Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks. Here's
shit Cuss, your source of information and analysis to help
you win your fantasy hockey league.
Speaker 2: Block off hot a step hit on, stay lock.
Speaker 1: Here's your hosts, Jesse Sovier and Victor Nuno Fantasy.
Speaker 3: Hockey Live lorda Panthers edition. Victor Nuno the Fantasy Hockey Doctor.
Speaker 2: Mio.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm just Jesse severe fan Tracks. But Victor, more
to the point, how you doing tonight?
Speaker 4: I'm doing awesome. Jesse. Just got back from a few
days in Mexico and I did not get sick this time.
Actually put myself on a strict diet of peptopismal before
I went down there, and that made all the difference.
So yeah, pretty good. Did see a couple scorpions, did
see a gecko in the toilet. He was disturbing, but
we made it out unscathed and I got led back
into the country. So I'm calling all that a win, Jesse.
Speaker 3: Victor, this is a character test. I need to know
something about you. When you see did you flush that
get go or did you let him go?
Speaker 4: Absolutely not. I got a bucket and a little tweezer
along one of those like pickup garbage with a stick
thing and I put him in the bucket and released
him out of the wild.
Speaker 3: Victor, you passed, you passed, listeners, This is a good
man you're listening to. And if you want to know
more about Victor, if you want to hang out with Victor,
ask Victor questions. But more to the point, talk with
each other. I join our discord. Email is Fantasy Hockey
Life at gmail dot com and you can get yourself
a link and pop in there. I imagine it we'll
be heating up again because I know we've got a
lot of rookie drafts going. Pretty much all the rookie
drafts we do, Victor, I feel like are happening in
August and then I don't know what the rest of
the world does. I'm in my bubble. But yeah, there
are lots of things you need to be prepared for.
And one of the plays where you can just interact
with other people, say hey, I'm on the clock and
this and get something from your buddies in there. So
that's a place to do it. So email us and
get in. But Victor, there are more things you need
to tell the people about. What are they.
Speaker 4: Absolutely If you want some bonus content, you got patron casts,
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If you want to be an ultralifer, go to Patreon
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support the show.
Speaker 3: Excellent. Now we'll be right back to talk to the
Florida Panthers. Welcome back to the show, David Work of
the Hockey News, Ready to talk about those Florida Panthers,
your Stanley Cup champions.
Speaker 5: How you doing, David, I'm doing good. I'm doing good.
Thank you for inviting me on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely no, this is the time the Florida Panthers dynasty.
Who how many people believe that those words would exist
in a coherent sentence a few years ago hardcore Florida
Panther fans, but they didn't have the reputation now dog
on it. They are a dynasty, if you ask me,
in an amazing team. While I imagine it looked different up
close maybe for some of us watching the whole league
kind of a little more at the thirty thousand foot level,
it seemed almost easy for the Panthers. They rolled through
and wrecked a whole bunch of teams and it felt
like they even did that King's thing where they didn't
even need to be the top seed. They didn't even
need home ice in the playoffs. They just get in
with the eleventh most standings points and then traded for
some amazing stars at the deadline and just dropped the
hammer on other teams despite not everything, not every break
going their way. As we'll talk as this episode goes on,
what was it like watching this team last year? And
can they make it three in a row?
Speaker 6: To answer the first part of your question, awesome, just
that as a longtime hockey fan, hockey nerd, it's cool
to see what the Panthers have built over the last
few years come together and the product on the ice
has just been really cool. I guess just as a
boring old, older, gotten middle aged guy depending on but
as when A plus B equal C and when things
happen the way that they're intended to happen, it makes
me feel like I was right in the universe. So
to see the Panthers make all these moves with this
big goal at the end of the line, with winning
the Stanley Cup, like just from when it started with
Bill Ziito, when he first brought in guys like horn
Quest and Goudas and when he just started reshaping the
culture in that way. To see just the progression of
it all, it's just been really cool. And the second
part of your question, can they do it again?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I think they based on just logic, just looking at
the roster, the way it's constructed, the way that the
contracts are built out, the way that the salary cap
is going to be going up. I have zero reservations
that they are going to be competing for the Stanley
Cup for the next few years. The only question really
that anybody would be asking about this team in terms
of longevity is what are they going to do in goal?
Serdy abri Rowski, thirty seven years old, enterying the last
year of his contract. He's been amazing. Can he continue
to be amazing for the next few years. It's unprecedented
for a guy that old to do it. But who knows,
Bob is exceeding expectation. Just kind of long winded answer.
I feel very confident that bil Zito has done such
a good job of just getting this team ready to compete,
that they should be a Cup contending team and could
potentially win one or more Stanley Cups over the next
a four or five six year They're built to last.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And when I said that, not every break went
their way, the first thing I was thinking of was
a guy who still played out of his mind in
Matthew Kuchuk. Matthew Kuchuck played through I'm quoting here a
torn aductor, muscle off the bone and a hernia, both
on the same side during the season and the playoffs,
injured at the Four Nations face off. Of course, he
missed thirty games during the year. If I count right,
his entire first eight years of his season combined, he
missed twenty seven games, and he missed thirty last year,
but was still amazing in the playoffs with that gruesome
injury and turned in as much of a matt Kulchuck
year as you could have. Now he's had two kind
of long seasons. That four Nations that was so memorable.
I mean, he's presumably if he is out there, he's
one of the stars of the game right now, maybe
one of the most recognizable players Americans can get behind,
a big tofiking kid like him. But now I also
read he has not had the surgery on his injury,
and there's some question about whether he should or whether
he will this offseason have that adductor surgery, or whether
he's just holding out and not doing it. What is
the deal with Matthew? Could Chuck and can we please
have another full great year from him next year?
Speaker 6: I would not anticipate a full year from Matthew to
Chuck in terms of an eighty two game layout. I think,
as you alluded to, there are some injury issues that
still need to be addressed. It's been the thought has
been that he was waiting. First, he got married, he
had a Stanley Cup day, he's at a honeymoon, when
all that is squared away, surgery, healing process, and then
eventually make your way back during next season. I couldn't
tell you the exact plan schedule. I've just that's been
the perception of well after speaking to him at the
end of the season, him talking about the injuries and
then the way that the offseason is addressed. But I
don't think anybody has an issue in turn of including
him the way that he's played, particularly you talk about
how he missed very little time the first part of
his career. He's come to Florida. He's one of several
guys that almost personifies the Panthers style of hockey in
the way that he plays. You go back a couple
of playoffs when he suffered a was a broken clavicle
or whatever it was, when during the final against Vegas.
Then he went out and he played another game and
he scored the tying goal in the game where he
broke it. He's just this amazingly tough guy. Somehow he
came back. We're thinking about the last year's playoff. He
said he missed thirty games after four nations after carrying
the hippoductor comes back for the playoffs. I think he
had five points the first two games, and that was
playing the limited minutes too. He's just got this way
that he can turn it on and that he can
be an impactful player even when he's not at one
hundred percent.
Speaker 5: It's really incredible.
Speaker 6: And I always go back to what Bill Zito said
that at the Introduce Repress conference for Matthew to chuck
when he called him a unicorn, because there's really nobody
else in the NHL that's like Matthew to chuck that
kick your butt into the penalty box and then score
four goals if he wants to. He can just impact
the game in so many different ways.
Speaker 5: It's just really cool.
Speaker 6: But yeah, just you know, getting back to your point,
I would think that he's going to miss some time
this year. But again, I think at the end of
the day, with the Panthers, particularly the way that we've
seen it play out the last few years, being good
to go for the playoffs is the name of the
game for this team. So as long as they're where
they want to be when Game one of Round one starts,
then they're happy.
Speaker 4: Another guy that makes me happy is Sasha Barkov, And
who doesn't love Sasha Barkov. He remains an elite first
line center, putting up his fifth straight season above point
per game and maintaining his sparkling defensive metrics. He does
tend to miss time, though, as some of the Panthers do,
playing between sixty seven and seventy three games each of
the last four seasons. Not a huge number of miss games,
but sometimes can be affecting things. His shot volume has
been declining. He went from a career high three point
five shots in twenty twenty twenty one to just two
point two this past season. He still clocks in with
a really high bash, block shots, and hits per game
at four point three one, ranking him one hundred and
fifty fifth, which all with all those points is pretty solid. So, David,
I think the question is will Barkoff be able to
stay healthy enough coming off another really long playoff run
that ended in another Cup and Kenny reversed the declining
shot rates heading into his AH thirty season.
