Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks.
Speaker 2: Here's shits, your.
Speaker 3: Source of information and analysis to help you win your
fantasy hockey league.
Speaker 1: Block Off has a step hit on staylock. Here's your hosts,
Jesse Severe and Victor Nuno.
Speaker 2: Fantasy Hockey Live Calvary Flames Edition. Jesse Severe here, Victor
Nuno There, Victor, how you doing?
Speaker 1: I am awesome, Jesse. Yeah, I definitely excited to do
another one of these team previews. This one might literally
be on fire Jesse.
Speaker 2: Yes, a horse on fire. Yeah, that's It's a disturbing image, Victor,
but we're going to try to get over it. Victory,
you've said recently that you're moving. I'd like to know, Victor,
Or you have moved, how many boxes have you found
that haven't changed since the last time you moved. That's
something I've experienced over the years, is you move, you
put stuff in a box, and then you move again,
and you realize there's still stuff in this box. And
when you're trying sometimes you even discover stuff you forgot
you had when you're moving, and then you put it
back in a box and you lose it for the
next ten years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is something that has happened. We did move
back in twenty twenty to Santa Cruz, and then moved
twice in the last four months. I will say we
are trying to decrease that as much as possible. It
definitely still happens, and as you go through things again,
you're like, why do I still have this? So we've
been trying to purge. We've actually purged about fifteen boxes
worth of stuff just in this past four months and
donated a lot of different things here and there. So
we're trying, but it still happens, and every time it happens,
you're like, why did I move this multiple times? Some
things are actually reasonable, like mementos, like old VHS's. Kids.
VHS's were old things that we used to use back
in the eighties to watch videos on, and DVDs and
things that we and CDs that we want to convert
to different media. I just haven't had time. So some
of those things are reasonable that they're unchanged, but we'd
like to, of course get to them at some point.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I took all my VHS's to this guy in
town and he gave me back this tiny little thumb
drive that can plug in it's worth your time before
those vhs is completely melt. But you know what, Victor,
I'm going to set up a room in the Fantasy
Hockey Life discord just all about complaining about things that
you find when you move. No, I'm not really going
to do that, but you can talk about hockey there anyway.
And all you have to do to get into our
discord is email is Fantasy Hockey Life at gmail dot com.
It's a free discord. It's just a little social media site,
but limited to the several hundred people who have messaged
in the past wanted to talk fantasy hockey and you
can pop in there and just chat with people, talk
about leagues, form up new leagues. I don't care. You
can do that, and of course, if you are involved
in the Fantasy Hockey Life leagues, you're gonna want to
be there to monitor everything that's we have as offering
for the people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we got lots of great stuff over at the Patreon.
If you're enjoying the show, you want to help support it.
I want to get some bonus content. You can do that.
You can get patroon cast, you can get bonus draft content,
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is a super fun league, and you can get access
to the website the ranks, tiers list all that, So
go ahead and check that out over at patreon dot
com slash Fantasy Hockey Life.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back to talk about our team in
the day. Welcome into the show. Steve McFarlane, who writes
for the Hockey News magazine. Ready to talk to some
Calgary Flames.
Speaker 4: How you doing, Steve, Yeah, I'm doing great. It's looking
forward to a busy offseason and some exciting stuff coming
up at the draft. How are you good?
Speaker 2: Good? Yeah, Yeah, I'm ready to talk a little Flames too.
It's nearing the summer salstice, Steve. Lots of sunlight here,
and lots of sunlight, probably even more up in Calgary
these days.
Speaker 4: Huh, tons of sunlight up here.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Craig Conory is going to need every minute of it
to stay fresh as he embarked on the next phase
of his rebuild.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, let's talk a little bit about the Flames.
If my records are telling me the truth, The Flames
now have the longest playoff drout among the Canadian teams.
Now most of them have been making it in the
last couple beers. It's not that many years, but that
was almost not so this year, as the Flames lost
out on a bid via tiebreaker, finishing with more standings
points than two teams in the two playoff teams in
the Eastern Conference. There was a lot good in terms
of the Flames outcomes this season. That's saying the Flames
to say they deserved a playoff spot is not as clear.
They were outscored by sixteen goals this year. They won
exactly as many games as they lost, but because of
the overtime loss points fourteen, which only two of them
going to the shootout, they did have a fair number points.
I thought they outperformed expectations for the season given the
context of the Western Conference. They got off twenty four
hundred and fourteen shots, which was seventh in the NHL.
Can't blame the shots. Otherwise, they tended to finish about
in the middle of the pack, as you might expect
in most categories. How do Calgary folks inside and outside
the organization see this year and our expectations next year?
Playoffs or bust?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think the playoff expectations this year were very low.
Internally maybe a little bit higher. They never want to
admit that they're not really working toward that externally. Definitely
a huge surprise. I think they were I think maybe
the best non playoff team in history from like a
points perspective. They they were so close. They had a
huge run at the end of the season where they
were playing the best hockey of their season and things
were coming together, and it really felt like right up
until the end that they were going to defy the
odds and somehow sneak in. Obviously that didn't happen. That
puts it in the same old vote from a fan perspective,
which is mushy middle. They prefer to land in the
top ten draft picks if they're not making the playoffs,
but that's not happening, and in fact, they're going to
have the lot two first rounders later later on in
the first round, and then the very last pick of
the first round from the Panthers this year because they
won it all. So I think it was one of
those weird seasons where we saw a lot of good
we saw a lot of growth. We saw essentially a
superstar performance by goaltender Dustin Wolf, who finished runner up
in the voting for a Rookie of the Year and
actually got up as an a vote as well because
of how incredibly he played. He was the biggest reason
they got that close. But there were a lot of
good things from a unified work ethic resilience standpoint for
this team. They frequently came from behind to either win
games or force overtime, and they did a lot of
good things. They're building the right way and are going
to rely even more on youth going.
Speaker 2: Let's go through the players on this team, and we
start with Nasim Kadri, who got sixty seven points in
eighty two games. That that was excellent. Thirty five goals,
thirty two assists. That's down a little bit from the
prior year, but really a nice year in considering the
context of the team this year. And I guess the
question is what do we expect from him in the
coming year? Did he you feel outperform in this year
in terms of what he was able to accomplish on
a team that was, like you said, they rallied late.
