Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks.
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Speaker 2: Fantasy Hockey lie back once again. Victor Nuno myself. We're
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Speaker 2: Right after this, we're going to release The Crack.
Speaker 1: We'd like to welcome back this year.
Speaker 2: I guess we've had on the past to talk to
Seattle Kracking. It is RJ of Emerald City Hockey. RJ.
Speaker 3: How you doing doing great? Thanks for having me on.
I always look forward to this every year.
Speaker 2: Oh man, we really appreciate having you. Seattle is getting
things cooking as far as having a media equosphere out there,
and you're a big part of that. But it's still
getting established. So we got to talk about the Cracking
and you talk about it a lot. It was. It
was a rough year, there's no way around it. I'll
try not to depress you too much, but this is
that you're living this all the time. They came into
the season I thought, with hopes of improvement after year
three was a big fall off from that year two
where they knocked off the Avalanche and the playoffs and
all the great things were happening. They declined by five
standing points. They declined by two spots in the Pacific
Division standings. They scored thirty one more goals than the
prior year, but unfortunately allowed thirty more goals to score
in them, and at the end of the season Dan
Bosma paid the price at the end of his first
season as coach. Now, Jason Bottrel rejoins the Chat as
the GM former GM in Buffalo, And like I was
saying to you before we got on, it seemed to
me like the Kraken were just setting things up the
way that I would dream of an organization getting set
up at the beginning. You embrace analytics, you build really
smart from a fresh start. You put on a top
five broadcast team in the NHL. You gotta lead jerseys
and color schemes. I'm sorry, that matters to me. We
got a lot of players that we'll get into individually,
and obviously the goalies will be some of them. But
from thirty thousand feet what happened this year, RJ, and
how is it going to be fixed?
Speaker 3: As you mentioned, there was a lot of success off
the ice so far for the Kraken, but on the
ice yet it was a disappointment of a year no
matter how you look at it. Where going into last
season you make a couple big additions in Chandler Stevenson
and Brandon Montor and it felt like the put up
or shut up year for the Krack and they needed
to turn it around after disappointing year three, and as
you said, it didn't work out. And I like that
you pointed out the goals for and goals against because
I do think that highlights a big issue for the
team where really, for the first time since year two,
they actually could score enough.
Speaker 1: They were putting the puck.
Speaker 3: In the net without a ton of problems, but focus,
especially defensively, was a major issue for the team. This
is among the worst, probably the worst defensive hockey I've
seen from the Kraken, and that might even go back
to year one where everything was just rough on their
first season, and I think that is what did Dan
Biles my in the fact that there couldn't be a
dustments made to solve the defensive issues. I think part
of it was leaning a bit too heavily on the
defenseman for offense where they had to do too much
Vince done reference, trying to do too much in the
postseason player interviews. But really, at the end of the day,
this roster also just was not talented enough. And I
think it leaves so little margin for error that if
you do have those off nights. One of the big
stats people bring up is they were zero to twelve
on the second half of back to backs and the
team's still trying to figure out what went wrong there.
But if there's any margin for error there, if you
falter at all, the roster is just not good enough
to make up for it.
Speaker 4: Indeed, and we're going to talk about these individual players now,
and we're going to start with Jared McCann. Jared McCann.
He has been a pretty consistent producer for the most part,
but since his twenty twenty two to twenty three season,
McCann has trended down in point pays from seventy three
to sixty four to sixty one, all while his time
on ice has risen. He is getting a bit older.
He's thirty one, now and or sorry, he's twenty eight
now almost twenty nine. He'll be thirty one at the
end of his deal, which he's in year three of
year five. A lot of the underlying still look good.
He's generating a lot of offense sixty nine percentile for offense. Defensively,
he's pretty average, doesn't give up too much in that
sweet spot there. So I think the question Rja here
is was that seventy seventy three point pace. Was that
an outlier or is he can he get back to that?
Or is he just really more of a sixty point
pace guy that we should expect we should expect that
much from.
Speaker 3: I think it depends on the quality of teammates around him,
but I know he's never had a ton of talents
around him with the Kraken. But I think the biggest
area to look at this past season is the power
play production and how much that went down. When you
go four months between power play goals as a teams
should be leading goal scorer, that tells you a lot.
And I think he wasn't utilized properly on the power play.
Maybe that's a lack of versatility on his part, but
I think it's also a lack of creativity from the
power play coaching from Bob Woods and Jess Campbell. We
know Jess Campbell Wi'll be back with some form with
the organization, but I would imagine they probably bring in
a power play specialist assistant coach. So from that perspective
on the power play production, I like Jared McCann to
bounce back next season, but I do think unless the
Kraken get a real playmaker, a difference maker to play
with him, this level of production is probably what he's
going to be at. I'd expect it to bounce back
a little bit from a shooting perspective shooting percentage standpoint,
just because he was snake bitten for a lot of
the year, but sixty to sixty five point range probably
still realistic.
Speaker 2: Good old jere McCann the leading scorer for the Crack
and I believe in every year of the team. Mystery
at this point.
Speaker 3: Yes, And one more thing to mention on McCann, Sorry
that I forgot he did mention at the end of
the season that he was going to have a surgery
because he'd been playing through an injury for I think
most if not all, of the season, So that is
something to note as well. That probably had something to
do with the lack of goal production. I think he
made up for it by trying to be a little
bit more of a playmaker this year, but he was
dealing with something all year.
Speaker 2: Chandler Stevenson. We talked about Stevenson on a recent episode.
I noted in that he was a close second on
the team in most forward minutes played, so he was
a workhorse out there. I'm not sure if he's going
to be able to live up to an eight year
contract that is going to last into his late thirties,
but eight times six point twenty five doesn't look too
bad right now. So far, so good. He was eighth
in the league in face off wins, and the following
stat amazed me. He scored fifty one points in seventy
eight games without taking even one shot a game. He
had seventy two shots in seventy eight games. That's amazing.
We'll be talking about some of the young centermen still
filling moving into the top tier of this team, but
what do you make of Stevenson's impact and could you
see him getting back at least to the mid sixties
type point scoring that he used to get in Vegas.
Speaker 3: You talk about the shots on goal, only seventy two
on the season. Man, he is not a volume shooter,
but when he does shoot, it seems to go in.
It felt pretty lucky to me this season. I were
a lot of plays where the goalie really should have
stopped the shot. On his thirteen goals, maybe half of them,
I would prit in that category. But he's consistently done
that over the course of his career, shooting at a
pretty high percentage, so maybe that itself is sustainable. What
I worry about for Stevenson from a fantasy perspective because
by the way, I think he's a much better fantasy
player than he's a real life player. Defensive metrics don't
impact a guy a ton in fantasy, I feel like,
but I worry that his role could be eaten into
a little bit. Matty Benier is already the number one
center for the crack and for the second half of
the season. But Shane Wright, that's the key player to
look at. And I know we're going to talk about
him later, but Shane was in a bottom six role
all season and he only really ever played top six
minutes for a few games.
Speaker 1: While Chandler Stevenson was out.
Speaker 3: But I have to imagine that's going to change next
season because look, he's Shane, right, He's a top four pick.
You want to get that player into a top six
role in the future if you're going to be successful,
and the person who's minutes that's going to eat away
at it, it has to be Chandler Stevenson, and so
i'd be wary of that. I don't know how much
of it happens right away. They've been really slow on
bringing Shane right along. But when he does take that
next step, it's coming at Stevenson's roles expense.