Speaker 6: Health Wise, I think generally with Barkov, he hasn't suffered
any major injuries over the last several years, so I
think Nixon bruises here and there, I think he can
still probably bank on him playing like the seven neon
give or take seventy games. Hopefully, hopefully he has a
very smooth season. But you don't talk You mentioned Barkov
being the defensive specialist. He plays a very physical game.
He's just not a big hitter. But when he gets
into the he gets you on the boards, when he
gets you in the corners, like he's very good at
moving guys around because he's a very big guy. Barkov
is in terms of the shot volume. You know, you
talk about how it compeaked in twenty twenty one. Since then,
you've got Kud Chuck, Ryan harty Ver, had you all
these other guys now that are taking some of the
offense away from Sasha bark over the last few years.
And I would think that plays a part in terms
of why he maybe doesn't shoot as much as he
used to. And so in that rank, I wouldn't really
think that it's going to be going up.
Speaker 5: I wouldn't.
Speaker 6: Barkov isn't a guy who I think is a big
shot volume guy. He's more of a playmaker than he
is and a shooter. A has been at the m
on him for much of his career. So I think
you're still going to get plenty of production out of
Sasha Barkov, whether it's in the ghal scoring production, whether
it's points. Maybe not as many penalty minutes, although I
know in recent year it used to be he was
almost like mister lady bing and the last couple of years.
I think he had over twenty last year and somewhere
around that this past season. Maybe he's getting a little
bit more into the pal Maurice style of hockey. But
either way, I think with Sasha Barkov, you know, as
you said, he makes a lot of people happy and
he does so many different things. I think my big
question is going to be whether he wins a third
straight Selkie this year.
Speaker 4: I put my money on that. Yeah, like a pretty
good bet. Another pretty good bet is Sam Reinhardt's scoring goals.
He's a next guy we're going to talk about. He
came off a career high fifty seven goal campaign. Just
incredible stuff from him. He started the season hot with
seventeen goals and thirty two points in his first twenty
three games before cooling off quite a bit. He finished
with thirty nine. Still an excellent season. Eighty one points
at seventy nine games. Nothing to sneeze at his third
straight season over point per game in the last four.
Most of the drop off from goals scoring him on
the power play, where he scored just thirteen times. Previously,
in his record setting season, had twenty seven, but the
thirteen were in line with a couple of seasons he
had before that. The bash is pretty elite for rein Hard,
registering four point seven to seven per game, ranking him
eighty third amongst all skaters. And with that point per game,
that's some pretty special stuff though, So David, should we
expect Rheinhardt to continue around forty goal eighty point pace
or do you think he can get back up towards fifty.
Speaker 6: It's so hard to project somebody as going it was
like a fifty goal scorer or even for Sam rein Hart.
Just as the point I mentioned before, where the Panthers
sounded to distribute the offense in so many different places.
But that being said, a big part of Sam ryin
Hart's success over the last few years has come on
the power play, where I God, I want to say
he had like over ten goals for sure this year,
but I know last year he had that ridiculous year
where he scored I'm scrolling over here. There did twenty
seven goals two years ago in the power play. Yeah,
obviously a lot of the gets funneled through there and
they talk about how he is such a good guy
in the bumper situation and they get free him up
the puck.
Speaker 5: But I think with.
Speaker 6: Sam Reinhart last year we saw him at the last
two years, really he's played almost primarily alongside Sasha Barkov,
like Palm Maurice, really is stuck to these duos on
his lines, where he combines two players and just leaves him.
Whether it's Barkov and Rhinehart to Chuck and Bennett, Lustron
and Lindell, those duos have basically played together almost for
the better part of the last three years, but certainly
the last two with Sam Reinhart, though it's similarly to Barkov,
almost a little bit more flashy, just in terms of
the two way play. I don't think Rhyinhart's defensive playoff
I almost doesn't get as much credit as it should.
But last year he got number two in the Selki
and I feel like a lot more people were talking
about Sam Reinhart in terms of his two hundred foot game,
so maybe the general perception is growing on that, but
point production wise, I think the big question for me
is just going to be outside of the goal scoring
forty fifty goals, as crazy as that is to project
for somebody. That seems to be a good spot for
Sam Ryinhart point per game kind of guy. I know
he was over a point per game this past playoff.
Last year, I think he was right around a point
per game.
Speaker 5: I got it ready.
Speaker 6: Yeah there it is eighty one and seventy eighty one
and seventy nine, So yeah, can he have another explosion?
Certainly would I put it past him, as Rehinhart is
like a maybe Florida's number one point guy next year.
It's just so hard to put it on anyone because
you could see it being Matthew could Chuck if he
stays healthy and he has a big year. You could
see it being Sam Bette. Look what he did in
the playoffs. He certainly has got the capability. They've got
so many different guys that have that high end offensive skill.
Just Sam reyin Art. His nose for the net the
last couple of years has really been cool. You mentioned
he cooled off a little bit after a hot start.
Speaker 5: Last year.
Speaker 6: But if I had my choice in terms of a
goal scoring Florida Panther, I'd probably be sticking with Sam Rehinhart.
Speaker 3: Goal Scoring is not the top line, oh, that you
would say for Brad Marshawn. Brad Marshaan is just everything man.
In some timelines he would have faded away as the
aging member of a team where retirements and free agency
and trades finally caught up with those bruins and chase
them gently into that good obscurity night. Instead, he was
the talk of the deadline. And while it took a
while to recover from the injury and warm up to
that Florida sunshine and all the ice cream options he
had down there, but once he had one of those
typical Marshan hot streaks in the playoffs, twenty points in
twenty three games, a playoff leading forty eight pims if
you're into that, and top six minutes. To the surprise
of some, he took a kind of reasonable deal in
the offseason, considering the flash he showed and the spark
he showed at the end of the year, and he
returns to Florida for another run at it. How was
the Brad marshan experience for Florida fans who are used
to rooting against that, and what's next for him on
this team.
Speaker 6: The Brad Marshaw experience was awesome. You get a guy
who you know for the better artist craft. I'll just
speak for myself. I don't want to speak for Panthers
fans on the whole bit. I know for me personally,
for a good for more than the first half of
his career, I really in the last couple of years,
I couldn't stand him. He was the guy who you
loved to hate. He'd be the perfect teammate, the one
you want to have on your side, and otherwise you
just can't stand it. And I totally get the importance
of that and the value of that in hockey, and
I would have said that several years ago while saying, yeah,
I don't like him. I get why he was so
valuable and so loved in Boston, but it seems like
over the last few years the things that you would
really wring your hands around a little bit have dissipated,
like dirty, crazy, cheap shots or whatever. I think that
kind of played off the last few years. But just
seeing how great of a guy he is off the ice,
like i'd you know, yeah, he's a good they love
him in Boston, whatever, but being around him, being around
the team, seeing how they interact with each other, seeing
how he interacted with us in the media, even just
a great dude. And you combine that with the good
family life off the ice and then what he does
on the ice and how you talk about guys that
personified panthers hot me. Nobody's less afraid of getting into
the dirty areas of the ice than Brad marsha On
and he still has so much skill. The plays he
was making in the Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton were
just mind blowing considering they'd just played a marathon of
a season there at the end, everybody's tired, and he's
putting up these ridiculous you know, toe drag moves, moves,
dog walkins. Was totally cool to see and to see
the reaction of the guys around him, Like I'm thinking
back now to after they won the Cup, a game
sits on the ice when there was a little group
of guys standing around Marshan and they're all pointing to
their names on the cup and how the Bruins were
right above last year's Panthers and oh there's Sam Bennett
and said, those are the kind of things that like,
you don't really think about, but it's like, oh, that's
so cool to see it play out. So Brad Marshan
just a perfect fit in Florida. He gave him credit.