And now he's thirty four years old. What do you
think of Cadri's future with the team.
Speaker 4: I would have loved to see what he could have
done in the playoffs, because that's just the kind of
guy he is. From a regular season perspective, I think
the thirty five goals was a bit of a surprise.
The overall dip endpoint production was probably to be expected.
He had a really big year last year, and I
think most of them were career highs the previous season,
but this past seasonect did a little bit of our aggression.
I think scoring more than thirty five goals leading the
team in that category was a nice pleasant surprise. He
was always there for the clutch moments as well, and
I think that's just the type of person he is.
I think you can expect maybe even another little dip.
I think he's just around a sixty point player. However,
that's distributed twenty plus goals somewhere between thirty and forty
assists is probably to be expected. He did find a
lot of chemistry with Jonathan Huberto part way through last season,
which I think was a nice find for the Flames
because Huberto had been struggling to find that connection with
most people, and they had tried him with cadri first
when he initially they both got here a couple of
years ago at the same time and they tried him together,
it didn't work, revisited it this year during the season
and it just started took off, and they were repaired
together for much of the latter half of the year
and down the stretch when things were going quite well
for the Flames. So I would expect that we would
probably see them starting off together again this year. But
I think, yeah, Cadri's probably a sixty to seventy sort
of as a max. As a player, I don't expect
him to be a point per game ever again, but
I guess you never know. If they catch lightning in
a bottle at thirty four years old.
Speaker 2: It's happened before, So we'll see Jonathan Huberto, you mentioned him.
I gotta say I feel like I was on Huberto
Island for a long time, keeping the faith for this guy,
remembering those fond memories of Florida and through kind of
the outcome struggles at least, but it really came up
a bit more this year. He did have a stronger
outcomes year performance, six more years of money, A lot
of money still owed to him, but at least he
was up to sixty two points this year. He jumped
two minutes a game on the ice by ten points,
more than double the shooting percentage from eight point four
to eighteen point three percent. He even started blocking shots
for the first time in his career, which I I
didn't realize, and he was best on the team when
you charted out with evolving hockey data or hockey viz data,
the best on the team in setting and at least
neutral on finishing. So what do you think of Huberto's
season and is this encouraging for what you're going to
see for the years to come with Huberto.
Speaker 4: Unless you're like in a retiserie where the block shots
count for you. I don't think that he's a guy
who has a ton more upside. I don't think we're
ever going to see those Florida Panthers days again. But
he is definitely a more complete player and probably playing
the best hockey of his life at this stage. The
reason he started blocking more shots is he was put
on the penalty kill for the first time this year
and trusted with more of that two hundred foot philosophy
that the Flames have for every player. They're not really
trying to create offensive superstars, but they are giving more
opportunities to be out there for ice time, maybe score
some shorthanded goals, those kinds of things. So I think
what you saw this year is probably the best you're getting.
Jonathan Huberto as a Calgary Flame, flirting with thirty goals
is a pretty impressive piece, especially for people where goals
count for more than assists. But he's again he like Cadri,
he's a sixty to seventy point player kind of at
a top end. Is just at this stage of his
career will he ever earn that massive salary that he
was given when he signed long term here? Probably not
from fantasy perspective, but from a dressing room, from a
two hundred foot two way player who can play in
any situation. I think that they're getting their money out
of him in that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I would not have guessed Huberto would have
been that two hundred foot player at some points in
his career. So it's really encouraging to see him do that.
Let's go to Matt Cornado. Let's talk about some younger guys. Here.
A fifty point pace this year, forty seven points in
seventy seven games. He was only on about half that
pace the previous year, so it was a nice first
full year for him. This year he played primarily online
two with backlunded Coleman, who will get to by the
end of the year. He was getting more time with
Kadrie and Huberto on the top line, so that's an
encouraging sign, and the power play Tom and Ice increased
as the season went along. He just signed a new
deal for seven years six point five million per It
looks like so I guess the first question is he
going to get that top line spot again next year?
And if so, what can we see or what can
we see either way.
Speaker 4: I think they would like him to be in that
first line featured right wing side. He's a right shot.
You don't have a lot of those. He's shown so much,
potentially learned so much in terms of how to play
the game the right way, win battles on the boards,
and just be a pretty tough player for a guy
who isn't very big in stature. Playing with Backland and
Coleman really helped him, I think, find his way as
a professional, and I think close to that fifty point
mark with a really strong second half scoring twenty four goals,
I think the future is really bright for Coronado. If
he can really be prominently featured with more ice time
in that kind of top line role, then the guy's
kind of the limits. He's got a little bit of
a limitation in terms of maybe the point per game
probably a possibility, but not next year. But he does
definitely have that potential to be a twenty five to
thirty goal scorer. The assists will probably jump up if
he's playing with Kadrian Huberto on that top line or
if they find some other connection through trades or draft
this year to find other high skill playing partners. He
can adapt his game to whatever is needed from him,
so I could see him being a sixty point player
pretty quickly as well.
Speaker 2: All Right, Great Connor Zeri is next up in He's
been a fan of Connor Zery. He's still on the climb,
but he definitely I think it would be fair to
say he didn't take the big leap this year that
some of us have been hoping for. Both years of
his career, he's been about a half point per game guy.
His shots increased from one and a half to two
this year. One problem, of course, he had, was he
hurt his knee at the beginning of January and it
cost him two months. When he returned, he was cold
and then shut down eleven games before the end of
the season. Somehow. He also had a two game suspension
in the very little time that he was back. Is
Zary finally going to break out next year? I think
it's restricted free agencies and now or with who Calgary
will presumably try to bring in to bolster this core.
