Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks.
Speaker 2: Here, Shit queues Here.
Speaker 1: Your source of information and analysis to help you win
your fantasy hockey league.
Speaker 3: Fork off hot a, step hit on, Stay lock.
Speaker 2: Here's your hosts, Jesse Severe and Victor Nunyo see.
Speaker 3: Hockey Live back for real this time once again. Jesse
Severe fan tracks, Victor Nunyoe Elite Prospects.
Speaker 2: Victor, how you doing, Wow, Jesse, I'm doing great. It
is awesome to be back together as you've been doing
in the intros. We have been really busy. For those
of you who don't know a peel the curtain back
a little bit. I have been moving my family and
took on a new job. Things have just been crazy,
but good in a good way. We moved from Santa
Cruz to Santa Rosa, So, Jesse, we traded the Cross
for the Rose. I feel like that's a good upgrade.
What do you think.
Speaker 3: You're marching the stations of the Cross now you're on
the Isn't wasn't the Dilla Rosa? The road? Never mind?
I don't know, man, I don't know. Yeah, no, that's cool.
You have moved. I have retired, Victor, I have theoretically retired.
I have an Elon Musk related retirement that I just
went through. And no political comments, no political comments ever.
But I'm moving on to the next and all is good,
All is good with your buddy Jesse Severe, But Victor
Hockey never sleeps no matter what goes on with us.
I have discovered something, Victor. It is it is not
my best decision and it is not the NHL's best
decision to have our fantasy hockey playoffs coincide with the
NHL trade deadline. Can you agree with me on that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always a bit tricky that way tend. We
tend to do the way we do our leagues. The
playoffs happen or the trade deadline happens during our playoffs.
But the alternative is just things get squished towards the
end of the season and people are benching their players
or crazy stuff happens. And not to mention, you often
have sometimes players get traded across the border and they
have visa issues. So I'm not sure that the alternative
is better. It's always a bit disruptive. But if you
had that going into the last week before your finals,
we were trying to make the playoffs. It's also disruptive,
so I don't know that there's a perfect time. I
like the way we do it, even though it's a
bit disruptive in the middle of our one of our
playoff matchups, but which for us is like in one
of my leagues, it's already the second round of the
playoffs by the time this is coming around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for several years there the trade deadline at least
was happening in February and that was much kinder. But
the NHL man, they're just they're freaking crazy. Sometimes it's
in March. Sometimes it's twenty twenty twenty one. Do I
see this right? That it was in April? That was
probably COVID related, But anyway, yeah, or Victor, what can
I say? What can I say? We had a good
time this week following our hockey we're playing playoffs. You
and I are surviving in the league that we co manage.
Are you still kicking in our common league where I've
been out for so long that I've almost forgot the
league existed?
Speaker 2: Oh? The funck league?
Speaker 3: You mean? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2: This is this the one where people complain and you
extended the playoff matchup by a million years.
Speaker 3: They did and I did, and because I had no
skin in that game, and I just what whatever dies?
Speaker 2: I got confused because the points are so high now
you never even see this, So I'm like, are we
still is this still a matchup happening? I'm not sure. Yes,
I'm winning my matchup by one hundred and forty points,
so I think I'm going to win. But I also
still am not clear when it ends. So if we
have another month or so, things may shift.
Speaker 3: It ends the day that this comes out victors, so
that will that will benefit you. But yeah, it was.
It was such. It was some controversy this year because
the way that the way that the Four Nations tournament
broke down, there was a two day week. There was
a weekend basically at the end of the Four Nations.
It was just Saturday and Sunday. I don't think there
was Friday games. Maybe there was Friday games. But there
was some level of upset in one of our leagues
that somehow a nine day matchup was not a two
week matchup, and there was a lot of clamor to
add another week to it. Again, I'm so far I
did not make the playoffs. I'm still in my rebuilding
phase in that league, and that's what y'all really want.
But yeah, it looks like you're going to be pulling
that one out in an upset. Technically, in an upset,
you are the lower seeded team in your first round matchup, Victor.
There are matchups, and there are people who want to
talk about them. There are people who want to talk
about their own fantasy hockey experiences, and they can do
that in our Fantasy Hockey Life discord. It's a glorious,
wonderful place to spend your time and talk your fantasy
and to Victor. They can do it by email in
this Fantasy Hockey Life at gmail dot com. That's probably, Honestly,
I'm just going to start saying that's the way to
do it. I don't tend to ge a whole lot
of stuff on the social media, and I don't like
checking the social media these days, So why don't you
just emails fantasy Hockey liby gmail dot com. You give
you a little link you hop in the discord, which
is actually actually a cool fantasy hockey or. It is
a cool social media platform because the only people in
there are cool fantasy hockey fans. Dynasty fantasy hockey fans
and behavior is good and it's just a cool group
of people to be around. But Victor two, there are
achievements to un lock in there, and there are other
things you can do as part of this fantasy Hockey
life extended universe, and those are in the Patreon. Tell
people about that.