He saw the writing on the wall. He had a
feeling that this was going to work out the way
it did because he picked Florida. He said, look, if
I'm gonna leave, that's where I want to go. I
want to go to the Panthers. They've kicked our button
the last few years, but I clearly recognize something that
there's something special going on, and he's only been fuel
to that fire. And what he's added to that third
line of Anton Londell and YouTube Loos Terrine and basically
taking that line and turning into a de facto number
one line the way they were playing in the playoffs.
Not to take away from what the bark Over the
Bennett line were doing either. It was just an embarrassment
of riches for what Bill Ziito put together. But there's
no reason to think that won't continue and even get
better to a certain extent, because while Marshand is thirty six,
thirty seven years old. He's we know what to get
out of Marshan, Londell and LUs Terranan are still just
coming into the prime years of their career, and with Londell,
he's barely twenty five years old. He's still got a
lot of growing to do still. So the idea that
they could do that together and you've got this incredibly
intelligent veteran guy there to help nurse this along, you've
got to be excited about that if you're a Panther fan.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I don't always go in for the kind
of contrived stuff that they try to do on the
National broadcast, but they would always have Brad Marshawn on
and interview him and tease him, and he really did
come off as a fun character. Not that we don't
know that from a bunch of other contexts, but they
were playing him up.
Speaker 6: There's a reason that the National interviews you see the
same couple of guys, because they're just they're they're happy
to do it. They're like, that's why, like Brad Marchan,
he's like another interview. Sure, we'll talk about dairy tween,
we'll talk about honey in between the Pery like whatever
he's built.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, he didn't show up as often on
or NHL, on TNAT but Sam Bennett, Oh my lord.
I looked at his Hockey Reference page and maybe I
don't know whether there was something missing there, but I
only see one time in his career that he's received
votes for an award, and it was this year's Con
Smyth winner.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: That can't be right, but that's what it was showing
as this morning. Anyway, You're never going to take that
away from him. He's you talked about the intensity of
the team. I think Sam Bennett certainly fits into that realm.
He's big, he's rough, he's very good at hockey, and
he scored only fifty one points in seventy six games,
which was, by the way, a career high, and made
a lot of money. He secured the bag to the
tune of eight by eight. And in the offseason when
they talked about what moves their team's going to make,
I feel like more often I heard more people say
we need our Sam Bennett. We need more players like
Sam Bennett than any other player in the league because
of the way his physicality and his sort of intangibles
and his style helped this team to be very successful
in terms of just ross stats. As I said, only
got fifty one points to seventy six games, but he
also takes three shots, gets two hits, and of course
plays huge minutes on the team. What do we need
to know about Sam Bennett and just out of selfishness?
Is the scoring never going to come for him?
Speaker 6: I think the scoring the opportunities are certainly there. When
you play on a line that's you have Matthew kachucking,
you're right, and probably Carter verra Hagi or somebody of
equal offensive skills he or the chances are going to
be there. I don't know whether this kind of playoff
outburst is going to be like a fuel. Just as
he was shooting the puck a Loti, it didn't really
feel like Sam Bennett was doing anything beyond what we've
seen from him, aside from just so many pucks we're
going in the net. You talk about how Sam bent
We've mentioned a few guys that are like Panthers hockey,
that's what they do. I think Sam Bennett is at
the top of the list. I don't think anybody does
Panthers hockey the way that Bennett does, and just in
terms I mean it's we know that he's got elite
offensive skill. He was a number four overall pick. We've
the goals that he can score, We've seen the quick release,
office stick, the speed that he has. But the fact
that he's not afraid to be physical or do any
of the things that what Mietchkoff was complaining about and
that viral video last week about how he didn't want
to dump and chase is why would you want to
give up the buck and go fight for it? That's
you know the Panthers are. They want to make you suffer,
They want to put you through that, and Sam Bennett
is happy to do it. In terms of his value,
I go back to the season when he missed some time.
Anytime that Bennett's out of the lineup the Panthers play,
it's the centers are so important to the way that
they play because of the two hundred foot defending and
the five man defensive and the tight gaps that the
centers particularly are so important both in terms of keeping
the gap tight and making sure the responsibility is the
same in the defensive zone end in the offensive end.
When Bennetts out of the lineup, they.
Speaker 5: Just look like a beat.
Speaker 6: I don't slower is not the right term, but they
looks like they just come down a notch.
Speaker 5: The same with Aaron ek Blad.
Speaker 6: Both guys were free agents, and we'll talk about Eckblad
in a bit, but just when you pull them out
of the lineup, it is so clear that they're missing
just because of how well that they do what Palmurics does.
Both guys are amazingly good skaters, responsible, smart, have zero
issues playing the style of hockey. And with Sam Bennett,
he does so many different things, whether it's playing on
special teams, just building up his line mates, doing things
to keep Matthew Kachuck and Vergegi open a little bit more.
The value is just clear based off the money that
was thrown at him and what we can assume what
would have been thrown at him if he would have
gone to free agency. Just like Sam reyan Hart last summer,
these guys were going to get paid if they went
that route, and they instead decided to get paid a
little bit and Chase Stanley cupps and can you blame him?
So with Sam Bennett, I I wish I had a
better answer for your question. I don't know whether you're
going to see that big offensive outburst this year, but
if you're in the right kind of lead, you'll probably
be able to make up for it with penalty minutes
and hits and those areas that you don't usually get
from a second line guy. I still think there's value
with Samba.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I did bury the lead in the playoffs.
He did score a little bit, so I guess I
don't need to worry too much about that, all right.
So carterver Hagy, we just mentioned him. He led the team.
As I looked this up, and even strength minutes this
season fifty three points for forwards. He had fifty three
points with a hit in three shots per game. That
would be a really nice line for a lot of players,
but as a Panther it was a big drop from
his prior to seasons where he was in the seventies.
It was actually the slowest scoring pace of his career.
Again in the regular season. One might point out that
he tied for the lead in scoring in the playoffs
with twenty three points in twenty three games, so certainly
he picked it up there Ver, Haage's contract remains I
think one of the more team friendly in the league
at seven million dollars for many more years for a
guy who's effectively a top line winger, very high production.
He is a late bloomer. Of course, he'll turn thirty
the same month this episode airs, so we're getting close
to thirty year old Carter Verjagy and it seems like
he just broke out five minutes ago. To me, that's
because I'm old. But the knee jerk impression of Verjegy
that I had before I really started to look at
the numbers was that he just he's always up there
with Barkoff. But that wasn't really true last year. He
moved around lines a bit and played a lot with
Sam Bennett early in the season until he got with
Barkoff a bit more in the second half. So overall,
certainly the playoffs would tell you there's not much to
worry about, But is there anything to worry about with Verhagey?
And what do you think you see in the next
year for this young man.
Speaker 6: I'll be surprised, to be honest, if his goals don't
go up this year, just because like his shooting percent,
like he's still the shots on goal were there very
comparable with the last few years with the Panthers. I
think in the two forties two to fifty range something
like that, just in terms of his shots on goal,
but his shooting percent it just was like cut in
half last year. For whatever reason. The puck just wasn't
finding the back of the net. It didn't impact the
way he played. When I think of Carter Vergegy, the
first word that always comes to mind is tenacity. That
guy is just NonStop energy no matter where he is
on the ice, and that's why he's played such a
valuable role in why Palm mauriceon kind of pop him
With the different lines. I mean, the last two years
it's basically been either the Barkov line or the Bennett line.
Last year was a lot on that Sam Bennett line,
and there's some real chemistry there with those guys. They've
all got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder.
I say all that include Matthew could chuck in that
with that line. But I would be surprised if Carter
Rajedi doesn't have in terms of scoring a bounce back here,
just because he's still going to be getting those chances.
He's still going to be playing with those guys. He's
going to be on the power play, whether it's PP
one or PP two. That's curious to see how the
Panthers handle their power play, whether they continued but two
defensemen as they did in the playoffs, so they go
back to one d which they've done a lot under Maurice.
That's to be determined. But either way, second power play,
at least during the playoffs, was more productive than the
top power play.
Speaker 5: So the potency is there. It's just the land of opportunity.
