fact
that they have lost in the first round three consecutive years.
Speaker 4: And I didn't somehow this didn't register with me. Have
Florida and Tampa played in the first round for the
last five years, that's freaking crazy. Lightning won a couple
of those before Florida started. Anyway.
Speaker 2: Two, it was the second round though, so it was
the second twenty.
Speaker 4: Yeah, second round. Yeah, he may be aging a little bit,
but it's pretty hard to say that Niakuda Kucharov is
anything but at the peak of his powers. He missed
four games last year and still won his second straight
art ross his third total. How do you miss four
games that still do that? This future Hall of Famer
just put it in black ink topped the power play
count in the league with forty three, passing Nathan McKinnon
by five power play point count. I should say there
are not signs of decline. I could see he has
the kind of game that makes it difficult even to
ask a very intelligent question of you, Eric, except to say,
could he do another one hundred and twenty points this year?
Is he? Is there any sign that there's the client
coming for.
Speaker 1: This guy, No, not anytime soon. Just the way that
he works at his craft. And the thing that I
love about watching in Nikita Kutcherrov play is you have
to watch Nikita kutcher ofv play because he's so subtle
in his brilliance and how he can see the game
and some of the plays that he makes and pulls off.
And I've made this sort of comparison one hundred times.
Guys like McDavid and McKinnon jump off the ice at
you right, because their speed, their acceleration, the stuff that
they can do at a high pace of play.
Speaker 2: Nikita Kutrov is the opposite.
Speaker 1: He slows the game down, specifically in his mind, to
the point where you have to go back and watch
something on re play to understand what it was you
just saw. That's just how subtle his brilliance is. But
he works at it. When he talked to us in
the media at the end of last season, because his
quote unquote camp koucher Off has become quite strong down
in this area, to the point where he's back on
the ice probably maybe a week and a half two
weeks later, if not a week after.
Speaker 2: The end of the season, working on stuff.
Speaker 1: Watch the guy pull pucks off of his backhand off
the wall. Nobody does it better than Nikidita Kutrov. That's
how he can make such great subtle plays. But it's
something he works at. He will work out in a summer.
He will take one hundred, one hundred and fifty pucks
a day rimming off the wall off his backhand on
the right side, especially on the power play, to make
those kind of plays. When you have that sort of
maniacal dedication to improving and getting better every day, even
where he's at in his career. No, I don't see
Nikita Kutrov slowing down, especially when you got a guy
like Jay gensel Now on your line. For the most part,
he's such a smart player. Knows where to get, how
to get there, how to be in the right position.
He figured that out pretty quick, even going back to
the preseason to be able to play with Nikita Kutrov
and bradon point to certainly figure that out. And you
look at the offensive talent on this team. As long
as Nikita Kutrov has playmakers and finishers to set up,
they're going to finish plays that he makes because they're
just accustomed to playing with him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the next guy we're going to talk about,
Brandon Hegel. He had a breakout season, putting up thirty
five goals ninety points. He also had career highs and shots,
blocks and time on ice. His bash is pretty good,
block shots and hits four point two to one, ranking
him one hundred and sixty fifth, which is really good
for someone getting ninety points. And since arriving in Tampa,
he's increased his scoring by first ten points and then
now fifteen point pace. So Eric, do you think the
twenty six sherild has another gear? Can he turn ninety
into one hundred and continue to improve or is this
about where he's going to be or possibly even regress.
Speaker 1: I don't know about regress. I think one hundred might
be pushing it a little bit because he's not a
highly offensive player. In a couple of years that he's
been here, we have seen his passing ability come through,
like he's turned himself into a pretty good playmaker. We've
seen some of the passes he makes, and you don't
think of Brandon Hagel as that type of player, but he's.
Speaker 2: Worked at it.
Speaker 1: And it's probably a little Tikida Kutrov rubbing off on
a lot of guys that come through this locker room
and the ways that they can pass and understand that
the game can be a little bit different in how
you view it.
Speaker 2: But you look at those numbers.
Speaker 1: Had I think he had to have led the league
in empty net goals, right, I don't know that number
off the top of my head, but I think it
was seven or eight of those goals were empty netters.
The fact that all thirty five goals were scored either
shorthanded or even strength. He did not have one power
play goal. He could certainly be more productive on the
power play because he does see some decent power play time.
He split his time between the first and the second
unit throughout last season as they tried to find somebody
to take over that left circle spot that Steven Stamko's
vacated so he could up his power play production. Him
and Anthony Cirelli was certainly a major threat shorthanded. It
felt like every time those two were on the ice
together they created an opportunity shorthanded that aspect, you expect
to still be there because of the chemistry those two
guys have. But thirty five goals I think is probably
about the ceiling from Brandon Hagel.
Speaker 2: I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: I'm not a really good projection guy, but just based
on the way that he plays and knowing that he's
on the ice for all those empty nets. Now, look,
there's a reason you're on the ice at the end
of games, protecting leads, right, so you get those opportunities.
And certainly talked about Alex Ovechkin in that way a
lot throughout his career, but I think hegel with what
we've seen and the improvements that you mentioned point wise,
I think the improvements have been in his game as well.
And there's so much to love about Brandon Hegel's game,
and he's one of those younger players that are part
of a core now that are going to continue to
get better. I just don't know if reaching one hundred
point mark is something that's necessarily going to be in
his repertoire.
Speaker 4: Still, man that Brandon Hagel. I'm old enough to remember
when they traded the Blackhawks for Hagel and everybody thought
they were crazy. Are you really just throwing in all
your chips on this guy just because he had a
good half season. I guess they know what they're doing
down there, braidon Point. They also knew what they were
doing when they took bradon Point in what the third
round a couple or many years back now, and his
elite career continues a pace. For the third straight year,
he was over a point per game, So I want
to be picky. It was a slight slip from prior
to two years in terms of point pace, but still elite. Ordinarily,
one would call out regression for a player who led
the NHL in shooting percentage at twenty two point two percent. However,
on Hockey Reference, his career eighteen point eight shooting percent
also leads all active in the NHL. So what are
you gonna do? Point combined Bing and Selki votes last year,
which is always really impressive to me how you could
do both and point is locked in with Kutcherov, and
so you mentioned Jake Gnzel, who will get to in
a minute. Is this gonna stay a line a team
like this or are they ever gonna want to break
up that scoring and his point gonna have another similar
or even back to the two prior years level season
in the upcoming year.
Speaker 1: There's no reason to think he won't continue this because,
as we've talked about with Nikita Kuchrov as Nikita, as
long as Nikita Kutrov continues to be the playmaker that
he will be and that it's gonna land him in
the Hall of Fame one day, Braiden Point is gonna
be productive, whether it's the power play, whether it's five
on five. We talked about Kucherov being a subtle brilliance.
Braidon Point is a silent goal scorer like you think
of fifty goal scorers in recent years. There's probably not
a lot of people are gonna come up with Braiden
Point's name, but he hit that mark a couple years
ago because he's got his release is so quick, and
certainly he made a living in that bumper spot on
the power play, especially a couple of years ago when
he lived the league in power play goals. So he
has that weapon, that ability to get the puck offf quick.