Speaker 2: Last episode you heard from the Tidy Admiral and our
and myself, and there should be excitement about this. This
is a really fun league. We're getting into the playoffs,
so now's a good time towards the end of the
season to secure a spot for next year. There will
be spots opening up. It will definitely be first come
for serve in terms of some spots that might be
opened might actually skip it here, which would be fun,
and so there's options for that. So getting in on
that league is super fun and there's a lot of
activity even in the off season. We do dispersal drafts
and things like that, so it's fun times. There's a
patren Priority channel, there's roster doctors. I know some people
reach out to me. My trade deadline is coming up.
Can I get some little one on one advice? That's
what that's for. So absolutely it's a little bit better.
Then sometimes you throw it out there, who should I
acquire or what should I get for this? And it's really, honestly,
it's hard to say unless you have the full context
of what's going on with your team in league. So
that's what we try to do, some personalized attention. Not
to mention the website that has a bunch of cool
extra content with ranks and tiers and visualization, so check
all that out at Patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey
Life and our website is Fantasyhockeylife dot com.
Speaker 3: That's right. We are not guys who will just throw
off an opinion off the top of our heads and
over simplified things. We want to know the full context
because frankly, I know it's harder, but that's usually how
you get the right answer. Victor. It's just you and
me today, after this break, we're going to come back
and we're going to do some X gamers. X gamers.
Is that time on Fantasy Hockey Life when we look
at some players who are on the up and coming,
and today it's going to be prospects, and specifically prospects Victor,
that you have been talking about a bit in the
Elite Prospects is no longer EP ringside as I understand it.
You go to Elite Prospects slash News and get premium
content and those include Victor's articles. But these are some
of the guys you've been researching heavily lately, and we
wanted to share with the listeners some information about them.
The first is Kevin Huh, and it's spelled h e.
I bet you people are saying he because it's spelled
like he. But let me tell you something. I know
Chinese and this guy's from Beijing, and that's he's huhn tient.
That is his friggin name. I'm gonna die in the cell, Victor.
That his name is Kevin Huh. All right, you are
you with me on this? Will you follow me in
this insane direction, Victor, just because of our shared friendship?
Speaker 2: Huh?
Speaker 3: Exactly exactly, mister Huh. He is last year's Winnipeg fourth
round draft pick. He's got some size. He's a left winger.
He's six foot, he's one hundred and eighty one pounds.
He's not a little guy anyway, and his superpower appears
to be wont which is what we describe as effort,
wanting to make plays, having a lot of effort, and
good makeup and hustle in those types of things. That's
a good characteristic to have good makeup. He plays physical,
he plays hard, according to the reports I'm reading, and
again he was born in Beijing, so we got a
real life Chinese hockey player, which is something that would
be extremely cool. And by the way, Hong Tien means
big sky. That's what it means, big sky. So he
belongs in Western Canada somewhere. In his third year with
the OHL's Niagara Ice Hogs. He is the captain and
he has got himself a thirty one goal thirty seven
assists for sixty eight point line in fifty four games. Victor,
what is your take on mister huh hey good?
Speaker 2: He good? Can I just say he? Because it hurts
my throat a little bit?
Speaker 3: Ahead, go ahead and go with he. I get it.
Speaker 2: Do I have permission?
Speaker 3: I'm pedantic, all right, I'm gonna be pedantic the one
time I know in my heart I'm going to out
pronounce the fantasy hockey universe and be more correct than them.
I'm going for it because it makes up for every
time that I goop it up. But you can do
the heat because that's probably what everybody's saying.
Speaker 2: This is your moment, and you're embracing it. I love it.
He's good. Yeah. I think one of the biggest things
you can say about Kevin he is his improvement this year.
It was pretty dramatic. He's cooled off a little bit
since the beginning of the season, but still coming in
at just a little bit under a point per game
during his draft season. I don't think you mentioned being
or maybe you didn't mention. You did mention a fourth
round pick, being such a late pick. It's it's a
great rise for him, and so you love to see that.
And so one of the biggest things is that people
could grab him for free, and if for some reason
he's still available in your league, go get him, because
I seriously doubt he was drafted in many leagues, if
at all, unless you're the deepest of the deep leagues.
So he's great. He's got a little bit more to
go to become a top asset, but you have to
love the improvement. In the article, it talks about some
of the specific things that he's done to really improve
so much so that Niagara made him their captain this year,
and so you love to see that. You love the
wearing a letter draft plus one season. Everything's coming up
roses so far for Kevin he and so you like
to see that. And I think that he's pretty great
and found money for most people.
Speaker 3: Our buddy NHL ranking Mason Black put him up in
a poll versus Felix Hunger saw him the man who
I vaguely feel like he was on my team for
the World Juniors World Juniors Tournament that we did. Maybe
he's on yours. I don't know, Victor, it's probably yours
of view was good mind if he was bad. He
is a Chicago Wolf this year in the AHL, the
on again, off again broken relationship AHL team affiliate of
the Carolina Hurricanes. He's put up fourteen points in forty
one games, has mister Ungersorum, and the people have voted
and Ungersorm came out way ahead. Actually, he's got a
little bit more name recognition, a lot more letters in
his name, among other things, and he won sixty four
to thirty six percent. Victor, Is that how you would
rank these two?
