Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life presented by fan Tracks.
Speaker 2: Here sits.
Speaker 1: Your source of information and analysis to help you win
your fantasy hockey league.
Speaker 2: Talk off HAPs a step hit on Staylock.
Speaker 3: Here's your hosts, Jesse Sovier and Victor Nunhoe Fantasy.
Speaker 2: Hockey Live back once again to talk fantasy hockey, to
talk Timpa Bay Lightning. Today it is Jesse Severe from
fan Tracks and over there you know him, Victor Nuno
VP ringside. Victor, how you doing.
Speaker 3: I'm doing great, Jesse. Yeah, it's been a nice few days.
Took some time away to the family with the family
and went down to the California area and purposely did
not go to Disneyland because that would have been not
fun for me. But we had a good time. Anyways,
How are you doing.
Speaker 2: I assumed if you were in Anaheim you'd probably just
be going to the Ducks proch and buying jersey after
jersey Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kessler, all the guys
from the Ducks of your favorite years. Yeah, that sounds
like me. All right, Victor, We're gonna have a good
time today. We always have a good time. Our listeners
always have a good time. And if they want to
keep the good times rolling, all they have to do
is show up to our discord at anytime, dear night.
There's people in there. Chat in fantasy hockey for absolute free.
You can hit Victor up at Victor Junio twelve. You
can hit me up at fan Hockey Life, or you
know what, just email us Fantasy HOCKEYLFE at gmail dot
com and get a link. But Victor, there's more stuff,
cool stuff going on, including one special off season project.
What is it? Tell the people I'm I'm on titter hooks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so something you may remember, we do the average
Draft Position project, where we look at everyone's entry draft
and kind of collate them and figure out where they're
going in fantasy drafts. So that's something that you could
help us out with. We need your draft results and
so you can do that. You can download the CSV file.
We're only looking for twenty twenty four prospect drafts, not
the ones that kind of combine multiple things or re
entry players or anything like that. But yeah, that'd be
great if you could send that to me. You can
email it, you can send it in the discord or Twitter.
That would be great. It really helps out figure out
what's going on and we can do some analysis on that.
And of course other things are like the Patreon right,
so that would be another way if you want to
support the show. We have a lot of great stuff
over there. We have the website with player cards and
the ranks and the lists, and as we were doing
the patron cast last week, Brandon unveiled some other really
cool stuff on the website. There's always new and cool
things happening, so definitely worth checking out. The new thing
that he did was basically being able to look at
how the how where the rank of the prospect has
changed over time, so you can just go and look like, well,
where has this, how has this been shifting, and what
has their fantasy rank been looking like. So that's just
one of the many cool things you can see in
addition to patron casts and playing in the Tidy the
Tier Dynasty, which you can get in on lots of
cool stuff over at fantasy at patreon dot com slash
Fantasy Hockey Life.
Speaker 2: You darn right, and now it's time to get into
the meat of this episode. Right after this you're gonna
hear about the Tampa Bay Lightning. We've welcome back to
the show today talking Tampa Bay Lightning. DeAndre lou up
the Hockey news. How you doing today, deanro Hey, guys,
I'm good. How are you good? Good? You're down in
the steamy confines of the state of Florida, I imagine,
ready to talk some hockey, just like everybody thinks about
hockey at this time of year down there, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I will say Florida hockey is growing. It is
the topic conversation right now. So we got a couple
few Stanley Cups down here, so you can't hate too much,
Oh no, no, analizing the hot weather of hockey.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I don't hate the success of Florida hockey
by any means. I do resent you for your weather
in the winter living up in Wisconsin, and I think
I still continue. All right, that's neither here or there
right now. Don't want to start out on a negative note.
Let's talk about the Tampa Bay Lightning and I just
usually do a very brief abbreviation of it. They've had
such a run two Stanley Cups, a runner up season
the last two seasons, not quite a successful second straight
one and done in the playoffs, although this year they
lost the Battle of Florida. As we were talking about Florida,
the future Cup champs were the team that they went
down to. The Lightning were amazing once again on offense,
one of the best scoring teams in the league, leading
the NHL with power points, the power play goals, and
power play percentage, but the goal prevention wasn't there. They
had the worst goals against her game among the playoff teams,
tenth worst in the league, and the sixth worst save percentage.
They didn't get over five hundred until January. They were
making that slow climb and got themselves like a winning
team that they are into the playoffs with a late push.
Certainly we'll talk about the goalies and like the last
part we're talking with you about and the late start
of a critical player obviously had a lot to do
with this. But now Tampa goes into next year without
its longtime captain. Before we get to the individual performances
from last year and what to expect, I gotta ask you, Deandra,
is is this team pass its window? Now?
Speaker 4: Whoof There's a lot going on. I think you and
I talked about it. We talked about it before I
hopped on here. But it's been an abnormally busy offseason
for the Lightning, and so much of it has to
do with Stamkos leaving and a lot of just some
longtime players departing what you talked about with the Lightning
against the Panthers, and I will say, like the Panthers,
so much credit to them because they had an incredible team.
They were leading with their defense and it paid off
for them in the end.
Speaker 5: Right, nobody could swiper on them.
Speaker 4: Obviously, the Oilers made a push there and they had
a really legitimate chance to come back and win the Cup.
But I think we saw what you need, what kind
of hockey you have to play in order to win
the Stanley Cup. And when the Lightning were in their
prime and they won those back to back Cups, their
defense was just absolutely dominant. When you're reading off those numbers,
even though I knew this, but when you read them
off and you hear the breakdowns, you can see where
things fell through the cracks. And I will say with
the Lightning, all of those numbers and that those defensive
issues were there all season. And it was an interesting year,
right because this was the first year where they really
were a different team, and the Panthers are going to
see it. Once you win a cup, you really do,
you got to pay afterwards, and the salary Cup is
not friendly to you. And we'll see the Panthers go
through the same thing that the Lightning are going through
right now. And I think this year heading into free agency,
actually I know for a fact Julian Breese Watt. His
main focus was bolstering up the defense. So I think
we're going to see a very different team. It's really hard,
like you said, like looking at this lamp, you look
at the roster and some of the moves that were made,
and you don't know what to expect. So I don't
want to say the window is closed. I don't want
to say the windows wide open. I think it's going
to be, but wait and see. We can all make
our predictions and see what happens.
Speaker 2: All right, let's go to the forward core. It has
to start with the kid to kucher off. And don't
tell Nikey to this team isn't a contender, And don't
blame him for last season he won the Art Rosses
All with one hundred and forty four points. In the
time since Mario Lemieux walked the Earth, only Connor McDavid
once posted more points in a single season than Nikita
kucher Up did last year. That is absolutely astounding. Yeah,
the offensive environment of the league is changing a little bit,
but Niki had historic season last year. He takes nearly
four shots a game. If I didn't say, forty four
goals and one hundred assists, and he missed the games
and play a fall eighty two. He's thirty one, three
years to go on a nine point five million dollar contract,
which at this point is nothing but a bargain. Kutcher Up,
you need to start giving him the benefit of the
doubt in terms of performance and expect to expectations going forward,
understanding that even for a Hall of Famer, one hundred
and forty four points is a career year and regression
would be absolutely no shame for that. Is there any
reason to expect the regression comes though, the regression monster comes.
