Fantasy Hockey Life Ep. 415 Dennis Berstein on the LA Kings

Dennis Bernstein is here to report on the LA Kings. Jesse and Victor interview Dennis about returning pros Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield, Andrei Kuzmenko, Warren Foegele, Trevor Moore, Alex Laferriere, Phillip Danault, Drew Doughty, Brandt Clarke, Darcy Kuemper, and Anton Forsberg. In Cat's Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down Carter George and Hampton Slukynsky.  In the Dynasty Dig, Victor breaks down Liam Greentree, Koehn Ziemmer, and Ryan Conmy  with the help of scouting reports from FHL Scouts Patrick, Grant, and Tony and X polls from NHL Rank King Mason Black. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email [e-mail] and ask to join our free discord. Join our Patreon at Patreon.com/fantasyhockeylife for rankings, bonus podcasts, in-depth prospect reports with video, show notes and more. Check out our YouTube for more prospect videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQPYVXp3foOcvh7344fjKmA. Listen and subscribe wherever podcasts are posted - and give us 5 stars! We want to be your best place to talk about the game of dynasty fantasy hockey

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks. Here's
shit Quess, your source of information and analysis to help
you win your fantasy hockey league.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Block off hot A, step hit on, Stay Lock.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Here's your hosts, Jesse Severe and Victor Nuno.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Fantasy Hockey Live back once again. Jesse Severe, Fan Tracks,
Victor Nunio, the Fantasy Hockey Doctor.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
How you doing, Victor, I'm doing awesome, Jesse. Yeah, definitely
enjoying our scroll through here the team previews, and this
team's a little close to home, LA, so not too
far in California, so hopefully enjoying some of the warm
weather out here, or at least thinking about it as
you go through your team previous Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I feel like, yeah, the whole hockey spirit has gone silent,
so we're just standing alone in here. I don't know
if you guys know, the entire fantasy hockey sphere is
just one big empty room. And we got an echo
right now. I shouldn't say that they're probably there are
people still recording Victor. Actually, the media, the main hockey
media is gone. We grinders. We never stopped Victor right

(01:12):
never you nowhere else. You can never stop, never stop
never stopping over in the Fantasy Hockey Life discord, where
you can get in for free. Just email this Fantasy
Hockey Life at gmail dot com. Talk back and forth
with people who are into fantasy hockey and love to
chat about it. And while you're there, there are some
other things that Victor would like to tempt you with.

(01:33):
Tell them about what they could win.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Victor lots of great stuff over at the Patreon jessepatreon
dot COM's last Fantasy Hockey Life. I just finished a
major update to all the puckstud ratings. I went through
and added the numerical manual adjustment to every player, every
fantasy relevant player on every team. Frankly, even a lot
of guys that are not fantasy relevant. But I wanted

(01:56):
you to know sometimes it's going to know those guys
who you might want who are not really as relevant
as you thought. So all of that is updated team
by team. You can have access to the website. You
can look at the player cards with the block shots,
hits and all the peripherals. You can also if you want,
pay just a ten dollars one time fee to download

(02:17):
the PDF download of this awesome content. Which that's something
that we can work on if you want to check
that out. And then there's other content too. The Tidy
is a great league to play in. That's a patron perk.
There's the average Draft position project if you want to
contribute your fantasy draft to that, and we're collating all
that data. I think we're up to nine leagues already,

(02:40):
so there's already a good amount of information that you
can see by looking at that. And then there's the
one on one help the roster doctor helping you through
your fantasy drafts. There's all kinds of great stuff, so
check it all out over at Fantasy Hockey Life or sorry,
patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Be right back to talk some LA Kings. We welcome
to the show. Back to the show, Dennis Bernstein, ready
to talk to us about some LA Kings. Dennis, how
you doing today?

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'm doing great in the middle ofgitly talking hockey you kidd.
I mean this as always great feating on the podcast.
Two guys, I mean, we did it last year, happy
to do it again this year.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Oh, we love it. We love you are a great
resource on these LA Kings and they're a fascinating team. Boy.
It had to be frustrating. Though I'm not going to
bury the lead, it had to be a frustrated into
the season. Only Connor Hellibuck's Jets were more stingy allowing
goals in the regular season than the LA Kings. Only
the Carolina Hurricanes allowed fewer shots on goald. This was

(03:43):
a good defensive team, and while they're teams five on five,
of course, it was fifth in the league. The power
play was bottom ten, and our overall scoring fell in
the middle of the pack. And we know how it ended.
And as a Cap supporter who watched the NHL's playoff
format put the Caps up against Pens all those years,
I feel that pain. In the offseason, the team did

(04:04):
not mess around. This team is ready to make some moves.
It looks like as they fired the GM, they let
Vladislav Gabrikov and Tanner Juno cash some big old checks
on the East Coast, and they signed a lot of
rather expensive over thirty year old guys to join the
LA Kings, most of whom are probably not going to
be big talks for today because they won't be fantasy relevant,

(04:27):
but they could play a big role on the Kings.
What do you make of this whirlwind year, and especially
since the playoffs, are the Kings better off well positioned
for next year?