Speaker 2: I think I would when you look at Ungersorum his
production in the Ahl looks a little bit disappointing fifteen
points in forty four games. But I think you also
have to keep in mind that Chicago Wolf's teams is
pretty dysfunctional, just with everything that's been going on with
their relationship with the NHL team. They're one of these
teams that wants to survive on their own, and so
they are not necessarily giving all the best opportunities to
some of the players. There are some that thriving. You
have Bradley Nadou looking amazing, Scott Morrow's great, they got
Ryan Szuki and Noel Gunler, Dominic Fenn Story, so there's
some good players on here. But they also they're also
a really young team, and so there's it's just a
little bit challenging. So I think you can forgive some
of that and not be too harsh on the fact
that his production isn't higher. I think when you saw
him at the World Juniors, you saw how good he
was ten points in seven games. When he's at his
own level, he's pretty dominant. Felix Hunger, soarm and I
have to remember, also, we'll keep pointing this out until
he's twenty five years old, but he was literally as
young as you can possibly be for his draft class
born on September fourteenth, which the cutoff is the fifteenth,
so he literally one more day and he would have
been a twenty twenty four draft pick, and that would
have changed the calculus completely for him being a year older.
So I love that. I love his progression. I think
him playing against pros and doing what he's doing now
and seeing what he happens when he competes against his
own age level. I'm down with the Fuss Jason Jesse
the Felix Hungerstorm. The fuss is where I'm at, although
I still like he I like how he's also free
for most people. But if I had to pick between
these two, I'm taking Felix Hungerstorm.
Speaker 3: Hm. I'm looking at the Fantasy Hockey Light player cards
that you're about to talk about and wondering about that.
But why don't do you tell us what kind of
fantasy player is mister huck.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great to have those visualizations, right. You can
see exactly what's going on and what kind of peripheral
stats that they have. You can see that Huh has
pretty good hits and shots and not so much for
the blocks. But overall his bash based on the Hickston
shots is pretty good. Of course, that's Ohl numbers and
Felix hunger Storm looks much worse. But he's also playing
in a much more difficult league. He isn't, though, the
biggest peripheral coverage guy, So if you want better priffs,
you might lead in Kevin Huh. If you want the
scoring upside, I would take Felix Hungerstorm. I think he's
got a little bit more to give there, and that's
what I like. I think Hu is gonna be more
valuable on when he's the miners eligible, and once that expires,
I think he might be a middle to average type
of roster players. So that'd be what I would be
worried about Jesse, that he's only super interesting while you
flex him up and down from your miners.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that can be a cheat code in some leagues.
But why of chell Us? What is the ultimate upside
for sir Kevin.
Speaker 2: He's probably a middle six player with upside to be
lined to a lot of It's going to depend on
how where he goes from here. We've noted the nice rise,
although he's stagnated a little bit recently and he is
also fairly young for his class. April thirtieth, he's still eighteen.
He was seventeen pretty much all of last year. He'll
be eighteen pretty much all of this year. So you
give those guys a little bit more time too. So
I still think there's time to pop off and really
increase his stock a bit more. But I think realistically
he's middle six, middle of the roster kind of guy,
which you can see in my rate for him. I
actually gave him a seven point point eight on the
Fantasy Hockey Life player card. That means he has an
eighteen percent chance of being a seven. So there is
upside to be above average, but it's a pretty low
percent of getting there.
Speaker 3: Okay, moving on to our second player of the day,
Victor Luca Cagnoni. We have talked about him recently, I
believe on or you. I think you talked about him
recently on the Tidy Takes. But Cagnoni defenseman with AHL
San Jose, therefore with NHL San Jose. Someday, hopefully he's
already with the AHL. At a fresh twenty years old,
he's thrived his second year post draft. He was a
mere fourth round pick of the Sharks. In twenty twenty three,
but now ninety points and sixty five games in his
third year as a Portland winter Hawk. Last year, then
this year forty one points and fifty one games in
the AHL. That is quite quite a move again for
a defenseman a first year in the AHL forty one points,
fifty one games, defenseman now five to nine. That makes
the easy case why he was not more highly drafted.
But Victor, that is that is data we have to weigh.
I believe you were seeing some nice things about him
on the tidy takes. What's your take on Cagnoni?
Speaker 2: First of all, he might get an invite to play
for Italy in the Olympics next year, because I heard
they're going with anyone whose name vaguely sounds Italian as
potentially getting an invitation.
Speaker 3: Anybody who's ever had a cup of gelato is eligible
for the Italian team.
Speaker 2: Have you mean the pizza? You're playing for Italy? All right?
Speaker 3: What's the matter you?
Speaker 2: All right? Now? I think that they're literally tracking down
anyone with the Italian heritage, which I'm not actually sure
about Cognoni, but his name sure sounds pretty Italian that
maybe there's something there. Anyways, he is definitely Canadian, although
who knows, maybe he would break that to go play
in Italy. Anyways, I think Luca Cognoni is the next
Lane Hudson, not necessarily with the points upside, but I
think in terms of a smaller defender that defies the
odds returns major value. I think Cagnoni probably returns even
more value, right because Hudson was famously a second rounder,
end of the day, end of the round kind of guy,
and we have Cognoni here much later in the fourth round,
so most people were getting him for really cheap. Some
people even paid a first round pick in fantasy for
Lane Hudson, but that wasn't certainly very common for Cognoni,
so the return on investment is probably going to be
pretty pretty high. And so I think in that way
he's pretty similar and I think people should be pretty
excited about him.
