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Ramblings: Chara, Subban & Yandle Retire; MacKinnon's New Contract; Drafts Targets Past Pick #100 (Sept 21) – dobberhockey.com

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Within the span of an hour yesterday we had retirement announcements from three excellent defencemen over the last two decades, with Zdeno Chara, P.K. Subban, and Keith Yandle all hanging up their skates.

Chara leaves as the all-time games played leader among defencemen, a cup winner in 2011, and a virtual lock for the Hall of Fame. Yandle leaves as the NHL’s Iron-man record holder, and having led an extremely successful career as a points-producer from the blueline. Meanwhile, P.K. Subban retires at only 33, with back injuries having taken away the explosiveness that defined his game in the early years, culminating in a Norris Trophy.

In all, a big piece of recent hockey history was finalized yesterday, and as both fans and fantasy GMs we can all appreciate how much these three brought to the game through their excellent careers.

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Nathan MacKinnon signed an extension that makes him the highest paid player (based on cap hit) in the league next season. His new cap hit will be $12.6 million, and that’s still going to be a very fair number for him in fantasy leagues. My projections had an extension coming in for him above $13 million per year, and with the cap expected to rise quickly, this deal may not even age poorly as it hits the last few years. In the meantime, Colorado’s depth may take a bit of a hit in the short term, but then again they have never really overpaid their depth players, and they have some young players ready to step into larger roles.

Accepting a cap hit just $100,000 more than the current highest paid player in Connor McDavid is also the kind of one-upmanship that we get with uber competitive players like MacKinnon.

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The Marco Scandella injury news (hip surgery – out at least six months) means that there is a little more of an opportunity for Scott Perunovich to keep the third-pairing spot on the left side, however Nikko Mikkola has the bigger contract and will give him a good push. Perunovich still could be a good buy-low early in the year if he starts slow.

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Last week I did a preliminary run-through of all of the top-100 players, and how I’m feeling about drafting them to begin sorting out my rankings for the year. A t the end I promised to cover some of my key guys that I will be looking at outside of the top-100, so let’s jump right into that. 

Again, I’m going to run by Fantrax ADP to organize players off the start, as it’s a much better base than Yahoo. All of my leagues include hits, shots, and power play points to some variation of value, among a few other stats. I’ll take those base stats into consideration along with a main focus on points.

101-200 range

Vincent Trocheck (ADP – 127): The new Rangers centre has an easy route to being a top-50 player in multi-category leagues, as he should now be on the top power play, and playing alongside Artemi Panarin at all situations should buoy his point totals higher than they ever were in Carolina.

Boone Jenner (153): Another multi-cat stud, but also…

Michael Bunting (156): Bunting was a top-100 player last year, and as he is now no longer a “rookie” could even see his ice time jump up over 16 minutes per game, which could bring both his point totals, and excellent peripherals, even higher.

Jakob Chychrun (170): He may be drafted higher than this in a lot of leagues, and the fact he has both injury concerns and a short track record of scoring success may scare some of you off, but at this point in the draft there will be no defenceman on the board with higher immediate upside than Chychrun, guaranteed. You win your leagues with picks like this, and if they flame out, well you haven’t lost all that much anyways.

Tanner Jeannot/Seth Jarvis/Pavel Francouz: I’ve spoken enough about these three over the last few months. They will be on quite a few of my teams this year, and will all be taken by me before their ADPs in the 170s.

Matthew Beniers (179): Abbreviated success in the NHL, first line centre, well insulated with quality two-way wingers. Another one of those upside picks that could serve you very well.

Ryan O’Reilly (182): On the flip side of the Beniers option, we have the safe 60- to 70-point centre with two shots per game (though limited in the other peripherals columns). Either way you decide to go, the bottom line is you can easily fill up on centres closer to pick 200, so unless you have a top-three pick, think long and hard about whether you need that centre you’re considering in the top-100 this year.

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Jakub Voracek (210): Can I interest you in a 65pt winger who is about to put up 25 power play points, and you can have him after pick 200 because no one likes the Blue Jackets?

David Krejci (223): Here’s another one of those later centres that you can have. He’s going to be starting the year between Taylor Hall and David Pastrnak. Those two dragged Erik Haula to being a point-per-game player as their centre, so Krejci should have no problem keeping up despite the age or the year away from the NHL.

Nino Niederreiter (234): Maybe there’s a little bit of the Preds homer in me shining through here, but I’m looking for him to play over 16 minutes per game for the first time since his 53-point campaign back in 2018-19 (split between MIN/CAR). He’s also likely playing alongside pass-first centre in Ryan Johansen, and will be locked into the top-six all year. Oh and he also racked up 119 hits last year and is joining the team who hit the most overall last season.

I know Cliffy just wrote about Nino yesterday and how he is in a battle with Eeli Tolvanen for the LW2 spot, but I think it’s more likely that we see Tolvanen battling with fellow youngster Philip Tomasino for the RW2 spot.

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Ross Colton (348): Colton may only have 109 NHL games under his belt, but depending on how playoff games factor into the breakout threshold, he may be less than half-a-season away from his jump in production. Last year he paced for 40 points while playing less than 13 minutes per game, and the opportunity is there this season for extra ice time with the top-six group due to injuries and offseason departures. A jump to 55 points would be in line with his breakout, but that may end up being more of a second-half-pace than a full-season pace. Racking up 200 shots and 200 hits wouldn’t be out of the question either with the added ice time.

Alexander Holtz (390): There is a top-nine spot for Holtz on the wing this year, and within the last year he has looked more and more ready to stick in the NHL. With a few excellent passers on the team, Holtz and his ability to sling the puck into the net from almost anywhere should have an easier time adapting to being a full-time scorer at the NHL level.

Dylan Cozens (426): This feels like one of those excellent post-hype breakouts that we all feel we should have seen coming. The former 7th overall selection could be a fixture in the top-six this year that has some more support on the back-end, and a bit more scoring ability on the wings as well. Especially with Peyton Krebs and Jack Quinn both expected to make an impact, the doors are open for the youth in Buffalo to really take over the offensive side of the puck for the team.

Well, there you have it. The rest of the key guys that are likely going to be in my watchlist/queue to realistically be drafted onto my fantasy teams.

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If instead of draft prepping your head is still up in the offseason clouds thinking about your rebuild and what it may look like in three years, then maybe this article will be more to your liking:

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In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments. See you next Wednesday!

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list – CBC.ca

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.” 

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

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That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout. 

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign. 

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League. 

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday. 

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford. 

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said. 

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday. 

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13. 

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres – NHL.com

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“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.

“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”

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JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.

“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”

Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.

Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.

“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”

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Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

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