Is there a reason to expect a falloff of more
than just a little bit of a rounding air from
kutcher Up this coming year?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, coochins in a world of his own. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't expect his game to decline anytime soon. He's
been on the ice. I think he took a week
off this year and he's been in Tampa back on
the ice right, So I don't think he is messing around.
Speaker 5: I think it's going to be Obviously.
Speaker 4: Last year was a historical season for him, but I
could totally see Cooch doing similar this year. And listen,
it's going to be a different year for all of
these guys. When you talk about a guy like Nikita Kuchrav,
he's so used to playing with Stamkos and a lot
of those assists, those hundred assists went to Stammer, It's
going to be a different game for him. I think
he'll have a little bit I'd love to take more
of a leadership role and maybe have a little bit
of an adjustment.
Speaker 5: They're so used to that power play and things like that.
Speaker 4: But I'd expect a similar performance from Kooch and if anything,
he's going to try even more because they're going to
need it.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 5: This is again just a very interesting season coming up.
Speaker 4: We'll see how things pan out, but Koch is going
to be dominating, dominating that line with Gensel up there.
But then also the leadership roles are going to change
and they're going to need more out of him, and
he knows that he's going to have to distribute the
puck in different ways than he has. I'd expect their
game to change little bit too. They're going to have
to change that power play without Stammer there, and things
are going to shift a bit, which is I don't know.
Speaker 5: He's in a world of his own.
Speaker 4: I was a little surprised during the playoffs, but we
go back to talking about defensive teams and the Panthers.
They were able to stop his game a bit, and
he had such a strong season, so that was surprising
for me, and I'm sure that doesn't sat well with him.
I wasn't surprised that he was back on the ice
a week after things ended for the Lightning.
Speaker 2: If you asked me anybody who doubts kucher Off that's
number one BS. Let's talk about bradon Point, another of
the returning superstars of this team eighty one games, forty
six goals, forty one assists from ninety points last year
with that historic season from kucher Off. Point was another
one who put a lot of those assists into the net,
nearly three shots per game and by the way forty
six goals with fifteen power play goals tied for eighth
in the National Hockey League. If you believe in game
winning goals, his twelve led the NHL.
Speaker 3: How about that?
Speaker 2: Unsurprised he was glued to Kucherov all year with at
evenstrength with some variation in the third member of that line,
a perennial bing candidate. Point takes almost no penalties, so
that's a nice feature. Related however, the hits and blocks
are not a laite to Bash is not elite. He
had one weird outlier of over a hit per game
a few years back. Now that is non existent in
his game that it would appear he is still on
the right side of thirty. Unlike a lot of the
core of this team. Is Point headed for another ninety
points season? Or would you expect with stamp cost leaving
with a little bit of the offense maybe having not
maybe won't be quite as strong. Would you expect a
step back?
Speaker 5: Honestly, I would expect more.
Speaker 4: Actually at a bradon Point, I think he had a
slow start to last season and things progressively got better.
And the thing with Pointer is that he scores goals
in bunches, so when he gets hot, that's it for him.
But again, it was a slow start, and also there
was some shifts in their defensive game, which I know
that's a big thing that they've been trying to work
on going into next season. And so things are gonna
change and I think they're going to be in a
better position.
Speaker 5: But I would actually expect more out of bradon Point.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's again I don't think it sat
well with him that he had a slow start and
there were some struggles there and he let it up
at the end. I think he's going to come out
pretty strong this year. These guys, it was a unique
season for them, and I know Stammer actually talked about
it in his letter. It's just not the way that
they wanted things to end. And again with Stammer gone,
you're going to see guys like braiding Point and Nikita
Kutrev are really going to have to step up even more.
Speaker 3: Yes they will, but they have the benefit of a
newcomer Jake Gonsel, and after eight seasons with the Penguins,
Gensel was traded at Carolina last season. He was really
good for them, But now it comes to Tampa and
looking back, save for the twenty twenty two to twenty
three season, Gensel has been over a point per game,
and three of those were ninety plus US points seasons.
It seems like a situation will be just as good
or better in Tampa. You mentioned Stammer obviously leaving on
and not having that playoff power play production. I think
Gensel is possible could step right into that role. He
is the same handedness. So what do you think we're
going to see from Goensel DeAndre? Do you think he
could reach even higher heights, maybe up to a hundred
point pace or what should we expect from him?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: No, I definitely think with Gensel, especially you're looking, he's
likely going to be on that top line next to
bradon point in, Nikida Kutrov, and I'm not really sure
if he can fail on that line.
Speaker 5: So he is going to excel.
Speaker 4: I think that they're really expecting a big season out
of him. And one of the things that I think
why they brought Genseil on is because they want a
really strong two way player. He's he can he is
that guy, right. They want someone that can play well
defensively and also score goals, and obviously there's going to
be a lot of pressure on him this year.
Speaker 5: He is aware.
Speaker 4: We spoke with him the day or two before it
was an onset stam Coast was leaving, and it was
already assumed that's what was going to happen. There's going
to be a lot of pressure on him, a lot
of added pressure that he didn't ask for, but it's
definitely going to be there. And I just think that
if he can just only focus on his game and
kind of tune that out, he's going to have a
huge season.
Speaker 5: And he brought him in for a reason.
Speaker 4: He's a playoff guy and that's what they want, and
he can score five and five and that's what they want,
and he's a two away player. Yeah, I think he's
gonna have a huge season. Just think if you're playing
on that line with Braden Boyt and the kid to
kutra Off, he's going to be set up for success.
And you can tell, like Julian really believed in him
and they paid a lot to get him. Normally in Tampa,
players take a discount to be here and to stay here,
and we don't really see them forking out nine million
dollar deals for a player, so the expectations are going
to be high. But he seems really happy to be
in Tampa, and I think that always helps too. I
think he's gonna have a huge season Brandon Hegel.
Speaker 2: I know I was really skeptical a couple of years
ago when Tampa seemed pushing, seemed to push in a
ton of their chips for Hegel from the Blackhawks. But boy,
it's pretty tough to question that decision now. Eighty two games,
twenty six goals, forty nine assists for seventy five points.
Last year, particularly when Tampa got hot into the new year,
Hegel was on an absolutely torrid pace. I went through
encountered on Hockey Reference. At one point, Hegel had primary
points in seventeen of eighteen consecutive games. By advanced metrics,
he was one of the three best forwards on the team,
and depending on what you look at, maybe even second
only to Kucherav the youngest member of this corps. A
very reasonable contract for his level of production. What expect
for Brandon Hegel coming back into the new year? Is
he going to step up to a new level.
Speaker 4: I always laugh when people talk about Brendan Hagel because
he's so feist you always say he's got that dog
in him, like he when they were at their lowest
throughout the season, he was the one that was trying
to get the crowd into it and really getting his
team motivated and try to push them through when they
went through that rut there in the middle of the season.
But yeah, when I think of the future of this
team and what it's going to look like, I think
of Brandon Hagel.