Is he going to be doomed to the bottom six
on this team.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's so many question marks with Zari. He's such
a talented kid. I think he has as much or
maybe even more potential than Coronado in terms of Cornado's
more of a shooter. Zeri is a pretty slick playmaker
in obviously were just they did just crushed any momentum
he had. I think he struggled a little bit with
kind of his confidence early in the season, although he
was the hero with a stellar overtime move in the
home opener against Vancouver, and I think everyone thought he
was going to be off to the races because of
the dangles he can make and the moves he can
come up with in that raw speed and deception. Like
he's extremely talented, but the knee injury came at the
worst possible time. In January. He was just rounding back
into form, showing glimpses of the kid who seemed maybe
a little bit more confident. Maybe he was just running
on adrenaline. As a rookie, the sophomore season can always
be a little more challenging and more expectations are placed
on you, And I think if not for that first
knee injury, we might have seen a much higher point total,
we might have seen his points per game jump up.
He's just he's one of those guys that are not
ready to give up on him. He's a very high
end talent, and his development has been a little slower,
partially because of the pandemic and partially because of the
injuries that he keeps suffering, which is a bit of
bad luck. So if you can take if you can
take the time this summer to be fully healthy, come
into camp in that fashion and start in that top six,
I think it would be tough to see him being
bounced off it again. His position is also a little
bit of a question mark. Is he a center? Is
he a winger? I think long term they'd love to
see him as a center, and he has that kind
of mindset, but it's been easier for him as a
winger so far. So I think we'll really see in
training camp where he's placed in what that means for
his development and is slotting into the lineup.
Speaker 2: Well, starting to get into Pickham's In terms of some
of these other forwards on the team that yugor, Sharon
Govic had thirty two points in seventy three games, so
he was out there quite a bit. And then Morgan
Frost who was acquired and he in thirty two games
for the Flames only managed twelve points, but obviously just
starting to get used to it. Has a positive face
off differential if you're into that sort of thing. What
do you think of Ego or Sharon Gowitch Morgan Froest?
Who do you think is going to have a better
year next season?
Speaker 4: Great question? Both had such interesting seasons. Sharon Goviich was
a huge disappointment coming off of a massive year the
previous season, but again injury. He came into training camp
and was looking okay, got hurt, couldn't start the season
and just never seemed to just find his groove so
to speak. The potential for him is very high as well.
Once you hit thirty plus goals in the NHL, you're
expected to do it every year. Maybe that's not a
realistic total, but he should be a perennial twenty five
goal guy. Morgan Frost, not having seen him for the
full year, coming over at the trade just before the
trade deadline, he showed flashes of a guy with a
lot of talent, a lot of high end puck handling skill.
I thought he would produce more with the Flames, with
more of an opportunity, but they really bounce him around
the lineup a lot. They couldn't quite figure out what
he was. He did play a little bit of wing.
He played center primarily but almost by default. Him and
Connor Zerry could be two candidates to play full time
at center. I think, just going based on what I've
seen with the Flames in their system, I would probably
put my money on Sharon Govic is having a better year,
but in terms of higher end sort of offensive skill
balanced across the board goals and assists, Frost wouldn't surprise
me if he was one of those sleeper guys next year.
Speaker 2: Certainly, it was perhaps good that he was able to
get out of Philadelphia. Things did not seem to be
clicking there in the long term. Another points pick him.
We got Martin Pasposel versus Joel Farrabee. So let's see.
He had twenty four points in eighty one games with
a little bit more of a depth role and Farrabey
played eighty one games and had twenty five points. Who
do you like of these two in how do you
describe their games for next year?
Speaker 4: These are tough. These are the pick'ems. Such different players,
but both will be given huge opportunities, I think to
play a little more. They're battling for that third line,
top nine hybrid line where they can be relied on defensively,
be a bit of an energy line. Well again, another
guy who could play center or on the wing, and
maybe best suited as a fourth line center to be honest,
but he does have a lot of potential. He's a
guy that gets in front of the net, can be
in the right areas to PLoP in some rebounds, get
some good positional goals. Ferraby is really puzzling to me
again not seeing him for a full season, seeing how
he was maybe going to be used by the Flames,
and that's still a little bit up in the air.
At the same time, I feel like Faraby probably is
going to have more of an opportunity to play the
offense minutes where Pasposol is maybe more of that fourth
line center. If he's in that role, I think that
Faraby could have a bigger season. How big is still
up for debate, but I think he can perform better
than he did with a full season with Calgary locked
into more of a consistent role on the wing.
Speaker 2: Let's move to the blue line, where we have really
one of the stars of fantasy and an outstanding defenseman
and Mackenzie Wiger. He is incredible fantasy players. Like I said,
his points were down five from his career best fifty
two to forty seven last year in eighty one games,
but his assists were actually up to thirty nine, which
was a career high. His slipping points was because his
career nine point six shooting percentage dropped to four point
three percentages here, which is a little more typical of
his whole career as opposed to nine point six of
the prior year average time. And I just hit a
career high of twenty four to ten. He supplanted ros
smiss Anderson, who will be talking about in a minute
as the lead d on the power play in terms
of minutes and was one off the team lead in
power play points with twenty one. He destroyed the rest
of the team when you look at expected goals ofbu
replacement are evolving hockey. So tell me about Mackenzie Wiger's
season and what you expect for him to come.
Speaker 4: He had an amazing season and he developed into one
of the most important players on the entire team just
from a personality and positivity perspective as well. Fantastic and
incredible that he's become what he is now from a
fantasy standpoint at a later age. Just the late bloomer
reminds me a lot of Mark Giordano in just the
story of the way that they made their way to
the NHL and became these big point producers later in
the stages of their careers. I think he's going to
get all the time in the world world to duplicate
what he did last year. Definitely a fifty point defenseman
plus at his potential, he's just going to play in
all areas and most likely have a little bit of
a higher goal total if he's on that power play
a little more often as well, and that I'll that
could depend on Rasmus Anderson's future.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about all Rasmus Anderson then, because for the
second straight year he combined stellar offensive underlying metrics. But
I'm afraid Steve, when I looked at the defensive ones,
it wasn't quite as positive in some of these advanced ones.
This was not only at even strength, but shorthanded as well,
where he played the slight majority of team minutes and
the opposing team was thirty percent more likely to score
when he was on the ice on the penalty kill
than when he was off. He played almost entirely on
five with the new edition. Kevin Ball is the future
of ra as skewed to offense. But this is such
a talented D man. What is going to come next
for him?