Speaker 3: The NHL ranking, Mason Black chose a Montreal defenseman, but
not the one you mentioned. He chose Logan Mayu as
the competition for Luca Kegnoni out there on the internet.
Mayu with forty six points in twenty six points in
fifty four games and four points in seven NHL games.
With the haves so far this year, and Cogno won
handily sixty eight to thirty two percent. Victor isn't a
popularity contest which Logan Mayu by definition is going to lose.
Or is Kegnoni really that much better than Logan Mayu.
Speaker 2: I wondered if people were actually voting considering external to
hockey reasons. I'm not sure, not going to comment on that,
but I did think that was interesting how high Kegnoni won,
how much he won by sixty percent. I'm definitely taking
Kegnony last season. I think it might have been close
based on the proximity of the NHL to Mayu, and
that's definitely one reason to be one reason, one more
reason to be excited about him last year because Mayo
did have a really great HL season last year. He's
still looking pretty good in the HL this season. But
he got his seven game tryout, he looked okay. He
definitely struggled defensively. His expected goals against for sixty was
just awful in those seven games. So defensively he still
has a lot to work on. He struggled to defend,
and so that's gonna be the concern always with Mayu.
Even though he's not a small guy. He struggles with
some of the decision making, with some of the defensive
game Cagnone. It's been really impressive to watch him. You know,
he especially when he's going against bigger forwards, he finds
ways to create leverage to exit corners with possession. You know,
he doesn't win all the battles, but he wins enough
to be competitive, and I think that's all you could
really ask for, to not lose every battle when you
go into the corner, or go against the boards, or
go against bigger, stronger guys, and so that's pretty exciting.
I think that his time. Cognoni's time hasn't come yet
in the NHL, but when he does, I think he's
gonna knock it out of the water. Just like he
does it has done at every level. He walked on
to the WHL and basically became a star within a
couple of years, and then proved that he was one
of the most valuable defensemen last year and then this season.
The numbers he's putting up in the AHL against bigger, stronger,
tougher competition or just really impressive, and so you love
to see that his course, he actually isn't that good
in the HL. But I think part of that is
related to the team around him as well, not just him.
I think he's doing fine at driving play and I
think he will and I think he's good enough and
the offense is there, so if the Sharks continue to
be patient with him, I think that he's going to
be He's going to be great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you talked a little bit about comparing him to
Lane Hudson maybe in terms of overall production, But what
kind of fantasy player is Luca Cagnoni going to sort
out to be.
Speaker 2: I think Layne Hudson light is really what you can
hope for. Maybe seventy to eighty percent of what you're
seeing from Hudson, I think is probably reasonable. Assuming the
Sharks don't go acquire another for sure power play quarterback
or draft Matthew Shaffer and put him in the NHL
right away. I don't think either of those things are happening.
I think Cagnoni can absolutely be a strong get the opportunity,
and once he gets that opportunity, I think he'll have
a hard time giving it up. And even if they
do draft Shaffer, which seems like a pretty likely possibility
at this point, I still don't really think that Matthew
Schaeffer is the best power play quarterback. I think he's
your stud all situations defenseman who could run a power play.
So I think they'd be better off bringing him along
slowly and then giving him all the defensive units and
minutes and let someone like Kegnoni or maybe someone else
run the power play. So we'll see if that happens.
I definitely think he can impress, just like Hudson has done,
and played in all situations or more situations than people
gave Hudson credit for at the beginning, and he's continuing
to turn heads. I think I saw that he had
more he got to fifty points or yeah, fifty points
faster than who was it, Chelios or somebody. I can't
remember who I saw in that graphic. But he's turning
heads up there in Montreal, and it's pretty impressive to see.
Speaker 3: And what's the ultimate upside of this player.
Speaker 2: I definitely think Luca Kegnoni is going to be someone
you want in fantasy. He's going to be one of
those power play quarterbacks that should get a lot of points.
Isn't necessarily going to have all the peripheral coverage, and
in the AHL right now, he's shooting at his seventieth
percentile and he doesn't really hit her block very much
at all, So his bash is going to be low.
But he's going to be one of those guys that
can get you power play assists at least and maybe
some goals. And I think he can be like a
fifty to sixty point guy in his prime. Maybe not
right away, but that's the upside. I think he's going
to be He's going to be valuable. So I would
definitely want to acquire him. And actually, in a couple
of leagues that I've been looking at doing some trading,
he's definitely someone where taking him off the table. I
do not want to trade him, and or I want
to acquire him. And actually Ryan and I co manage
a league and people were rebuilding that league, and people
are asking about him, and the answer is no, unless
you blow our socks off.
Speaker 3: One never wants one socks blown off. That's just a
recipe for cold feet. Next, we've got Nikita or Tomato
of a Russian prospect, the pride of nishnik Kompsk, Russia. Victor.