Speaker 5: I expect him to Again.
Speaker 4: I know we keep going back to Stamcoast, but obviously
stam Coast was such a huge part of this team
and the leadership, and so this is the first time
we're really seeing things to shake up in that department.
But I see Brandon Hagel stepping up. They're going to
need him to step up. And you know, I think
of the future and who will eventually be a leader
on this team, it's Brandon Hegel.
Speaker 5: And his game is only going to get better.
Speaker 4: He's not even hit his prime yet, so he is
definitely a lifer bolt and I think we saw a
little bit of it last season, but again, like we're
going to start entering his prime in the next few
years and he's going to be him and Sorelli that's there,
that checking line, and the two of them play off
of each other and they're great. Hegel, I wouldn't be surprised.
I don't know if he'll get the A this year,
but he's going to be right there. And I've seen
him grow and get comfortable in Tampa, and he's one
of those guys that really wants to play in Tampa,
really wants to play under Coop. He's just one of
those guys. So we'll see him. We're going to see
him have a big season this year.
Speaker 2: All right. We tend to do a little bit of
a pick them throughout two names and ask you which
one of these guys is going to put up maybe
the more points next year, maybe a little thoughts on them,
And we're going to pick Anthony Sirelli, who you just
mentioned forty five points of seventy nine last year, Nick
Paul forty six points, almost identical in eighty two games.
And really these are two of the best in terms
of goals above replacement on the team. Nick Paul actually
in terms of goals above replacement was just Bolo Kushirav Hegel.
If you can believe that what that takes into account
the defensive side of the game at five on five.
So Nick Paul Anthony Sibarelli, if I made you choose
between them, who you got?
Speaker 5: Listen. So those two guys, two totally different games, right.
Speaker 4: Sorelli is more of a I would say, like a
defensive player and he's on that checking line. Nick Paul
is the guy that stepped in when Alex Klorin left
and he stepped in on that power play. He's his
entire job is to hang out in front of the net.
He's a big dude, and so it works really well
and that's how he's able to get those like greasy goals.
If I had to pick one and who's going to
score more, I would say it would be Nick Paul.
And he's another one that he's really We've seen him
get comfortable in his role last season and he's pretty outspoken.
Speaker 5: Guys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna go with Nick pauls love Cirelli though,
great player, just more of a defensive player. Spartans like
I will say too with Cirelli, like he's the kind
of guy that scores those goals when they really need it.
But again, Nick Paul is regular on the power play,
so he's gonna be right there in front of the net.
Speaker 3: S really is a great player, right, Even though Fantracks
has a lot of categories, I don't think they have
the goal when you really need it unfortunately. As yeah
about that, Let's move on to the last big I
don't know about how big, but the last adition at forward,
and that's Cam Atkinson. When Philly, he had a downward
tread in his production. His first season there, he had
similar to what he had in Columbus. She'd basically become
around a fifty point player a couple of outliers. Then
he slid down to a thirty three point pace last
season with greatly diminished time on ice. He's going to
be thirty five this season. What do you think we
can expect from the veteran Cam Atkinson on this Tampa team?
Speaker 5: Listen, you guys, that's a great question.
Speaker 4: That's one that I'm still trying to figure out, like
the vision of or maybe not the vision, but the
identity of the team going into this season. I think
obviously they're going to have some pretty high expectations for
anyone that comes on. I do one thing I do
wonder with him is if the reason why his numbers
just basing this solely just off numbers, if they look
the way they do, is because of the Flyers system
at the time, what they were playing in. So that's
something that I've actually been really looking at. I think
for the Lightning, he's got experience, and I will say
he seemed incredibly excited to be playing.
Speaker 5: He immediately was like tweeting things out and doing all
of that.
Speaker 4: So from that standpoint, I can understand why the Lightning
they love that, and I understand why they brought him
on those the third and fourth line. Those are two
areas that they really needed help on. And I'm sure
that they're hoping that he can for check and grab
a goal where he can. But I think that they're
not really looking too much at last year's numbers. They're
probably looking back a couple of years and they're hoping
that he can mimic that playing style that he had
before last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's fair. I'm wondering about some of the young players.
Obviously they made that in that trade with Sergachev, they
got Connor Geeky, who instantly becomes one of their best
prospects because they don't have the deepest pool being such
a competitive team. But they also have Isaac Howard who
has been there for a while he has been producing,
and then Nico Houten in So I'm wondering if any
of these three are going to make an impact this
season on the Lighting Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think Connor Geeky is probably out of
the three. I feel like Connor Geeky is the he's cool,
and Isaac Howard is like one of those up and
coming stars. He's got to be getting pretty close though
it's been a few years.
Speaker 5: I definitely.
Speaker 4: I know Julian when we had mid season availability with
Julian Brisblaile, he was actually going to traveling to go
watch him play and things like that. So he's definitely
right there in the mix. I'm not sure how far
he is, but he's got to be pretty close. I
think Connor Geeky. There's a lot of hype around Connor Geeky.
I know the fans were really excited to have him,
and like you said, as far as the prospect goes,
like the Lightning are just there and win now mode
all the time and so their future. But when you
look at the future, like, there's not a lot to
choose from, but Connor geeky, he's great and I could
see him. I could see them bringing him up pretty soon.
And this past year, this past season, the Lightning were
dipping into their Syracuse pool. They were having no other option.
There are a lot of injuries on the blue line
and things like that. Whereas maybe a few years ago
of your playing in Syracuse, you're just assuming you're not
really going to get to come to Tampa and get
to step in because they had that core and they
had those guys. Now there's more of an open opportunity
for these guys to come up, and I think I
can't remember, maybe eight players came up from Syracuse last season,
So the door is wide open for him.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, let's move on to the defensive side of
the puck. Victor Headman. Victor Headman remains elite more news
at eleven absolutely not news, seventy six points in seventy
eight games, remains in the top five in the National
Hockey League, third in career points among defensemen in the NHL.
One more year like he had last year, and he's
on pace to overtake Chris Latang for second, just be
looking up at Brent Burns at that point, and those
guys have been playing a bit longer than mister Headman.
The black Shots hits, the Bash was not great. He's
going to get paid into his late thirties, so hopefully
he's going to be able to keep this up for
a while longer. But it doesn't seem to be any expectation.
And otherwise, what do you see in the trajectory of
Headman's game and do you expect this coming season to
be more of the same excellence we're used to from him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, when you were saying that, it actually just reminded
me of at exit interviews and Stampcoast was saying that
if you didn't know Headman's age and you were just
looking at his numbers, you would have no idea that
he was like mid thirties, Like you would just have
no idea. Yeah, I think Headman is He's obviously such
a leader, and Will is expected to have the Sea
on his chest next season, and so with that, I
think comes. I don't see his game slipping at all.
If anything, he's going to be pushing even more. A
lot of these guys when you look at the core.
And I know we'll talk about Ryan McDonnell later, but
when you look at these guys like Headmond, Cooch point,
all these guys that have been there, were there when
they won the Cup, expect them to have bigger season
than they did last year because from a leadership standpoint,
without stamp Cooasts, they're going to have to elevate their games.