He doesn't have a big slap shot, but it's that
quick release on the risk shot that he scores a
lot of his goals. He's around the paint a lot,
so he scores a lot of those type of goals
as well. And yeah, as long as he's going to
play with Nikita Krutrov, and those two have basically been
paired for the past just five six years, not counting
the COVID shortened season where Nikity Kutrov missed the entire
regular seasons, there's no reason to think that the production
value was still he's going to drop off much at
all with Braydon Point, and those two are so in sync.
Some guys just know how to play with elite players.
Braydon Point knows how to play with an elite player
like Nikita Krutrov.
Speaker 3: We've already referenced him a little bit. And the next
guy we're going to talk about, Jake Gonzil, his first
year in Tampa is more of the same secondstive season
with point ninety three points per game or higher timeline
ice shots, power play points all around his career average.
A couple things that were outliers. His shooting percentage was
a bit higher than usual nineteen percent, and his hits
dropped down from er point seventy two to point three
to five so half. And I also noticed that Gainstil
teems to bounce between ninety plus points seasons and then
seasons closer to point per game, And if that holds true,
that means next season will be above ninety, which Tampa
Bay fans should be pretty happy about that. But what
do you think we're gonna expect from Gainstel this season?
Speaker 1: Eric, Again, you talk about guys who know how to
play with elite players all those years playing with Sidney
Crosby a different type of player than Nikita kucher Off,
but smart players just know how to figure it out.
And Gensel when anybody talks about Jay Goensel's game. I
always talk about the hockey iq the understanding on you,
because again, he's not going to dazzle you. He's not
going to stick handle his way through three or four
guys up the ice on a speed rush or anything
like that. He's just around the net, and he knows
where to find quiet spots around the net. People talked
about Brett Hull in the way that he was able
to just find those spots, and especially when he was
working with Adam Oates, who could always find him in
those areas. Denzil just knows how to be in those areas,
and Nikita Kutrov knows how to find guys who are
gonna find those areas. I don't think it's much of
a coincidence that Gensil set a career high in goals
his first year playing with Dakita Kutrov. Year two, I
almost expect more goal production because he's going to have
a deeper understanding of working with Nakita Kutrov. So you
just mentioned he has the ninety points yiars as it
seems to be higher the next year. I have no
reason to think it won't be higher this year because
Genseil is just that smart of a player and getting
those opportunities to be alongside Nikita for a full season
and see, because like I said, sometimes you got to
see the way Nikita Kutrov plays on a daily basis
to understand what he's about. And guys like Jake who
grew up around the game and his dad was a
coach and his dad's a scout. So he's one of
those typical sons of an NHL player, of a hockey
player that just know how to play the game. And
there's no reason to think that Jake won't continue to
get the number one power play time around the net
where he found his niche on that top power play unit. Yeah,
I expect his production to be even bigger this year
than it was in a year one with Tampa Bay.
Speaker 4: Talk about a guy who knows how to play with
elite players, Jake Gnsel. Moving on Anthony Sirelli, he had
a career year actually fifty nine points and one hundred
and sixty shots, both career highs, career high ariverage time
on ice. You got all those scores we're talking about,
somebody's got to do the hard defensive pulling, and that
seems to be Sirelli, he finished third, and Selki voting
commensurate with his role. As I believe, as I'm looking
at this, pretty much the most defensively deployed forward on
the team or the most defensive zone shift starts among
the players who had a significant minutes. He's got six
more years of a decent contract for the Bulls. Like
you say, he is, if anything, early prime or mid
prime compared to some of the guys who were pushing thirty,
like you say, because he's a couple of years younger.
But that offense last year, the fifty nine points is
particularly intriguing to those of us playing the fantasy game.
He's also got a lot of blocks. Is this the
offense we saw last year? In indication of a new
level that Cirelli's fining. Could he be a sixty point
man or do we just need to calm him down
and think of Soirelli as a defensive master who's going
to have the big role for the lightning and shut
down opponents. Maybe get more like fifty points and that's
his job. What do you think about Sorelli's future?
Speaker 1: They need him to be a sixty point guy, as
crazy as that is. The sound right, because they are
the highest scoring team in the league. But when you're
playing that basically second center line role, you need the
offensive production and that was always the kind of thing
that was holding him.
Speaker 2: Back a little bit.
Speaker 1: He'd always flirt with twinny goals, but he never got there.
So you'd like to think that hitting that mark for
the first time career will push him even further.
Speaker 2: The thing that you maybe have to.
Speaker 1: Worry a little bit about with Sorelli is a lot
of that production came early in the year, right he
was off to a hot start. He found an ability
that maybe he didn't show before to get to that
home plate area of the ice and get shots off quick.
It's something Nick Paul does very well when he's in
those areas. I think Sorelli has learned to do that.
You look, a lot of those early season goals came
from those areas and he found a shooter's touch right,
you go bar down, but you hit those top corners.
He was doing a lot of that early year. That
kind of tailed off a little bit as the season
went on, but they need him to be a productive
guy because you can't rely on just Brayden point to
be your scoring center. You need second line center production,
which they hadn't gotten til last year from Anthony strellily.
Speaker 2: On a consistent basis.
Speaker 1: So you need him to be continue you to be
the Selki candidate that he can be and will be,
But you do need him to be You don't need
him to be Patrice Bergeron, but you need him to
be some version of a Patrise Bergeron type of player
who can play second line minutes and create offense. And
that's where the chemistry with Brandon Hagel comes into play,
because those two do work so well together that you
do need They're searching for another guy to play on
the wing. Hegel's on the left, Sorelli's in the middle.
They need somebody to be a consistent right wing threat
for them on that line, and maybe that'll unlock maybe
a little bit more. Maybe it'll be Oliver byork Strand
in his first full season with Tampa Bay. We never
got to see that last year after the trade. But
with Sorelli, he needs to be an offensive threat on
a more consistent basis. So you have to hope that
the kind of year he had last year will lend
itself to finally getting to that level to where he
can be a consistent threat.
Speaker 4: Bjork Strand is where we're going next with this team. Obviously,
he's made his rounds through Columbus, Seattle and out down
to Tampa. This was something he just noticed this and
I looked it up. And when they traded for or
when they got the Danish byork Strand, it made for
the ninth nationality represented on the roster. I believe that
tied the Chicago Blackhawks for the most international of all
the NHL teams. He maintained after they got him. He
did play a little bit toward the end of the season,
like you said, on a lower line. He maintained his
kind of half point per game pace that he was
on last year for those eighteen games before an injury
against the Red Wings late in the season that took
him out for the postseason. He didn't get to play
against the Panthers. He is now thirty years old, in
line with his team's age. At this point, he's on
an expiring contract and he's more settled into this team.
So what are you expecting. Is he going to be
the third guy on that second line, and what kind
of performance do you think they'll get out of him?
Speaker 1: We only saw it in practice last year. We never
actually saw it in the game him playing with Cirillian Hagel.
I think when they made that move they had that
in mind, because again the entire season SAMs Stephen stank.