Speaker 4: Honestly, if I'm putting money on it, I would bet
on him finding a change of scenery, maybe as early
as the draft. If nothing materializes there in terms of value,
I think that we could see him as a trade
deadline player who's on the move. He's a great he
just his season this year was tough. All those things
that you mentioned about the defensive hiccups were frustrating to fans.
He's a very involved player in terms of the public
perception of him. He's an emotional guy, and I think
that he probably felt a little abandoned by the fan
base at times, with all the trade talk and the
social media folks really pushing to get rid of him
while his value was high. I think that is likely
to happen. I think part of the number issue in
terms of the defensive side this year, he was playing,
i think with a fracture in his foot for a
significant amount of time down the stretch, and they just
kept trotting him out there. He was doing whatever treatments
he could, and it was definitely impacting his game. He
didn't look like himself. I think when he's healthy he's
one of the best players in the league on that
back end in terms of his capabilities offensively and the
way he normally plays defense. The pairing. I think those
numbers were probably more solid in the early parts of
the year because the pairing with Kevin Ball was a
really good one, and with Ball able to use his
height and his presence and his stick to break up
a lot of plays and create transition and Rasmus would
be able to jump in on the rush a little
bit more. I think over the back half and after
his injury, things were really starting to hurt the team
rather than help the team by putting him out there.
But that's the kind of player he is. He wants
to be out there, and the team was willing to
continue to put him out there in the hopes that
they could somehow squeak into the playoffs and take care
of everything in the offseason. He's definitely a name to
watch all throughout the summer and into next season.
Speaker 2: Let's move on to the defenseman that I think everybody
in Calgary's probably thinking about right now, and that's Zane Perrek.
One hundred and seven points in sixty one OHL games
for Saganaw last year. He had nine points in playoff games.
He even made it up to the NHL at the
end of the season. One game I was watching that game,
he scored a goal that was so exciting that he
made it there at the very end of the season.
He's only nineteen years old with a February birthday. I'm
told that means he can't even go to the AHL
next season. It's a chl Or bust is Perek gonna
stay up at the big club this year, and what's
the ceiling on this guy?
Speaker 4: I just can't imagine him going back to junior at
this point. He I think the best part of not
making the playoffs over the Flames was the ability to
put him in and see what he would do in
an NHL game. Of course, there weren't the same pressures
because they were eliminated. There was a lot of adrenaline
because it was first game, but he was very noticeable
that whole night, and I think it gave fans a
real taste of his talent and how good he can be.
And I think he's gonna work even harder next year,
knowing that you have to make the NHL or you're
gonna be back in junior. There's no option to be
pro I think they should take a look at that rule,
because guys like him should be allowed to develop wherever
it's best for them. But that may be the NHL
next year, and especially if Rasmus Anderson is gone at
some point, that will mean a huge opportunity for Prick
and I think he is the kind of player who
will make the best of their opportunities. And I just
I see him as a player with huge potential. If
I'm looking at a real dark horse and that I
might be able to depend on in a fantasy league
for the second half of the year or after the
trade deadline, I would definitely sit on him if I could,
if there were some bench spots, because he is an
elite talent. I think he's gonna one day be their
best defenseman and the one that is on the highlight
reels all the time, talked about frequently on the sport
highlight shows.
Speaker 2: I imagine COCHL fans are like, come on, they just
did this. Ncaa thing to us. You can't take away
our nineteen year olds too. But yeah, it is always
a bummer when these guys are caught in that limbo.
Who really are cheeing?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 2: A couple of years ago was a great example of
that where it felt like, come on, guys, he should
be in the HL, but couldn't do it. You mentioned
at the beginning of the season in Burying the lead
here Dustin Wolf as we get to the goalies now,
and what an amazing season he had goals above expected
twenty six point three eight. He had a twenty nine,
sixteen and eight record, It's the second and final year
of his cheap contract, and he could see a contract extension.
It looks like pretty relatively soon. What was how would
you describe dustin season? And is this something that he's
going to be able to continue? He's only twenty four.
What's the story with this guy?
Speaker 4: This guy has done this at every level. He's so impressive.
Everyone makes a big deal about size and goalies these days,
but you have a lot of guys yuse Saros and
Nashville who carved out a solid career that continues, and
they're very similar in stature. It's just so impressive what
his physical and mental skills can do for his game
to maybe make up for the fact that he doesn't
take up as much net physically as a larger goaltender.
His athleticism, I've never seen anything like it. I watched
Mika Kippersov for a lot of years here and he
was maybe the bendiest and most impressive latterly moving goalie
I've seen on a regular basis in Calgary, tops in
the league, able to play a lot of games. I
think that the way they brought Wolf along this year
and sheltered his starts and gave Dan Vladar some of
the tougher ones early, allowed Wolf to gain that confidence,
improve his numbers early on in the season, and then
take over the net down the back half. Was the
best way to bring him along, and I think that
his numbers really spoke for themselves. Like this guy is
an elite goalie already. I think that he is future.
Vesn't a candidate. I just can't see him having a dip.
This team in front of him was not good defensively,
and he just filled in all those holes. He covered
up a lot of holes and just is easily the
best goalie since Mika Kippersoff to be here in Calgary
from a raw talent level, and that includes the mental
makeup of his game. He's so good at brushing off
things that didn't go well and he just has an
insanely bright future. They can't tank, they can't. He won't
let him. His player was if you're going to try
to tank, he can't play Dustin Wolf because he carried
them that close to the playoffs, and really it wasn't
close in terms of who else would have been MVP
on the team last year. Despite some of the other
guys that we talked about being pretty clutch.
Speaker 2: In the backup for this net We got Dan Vladar,
who had a reasonable season. It was a neutral season
in terms of his performance, maybe a little blow water
in terms of his record, but his goal saved above
expected was about on par. And then you also and
there's a question whether he'll come back or or whether
he's going to try to move on. And then you
got Devin Cooley who's playing down in the minors with
the Wranglers. In the ahl he had a pretty nice year.
He had the twenty twenty five AHLR All Star Game,
he led the Pacific. So there's a lot going on here.