Speaker 6: So summarize, I would as I'm thinking about this as
we're talking about it, I am thinking I'm going to
be targeting Carter ra Haiti a little bit earlier, just
as I think the value on him would be lower
after scoring only twenty goals last year, and that might
be a time to maybe pick him up a couple
of rounds later than you would and still get some
incredible value.
Speaker 2: Though.
Speaker 4: All right, we're gonna pose the next two as a
bit of a points pick them. Anton Lundell, Maki Samuskevitch.
Lundell took a small step forward in his production during
the regular season, from thirty five to forty five points
before having an excellent breakout, as we noted, already eighteen
points in twenty three games on that line with Marshan
and LUs Terrain and Samuskevitch had a pretty solid rookie season,
working his way up from the fourth line at the
beginning of the year to a second line and top
power play by the end. So based on trajectory, I
think I would lean Samaskvitch. But David, who do you
think is going to have more points next season? Lundell
or Samuskevitch.
Speaker 5: Oh, that's tough.
Speaker 6: That's a tough one, and you mentioned a lot of
the reasons why it's tough. I think I'll start with Lundell.
I've been expect just waiting patiently for that breakout to come.
Just he's We've seen it since he was a rookie.
He's got tons of talent. They call him Baby Barkof
for a reason down here. Seeing the way that he
flourished with Marshan and two during last year's playoffs and
thinking that they're probably going to start the season on
the same line and get the same kind of opportunities,
I'm very excited about the prospect of that line. To
Mackie more of a wild card more of an unknown
just because we don't know exactly where he's going to
slot in. I think ideally top six. He's ready to
at least start on that kind of role because, as
you said, he built his way up last year later
in this and the Panthers also had a lot of
guys that they were taking in and out of the
lineup late. That gave Mattie an opportunity to play a
little bit more top six and get those top power
play minutes that you mentioned. I think this is going
to be a good year for him to earn the
trust of the coaching staff, not that he's not that
there's anything negative to come with it, just thinking back
to the playoffs last year, he was a guy that
was healthy, scratched almost the whole way, and no detriment
to him that FIDA had four players that were NHL
regulars that were not making the lineup last year just
because they had just incredibly deep. They've had basically a
whole fourth line with Nico Sturman those guys that weren't playing.
So with MACKI, you know, the questions are, will will
he be on that top line with Sasha Barkhov If
it's me. I'm starting as long as he has a
strong camp. That's where I'm looking to start him on
the left side with Barkhan and sam Urian Hart. Go
from there, sprinkle him in whether on one of the
two power play units, give him an opportunity and see
how he can run with it. I think he's earned
a chance to have that. Last year he showed a
great nose for the net. Scoring goals is not going
to be a problem for this kid if he can
get the two hundred foot game that he's been developing
basically since he was in AHL Charlotte three years ago,
when he started there and started working his way in
when he started his rookie PTO and he spent that
first full season a couple of years ago. He knows
what's expected him to answer your question the bet. The
gambling man and me would probably go for the more
safe bet at this moment, which would be Anton Lundell.
The gambler in me that likes the gamble probably take Macki,
which I would think would have better odds in terms
of making more money. I'm thinking, like, if we're talking
about a pick, I'm like Anton minus one ten Mac.
You know, maybe plus one thirty. I'll tell you, I'll
take the plus money, give me, give me the wild Guard.
But either one of those guys would be fun to
keep an eye on. I just it's been like, really
Lundell was like the last Panthers rookie that's really been
like seen come up like this. So to see Mackie
following the Panthers, you know, they've viewed so many of
their assets in recent years that they don't have a
lot of those guys coming up. So having that cheap,
the cheap talent where you have team controlled guys for
a while that you're not casting an arm and a
leg that can help supplant that roster, that's really important.
I think they're gonna want to lean on Mackie as
much as they can this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'd love to hear that. Let's move over to
the blue line, and we're gonna start with Seth Jones,
who was acquired from Chicago before the Tradeline line, stepped
onto that top pair with Gustav Foreslang and on the
top power play. He scored nine points in twenty one games,
just thirty five point pace in Florida after twenty seven
and forty two for a fifty three point pace Chicago.
Clearly there was a different role there, and Florida is
a higher scoring team than Chicago, but they obviously shifted
their priorities and he was more of an all around
player for them. Seth Jones's bash is elite, which is
why we're all really excited about the potential for him
next year because five point twenty seven block shots and
hits per game ranks him forty seventh amongst all skaters
for last season, and if he can increase those points
to go with that bash, then he could have a
phenomenal season, probably end up top ten in terms of
fantasy defenseman next season, which would be pretty awesome. So, David,
do you think that Seth Jones can get back to
a round fifty point pace this next season for the Panthers.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that seems pretty reasonable for a guy that's going
to be playing twenty two to twenty three minutes. He's
going to be getting power play time. And yeah, as
you said, this is a guy very talented, still on
the younger side, coming into the prime yeers of his career,
and he's starved for that success. He comes to Florida
after spending several years in Chicago at obviously we've talked
about it a lot, did not go nowhere near the
way that he thought they would when he signed his
deal with the Blackhawks. So now he's just in heave
and really this was the Panthers are just as happy.
This is a guy that excuse me, this is the
guy that they targeted for a while as somebody that
would play very well in pal Maurice's systems. They've done
a great job a w recognizing defenseman that will fit
and that will perform. Whether you go back a couple
of years to Oliver Eckman, Larson last year and had
Nate Schmidt, they just signed Jeff Petrie, you would think
that that's going to follow along with that mold. But
they know skill sets, they know attributes, how it's going
to fit into what Paul Maurice asks of his excuse
me man asked of his defenseman and Seth Jones. The
better acclimated he gets, and we saw as the regular
season progressing and then we got into the playoffs even
more the more that he's able to acclimate himself and
turn FID systems into muscle memory, the slower the game's
going to be for him, the faster he's going to be,
and I think the more points, the more production that
we're going to see from Seth Jones. I'm very excited
to see how it plays out. Just my excitement comes
from the excitement of everybody on the team that I
talked to. I was just so thrilled when they made
this move that they see this, you know, a long
term major fits on the blue line. They're very happy
and they see a lot to come from Seth Jones.
Speaker 3: Well, Hearin Black Eckblad is the wisened old man on
this team now. But last year things were a little
bit rocky for him. He missed twenty six games, mostly
a twenty game stretch due to a ped suspension. Then
he got suspended in the playoffs for hitting Brandon Hegel
in the head. He got a decent contract to come
back this year, and once again almost miraculous that the
three big free agents came back and Florida avoided the
winner's curse that seems to strike so many successful championship teams.
But Eklad had his best stat pace season since twenty
twenty one to twenty two. That year, he received Norris votes.
Of course, missing a lot of time this year. He
did not get those votes this year. Despite eleven seasons
in the league. He's going to play the majority of
this upcoming season still a man in his twenties, which
is just mind blowing. One flaw in the ointment. The
advanced stats do not love his even strength defense and
the revitalized Seth Jones jumped into the lineup, and about
the time that Ekled went out for suspension, that's the
same time set Jones sewed up. He took the top minutes.
And we've seen the playoffs with both of these guys,
we haven't seen in regular season what happens when everything's
combined there. What is the role for Aaron eck Bladd
next year and what kind of production do you expect.
Speaker 6: I would think role wise, he'll be on the top
pairing with Gus Poresling on the right side. I would
I'm curious to see how Florida handles their top power play.
As I've mentioned before, are they gonna stick with the
two defensemen that they did in the playoffs with Jones
and neck Blad, because those aren't your traditional defenceman like
both of those guys can work the point like a forward,
So it's not like you're taking anything way offensively, but
it also gave them a little bit more juice for
their second power play, just in terms of giving that
forward depth. So I'm curious to find out how that
plays out, and in that will if it's one guy
on the top, power play is gonna be that Glad
IS's gonna be Jones. If it's two guys, opened something
up for Gus Poresling, potentially for him that gets some
more power play time, which would be cool for him.
I know he'll be on that top pairing with Gus Foresling.
He'll be getting power play, he'll be getting penalty kill,
he'll lead the team in minutes probably. And like I
mentioned with Sam Bennett, like Bennett and ettlad are the
two guys for the last couple of years. When they
come out of the lineup, just the team does not
look the same. They don't look his potent, they don't
look as on their toes, And I guess you'd say
Bennett's like the head of the snake on as far
the forwards go, and et Glad is that guy on defense.
