Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks. Here's
your source of information and analysis to help you win
your fantasy hockey league.
Speaker 2: Block off hot a step hit on staylock block.
Speaker 1: Here's your hosts, Jesse Sevier and Victor Nuno Fantasy.
Speaker 3: Hockey Live once again. It's close to the season. He's
Victor Nuno, the Fantasy Hockey Doctor. I'm Jesse Severe Fan Tracks.
How you doing today, Victor.
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm doing awesome. Jesse, I'm excited for this. How
you doing, I'm doing good.
Speaker 3: I'm doing good. This is our annual themed show and wow,
we'll get to it in the actual show, but it's time.
We're opening waivers. Waivers are open everywhere. We're making claims.
Things are happening, and yeah, generally things are just in
good shape, Victor, and there a need for better shape.
If you pop into our Fantasy Hockey Life discord where
there are many people now talking fantasy hockey at many times,
and all you need to do to get in there
is email is Fantasy Hockey Life at gmail dot com.
You get yourself a link and do all those things.
And Victor, you have other cool things that you want
to tell people about. What are they?
Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of other cool stuff, like you can get
into the tier dynasty of the tidy. You can wear
it full, but you can guarantate on the wait list
and be one of the first people added. You can
get access to the website, the ranks, the tiers, the list,
all the important things to help you figure out which
players are better than others. I was just doing a
roster doctor, which is another feature of the Patreon with
someone and we were going through all the different players
and their league has a specific games played limit, and
they also have people who are left over from previous draft,
and it's really hard to compare one to the other.
And he was trying to figure out who the best
player to add, and it's literally what my list is,
all the players under one hundred games played and ranked
by Fantasy Upside. So I recommended for that because it
really helps you make those decisions and also always happy
to get DM one on one this guy versus that guy.
So all that's available over at patreon dot com slash
Fantasy Hockey Life Tremendous.
Speaker 3: Victor will be right after back right after this to
record our show Victor. This is our annual celebratory catchup
and mustard edition a fun little gimmick, but it concedes
to the fact, Victor, that we start recording our team
preview episodes in April. I don't know if you know this,
but there are moves that happen in the NHL between
April and September. I didn't know this at the time.
I discovered it over the summer. Actually teams draft players
and signed players and do all those things. So in
the interests of complete I don't know, some kind of
a twitchy issue compulsiveness that we have, we have to
go back and discuss anything that happened after the respective
team previews, which results in catchup, and so we have
a two part ketchup series. This episode's the West, next
episodes the East, each team by team going through anything
that happened after our team preview, and then Victor, we
do the mustard are hot spicy mustard that we throw
out there. We are each going to throw out We're
going to take terms of these teams, and whenever one
of us is covering the team, we're going to throw
out two potential hot takes, which will go back and
review at the end of the season, and we will
decide the person who's listening will decide which one of
those takes are spicier, and that the speaker is going
to be held to as a hot take. So, Victor,
is this one of your favorites? Do you like this exercise?
Is it getting old or is this a trademark?
Speaker 2: I think as a trademark a because I like it.
I think it's fun. I think it's I think having
spicy takes are really interesting as long as they're grounded
in some basis of fact or reason. Sometimes people through
out hot takes that are totally wild, like the Sharks
are going to win the Stanley Cup this year, obviously ridiculous.
That might get some clicks, it might have some shock value,
but there's really no basis in reality for that happening.
So I think that's fun and listen to hot takes.
But also I think the other thing is it gives
us an idea, an opportunity, as you said, to catch
up on what we didn't haven't talked about since we recorded,
which I like from a completeness sake, But also it
gives an opportunity just to give a kind of feel
for the team, what we're thinking, what kind of who
are our guys, guys that we really like, or maybe
guys that were still skeptical about. So it gives us
an extra opportunity to give a couple of takes on
each team.
Speaker 4: And I like that as well. Yeah, it's one of
my favorites. How about you.
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it, Victor, it is. It
is one of my favorite episodes the year, my favorite
double episodes of the year. But without further ado, we
got to get going. We got a lot of teams here,
and we're gonna move division by division. As I said,
Today's Western Conference, West Coast, Best Coast alphabetically, you are
first up.
Speaker 2: I am first up, and the first team is the
Anaheim Ducks. We recorded I think this is one of
our first ones back April thirtieth of so long ago,
and a few things have happened since we recorded. The
catch up is that they traded for Chris Kreider. They
also traded away Trevizegris and got Ryan Paling in that
very interesting deal. They also at long last, Jesse, the
national nightmare is over. We can finally stop talking about
John Gibson being traded from the Anaheim Ducks because it
finally happened. I'm really excited to see what he does.
We'll talk of believe that for another time, but I
am looking forward to that. And they also leaned Damian
Clard back to the SHL one of their prospect goalies.
They signed doch Style, Kylie Klang, Sam Colangelo as RFA,
and then for some reason they wanted another goalie and
signed Really Husso, and then they also signed mcil Grantlin.
So a lot of things have changed for the Ducks
since we recorded, and I remember in that episode there
was a lot of I don't know who are they
going to play with, not sure because we really did
not know, and now we know a little bit more.
And to that end, whereas a couple of things that
we can say. First of all, if you're not aware
of the fact that the Ducks have always have amazing
number of off nights, then that's something you need to
get in your mind, because it is a huge advantage
when playing weekly daily starts in fantasy and figuring out
those guys that have the light days, not the common Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
It's very helpful, and the Ducks are always that team,
and so it's really useful to get players from their
team because you can fit them into your schedule all
most of the time. And it's been rough the last
couple of years because the Ducks haven't had a lot
of good skaters that you want to roster. But there
are a couple more interesting ones this year. I mentioned
some that you might want to get your hands on,
but I this is going to relate primarily to the goalie,
and Lucas Dostell has been one of my favorite prospect
goalies for a long time, as you all probably know
if you're listening and have listened for a while. Not
only is he super good, and I think that he's
hopefully going to help the Ducks take another step this year.