Is Devin Cooley going to take over as the backup
for Wolt next year or how does this backup situation
sort itself out?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think Vlidar and the Flames both have interest
in him coming back next year. He's there. I think
it depends on whether or not he finds another place
where he might get more starts. But really good relationship
with the team, with his teammates, and I think he
was better than his numbers indicate in terms of he
did get all of those really tough starts. He would
get the first game of back to backs, he would
get the tougher opponents, especially over the first half of
the season, so I think that affected his overall numbers
a little bit. He regained his form a little bit
again down the stretch, and every time he did get
an opportunity, he was up to the task and played
pretty well. So I think that he is a strong
backup goalie and I think he'll probably if he returns,
he'll be the guy. Devin Cooley had a really good
start in the AHL All Star team. Like you mentioned,
his back half not as good. He really struggled to
be consistent and they were looking for, I think a
little bit more from him before giving it more of
an opportunity in the NHL. He did make a few
NHL appearances on the roster during a time when Vladar
was injured as well, and I think he showed them
that he was a guy with a lot of potential
as a backup. But I don't think he's going to
be the guy full time next year. I think they'll
let him develop a little bit more in the AHL,
see what he does there for the first half before
depending on what kind of a deal maybe of Vladara signs.
If that's something that has moved at the deadline and
then Kooley comes up, there could be an opportunity like
that or injury. If that ever happens, he may get
a chance to show that he's NHL worthy. But I
think at least at the start of the season, if
all goes as planned and Volodar does come back, then
he'll be the top guy in the AHL for now,
but even deeper below him, there are a lot of
other prospects that are pretty decent in between the pipes
in Calgary's development systems. We'll see I guess in a
couple of years what happens with Kooley.
Speaker 2: All Right, that's not a terrible problem to have a
couple of good goalies and one hanging down in the
miners who's continuing to climb. Steve, this has been great
talk on the Calgary Flames. Why don't you let people
know how they can keep up with you, keep up
with what you got going out there.
Speaker 4: Yeah. From a social perspective, I'm at at McFarlane h
k Y, and you can read me in the hockey
news magazines when they hit your local shelves or online.
The Hockey News dot Com outstanding.
Speaker 2: Thanks for talking flames with me today and good luck
following them in the coming year.
Speaker 4: Thanks Jesse, enjoy the off season to come.
Speaker 2: Will since then that's good fired pets. Oh my goodness,
long with a cat quick gram. Now it's your weekly
goalie talk. But Kat Silverman cats instincts.
Speaker 1: Once again for Cats Instincts. With Kat Silverman and Ngol,
we're talking Calgary goalie prospects. Of course, that means we
get to talk about the absolute best hockey name as
far as I'm concerned, Chef's Kiss. Kudos five stars to
the parents of Igor Igorov for going with that name.
He's not the only Igorov hockey player, but he's probably
one of the most well known, and he is doing
really well, so it's good to check in on him.
He is a six foot three hundred ninety two pound
goalie twenty three six round pick. He'll be twenty this summer.
He's also pretty young based on his August thirtieth birthdate.
He could have been a whole other year developmentally behind
and didn't have any KHL time this year. I think
last year we talked about how we'd like to see
him at a higher level, which we didn't get unfortunately,
So still in the MHL and doing well there, but
we need to see what else is going on with him. Wait,
he had some VHL time this year, but not KHL time,
So yeah, that's what we're looking for. But looking at
the hockey prospecting between him and he has some decent comps,
guys like Alex Georgiev is someone he looks a little
bit alike. He's certainly had some success in the NHL. So, Kat,
what do your instincts tell us about you go or
you Gorov?
Speaker 5: He's a really fun goaltender to watch. That's always something
that I feel like when I start off with that,
people are like, oh no, he's what. He's a lot
of fun to watch. I think he.
Speaker 2: Has really.
Speaker 5: Good, smooth transitions. I think he uses them a little
too often. I think he's a little too aggressive, But
at the same time, he does a good job of
staying squared to the play when he is anticipating shots
coming in. I think, based on what we saw from
him this past year, he might need a little bit
more of a transition period when he comes over to
North America because he does almost look a little bit
like a check goaltender where he really likes to get
all a little overactive after that first save and then
sometimes needs to scramble if there is a rebound, which
works really well on a larger ice surface and then
really doesn't work well on those smaller, more enclosed ice spaces.
But that being said, I think Calgary is currently in
a position where they can afford for him to take
a little bit of extra time to follow that learning curve,
and I think that's totally fine. They're not in a
rush to get another goaltender in their system who is
already ready to go. They're not at the same level
of desperation that a team like Philadelphia is, and so
it'll be fun just he's going to be a fun
guy to get to watch develop. He's not in a
position where we need to hope he is going to
thrive immediately. So I think that's a luxury that Calgary
is taking advantage of.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like having a little dust and wolf to
slow everything down for all the other goalies. Yeah, I
love that. Let's talk about the other guy, who may
actually have even more upside. Maybe I should have put
him first, but he's twenty two and that is ARSENNI
sergive six three hundred ninety two pounds. He was twenty
twenty one seventh round pick. As I mentioned twenty two,
he really put himself on the map. I would say
this year. He's been in the NCAA for three seasons,
was his third season and he transferred from the University
Connecticut to Penn State, and I think he was a
huge reason, if not maybe the reason, the Penn State
went all the way to the Frozen Four. He was awesome.
His numbers were pretty incredible nine nineteen save percentage two
point five to four GAA and really stole some games,
I would say in the tournament. So looking at the
hockey prospecting, it hasn't looked super exciting. Part of that
is because some of his early seasons were in the
NAHL and the USHL and his numbers were good, but
those leagues are have a lower equivalency, So all in all,
he is looking like a low equivalency guy in terms
of his percentage. Probably the best comp for him is
Charlie Lindgren, who is a one B slash one A
split starter kind of guy, and maybe he has that
upside or maybe there's more cat What are your instincts
tell us about sir give.
Speaker 5: I think he he was a big part of the
reason that Penn State did as well as they did.
That being said, I think he's at the point where
he needs to work on his physical strengths. And that's
not something that I talk about with a lot of goaltenders.