So for Headman, I think, I'm sure he's happy to
have McDonough there back with him. And the focus this
season going into free agency was to bolster up the defense.
It was if you look at his numbers and you
think about the rest of blue line last season and
you see his numbers and you're like, he really held
his own and he had to do that in order
for them to be successful and push through all the
adversity that they went through and all those injuries and
things like that. So now with a pretty solid defense,
I'm sure Headmonds his numbers are only going to get better. Honestly,
I don't see him slipping at all.
Speaker 2: You referenced him, and just an interest of time, I'm
going to throw the last two defenseman at you, the
two new guys. Ryan McDonough is the new old guy,
he's been here before. And JJ Moser coming over from
He's coming over from Arizona, which no longer exists and
now is Utah. But he's on that bridge contract, so
it was nice a little bit of salary control for
the Lightning at this point. But McDonough and Moser. You
think about the impact of the two new defensemen.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like I spent two years talking about
how Ryan McDonough needed to come back it's in Tampa.
Speaker 5: When that actually happened, it felt like a manifested that one.
Speaker 2: It.
Speaker 4: The Lightning were never the same after McDonough left, and
they really struggled defensively, and I think having him back
is so important. And I know there's been a lot
of talk about his age and everything, but like his
game has not really changed. He has had a successful
two successful seasons in Nashville, and you could argue that
he was just dragging his team to the playoffs in
the first year that he was in Nashville, and then
he had a really good season last year. Having Ryan
McDonough back where he belongs is only going to help
the Lightning. It's only going to improve and they need
that veteran presence. I feel like he should have never left.
It just it felt weird, and it feels right that
he's back, so I think he had been together there,
right behind each other, is going to really help them
out a lot. And then for Mosure, I think this
is going to be Obviously you look at the contract
and that tells you right away that they're expecting him
to be a top four guy, like he's going to
have a huge year.
Speaker 5: He's young.
Speaker 4: This is what they want is and you think about
like when they signed Sergachev to that big contract after
they won the Cup. They want young, big defenceman. He
will probably be I'm assuming Turnac will be with McDonough,
maybe Mosure with Headman and that pairings. Expect him to
have a big season too. And then they got a guy,
a young defenseman back there, a mil Lilaberg who I
think I'm really pleased with what Julian did with the
defenseman this going into the season, I think it's going
to improve their game for sure.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: Improved defense should help the goaltending, and that's where we're
going to move to next. The Lightning were ranked fifteenth
and expected goals against per sixty, but conceded the twenty
eighth ranked actual goals per game this season started. If
we all remember way back when to that surgery for Massilevski,
that was a bit of a surprise to some people
when they announced it and that he was going to
be missing a couple months. Jonis Hanson stepped in started
most of the games there. He got twenty six I
don't think he preferred particularly well, although they won twelve
of them, so that was a big part of it.
He saved negative seven point two to three goals save
above expected, and that was a big part of dragging
that expected goals down for the entire team. When Vassilevski
came back, he played fifty two games total, but also
had not great goals save above expected. In fact, it
was his worst since the nineteen twenty season, so it
didn't seem like he was quite his dominant self. After
some time to heal and after this sort of disappointing
season and long offseason, Deander, what do you think we
can expect from the Lightning goalies, particularly Vassilevski next season.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4: First of all, I think with Joannis Johnsen, I think
the biggest thing is that he didn't really expect to
just jump in and take over for Vassilevski to start
the season. So the fact that he did it without
it was just at the end of it was towards
the middle of training camp. But the fact that he
did that and they could stay above water and do
their thing until Vassi got back, is a really big deal,
and I think that put a lot of trust and
need in Yoni Snohanson. So that is it's good to
know that they have a solid backup that they can
utilize to take some of the work off Vassi. And
then there's a few things with Vassilevski, right, So he
had back surgery and then he came back like at
the exact day that he could, I think it was
eight weeks. It's hard for me to remember. It feels
like it's been ages since that happened. But he had
back surgery, so for him, his body, his timing was
a little bit off. His body wasn't really moving the
way that he wanted it to. However, I think I
had a lot to do with the way that they
were playing in front of him. It just made his
job so much harder than it could have been. And
the guys have told me that multiple times that it
was just like they weren't playing the way that they
needed to in front of Vassi. And you think, when
you're coming if I went through back surgery, there's no
way that I would be playing, but I would be
sitting on my couch. But it didn't really give him
that comfort. As he was easing back into his game.
You got to think he missed training camp, he had
a whole summer off, and so.
Speaker 5: It just it took him a while.
Speaker 4: And then I would say, what probably around March, if
you look at his numbers from March until the end
of the season, that's when he really started to get
back to his game and he looked like the same
old Vassi. So I think, I know he's not lifting
weights anymore like he used to, which is what caused
his injury in the first place. And he's trying to
be really smart about the off season and how he
takes care of his body, and now he listens to
his body. So I expect Vassie to have especially if
the defense improves. Like you said, I think Vassie's going
to have another He'll have a good season, and back
surgery is weird. I think he felt good to start,
and then it got really hard the more he played.
But he was saying that if he sat out it
made it worse. So they just kept him in and
he kept grinding through it. But that's a brutal season
for sure. So I think that this summer will be
good for him and axect him to be back to
his somewhat normal self.
Speaker 2: All right, Deandra, that's been a great tour through the
Tampa Bay Lightning. Who will be fascinated because there is
that outstanding core. Maybe we'll see a I don't want
to wish this on you Anjikopatar and Drew Dowdy past
that dynasty have just been outstanding year after year. Hopefully
the Lightning don't fall down to that level of overall
team performance, but at least it shows that some of
these superstars age well even in bad circumstances. Now I've
done it, Dandru. But why did you tell us we're
going to follow on the Tampa Bay Lighting We're going
to keep reading your stuff. Tell people how they can
keep up with your work.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so you can keep up.
Speaker 4: First, I want to say this too, actually, before you
get off of this, I think the goal with Julian,
I think his goal was that they don't want to
age like, they want to stay in the window. So
his goal is to bring in younger guys, whether it's
like slowly over the next couple of years, and maybe
at the trade deadline they make some moves, but I
think the goal is to not age out the core.
And as much as when you win back to back
Stanley Cups, you want to keep those guys and then
you kind of reality sets in with the salary cap
and players age and things like that. So bringing in
Genseil and like Mosure, a guy like that, they want
to stay in that window. So I think this is
the first couple of steps in doing so interested to
see where things go. But we'll check back on that
maybe halfway through the season. But you can find my
work on the Hockey News. I feel like I'm very
active there even in the off season, and then I
do radio.
Speaker 5: Obviously I do serious XM NHL radio.
Speaker 4: I'm on there throughout the season, taking the summer off,
but I will be back probably around training camp on there.
Speaker 2: Thanks for giving us some time out of your hopefully
from this point on RESTful summer.
Speaker 5: Deandra, Thank you guys so much for having me.
Speaker 3: Wolfsin Then well that's.
Speaker 2: Good fire pasp Oh my goodness, long with.
Speaker 3: A Kat quick Gram.