This I sometimes go down the rabbit hole where these
guys actually come from. And just imagine Nishk Komsk, which
is like the latitude of Moscow, but way the heck
out eats like farther from Moscow than Moscow is from Europe.
And who's from there? Nile Yakapov was from there, mikhal
k Sergachev is from there. So we had two first rounders,
but Tomanov is the third highest drafted Nishkkomsk Komski or whatever.
He is a five to eleven winger and a second
round selection, a reputation for motor and skill. You have
to love a nineteen year old with twenty one goals
sixteen assists for thirty seven points in fifty six games
in the KHL the Torpedo nishnin Novgrade, which makes me
start to wonder, is it becoming normal for teenagers now
to actually have good lines? Seems like we've been talking
a lot about about a lot of them this season
putting up good scoring lines in the KHL, which just
did not use to be a thing, but it seems
like we've done it several times this year. But anyway,
I digress. That's what I do. Are Tomanov Victor nikid
Ar Tomanov, What do you think of him?
Speaker 2: I think I know a lot more about where he's
from now thanks to you. So I appreciate that you.
Speaker 3: Have a one to three chance of knowing how the
town is pronounced after my exposition.
Speaker 2: Although I feel like I heard it three different ways,
so maybe not.
Speaker 3: That's what makes it a one in three, Victor, You're
a Hall.
Speaker 2: Of Famer if you do that in baseball. In the article,
the Russian scout I mentioned compares him to Kurl Caprisov,
which obviously would be incredible. I see a world where
that can happen. He's an undersized, super creative, super crafty
solves problems in a lot of unique ways. But that's
also the absolute ceiling right. More likely, he's more of
a middle six complimentary type scoring winger who you know,
could be in that fifty to sixty point range. It
depends on how well it all translates. Of course, you
love to see the progression though still only he's nineteen
and scoring at a pretty decent rate in the KHL.
Thirty seven and fifty six is pretty good for torpedo,
so you love to see that. I think that teenager
production is always super important to me, and so that's
something I like. That's why his pnhili is a little
bit higher, and I love to see that. I think
that he's someone that I'm trying to get. That's basically
the bottom line with our Tomanov.
Speaker 3: Tremendous and what kind of a fantasy profile. Oh wait no, sorry,
the NHL ranking Mason Black he put out the poll
our Tomanov put up against moves like Jaeger Furcus, the
cult favorite little tiny winger from the Seattle crack in
Yagur Furcus, and our Tomanov defeats him soundly, sixty five
to thirty five percent in the vote, A couple of
second round picks in in different years here recently. Is
that how you would rank these two at the viral Furcus,
the lovable Furcus trounced by the Russian here. What do
you think?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's I think it's appropriate not to
say anything bad about Fercus. I think he's actually doing
quite well in his first full season in Kachella Valley,
just right exactly at a half point or actually just
under a half point per game. As we're recording this,
I can math, I promise and so he's that's pretty good.
But it's a tough league. People might see that as
a big reduction, but no, I think it's pretty good.
He's learning how to play. He's a smaller guy, so
he's working on that. He's working at not being pushed
around as much getting to the middle. There's positive signs there.
But what our Tamanov is already doing in a more
difficult league at a younger age, I think you have
to be more excited about that. So I would definitely
take our Tamanov here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, So what kind of a fantasy player
are we going to see our Tomanov turn out to be.
Speaker 2: He's definitely got a pretty high upside. I have him
as a seven point four or five, so forty five
percent chance of being a seven out of ten on
your roster, meaning just pretty solidly above average in that
top third of your roster. And he does tend to
shoot a fair amount seventy percentile. It's hits and blocks
are a little bit lower, but overall his bash should
be a little worse than average. He's definitely more of
a points only kind of guy, or points heavy kind
of league is better for him. I have a feeling
though with more time on ice he might increase some
of those a little bit more. His tumb of ice
has been lower right now, and so that's I think
a scoring winger who can get sixty five to seventy
five is certainly realistic for the upside. I think realistically
he might settle into more of a fifty to sixty
point guy. But I still think that upside is a
little bit higher than Furcus is. Going back to the
previous comp.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and think what's the ultimate upside of Nikita or Tomenoff.
Speaker 2: Realistically, I don't think he hits capriceoff highs. I think
he's in not superstar level, but strong fantasy producer, someone
that probably will get drafted in redraft leagues in a
few leagues in a few years, and someone that is
probably going to return value on beyond his just being
minors eligible. Flexing up and down, that's my prediction at
this point.
Speaker 3: Gonna take a break, come back, and we got three
more ex gambers to cover.
Speaker 1: Christian a shack you an apologize wasn't really familiar with
your game, and you know.
Speaker 3: Casual Victor Andrew Christall his last name is not just
a dated Champagne reference from nineties hip hop. He is
instead a great player for the Washington Capital's prospect system.