They were looking for that other threat on the right side,
on the top two lines, and as any team does
throughout a season, you shuffle things around and try and
get good looks and good feels. But we never got
to that point with him, and then he was injured.
He didn't get to see him in the playoffs, where
he has proven to be a performer in years past,
whether it was in the AHL or certainly the light
And remember all those goals you scored against them with
Columbus through the years. He can be a guy who's
a twenty five goal scorer on this team, He's going
to see some power play time. He scored in his
Lightning debut after the trade, and it was on a
play for Nikita Kutirov. So you talk about guys who
understand how to play with great players. I remember the
comments he made after the game. He had a chance
to leave in that area and he said, no, I
saw the puck on Nikita Kuchirov stick. I figured I'd
better hang around than that something might happen. Sure enough,
the punk found and end up scoring a goal in
that game. So he knows how to be around the
net when things are in when he's in those areas,
to stick around and hang around and understand what might happen,
and just the anticipation that sometimes is a part of
a player's instincts. I think they want him to be
a second line right wing guy, especially look at the
way that this roster is currently constructed, and we've been
going over the potential line combinations for the regular season,
and every time we come back to York strand second
line right wing. He came over with Yanni Gord last year,
and he played a lot with Yonni Gord after the trade.
I think that's just the familiarity. Sometimes it can take
certain players longer to adjust to new surroundings, and I
think Oliver was in that standpoint. And it's too bad
because you could see he was starting to feel more
comfortable right before the injury occurred. And hopefully that comfort
level that he was showing will continue with a full
training camp with this team and then bleed into the
regular season. And he can be a twenty to twenty
five goal score in a second line role.
Speaker 4: I'm going to give you a pick em of some
depth forwards on this team. But this is a fun contrast.
This is this is like the movie Twins because I
make all eighties culture references yere Nick Paul, and Yanni Gord.
Yanni gordat great legend of early Lightnings teams or Lightning
teams from several years ago. Nick Paul, but undersize Nick Paul,
great big feller who does a lot of physical things.
A little bit more physical for this team. And Paul
was good for about forty points last year. Yanni Gord,
who they did get steal back from Seattle to it's
time to steal back from those crack and they've been
around long enough. He got a little over half a
point per game last year. So of these two, which
one do you think is going to be more productive
next year?
Speaker 1: Nick Paul, you know, you look at just his overall game.
He's gonna get a lot of third line center minutes.
He'll get some time probably in a top two line.
He's very versatile. He can play wing, he can play center.
He transitions back and forth again and trying to look
at what the lines might look like. At the end
of the season. You had Nick Paul between Gage Gonsalves
and Connor Geeky when Connor Geeky came back up from Syracuse,
and they were a pretty good line. And one of
the things that the Lighting don't have a lot of
on their forward lines is size, right, five to eleven,
six foot maybe there's a guy six Brandon Hagel's list
is six foot two. He's not six foot two, right,
They don't have that type of size. Nick Paul has it,
Connor Geeky has it, So that can be a line
that was a force with some of that size, but
also they could score. Gage Gonsalves kind of took a
big step forward last year. He was a productive player
the latter half of the season. He might have been
their most consistent scoring forward in the series against the Panthers.
So if that's the third line with Paul, Geeky and Gonsolves,
then I think Nick Paul will be just as productive
as he was last year, whereas Jonny gord is probably
gonna be more of a fourth line type of center.
You look at Luke Lin Denning and not Re signing
Luke Lin Denning. I think Janni Gord probably slips right
into that role, so his minutes will be a little
bit more limited. Maybe he'll kill some more penalties. I
don't know how much power play time Yanni Gord is
going to get, whereas Nick Paul can be a consistent
second power play unit guy, especially with some NetFront presence
with that size that he has. So if you're asking
me to pick who will be more productive offensively between
those two, I think it's going to be Nickpole.
Speaker 3: Sounds good, and let's do another pick them newcomer Jacob
Peltier who bounced around from Calgary to Philly last year,
and Connor Geeky, who you just mentioned a little bit.
Pelotier put up forty cur hies in forty nine games
with nineteen points between Calgary Philly. Geeky had fourteen and
fifty two games during the rookie season at times looked
really good. Kik, he definitely has a size advantage, but
Pillotie has a little bit more experience and at least
at times was thought to have some offensive upsides. What
do you think who think's going to get more points
between these two?
Speaker 1: I would go with Geeky as a lot of twenty
year olds will do. And there have been very few
guys in the Steve Eisman slash Julian breezeblat Era who
have skipped HL eligibility and jumped right in the NHL.
Geeky's one of them. But you could see by December
his game was starting to tail off. It's a big
jump going straight from junior into the NHL and the
riggers of having to go up against the size and
sometimes you're playing four games in a week and you
get back to backs. You could just see that it
was just taking its toll on him. So they sent
him down to Syracuse for a couple of months to
just find his confidence. And I think he had nine
goals and twelve games or fourteen games with the crunch,
So he brought that confidence back up. And so I
just mentioned the fact that he was on a line
with Nick Paul Engaged Consolves for a good portion of
the latter half of the ladder, about six weeks of
the regular season, and they were very good together.
Speaker 2: They were very productive.
Speaker 1: So I think Connor geek he brings more of a
confident style of play, which is something he talked about
a lot when he came back up from his stint
in the AHL last year. So I think that he's
going to be the guy that's going to get more opportunity,
whereas here is he's almost a reclamation project in some ways, right,
But they have some thought on him, right They signed
him to a three year contract, so they believe that
there's something there that they can find and bring out.
And the Lightness certainly have a history of this with
players who may be considered a little bit smaller that
they can turn into productive players. Jonathan Marshall Show and
Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gord, guys that are considered undersizes,
they found ways to get them confidence in anything else.
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting with Peltier whether.
Speaker 1: He starts in the NHL or they give him time
in the HL, if they can get him through waivers
at the end of training camp, if that's where he's at,
if they can get him through So I think Geege
is going to get the opportunity from the start of
the season, whereas Peltier might have to find a way
to earn his way into the lineup and then what
kind of a role is he going to have? Right,
I knowing this team, he'll probably start in a fourth
line role, even though he's more of an offensive style
type of player. So I think Geeky probably has a
better opportunity to be more productive.
Speaker 3: Sounds good. Let's move over to the blue line. I'm
gonna start with Victor Headman. At thirty four years old,
Headman continued to put up offense close to career norms.
His first season at captain saw the lowest hits per
game at point four nine. He's still pretty great for
preferal though, his block shots and hits at four point
four to eight, ranking him one hundred and twenty ninth
and all skaters starting a new four year deal. What
does the future look like Headman? Is he going to
start slowing down anytime soon?
Speaker 1: As long as Victor Hedman continues to skate for the
size that he has too right like you think he'd
be a lumbering skater, he glides across the ice, and
Rick Bonus, when he was one of the assistant coaches here,
talked about that all the time. He never had a
player that size skate the way that Victor Hedman does.