Speaker 2: Now it's your wingley goalie talk. But Kat Silverman, Kat's instincts.
Speaker 3: Time once again for Kat's instincts. With Kat Silverman and
ingl mag we're talking lightning goalie prospects. So we're gonna
start with a guy we've talked about for several years now,
Hugo Almnefeldt. He's a twenty nineteen third round pick by
Tampa six three, twenty pounds now twenty two. He just
finished his third full season in the AHL. He seems
to have regressed a bit and it started to seem
like it might never happen for him in the NHL.
I see, according to a Lee Prospects that he's going
to be in the essay back in the SHL again
next season after being in North America. So, Kat, do
you think there's any hope of him coming back and
having an NHL career.
Speaker 1: That's a really interesting one because in theory, like watching
him play, I at no point did it look like
he was just blaring red flags at us right. It
didn't look like he was headed to the ECCHL permanently
or being banished anywhere struggling anymore than for the most part,
we see a lot of goaltenders struggle within Tampa Bay's
HL system, which they tend to not be quite as
successful as their NHL counterparts. But that's also a team
that had no reason to bring him up to the
NHL level. I know, I think it was last year
we talked about how ideally this was the year that
they started to sneak him into some NHL action. Looks
like that was not the plan for them. They're continuing
to ride or die their one goaltender system, which most
teams are moving away from. That they very clearly or not.
He really, it seems, had no reason to stick around,
and they seemed to have no interest in dealing him
to another team that had a more open pipeline, of
which there are quite a few. I sa saying Utah
has a far more open pipeline. Philadelphia always has an
open pipeline. They never have enough goalies. There are a
number of teams outside of their division that they could
have sent him to, and they didn't, So I think
it makes sense to go back home. That being said,
I think if someone is willing to bring him back
once his rights expire, but that's tough because he just
turned twenty three a month ago, so he's still so
young that essentially Tampa Bay holds his rights until he's
twenty seven, unless they choose to fail to qualify him
and fully release his rights. Then someone else could pick
him up. But he's still young enough that they could
have hold onto his rights for a rainy day for
another four years if they really wanted to. So that's
a sticky situation for him, and I think that it
they want to hold onto his rights for a rainy day,
it makes it a really tough sell to say that
he'll hit the NHL, unfortunately, just because they've shown very
little interest, and they do have at least one up
and comer in their system who I think is younger
and maybe a little bit more promising looking right now
hasn't been floundering in their AHL systems, So it's a
tough sell at this point.
Speaker 3: Honestly, Yeah, I think for now i'd be out on LFLT.
As much as I've liked him over the years, and
I really think he's a good goalie. Tampus seems to
not want to give him a chance, and that's going
to make it really hard. As you said, let's move
on to the next guy. Amre Miftikoff, twenty twenty six
round pick, currently unsigned, six foot hundred and sixty five
pounds now twenty four. Last year, we talked a little
bit about how ak Bars likes to undersized goalies and
how Tampa likes the goalies who can skate really well,
which he can. He didn't play too many games this year,
but when he did he was really good. Looking. At
hockey prospecting, he has bumped up to a fifty three
percent chance of being an NHL or He's got a
bunch of NHL or is as his comps, Thomas folcun
is someone he looks a little bit alike. So what
are any things tell us about Miftakoff.
Speaker 1: I love him. I think he's a lot of fun.
I every time I look at his stat line, I'm like, man,
this guy should be heading towards the NHL by now,
and I look up some highlights to see if there's
anything that Sometimes when you look at European goaltenders, they
have better numbers just based on the powerhouse team that
they're behind, and it looks like, oh, if you move
them over to North America, their poles are going to
get exposed. Other than his height, there are no real
holes in his game, so it doesn't really make any
sense that they haven't heavilys explored bringing him over. And
I do wonder if that is part of why. Like
I said, Alnefeldt is probably getting boxed out by having
someone else in the system, and it's him, it's Myftakov,
because I most wonder if Tampa Bay has been just
floating the idea with him of giving it a whirl
heading to North America seeing what happens. Because he's a
lot of fun to watch. He skates really well. He
likes to have a lot of fun. If you look
up highlights for him, you'll see that he controls himself
well within the blue paint, but he still manages to
move really quickly and likes to throw in some fun staves.
Likes to do some windmills, some two pads stacks, some
pope checks, just to shows that he has some creativity
in there too and not just wrote drilled in technique.
He saws a little bit to his game. That is
what they like about Besilov's He's a goaltender who has
a lot of fun, extra creative flair in his game,
and that's something that we see from Iftikov. So I'm
more hesitant at this point based on the last couple
of years, looking at what Tampa Bay has done to
say that I'm confident he'll make it to North America
because they've made it very clear that any belief we
have that they're going to add someone new and young,
they throw back in our face. But dating all the
way back to Connor Ingram, who had to move to
another team to get his shot. But I think of
the guys in their system, he's got probably their best
chance of being a backup in the future. Maybe he
could have starter potentially. I'd love to see him in
North America to really get a feel for that though.
Speaker 3: Oh that's pretty exciting if he could have started potential.
Of course, we need to see more. Let's talk about
the last guy. We have one more guy to talk about,
Nick Malik or Malik was drafted in by the Lightning
as a double over age in twenty twenty two, fifth
rounde hundred and seventy and nine pounds six foot two.
He's been in the Liga for the past three seasons,
and it seems like the raw numbers have gotten a
little progressively worse, perhaps nine twenty two, eight ninety one,
eight eighty nine. His equivalency of those seems to be
doing okay. It's been the high. So there's a couple
guys that look like him. Robert ash as like a
backup is probably his best comp. So what do your
instincts tell us about Nick Melick?
Speaker 1: What an incredible comp My gosh, he's a really tough
one for me, just because I remember his initial draft year.
I was watching some game tape with him and I
thought he looked like he could be a good guy
for a team to look at. He was headed to
the Sue Greyhounds in the OHL. I spoke with some
goaltending coaches in the CHL about what his game looked
like when he came to North America because it wasn't
a super successful for into North American junior hockey. He
came over during the pandemic, didn't really work out, went
back overseas and started to play. I think he immediately
went to playing in the Liga. If not, he spent
one additional year in Czech Yet before going to Finland
and his overall development. He looked like he had a
lot of sheer athleticism and like he had good reflexes,
looked like he potentially had the size, that elusive size
that coaches look for. But when it came to watching
his game adapt to North America, he had some huge
learning curves there, and there were some moments where he
really seemed like his game just did not click on
that smaller ice surface when people were coming at him
a little bit faster and a little bit closer. Had
to make a few more split second decisions, not just
when it came to reaction timing, but when it came
to situational awareness and setting himself up ahead of shots,
and so especially seeing his numbers start to trend downward
in Liga, he is headed back to Chechia this upcoming
season to play in their top Tierly he played in
the second tier and then in the juniors in the past.
So I don't I once again, I don't really know
what Tampa Bay's strategy is here. I think it's to
only bring on mediocre prospects to as like a I
don't know, vote of confidence to Vassilevsky, tell him we
promise We're not bringing someone in to show you up.
This is all we've got because that's what Nick Malik is.