But because of the off nights and because of the
way that I like to draft goalies, I'm looking to
get him everywhere. And the main reason is that if
you get Lucas Dostal as your starter, you're getting a
pretty solid, not top tier, but maybe second or third
tier goalie who's pretty reliable. It should get you a
lot of fantasy points. But also the off nights, so
you basically can get two other high volume goalies and
be able to fit them in pretty much all the time.
So I just think from a strategy perspective, getting Dostel
really helps in a lot of ways. And my hot
takes particularly relates to the fact that I think Doshteal
is going to be a top ten goalie in the
tidy settings, and that's not taking an account the off days.
Speaker 4: So we'll leave that to the side, because.
Speaker 2: I think you will get him in your lineup more
often than a lot of goalies. But I'm just saying
based on pure totally let's say fantasy points per game,
let's call it that way. So that's my first one.
The second one is related to Jackson Lacombe, who was
just incredible this last year, one of the only Ducks
that was really good, and his underlying metrics were fantastic.
He's never really been the most offensive guy, but we
always talked about him as a solid two way guy,
and he showed that he can hang at both ends
of the ice. We've been waiting for one of these
Ducks defensemen to separate themselves. I really did not think
it was going to be Jackson lacomb I thought it
would be paveloman Chukov or Olon Zellweger. Obviously, Drysdale's gone now,
but they still have some other good prospect goalie defenseman,
but Lacombe really separated himself last year. He did cook
a little hot in some of his metrics, but I
still think that I'm buying on what he did, and
I think he can take another step.
Speaker 4: So he had a.
Speaker 2: Forty seven point pace last year in seventy five games,
and he did that with a little bit over two
minutes of power play time on I said, he'd have
to retain a lot of that and shoot close to
ten percent, or he just gets more total time and
more opportunity than the Ducks are better, which I think
is also going to happen. So I'm going to say
that he doesn't regress that he takes his forty seven
point pace and goes up to a fifty five point pace. Jesse,
which one you want to hold me to do? Staal
is a top ten goalie in tidy settings or Jackson
le Comb finishes with a fifty five point pace or better.
Speaker 3: These are the These are very good hot takes because
they sit right in that edge of it's pushing the
thought process. But I can't look at either one of
these and say it's crazy. I think both of them
have a certain logic to them. I am going to
probably hold you to do Staal, not because I dislike Dostaal,
but because he is going to be facing I think,
a pretty difficult road this year. He's not going to
have a great team in front of him. That's going
to take out some points. He's going to be taxed
a little bit more than he has in the past.
That might hurt his averages. But I don't dislike it.
I wouldn't be surprised, but I do think it's a
good hot take. All right. I will go to the
Calgary Flames next up. They pretty much we recorded on
June nineteenth, and they signed some restricted free agents. After
then they extended Dustin Wolf. That was a big deal
for them. Connor ZERI was a whole thing. Martin pas Basil,
Jeremy Poitier, Morgan frost all coming back, signed Yvon pros
vets Off off off the free agent's wires, so they
they did a little bit. It wasn't all that exciting
for them, but they did some stuff in free agency,
and it will be the players coming back and coming
up who will be the better stories probably for this
team in the coming year. Because they have some prospects
who debuted at the end of last season. Two hot
takes Victor. First of all, the Huberto redemption tour continues.
I would say next year, I'm saying a seventy point
pace for Huberto. That's pushing I think, good ten points
above what he has done in his last couple of years.
Of course, nowhere like his late Florida years where what
was he in the nineties and even that hundred. But
I don't know that anybody is expecting him to get
anything close to that. Again, Still, I like where he
was last year. I liked what we heard in our
team preview. I'm going seventy point pace. And second, Zaane Perek,
who did debut at the end of last season. I
will say top three in calder voting. So, Victor, which
one of those do you want to pin me to?
Speaker 2: Ooh, those are good ones. Yeah, I think that. I'm
really excited to see what Perek's gonna do. I think
he's gonna make the team. I think that they're gonna
ease him in. I think he's gonna get a lot
of power play time. You don't have zam PreK on
your team and not let him run the power play,
and I think he's an interesting low key late bet
and redraft because I think he's gonna he's going to
be interesting and I think he's going to get some opportunity.
So that's exciting, and so I want that to happen.
I think that's a little bit more likely, even though
it's still a little unlike. I like the Hubrid redemption tour,
and I think he's been trending back up a little
bit since really struggling his first season and a half
or so or more in Calgary. But I'll hold you
to that one just because it's a little bit of
a bar to get to seventy and the Flames just
don't have a whole lot to work with unfortunately. I
think they have a couple of interesting pieces, but I
think a few more things will have to go right
and it could happen.
Speaker 4: It's reasonable, but I like it. All right.
Speaker 2: Let's move on to the next one, Edmonton Oilers. We
recorded this one not too long ago, August twenty second.
As we're recording this, there's recent comments about McDavid putting
some skepticism and designing an extension. I think it's going
to happen. We'll have to wait and see, but that's
creating quite the kerfuffle up in Edmonton. So the two
hot takes that I'm gonna mention the first one. We
talked about this a little bit on the show. There's
a lot of discussion of Isaac Howard and Matthew Savoy,
the two young players that are coming into the lineup,
and there certainly seems like there's opportunity for them to play.
And of course, any time you can play with McDavid
or dry Sidle, it's pretty enticing. Even if one of
them could get on the top power play. So we
don't know who it's gonna be. I feel like even
though Isaac Coward hasn't played professionally, he's been playing in
the NCAA, I still think that he has the better chance.
I think his two way game is a little bit better.
He's a little bit bigger. I think he's a little
bit more versatile on what he can do. So that's
why I'm putting my money on him. And I'm going
to say that Isaac Coward has a better point pase
than Matthew Savoy, and pretty much all that comes down
to opportunity. I doubt that happens if Howard is buried
in the bottom six and Savoys in the top six,
although it could happen, but I think it's really gonna
be who gets more consistent minutes in the top six
and potentially a power play time that's gonna do it
for whoever wins. So I'm taking Isaac Howard putting my
money there. And the other one has to do with
the goalies, and I mentioned on this show when we
recorded that it's extremely frustrating. I think a lot of
people have been expressing this that the Oilers know what
their weakness is and they've had it for several years
now and they continue to not do anything about it.