So it's such still such an asset to his game
and the fact that Ryan McDonough's return took some of
the overall responsibilities off of Victor Headman. He didn't have
to be the first guy over on the penalty kill,
he didn't have to be the first guy over at
the end of games to try and close out when
you have the lead late in the game.
Speaker 2: He could be a little bit more of Victor Headman.
Speaker 1: It's probably why the hits numbers went down a little
bit because he wasn't being asked to do that on
a work on that type of a basis, especially two
years ago when Mikhail Sergachev was injured right and there,
they really didn't have much depth on the left side
behind Headman. After that, he took on a lot of
resp responsibility two years ago with the minutes and everything else.
That kind of eased off a little bit and allowed
him to be the offensive player that he can be
in certainly number one power play time playing with that
top power play unit, which even though the Lightning's power
play finished twenty five percent to top five in the league.
I think internally they would tell you it was a
little inconsistent at times, but he was a consistent right
up there. I think what we would actually like to
see out of Victor is shooting the puck more right.
He doesn't, probably doesn't shoot the puck enough from the point,
especially in the power play, to be that guy. Because
he's got a hard shot, he's got a one hundred
nine hours shot. He probably would like to see him
use it a little bit more often. So I'm continue
to see as long as Ryan McDonough continues to be
the solid professional defenseman that Ryan McDonough is, then that's
going to allow Victor Hedman to maybe take a couple
of less minutes per game, which is going to help
his overall game.
Speaker 4: Next, we've got Darren Radish, one of the great Radish
brothers here. He debuted late in his career. He's already
twenty nine and hasn't been around it seems like all
that long, but he continues to grow into a larger
role with this team. Seems like a decent deal to
play with Victor Headman. By the way, that's probably not
a bad way to get yourself a couple of secondary
points and make yourself a nice impact. His role with Headman, however,
is that even strength, he doesn't play a whole lot
of special teams seventeen eighteen average time on ice. He
also doesn't get too many peripheral type stats. Thirty seven
points in seventy three games, more than half a point
per game, pretty nice for defenseman. And he's got excellent
goals above replacement. He's second among the team defenseman and
number one is not Victor Headman in terms of the
goals above replacement metrical burn Evolving hockey. But where's Radish's
place on this team? Is he sort of Headman's steady
partner or could he somehow sneak himself into some kind
of different role. What do you think and how was
his play? What do you think of mister Radish.
Speaker 1: He's interesting to keep an eye on this year because
they ran a lot of seven and eleven at the
end of last year's seven defenseman eleven forwards, But a
lot of that was because of Radish's improved play. When
the season started and they had the seven defenseman, he
was basically the odd guy out to start the year.
He was the one that was scratched more consistently than
anybody else, but the JJ Moser got hurt in December
and he didn't come back until after the Four Nations
break so that allowed Radish to get into the lineup
on a more consistent basis, and that's where you saw improvements.
The thing with Darren, the offense has always been there.
That's always been the strength of his game, going back
to his junior days playing on some of those Powerhouse
Eerie teams. He's not a great defender, but he's improved
even at now twenty nine. I think that's what's allowed
him to stay with the Lightning and see some ice
time as this improved defensive play, and if that improved
defensive play continues, he'll see some time now where he
plays that's a good question because for a good portion
of the year when Moser was healthy, he was the
left shot d playing the right side with Victor Hedman,
and Radish was rotating with that third pairing that included
a Mill Lilliberg and then Nick Perbicks. This year will
be Max Krozier taking the Nick's Perbock role and that aspect,
So where's he gonna play, Who's he gonna play with?
Will he see power play time? He's not a great
power play quarterback. He's got a great shot, He's got
a good, hard, pretty accurate shot, but he doesn't see
a lot of power play time, so he's an interesting
guy to keep an eye on. Where what's his role
this year? Will the lighting go eleven and seven? We
just talked about all the forwards. I don't know that
they go eleven and seven a lot this year because
they feel they have better depth amongst your forward group.
And who's going to be the odd man out when
it comes to dressing six defensemen out of those seven
just mentioned right, we know mcdonnal and Chernach are gonna
be a pair. We assume Hedman will play with Moser
again as long as Moser's healthy, and then that leaves Liliberg,
Krozier and Radish as your third pairing. And Lilaburg's still young,
Radish twenty nine years old. He's got a lot of
hockey experience, but he doesn't have a ton of NHL experience.
And then Max Krozer's still trying to find his way
into a consistent ring. We've liked him every time he's
come up. So don't know where Darren radis lands in
terms of the playing time. A lot of that I
think will be sworted out in training camp. Certainly he'll
see some time with Victor Hedman. We saw just as
they did with Mikail Sergachev. When Sargachev was here, he'd
play left side, he'd go up and play top minutes
with Victor Headman at times. I think Moses is not
to the same level as Mikhail Sergachev, but I think
he'll have that opportunity to sometimes, even within games, play
left side right side, dependent on situational play. But I
think Moser's gonna be the more consistent guy with Victor Hedman,
even though it's his off side.
Speaker 2: So where does Darren Raddish fit.
Speaker 1: That's a question that only he can answer with his
play in training camp in the early part of the season.
Speaker 4: Ryan McDonough actually is the winner of the trivia question
who had the highest goals of our replacement among defensemen
last year, And that was kind upset. The reunion went well.
His time in Nashville didn't last longer than the average
rival party that shows up there from time to time.
He came back to Tampa as an alternate captain and
he played well and even strength to offense and even
strength defense. He passed a thousand career games played last year.
Tread the tread is wearing on the tires, there's no
doubt about that. But from outside, he looks like one
of those kind of veteran leader types who doesn't show
up as much on the score sheet, plays a good
role with the team. Contract is expiring this year, but
we've seen a whole lot from McDonough in the past,
and one wonders whether that still might be in there.
Thirty one points last year in eighty two games. What
are you expecting from Ryan McDonough this year?
Speaker 2: A lot of the same.
Speaker 1: He's just he's mister steady and everything he does, he's
not going to put up a lot of points. Maybe
earlier in his career when he was running number one
power play with the Rangers, but he's at the time
of his career to where he understands what he's being
asked but doesn't mean he can't. Like he had a
shorthanded goal last year off the rush, and he understands
the times to jump up in the play and be involved,
but he knows that his job is to be the defender.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned the veteran leader. His voice in that.
Speaker 1: Locker room, it's so strong, it's so strong that he
just keeps everything together when they lost Steven Stamkos, and
he was such a strong leader. He is such a
strong leader they needed somebody to not replace that role,
but just be that type of a voice in.
Speaker 2: The locker room.
Speaker 1: I think McDonough's presence back on the ice in the
locker room steadied a lot of things out. I don't
think it's a coincidence that the Lightning's defensive numbers jumped
as high as they did from two years ago to
last year with McDonough's back. With McDonough's back right, he
unlocked Eric Chernak. He got Chernac back to playing at
his level. There's such a good duo together, so I
expect more the same type of minutes, the same type
of role, a lot of penalty killing from Ryan McDonough.
I mean, his play last year earned him an invitation
to Team USA's pre Olympic camp. I don't know if
he's going to make the team. I think the USA
is stacked defensively with guys who were younger and are
better skaters, and we know Quinn Hughes didn't even play
in the four Nations last year for them. But the
fact that McDonald was invited where he's at his age.