Speaker 2: Our first points. Pick him here, I'll give you two
established veterans on this team to see which one you
think is gonna be in for the better year next year.
You got Jaden Schwartz, who had a nice little kind
of I wouldn't say a career renaissance, but he had
some hot periods last year twenty six goals, twenty three
assists for eighty one in eighty one games, so forty
nine points. And then Jordan Everley had another of his
solid years but only played half the season. Nine goals
seventeen assists for forty three in forty three games and
again twenty six points Schwartz And everly, what's your expectation
of next year? Which one you'd rather see for at
least a fantasy perspective or observations you have on the players.
Speaker 1: Jaden Schwartz. I love what he did this past season.
Speaker 3: Staying healthy was a big key, and that's where I
might pick Everley over Schwartz next year, just on the
likelihood of staying healthy.
Speaker 1: But Schwartz was able to stay healthy.
Speaker 3: He's one of the few cracking players that actually goes
to the net and goes to those scoring areas and
debt and the goal production. This year he had great
chemistry with Matty Bevenier's and Coppocco and then Jordan Eberley. Yeah,
he misses half the year with a really weird injury,
like a pelvic injury that it really unseen before in
the NHL or in pro sports actually, but he managed
to recover from that get back to his game a
lot faster than people thought. And he just feels like
one of those ageless guys to me, who the way
that he plays, the heads up playmaker style, just finding
guys with passes feels like it's going to age pretty well,
even though he's on the older side. So it's a
tough pick him here. If they both stay healthy, I'll
say Jaden Schwartz, but I don't know. I just he
has that injury history and is he going to stay
fully healthy for two years in a row playing the
style of game he plays, going to the net getting
beat up.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: He's someone that I might pinpoint for some injury regression there. Unfortunately,
I'd love him to stay healthy, love what he does.
But that's how I see it.
Speaker 4: That points pick him was so much fun. Let's do
another one. So I have Capokaco and Shane Wright, both
recently mentioned by you, so a little bit different here
in terms of their role. CaCO had fifteen thirty seven
average time on ice with a minute and a half
on the power play, and Wright had fourteen oh four
time on ice with almost two minutes on the power play.
Both had forty four points and just under eighty two
games for a forty six point pace, so on the
surface they can look similar. Obviously, CaCO been around a
little bit longer right, still developing, earning him and maybe
has more to give. I think I would lean that
way in terms of if I had to pick for
next year, what do you think inn RJ Wright or Cocko.
Speaker 3: I would go Shane right, and it's not really close
for me. I do have some concerns about a bit
of a sophomore slump, just given that he's going to
be moved into.
Speaker 1: A top six role at some point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, hasn't had much practice with that, but there is
so much meat on the bone here as far as
a role, as far as ice tim if you look,
he's averaging about fourteen minutes of ice time all of
this season, and if you take the time from just
after he was a healthy scratch in November, and that's
really when his season turned around.
Speaker 1: This past year.
Speaker 3: I believe he's top ten or top fifteen and points
per sixty among NHL players anybody, and he's in company
like a Nathan McKinnon.
Speaker 1: Braden point.
Speaker 3: He was scoring at an insane rate based on the
minutes that he was playing. He had an incredible stretch
and if he gets more opportunity, you would think that
role would increase, the scoring would increase. And also after
the end of the year too, he mentioned he needs
to be a little bit more selfish. It's rare to
hear that from a young hockey player, but he said
he's been told his shooting percentage, which I believe was
almost twenty one percent this past year, that was too high.
He's got to shoot more. Get that shooting percentage down,
which sounds a little weird. But he's committed to being
a bit more of a volume shooter, and I think
we're going to see the volume in shots there, which
is good for fantasy, but also that's going to translate
into more scoring. Sorry, I didn't talk much about Coppo Coco.
I do love the chemistry with Matti Banier's. They were
the kind of the crack. It's proper first line. He's
gonna get plenty of opportunity in ice time as well,
and we'll see how that chemistry goes forward from one
season the next, especially with a new head coach. That's
what worries me a little bit too, is I thought
he was a great fit in Dan Bilesmith's system and
a really breath of fresh air as far as what
they needed soar as a forward with size, But with
a new coach, I don't know it could work out
just as well. But I until I know who the
coach is. It's hard for me to tell.
Speaker 2: We made it all the way to this point without
talking about Matti Beniers directly. I believe it was last
year you told me in I apologies, I don't want
to miss misrepresent but that Beniirs is probably not going
to take that leap that I've hoped for in scoring.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, I don't want to No,
I think you're right your mouth there, but I'd say
you were pretty accurate actually in terms of the production
is he continued at that roughly half point per game
pace despite leading the forwards on this team in minute
so he's definitely getting the time out there his career.
What your best season remains is that great second year
of Seattle that was effectively he had ten games in
their first year, and then that was really the sophomore
season I think it was called eligible, the one where
they upset the Avalanche in the playoffs. He continues to
be blowwater on face offs now he doesn't take very
many penalties, so that's a positive for the team. What
did you see a Beniir's progress this year and where
is the upside headed.
Speaker 1: I'm encouraged by his progress as a player.
Speaker 3: I think he's anti Chandler Stevenson, where he's not gonna
do much for you in fantasy, but as a real
life player, he's already one of the best defensive centers
in the NHL, and you can see that with his
work in the D zone. But like I said, it
doesn't do much for you in fantasy. Here, I think
points wise, you're probably looking at fifty point upside. Realistically,
I think it could be a little higher than it
was this year with a full season with Coppocco. Coco
just unlocked something in Matti Benier's game, but I would
not rely on Matty Benier's for offensive upside. Fantasy wise.
He's gonna be in that top line shut down other teams.
Top line rolls, it kind of roll, but I don't
know how much he really does for you in fantasy.
Speaker 4: We're gonna do yet another points Pickham And if you're
wondering why we're doing so many pick thems, it's that
these guys are similar. There's a lot of guys that
are similar in terms of point pace, and so we
want to figure out if we can just have some
discrepancy between the two. So this one is Andre Berukowsky
and Elliott tolvan In. So Burukowski thirty five points in
eighty one games, thirty eight point pace, had fourteen and
a half minutes time on ice with a minute and
a half on the power play. Tolvanin had thirty five
points also in eighty one games, also also similar point pace,
thirteen eighteen or thirteen nineteen time on ice, forty eight
seconds power play. So definitely a little bit lower role
for Tolvanen. Or if I were betting, it would be
on Burakovski. What do you think, RJ?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that bet would be pretty well placed.
I would go Andre Berukowski, and especially with how he
finished the season, he had incredible right and I think
played his way out of a buyout, because if you
had asked me a month or two ago, I would
tell you, Yeah, berkhops, he's not gonna be on this
team next year. He's gonna be bought out. But I
think he's played his way out of it. Yeah, I'm
trying to figure out the Yeah, last fourteen games the
season he had thirteen points. He really figured things out.
He's when he's on his game, he's a zone entry machine.
He's one of the few guys who can get clean
zone entries for the Kraken, and so I think they're
gonna want.
Speaker 1: To see if he can get back to his former self.
Speaker 3: And Ellie Tolvenan I had a great season twenty three goals.
I believe that's a career high for him, But I
just I don't know how sustainable that shooting percentage is.