They didn't do anything to address the goaltending. Yeah, maybe
the Pickens were slim, but they're going back at it
with Stuart Skinner, who just is an underwhelming starting goalie,
and Kelvin Pickhard as someone we've seen them go on
some hot streaks, but generally not that great of a goalie.
So I'm skeptical that they're going to do anything else
about it because they've just dug their heels and refused
to do anything about it. So I'm gonna say that
Stuart Skinner finishes the season in Edmonton with the most
games played of any of their goalies. I just feel
like if they haven't addressed it by now, they're not
gonna And I think that he's gonna continue to be
their goalie and it's going to continue to be an issue.
And ride the Stuart Skinner wave, Jesse, who you're riding here?
The Stuart Skinner wave or the either Coward.
Speaker 3: Oh man, if it wasn't Howard versus Savoy, I would
make you ride that Howard thing. But I think Skinner
was very good in the regular season last year, but
I think the narrative of the playoffs last year, something
is gonna happen with him this year. So I will
hold you to that one, just because I don't know.
I've got a lot of uncertainty about the other one.
This would be the spicier one actually for me to
hold you to. So that is the one I'm going
to do.
Speaker 4: Victor.
Speaker 3: The La Kings also a relatively recent recording July seventeenth.
There really wasn't any further developments after mister Dennis Bernstein
was here, and so I'm not gonna really have much
to say there, but I've got two potential hot takes.
One of them Brant Clark leads team defenseman and power
playtime on ice, sur passing Drew Dowdy, and the other
is and this is the haters take. Actually it might
satisfy Kings fans. Corey Perry does not make it through
the year on the team. He's what forty years old?
At some point he's want to drop off, and maybe
his game resists that a little bit. But I think
Corey Perry is going to go the way of Corey
Perry on Wasn't he the one who got kicked off
the Blackhawks for saying something about counter Bdard or something. Yeah,
I think he's not going to make it through another
year on the big club. Which one you think, Victor.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is a good one.
Speaker 2: I think I desperately want the Kings to hand over
the keys to the castle to Brent Clark, but I
just don't think it's going to happen. And we've seen
when they've had the option of Drew Dowdy for the
past was it two decades now, they've given it over
to Drew Dowdy, So I don't think that they're gonna
let Brent Clark do what he does best. I wish
that they did, but I'm I'm going to hold you
that one because if that's the one I'm less confident in,
and Clark, although has a lot of talent, just can't
seem to gain the full trust of the coaches. Maybe
things will be different this year, but that's one we're
gonna go with. I'm not sure what to make of
the Corey Perry thing. I think he I think it's
I think it's more likely he does end up somewhere else.
So that's what that's where we're gonna go with. So yeah,
please Kings, let bank Brent Clark do his thing. He's
good at it, all right. Let's move on to the
next one, and that would be the San Jose Sharks.
They did a lot of things since we recorded. I
don't think any of them super interesting, but they a
couple of things I guess are mildly interesting. They traded
an Illegushion for Oscar Lowison. Would have been great if
they did that right before we recorded with Meg Hanley
because she could have given us more insight on Allawison.
And they also traded Henry Thrun for Ryan Reeves, which
is a head scratcher since Reeves' is borderline and NHL are,
and I guess Thron is also. Some people are excited
about Thron, but I think he's a seven eight D
kind of guy. They claim Nick Letty off Waivers. They
traded Thomas Bordlicious for Shane Bowers. They traded Alex Nadelkovich
trade for Alexdlkovich, and then they signed Jeff Skinner, Jacob Shkarik,
dmet you Orloff, John Klingberg, Adam Goddad, Philim Kershef. They
signed William Ecklund, They drafted and recently signed Michael Misa,
and then they traded for Carry Price's contract. So they
did a lot of things. I think that it's some
of the things I think are interesting a lot of
the guys. I think they're just clearing out roster space
for guys that they can drop or HL ers, and
so that's strategic. I think having a backup for a
Scaroff who has played NHL games is very useful, so
nel Kovich is good for that. And I think having
just more NHL quality defenseman is going to help insulate
some of the younger guys like dmet You Orloff and
Nick Neletti. Even though those guys aren't super interesting, I
think that they do provide some insulation, which is what
the Sharks need. And i'd like to say something about
Michael Misa, but I decided not to make my hot
take on him. But I do think that he's going
to be pretty good this year. He'll probably have a
Will Smith esque season from last year. So my hot
take revolves around John Klingberg. I think that he's really
interesting in this setup. I think there's no reason you
bring John Kleenberg on board if you're not going to
give him top power play, and so I think he's
definitely gonna get that, which is something he hasn't really
had for a few seasons. He got a little bit
of time up in Edmonton, it was really the heydays
in Dallas that he had a meaningful power play time.
He had a little bit there in Anaheim, Minnesota, but
it was not not as much as before. And he
was a fifty pretty consistent fifty plus point guy back
in the day when he was able to do that,
and some of his underlying metrics suggests that he was
still decent in Edmonton and Toronto at times. But I
think that if you ask him to do too much,
he breaks down. So as long as he can be
paired with someone decent and even strength and then run
that power play, I think he could get back up there.
I think he could get easily fifteen power play points
if the Sharks have a pretty good should have a
pretty good power play even though they shouldn't probably won't
be great at even strength, and I don't think they're
gonna win a ton of game games, but they should
at least be fun offensively to watch, and I think
Klingberg can get on board with that. So I'm going
to say he gets fifteen power play points and clears
a forty point pace. He hasn't had a forty point
pace since his split season in Anaheim Dallas Anaheim Minnesota,
and then before that he was over fifty for many years.
He's older, he's had the hip surgery, so that seems
like it might be a little hot.