You don't think of those Olympic teams outside of Sydney
Crosby bringing in players who are at that point in
their career. But McDonough's play and his veteran leadership and
certainly he's been there before in Olympic teams, all of
that is on the table with Ryan McDonald's from that
fantasy standpoint, he's not gonna put up a ton of
offense and numbers, but he's going to give you the
block shots, right, He's going to give you the penalty
killing minutes that can lead to more block shots and
everything else. He's just you don't worry when Ryan McDonald's
on the ice. And I know that's a little bit
different from a fantasy perspective, but he eats a lot
of minutes because he just does his job every time
he's out there.
Speaker 3: Let's move over to the blue line and talk goalies.
The Lightning were ranked seventh and expected goals against for sixty,
but finished fourth in ranked actual goals for sixty. The
main reason for that, of course, andre Vosileski, who played
sixty three games and in that time had twenty eight
point eight goals save above expected. That's a pretty awesome number.
Of course, we've come to expect that from the great
goaltender Delta. Fenwick was also very strong and his record
was really good thirty eight, twenty and five Jonas Johansen.
You know, it definitely kept them afloat in the games
that he played, which hasn't always been the gig case
for him. Nineteen games he saved just a little bit,
just half a goal above expected and went nine six
and three during that time. So is this kind of
a similar split we should expect this season Eric between
the two, maybe Veslevsky plays a little more. What do
we think is going to happen with the Tampa goalies?
Speaker 1: I think ideally they'd want to keep Vasilevski in the
fifty five game range, fifty five to sixty. I think
a lot of teams nowadays, I mean, like the days
of Marty burd Drew starting seventy five games in the
season or some of the numbers that he put up
in his career, I think those days are past. I
think any team will look at their goal to any tandem.
Everybody says they need two goalies, and that's absolutely true
in today's game. So even with a guy like Vasilewski,
who returned to his elite level coming off the back
surgery the season before. I think you definitely want to
maintain a level because everybody's looking at the bigger picture.
The Light didn't expect to be a playoff team. Internally,
for sure, they feel they're a Stanley Cup contending team.
And the way sometimes to make sure you can remain
that is obviously you have to put yourself in position
during the regular season, but it's also to have a
goalie who's not worn down come April. So I think ideally,
if everything if they could script everything out, I think
could be a fifty five to sixty game situation for
Andre Vasileski, which would leave twenty to twenty five games
in that range for you, Honestio Hansson, But you also
have to have your backup give you a chance. And
the numbers sometimes aren't pretty with theo Hansson, but he
picked up points.
Speaker 2: Twelve twelve starts.
Speaker 1: He picked up points, and that's what you ask of
your backup goaltender. So the goals against and the same
percentage might not be at a level that you would
necessarily feel comfortable with, but he does what you ask
a goalie to do, and he gives you a chance.
And with Vazi, he's such a competitor. If you listen
to any of his comments coming out of exit meetings
last year, he was ticked off that they lost again
in the first round.
Speaker 2: He was not happy.
Speaker 1: He understands their home record in the playoffs over the
last three years, even going back to the twenty twenty
two Stanley Cup Final against Colorado, their home record has
been atrocious. He's already internalized all those things. And if
that's the case, you're still going to see a very
strongly motivated andre Vasilevski who never has any great goaltender.
He never wants to see a goal behind him, So
continue to let that be his drive, and if that's
the case, you can see another similar type of vesn
a caliber year out of andre Bazileski.
Speaker 4: All right, that has been a great tour around these
Tampa Bay Lightning Eric. Tell people how they can follow
all your work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the website is lightinginsider dot com. It's very easy
to find. It's the website was rebuilt a couple of
years ago, so it's much more user friendly, a lot
easier to navigate around, and certainly it's a premium website.
So there's two plans. You have a yearly plan, you
have a monthly plan as well. There's two ways to
sign up and coverage from the start of training camp
which is just around the corner, all the way to
the end of the regular season and into the playoffs,
which Lenny fans hope is going to take them into
June once again this year as this team feels that
they are a contender. So Lightinginsider dot com is the website.
Speaker 4: All right, Thank you so much, Eric, and good luck following.
Was it you said your twenty seventh season of Lighting
or twenty sixth.
Speaker 2: I was trying to add it up. I think it's
twenty six all right.
Speaker 1: Like I started at the paper in two thousand as
the backup, I took over an oh one as the
full time beat. You had a miss season there in
four oh five.
Speaker 2: I do I count that. I don't know. It's been
a long damn time, that's all I know.
Speaker 4: When you've done that much math, you heat have earned it.
You have paid your dues.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for coming on, Eric, Yeah, my pleasure. Guys.
Be well, Wilson, that's good fire. Pat, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3: Long with a Cat crap.
Speaker 4: Now it's your weekly goalie talk. But Kat Silverman, Cat's instincts.
Speaker 3: Time once again for Cat's instincts. With Kat Silverman and
benbo Mag we're talking lightning goalies. Yes, eventually they will
need another goalie aside from Harry Vassilevski. Here are some
names to think about. The first one Harrison Meighan. He's
twenty years old, six foot, four hundred and seventy four pounds,
drafted two hundred and six overall back in twenty twenty four.
Last year he finished his last WHL season. It took
the Medicine at Medison Hat Tigers to the Memorial Cup,
winning WHL and taking home MVP honors in the process.
Looking at his equivalency, it looks pretty awful considering his achievements.
I don't quite understand it. Maybe it was just a
product of the team around him, but he's hovering in
the iteens percentage in terms of being in NHL or not.
A whole lot of great comps there, but Scott Wedgward
is one point. He certainly was the service backup for
a while and has had runs of relevancy. Kat, what
are instincts tell us about Menigan.
Speaker 5: Menigan's a tough one because he looks like a project.
Even though he took them the MVP honors, he won
the Memorial he took the Medicine Hat Tiger, Medicine Hat
Tigers to the Memorial Cup. He looked like a lot
of what he was doing right is standing there. That
that sounds bad, but he was very good at not
overplaying the situation behind a defense that really understood how
to clean things up in front of him, and so
that can be why we send of a low comp
for him, even though he did have essentially a really
illustrious season. From the trophy shelf perspective, his skating looks fine.
I think his decision making looks overly cautious and less
like he's got really sharp instincts and more like he
is willing to play it safe at all times, which
is not necessarily a bad thing, but is if Lightning
fans are expecting someone who plays like Vassilevsky, who really
takes control and does a really good job of dictating
the play, does a good job of reading what's going
on with the defense in front of him him and
sometimes playing a more conservative game where he essentially allows
the defense to control how much space the offense is
allowed to have within his zone. But other times he
is able to really engage in the play more and
become a little more aggressive and challenging for the offense.
That is not something that I've seen super consistently for Menigan.