I think it's a little bit high. I would expect
that to regress a little bit next year. I love
how well rounded he is. He's a perfect middle six
kind of guy that can be thrown into whatever role.
But that doesn't necessarily mean a ton of scoring where
he's gonna help you though as the hits like.
Speaker 1: He is a hitting machine.
Speaker 3: I think led the team again this year and among
the top in the league, and so he is going
to someone who's gonna lay the body. I just don't
think that twenty three goals is really sustainable.
Speaker 4: One of the young guys here, Yanni Newman, I was
really excited to see him get a little bit of
a role. He's someone that I've been tracking and had
some faith in making it because it didn't always look
that way. But he had a little bit of a
simple size at the end twelve games to end the
season with six points forty one point pace if you
extrapolate that out. Small sample size, so hard to know
if he's really a half point per game player. But
had a really strong HL season for a Coachella Valley
and when he did play, he had a decent amount
of power play time. It looks like they were giving
him an actual good look in a scoring role, which
was nice to see. This is his first year of
EGE entry level, He's got plenty of time to figure
this out. You look at some of whose underlying analytics
in those twelve games, it wasn't great. Some of the
course against all that was subpar. But that's what you
can expect from a young player. So what do you
think we're going to see from Newman next year? Do
you think he'll be full time with the big club
or maybe split time and then what he see us
his upside.
Speaker 3: Think less he falters in training camp, he's going to
be full time on this roster. I think the Cracker
could really use somebody like him. And the power play
is the key part because already this season he added
a key element to the crack and power play that
they were missing. I think right now, Yonnie Newman has
the best one timer in the organization and it's not
particularly close, and so they were just feeding that one timer,
especially early with him on the power play, and it
was super effective. He has got a hell of a shot,
a top level NHL shot already. The skating needs some work,
the hockey sense still needs a little calibrating to the
NHL level. There's still a lot to work out with him,
especially defensively, but that shot is legit, and I think
the crack and are going to want to find.
Speaker 1: Ways to use it.
Speaker 3: Because for a team that has struggled with goal scoring
in the past, it was a little better this season.
They don't have too many guys with a shot like
that who can be that dynamic scoring threat. So I
think he's still going to be eased in a little bit.
Don't expect top six minutes off the bat. He's still
going to be sheltered, I think quite a bit. But
they're gonna find ways to use him, especially on the
power play, and so as a depth pickup, I think
he's a guy to go get if you're in a
deeper league and I'm glad you brought him up because
if you didn't, I was going to. I think that's
my depth sleeper guy. As far as the cracking forwards
next season, let's move over to.
Speaker 2: The blue line. Vince Dunn missed nineteen games due to
an upper body injury near the beginning of the season,
but after returning he continued his twenty two plus average
time on ies two shots a block. He was a
big positive to the five on five offense, but not
as much of a strength for the team on defense
according to some of the advanced metrics. What do you
think of Vince Dunn's year? And you talked about the
defense getting a lot of burden this year, what do
you expect from him in the future.
Speaker 3: I think Vince Dunn wore it the most this season
as far as the burden placed on the defense, and
he talked about it a little bit after the season.
Just trying to do too much. I think you see
that in the production, but that in the defensive numbers
as well. There were so many times where Vince Done
this season was just trying to do it all himself
because things weren't going well for the forwards, because someone
needed to do something, and often that would mean a
dangerous pass up the middle of the ice trying to
find somebody streaking to the zone. It would mean a
turnover in the area where he's trying to weave around
a couple guys. I think that kind of got frustrating
for him. But ultimately, with Vince Dunn, you know what
you're getting. It's a forward who can help move the
puck up the ice, somebody who is very good offensively.
I thought he was good on the power play, especially
later on the season, but he is one of the Actually,
there were three players at the end of the year
that said they need to be more selfish next season.
It's Vince Dun, Jared McCann and Shane Wright, and I think,
especially in the offensive zone, Vince Dunn felt he needed
to be more selfish, shoot the puck a little bit more,
and so I think that's something he's gonna look to
do next season, just because it went so well for
him this year when he did shoot the pucks. So
I'd say expect more of the same from Vince Dunn.
But keep in mind that a rising tide lifts all ships,
and so I think if this cracking team gets better
if they make some key additions at forward this offseason,
expect vince Dun's numbers to be better because he'll be
playing with better players. But he's going to get the
most out of forwards that he plays with, and just
he's going to be as good as the players around
him and helped elevate them and himself.
Speaker 2: The other big defenseman was last season's big free agent signing,
Brandon Montour. He stayed healthy all year. He chipped in
a fair bit of production with half a point three shots,
a hit, and a black per game. Advanced stats were
not quite as kind to him as the power play
was pretty rough scoring wise when he was out there,
although five on five it seems that he might have
pushed them a little more positive. What do you think
of Montour's first year out there for the Kraken.
Speaker 3: I thought he was one of the krakens better players.
You see the eighteen goals that stand out a career
high for him. He was just great putting the puck
in the net. A lot of those against the Montreal Canadians.
I think he had seven of those against in the
two games against Montreal. He just ate against them, but
still overall good from a production standpoint, I think, like
Vince Done, he was a victim of the defense having
to do too much, trying to do too much, and
so the defensive numbers aren't going to be great. But
he's a workhorse out there. I think he averaged like
twenty three minutes a game, and especially when Vince Dunn
was out with an injury at the start of the season,
Montor just picked up that slack no problem. And so
he's gonna be a workhorse again next season. It's like
Done in Montor are going to drive that blue line.
They're both gonna play big minutes. They're gonna produce. Montor
loves to shoot the puck. I had Done talked about
maybe want to shoot a little bit more. I don't
know that Montor could have shot the puck more. He
loved just throwing the puck on net. So he's gonna
get you those shots on goal as well. But yeah,
you know what you're getting with him.
Speaker 4: Last guy we're gonna talk about for the defense, Ryker
Evans been of a step forward in his first full
NHL season. He went from thirty six games played to
seventy three games played, and he ended up having a
twenty seven point pace, five goals, nineteen a sists, increases
ice time from nineteen eleven to nineteen twenty nine just
forty four seconds on average. On the power play wasn't
really a huge role for him, but nice, nice big
step four were there. There was definitely a lot of
injuries done missing he was able to fill in there.
Some of his periferles aren't too bad. He ends up
he's right around four block shots and hits per game
if you add all those together, So that's a pretty
decent perferle coverage. He's done with his entry level and
RFA this summer. That's I'm sure going to be a
big topic of discussion, and I'd love to hear your
thoughts on what you think we can expect there bridge
versus long term. For me, I'd probably want to sign
him fairly long term. In terms of his metrics, his
expected goals against was pretty awesome. He seems to be
pretty good defensively, not as much offensive creation as maybe
you would think or hope for. His expected goals for
was actually really awful this season. So I'm wondering what
you saw with your eyes there in terms of that.
So what do you think we can expect RJ from
Evans this summer, and especially with the contract and the
upcoming point pace for the following season.
Speaker 3: I think it'll be really interesting to see whether he
gets a Bridge dealer a long term. I know the
organization is high on him and they like him. I
imagined they would try and sign him long term, but
I have a couple concerns on that, just because, first off,
at the end of the season, he was not himself.
Like the last ten fifteen games or so, he was
pretty bad and just not in the right place defensively,
he was even healthy scratched for a little bit of that.
Speaker 1: But I know he's got better in him.