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Dennis, I don't know, not sure. There's a lot of
ifs and maybes and bots. They should be one hundred
point team like defenses of I assume Darcy. Maybe he
won't get a VES nomination Kemper, but he should be
pretty good. The systems still there, they still have quality players.
I don't know. And look here's what Ken Holland did.
He said it to me in the press conference when
he was here. He wanted to improve this team on

(04:58):
the margins. He says, I'm not going to uproot a
and five point team. Yeah, there are one hundred and
five point team and they're all for four in the
playoffs against the Edmonton Olers. So he tried. What he
did was and you mentioned the playoffs and what was
the biggest issue I had with Jim Hiller? And if
people saw the press conference after Game four, you probably
would have heard that famous line. If that's my favorite line.

(05:18):
He didn't trust the depth Jesse, simple as that. I
wound up playing nine forwards and four defenseman against the
Edmonton Odlers. I said, okay, we're gonna do rope, but
the Muhammad Ali used to do. Let the Kings punch
themselves out the last five to ten minutes of the game.
They'll be tired and we'll find ways to win. And
that's what happens. So what did Kendem Holland do for
a coach that didn't trust the fourth line? He brought

(05:39):
in Corey Perry and Joel Armia for a coach that
didn't trust the third pair. Now it's Brian Doomlan and
Code CC And I know a lot of Kings fans
are running for the exits because they signed Cody Cecy
to that contract. But to you look at the depth chart,
he's a six best defenseman if your six. If he's
your six bests defenseman, that's fine. I remember this time
last year when they signed Joel Edmonton and everybody rip

(06:01):
Rob Blakeer. That was one of the best signings of
the free agent period. Ken Holland is trying to improve
this team on the margins. You're talking about the offense.
It's a different team. I'm sure we'll get into the players.
When Kuzmenko came in, the power play changed, and not
for nothing. They did have two thirty five goal scorers
on this team, so it's not like their devotive talent here.
I expect more from Buyfield and maybe there's another emersions

(06:22):
from a fairier. So they're a very good team. I
don't think Jesse until we get to game eighty three
where we have it a solve with the specter. Did
these things move? You could certainly see they wanted more
veteran presence and someone the coach can trust latent games
in the playoffs. That's why these moves were made.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
One of those thirty five goal scorers was Adrian Kempy,
and he just continues to amaze me for the jump
he took in scoring from his first four years in
the pros to the second four seventy three points in
eighty one games. Not quite the rate that he had
the year before where he just had an amazing maybe
career season, but still awesome. He's durable, he takes three
shots a game, he throws more than a hit a game,

(07:03):
and he's tops on the team in goals of of replacement.
I have to think he's going to be up for
a big rays next summer. He's only five and a
half mil right now. Good news is he'll turn thirty
next offseason, so maybe he'll be able to get paid
as well. What did you see in kempy last year
and is he at his peak or is there another

(07:23):
gear available to this young man.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, I don't think Adrian's a fifty goal scorer, but
he's sure as hell as a thirty five goal scorer.
Could get back to forty one, and they had a
couple of seasons ago. He's a leader. He is probably
their most complete player right now. I think it's someday
they'll be quitd in buyfield. But he does all the
things that you asked to do, and he has physical
and he has a mean streak about him, but he's
smart with his mean streak. He doesn't think a lot
of foolish penalties. I asked the Edmonton Oils about him

(07:48):
in the playoffs. He's a killer in the playoffs. So
I would think jess I would be shocked that his
point total was believed what it was last year. But
I don't think he's a hundred point player either. I
don't think his offense can carry or a matter of fact,
one hundred point player, but I think he could get
to eighty five. I at least they went forty and
say forty five with a better power play, and that'll
be functioning all the year. With Dowdy back, with expect