He is only twenty, he has only played in the juniors,
so that is something that is harder to do, particularly
in the WHL, which is a very defense heavy faction
of the CHL. If we look at really good offense
and goaltending from the OHL, we look at really good
defense and structure from the WHL, and it's not necessarily
his fault. It would have been hard for him to
try and take control with a really structured defense in
front of him at the WHL line playing in the
system that he did against the types of skaters that
are playing in the WHL, which is definitely more of
a two way hockey system. But I think we will
see when he arrives in Syracuse what that looks like
with the Crunch, so I think we'll have a better
idea of whether or not he is an air apparent.
Right now, he doesn't look like he is the next
greatest thing for the Lightning. But every time they do
draft someone who seems like the next greatest thing, we
expect to see that person backing up Andre Basilevski, and
instead they sign a goaltender who is one year older
than the goaltender that they had as a backup the
year prior. So they don't seem like they are willing
to allow that prospect tandem situation.
Speaker 2: Maybe they will.
Speaker 5: I don't think that he is in any way, shape
or former for that. We're probably three or four years
away from if he ends up being a really good NHLer.
I would say that's probably going to be when it hits,
but that's not what Tampa has shown that they're looking
for right now anyway.
Speaker 3: All right, well let's talk about the other guy, and
that's Caleb heel Isle. Nineteen years old, sixty two, one
hundred ninety six pounds, Drafted one hundred and ninety third
overall back in twent twenty five, this current recently just
happen draft. He spent his draft season in the USHL
for the Madison Capitals, where his numbers were really not
great kind a surprising actually, than he did get drafted.
His hockey prospecting equivalency is pretty low, and not a
whole lot of NHL is in there. Chris Mason is
probably the best from that lot. There's a lot of
development to go with kat. What are yours to tell
us about Ohile?
Speaker 5: He looks like a long term project for them. He
has already committed to North Dakota for the twenty six
twenty seventh season. He's got another year, it looks like
with the Madison Capitals, and then he's going to move
to playing college hockey. So I do think that's a
really weird draft pick for Tampa because he really looks
to me from a playing perspective, like they could have
gotten him for free as an unsigned player when he
was playing in college if he ended up really panning out.
But I don't know, that's a really strange pick for me.
I don't think he looks bad per se. He looks
like I don't know. I think he looks a lot
like a kid who has spent a lot of time
at USA Hockey goaltending camps. So nothing super inspired about
his plate, nothing terrible, no huge red flags. He's not
quite as aggressive as Drew Camesso was. He's not anywhere
near as controlled and precise as Spencer Knight was. I
think he's just He's just there. And I think that
Tampa is probably hoping that since they are going to
be a little resource depleted when it comes to getting
goaltenders in the next three or four years, they won't
have the bargaining chips to coax players in for free,
so they drafted him instead. That's the only real reason
I can think of that they did this. I did
do a real quick dive to see his dad did
play professional hockey. I wanted to see if he was
potentially listed as a scout for Tampa. Doesn't seem like
he is. But that's something that I guess only the
Edmonton Oilers do.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I think North Dakota is a really fun place to
see goaltenders develop. They have a really good system where
their goaltenders and the goaltenders in the area and their
women's team RIP all have gotten a chance over the
years to really do a lot off the ice together.
They do a lot of cross training together. The Lamarou family.
Jp Lamarou is I believe he's the eldest brother and
he does a lot with North Dakota hockey with goaltending
and elite camps around und so I think it's a
good place for him to develop, but I don't know
it's I'm glad that the Lightning are drafting goalies, but
every goalie they've drafted in the last four or five
years hasn't really obviously stuck in their system, so we'll see.
Maybe they're rolling the dice again and anticipating Vassilevski sticking
around until he's forty five.
Speaker 3: That'll be fun to seek. So Kat, thanks for giving
us your instincts some of the Gray Lightning Wolves.
Speaker 4: Victor, there is something else we got to talk about.
Don't we have something special to give to the listeners.
Speaker 3: That's right, Jesse Dauber Hockey has generously given us a
couple of free copies of their amazing fantasy hockey guide.
It's the Bible. It's the best fantasy hockey guide out there,
and we're gonna give it away to some of our listeners.
All you need to do is leave us a recent
from the time you hear this five star review on
apple Pad Podcasts or the podcast app of your choice,
and then send it to me Victor. A screenshot with
your name or a way to identify you and your
most recent five star review, otherwise I don't have a
way to track who it was. And then we'll select
a couple of the winners from all those who enter
and get you your guide.
Speaker 4: We'll be back right after this dig The Dynasty Jig
Cantlbay The Lightning Edition sixer ruff over here. The Lightning
have traditionally been good drafters, but they've also been a
very good team, as you heard, which puts them at
last place victor in your team rankings. Nonetheless, unlike some teams,
we do have three teams to go or three players
to go over today it starts with your no brainer.
Speaker 2: Who is it?
Speaker 3: No brainer? Is Ethan Zata. Zata was a twenty twenty
five second round pick fifty six overall sixty two hundred
and seventy nine pounds. He was playing in the HL
for the Niagara Asked Ice Dogs and had a jump
from seven goals and seventeen points in sixty two games
in his D minus one season to twenty one goals
and fifty five points in sixty eight games this season,
and he did play at the UA teams for Canada
five points in seven games in all a good draft season,
but not some not exceptional, and that kind of exemplifies
his fifty six overall ranking. Looking at his Fantasy HOWK
Life player card, you see a little less green than
you would like. But the play driving and transition numbers
are good, not amazing. The passing, especially the passes of
the slot and pre shot passes are pretty good. He
doesn't shoot a lot, but he's a pretty efficient shooter
when he does, and so that's good. He does take
a lot of pims, so Ethan Zotta good for pims
if that's what you want, and also really good for bash.
You know, even though his shots aren't very good, his
hits and blocks are excellent. So this is a guy
with a high peripheral floor, which it will be nice
in case his scoring doesn't fully translate. I have him
at a five point three five thirty five percent chance
of being an average roster player, but certainly room to
grow here for Zota. So that's nice to see. Let's
hear what else makes him interesting From our Fantasy Hockey
Life Scout.
Speaker 4: FHL scout Tony has this to say about Zada. He
is an effective skater with some speed, very adept at
finding open teammates with passes, a variety of ways to
me puck possession, variety of shots, wrist snap and slap.
An accurate shooter, Ethan seems to have great vision and
anticipation while playing with the puck, allowing him to find
open teammates and get open for another shot on the
give and go. Little in o panic, Tony observed in
Ethan's games for checking, Zada did a fair amount of
Ford checking, although not overly aggressive, and with his anticipation
in for checking, he's an excellent defensive player. So the
best asset here was the Hockey IQ. Biggest concern Ethan's
not dynamic in any one area of the game. The
top tier outcome Tier two, middle six some penalty kill
and power play time. Ethan's a responsible, trustworthy player, so
he's most likely not going to get your team beat,
but he's also not going to wow anyone. Tier three
bottom six PK time would be a median outcome here
because he lacks dynamic play, not a lot of bash,
not much physicality, and the stylistic comparable. Tony comes up
with Anthony Sirelli. Frankly, he thinks, if this guy develops
anywhere near Anthony Surelli Tampa will have made a great selection.