He took a back seat in terms of his point
production when Paul Maurice arrived. He talked about that big
year he had in twenty one to twenty two. That
was the year that the Panthers won the President's Trophy.
That was the year that they led the league in scoring,
and et Glad well definitely a guy that was at
the forefront of that in terms of their blue line.
Fast forward a year to Paul Maurice, Glad it's not
like he doesn't have the offensive capabilities anymore, but he's
put his focus on different elements of his game and he's,
as Paul Maurice puts it, he's sacrificed parts of his
game in order for this team to be better. And
how integral Eck Glad is to that team's success. That
proface plays into just how he's viewed by the team.
And then when you take into that the fact that
he made it very clear that he wanted to stay.
Not quite as bad as when Sam Bennett just took
the mic and said, I'm not bleeping leaving in terms
of taking away negotiation for his agent. A little juice there,
but no, Glad, he's a Florida guy. You said, it
feels like he's been in the lead forever because he
was number one overall pick in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 5: Came into the leads an eighteen year old.
Speaker 6: He's been in the lead for now over ten years
and he's still not thirty yet, which is like crazy
to think about, but it's just been really it's cool.
For lack of a better term, I just really enjoy
Aaron neck Lad, him being such a team guy, such
a floida guy, the fact that he's made this his
home and he wanted to keep it that way. He's
sacrificed to make it so. He sacrificed in terms of
his game statistics on the ice, he sacrificed in terms
of the money that he certainly I think would have
made if he went elsewhere off the ice. And again,
he's in the prime of his career. He's not gonna
start tailing off for a while now. So I'm excited
to see what aaronk Lad brings this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. And Gustaf Forsling. He had thirty one
points in eighty two games, two and a half shots
a game, a block and a hit, and his minutes
per game trailed only those top two guys that we're
talking about, jonesenk Lad and cumulatively. Yeah, he played the
whole year of course too, I'm much of a factor
on the power play last year, so it would be
interesting if he got that time this year to really
start making more of an impact. And the numbers don't
jump off the page, but he got Norris Lady Bing
and all Star Boats as the guy who was solid
on the back end from wire to wire during the season,
like a lot of the top guys on the team
in that late twenties very early thirties age bracket, with
a contract that Bill Ziito is gonna Jengo puzzle in
with the rest of this crew to make them be
able to fit together a little longer. Should we expect
a different stat outcome this year for Foresling or should
we just be happy and celebrate what a great real
life player this guy is with the Panthers.
Speaker 6: I think the wild card for Foresling in terms of
his point production will be whether he gets regular time
on one of the two power plays. If he gets
that second power play unit, I mean, he's been somebody
who we've talked about for several years now as certainly
a player who can be on the power play and
succeed on the power play. He's got great hands, he's
got a good shot, he's very smart. It's just Forlord
has had They've had a lot of guys ahead of him,
whether it's been at Blad he had Brandon Montur, he
had Oel in addition to the guys that are here.
Speaker 5: You know, there's only so much room.
Speaker 6: But it's crazy you mentioned the contract, Like a guy
like Gus Fororslan, who's two years in a row gotten
Norris Bergs. He's making under six million and that's for
the next like six or seven seasons. I think twenty
thirty two is his free agent year, thirty one to
thirty two, whichever. But either way, like this, it's unreal
the deals that Bilsito has gotten some of these guys
to sign. So yeah, I guess with Foresling, considering the
placement on the team, I'd be happy with the production
where it's at. But that being said, if he sees
regular time on the power play, I could see him
getting maybe another ten fifteen points, maybe more. He's just
that skilled. It's just a matter of the minutes. So
I think that's the one thing that you'd want to
keep an eye on if you're not drafting him. If
you're keeping an eye him on the free agent wire,
as soon as you see him, get power play time.
If he's available, get him right away.
Speaker 4: All right, Let's switch our attention to the goalies. The
Panthers were ranked fifth and expected goals against per sixty,
but conceided the seventh ranked actual goals. Spencer Knight was
excellent in the backup role before being traded to Chicago
to for Seth Jones. We'll talk about the new guy,
but for Sergey Barbrovski of course, had an awesome, another
great season. His save percentage dipped a little bit compared
to last season, but he still performed his expected numbers,
and of course he was great in the playoffs. His
goal save above expected eight point ninety six in the
regular season and even strength and Delta Fenwick was positive
at point four to four last year of a seven
year contract paying ten million. I remember when they signed
that contract. I was definitely one who didn't think that
was a good idea. But you get two cups and
no one cares anymore. Let's mention the other guy too,
Daniel Tarasov. He's someone I've been really excited about for
a long time. Of course, some of his underlying numbers
did not look good in Columbus. But I think this
kid's got a lot of talent, and it's my understanding
that they're both from the same Both him and Bob
are from the same place in Russia. I'm not going
to try to pronounce the city because it looks like
there's too many consonants smashed together. And his father, Vediem
was a former local goalie coach and Raffi's idol growing up.
So that's a kind of fun connection that could end
up working out really well as a mentor. And he's
on a sweetheart of a deal one year at one
point oh five. So, David, how do you see the
net shaping up in Florida this next coming season?
Speaker 6: First, it's the Vocris Netzik And the only reason I'm
so sure about that is because I got to call
KHL games for a little while. Anytime I can flex
though the Russian pronunciation muscles, I'm going to show off
a little bit. But no, it's really cool. Actually, you
mentioned how they're both they both come from the same area,
they're parently like the dads.
Speaker 5: It's very cool.
Speaker 6: How you've got now two guys that are so familiar
with each other and their families. The way that Florida's
targeted goaltending, which has been a little because like last
year they brought in v Ted Vanachakt, who of the
available goaltenders at the time, I was like, oh, this
is an interesting move. They know what they want to
bring in. They want to bring in guys that are athletic,
that are going to stop the first shot and that
understand about rebound control. Sergiba Rossis certainly is somebody that
has taken that lesson a bit to heart. Fortunately, he's
so athletic and he's so good, and the Panthers are
so good in front of him that a lot of
those second and third chances get swept away. And I
think that'll really be what they're asking you of Vsov
as well, stop the first shot, We'll take care of
the rest. Don't try to be a hero. When the
first few years of Bob's contract before Palm Maurice arrived,
so much more explosive side to side, often sometimes getting
caught out of position, and that's where a lot of
those second and third chances would bite him in the butt,
whereas the last few years everything's so tight they take
away so much more of the house. The high end
chances go down and the confidence goes up if you're
a goaltender. You mentioned earlier, so many of the Panthers'
defensemen are good at blocking shots. That's another great thing
for a goaltender when you have that confidence. Florida put
a lot of stock in their penalty kill. They pay
a lot of attention to that.
Speaker 5: That's something that.
Speaker 6: They've taken a lot of pride in since the twenty
three when they lost to Vegas twenty two, twenty three
and that final. Since then, they've really put a lot
of stock into the PKN. Obviously, that will give your
goaltenders a little bit of a happy juice as well.
You know, in terms of the split, I would think
like fifty five five or fifty thirty somewhere in that
range is what they're looking for. They don't want to
give Bob much more than fifty to fifty five. Start
that during their regular season, keep him as fresh as
possible for the playoffs. That's been the recipe of the
last few years and it's worked out quite well. And
with tarasava I he got a want hez Rfa when
they brought him in. He got that one year deal,
but Florida is there. I don't want to say they're
not said or I have a lot of faith in
Bill Zito, but the goldending situation is fluid. For lack
of a better term, I don't Bob's gonna be thirty seven.
How much more can you bank on a guy playing
elite con smythe level hockey, which is what Bob's done.
He was a Consmith votecipient two years ago, and I
think if guys hadn't been scoring, he did get some
Consmuth vote this past year too, but between what marsh
and Bennett did, understand why he was third on that list.