(08:10):
more from Clark, and with Kuzmenko there, I think he
could hit about maybe eighty five tops. But no, he's
not going to be a top ten scorer this league.
I just don't think that the offense allows her at
this point.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
And Jacob Patar locked to Adrian Kempy's hip last season,
a reliable veteran LA's second favorite Slovenian athlete these days.
He'll turn thirty eight before the season. I did a
query on stat head through a Hockey Reference He is
forty third in NHL career scoring overall, and he should.
If he repeats what he did last year, he's probably

(08:43):
going to get up to at least thirty second two
seasons would put him on the edge of the top
twenty scorers of all time, depending on how long Paddy
kanean Up, Guinea Malkinn hang on there. So he's in
no doubt Hall of Famer, Stanley Cups everything. Of course,
the other part of that, you get to those numbers
when you're very advanced in your career. He's on an
expiring deal, but no doubt, not just a franchise legend

(09:04):
hanging on, but still a positive force in this lineup,
still a positive contributor, it seems. But I guess the
question is when is father time coming? Are you expecting
continued sixty seven points like you have last year? And
will it be Onji's last for the Kings.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
I bugged him about that last year because I know
since he's been here for about eighteen years, and I
thought he was going to go home after this coming season,
go back to Slovenia. He's a beautiful house on the lake,
the wife, the kids, they don't want to go back
to Slovenia, but Ken Holland's trying to convince him to
sign for another year. I think it'd be situation like
a Joe Thornton or a Pavowski, you go year of
the year. I think it depends on the fate of

(09:43):
the team. If they actually do something in the playoffs.
Let's say they get to a conference final or even
a Cup final, which I don't expect, maybe that stems
the tod front to come back. With respect to his production,
we keep waiting for that word regression, and there's no regression.
He's never been the fastest skating in the league, but
he's certainly one of the top IQ guys in the league.
Without question. Is seventy points again out of the question? No,

(10:04):
absolutely not. He's playing on the top line, who's maker
will be there all year. It should be an improved
power play now with the specta goal and assist distribution.
I think it's probably if you're looking at seventy, you're
probably looking at twenty five and forty five. He's not
going to score thirty goals again, right, He's not gonna
look at the score thirty goals again. You want other
players to score. I think that the high scoring goal
center on this team will be Byfield this year, but

(10:26):
it's not out of the question for him to replicate
sixty seven or seventy points. North of that. I doubt
it because he's probably going to be the two seed
this year, But certainly I don't think it's a situation
where he's going to go to fifty or forty five points.
He's healthy, he wants to continue to play, He's playing
with great linemates, so I think in and around what
he got last year is what you're probably going to
expect for the season as well.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
Sounds good. All right, let's talk about Kevin Fiala next.
So slightly down season for Fiala sixty one point pace
back in twenty for twenty five with a one games
played seventy three point pace previously, and then he had
those two seasons that were above point per game, which
was pretty awesome. His shooting percentage was a bit high
this season. PDO was a little low, and the lines

(11:07):
shuffled around quite a bit. First two quarters catered with
the Nome and More and then La Farrier. In the
second half it was Byfield La Farrier, which you know,
certainly seems like a much better place for him in
terms of producing. The goals and assists and power play
points are all really nice. His bash is just above
four per game black shots and hits, so he's ranked
in that two hundred range in terms of that, and

(11:28):
he's in year four of that seven year deal. So
I guess the question is he cemented with Byfield and
the Farrier on that line too, and will he continue
to be a true top power play and point producer.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, he led the team power play goals with eleven
or forty double digits. Right, So yeah, if they move
him off of Byfield on La Faria, it's a mistake
because if you look at the other it's not because
he won't fit there. The other two top nine lines
work really well. That's the spot. And what you mentioned
with the specta Fiala and his point total. Last year
he had thirty five goals. Where he really dropped off

(12:02):
was an assist and to your point about why he did,
they moved him around a lot. He wasn't didn't have
two linemans, and players talk about out it doesn't really matter.
I got to play my game. It does matter. And
with Buyfield, who you assume going to merge this year
produce more than he did. He was their leading scorer.
I think from twenty five games to go and in
he was their best player, their best scorer. So Byfield

(12:24):
left farrier, I think he's going to get more assists.
He'll still eat on the power play. So I got
to think of the players to make a quantitative jump
here or qualitative jump would be Fiala because of the
assist total, I think Kevin is still the thirty goal scorer.
He's very dangerous, that risk shot his moves around the net,
and Cuzmenko is Fiala alike because he doesn't have the
finish that Kevin does. But I would not be shocked