But it is interesting that his technical game looks really good.
His physical game and his ability to hold his edges
and hold his positioning when people are crowding the crease
still needs a lot of work, and that's something that
the physical intimidation and strengths and ability to box people
out of what really amounts to his territory is something
that he's going to need to work on. And that's okay,
that's something that I think he can work on. Just
find he has. Like we said, there's the blessing of
a dustin wolf taking over in Calgary and really running
with it. They don't need him to be top tier immediately.
They have plenty of time, and I think he's going
to need that time, especially when he I think will
be able to see pretty immediately at the AHL level.
If he's going to need just a little bit of
work on that or if he's going to really need
to kind of transition his game from playing against collegiate
players to playing against like larger adults for lack of
a better term, but I think his game looks good.
I think he just at this point he needs to
fine tune his physical development.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Kafrican is your instincts on the Calgary
Flames goalies.
Speaker 2: We'll be back right after this. The Dynasty did Calgary
Flames edition. The Flames have the number eight system in
the National Hockey League. They've got the number nineteen pick
and one of the last two picks pending the Stanley
Cup Finals. Their system starts with a big name, no
brainer victor.
Speaker 3: Who is it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's gonna be Zaane Perek. Zaye Perek is our
no brainer, as you might have guessed, twenty twenty four,
ninth overall pick six to Zer one hundred and eighty
five pounds. He had a pretty awesome season again for Saganaw.
Last season, he had ninety six points in sixty six game.
This season, he has had one hundred and seven points
in sixty one games and another nine and five playoff games.
As Saganaw was not able to defend their Memorial Cup
Championship and they went out a little earlier than they'd hope.
He did end up getting into one NHL game and
scored a goal, so that's pretty cool. It's got that
going for him, and so we'll be interesting to see
where he ends up. We heard about a little bit
about that from our guest, and I think that he
has a really good chance of making the team and
he could start running the power play as early as
this season, although probably will give him a little bit
more time to settle into that role. Looking at Mitch
Brown's tracking data, one hundred percentile overaull pretty rare to
see that his offense one hundred percentile, transition one and
ninety nine percentile, defense seventy six percentile. Just a couple
of weak areas in the defense entry prevention, defensive plays,
COURSI against, and some physical play that was a little
bit on the weaker side, but everything else is just stellar,
reame PreK. So you like to see that. I have
him in my OFFXL player card at eight point eighty
nine eighty nine percent chance of being an eight out
of ten. That's pretty fantastic stuff. He also shoots a
lot one hundred percentile for shots. His hits and blocks
will probably be a little bit below average, but all
in all, his bass should be pretty high based on
his strong shots. Let's hear a little bit else about
what's strong for PreK from our every Till scout Jesse
Zaye Perrek.
Speaker 2: Here's Josh Hutchinson's take on him. He is the smoothest
skater on the ice. Every time he's out there, stride
is so effortless and may look to something like he's
not trying. He has exceptional quickness, although his top speed
isn't necessarily that high. He's quick enough to get back
on defense and rarely gets caught out of position after
jumping up in the rush or trying to create chances
deep in the offensive zone. Parek has great vision both
in the offensive zone and on the breakout, and hits
his teammates with smooth, precise passes, puck handling incredible, and
ability to shield the puck from defenders despite only being
six foot tall with a slight frame, sometimes looks like
he has the puck on a string coming out of
double and triple team situations with possession, shooting a hard,
accurate ristshot that he uses a lot. He has nine
shot attempts per game in the OHL. Last year, he
also led the league in goals by a defenseman with
thirty four. Despite the high shot volume, he chooses his
spots wisely and often varies pucks from the high slot.
Extremely high IQ per Josh always seems to make the
right play in the offensive zone. When he finds his teammates,
he puts them in a great spot to create chances,
always looking for opportunities to jump up in the rush,
pinch in the offensive zone, or put himself in a
scoring position near the net. Picks his spots extremely well
and doesn't often get caught having to chase the play
back to the defensive zone. Extremely calm with and without
the puck. On defense, Although he's not very physical, Perrek
has a good positioning in the defensive zone, reads the
play well, and has a great stick to break up plays.
Isn't defraid to close off shooting lanes and block shots.
Occasionally gets physically overpowered by bigger forwards and net front
and board battles, but isn't afraid to engage physically. So
the best asset skating and shot equally his best assets.
Per Josh very well rounded offensively, so there could be
many answers to the question of what he does best.
The biggest concern size. As mentioned before, Perrek sometimes gets
physically overpowered in net front and board battles, and that
will likely continue against bigger and stronger opponents in the NHL.
The top tier outcome for Parrek a top pair D
power play one quarterback point per game ceiling. That's because
his offensive instincts are exceptional, great shot which should translate
well into the NHL, and his vision and ability to
a quarterback of power player very strong despite the lack
of physicality. A good sense of how to read the
play in the defensive zone, and Parrec finds ways to
break it up and gain puck possession. These qualities should
help him stay relevant on a top pair as opposed
to being a third pair power play guy. Stylistic comparable
Quinn Hughes for the size IQ and skating and Zach
Warinski for the shot volume and goal scoring and Mason
Black the NHL Rank King Tidy Ultimate Champion of Our
League put out the Zane Perrek versus Brand Clark, Yesterday's
Hot Defenseman prospect and Zaane Perek wipes the floor with
mister Clark seventy four to twenty six percent. Victor, IM
guessing you agree, But why don't you tell the people?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I still like Bran Clark. I still think he
can be a very impactful player. I think sometimes when
you see someone in the league for a little bit
and they don't become a superstar right away, people get
a little fatigued with them. But he's only one hundred
games into his NHL career, and for most of that
Drew Dowdy has been blocking him. He played seventy eight
games this season, had just under two minutes power play time.
I think that there's still a lot of runway for
Bran Clark. If anyone has given up on Bran Clark
in your league, I think you should go poke around
and probably take him off their hands for them. In
terms of pure upside, though, I'm definitely I'm taking Zaane Perek.
I think he has more upside than Clark. I think
that there's also so the funnel theory, as we've talked about.