But it'll be interesting to how it plays out whether
Tarasov is a guy that they think of in terms
of future plans or if it all gets blown up
and they have to bring in another big name in
this offseason.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 6: I'm curious to see. But I am very happy and
confident as a Panthers follower just because of the track
record of Bill Zito and his guys, and Roberto Luwondo
and the Gold Excellence Department, and they just remember, these
are the guys that they found Devin Levi and they
drafted him a year early and that got a lot
of too, a lot of craw two For me personally,
I'm a goalie, so I've always take a little bit
more attention to the goaltending mark, and i think despite
the fact that it's unknown, I'm excited to see how
it plays out just because of what Bill Zito's done.
Speaker 3: I'm not betting against Bill Zito and I'm not betting
against your coverage this year, David. Why don't you tell
everybody how we can keep up with you on the
Florida Panthers.
Speaker 6: For sure, and thank you again for having me on
the show. You can find my written work on the
Hockey News Florida Panthers pages, to the Hockey News dot com,
slash Florida and every week you can catch my hockey podcast,
The Hockey Show with my co host Roy Bellamy anywhere
on the The Dan Levittard Show network of podcasts. You can
catch it on the Draftings Network for TV, It's on YouTube,
and yeah, I'm on Twitter at David work.
Speaker 5: X right sorry X.
Speaker 3: Either way people will get there, all right. Thank you
so much for being on with this tonight, David, and
good luck following them this season.
Speaker 5: Oh my pleasure, guys have a good season as well.
Speaker 3: Will since then that's good fire Pats, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 4: Room long with a Cat quick gram.
Speaker 3: Now it's your weekly goalie talk with Kat Silverman, Kat's Instincts.
Speaker 4: Time once again for Kat's Instincts with Kat Silverman and
Ben gold mag we're talking Carolina Panthers goalies and they
are going to need another goalie at some point. Serge
Lebowski is not going to be around forever, although he
looks great in his late thirties. We're gonna talk about
a couple of the guys they have coming and Carill
Garis Simyuk is the net first one, twenty three years old,
six two hundred and seven nine pounds, twenty twenty one
fifth round pick.
Speaker 7: This past season was his first full year in the VHL,
and he put up good numbers in a sort of
a backup role, twenty four games for Agra and then
he had eight games also for SKA the v H version,
and the numbers look really good. Say percentages were high
and the jay was really low. And he recently signed
his ELC with the Panthers. His hockey prospecting has been
slowly steadily training up to thirty four percent. So there's
a lot of guys who look like him, Thomas Kreis,
Peter Budai, Martin Baran and that vibe of low level starter.
Kat what your ankstings tell us about Gersimyuk.
Speaker 8: I don't want to say that he's a wait and see.
Speaker 2: I do think that.
Speaker 8: The Panthers clearly voiced all the confidence in the world
in Sergei Bobrovski when they decided that it was time
to move Spencer Night elsewhere. So I do think that
we have reevaluate their entire depth chart knowing that they
don't have and essentially an NHL ready prospect just right
there at the top of their depth chart, because I
do not think that's what Krasimyuk is. He's coming over
to North America this year. It looks like I just
did a quick check, and at least on elite prospects,
they have him listed as starting the season with the
Charlotte Checkers, so he's not going to be loaned back
to Russia for the year, which is nice. We'll get
to see what he looks like in North America. He's
always been one of the calmer Russian goaltenders. Doesn't seem
like he really likes to get super aggressive with his play,
So I would say that if I was a betting person,
which is what I'm here to help with, he is
probably going to have an easier learning curve coming to
North America and some of the other Russian goaltenders do,
just based on how little excess movement he's going to
have to take out of his game and how much
he has enjoyed kind of playing the waiting game from
the blue paint. He enjoys staying a little bit farther
in his crease at goating skaters to come to him
rather than trying to challenge them and keep them on
their toes. So I think he'll have a pretty easy transition.
But I don't think he's ready necessarily specifically this year
for the NHL, but I gotta have someone ready in
the next couple of years, right.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the Panther should be good for a while. And
I love the move they made for Danielle Tarasoff. We
talked about him on the main show and the fact
that his dad and Bob's dad knew each other and
were friends and from the small, small, same small town
in Russia.
Speaker 4: So that's all.
Speaker 7: And yeah, maybe older Darrisimma can get in on that
action a little bit and get some mentorship. That sounds
like it could be could work out really well. Let's
talk about the other guy who at now time for
something completely different, and that would be Cooper Black.
Speaker 4: Cooper is huge.
Speaker 7: He was undrafted, he's twenty four years old, he's six
foot eight two or twenty three pounds. He played last
season or that he was signed up after the previous
season at Dartmouth College where he had a really great
season nine to ten, say a percentage two point five
eight for not the strongest program, and then this past
season he was mostly in the AHL for the Charlotte
Checkers seventeen games one point nine AGA nineteen side percentage
is pretty nice. He did get a few ECCHL games
to get a little bit more time and that didn't
go particularly well. But overall, Kat, this is a bit
of an unknown, but probably a guy who's pretty available
in some leagues.
Speaker 4: So what do your instincts tell us about Cooper Black?
Speaker 8: He's huge. I appreciate that. I know that There's been
a lot of swirling theories among Panthers fans who are
wondering if the team's questioning who is going to eventually
replace King Bob for them, And I don't think it's
Cooper Black to put it really nicely, but I do
think that he makes a really good depth piece in
their organization. It's a little bit of a slower mover,
but when he is playing against I would say a
very mismatched offense to defense. So when he is really
dealing with a lot of pressure and close, he doesn't
allow the offense to pressure him to turtle because he's
got enough builds to him that he can take up
most of the net without worrying about it. He just
has to make sure that he doesn't get goaded into
moving out of position because he is a little bit
slower overall, I think he looks like a mature goaltender.
I just think he's missing that extra tier to his game.
So he is not who I would necessarily bank on
if all of their more NH already players are injured.
That's not necessarily who I would call up to start.
But I do think that he is a nice piece
to have in the organization, especially because he plays so
differently from almost everyone else they have.
Speaker 7: And that'll be nice to see. Awesome, Thanks Kats much
forgive me for instincts on the Florida Panther goalies.
Speaker 3: Victor, there is something else we gotta talk about. Don't
we have something special to give to the listeners.
Speaker 4: 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
appule 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 3: We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 2: Big the.
Speaker 3: Dynasty Jig Lord of Panthers. Addition, Victor Nugno, we need
to talk about the Panthers, but this is the least half.
This is the least interesting half perhaps of this episode,
because this is the number thirty one system according to
your rankings. Nonetheless, we do have three guys we're gonna
talk about, and it starts with your no brainer.
Speaker 4: Who is the no brainer for the Panthers is Michael
Benning twenty twenty ninety fifth overall pick, five foot nine,
one hundred and seventy six pounds. He was five to
nine when he was drafted. He's still five to nine.
That's gonna be a big part of the story here.
He is the younger and smaller Benning brother. Mike stepped
up his HL production this year, going from twenty six
points in seventy two games to thirty two points and
fifty four games to point three to six too point
five to nine points per game, which is pretty nice.
I added another nine points and eighteen playoff games as
Charlotte lost in the Calder Cup finals, which was very
unfortunate but still a really good season for him, and
of course Matt Benning being his older brother and Jim
Benning being his uncle, so that's fun. Looking at some
of the tracking data for Mike Benning, you can see
on his Fantasy Hockey Life player card that there's a
lot of colors that are not green, which is not good.
So some of his possession stats. Some of his passing
is a little subpar. He does have a lot of assists,
but overall his pre shot his accurate passing pass attempts
are all pretty low. His peripheral coverage is pretty low
except for his shots. His shots are good, but his
blocks are tenth percentile. His hits are thirteenth percentile. Makes
sense for being a smaller guy. He also tends to
have a lot of giveaways. Overall, his bash would only
be twenty fourth percentile. His play driving metrics are only
sixtieth percentile. He's really good at net expected goals and
his course he and Fenwick are pretty good, but he
loses the puck a lot and doesn't get it back.
He also doesn't do so well with puck battles, and
his transition game just twenty seven percentile. He doesn't get
the puck in or out very well with efficiency or ease,
so that's all not very good. I have him at
a five point one four just fourteen percent chance of
being an average roster player, and a lot of that
does come down to the size factor. Let's hear a
little bit more about Mike Benning from our HL scout.