Speaker 4: And the other.
Speaker 2: Thing about Klingberg is you can get him really late
in your drafts. His ADP is really late, and he's
sometimes even going undrafted. I find myself sometimes needing an
offensive defenseman towards the end of the draft, so grab
him and the other take has to do with Will Smith.
I really like how Will Smith ended the season. I
think he was near point per game in the last
month or two of the season, So I think you
have some opportunity here to really take a big step,
and I think that he will. I think that the
concern I have is if they try to make him
play center, because he's definitely better down on the wing.
But if they make them go down the middle, then
he might have a little less offense, a little bit
more defensive responsibility. But he should still be on that
top power play and he had twelve power point plants
last year. I think he could get another eight or so,
and I think he gets up to close to a
seventy point pace. Last season he finished at a fifty
point pace, but he was seventy plus for the last
couple months of the season. So I'm going to say
Will Smith clear's a sixty eight point pace. So Jesse,
which one do you want to hold me to? Klingberg
gets fifteen power play points and forty point paces or
Will Smith clear is a sixty eight point pay.
Speaker 3: Both of these are plausible. I think either one of them,
you'd have to bet the field versus them happening, so
that both of them are under a fifty percent possibility.
I think that the more likely thing of these two
then Will. I think Will Smith breaking out to a
new level is more likely than John Klingberg. I think
there's a higher possibility that Klingberg is toast at this
point and not capable of producing that again. So I
guess I'll do Klingberg. I wouldn't be surprised again if
he did it, but I think it's a it's an
adequate hot take and somebody. It's not always that somebody's
got to do it. But last year was a Walman
did it. I mean he was on a tear when
he was a shark, So I think something could happen there.
On to the Seattle Kraken, they kept some restricted free agents,
Ryker Evans, Capocaco, Ty Cartier. This episode we recorded way
back in April, so the draft, the drafting of JC
O'Brien had not yet occurred. They signed Matt Murray, who
is the Philip Grubauer replacement as far as I'm concerned.
Even if Philip Grubauer's back, somehow Matt Murray is going
to fit into that spiritual role in the team of
the goalie who might do horrible things to their save percentage.
Ryan Lindgren also signed in. They traded for Freddy Gudreau,
and they traded away Joe Veleno to get Andre Berkowsky
back again, and then they traded for Mason Marchmont, not
necessarily in that order, but they've beefed up their offensive
possibilities here. Kovsky is back and forth Hitt and miss
Frederick Gudrou when he is when he was when he
was getting with Capro Caprizo. I've had some good moments Seattle.
I think they did some things to improve their team
in the offseason, and so my hot takes, the Kraken
in their division have never had a point per game
score as in an eighty two games. I'm sure they've
had a twenty point per game scorer who got hurt
or something, but I'm going to say one of the
hot takes they have their first ever point per game
scorer in a full season. And the second hot take,
Joey the Cord is top three in the Pacific in
goals save above expected, So that's total amount of play
plus quality of play. It does just a little bit
if the Kraken stink so Victor, which one of those
am I going to be held to.
Speaker 4: I was just thinking, I like Joey to Cord.
Speaker 2: That's a low bar being top three at the pacifictor.
Speaker 3: Third top three in the Pacific Division. But he's got
Vegas there, He's got La there, He's theoretically got one
of the Edmonton teams that your demp coke could have
a season. So there are a couple of goalies out there.
But yeah, but still this would be an escalation for
Joey to Cord. But it is a lower bar, You're right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just thinking there are some good teams
in the West in the Pacific, but most of them
I wouldn't say have a strong goalie, especially Skinner. We've
seen what Hill can do win games but be disappointing.
And Kemper, I don't know. He's also older in LA
is good at protecting the goalies, so they don't always
get good save above expected numbers. Anyways, I'm not going
to hold you do that one, as you can probably tell,
because I'm a little skeptical that one is maybe a
little too straightforward. But in terms of the per game,
I absolutely think that's less likely. That's the whole problem
with the franchise with the Kraken is they basically have
twelve bottom sixers or whatever they are. They just their
whole team is like third liners basically, which is really
good when they go fourth line against fourth line because
their fourth liners are a little bit better on average.
But everyone's just very meth very mid and so that's
the problem. So I'm skeptical that they can get a
point per game player, so I'll hold you to that one.
Let's move on to the Vancouver Canucks. We recorded on
August twenty eighth, and so not much has happened since
we recorded. We've heard some more reports about some things
that are happening with the players, like Elyas Patterson coming
into town and being really yoked up and stronger. So
that would be good because he definitely needs to do that,
and we also cantinue to have uncertainty. I would say
with relation to the goaltenders, and yeah, that tric Demco,
as you mentioned previously, maybe good. He certainly usually is
good when he plays, just he hasn't played that much
and so that's a little problematic. So I am going
to say based on that one of them is that
Kevinlankanen will play more than forty two games this season. Now,
last season, Liking and Paid played forty fifty one games,
but that was because Demco was injured, and then she
loves to Pay play ten games, so there was some
competition there and some injury issues. So this is partially
a nice way of saying that Trick Demko is probably
going to get injured again, because that's just what happens.
He just missed his game. Hopefully it's nothing serious, but
that tends to be the case. And I think if
you're drafting these goalies, my strategy has been, don't draft
Demco because he's going a little higher, but you can
on the backside, maybe a little bit later, get Kevin
Lincoln in and possibly be just as good or better
in terms of your starts and fantasy points. So I'm
going to say that, And the other thing that I'm
going to say is that Elias Petterson bounces back. I
think that hopefully with the distractions of what happened with JT.
Miller out of the way and the organization leaning into
him as their star player and leader, he really needs
to figure this out. And I think that he can
get he can bounce back. So he had a fifty
eight point pace last season. Before that, he had eighty nine,
one hundred and five, and seventy point paces, So I'm
just gonna say that he can get over a seventy
five point pace, which would be a huge improvement from
last season. Anyone who rostered him last season knows that
how frustrating it was. But seventy five isn't quite as
high as he's had the last two seasons, so I'm
trying to hedge a little bit there. But basically, I'm
believing in a Pederson bounce back, and I'm believing that
Lincolnin is going to score or is going to play
more games than Demco.