He's like a body in the system. So they can
say that they have a goaltending prospect. But I don't
love his game, and it doesn't look like his game
has gotten a ton better. So I sorry to our
Tampa Bay fans that I don't have better news about him,
and he might surprise me. I know his dad's a
former NHL or Merrick Malik, so he has the grind
of playing pro in his family, not in terms of
intrinsic ability to grind it out, but in terms of
having the advice from someone to guide him through it.
But that doesn't make up for talent. So I don't
know if I'd put him at the top of any less.
I would wait and see if he comes over to
North America, maybe we can reevaluate. But his last four
aage in North America didn't look stellar. So I'm so
surprised that Tampa drafted him in the first place. So yes,
we'll see with him. Good luck to him, good luck
to Tampa.
Speaker 3: Yep, good luck he is a goalie in their system.
We can say that, all right, thanks Kav for giving
us your instincts on the everyway Lightning Goalie.
Speaker 2: Dig Good dynasty did Tampa. They lighted the or not
the strongest prospect system as you heard, but a brand
new addition to this situation is making them stronger once again. Victor,
who is our no brainer.
Speaker 3: Let's the recently acquired and mentioned earlier, Connor Geeky. Yeah,
Connor Geeky was an eleventh overall pick by the Coyotes.
They traded up that year, I believe with San Jose
to get that pick. Six four hundred and ninety six
pounds left shot center. He started with the Winacchi Wild
this season, got traded to Swift Current, did pretty well
on both locations, played a couple of HL games with
the two Sun Roadrunners, no points. He did play for
Canada at the World Juniors. He had three points in
five games, plus that brutal ejection eleven seconds into the
Germany game, so that game almost didn't really count in
terms of his point totals. But overall pretty successful season.
As you heard Deander mentioned, he's probably the closest to
being ready and he seems like someone that they are
going to give an opportunity to looking at the Mitch
Brown tracking data interesting. So I pulled up all of
his tracking data for the last several years, including his
time with the different WHL clubs, Swift, Current and Winachi,
and the World Juniors. All of it looks. One thing
that stands out, I guess I would say is that
the defense is pretty good across the board. He's a
really strong two way defensive player. His transition numbers are
overall pretty good, but he also defensively is really difficult
to play against. Some of his transition data was not
as good, but overall that also seems like in the
seventieth percentile. His offense also between eighty and ninety five percentile,
so consistently pretty strong. His expected goals and expected assists
both pretty strong typically, and he shoots a fair amount
and so that's nice, gets the puck to the middle,
gets some good advantages created. So all those things look
really good for Connor Geeky, at least in junior and
at World Juniors, which was pretty nice. Looking at his
FHL player card, you can see that he indeed does
shoot quite a lot ninetieth percentile. He also hit some
blocks a fair amount eightieth and sixtieth percentile, so overall
he should be a nine out of ten for bash.
He also we count pims as negative, so he's low
in that category, but if you count pims as positive,
then that's great. He He also scores a lot for
his junior level, but I have him as pucks the
level closer till the fifty to sixty point range at
five point five. Looking at his play driving numbers, you
can see that he actually does a lot really well
believe that he's currently in including his power play time,
his play driving, his transition game, his high danger puck
area work. The one thing he isn't quite as good at,
especially as being a center, is his face offs are
closer to average, which is a bit disappointing. But overall
he is someone that projects to be a center the
next level. He is as very big as we mentioned
so anyways, but lit's learn a little bit more about
what makes Connor Geeky so interesting from our fatl Scout.
Speaker 2: Our Prospect Scotty report today comes from Scout Craig Wise
Connor Geeky skating average. For such a big skater, Connor
is able to move pretty fast, especially his first few
steps and Craig would like to see him more at
the AHL level. Is the few games stint he did have.
He did not look out a play. Junior games are
hard to read since he's so much bigger or stronger
than the competition, and Craig resisted giving him an above
average rating. Here is a few times he looked like
a giraffe trying to walk with skates on and yeah.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 2: Passing and handling average to blow average hands. Connor is
able to make the odd move to beat a defender,
but more often than not he would try, but then
he would lose the puck. He excels him using his
big frame to shield the puck when he has defenders
out wide. Passing ability is there, but Craig didn't see
it enough to think he'll be known for the playmaking ability.
Shooting average. Connor has a hard shot, but not very accurate.
He struggled to be junior goalies with it from any distance.
IQ below average. Careless giveaways either misreading the play or
panicking and throwing the puck away for checking above average.
Connor loves to throw his weight around, hits every chance
he gets. Defense below average. In junior showings, he was
consistently on the wrong side of the puck, cheating for offense,
and whether this is a factor of the coaching style
or not balliant offense more than the defensive responsibility. It
did result in a couple goals against in the games
that Craig watch. However, in two games at the AHL level,
he looked a lot better defensively, so maybe that was
a coaching decision. Best asset Connor's big frame shielding the puck,
taking it wide gain control of the offensive zone as well.
If he can luck into an net front presence on
a power play one, he could be something for sure.
Biggest concern doesn't have anything that stands out as elite.
This could push him down the lineup and limit his
point upside. So the top tier outcome sixty to seventy
points above average bash, perhaps that's he If he lucks
into a top six role with powerplay one, then you
might see that fiftieth percentile. Yeah, Tier three fifty to
sixty points with again very good peripheral bash, and that's
probably a middle six power forward based on his lack
of hands and no real standouts on the offensive side
of the puck. Michael Rasmisin is a comp that Craig
would give him here, So the Mason Black NHL Rank
King pole comes up, Connor Geehey versus our friend Jonathan
Lakara Maki with the big rapt in this case sixty
eight point five to thirty one point five Victor. Am
I going to have a chance to play the Jonathan
lcarry Macky theme sung by Ryan Downey once again here?
Speaker 3: I sure hope. So as I was reading this, I
was thinking it in my head, our tidy admiral singing
the Johnny Lacaray mackie. If you haven't heard that, I
think you will. So it's great stuff, and I do
think he's better Geeky. I have always thought he seems
more like a middle six forward, especially with how good
he is defensively, and you heard some of the issues
with his offensive game from Craig. I do think he
positions more as a middle six center. We'll see, especially
how he breaks into the league. Now with Tampa it
seems like their top six is pretty sad. He may
get some opportunity with some of the big guys, but
he probably is going to play more of a depth role,
and I think that suits him, and I think he'll
excel at that we'll see. I have a little bit
more faith in Lacara Mackie's upside. We have seen some
issues from him, but he did perform really well at
in the SHL this season with a huge bounce back season.
He did really well at the World Juniors. I believe
he was like player of the tournament, one of the
top honors there. He was great. He definitely he's a
goal scorer that sometimes doesn't score and that's obviously an issue.
But he has rounded out his game a little bit more,
a little bit better playmaking, a little bit better off
puck awareness. But at any rate, you don't have Lakara
Mackie on your team to play as a bottom six
center or forward, so he's going to get the opportunity
for sure. So I'd much rather have Lakara Mackie between
these two, even though the PNHL is actually favoring Geeky
in this case of between the two between seventy five
to seventy two. So it's pretty similar, but I think
actually the upside swings heavily in Lakara Maki's direction. If
you look at the hockey prospecting, they're both similar. They
started a bit higher, and they've trended down. Lakara Maaki
the last two seasons ten percent and Geeky nine percent
of being a star. The NHL probability is higher for Geeky.