Mason Black, the Lord Stanley Division Tidy Champion and the
NHL Rank King put out the poll Ethan Zada versus
void tech chie Hush, and Zada wins that one fifty
six forty four Victor, Uh, Do you have strong opinions
on these two? Not really?
Speaker 3: These are both really deaf guys that aren't super interesting.
But I definitely would take Zata here. I think, for
one thing, he's got a much higher equivalency in a
couple of the models. I'll get into that in a sec.
But chi haas is they're both they were both drafted
this year, They're both you know, kind of similar in
terms of where they were drafted and everything. But I
do think that Zata has a little bit more of
the upside. Looking at the hockey prospecting between the two,
he has a thirteen chance of being a star based
on its OHL time, and chi has is down at
two percent. Part of that is not having an equivalency
in is D minus one season. So yeah, neither of
these look super exciting. I will say that Zata does
have a Castper Halton in comp and a Nick Robertson comp,
which we still don't fully know how those are going
to work out, but they're trending to be at least
somewhat relevant, whereas we don't know about chi Has. Looking
at the Fantasyacica Life player card for both these guys,
there's just a whole lot of color in the chia
Has one. There's not so good play driving, the shooting
and is not so good the passing is a little
bit better. Priffs are decent at sixty five percent, sixty
six percent, transition game at sixty four percent, so all
in all, not super exciting. And the comp that is
probably most exciting here for Zata is Halton in with
some other potential options that we're mostly busts or guys
that were average producers, and looking at the j Fresh card,
just one percent chance for Ethan Zata to be a star,
eight percent chance of being an NHL or Jesse.
Speaker 4: Well, now that we've gotten through the headliner, the blockbuster,
who's the need to know prospect?
Speaker 3: Yeah, a very uninspiring headliner for sure, and the will
go next to Sam O'Reilly as the need to know
He twenty four first runner, thirty second overall, sixty pounds,
was drafted by Edmonton and traded to Tampa and Isaac
Coward deal. This to me is clearly a floor for
ceiling trade. Sam O'Reilly is a very high ceiling, high
floor guy, whereas Isaac Coward has a much higher ceiling,
And so I think O'Reilly is someone who you're most
likely going to be able to fit into your bottom six.
Play reliable, tough minutes, but I'm not sure that he's
going to be super exciting in terms of fantasy. Although
he was over a point per game this season with
London as they won the Memorial Cup and certainly an
important part of that. He was awesome in the playoffs
twenty two points in seventeen games, so you know, you
like to see that, and you hope that maybe he
can translate more of that. I'm just not sure. But
if you look at his Fantasy Hockey Life player card,
he rates out extremely well in shooting and passing almost
ninetieth percentile, eighty ninth percentile priffs, pretty strong bash at
eighty second percentile. He also is pretty good with play
driving and transition, both in the mid to low seventies
there So, all in all, pretty strong OHL play he
is nineteen, so he's not He's a little bit older,
but not super old for that league. I have him
at a four point sixty five, so just a pretty
solid chance of being a sub average roster player. And
it depends on how deep your league is. He might
be a little bit more exciting versus if it's a
shallow lead. Not super exciting. But let's find out what
is interesting about sama rally from my FRHL scout Jesse.
Speaker 4: Well, Victor, you still have me awake. Let's see what
lead scout Patrick can do to change my mind on
mister O'Reilly. He says skating improve the skating somewhat now
slightly above average. He has added some berths that he's
able to use on the rush, passing and handling. Skilled
in those areas, Riley is able to handle intight, including
along the boards. However, despite his playmaking skills, he isn't
the primary play driver. Shooting an average rich shot, most
effective in closed and specializes in tip ins the IQ
the hockey IQ. O'Reilly stays composed, He sticks with it
on board, battle stays in motion, being good position and
anticipation is most evident on defense. O'Reilly is a contributor
on the fore check. He competes along the boards, including
throwing opportune hits. Sam takes his defensive duties seriously and
is often the first forward, staying close to his man
he's counted on to help on the penalty kill. Patrick
says that Sam O'Reilly's best asset in some is his
two hundred foot game. The biggest concern despite his point total,
science point to a somewhat limited points upside at the
higher levels. The top tier outcome probably a middle sixer
fifty to fifty five points, no power play time, although
there's some possibility he could be NetFront on the power play.
The justification solid overall game leading to solid but limited
role based on the lack of higher end skill and
the median outcome bottom six thirty five to forty five points.
Because his compete and defensive acumen, along with playmaking ability,
means he can be valuable in the bottom six. Patrick
thinks maybe a Scott Lawton type and Mason Black put
up the poll Sambuel Riley versus Teddy Stega of the
Nashville Predators. Old Teddy wins this one fifty one point
four to forty one point forty eight point six victor.
What do you think of that one?
Speaker 3: The man who I was so tired at the draft
that I mispronounced his name is Steady Tiga. How can
you go against him? Yeah? I still like him. He is.
Speaker 1: That.
Speaker 3: Both these guys are most likely going to be middle
to bottom six forwards that aren't super exciting in terms
of fantasy, But I would take Stega. He did have
a pretty great season at Boston College. Thirty points in
thirty six games. That's a huge jump from being just
a little bit over a point per game at the
us NTTP and USHL to being near point per game
at in the NCAA. Is pretty awesome. Of course, we
remember his heroics in the U twenty World Junior Championship game.
I think wasn't the only shot and only goal he
scored in the whole tournament was? I believe it was
a gold medal game if I remember correctly. That was
pretty awesome. He was pretty clutch and yeah it was yeah,
one goal on one shot. Oh he had more than
one shot. I think No, that was it? Okay, Sorry,
just fact checking myself in real time. Literally the only
opportunity he got and he buried it for the win
against Finland, and you know, I think that's the kind
of player he's going to be. Both these guys, but
I think Steka, even more than o'reiley, is going to
be one of those clutch depth performers who may work
his way up to the top of the lineup. He
kind of reminds me a little bit of Dawson Mercer.
Just really smart, complain to where in the lineup, but
probably won't be super exciting in terms of fantasy or
just kind of always leave you wanting more. But as
a coach on your team, you'll love him. And I
think that that's probably what we'll say about both these guys,
say I do like the Scott Latin com for Sam o'reiley.
I think he's just going to be hard to play against,
you know, reliable middle six guy, and that's good for
your team. That's so good for fantasy. Looking at the
hockey prospect between the two, o'reiley kind of held steady
at seven and then six percent chance of being a star.
Steka went down from twenty four to ten percent, even
though he had a really strong NCAA team. Byron's model
really punishes and unless you absolutely knock it out of
the park. So ten percent chance of being a star
isn't super high, but still a little bit more than o'reiley.
And if you look at Teddy's Fantasy Taic Life player card,
there's a lot of green here as well, just like
there is for o'reiley in a much harder league. So
I think that that cast a tip towards Stiga, and
I have him at a six point four to six
so a pretty decent shot at being an above average
player on your fantasy team, much better than Sam o'reiley.