Speaker 3: What do you think, Jesse, Yeah, I think that Peterson
very well could put up a seventy five point pace.
In fact, I would almost expect that, so I'm definitely
not taking that one. I think the lancoln intake is
less likely to me. I think Old Thatcher he can
stay healthy this year, and even without Chilo's there, they'll
have to sign the third goalie. So even if Demko
gets hurt a little bit, I expect there's going to
be some other guy who's gonna have to come up
and absorb a couple of beatings, and so Lancolnen won't
get past the halfway points. So I'm going to hold
you to Kevin Lancanen the Vegas Golden Knights. I actually
don't expect. I think I know which one you're going
to go first of all, to catch up, no ketchup.
We just recorded this thing about a month ago and
Vegas hadn't changed a whole lot in the meantime. But
my takes, and I think this is fair. Mitch Marner
hits a career high in goals. He's like Jack eichelb
for him. He comes to this team and suddenly hits
an offensive explosion. His career high in goals would be
more than thirty five. And I think, I don't think
you're going to hold me that one, because even though
I think it's fair to have a hot take, whenever
you say that an established veteran is going to hit
a career high in something, I think there's some likelihood there.
But yeah, that's my defense for that being a hot take.
The other is I think probably a little more remote,
but I'm going to put it out there. I'm going
to say a Kira Schmid ends the season with a
higher goal saved above expected than Aiden Hill. So it
is a bit of an upset in the goalie ranks
over there in Vegas. Which one you got, Victor.
Speaker 2: I think you very astutely pointed out that I'm not
touching that Mitch Marner one. I think it's much less
likely that a Kirishmin ends up with a higher goal
save above expected. I do think that's possible. But I
think what's interesting here, and we talked about this on
our s SHO, is that Carl Lindbaum has actually been
a pretty decent goalie in the Vegas system, and I
think there's a decent chance that he gets some games.
And I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that Akirishmied
is going to be the for sure backup all season.
I think he's going to start that way, and he
has NHL experience, so they're probably going to lean into
him a little bit. But I do think that there's
a decent possibility that he struggles and that are other
goalie struggles and we've seen this, We've seen this show
before in Vegas that they can have some goalie issues
and dip down to their fourth and fifth string goalie.
But I think Lindbaum is one of the best marinating
in the minors that they have, and so I think
that there's a decent chance that he comes in and
actually plays a decent number of games, which would be
potentially bad for Shmied. Also, I'm just really confused about
what Kirishmied is doing because we've seen him at times
be decent and then we've seen him just completely be awful.
And yeah, we'll just have to wait. So I think
there's more things that can go wrong for you with
your Kishmit take, So I guess I'll hold you to
that one.
Speaker 4: Jesse.
Speaker 3: All right, Victor, I say, right now, we take a
little break, come back with the Central Division.
Speaker 5: There's a weapon that you and the missis name on its.
Speaker 3: Back for the second half. But the Western Conference ketchup
and mustard, Victor, we move on to the Central Division.
You started with the first team here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're gonna start with the Chicago Blackhawks. So we
recorded back in early June.
Speaker 2: For the black Hawks. A few things have changed since then.
Number one, they re signed Ryan Donado, so that was good.
They drafted Anton Frendell. He won't be in the lineup
this season, but we'll be soon. They signed their restricted
free agents Frank Naser at Solder Bloom. They traded for
Sam Lafferty. They bought out TJ. Brody, and they traded
away Andrew Barrokowsky for Joe Vealno. And then they traded
for Victor Soderstrum. Although that might I don't know, that
might just be the contract his contract, but he is
someone who was a pretty high draft pick but has
troubled the break.
Speaker 4: Into the NHL. So we'll see about that one. It's interesting.
Speaker 2: I am really excited about a couple of players here
in Chicago though, so that's where I'm gonna take my
hot take. One of them is Frank Naser. He was
really good last season in limited sample size. In fact,
he when he was on the team. He didn't play
the entire season, but twenty one games in the AHL
and fifty three in the NHL. He made a big
difference when he was out there, and he had scored
some big goals and actually helped them be look somewhat
competitive at times. He had a forty point pace, twenty
six points and fifty three games, I think he takes
a big step forward and gets over a sixty two
point base, So that's a big uptick. I think he's
going to get a lot more opportunity, is going to
get a lot more power play time.
Speaker 4: I know they wanted to him.
Speaker 2: To drive a second line, which might be a little
tough for him, but I think that he has the
talent to do it and take another step.
Speaker 4: So that's one of them.
Speaker 2: The other one is related to Sam Frenzel, the defenseman
who was really good and in fact, in one of
my recent articles on the journey, I went through some
of the numbers and when he was in the lineup,
Sam Frenzel, they were actually a pretty decent team. They
were competitive on most nights, they won nearly as many
games as they lost, and a couple a couple overtime losses.
Speaker 4: There.
Speaker 2: He was a big difference, and I think he's going
to get even better this year, and I think that
he might even take the power play. And so my
take has to do with Sam Frenzel having the best
power play play point pace of any black Hawk defender pace. Okay,
so I do think he's gonna play all the season.
If it's not most of the season, and when he
wasn't there, he did get the power play time. They
might offer it to left shoon Off or even Korchinski
or someone else plastic, but I think it's gonna be Renzel,
and I think he's gonna make good on it. So
Frank Mazar gets over sixty two point paces or Sammaranzelle
ends up at the best power play point pace of
any black Hawk defender.
Speaker 4: Jesse, which one you got?
Speaker 3: Okay? I want to I want to clarify one or
make you clarify a little bit. With this best pace?
Is there got to be at least a minimum number
of games, like half the season or something like that.
If he gets in for fifteen games and has the
best pace, that that can't be right. I mean, we
can push it if it's an injury or something, but
that's fine.