(12:46):
if Kevin went thirty five and thirty five. I think
there would be a jump of a maybe ten or
fifteen points because I think his spots settled. The power
play should be improved, and because of that, his goal
total won't elevate more than thirty five. But I certainly
think his assists total well nice. I love to hear that.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
And you already mentioned Quinn Byfield, and he's been one
of my favorite players for a long time, so let's
talk about him now. It was definitely a good but
different year for Buyfield twenty twenty three. He was more
of the passenger with copeitar Kempe and then he centered
his own line, usually the second line, sometimes the third line.
It does it doesn't matter how you number them, but
he was driving his own line this season, and the

(13:24):
second half of the season he was with Fiela and
Lafti Aer as I mentioned, and the power play time
when ice went up this season, which was really nice.
He actually went down a little bit, but it was
more than he'd had previously. He had the twenty three goals,
thirty one assists. The block shots and hits are a
little lower than we would have maybe hoped for. We
always liked those peripherals, but he's three point three six

(13:45):
of those and only seven power play points, so we're
hoping to get quite a bit more of that. He
signed that five by six point twenty five before this season,
which is going to look like such a gem for
a few years now because it's going.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
To be a minimum salary deal, like almost picked up with.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
It's gonna be like an entry level contract on most
and you look at his underlyings and they're incredible, like
across the board expected goals and goals against the goals
for of course he all that looks great. I think
the question is, we know sometimes bigger guys take longer,
but it's two hundred and sixty games now for Byfield,
and he seems maybe stuck at fifty five points pace.
I think there's more than that. So the question for you, Dennis,

(14:22):
is he gonna get time on that top power played?
Can he reach those greater heights seventy plus points? What
do you think?

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah? I think so if you look at his playoffs, right,
six games, three goals, assist, twenty two minutes of ice time,
Like they're gonna lean into him, and he has to
become the number one center this year. It can't be
Copeitar anymore. And because of that and late he scored late.
His issue Victor like confidence in his shot, Like he's
got a really good shot. And for the longest time,

(14:50):
why he didn't elevate over fifty five or fifty four points,
He didn't trust it a lot, like he was always deferential.
What you saw in the last quarter of the season,
Victor is an alpha dog, a guy who's willing to
take the shot, willing to make the play. And you
saw some highlight and when he does that, you see
the highlight reel goals. I don't think there's any reason
why this guy can't be a point of going player,
and maybe challenge can't be for the team lead and scoring.

(15:12):
He's that good, he's that hard to defend, he's getting smarter,
he's got dedicated a lot mates who can finish for him. Right,
So there's no reason why this should be the biggest jump.
It has to be the biggest jump, because if there's
any regression from Copaitar victory, then you're gonna have to
have him fill in that point too. It's not going
to be filled to out right. So expect big things
from him this year. I really do. I saw the

(15:34):
maturity of this player. And remember he's coming to the season,
Victor with a chip on his shoulder, because as we
go back to Game four, he doesn't make that clear
but gets the tying goal. And I asked him the
exit meetings about that, like how long you're going to
think about that? And he said all summer. So he's
the man on the mission. He's got all the tools,
he's cutting in just coming into his prime. I expecting
big things. So if you want to play this player,

(15:55):
I'd be all for it because I really think he
can get to a point of game shot.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Every time you say something nice about Quintin byfield, Victor's
smile gets about half an inch wider because he's our
number one by field stand. Over the years, he.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Really proved something Jesse in the last quarter season, he
really did. He's become a leader and he's become an
elite player. So it's going to be exciting season to
see how.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
He elevates outstanding Andre Kuzmenko. You've mentioned him on his
fourth team in just his third NHL campaign, he really
found a role in the top six of the Kings.
You mentioned that he clicked when he got over there,
scored seventeen points in twenty two games before going a
point per game in the playoffs. Locked in with the
affirmation the guitar and kempe is that three kse Do

(16:40):
you have a three K line? It's probably you can't
use they're all ak's okay, one of them needs to
be forty seven. Anyway, he and the Kings were both
very happy with the situation. Kuzmenko signed up for another
year at a relative bargain price. Was this version of

(17:01):
Kuzmenko for real? And is he going to stay in
this top role for the team next year?