He's a little earlier in his career, so I think
you're a little less worried about all those things that
could happen. I'm taking Parrek, But I wouldn't be more
than happy to get my hands on Bran Clark if
anyone thought that his value was too depressed to want
to hang on to him anymore. So yeah, go ahead
and send over your brand Clark Shares if you like.
I'd be quite happy with that. But yeah, looking at
the hockey prospecting between these two, they're pretty similar. PreK
increased his star potential from eighty two to ninety two
percent chance of being a star, and Clark has increased
his when he graduated the model at ninety three percent
chance of being a star, So essentially they look equivalent.
Some other comps for PreK, it's mostly like all these
stars guy like Brian Barrard and Chris Pronger and Cam
Fowler who is listed as a star producer, but we
know him as being a little bit more frustrating in
terms of a fantasy roster. Looking at the top down
Hockey Model, though, Perek is six in this data set,
seventy four percent chance of being a star, our one
hundred percent chance of being in NHLer Jay Fresh knows
what's up here. PreK is going to be a star.
Go ahead and get your hands on him.
Speaker 2: If you can, all right, Victor, and next up we
have our need to know prospect.
Speaker 1: Who is it I need to know is Andrew Basha
twenty twenty four second round pick, forty first overall, six
foote hundred and eighty seven pounds. He missed some time
twenty nine points in twenty three games for Medicine Hat
as they went to the Memorial Cup. He missed a
huge chunk of time and ended up coming back towards
the end. Couldn't push Medicine Hat quite over the edge
to win the Memorial Cup, but they did get there,
and the ankle injury that kept him out sounds like
it'll be pretty much a thing of the past, but
hard to say exactly. No no slowdown in the playoffs.
So he did end up having five points in five games.
So he did his best, but a little bit of
lost season and missing data from Andrew Basha this season.
I have him at a six point three to five
in my official player card thirty five percent chance of
being a six. I think we need to see a
little bit more. He had a strong draft season last season,
but we just don't really know what we got from
him this season in terms of his bash Basha shoots
a lot bash He should be a bash king, but
I'm not sure that he is. He doesn't really hit
or block enough to be a bash king as we
would like him to. But the shots are good enough
and the hits and blocks are average, so he'll be
about a seventyeighth percentile for bash. Could be a little
bit nicer, but we'll take that. Jesse. Let's hear a
little bit more about Basha from Rya Fritzil Scout once again.
Speaker 2: Josh reporting now on raw. Basha an efficient and smooth
stride for his skating, which helps him accelerate up to
his top speed in a very short amount of time.
This helps him to transition the puck very well and
often helps create odd man rushes in his favor when
he gets to the top speed. He's one of the
fastest playmakers on the ice surface passing and handling playmaker
plain and simple passes extremely well and finds teammates with
ease in ther offensive zone. He also handles the puck
very well, easily kniving through defenders in transition gaping pressure
in the offensive zone. He either doesn't have a very
heavy shot or doesn't have the confidence in his shot
enough to use it. He's a pass first player that
has the ability to get to scoring areas and finished,
but only at the most opportune times. Basha is a
low volume shooter and will often pass up opportunities to
shoot the puck himself, even when shooting lane is open.
He can be a little too cute, looking for the
perfect passing play instead of just firing the puck. Josh
says Basha has great vision, always has his head up
surveying the entire ice surface, looking for opportunities to feed
his teammates the puck, and often successfully doing so. He
has a knack for finding holes in the defensive structure,
especially in transition, resulting in strong controlled zone entries. Extremely
poised with the puck, always seems to be where he
needs to be without the puck for for checking. Basha
at his best, his skating makes him a strong fore checker,
putting pressure on the defense to make quick plays when
he comes bearing down on them. He also has a
quick stick and strip the defense said the puck with
ease if they don't move it efficiently. Defense solid defensive
positioning with a good steck that can strip the puck
and break up plays well he's not overly physical. Bosh
is strong enough to win puck battles for his best asset,
then it's passing and puck handling. A shifty player with
fantastic vision that should translate to the NHL level down
the road. The biggest concern his reluctance to shoot. Having
the threat of shot can help open the defense up
and make playmakers a little less predictable. Bosh's playmaking ability
is strong, but developing a shot threat could make him
from a fringe NHL player or middle six winger to
a top six or top line contributor. However, Josh is
not so convinced that he has a booming shot in
his bag top tier outcome. Most likely, he's a middle
six winner with a sixty point ceiling and the justification
the skating, the vision, the IQ to keep him up
at the NHL level. The only reason his evaluation isn't
higher is because of his reluctance to shoot or his
lack of a heavy shot. In the stylistic comparable here,
William Ecklund, the NHL rank king, has his pull up
Andrew Bosha versus Gray Grayson Sachin, and in this case
what has happened. Bosha in the lead in the victory
sixty three to thirty seven percent over Sachin. Victor to
the envelope police, who do you think won it?
Speaker 1: I'm definitely gonna go with Basha here. Sachin has been
really interesting as he was on that really good Seattle
Thunderbirds team and then he got traded to the ol
King and he was pretty decent this past season. He
did end up spiking his scoring with the oil Kings
of Edmonton after a somewhat low key season last year.
But I still think there's a little bit more scoring
from Basha. So I am going to side with the
people here and stick with Basha. I think that his
upside is a little bit more. I think Sachin has
re entered the conversation with being a top prospect. He
had been down a little bit, but I think that
that's where he belongs in this conversation again. But I'm
definitely taken Basha. He looking at the hockey prospecting between
these two, Basha went from forty two to twenty eight
percent chance of being a star. A lot of that
was just not playing this year, but Sachan trended down
from twenty two to nine to two percent chance of
being a star, So it seems like very unlikely that
is going to happen for Sachin. Looking at some other
comps for Basha, one of his Calgary Flame teammates, Matt Coronado,
is a pretty reasonable comp right now. They look almost
exactly the same in the model in terms of their equivalency,
and I think car Coronado certainly was able to translate
his skills to the NHL and get that nice big contract,
so I think we can see that from Basha. I
think he has enough scoring and enough all around play
to get there. Looking at Basha's top down hockey model
car twenty percent chance of being a star, sixty one
percent chance of being an NHL aer, so all in all,
not too pessimistic for usually a pretty conservative model. And
Basha is someone and she might be able to get
at a discount because he missed so much time this season,
so people might want to go do that, Jesse.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, And who is to keep your eye on
prospect for.