A five to ten left winger scoring oodles and oodles
in the Western Hockey League. Sixty points thirty eight games
in Kelowna has become fifty six points in twenty two
games in Spokane. He moved the season and now he's
broken it. He's ope, he's overpowered in Spokane. Canadians everywhere
were nashing teeth when he was left off the Canadian
World Juniors team that didn't manage a ton of offense
without him. He fell to the second round in twenty
twenty three, where Washington took him. The questions have never
been on an offense, especially at the current levels where
he's playing in Canada. I know in your recent discussion
on Elite prospects you explore that question because obviously a
smaller guy like this, is the defense going to be
enough to keep him on the ice to utilize that
offensive skill and can the offensive skill translate? What's your
overall take on Andrew Christal Victor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just I think he's going to work. I
think it's going to work out. As the bottom line,
I think he's too smart. I think he can think
his way out of problems. The foot speed and sometimes
the off puck engagement continues to be not ideal for Kristal,
but he's just so crafty and smart that he can
make things work. We've seen examples of guys like this
Tyler Tafoli, who foot speed has never been great, but
he just figures out where to go to score goals.
Christaal is more of a playmaker, more development, got more
of a playmaker creator kind, and so he's not necessarily
going to need to get to those spaces, but he's
going to need to create space and draw attention to
him and open up lanes, and he can do all that.
Sometimes the pace can be a little much for him,
but I think that he's gonna he's gonna figure it
out and he's going to get there. So I'm high
on him.
Speaker 3: Spicy Mason Black the NHL Ranking poll, Andrew Krystal against Aanili,
You're off the points are not off the scale. This year,
he's got twenty five points in forty six games for
the KHL's Middler Magnetigorsk and of course Christal again has
been breaking the WHL and somewhat surprise, Victor, my boy,
You're Off is on the losing side of this one
in one hundred and fifty six votes, which is one
of the heavier vote getters or heavier voted comparisons of
our episode here, Christaul sixty eight to thirty two percent
over eurof Is that how you see it?
Speaker 2: I don't know that it's quite that clear for me.
I do think that You're Off has a lot of excitement.
Last year I wrote about him too, and You're Off
was doing what he did, leading the team in scoring
and helping them win the championship with very little time
on ice. He was only getting fifteen fifteen fourteen total
time on ice last year. This year it's pretty much
the same. He's got fifteen twenty eight. And part of it,
I think is that he told them that he's leaving
and wants to come to North America, and so that
usually limits their time on ice, and so I think
that's probably part of it. And frankly, it's unrealistic to
expect that many points with just fifteen minutes of time
on ice. It's not enough. So the fact that his
point total went down, I don't think you should worry
too much about it. He was quite frankly a bit
over index with what he was able to do with
so little time on ice last year that I think
this is probably a little bit more realistic in terms
of what he should be doing. He is actually shooting
a little bit more. His course, he is more. His
expected goals are better, his net expected goals are better,
his hits are up. Everything he's doing is pretty much
better this year. It's just some of the assists aren't
as high, some of the points aren't as high as
they were last year, so that's really part of it.
The goals are roughly the same per game, but the
assists are, especially the secondary sists have gone down a
little bit. So your office still right. I probably would
still take Christal because I think the upside is higher.
But if you're looking at proximity to the NHL, then
maybe you think about you're off. But I think they're
actually pretty similar because I can't imagine Christal takes a
whole lot of time in the AHL. They want to
get him up there and maybe maybe he could be
the next Nick Baxtrom type.
Speaker 3: Jesse Ooh, he's playing over on the wing though, right
is is he gonna play center.
Speaker 2: No, I just meant more of the assist master.
Speaker 3: The assist master of the playmaker type. All right, what
kind of fantasy than is Nick Bastrom? Is that what
I'm hoping for here? What kind of fantasy player is
Andrew Kristal gonna be in the NHL?
Speaker 2: He's the kind of guy that has to be on
the power play. You don't put you don't play Andrew
Kristall if you're not gonna have him on the power play.
So he needs that, he needs to play with good players.
He could be the kind of guy that ends up
being a third line, top power play kind of guy.
That's probably the floor of him as an NHLer, because
otherwise you just don't even put him in the lineup.
The ceiling is probably not top line, but probably a
second line winger who's on the power play and gets
gets more favorable defensive assignments, easier defensive assignments, and does
there's a lot of scoring. That's really what you're hoping for.
I think that the upside points wise for him is
the sky's almost a limit. If everything goes well, if
he finds good chemistry with scores, then I think that
and he can certainly be point per game. Plus I
think realistically he's probably more of a sixty to seventy
point guy. There's certainly upside for.
Speaker 3: More very good and yeah, what is that? The ultimate upside?
Is that what we're talking about there, Victor?
Speaker 2: I think so. He definitely isn't someone that hits their
blocks either, So the bash is going to be a
little bit low. Although he shoots a lot. So the
if you're in a shots only or don't worry about
hits and blocks kind of league, than Kristall is great.
If you're really looking for more peripheral covers, then he's
not really going to do that. And if you're wondering
you're off, does that a little bit more so? He
hits and blocks closer to the fiftieth percentile fifty sixtieth percentile,
so that's a little bit better.
Speaker 3: Next Victor, we've got Gabe perrou on the discussion here
the New York Rangers prospect. His season at Boston College
has not matched his excellent twenty twenty three to twenty
four season. He may have faded from thought in some ways.