Speaker 3: It's just one of those stretches for a young player
where he didn't look very good. I think that might
bring the contracted value down a little bit, but we'll
see kind of what direction they go. If I'm Evans,
I'm thinking, man, maybe I do want to go bridge
deal and bet on myself a little bit here. After
a bad end of the season but overall solid year.
He filled in really well in the Vince Dunn spot.
When Dunn was out with an injury at the start
of the season. He just played with Adam Larson, and
the two of them were just like Done and Larson
more or less, So I think he has that potential
to fill in that role. I think he's still blocked
from an offensive standpoint by Vince Dunn and Brandon Montor, and.
Speaker 1: You saw that at the end of the season.
Speaker 3: One of the things the team was trying to make
work was an Evan Montor de pair, which is something
we might see more next season if the team moves
Jamie Alexiak, which I think they could. Is Evans Montor's
at second depair, which would be a bigger role for him.
But the problem is it does mean he is he
has to be the defensive guy on that depair, and
I think that's something that he had a little trouble
adjusting to because you can't be the puck move the
offensive guy when Brandon Montour is your de partner. You
have to let him do his thing and go all
over the ice. So I think that's an adjustment he
might have to make if the team wants to make
that work. The other concern I have with him is
Dan Bilsma's gone, and Bosma, of course coached him. Of
course coached him in Coachella Valley for a couple of years.
He has that familiarity with the player he loves, Riker Evans,
and it's still we're still waiting to see who the
next coach is and if they're going to have that
same kind of trust and belief in Evans.
Speaker 1: I still believe in him long term.
Speaker 3: I still believe in him next season, especially if they
put him more solidly into that top four role, which
I think they will, but a lot of question marks
surrounding him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a really interesting offseason for him and we'll look
to see what happens with all of that. Let's shift
over to the goalies. Going into this year, the question
was whether Joey the Cord would pick up where he
left off last season, take the pole position and that
and turns out that's what happened. He definitely grabbed hold
of that and he was essentially the start of playing
fifty seven games to Grubauer's twenty six, which was really good.
As a team, the Cracking ranked twenty fourth in the
NHL unexpected goals against p sixty they ended up twenty
fifth and actual goals for sixty when you look at
the two together, he had goals save above expected for
Decord was twenty. He had twenty point two six, twelfth
in the league, which really nice at even strength. His
delta fenwick was positive and twenty seven wins and twenty
seven losses overall, really good. Goal save above expected. All
of that and he was the Kraken MVP, so he's
gonna need He signed a contract attension this past season,
So all that looks really positive for the Cord And
you look over at Grubauer and it was a difficult season.
There was some injuries, negative goal save above expected, never
to twelve point sixty six, one of the worst in
the league. Actually, two guys really trending in the opposite
directions here. So what do you think we can expect
from their goalies last season? More the same, more of
a role for Decord, let's for Grubauer. What are we thinking.
Speaker 3: I'll start with Joey Decord, who was just fantastic this
past season. And he was a workhorse too, don't I
think no goalie played more than him over the last
three months of the season. And I think he's a
real candidate if he stays healthy to lead the NHL
in games played next year. They trust him him with
his work habits, he can handle that heavy load.
Speaker 4: I hope.
Speaker 3: I'm still worried about them burning him out, but we'll see.
But he was excellent, and I think if he was
behind even just a somewhat competent defense this past season,
we'd be talking about him in terms of the Vesna conversation.
Speaker 1: He was that good.
Speaker 3: It's just he was hung out to dry so much
by his defense, and so I think if they can
just sort that out defensively somewhat, those numbers that we
see for him are just going to absolutely jump because
he was excellent. Look, I don't like to forecast goalten.
I don't like to predict goaltending because it's just so
hard to predict. But if there's anybody that I'm going
to bet on, it's Joey Decord. I see it just
day and day out, the work habits and everything like.
He does everything he possibly can. So I like him
for next season. Could even be a good bye load,
just given how awful the defense in front of him
this year was.
Speaker 1: And it can't get worse.
Speaker 3: It can't get any worse next year, so I imagine
that's going to improve for him if he keeps this
level of Play, Philip Grubauer, I don't expect to be
on the team next year. I think he's going to
get bought out. I just don't think the crack can
have any choice at this point. He did get a
little better as the season went on, but at the
end of your exit interviews, he essentially said that it
wasn't a confidence thing for him. It was just that
he didn't have enough games to get into a rhythm
and that was the issue. But you know what, that's
the job as a backup. You are going to go
a couple ten fifteen games between start sometimes and he's
compared it to just going back till being in preseason
where you're not ready for things and it's all scrambly
and all that stuff. Essentially said that he can't do
his job as a backup, and so I just don't
think the team has any other option really but to
buy him out. I think it's gonna be Joey Dacord
playing the Lions share games next year for the Kraken,
and they're gonna have to bring in somebody else as
a backup, and so we'll see what they do in
the off season. But Decord's the man I don't expect
Rubauer to be kracking next year.
Speaker 2: Gotta be tough. The guy wins the Stanley Cup. He's
a proud man, but it's not been great going for
Grooby since that time.
Speaker 4: R J.
Speaker 2: You've given us some great insight on these Seattle Kraken
and we shall follow their future with great interest, and
follow your future. Where can people find everything you got
going out there in the Emerald City?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we have our podcast, the Deep Dive Podcast
that's failable anywhere you get your podcasts and all the
podcast platforms and on YouTube, on social media, on Twitter
and Instagram, we are Emerald City Hky. We also have
a discord server that we like post the links to
on all our socials and everything, and it includes a
little fantasy hockey section where we talk fantasy hockey and
we have a couple ech fantasy hockey leagues just among
our commune because we've got a great community of fans there.
And then finally on patreon dot com slash Emerald City Hockey,
we got a bunch of bonus content.
Speaker 1: We do a.
Speaker 3: Weekly podcast about league wide topics and everything, the Red
Glare Podcast. Then we got some bonus stuff for cracking
fans as well. Dylan talks about the prospects. We do
a prospect Chat once every month, and then tonight I'm
doing my armchair GM stream where I'm doing a deep
dive on Jason Bottrell and his tenure in Buffalo and
what we can gather from that.
Speaker 1: That's where you can find us.
Speaker 2: Awesome, Thanks so much for coming on today, RJ, and
good luck and cover in the crack and in the future.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: N that's good fire pastop o, my goodness.
Speaker 4: Long with a quick grab.
Speaker 2: Now it's your wingling goalie talk with Kat Silverman Cats Instincts.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to Cats Instincts with Kat Silverman Ingold Mag.
We're talking Seattle cracking goalies and we're going to start
with Nicholas Coco, which might be a surprise to some
and certainly not the order we had last year. But
the twenty one year old six four hundred ninety pounds
was drafted back in twenty twenty two by the Kraken
at fifty eighth overall. This past season, he came over
to North America after season with THELIGA and THELIGA last
year and some international play, and he was pretty great
in the for the Coachella Valley Firebirds and the HL
still going and a nine to thirteen save percentage, twenty wins,
ten losses overall pretty good. His one NHL game did
not go well, let in four goals, and that didn't
go really well, but that I've been to some other
NHL goalies for the Kraken Right now, his hockey prospecting
is trending up and up. He's at twenty seven percent
chance of being a starter, which doesn't have the best comparables.
But Johan Hedberg was a replacement level, low level starter.