Speaker 3: Jesse FHL leads scout Tony doesn't mess around. Here's what
he says about Mike Benning. Dynamic skater who is always moving,
above average acceleration and agility. Passing and handling. Mike exhibits
above average passing puck handling. He is able to find
his open teammates a hard and accurate slap shot. The
IQ sees the ice well and can't anticipate where to
pass the puck. Tony would say majority of the time,
Mike was a poised player on the ice. For checking,
Tony didn't see a whole lot of that. But for defense,
he works well in his own zone with his d
partner reversing the puck quite a bit to make the
puck get out of the zone. Mike also exhibited slightly
above average rush defense. So the best assets for Tony
his passing and his hockey IQ. The biggest concern you
just said it, Victor Mike's lack of physicality, although his
size holds his own top tier potential, Tier two middle
pair power playtime. Maybe the dynamic skating, accurate shooting in
passing or nine Q make him that kind of a candidate,
but the media outcome more likely the Tier three bottom pair,
seventh defenseman with spotty of any power play, and that's
because there's not enough physicality here and not enough bash
stylistic comparable. Mike Benning reminds Tony of a slightly less
offensive but more defensive Brian Rafalski. Maybe I should say
less offensive. I don't know that Mike Benning has done
anything to offend people, so he's not offensive, but he's
not offensive but Brian Rafalski in any event, But if
everything goes right, could he be the next Devin Taze
type player to the next kill mccarr. That secondary got
is really good. I guess that would be the ultimate
dream for some. It would come out here. But the
NHL rank King, the Lord Stanley Tidy Champion Mason Black
put out the poll, Eric pole Camp versus Michael Benning,
and pole Camp prevails fifty seven two forty three percent
over mister Benning. Victor. Is that how you see it?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I do, And frankly, I'm not even sure it should
be that close fifty six point seven to forty three
point three. I think that it's pretty easily poll Camp.
For one thing, he's two inches taller, which kind of
is a big deal when you're five nine to five eleven.
That's a big difference. And he's also pole Camp two
hundred and five pounds, so he's pretty big. I think
that makes a big difference too in how he plays.
If you look at some of the underlying stands for
pole Camp at the University of Denver, his bash projects
to be ninety six percentile, so one of the complete
opposite in many ways of Benning. His blocks are sixty
seven percentile, his hits or eighty first percentile, and his
shots are just as good as Mike Benning. So all
that adds up to being pretty solid peripheral floor. But
you look at Eric Polkamp's Fantasy Hockey Life card and
you can see a completely different player. The shooting is excellent,
the passing is pretty great, the peripheral coverage as great
as I mentioned. The play driving is also really excellent,
although his not expected goals is lower than Bennings. But
the rest of it, the Fenwick, the corsi, the puck
battle is loose, puck recovery good, and the transition game
is excellent. Whether it's breaking out via dumpin, pass or carry.
It's all well above average, and the entries are all
excellent as well, so all of that's adding up to
a much more solid perferle player. I don't want you
to get the idea that he's going to be some
sort of offensive dynamo, because I don't think that's the case.
But I think pole Camp has a much better chance
of being an average roster player. That's why I have
him at a five point seventy six. So I'm definitely
taking pole Camp here. Of course, the blue line might
get a little crowded in San Jose with a lot
of good prospects on the way, but he's someone who
projects as a solid middle to bottom pairing kind of
guy who can give you some bash and maybe at
that point the team will score enough around him to
give you more points. Looking at the hockey prospecting between
these two, it's clearly Benning, And if you just looked
at this you would wonder what I was even talking about,
because Benning has a much higher star potential forty three
percent to pole camps three percent when he graduated the model.
But obviously there's more to the story, as I just mentioned,
based on pole Camp's player card and his data at
University of Denver. You look at some other comps for
Michael Benning, there's only two, Noah Hanafin and Rasmus Anderson,
and I don't think he's going to be like either
of them. Quite frankly, but he does look a little
bit like Anderson. But if he was able to make
it as any of them, the offensive production is probably
closer to Hannafan, But frankly, I just don't think his
defensive game and all around physicality is good enough to
even hit that bar. So unfortunately, I think he's probably
going to be more like Caitlin Addison, who we have
seen not really make it and be a bit disappointing
in terms of his offensive game being exciting at the
lower levels but not good enough in the NHL, and
a little more underwhelming in the defensive end. Looking at
the j Fresh card for Mike Benning, one percent chance
of being a star, six percent chance of being an NHLer.
That might be a little too pessimistic, but I don't know, Jesse,
maybe not. Seems like a long shot.
Speaker 3: We started with a long shot. Let's move on to
the need to know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the need to know is Stepan Gorbrunoff. Now, this
guy you probably haven't heard of too much, but he
is an interesting player. Twenty twenty four hundred and sixty
ninth overall pick. He's sixty five hundred ninety five pounds,
so right away we're talking about a completely different player
than Mike Benning. Is also a forward. He also has
an eleventh August eleventh birthday, so that means he was
extremely young for that twenty four draft. Platt calass so
it gives you a little bit more leeway to show
some significant improvement in his draft plus one year, which
is what he did. He played entirely in the MHL
in his draft season and had a little bit over
half point per game, so it wasn't too crazy exciting
or the size and the profile in the package gave
you some to maybe get excited about, and he did
improve this year. He only spent nine games in the MHL,
which he was well above a point per game, so
they moved over to the VHL. Twenty five points and
forty eight games. That was pretty solid. Six on the
team and a really young to boot. Obviously, looking at
the FHL player card for gorbranov I, have him at
a five point three six, a thirty six percent chance
of being a five, and because he'd played in the VHL,
some of these numbers are a little underwhelming. We also
have an MHL card for him which just looks amazing
because the nine games he played there he looked amazing,
but also maybe not as relevant in terms of projecting
his future. So in this his shooting was a little
bit above average. His passing was really good. He had
a lot of accurate passes and pass attempts and pre
shot passes, decent amount of assists. His periffs were a
little bit about average. He did actually takes a bunch
of face offs and win them at a pretty good clip.
His blocks were really good and his shots were pretty good,
but his hits were twenty seven percentile, which is disappointing
for such a big guy, but a little bit under
fifty forty six percent chance bash for Gorbranoff. His play
driving was also a little disappointing. His fenwork was good,
and his puck battles and flusepuck recovery was good, but
his corsi and net expected goals were pretty bad, and
for a big guy, you might expect his transition to
game to not be as good, but that was actually
his best part overall. He next to his passing, he
had really strong transition numbers, especially breakouts and carry out
or carry entries. So overall pretty good there for Gorbranoff
in terms of his FHL tracking data. But let's look
at let's hear a little bit more about Let's hear
a little bit more about Gorburennov from FHL scout Jesse.
Speaker 3: Tony has this to say, Steppen looks like a good
skater for his size, which at six' five is pretty,
good and handling seemed to be a good, passer got
the puck to. Teammates handling was a bit of an
issue in close to the, Body stepan's shot was a,
plus able to hand rebounds around the. Net Stefan stefan
has vision to see open teammates and, poise although he
thinks he should have been in THE mhl for checking
a little bit of for checking in What tony, saw
but not a whole lot of defensive video for the
video That tony was able to get. To so the
best asset the, size the skating ability at that, Size
but the biggest concern is the, size he's going to
have to be more physical to make it in The
National Hockey. League he could play mid six type minutes
and the size and skating ability would take him, there
but there's also a possibility his lack of physical play
would take him into the bottom. Six he Reminds tony
of a better Skating elmer Soder. Blum, oh that's a
hike comp right. There and, Overall tony hopes to see
more video this upcoming. Year would like to revisit this
as time goes. Long Mason black puts stuff On gorbanov
up Against Juna. Ininen weisson In Juna vissinen and what
came out of that their poll it was it was
Mister juna sixty two to thirty eight. Percent, victor is that?
ACCURATE i don't know about.
Speaker 4: That Youna visonen is HOW i understood it to be,
pronounced AS i just researched it while you were saying A.