I would say that that will be my argument. You
can correct me if I incorrect in the directional trajectory
of this fella. But Will Smith is getting established in
the NHL. Ryan Leonard thrives like crazy and is blowing
up as a prospect. But still gay Perrot was nails
two World Juniors in a row, identical three goals, seven
assists in ten point lines in seven games each time
in the two straight championships. Played a ton of minutes,
including twenty seven to forty five in a recent overtime
tie in College versus New Hampshire. Seems to be more
need in New York for a player of his offensive
talents than ever. As New York is a little more looking,
a little less established and crowded than it did a
couple of years ago, one wonders if this is a
player settling in or what to make of Gaye Perrot.
What is your take on this player?
Speaker 2: I think that as long as the New York Rangers
don't ruin him, he's going to be amazing. They have
had a habit of not, let's say, not getting the
best out of some of their prospects, and some of
their more recent prospects seem like they've thrived in spite
of their product, their coaching or development So I think
that gay Pro is amazing. I think that his type
of play, which is how smart and creative he is,
he can play one of one of the things you
look for is you go up levels. Is this the
pace of the game, the speed of the game, how
much players need to problem solve and figure things out
really quickly. That accelerates, and that is something that is
not going to be a problem for gay Pro. He
can see the ice really well. He can problem solve
with the best of them. His feet don't move as well,
but he knows how to put the puck where his
team can get it, and how to open up space
with passes and how to move to create those spaces.
So I think he's awesome, and it's interesting hearing some
people be a little skeptical on him. I'm definitely on
the side of I still think he's going to be
a star.
Speaker 3: Well, Mason Black, the NHL King, put him up to
pull against Eurik Coolidge. Eh, you're Coolidge who has been
sitting in one of my minor systems all years in
the four Sport league and just not cool enough for
me to promote most of the time in terms of
present production. But obviously the first round of from twenty
twenty two. Maybe on the come. Eventually the people have spoken.
Gay Perro is the choice seventy to thirty percent over
Eurik Coolidge. Is that where you are, Victor?
Speaker 2: Oh definitely, I'm taking Gay Pro here every day of
the week. Coolik. It's interesting. I thought that he'd be
a better two way kind of center and help with
some of that play driving. He's really struggled defensively. Coach.
Things continue to be broken in Buffalo, so I don't
know how much you can blame that on him. It
seems every year we have hopes and dreams and they
just get crushed in Buffalo. I still think Kulick is
a great player, but I definitely think he's going to
be more of a real life asset than a fantasy asset,
although his will and drive might just push some of
that to be higher than it should be in fantasy.
But yeah, he's cooking at just under a half point
per game. I think he has more to give for
that long term, but maybe not too much more, Maybe
like a fifty to sixty point guy, whereas Pro you're
talking like one hundred point upside. I think the point
upside with him is massive. I don't know that he
gets there right away, and it might take the right situation.
But you mentioned what's going on in New York, and yeah,
things are weird in New York, and it seems like
they might even be headed towards a bit of a
retool or something. I'm not sure they're still going to
want to be competitive. But the nice thing is that
pro is going to step in and be pretty much
an ah already at the end of this season. He
may need a little Ahl seasoning, but I think it's
gonna be fine when he fits like. There isn't really
anyone like him on that team, which can be good,
but he also needs to play with the best players
and so there isn't a ton of space there either,
so there might be some interesting gymnastics that have to
be done to get him in, depending on how much
they like him.
Speaker 3: All right, Victor, and what kind of a fantasy player
do you see here?
Speaker 2: Definitely one that more of a points only a play.
He's the kind of player that might frustrate the heck
out of you if he's not doing anything, but he
also then has the ability to drop three or four
sists in a game. Is maybe not terribly unlike Robert Thomas,
although Thomas is the center. I don't think perro is
but the kind of guy that can give you some
cardio sessions or he can just give you a bunch
of points, and so he has a huge upside. The
points are big, but he definitely can be the kind
of guy that can give you goose eggs at times,
and that might be frustrating, so some people might want
more of a Perferle Floor kind of guy. That's cool. Actually,
if you look at the Fantasy Hockey Life player card,
you can see that his bash is up in the
eightieth percentile. He hits, blocks, shoots and blocks all pretty well.
And that's a good Perferle Floor kind of guy. That
is not gay pro. He's not going to give you
any of that, but he might give you a decent
amount of assists. And he's primarily going to be an
assist guy.
Speaker 3: And how high does that upside go you said one
hundred points.
Speaker 2: I think the upside is there for one hundred. Yeah,
he's got some significant point upside. I think it's possible
he gets there. Really depends on the team around him.
He Since he's an assist guy, it takes. Gotta have
finishers to make that happen, so depends on how long
Paneron plays, if they have other guys that can finish,
step into that role of Frinier whatever they need those guys.
He can really jive with some of those guys and
make some beautiful music, So it's possible for sure. That
point per game I think is also pretty attainable for pro.
Speaker 3: Awesome. Last guy today Victor Casper Halton and a big
winger for the pretty good London Nights. He was a
twenty twenty three Sharks second rounder. We're talking about him
at having a very good world junior attorney for Finland
just a little while ago. Thirty two points in thirty
games this year in the OHL, but that kind of
belies the streak he's been on. He netted ten goals
in February. That's that is not a point per game
poins pace just to get that many goals in one month.