Maybe that could be his upside. So Kat, what do
your instincts tell us about Nicholas Coco lot.
Speaker 5: Of fun to watch? I think the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
I hope that none none of the San Diego goals
fans on my daughter's hockey team hear me say this,
But I think the Firebirds are a lot of fun
to watch. I think they play a really structured game.
They do a good job when they're pressured of really
turning the play around and adding a little bit of
extra pressure on the defense for their opposition, which is
not something that I can always say about the goals
And I thought that he was a lot of fun
to watch. He did a good job under pressure, because
the Firebirds do play a really fast paced game where
things just go back and forth a lot. And he
did a good job of staying engaged in the play
without panicking too much. Did a good job of holding
his positioning but looking like he was engaged in what
was going on. Looked like he was tracking pretty well.
His NHL game was not great. I watched just enough
of it to say that's a game cool. He probably
should not have had that start, I think, but that's okay.
I'm glad that they they gave him a shot. He
got his experience, he got his learning lesson, and he
went back to playing at the AHL level, playing with
a really fun team that seems to be really cohesive
and is giving him a lot of really quality reps.
I think Seattle could use him soon, but they are
even though they don't have the same volume of quality
prospects that we see from a team like Anaheim in
terms of goaltending, they do have a lot of fun
prospects that aren't Once again, I like to joke about
teams that have two or three minor league signings of
guys who played five years of college hockey and then
ended up floating in the ECCHL and that's their second
or third best prospect. It's kind of refreshing seeing a
team like Seattle that has really good quality young prospects
in their system that they seem to be working hard
to develop correctly.
Speaker 4: Indeed, that is a good thing to do. Let's talk
about one of those other guys, Simeon Viazavoy. So he
was a twenty twenty one sixth round pick by the
Crack and he's six three hundred and eighty one pounds
twenty two years old now. He was primarily in the
KHL this season. It was his first full season really.
He's had a couple of cups of coffee in the
KHL previously. It went really well for Hilly Whiteel one
point one point eight to zero JA nine thirty eight
say percentage during the regular season and some pretty similar
strong numbers in the playoffs. He's playing for salavat the
UFA there and overall his trending really far up. His
this draft plus four season has some up to sixty
five percent chance of being a starter. He's got some
really lofty comps, some of the like marks from forstburg
Lundquists or even in here. But I think someone who
maybe he's a little bit more realistic is Jamie Storrer,
who is more of like an average starter for the Kings.
So Kat, what are instincts tell us about Viaz a Boy,
assuming that he eventually might come over to the NHL,
which we're not sure.
Speaker 5: I think that would be just incredible for Seattle if
he did come over, because he was so much fun
to watch. I was trying to make sure that I
split my time and didn't spend too much time focused
on any one goaltender when I was going through all
of the clips, and I was on instead going through
a lot of their different types of saves, and Jaz
a Boy is so much fun to watch makes me
a little nervous at times because he does really like
to play an active game. It almost like a Marc
andre Fleury type for Jonathan Quick, someone who really likes
to just keep himself moving, almost get himself engaged in
challenging the play, not just the shop but the play itself.
And I was never super high on seeing goaltenders who
played like that because it's so hard to conquer greatly
commodify what a player like that is doing right versus wrong.
You just have to say, yeah, they have that hockey sense,
and unfortunately, I think that for a lot of our
prospects now they've swung in the opposite direction where you
can pinpoint exactly what they're doing right and exactly what
they're doing wrong in every game, and players have started
to pick it apart. So it was nice seeing a
goaltender who does a good job of staying on his
skates when he needs to. He doesn't seem like he
over commits too often, did a pretty good job controlling
the direction of his rebounds, did a good job of
holding onto pucks when he needed to. There were a
few goaltenders that I watched while I was looking through
boutites for Anaheim as one of them who it seemed
like they struggled with following where their rebound went. I
think that Viyazavoi does a really good job of remaining
engaged with positioning with his own rebounds. Obviously, this is
only playing in the KHL and over in Russia, so
I would love to see how that translates to a
slightly more claustrophobic and tight knit North American hockey style
of play, because I do think that a lot of
those really grand gesture sweeping goaltenders that you see over
in Europe do need to adapt that play a little
bit and strain it in almost when they come over
to North America. So if he did, I'd love to
see how he did that. But Seattle can avoid, or
they can afford rather to give him a little bit
of time if they did need to bring him over
and give him some time to adjust. They have a
really good prospect system. I've raved about how the Firebirds
treat their goaltenders, so I'd love to see that's the
best case scenario for them if he wants to come over,
I think he would probably of their goaltenders in their system,
I think he has the most upside. I just don't
think he has the clearest cut guarantee of wanting to
become an NHL goaltender, So that is the only thing
that sort of prevents him from being their clear number one.
For me.
Speaker 4: Indeed, great stuff. Let's talk about the last one. Kim
Saarinen eighteen years old. Really young. He won't be nineteen
until July twenty second, so really young for this draft
class six, four hundred and eighty seven pounds. He was
picked just past draft in round three. He's in the
HPK system there in Finland and he played his first
full season in the Liga last season. He was mainly
in the under twenty or sorry he was yeah, No,
he was mainly in the under twenty last season, and
he had really good numbers thirty games played, two point
four nine GA nine to eleven save percentage. He's trending
up and up in terms of his percentage, up to
forty three percent chance of being an NHL R. I
know it's never fair to compare to other really strong
players of the same country, but Mika Kippersov didn't have
his strong as numbers at this stage of his which
is a lofty goal but interesting. Just to note, Kat,
what do you think about Kim Sarnan.
Speaker 5: I think he looks really good. I think his game
looks controlled and poised, and he does a good job
of not looking intimidated during plays. Doesn't allow his positioning
to get bossed around by his opponents, which when you're
one of the youngest players in your age group, when
you're one of the youngest players in your league, especially
for a goaltender that can be really easy to see,
and he does a good job of controlling that. He
doesn't look like he's nervous about what's going on. He
looks like he knows where he is and what he's doing,
and he knows his worth when he's out there. I
do think he's really young, so I don't want to
say clearly he is the next Tookarasque, but I think
Seattle can afford to give him some time to let
him cook. It's nice to see a team that isn't
in imminent need of a goaltender drafting one of these
younger guys who almost didn't make the cutoff for his
for his draft getting a chance to just watch him
develop over the next couple of years here. So I
don't want to push him ahead of anyone that they
have in their system currently vias a Voice Arren er Coco. Rather,
I think he's too young to say he's clearly better
than them. But they have a lot to look forward
to over the next couple of years, and I think
that's a good thing for Seattle fans.
Speaker 4: Indeed, they could use some good news. And thanks so much,
Kat for giving us your instincts on the Seattle cracking goalies.
Speaker 2: Of course, will be back right after this.
Speaker 4: Dig.
Speaker 2: The Dynasty days got a couple of prods year to
talk about head. They can probably be adding another one
by Midsummer because they will likely have a very high pick.
But last year they picked up the player that we
consider are no brainer victor. Who is it?
Speaker 4: This would be Berkeley kad In twenty twenty four, eighth
overall pick, currently one hundred and seventy four pounds. Fun story,
I did share an elevator with him at the draft,
and it's funny when you're standing next to these guys.