Speaker 1: The keep your iron. We're gonna go with Henry Muse,
who was a twenty twenty four third round pick seventy
fourth overall. Early in the season people were talking about
mws Is potentially going higher, but he ended up not
having the best draft season. He was just under point
per game for the Ottawa sixty sevens. This year, he
was able to increase that scoring to fifty points in
thirty eight games, which was obviously over a point per game.
He also split his time between the sixty sevens and Sudbury,
and so he was a little bit better with the
sixty Sevens than when he went to the Sudbury overall,
though a little bit more bestimistic in terms of the
scoring output. And when you look at the Mitch Brown
tracking data, the offense looks good, ninety six percent hel
transition looks good. The defense has a whole lot of
red bars in there, and so that's a little bit
concerning the entry prevention, the defensive plays, defensive zone retrievals,
proactive contact boards, battle one all that looks really negative
for Henry mus So that makes you a little bit worried.
But there is some significant offense there, and I know
that's all we tend to care about in fantasy, but
if you can't defend, that's going to be a problem.
So I definitely have some concerns there. Looking at my
FHL player card, I have him at a six point
thirty four and part of that is those concerns in
the percent that he might not be able to hang
full time as a defender in the NHL. His shots
look great, though his hits and are a little bit
below average, his blocks are a little bit above average.
All in all, his bash should be pretty good. Let's
hear what else is pretty good about Henry mus From
my FRHL scout Jesse.
Speaker 2: Josh says of Henry Muse, He's a solid, smooth skater
with an efficient stride, jumps up in the rush, effectively
activates well in the offensive zone in opportune moments, but
is able to effectively get back in position and break
up plays in transition. His top speed is not extremely high,
but his motor doesn't seem like it's ever at one
hundred percent either passing or handling. A very skilled passer
with the ability to stick handle through defenders when he
wants to. Shooting effective accurate shot. While not the heaviest
shot in the world, He's skillfully finds shooting lanes in
traffic from the point and has the ability to bury
one timers when he gets the opportunity for IQ very
calm and poise with the puck, sees teammates and has
the ability to find them in all situations. Very skilled
that jumping up in the rush and activating in the
offensive zone. But mus is a bit conservative in when
he makes those decisions. He could probably take advantage of
his ability more for defense good defensive positioning from use,
but Josh says he tends to have a lack of
fire in the defensive zone. He lacks aggression, often looks
disinterested in battling in front of the net with opposing
forwards or physically engaging in puck battles along the boards.
For someone who's already likely disadvantaged due to his lack
of size in these situations, a lack of effort really
puts them behind the eight ball. The biggest asset then
was passing an adept to offensive defenseman and facilitator. Fantastic
vision finds open teammates with these The biggest concern lack
of aggression or interest on defense. The absolute ceiling for
Josh for Muse is a top four defenseman with the
ability to quarterback a powerplay unit. That's because He's got
the offensive skill to excel at the big league level
if he learns to better utilize it and take advantage
of situations where he jumps up in the rush or activates.
He would also need to develop more of a fire
in the defensive zone. His floor is likely a fringe
Hller or an Ahl offensive dynamo, and his stylistic comparable
for Mews is Tyson Barry. Overall, Josh says mus is
a little frustrating to watch. It's obvious the skill is there,
but at times he seems too conservative. He was a
lot more aggressive on offense with the Ottawa sixty sevens,
but became more passive after he was traded to a
more loaded Sudbury Wolves team. He's not strong enough in
the defensive zone to make it big if he stays
this passive, he needs to learn to better utilize his
offensive skill. NHL ranking Mason Black put up the poll
Henry Muse versus Adam eurocheck. That's ere a check the
younger to you and me the Saint Louis Blues prospect,
and Muse has defeated you a check in a split
decision fifty five to forty five. Victor do you agree, Well.
Speaker 1: I don't know about this. I do think that Mews
has a little bit more scoring upside as far as
we've seen right now, I think you're a check. Unfortunately
for the Branford Bulldogs his first OHL season, we didn't
get to see a whole lot, just twenty seven games,
limited by injury. So I'm not sure we really know,
but that surely was a disappointing showing that we saw
from Icheck. We're hoping to see a lot more. I think,
based on the data we have, we probably need to
lead muse. But I think that I would still hold
a candle for Adam Yrcheck. I think he can he
can still get there. Remember he is still really young.
He's still eighteen all of this season until June twenty eight,
so he still has a lot of room to develop
in a lot of times. So I'm not losing faith.
But I think if I had to choose right now,
I definitely would take news is a little bit more offensive,
but I do still have questions about that defense. Looking
at some of the commps from u's Sean Barns is
a reasonable one that is in the Colorado organization, So
I guess we don't really know still on that. Some
other ones are Seth Jones and Charlie McAvoy. I think
that those guys are way better defenders than uses, but
maybe a similar amount offense, which means which is to say,
it's there. It's not great, it doesn't command a power play,
but he certainly can run it, and so it'll depend
on the rest of his game and how that rounds out.
Looking at the j freshcard, fourteen percent chance of being
a star from US eighty four percent chance of being
an NHL R So all of that looks pretty decent.
But yeah, that's all for the Flames dig. If you're
a patron, you can listen to my top ten prospect
recap on Patreon and if you're interested in doing some
scouting with us, shoot me a DM on Twitter, Discord,
or email us.
Speaker 3: Be right back to close out the show before I leave.
Speaker 2: Remember, you can start all your new leagues on fantracks
dot com. It is a place to play your fantasy
sports many many different sports, but especially hockey. You can
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that's a big big feature. You could do a startup draft,
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They've got the most options. Fan tracks HQ also lots
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Fahl tim A has been burning the midnight oil setting
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the Tidy Legs, now would be a great time to
reach out because we're filling those suckers up right now.
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Until next time, people than it. Yeah, that Fantasy Hockey Life.
Speaker 5: M