Speaker 4: What do you want the minimum to be?
Speaker 3: Just half a season? Just forty one games. Let's start
it as forty one games and then I'll hold you
to that one.
Speaker 4: That's fair.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Let's move on to the Colorado Avalanche that
The episode was recorded mid July, well after free agency,
and yet much changed after that date. As far as
I can tell. I think I had these right, because
I have them signing Victor Olifson and Joel Kaviranta after
that date, trading Oscar Olison for Danielle Gushin, which we
talked about with them, and that's San Jose right, And
they traded away Charlie Coyle, who was a big deadline addition.
So Colorado still in flux, trying to put it together,
trying to make one more championship. I'm sure under Nathan
McKinnon now that they have the goalie situation put together,
and I will do two hot takes, one positive, one negative.
I think I know which one you're gonna take, but
I'm going to do them both. Gabriel Landi Scott plays
seventy five plus games. I say, poohy to game management victory.
This is hockey. We don't manage our games. We get
out there and we rough it up for the whole
eighty two. So I'm gonna give I'm say, Gabriel landiskog
at least seventy five plus games. I think that's remote,
but dog on it, I'm gonna do it. And the
other is I think that brock Nelson is on the
decline and even though I think he's getting plenty of
hype with his future in Colorado. I say, he fails
to hit fifty five points this year, what do you
got me for me, Victor?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I've what I saw in at the
end of the season from brock Nelson. It was a
little concerning about him being able to keep up. I
wonder if it's the style. I wonder if it's the
being traded and not fitting in.
Speaker 4: I think that he could.
Speaker 2: Probably turn things around, but as of now, it seemed
a little it seemed a little difficult. But also a
fifty five point pace would be the lowest he's had
since twenty twenty twenty one, which was a very weird
season for a lot of people, and before that it
was a couple of years before that, so it's been
a while, and I think they'll probably get him enough
opportunities to beat that. That's actually probably right about where
I put the over under this year. So I think
I'm just gonna take the other one instead. So I'm
going to take the Leneskag playing seventy five plus games,
I think there's more that can go wrong there, and
so that's the one that I'm going to pick with,
just because he did look good at times in the playoffs,
and I think he's an emotional guy and he certainly
wants to play, but there's some limitations to what his
body's going to allow him to do, and some things
might creep up, and if they're doing really well, they
might just let him sit. So I think it's more
likely that he misses seven plus games. So I'll hold
you that one. But I like those both. All right,
Let's move on to the next one. Dallas Stars. There
wasn't much catch up we recorded in that August. There's
a couple of things here, though, One that I'm skeptical
of how Miko Renton and is to do in Dallas.
Speaker 4: He put up.
Speaker 2: A seventy four point pace in his time in Dallas,
eighteen points in twenty games. Now I know that was
a little bit different because he had just been traded,
and he had been traded twice, and there was a
lot of just things that were wonky about that. And
I think that they'll do better at integrating him into
the offense and making sure the lines are said. He
has a good role, but I still worry that there's
too many miles to feed in Dallas and they've gone
to a little bit more of a balanced attack, and
so that makes me skeptical that he'll get all the
opportunity that he needs. And I'm going to say he
has a little bit of a lower ceiling than he
did in Colorado. So Miko Rontinen has been above and
eighty point pays and eighty point pays were above since
his very first season when he had seventy five.
Speaker 4: Games and forty two points.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to say that he fails that he
puts up under an eighty five point pace, and the
only time he's done that since being in the league
since that first season is the twenty nineteen twenty season
when he had just eighty points in forty two games
with some injuries. So I think that's going to be
the case for Miko Roundson an eighty five point pace
or under or under an eighty five point pace. I
just think we have to recalibrate our expectations of what
he can do. I don't think there's gonna be one
hundred points. I don't think there's going to be a ninety.
I think it'll be in that range a little bit below.
That's still good, but not as the lead of a player.
I hope he proves me wrong because I have him
on a couple of teams. But that's what I'm worried about.
The other one has to do with Thomas Harley and
Meyer heiskin In. I know he skinIn missed some time
last season and so there was some more opportunity for
Thomas Harley, and he looked great when he got it,
but there was still some issues in terms of when
they were both in there. This is what we don't
know is what's going to happen when they're both in there.
But Maror heiskin In on average had more than a
minute of power play time on ice on average, and
Thomas Harley did. I think that's gonna flip this year.
And I think that Thomas Harley is going to have
more power play time on average than mirror Heigskin, and
not based on any total amounts, but just an average
of their time on ice when they are out there
for the power play Jesse, which one are going to
hold me too, rontin In under eighty five points or
Thomas Harley with more average power play time on ice.
Speaker 3: I love Tomas Harley, but I'm going to say that
Mirro hayskinin hangs on to that role a little bit longer.
So let's put you on the Thomas Harley train and
I'll take the merroor Hei skin inside of that equation.
Minnesota Wild. We recorded this one again about two months ago.
Since then they have extended Marko Rossi. That was a
whole thing and the hot take this is a little bit.
We try to make these things where they will end
at the end of the regular season, because I used
to do team playoff predictions or something, but that we
like to record this right at the end of the
regular season, where we know point totals and stuff like that.
I'm gonna say Carill Caprizo does not sign a new
contract before the end of the season, putting all of
hockey media into a tizzy, because that seems to be
the tizzy therein now, and I think it will just
extend for the whole year. And the other one that
I'll do, which is maybe a little more irrelevant to
performance on the ice, Brock Faber bounces back to his
rookie year form. He hits fifty points this year, and
we come back to thinking that Faber is the man
in this defensive line what do you say, Victor, Between
Kaprizov not signing and faber balling out which one you
got which one of you more against?
Speaker 2: These are so interesting, they're so completely different. One of
them has to do with a contract and the star
player playing chicken with his team, which I think is
a completely different thing to predict.
Speaker 4: So I feel like that's really hard. I have no idea.