I think that also makes sense. There's a slight more
volatility and bust potential to Lakara Maaki, but Geeky is
just so likely to play NHL games, even if it's
at a replacement or not as high of a level
in terms of fantasy. So anyways, looking at some other
comps for Geeky, there's some pretty average ones. Actually, if
you look at them, they're mostly disappointing. I think Andrew
Coglianos maybe one of the best comps in terms of
especially what to expect. They're not the same type of player. Obviously,
Kugliana was much smaller but very fast, and I think
that in terms of fantasy production they could be similar.
Though looking at the j first card between the two,
it's pretty a little bit disappointing. Seven percent chance of
being a star, but sixty nine percent chance of being
in NHL or echoing what I just said, the upside
maybe not fully there, but that NHLer probability is super
high for Connor.
Speaker 2: Geeky, that's our first one victor. Who's our need to
know prospect?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so our need to know is going to be
Isaac Howard twenty twenty two to thirty first overall pick,
five ft nine hundred and niney pounds left shot, left wing.
He switched his commitment last season from the University of
Minnesota d Luth to Michigan State, and he more than
doubled his point output from seventeen points and thirty five
games to point per game thirty six and thirty six
for Michigan State. He was also part of that stacked
USA World Junior team that won gold. He had seven
goals and seven games. That was pretty incredible, along with
two apples. That was pretty good stuff there. Looking at
his FHL player card, though, it's interesting his defense was
pretty awful fourth percentile. Fourth percentile is just really terrible.
His transition game also not so good at twenty seventh
percent centile. This looks honestly like a card of someone
who's not even an NHL prospect. His offense a little
bit better fifty ninth percentile, so that was a little
bit better. And again we're talking about Michigan State here.
Was a strong collegiate team, so that is not super reassuring.
Looking at his FHL player card or sorry, his Mitch
Brown player card for the World Juniors, offense is much
better eighty fifth percentile, his defense bumped up to fifty
second percentile. I think part of that might have been
due to who he was playing with, and his transition
game continue to be poor, so overall that does not
paint a great picture of Isaac Howard. Looking at his
FHL player card, you can also see that he doesn't
really hit or block very much at all the thirtieth
and ten percentile there, but he shoots a ton ten
out of ten, so he's going to have a decent
number of shots, and his bash might look okay because
of primarily his shots not so much for the other
two looking and then his assists for sixty are really high.
His goals are actually a little bit lower, so surprising
that he scores the many goals at World Juniors because
typically he is more of an a SIS guy in
terms of relative to the league. Anyways, then looking at
some of his play driving numbers, not too bad. He
has his power playtime is good as play driving is
a good transition game his high danger He gets the
puck to those high danger areas a pretty good amount,
but overall a little bit lower than what you would
think of for a lot of the top fours out there.
But let's hear a little bit more about Isaac Howard
from our FHL scout.
Speaker 2: Here's what Jacob had to say about Isaac Howard skating.
Could still use work on his acceleration speed, but as
quick strides and a high motor that allows him to
fly around the ice passing and handling. His playmaking has
improved from last season, confidently making some brilliant plays with
the puck, setting up his teammates with great a scoring chances.
He still has the tendency to force plays that aren't there,
but seeing that improvement is promising. Shooting. While an increased
role in the lineup allowed Howard to showcase his she
a bit more this season, Jacob would still love to
see him shoot the puck more often. He's got a
lethal shot with a quick release off the blade of
his stick and a booming slap shot IQ. The panic
meter has dropped slightly, has became more comfortable with driving
and reading plays. He still has the tendency to throw
pucks away when under pressure, but Howard has made improvements
as the season went on. Before checking, Isaac Howard is
not the strongest in terms of physicality, but he's become
more engaged in puck battles along the boards and is
more determined in winning loose pucks. Defense, Howard isn't going
to be a game changer in his own end, but
he still puts in the work by primarily using his
stick to take away any shooting or passing lanes. He
also isn't afraid to block shots every so often. So
the biggest asset play making, biggest concern defense. The top
tier outcome here. Jacob says a top six winger with
some power play time is still in play here, and
that's if he makes the middle I guess the fiftieth
percent all outcome A left wing, maybe a second line
left wing, third line left wing. Stylistically, Nikolai Eielers is
the comp that Jacob puts on Isaac Coward and the
final thoughts. He's a pure offensive winger with brilliant playmaking,
lethal shot. Likes to use the speed to enter the
offensive zone, draw attention to himself and then find linemates.
He has a lethal shot with a quick release, plenty
of power behind his blade. Well, he's not the greatest
defensive player. He's become more engaged in puck battles, using
his stick to take away any shooting or passing lanes,
and Jacob says last season was a huge step forward
for Howard's development. More than double this production at the
NCAAA helped his team win a Big Ten championship, scored
a whopping set as seven goals to help USA win
goal at the World Juniors twenty four to twenty five.
Seed is going to be a huge opportunity for him
to become one of the best players in college hockey.
So more optimism out of our guy, Jacob on Isaac Coward.
Let's see what the people had to say the NHL
ranking put Isaac Howard up against Denver Barkie, and Denver
Barkie comes out with the win. Tampa prospects for over
two today fifty nine to forty one percent. The people
go Barkie, Philadelphia Flyers, Guy, Victor, is that how you
would see this one?
Speaker 3: I love Denver Barkie too. He's a super fun player,
he's super physical, he's that absolute energy bug that you
love to have out there, But the problem is that
he's really small, and even though he's looking really good
out there and Junior really helped the London Knights win
the OHL Championship, I'm just not sure that's gonna be
enough to translate to a prominent NHL role. So in
this poll, I think I would take Isaac Howard, even
though I like Barkie. Howard has two inches on him.
He is a little bit further And I know some
people say, oh, I would take the guy in the
prospect pipeline that's a little bit more bereft of talent,
But I wouldn't actually look at it that way. We've
seen guys get traded, We've seen prospects get traded. All
it would take is for Tampa to move Isaac Howard
to someone like Carolina, and then he would just disappear
in that very robust talent of a prospect pool. But
I do think that Howard has a really good opportunity
to be a strong middle to top six complimentary player
who should get some power play time. And I don't
think that's Barkie's profile at all. I think if he
does make it, he's going to be more of that
energy line type of player. So as much as I
like him and I hope I'm wrong, I hope Barkie
really does make it and becomes the next Johnny Goodroau,
I'm just not sure that's likely at this point. Looking
at the pnhrle between the two, it clearly favors right
now Barkie, and the trajectory is much higher up to
almost point per game pnhly, whereas Howard is more like sixty.