Sometimes you're like, oh, they're not that big, and then
you see them on skates and then all your gear
and you're like, okay, different. But Berkeley is a little
bit undersized. That's always been a bit of the knock
against him. But he's got so much offensive skill and talent.
You look at what he did at the World Junior
is not super exciting. One assist in five games. That
whole team was all underwhelming. But then you'd shift over
to the WHL and he was incredible for Spokane, still
going in the playoffs. During this regular season, he had
one hundred and nine points in fifty seven games in
the playoffs so far, thirty three points and thirteen games
close to that three points per game, which is just ridiculous.
And he's wearing the sea over there in Spokane. It
looks like the Spokane Chiefs are headed towards a WHL
championship face off with Medicine Hat. We'll see how that unravels. Certainly,
having a long and successful playoff run is going to
be good for him in the long run, so weishome
luck with that. Looking at his Mitch Brown tracking data,
he's looking pretty fantastic. His expected goals as expected, his
primary assists are both really strong. One of the things
he excels at is slot passes to the sixty slot
passes per sixty, which is one of the best metrics
you can have in terms of creating dangerous chances. So
that's literally the thing that he's best at, so that's
pretty cool. His transition game is also really good. Relative
entries and exits are both well above average for the WHL. Defensively,
he's more average, and that's a bit of the knock
on it. Maybe he's not the most defensive guy, which
is true, but he's able to drive so much offense
that it might not matter so much. Some of the
other things, like space creation in terms of boards played
to the middle advantage is creative, those are also pretty good.
And interestingly though some of his off puck assists and
proactive contact board battles those are a little bit lower.
So in terms of offensive involvement and expected goal build up,
that's all excellent for Catten. Defensively, he earns a sixty
third percentile, ninety five for offense and eighty four for transition,
so all of that looks really good. You look at
the FHL player card and I have him at an
eight point five one eight point one five fifteen percent
of being an eight and eight is really high. So
in terms of getting someone, having someone get an eight
is really difficult, so not a super high percent, but
you could read that as a high percentage of getting
at least a seven. And his goals, assists, points, shots,
all of those are ten percent one hundred percent tile
in HL. The bash ends up being ninety percentile, mainly
because he doesn't really hit. There's a decent number of blocks,
but if you're rostering Berkeley Catten, it's mainly for the
shots and points. It's not so much for the rest
of the peripheral contribution, and he does do some other
good things like play driving. But let's learn a little
bit more about Berkeley Catton from FHL Scouts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, our FAHL scout is Grant. Welcome back, Grant. He's
one of our experienced scouts here. Skating, great skater, shifty
with or without the puck, creates separation in both scenarios.
Very good balance and agility from Berkeley Catton first two
to three slides are electric, very good at stick handling
in tight and excellent at taking passes with his stick
or feet. He sees the ice very well and protects
the puck. Not uncommon for Berkeley to have the puck
on his stick on the offensive zone for ten seconds
or more. As he circles the zone. He has great
passing vision, finds the open teammates. He can over handle
the puck at the WHL level, but we'll learn as
he progresses. He makes some spectacular passes in the offensive zone. Shooting,
it's an average snapshot. He might beat goalies from with
form from within the hash marks, but we'll struggle outside there.
The IQ very high leads him to excellent anticipation. The
puck seems to find him. He knows how to get
his soft spots to get open. The fore checking is.
Skating lets him get him quickly on the four checks,
but he's not going to win too many board battles.
He can be physical when engaged, but that's not his game.
He's a perimeter player in the offensive zone defense. If
he's playing center, he can get caught deep in the
offensive zone and will be last man back, so we'll
need to circle to need to clean that up. He's
fairly good in the playoff circle, but it will be
his defense that decides if he's a winger or a center.
In the NHL, it's center. He can be drawn above
the hash marks to open up the slot, so we'll
need to improve that as well. Grant says then that
skating and passing are his two best assets. Even when
he's gliding, he can go around defenders in the WAHL,
but he consistently it's the first man in the WHL.
This is going to be harder in the AHL and NHL,
but Caton can make plays at high speed. The biggest
concern he can get caught stick handling with his head down,
he's going to need to eliminate that. In the AHL
and NHL, no concerns other than size and strength at
this point. So the top tier outcome top line center,
power play one twenty five to thirty goals, forty five
to five assists, throw in three hundred or four hundred
face off wins. He's that good and the justification he's
too good to not be the player in any roster.
He's on to be the guy carrying the puck in
the offensive zone more than anyone else. The median outcome
second line forward who has the defensive game drilled into
him by AHL or NHL coaches, which take away some
of his free wheeling habits. That's because he could struggle
to open the ice at the next level as much
as he is enjoyed in the WHL, which is expected.
But to what degree is the question? Grand stylistic parable
here Clayton Keller and his final thoughts, Canon is going
to be a fantasy must add in most pools in
the next two to three years. He might not score
that many goals, but Grant thinks he will be a
point per game player for quite a few years. The
NHL ranking sets Berkeley Catton up against Ryan Leonard, the
Washington Capital prospect who has just debuted for the team,
and Ryan Leonard comes out ahead on this one fifty
five to forty five percent, Victor. Is that how you
would compare these two?
Speaker 4: Oh, that's so hard. He got two guys that I
like so much, and they're different, right. Leonard has a
lot more of the bash and a lot more of
the physicality play driving. He just looks like a pro
and plays like one, already getting a taste of the NHL,
as you mentioned. But Cadden has that huge points upside.
Do you think I like that comp of Clayton Keller.
I think he has huge points upside and he drives
a lot of offense. Is he going to be the
most defensively responsible?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 4: I don't think he's winning any Stelki trophies. But with
the right situation, he can drive so much offense it
might not matter. And or you give him a winger
that has some good defensively responsible traits and so that
can really help round him out. It would be really
hard for me to pick between these two, and I
don't like having to do that. I think that if
I had to, I would probably pick Leonard, because I
think that the points up side is probably not too
much higher with Cadden, and then in the right league
that rewards like Tidy, that rewards play driving Fenwick and
take away some of the other peripheral contribution. I do
think Leonard will probably be more valuable, and so I
would probably do that, but it's really close. I wouldn't
be upset having Cadden, but they are two different types
of players, and so it would depend on if you
have other guys like that on your team. Because Leonard
has such a high floor peripheral floor, that it's going
to be a little bit easier to whether the lack
of goal scoring or production until he rounds out that
part of his game, whereas Cadden, that's you need him
to be scoring to be contributing because the peripherals other
than the shots aren't.
Speaker 1: Really going to be there.
Speaker 4: So I will begrudgingly take Leonard Jesse, but I do
love the points upside for Cadden. Looking at the hockey
prospecting between the two, it's actually pretty similar. Cadden is
fifty five percent chance of being a star, Leonard forty
six percent. Both are really likely to be NHL as
and Leonard already is. If you look at some of
the other comps for Cadden, there's a bunch of really
good ones, including Tyler Second, Mike Roberto. Sam reyn Hart
is one. He looks a lot alike in the model,
and so I think that's a good comparison. He also
was a WHL guy, was sam Ryn Hart. And you
look at the equivalency for Cadden and he was pretty
similar in his draft season, a little bit lower in
the draft minus one season, but in his draft plus
was one season, Cadden was way higher than was sam
Reyan Hart, and then after that he was in the NHL.
Basically Ryan Hart was right after that draft plus two seasons.