Speaker 2: We heard about him not signing the most lucrative contract
in Antel history, and I know that people have been
talking about the fact that there may be bigger offers
out there.
Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I get the feeling that he wants to stay there
and so that he probably will, but I don't know
how to decide whether to choose that versus an actual
on ice performance, which is completely different. And I think
I'm just going to go with that one because I
don't know how to predict whether I was going to
sign or not. We don't really have enough information about that.
And I do feel like he will, like they'll get
it done and he won't want it to be a distraction.
So I guess I'm going to hold you to that.
To the favor one and part of that is also
because I really love brock Favor. I think he's an
awesome real life player. It's just so good at shutting
down top players, top opponents. But I also think that
first season was a bit of an aberration for points,
and so I'm not sure that he's gonna get back there.
And so I'll hold you to them not hitting fifty points.
Fifty points a fifty point pace, because fifty points is
even less likely.
Speaker 3: I would say, yeah, no, let's do fifty points. You're
gonna go. You're gonna go, big, Victor.
Speaker 2: All Right, I love it. I can see my win
total chalking up already. All Right, let's move on to
the next team, the Nashville Predators. We recorded at the
end of May, and a couple of things happened since then.
They traded Colton Sciszens for Jeremy and Jeremy las On
for Nick Hague, who should be interesting on the back end.
Traded for Ari Koala, helps alidify in that middle six.
They drafted Brady Martin, who just might make the team
and play some games for them. I think he'll probably
just play nine and then go back to junior. They
signed Nick Perbicks, and they so the things I want
to bring up here.
Speaker 4: A couple of things.
Speaker 2: One is that I know goalies are hard to predict,
but Yuci Sara's has been a good goalie for many
years now, and I think last year was an aberration
and not indicative of any sort of decline or anything.
I think he's way better than what he showed, and
I think that he's going to get back to form
a little bit. He actually was still pretty useful, pretty
good last year compared to some other players, but he
was just so much underwater that it was hard to tell.
But I think he's going to get back. I think
we have more evidence of him being good than we
do of him being bad. And I think that the
team I don't think can possibly be as bad. I
think that they might not still might not be a
great team, but I think he'll be better. So I
think that Stars returns to forms from his previous season,
but I'll quantify that because I know that'll be hard
to say. I was looking at his goal save above expected,
and two years ago he had forty five goals above expected.
In twenty twenty one he had seven point seven five,
and then last season he had. Two seasons ago he
had seven point five one goal save above expected, and
then twenty one to twenty two he had twelve goal
save above expected. So he's basically been at or around
seven and a half goal save above expected or way
better in the last five years, except for last season
where he was under So I think he's going.
Speaker 4: To get to eight AGLs.
Speaker 2: Seven above expected is way better than he did last season.
It's a little bit better than two of his other
best seasons in the last five years, and be not
quite as good as those amazing ves anun Worthy seasons.
And I also going to put in his Delta Fenwick
being at least point six, and he hasn't had a
point six Delta Fenwick since a couple of years ago
when he had that amazing season, so that's a pretty
big improvement. The other thing I'll give you as an
option is related to Steven Samcos, and I I know
that going to a new team after you've been the
captain and fitting in and all that can be really tricky,
but I don't think Steven with Samcos is this bad.
He had a fifty two point pace. He hasn't had
a fifty two point pace since literally his rookie year,
where he had a forty eight point pace and he's
still really good. I think he just needs to figure
out They need to figure out a little bit different
ways of using him. And I think that there's obviously
a lot of that's gone into this offseason in Nashville.
So I'm going to say specifically that Samkos gets over
a thirty three goal pace. And now last season he
had twenty seven goals, so this isn't that far off,
but he had forty before that, and thirty three before
that and forty two three years ago, so he's had
a lot more than that recently. And what's going to
make this even harder is last season he was literally
the worst predator and expected goals four for sixty, literally
the worst in terms of a race. That that's crazy
because he's no way he's that bad. So I'm going
to give you those two, Jesse, which one you pick
in the Sorrows or stamco Both of.
Speaker 3: Them are a little bit juicy, a little bit juicy,
So you're either betting against Juicy Sorrows getting back up
to a previous pace or Steven stamp Coast. I am
going to pick against mister Stampcoast. I think at this point,
I think the context is just not there for him
to be able to do the things that he used
to be able to do. And I think we are
probably seeing the decline of a great player. So I
will We'll go against Steven stampcost right now. Make you
hold on to that one. Seeing Lewis Blues the hot
team at the end of the season, they catch up
not much because again we recorded that less than a
month ago. The hot takes. I do this one just
for you, Victor. Jordan Bennington with thirty wins next year,
your favorite goalie, even though you traded for him in
one of my leagues. But I know everybody who backs
up Jordan Bennington is always your favorite goalie as long
as I can recall. Maybe you'll may from the look
on your face you don't agree with that anymore, But
I don't remember you being a fan. And the other
Dallaboard of Orski gets Calder votes this year, I think
I have five guys getting Calder votes. Maybe that's difficult
to prove, but which one of those two is less.
Speaker 4: Likely to you? I think Divorski getting Calder votes is
probably a little less likely.
Speaker 2: We have seen a little bit of a roller coaster
yo yo season from Bennington. But also we've seen the
highs and the team. They seem to be effectively doing
a retool here. They've added some pieces around the edges.
They've gotten some prospects that have graduated and come up
and look pretty decent, specifically Snug Rued, which I'm excited
about getting. Dylan Holloway and Philip Roberg have been really
good and so overall they've really fleshed out the edge
of the team really nicely and had some growth internally.
So I think that they're going to be a decent team,
and I think Bennington can at least be pretty average,
So I think that one's a little more likely.
Speaker 4: Divorski.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty skeptical of Divorceki, and my what I've seen
from him is he's got a lot of pretty good offense,
but he also I think he really struggles too way,
and I'm not sure that he's gonna earn enough trust
to be able to leverage all that offense, and so
I'm worried that he's gonna have a hard time really translating.