Looking at some other cops comps for Sam o'reiley, I
think Emmi Heinemann is a reasonable one. None of these
guys are super exciting. They're pretty much all average producers
at best. Looking at the j freshcard, just two percent
chance of being a star, eighteen percent chance of being
an NHL or Jesse.
Speaker 4: Well, all right, then, and who is the keep your
eye on prospect picker?
Speaker 3: The keep your eye on is Nico hutanin twenty twenty one,
seventh round pick six, three hundred and ninety eight pounds.
He had his first full season in the HL this season,
twenty points in fifty one games. He'd kind of bounced
around a bit. He developed in Finland, then he came
to the WHL, and then went back to Finland, and
then just came back to North America, so it's kind
of been all over the place. His calling card is
a massive shot, which he can definitely unleash in the
right situation. But he also isn't necessarily the fleetest of
foot in getting around the ice another situations, so that
might limit him a bit. But it was, you know,
a decent first season in North America playing professional hockey.
You look at his Fantasy Hockey Life player card and
there's some missing data here from his AHL time, but
a lot of his play driving wasn't great. He does
bash a lot, though his hits, blocks and shots mainly
his hits, though he hits a lot, is going to
be really high, so that gives him a solid perferle floor.
Let's hear what else is solid about Houten from our
FHL scout.
Speaker 4: And Patrick has this to say about Nico Houtonen, who
used to be a little earlier in this preview. In
years past, houtinin can has average skating. He is able
to keep up with play and in some cases go
end to end average passing and handy, but occasionally shows
flashes of a little more. Most of his passes are
simple and somewhat effective, but he can get passes the
teammates in high danger areas. He can sometimes handle through
crowds and contact, but also has a tendency to try
to do too much a heavy shot that he will
lost and shoot from near the point or around the
face off dots. However, he could benefit from being more
selective with his shots. Houton in shows some instances of
good vision and anticipation. There are times when he can
use more patients, but others when he could use more urgency.
Houton is involved in the four check via checks, poke
checks and board battles. Plays his part on defense, skates
back hard, uses his body, or battles for the puck
with his stick. Patrick says the number one asset is
that heavy shot and the biggest concern of the overall
skating that could hold him back when he gets to
the NHL. The top tier outcome here middle sixer on
the power play fifty to sixty points because he plays
a physical game with a good amount of skill that
will make him a good asset. The median outcome more
of a bottom sixer power play two forty to forty
five points. Good assets, but lack of a higher pace,
better defense, and lower end skill could limit his role.
And the stylistic comparable Patrick gives here is somewhat comparable
to Pat Maroon and the Mason Black poll that he
put out Nico Houtonen versus Dean la Turno, and that
is fifty six point six to forty three point four
Victor Whoten in victory. Is that would you think?
Speaker 3: I guess depends on what you want. Hutin In is
close to the NHL, although I kind of feel like
he might end up just being a tweener and not
someone who really gets relied on for NHL minutes. I
think i'd probably lean Laturno because he is still really
young in his development. Remember he was He's the huge six',
seven two hundred fourteen pounds and he was playing in
high school when he was Drafted. St. Andrews and he
transitions straight from there to THE ncaa after a COUPLE
ushl games and it was. Rough we kind of figured
it would be, rough and it was. Rough he had
literally three assists in thirty six games Of Boston college
playing a depth. Role it. Was it was a big
adjustment for. Him but since he's so early in the,
FUNNEL i would Take laturno because he still has plenty of.
Time he's still a. Teenager he's. BIG a lot of,
times it takes bigger guys longer to kind of coordinate
and get it all figured. Out SO i would Take,
laturno give him two three years and he might be
a solid, producer whereas Hutin, in maybe he figures it,
out maybe he gets a chance With, tampa BUT i
think the reality is he might end up just being
a tweener BECAUSE i haven't seen much beyond his great.
Shot and if you look at the hockey prospecting between the,
two while both these guys are pretty, low Hutin in
graduate of the model at two percent chance of being a,
Star laturno is literally at zero. Percent and that's because
he just basically didn't score this. Year looking at the
hockey prospecting or, sorry The Fantasy akic life player card For,
laturno one of the real positives is that a lot
of his transition game At Boston college was really solid
eighty two percent for transition. GAME a lot of his
breakouts were. Excellent a lot of his entries were very.
Good some of his play driving numbers were really, good
his puck, battles his loose puck, Recovery he's using that
really big frame really. Well lots of hits fifty one
percent For, bash but eighty percent of that is his.
Hits so there's looks like there's going to be a
strong peripheral, floor AND i think we just got to
give him a little bit of. TIME i have him
at a five point four zero forty percent chance of
being an average roster, player AND i think there's upside for.
More SO i would definitely Take laturno, here unless you
just really wanted someone super close to THE nhl and
didn't want to. Wait THEN i could see that. Argument
looking at some other comps for Hutin, in there aren't
really a lot of good. Ones maybe Uh Casperi kappanan
in terms of average, producer who might be kind of,
Similar but even that Capin in is much. Quicker how
the j fresh card for Hutan in one percent chance
of being a, star forty seven percent chance of being
AN NHLer as, usual pretty. Pessimistic and that is. It
that is our last team. Preview if you're a, patron
you can listen to my top ten prospects recap On
patreon WHICH i finished all of, them And jesse is
going to put into one big one composed files for
you to listen to, continuously which will be super. Fun
and we really appreciate you sticking through all of. This
and if you're interested in helping out the show doing
any scouting with, us even as we move into the regular,
season we'll still be doing some, scouting shoot me A
dm On, Twitter, discord or email.
Speaker 4: Us be right back to close out the. Show our
show is brought to you by fantracks dot. Com you
can play all your league silvert fan. Tracks they got
nine different. SPORTS i play five of. Them don't try
to make me play f. One i'm already in enough
trouble as it is here at. Home they have the
most options for, scoring, salaries, contracts rookie, eligibilities slow, drafts rookie,
drafts everything you're gonna want to have for the upcoming
fantasy hockey, Season so check out fantracks dot. Com there's
also fantasy content in and around. It you can check
out articles on fantasy hockey and Other Fantasy SPORTS fhl
crew Represent we Got, tim, A Ryan simo And craftzer
running them tidy leaks which are in between now the
in between the drafts and free agency coming. Soon tony
And patrick you heard them this. Episode there are lead Scouts,
Mike steven And matt got us through this summer with
amazing show prep for a ton of. Guys brandon helps
with the, website prospect, ranks. Visualizations there's some cool stuff going.
There and if you've got skills you'd like to lend the.
Show victor would love to hear from you in, discord
email or social. Media we are also brought to you
By Dauber Hockey Dauber. Prospects victor is an editor and
he's writing the journey there the article and you can
follow all of this. WORK i do a solo show
Called Dynasty Sports. LIFE i talk about four Different Dynasty
sports follow us on social media on x It's Fan
Hockey life And Victor nuno twelve On Blue, Sky Jesse
severe and The. One victor rate and review Us Apple,
Pods spotify wherever else you get your. Pods five, stars kind,
Words thank you. Everybody hope you enjoyed this. Tour through
thirty two teams to help you prepare for this Year's
Fantasy Hockey life