So we'll see with Kadden. He might need an extra year,
he might need an AHL year in between. But I
think that kind of upside is certainly there. Take that
as you will. Looking at the j Fresh model with
top down hockey, thirty nine percent chance of being a star,
his Berkeley Cadden huge numbers. You don't usually see numbers.
He's high, He's ninth in the data set and eighty
five percent chance of being an NHL or so the
model really likes Burley Catten. I like Burley Kadden. I
think he's going to be a star and you should
want him on your.
Speaker 2: Team, Yes, sir, on to the need to know prospect Victor.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so this is Yannie Newman. It's and y m
An in case you're scoring at home. Certainly going to
be called Nyman quite a lot, I'm sure, but it
is Newman, So pull out your Seinfeld joke. Drafted twenty
twenty two, round two, forty ninth overall. Had six two,
one hundred and two hundred and twelve pounds, A bigger guy.
He played a few games in the NHL this season.
It was fun to see. I believe he scored on
his very first goal, a very first game. He ended
up with six points in twelve games, so not a
bad point per game split there. Most of the time
this season he was in the AHL with Coachella Valley Firebirds,
and he had forty four points in fifty eight games,
so pretty stellar production there in the AHL. Looking at
his FHL player card, I have him as a five
point three five thirty five percent chance of being a
average contributor. A lot of that is just looking at
some of his points upside, he definitely has a lot
a decent amount based on the HL production right now.
Looking at his bash, he shoots a fair amount. He
hits a good and a little bit above average. His
blocks are a little bit lower, so on average his
bash is about seventy percentile. So far on the NHL,
he hasn't been bashing very much at all, so that
might make it a little bit hard for him to hold.
But I think there is an interesting player here, and
let's find out a little bit more about Yanni Newman
from URFHL scout Jesse.
Speaker 2: Yes, this is what Grant has to say about mister Newman.
He is a big guy six four two twenty and
can be a bit lumbersome as a skater.
Speaker 1: I like that word.
Speaker 2: He can get up to a decent speed, but the
first few strides are a struggle, especially at the NHL level,
he will have issues getting separation with or without the puck.
He has very good hands in tight and has a
nice pasted open teammates which he seems to find with
little trouble. He's strong in the puck protects it well shooting.
Newman is a shooter before a passer. This is his forte.
He can be a bit of a one trick pony
as most of his goals come off cross eyed ice
feeds for one timers on the power play a good
but not a great snapshot eight cross ice feeds. It
works at the NHL sometimes IQ. He has a good
vision to find teammates into good shooting lanes, but can
struggle to do this at even strength. He's not afraid
to carry the puck into the middle of the eyes
and can be trusted with the puck in most areas.
For checking, Newman can get in effectively on the ford check,
but is not a physical player by any means for
a guy his size. Grant says he's strong on the puck,
but he won't hit someone to win possession. Defense gets
lost defensively with his positioning at times in his own end,
but is not afraid to block shots if needed. The
best asset for Newman shot and size. That's what's going
to get him to the NHL keep him there, but
he's going to need to produce to stay. His defense
won't make him an NHL regular on its own. Biggest
concern skating and lack of physicality for a big forward,
struggles are to produce any offense that even strength are
an additional concern the top tier outcome bottom six forward
who gets some power play two minutes and perhaps slides
up to powerplay one if he produces goals justification. He's
produced fifty four goals in his past one hundred and
six AHL SAHL game. He played twelve games with the Kraken,
had three goals. He's got a bit of a track
record for putting up goals, and the media outcome would
be top six forward in the AHL or the SAHL.
If he doesn't get the power play time in the NHL,
he might be stuck in AHL or SHL play. He's
not going to be handed NHL playing time. Stylistic comparable,
Igor Sikoloff is a former prospect of the Ottawa Senators,
currently in the AHL with Utah's farm team. He's a
big bodied winner winger who skates similarly to Newman with
similar skills. He had a few productive AHL campaigns with Ottawa,
saw a few extended call ups to the NHL, where
he played thirteen games over a two year period with
just two points. Difference is Newman had six points in
thirteen games with Seattle. Might have made the most of
that opportunity. The last thought Newman is just twenty years old,
thinks he's done more than was expected in his first
pro season in North America. Odds are against him being
a regular in the NHL, but if he produces, he's
gonna stay Yanni Newman in the NHL Rank King the
tidy Champion NHL Rank King's Pole that he put out
on X for US goes up against no. Oastland of
the Buffalo Sabers and Oceland in a big win over
Newman sixty one to thirty nine percent. Victor, Is that
how you compared the two?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know about that. That's interesting that it
was so favorable to Oceland, and when you look at
the NHL the PNHL from Mason's app, it's pretty similar
between the two. They both ended it right around They're
both right around sixty percent right now. When you look
at the hockey prospecting between the two, it is higher
for Oceland. Maybe that's part of it, and I think
that there was a little bit more pedigree slash upside
for Oceland. He had a pretty good season in the AHL,
thirty six points for in forty five games. I don't know,
so I think I would still take Newman. I think
that he is definitely more of a winger, and the
foot speed and all that might be a bit of
an issue for him, but I liked his HL play.
He already got a little bit NHL time. He's not
a center. I think that might work against Oceland here
because he is more of a center play driver down
the middle kind of guy, and so that might push
him down the lineup and make him be more of
a bottom six pivot than in Buffalo. And then Newman
is clearly more of a winger, and his physicality and
his frame might give him some opportunities more easily in
the top six power play. So I think I would
take Newman here. I'm still a little skeptical of Ocelan.
I like him, I like what he's done so far,
but I think he has a harder road to being
a high point producer than Newman, and the peripheral floor
is I think a little bit better with Newman as well,
So taking Newman. Actually looking at the hockey prosper expecting
for Newman, it's not super exciting, but part of that
is because he had really low equivalency in the first
couple seasons and then he's really a LIGA last season,
in the HL this season and even surpassing what Oceland
has done at a couple of those levels. Oslan started
a twenty two percent chance of being a star, nine percent,
then start at three percent, ended at two percent. In
that model, there aren't a whole lot of stars who
look like Newman and the hockey prospecting model, there's really
very few. Most of them are replacement level, where guys
who didn't quite make it. But just for Brat is
one who looks similar. Just for Brad was such an
interesting case. He looked like he was going to be
nobody and then now he's a star producer. It's a
It's very interesting. So maybe Newman could be that different
kind of player, different frame, different speed, all that. But
I think that there's a world where Newman could be
maybe not quite as productive as Bratt, but could have
some significant fantasy value.
Speaker 2: Jesse, love it, Love it, and your third up to
keep your eye on prospect? Who is it?
Speaker 4: One of the better names? I would say, Oscar Fisker Mulguard.
Oscar Fisker Mulgard. You just have to say all three.
You can't say Oscar Mulgard. You got to put that
fisker in there.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I don't know what the fisker means, but it's a
it's an important part of the name. Twenty twenty three
draft pick, round two, fifty second overall, six foot, one
hundred and sixty eight pounds. This past season, he was
on loan to HB seventy one in the SHL for
most of the season, twenty one points in fifty games,
which was pretty decent. Then he came over to Kochella
Valley at the end of the season had seven games
played three points, so overall, not the hugest production, but
certainly certainly decent, especially in SHL, which tends out to
be a super high scoring league. He's also a Dane
who's Danish, and in terms of they don't tend to
get as much of the opportunity with the World Juniors,
but he did help with the qualifying and he did
last year play at the Worldchampionships, and hopefully he'll get
to do that again and that'll be a good experience
for him. Looking at my Fantasy Hockey Life player card,
I have him a thirty four percent chance of being
a six out of ten, so a little bit above average.