So we'll see, and I certainly don't think he's gonna
you said, gets Calder votes. What does that mean at
least one or what are we talking about here?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: What should I say? Top six Calder? How about top
six Calder?
Speaker 4: I'm good with that. Yeah, I'll take the I'll take
the under on that.
Speaker 2: I think that he might get some opportunity, he might
flash some skill, but I don't I'm skeptical that he'll
get enough. Of course he certainly could. He has the
offensive tell him, but I'm just not sure his two way.
Speaker 4: Game is good enough.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move on to the Utah Mammoth. We
recorded this one in early June, so a few things
have happened. We At the time, Connor Ingram was in
the Player Assists program and he's been clear to return,
so that's going to be interesting. Now they have three
goalies there with Fanchek and Phil Meka. They also traded
away Matias Mitchelli, who really struggled last year. We talked
about him in Toronto episode. I'm really excited about him.
I think he's got a lot of upside. They traded
away Michael Kustering and Josh Done for JJ Peterca. Everyone
was talking about how much they won that trade, and
I like that piece for them. Custom Ring I think
is a really good real life defenseman and don't has potential.
They signed Jack McBain, beat Tech, Benichik, Nate Schmid, Brandon Tanev,
Scott Prunovich, and Kyler Yamamoto. All those guys are pretty
decent depth pieces, and I think that overall they improved
their team and a lot of their young guys are
just ready to take another step forward, so that's exciting.
Speaker 4: My hot takes.
Speaker 2: Revolve around a couple of guys that I absolutely love,
and that is Dylan Gunther and Logan Cooley. Basically, my
take is that these guys are awesome and I think
they're going to be awesomer next season. So that's what
I'm banking on to put some granularity on that. I
think Dylan Gunther is like one of the next great
goal scorers in our league. He's got an amazing release
and he gets it off really quickly and easily finds
those good spots to score. He went from six to
eighteen to twenty seven goals last season. I'm saying he
gets over thirty five goal pace. This is a guy
I think one day who could approach fifty. I think
that might be a few years away, but this will
be a big step for him going from twenty seven
to thirty five goal pace. And we can put the
caveat in there that any of these pace things they have.
Speaker 4: To play at least half a season, So I think
that's fair.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't claim victory if he got whatever, like five
goals in ten games and then it was out.
Speaker 4: The rest of the season.
Speaker 2: That wouldn't really That wouldn't really be in the spirit
of the take. And the other one has to do
with Logan Kooley, and I think Logan Cooley is amazing.
So Guntherer with his goals got a seventy point pace
and he was getting seventeen minutes time on ice. I
think it's pretty clear that Logan Cooley is now their
top line center, and I think he's gonna get more time,
whin ie, more responsibility, more power play time.
Speaker 4: He also just cleared a seventy point pace.
Speaker 2: He had a seventy one point pace, and I think
he pushes all the way up to point.
Speaker 4: Per game pace Logan Cooley.
Speaker 2: So Dylan Gunther thirty five goal pace, Logan Cooley, point
per game total points.
Speaker 4: What do you think of Jesse.
Speaker 3: In terms of fun This may be the funnest set.
This may be the set of hot takes that would
both delight me the most if they happened. I think
they'd both be a lot of fun if they happened. Boy,
that's a major escalation for Logan Cooley. I think that
is probably a year or two away. So I will
hold you to Logan Cooley going over point per game
for this year. Now we'll go to the last of
the Western Conference, the Winnipeg Jets. That again was only
about a month ago, so no major moves to report,
and my hot takes. Gabe Vallardi will be in the
top three and scoring for the Jets. He wasn't too
far outside that category last year. But number one, you're
betting against the health and number two, you'd be betting
against the the his ability to stay up at that
level without eelers. But that's my rationale is yeah, without eelers,
and given his performance last year, he takes another step.
And the other is Brad Lambert sixty games in the
put in the NFL. Yeah, no, I'm not that would
be an extremely hot take.
Speaker 4: I'm thinking hold to that one.
Speaker 3: He plays every game for the next four years in
the NFL No, I'll say sixty games in the end
HL for next year. Lambert is just who knows what
to make of that guy. But what do you think, Victor?
Speaker 4: I really wish I had the NFL one back, and
that's an easy decision. Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 2: Obviously, with Eelers gone, I doubt Valardi overtakes Connor and Shifely.
So it's really basically saying without saying in as many
words as I Valardi is going to continue to outpoint
called Praffetti, who I think is his prime competition there,
and I think that's pretty likely. I think Valardi has
been staple to those top two and been on the
top power play. I think it's pretty reasonable that Profetti
could challenge him, and I think it's possible that he
overtakes him. But I think I'm going to hold you
to the Lambert one just because there's a lot more
uncertainty there and who knows I want him. I think
it'd be really fun for them to bring him up
to the NHL. I've been come around on him as
a prospect and he's shown really well in the AHL,
so I'm really hoping they do, and I think that
he can be a decent player down the middle, just
as good as maybe Kupari or a domestic cough. I
think the Jonathan Tave saying might have hurt his chances
to play this many games.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: They could also slight them over the wing, which should
be just fine. So I'll hold you to the Brad
Lambert one just because I think that there's a little
more uncertainty there in terms of what's going to happen.
Speaker 4: So we'll do that one very good.
Speaker 3: Okay, that is going to do it for the or
the Western Conference edition. Come back next week for the
Eastern Conference. Before I leave you, Fantasy Hockey Life is
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you're going to see some ranking articles. FHL's team is
legion and strong. I like to think we like to
thank our whole crew every episode. The Tidy leagues are roland,
they're heating up. We're going to have content very soon
related to them. Tim Ryan, Simo Krafter are the commissioner team.
Tony and Patrick are our lead scouts. They got us
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They're already planning for more scouting reports. Brandon is huge
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you've got skills you'd like to lend the show. We're
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Victor would love to hear from me in the discord,
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Dynasty sports. This week it is the second half preview
of the NBA Team Changers. I don't do a thirty
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