Jesse he is a little bit, shorter six foot hundred
and seventy six. Pounds he was drafted by The penguins
in the sixth, round similar similar draft position to Where
gorbranov was, picked but he was in The ushl this
in his draft, season and then he went over To
Western michigan part of that and caa championship. Team But
i'm gonna have to go With gorbranov. HERE i think
he just has a little bit more. Potential he is
still much, bigger he's a bit more, raw AND i
think that he can get up there a little bit.
MORE i should mention that Visn in is also a DOUBLE.
O he's twenty one years old now and he's a.
Defenseman that's a little bit of a difference. There but,
Yeah i'm going to go ahead and Take. GORBLANOV i
think his hockey prospecting shows him at twelve percent chance
of being a. Star Vison in at just three, percent
and he's farther down the. Funnel So i'm gonna take
the guy that's a little bit more. Raw you look
at the tracking data for Vison, in and there's really
good transition, data pretty good play, driving the passing is,
excellent but then the peripherals are really. Low only eleven
percent for. Bash blocks and hits are all pretty. Low
the shots are even pretty, Low so, OVERALL i don't
know there's much of a peripheral. FLOOR i have him
as a three point zero, zero so it's pretty unlikely
to be even a relevant roster. Player So i'm not
that excited about vison In. Gorbranov looking at some other
comps for, him there aren't a whole lot of good.
Ones there are some sort of average. Producers Olig vasha
it is one that we looked. At there's a couple
of guys who are still developing right, now but, Overall
i'm not sure that there's going to be anything to
be super excited. About Jay fresh has him at just
one percent chance of being a star and thirty nine
percent chance of being AN, nhlo which is pretty, PESSIMISTIC i,
think just based on his size and relative lack of
progression at this. Stage but being a ball of clay
that can be, molded there's some Reason frock.
Speaker 3: And victor who is to keep your eye on.
Speaker 4: PROSPECT i feel like we've been keeping our eye On
Jack divine for a while. Now he's been come up
a couple of. Times he was the twenty twenty two
to two hundred and twenty first overall pick down there
in the seventh. Round he's now twenty one years. Old
he'll be twenty two this. Season he's a really early
Birthday october. Second he's a right wing Playing he's been
playing the last several, seasons four full seasons At, denver
where he was overpoint per game the last two. Seasons
he did get into a couple professional games for The
Charlotte checkers at the end of the, season including got
some playoff points, there which was pretty. Cool but fifty
seven points and forty four games after fifty six points
and forty four games last season is pretty remarkable. Stuff
all that's looking really good For. DIVINE i should mention
he is six, foot one hundred and eighty one, pounds
so size isn't a huge, issue but he was a
little SHORTER i believe when he was. Drafted looking at
THE fhl player, CARD i Have divine at a six
point one. Five there's talent to be a little bit above,
average but not a huge percentage to get. There, OVERALL
i think that his points look really, good his, shooting his,
passing all that looks pretty solid as you might. Expect
his priffs are a little bit, lower his hits and
blocks are less than fifty percent thirty, four thirty three
and forty four. Percent to give him seventy six bash.
Percentile the play, driving, though is. Excellent loose puck, recovery puck, battles,
fenwick net expected. Goals all that looks, great and the
transition game For divine also looks, excellent especially his. Entries
he's pretty much a carry in and passing entry, machine
which is pretty. Fantastic let's hear what else might be
fantastic About divine from every tail Scout jesse not.
Speaker 3: Just, fantastic but. Divine, patrick our co lead, scout has
this to. Say an above average. Skater he has good,
speed the edgework is a positive passing handling or, plus
able to carry the puck up the, eyes very good
at making smart passes that he keeps. Simple divine shot is,
average good at getting it on, net but it's a
straightforward type of. Shot patrick doesn't see him picking corners
or adding. Deception jack had an above AVERAGE, iq sees
the play, well moves to good, positions plays with. Calm
he is a high compete player who is aggressive on
the ford check and a defensively involved. Forward skates back
hard and can often be seen below the faceoff. Dots
his playmaking via passing or in handling are his great,
strength but the shot is the. Concern the top outcome
middle six are on power play two fifty to fifty
five points because the skating is. Good he competes on
offense and, defense shows some good playmaking that keeps him
on the third line and gets some. Time i'm on
the second, Line but the meeting out comes something more
like a bottom sixer with forty to forty five. Points
the shot could use some. Work the overall tool set
is solid but not. Remarkable patrick says the comp might
be something like a lower End Brian Rust Mason black
put up the Poll Jack divine Versus Felix, nilsen and
this One divine was able to pull out handily seventy
six to twenty four. Percent what do you, Think, Victor.
Speaker 4: Yeah i'm definitely in the divine camp. Here oh that sounds.
Fine i'm in the DIVINE i WISH i was in
the divine. Camp it sounds really, pleasant doesn't.
Speaker 2: It?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no in my, Book, victor you're in the divine. Camp.
Speaker 4: Ah, Thanks, YEAH i think this is pretty easily. Divine
it's it is a bit different Because nielsen is playing
in THE, shl so the stats are going to be
a bit. Muted as a, reminder he was a twenty
twenty three second round pick By. Nashville it's a six foot,
er one hundred and ninety two pound center slash. Winger
he's also really young for his draft, class so they're
cut opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of when
they were Born jack In october And felix In august or,
Sorry june still a late birthday, though And felix has
been basically in THE shl the last two. Years his
first season twenty three twenty, four he scored three points
in forty one, games so not a lot, there and
then last season he jumped all the way up to
twenty two points in forty, games so quite a bit more,
production but overall it's still he had quite the regression
in terms of his star. Potential divine never looked good
in the hockey prospecting model because his numbers in THE
ushl and his draft minus one season and then THE
ncaa and his draft season were really. Pedestrian he really
popped off in his draft plus two and three, seasons
and so it doesn't look as. Favorable but what he's
done more recent is pretty, exciting SO i definitely would Take.
Divine if you look At Felix nielsen's aficial player, card
it looks. Awful there's so much red and. Orange it's visually,
displeasing WHICH i know is What brandon was going for
when he was picking the. Color the greens and the
light blues and everything look a lot. Better so all in,
ALL i, mean you can just look at it if
you're a patron on the show, sheet it looks pretty.
Bad there really isn't anything that's great other Than Felix
nielsen's assists which are pretty. Good the bash is, low
the shots are, low hits, blocks everything is pretty. Low
the face off winds are just a bit above. Average
but the transition, data the play driving, prifs all that
does not look. Good so definitely Favors divine. Here in
terms of some other comps For, divine there really aren't
a whole lot that looked like him that actually became
the strong. Producers Jean havlock is one who was an average,
producer but that's pretty much. It it's disappointing there looking
at the J fresh. Model two percent chance of being
a star For divine and fifteen percent chance of being
AN nhl are so a bit more pessimistic. There that's
all for The Florida PANTHERS. Dig if you're a, patron
you can listen to my top ten prospect recaps per
team On. Patreon if you're interested in doing any scouting
with us or helping out the, show shoot ME adm
On twitter this quarter or email.
Speaker 2: Us we'll be right back to will Do. Chow, well
we're on our way out the door for the. Day
but don't.
Speaker 3: Forget you can play your games on fan, tracks all
the options you're gonna. Want you can get yourself in
the app and be using, That and, YEAH i mean
THAT'S i try to play all of my leagues, there
because first of, all once you start playing your league, somewhere,
geez just just play them all. There i'm you, know
it's all right to play diverse. FORMATS i think that's,
Cool but a fella just only wants to set lineups
in so many, plays so many places on a daily.
Basis SO i hope you'll give it a, try because
they're the most options, there and you can do rookie,
drafts you can do slow, drafts all of those types of.
Things and when it comes to fan, TRACKS Hq they've
got some great content that people follow to get their
hockey news over. There and in addition to, that you
can thank OUR fhl. Crew let's just all take a
minute to stand in a plot for Our Fantasy Hockey live.
Crew not, me Not. Victor we know you appreciate us
enough to hang around until an hour into a, podcast
but how About Timmy, Simon Ryan krafts who are working
on the Tidy leaks getting you ready for this. YEAR
i hope if you wanted to join up you were
able to because it's going to be a lot of.
Fun tony And patrick are lead, scouts tirelessly putting these,
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You Mike steven And matt stand your feet stick get
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