But I think that it's more realistic for Howard that
he gets there and Barkie has a lot more volatility
to his school. Were looking at the hockey prospecting between
the two, bark He definitely has a hire up to
thirty percent and Howard has been trending down since starting
at forty one percent. He trended down on out to
seven percent, both of them about a coin flip for
making the NHL. Howard looking at some of his other comps,
he has a one here of Brian Gionto, which I
think is pretty realistic in terms of a Johnta was
much smaller than Howard, but a little bit of a
slightly undersized guy with decent amount of skill that can
find a way. And as you heard, Howard really needs
to round out the rest of his game to be
defensively responsible enough. But he has improved some of that.
A couple of years in college has really helped, especially
playing on a competitive team where those types of mistakes
aren't tolerated quite as much. So I think he's come
a long way in that he still has ways to go.
Looking at his j fresh card, nine percent chance of
being start, twenty five percent chance of being in NHLer,
So for this model, that's not too bad. All in all,
he's a pretty decent prospect, and I think I would
like him more than some others, but in general they
probably are looking at some other teams better prospects that
fit in that sort of top three. But this is
the Tampa system and the nice If he stays here,
he's got a pretty good opportunity pretty soon to contribute.
So you like to see that.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, And those are the first two. Who is
the keep your eye on prospect picture?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So the next the last one keep your eye
on Ethan Gothier twenty twenty three to thirty seventh overall
Pick five eleven, one hundred and eighty seven pounds, right
shot right wing. Switched from Srbrook to Drummondville this offseason.
Point production was about the same in the regular season
and then increased in the postseason, so you always like
to see that improvement. They were He was part of
the QMJHL champion, so that was fun and he did
okay and the Memorial Cup. Overall, the team didn't do
very well, so it wasn't necessarily on him looking at
his tracking data. Though, his defense, like Howard, is a
problem and this is the issue with him and one
of the reasons I think DeAndre the fact that he's
also older, but Connor geeky being able to make more
of an impact on the team because he's going to
be a little bit more responsible. Whereas Gotier and Howard,
I think they still have some work to do. They
probably need some HL time to be able to work
on their defense a little bit. His transition game Gotier
is his sixty seventh percentile and his offense ninetieth percentile.
Both his expected goals and assists are pretty high. He's
got some other really good things like bringing the buck
to the middle, so when advantages created off puck involvement,
all that looks pretty good offensively for Gotier. Looking at
his FHL player card, pretty strong across the board, except
we have pims as negative, so he's low there because
he takes a fair amount of those. And other than that,
his hits, blocks and shots are all pretty strong, giving
him a ten out of ten projection for bash. So
Ethan Gotier could be a bash dream if his scoring translates,
which right now looks really good in the queue, but
we have also seen a lot of players not be
able to translate that. I'm the QMJJL looking at his
advanced metrics from the FHL player card, really good play driving,
really good high danger puckwork, but not so good in
his transition game or face offs. So some of things
are a little bit better than others. But let's hear
some more detail about Ethan Gotier from FHL scout. What's
going on with Ethan Gotier, I'll tell you, and so
will our scout Jacob. On this one.
Speaker 2: Skating, he's made some improvements to that skating quicker on
his feet which allowed him to become more effective with
the puck along the boards. He still lacks that top
end speed, however, he has a high motor that still
allows him to keep up with the pace of play
passing and handling. Excellent playmaker ability to create space for himself,
but very consistent with finding open passing lanes and setting
up his teammates with scoring chances. Shooting quick risk shot
and an above average slap shot. Gotier still likes to
score his goals by going to the front of the
net and jamming away at loose pucks and rebounds. IQ.
Gatier has incredible vision, especially with the puck, shows great patience,
doesn't panic often when he's under pressure, shows great anticipation
when entering the offensive zone, and is a decent manipulator
for checking. Gotier is a relentless wur checker, always engaged
on both sides of the ice, pressure and pressure his opponents,
involving himself in board battles. He frustrates his opponents, isn't
afraid to show his mean side when there's retaliation defense
in his own end. Gotier uses his aggressive fore check
to force turnovers. He can use his stick and despite
it to take away scoring chances. Despite being on the
smaller side, he plays bigger than his size. That allows
him to be more impactful along the boards, so the
biggest asset was playmaking, the biggest concern skating. He has
the possibility to be a second wing right wing, and
the floor would appear to be a third wing right wings.
Stylistic comparable, I have to with assume he's not talking
quite about the same level of performance, but maybe stylistically
Brady could chuck. He knows how to Jacob knows how
to get my attention. And some final thoughts. Goatee has
a skilled two hundred foot winger with a brilliant offensive
tool set and a solid defensive game. Puck skills, fantastic,
anticipates plays well, has the ability to create open space
for himself and his linemates.
Speaker 3: He has a.
Speaker 2: Solid shot, but primarily loves to score his goals by
simply going to the net for loose pucks and rebounds.
Go tis a relentless checker. That's what's going to allow
him to succeed at the NHL level, rest of on
his opponents engaging physically using his stick to force turnovers.
His skating has improved in terms of quickness due to
high motor but he can still work on generating that
top and speed. All right, and so the NHL ranking,
what did he have to say. We've heard Jacob. Now
let's find out what the people have to say. Even
go Tier up against Ryan Green of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Gotier wins sixty two to thirty eight. Victor, Is that
how you rank them?
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely. I like him quite a bit more like
Gautier a little bit more here. Ryan Green is actually
someone we've I think we've mentioned before, and even though
he may not win this poll, I think he is
someone that you should be aware of. I think when
they drafted him he was a little less publicized, but
out of the USHL and into Boston University has performed
really well there. Of course, behind Celebrinia this year, his
job was a little bit easier, but still he has
performed quite well, and he's someone that should probably be
on your radar as someone who could be a pretty
decent fifty to sixty point player. But I think Gotier
has upside for a little bit more so I would
choose him in this poll. He heard some of the
things that Jacob mentioned, and if his scoring translates even
at all with that strong bash, Gotia is going to
be someone really exciting. I'm not sure, as you've alluded
to that he's Chuck level. Who is, but even if
he's a little bit close.
Speaker 2: To that.
Speaker 3: Incredible Looking at the hockey prospecting between the two, Gotier's
star potential went down from six to sixteen sixteen to
six percent, and his NHL probably went down a little
bit from their forty five to thirty five. Ryan Green
has trended down as well, from twenty four down to
three percent chance of being a star, even with a
strong production in the NCAA in this model anyways, Looking
at some other more reasonable comps for go Tier, I
think Ryan Hartman is someone who actually has a lot
of rhymes with in terms of similar star The numbers
are pretty similar in terms of the star and NHL potential,
and Hartman, as we know, has some pretty decent seasons
had some kind of boring replacement level seasons as well.
So maybe we'll see depends on the context of the
team when he gets there and what role he's able
to fill. But Gotier certainly is an interesting one. Looking
at the top down hockey player card from j fresh
ethan go Tier two percent chance of being a star,
six percent chance of being an NHLR, So a little
bit more pessimist care as you might expect. So that's
basically it for our Tampa dig. If you're a patron,
you can listen to my top ten prospect recaps and
if you're sending some scouting and swoot me a DM
on Twitter, Discord, or email.
Speaker 2: Us and we'll be right back to close up the show.
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He's part of the Fantasy team there with Cam Robinson
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a guy who is He watches every single minor league
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