He's on a roll right now. He uses his size
and the profile suggests maybe some bash is to come.
What's your all take on Casper Halton and.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, can this guy hammer the puck? That's
basically what you need to know. He is going to
be an absolute terror for teams that are playing against
the Sharks when he gets there. He's the kind of
guy who's shot alone is going to dictate that he
makes the NHL. How much, how many points he gets,
and how much upside is there beyond that really depends
on the rest of this game, which I really think
is rounding out quite nicely after this during this past
year where he's been on a great role with Run
with London, and he's really doing diversifying his skill sets
a little bit more. We know he can stand in
the OV spot and just hammer pucks, but he also
can get to the inside. He's got soft hands and
tight He's become a better playmaker. I've saw some really
excellent passes threading the needle, opening up spaces. If he
can really improve that side of his game, we're talking
Miko Ronton and light. If he can get there, I
don't know that's really in the cards for him. I
think he's probably more of a thirty thirty thirty goal
maybe twenty to thirty assists, depending on how the team
around him goes. But I think that's there's a lot
of potential there, especially for where they got him in
the draft thirty sixth overall, so pretty early in the
second round. But I think that he's got pretty significant
upside and just because that one skill is so good
that he doesn't even necessarily have to do that much
else to become pretty valuable and have and be one
of the best guys at shooting the puck in the league.
Speaker 3: In the NHL, the NHL Rankking Mason Black put the
pull out of Casper Halton and against Grayson Sachin, a
Florida Panthers prospect who's once again been blowing it up
for the Edmonton Oil Kings up there in the Western
Hockey League and Casper Halton and by one vote fifty
point six to forty nine point four comes out ahead
of Grease and Sachin. Is that how you see it?
Speaker 2: Except I don't think it's this close at all. I
don't know why people are voting so much Grace and Sachin.
Maybe it's some WHL versus OHL bias or something. I'm
not sure. He has looked good for the old Kings,
but he didn't look so great last year in the WHL.
After his you know, he was on that Seattle Thunderbirds
team a couple of years ago when he got drafted
playing a depth role and he looked really good doing
it and people are really excited. And then he was
barely over a point per game and his draft plus
one season that was weird. And so this season it's
a step forward we expected from him last season, and
so I don't know if there's that much to be
excited about. Maybe people are also just looking at the
pnhle which looks higher for Sachin. But I'm definitely taking
Holton in here. I think he has a lot more
reason to be excited about him with his shooting prowess
and how good the Sharks are looking. I think that
there's a role for him at least in the middle
six and possibly on that top power play just because
of what he does. And Sachin is more of a
jack of all trades kind of guy. He does a
lot of things really well. He doesn't do anything exceptional.
Maybe that can synergistically become better than the sum of
its parts. I'm not sure, but I definitely would take Halton,
And for me, it's not even close.
Speaker 3: Jesse, And how high is the upside for Halton Addicer, It.
Speaker 2: Really depends on the playmaking and how he's used. If
he's a third liner top power play or even third
liner second power play kind of guy, then he's probably
like a forty ish point guy forty to fifty. Maybe
if he really gets to the point where he's trusted
on that top power play and or improves his playmaking
and his defensive play, then he can get higher than that.
He's not the best defensive player, and he's slow and
not that good of a skater, and so all of
that might limit his utility at even strength, which would
limit his points upside. So I think he's realistically probably
like a sixty to seventy point guy at best, and
maybe more realistically forty to fifty depending, But he's definitely
a guy who can put the puck in the net
at the highest level. His bash is also really good.
He hits a lot, he blocks a lot for a forward,
and shoots a ton, so his bash is rated as
a ten one hundred percent tile. So you love to
see that for Casper halton In and that preferle floor
also makes you a little bit more confident by the
way I have sauching at a four point seven zero,
so basically pretty likely to be below replacement level or
below average, not replacement below average on your roster, and
Halton in at six point thirty eight, so thirty eight
percent of being above average. And so that's how I
land on those guys.
Speaker 3: Jesse, love all the bash, Love all the bash, Victor.
I want you to know, by the way, unrelayed, completely
unrelated to this. I watched Ottawa Washington the other night
and Brady could chuck and Tom Wilson fought, and I
had feelings, Victor, I had feelings anyway, that's neither inger there.
Speaker 2: I think that too. It was weird.
Speaker 3: Oh it was yeah. I didn't know what I didn't
know what to do with myself anyway, Victor. Any other
thoughts on these players before we get out of here.
Speaker 2: No, except that, remember, if you're a Patreon of Fancy
Hoaco Life, you get access to the shown and so
you can see all these really cool graphics and everything
that we have, and that's at any tier. And if
you're an ultralifer, then you can access these player cards
anytime you want on the website and so there's a
lot of good stuff in there. If you're wondering, hey,
how much to these guys bash, how much they stood,
how much are they block? Do they take penalties? All
that stuff's available excellent. Will be right back to close
up the show.
Speaker 3: A couple of things to mention before we leave today.
One of them is our shows brought to you by
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Speaker 2: M