And that's pretty good for a second round player. His
assists are really the best part of his game right now,
much more than his goals. And then looking at his bash,
he doesn't really shoot a lot, but his hits are
pretty average and he blocks a lot ninetieth percentile for hits.
I don't know what to make of this, Jesse. He's
about average bash, but most of that is driven by
his blocks, which is strange for a forward. So anyways,
he doesn't look super great in some of these play
driving metrics, but overall he should have an average preferle
floor and if he can turn around some of that scoring,
then maybe he'll be an interesting player. But let's see
what our FHL scout has to say about him, Jess.
Speaker 2: Before we get to that Victor, I've been doing some
research over here. Oscar Fisker means a spear fisherman, so
he is a I'm not sure or he could get
pretty much flagged for spearing the minute he goes out
on the ice. Of that as possible, We'll see how
that plays out for mister Moltgard. But anyway, Grant has
this to say. He's a slightly above average skater with
good agility.
Speaker 4: And tight.
Speaker 2: He's not particularly strong on his skates and will need
to improve in that area. Skating is probably one of
his strengths. Decent passer who finds open teammates in the
offensive zone. His puck handling has moments of being impressive,
with longer moments of mediocrity. Unfortunately shooting a decent snapshot
in backhand, but more of a passer than a shooter,
and his shot is not a strength, most likely his IQ.
He can spend a whole ship chasing the puck in
his own zone. He rarely breaks up the cycle or
anticipates a pass to intercept in his spaces. Below average
in the defensive zone, but vision's very good to find
open teammates in the offensive. He struggles to find soft
spots to get open. Likes to have the puck on
his stick, so he has a low panicked threshold for checking.
He's fairly ineffective as a four checker, loses more board
battles than he wins. He has a pretty slight bill,
needs to add some strength at the AHL level. He
has a fairly good defensive positioning, but can lose his
assignment at times. He has a bad habit of holding
his stick in one hand when defending in his own zone,
which might have worked when he was younger, but is
not going to work in a pro league like the SHL,
AHL or NHL. It's going to need to be harder
on the pock. He can play center or wing, but
his defense will dictate where he plays at that AHL
or NHL level.
Speaker 1: So the best asset.
Speaker 2: Skating, he can turn it up a notch, beat the
odd defender to the outside. The biggest concern lack of offense.
I just don't see where the offense is going to
come from, even strength in the AHL or NHL levels,
because he doesn't drive play the top tier outcome then
bottom six center or wing ten to fifteen goals, fifteen
to twenty as says, some face off wins, cup hits,
or blocks justification. He could afford to gain about fifteen
to twenty five pounds. I wish somebody would say that
to me and get stronger. But if he doesn't have
a detrimental effect on it, if it doesn't have a
detriment mental effect on his skating, Grant says, the defensive
acumen could work at the NHL level if Mulgard makes
some improvements the media out come would be an HL
forward who plays in the top six. There get some
cups of coffee in the NHL in the next two
or three years. That's if he can't establish himself defensively
in DHL or NHL. Stylistic comparable Nil's Aman with a
little more offense. And finally, Grant thought Mulgard would be
pretty polished defensive forward from what he'd read before scouting.
But he chases the puck a lot rarely in Grant's viewings,
made a defensive play that stopped the other team in
its tracks. At this point, it doesn't see him playing
more than a handful of NHL games. And the comparison
from Mason Black the NHL ranking Oscar Fisker Mulgard versus
David Edstrom of the Nashville Predators, and Edstrom comes out
way ahead. Yeah, he went from the Golden Knights to
the Preps, right, Yeah, fifty eight point fifty eight percent
to forty two percent pretty solidly for Edstrom. Victor, is
that how you rank the Spearfisher against David Edstrom?
Speaker 4: It's interesting, Yeah, I think I might take Edstrom. Edstrom
was part of the deal that sent Hurdle to Vegas
and then also part of the deal that brought a
scar off to San Jose. So he's been around and
been traded for some pretty high profile names. I don't
know that means that he's super amazing or anything, but
he has some things that are appealing. He's got he's
got the big frame, he's got some pro experience. He's
been playing in the SHL the past couple of seasons.
One thing is interesting about this comparison, Jesse. I don't
know if this has ever happened, but these two guys,
David Stroum Moscow, Fisco Molgord have the exact same birth
date February eighteenth, two thousand and five. Just an interesting note.
I don't think that means anything, but it's interesting. When
in Denmark one in Sweden. So the choice between these two,
I hear what Tony's what Grant is saying, and I
totally understand that. Yeah, it's probably not going to be
a whole lot of offense from either of these guys.
Quite frankly, I think that neither is going to be
super offensive. I do think that Mulgard has the intelligence
and ability to make it, but he might just be
a bottom six kind of guy and not have too
much offense. Edstrom has the frame and has the physicality,
but he also I'm not sure has a bunch of
offense to give. He might just be your very typical
bottom six matchup type of center, a depth forward. Unlikely
that either has a ton of offense, but I'll give
it to Edgstrom here by a hair. They also had
similar production in the SHL this past season, so we'll
see about how that translates. He should Edstrom should be
in the HL this next seas in for the Milwaukee Admirals,
and so we'll see what he can do there. Looking
at hockey prospecting, between these two both are just one
percent chance of being a star, so pretty low. And
then Oscar Fisco Molgar doesn't have a whole lot of
good comps in this system, as you might imagine, but
Charlie Coyle is one, and so Coyle that would probably
be a pretty good outcome for the Kraken. He does.
He is an NHLer and has some relevance at times,
but not a whole lot of offense usually, So that's
the end of the Kraken dig. If you are a patroon,
you can listen to my top ten prospect recap per
team on Patreon, which we'll do after the draft. And
if you're interested in doing some scouting or helping out
with the show, shoot me a DM on Twitter, Discord,
or email us.
Speaker 2: All right, and let's come back. You just committed.
Speaker 1: By tricks.
Speaker 2: You can play all your fantasy sports there, and I
recommend you do so. All the new sports are there.
You can start your hockey leagues now, you can start
your basketball, you can start your football. I don't know
if you can start your college football and college basketball,
but it won't be long. Fan Trek's HQ's got lots
of fantasy content as well, and articles on all the
different fantasy sports FHL. We have a whole role to
think and announce because there's a lot of work that's
put into these team previews and all the stuff we do.
The Tidy leagues were in a short hibernation, but we're
already looking forward to the twenty five twenty six year craft.
Ryan Simoon and Tim you've heard them on the show.
They are the commissioner team. Tony is our lead scout,
doing great work getting people together and also scattered himself
to keep the dynasty Diggs, Rolling, Mike, Steven and Matt
are doing great work prepping our shows and helping get
some of the stuff ready for for Victor and Ida
to polish and put our touches on and then be
able to prepare these shows for you. Brandon helps with
the website, prospect ranks and visualizations. If you've got skills
you'd like to lend the show. Victor would love to
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We're brought to you by Dauber Hockey and Dauber Prospects.
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you can find our episodes posted up on Daber Hockey
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the other three, and then crossover episodes because I talk
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Social media. Follow Victor and myself on x Victor Nuno
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