Speaker 3 (17:06):
Yeah, there's no other spot to put him yet, so
I got to think so, and it worked, and he
had chemistry and he's going to make a good deal, right,
He's allows to prove it right, And they got him.
His cap pit was over five million yesterad. They got
him for what four or five So look at a
short time frame there seventeen points twenty two games, three goals,
three assists in the playoffs, a point of game player,
like almost a point of game player for the twenty

(17:27):
eight games. Now, do I think he's going to get
back to his rookie year in Vancouver where he scored
thirty nine goals. I don't. He's not a finisher, he's
a facilitator. But do I think he could get to
I don't know, sixty points. I think they'd be thrilled
with that, and I think it would be more twenty
forty than thirty thirty. I don't think even see him
as a thirty. He's going to have to have more
of a shot mentality. See that. And the one thing

(17:48):
about his playoffs early on as the team was they
were great in the first couple of games. As the
games got tougher in the playoffs, not so much. He
was a little bit more invisible. He wasn't it because
he's not a big guy, but he's shifty. He's got
that right handed shots with this power play really needed
with respec to why it was lacking all season. They
really find that right handed presence. The fact they didn't

(18:10):
go after it, they couldn't go after Marner and brock
Besher came back. They Now, this is a guy who
I think can get to sixty points, but that probably
not more than that because his goal scoring isn't what
I think it needs to be to get to elevate
to a point a game player, but it's a smart ad.
He's going to be a motivated player and the chemistry works.
So I don't know where else, Jesse you would put
him in the lineup. His spot is with Copeitar and

(18:33):
Kempe and I think it will be successful because on
what I saw late season and in the playoffs between
those three.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Wow, all right, two of the more We're gonna throw
a couple at a time here at you Warren Fogel,
Trevor Moore, a couple of guys who were middle sixers.
You talked about stacking up at the bottom more in Fogel.
Both had productive, very productive seasons, both on a forty
six point pace. Both of them will throw some hits
and take a few shots to kind of the middle

(18:59):
line type guys. Which one of you think is going
to be more productive in the coming year.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
That was a great question. When I read the rundown
that you sent me, I think it might end in
a tie. That's how close to these guys. I think
what happened with with Trevor who I really love Trevor,
got to know him. He's a really good but really
like the middle six type of player you need to win.
Trevor was hurt. He's banged a little banged up. I
think he played seventy one games last year right and

(19:25):
his shot came back to him. He's got a sneaky
wrist shot that fools a lot of goaltenders. So I'd
give a slight edge to More because I think it's
a little bit more that's a great bad punt. A
little bit more for More. I think with Fogel you're
gonna get twenty goals. They're going to be all five
on five. He's not a power play merchant, but he's
a guy that's a lot of goals for a middle

(19:47):
six guy to score five on five. So I think
they're going to come in around forty five to fifty points.
Flip a coin, I think the production will be almost
the same. I lean a little bit more towards Trevor
Moore because of his shot. I think that also Fogel
again have the same level of production him. Denot and more,
that's a really nice third line for this team.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
And two others. These two are a little bit more different.
All those size wise and production wise, very similar. Philip
de know who've been there a few years, kind of
a shutdown centerman, Alex Laferrier who's really been breaking out,
and now people misspell Alexis Lepregnier. They're thinking of Alex
Laferrier obviously the productive one of the two. So of

(20:27):
those two, who do you like better?

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Lafarier because he's playing upper, he's playing up in the lineup.
Dano is, you're probably gonna get what. Look, I think
the goal total for Denot was way low, and late
in the season he started shooting in the park, so
it got to what eight goals last year I got.
I think he's a fifteen goal scorer, so that would
if you think that, then with thirty goals fifteen thirty
forty five, I think Alex has opportunity here to get

(20:52):
to maybe upper twenties with the spectrum's goal total and
no plan on line where he's going to get assists
with Fiala and buyfield, So he think he's in a
really nice spot. So so you got to hope because
La Farrier is elevated in the lineup, one line above
what Denau is, and I know that the players the
coaches talk about, Oh it's just it's just three lone, No,
it's not. Your second line is to buy field line.
And because of that, I think the point total Lo

(21:14):
Fario would be a little bit higher, probably closer maybe
fifty five or sixty. I think to know, I think
he's stuck in here because he's where he's now. Basically,
for all intents and purposes, they're three set, right, So
I think he's going to be stuck in that forty
five to fifty range, so with ReSpectacle point total. So
like the Ferry for La Farrier over the no next season.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Over on the blue line. The other major link to
the Cup's legacy, the King's Cup Legacy teams Drew Dowdy.
That really long contract that scared some of us for
a long time is down to two years and he
has pretty much held up except that an ankle injury
cost him the majority of last season. It's unclear whether
he was really recovered when he returned at the end

(21:55):
of January, but he still managed seventeen points and thirty
games and skated twenty four eight average time on ied.
Anybody else, that would be absurd ice time twenty four
h eight, But for Dowdy it was the lowest average
ice time since his rookie season. Twenty four h eight
was the bash rates the black Shots hits a little
bit down last year. Is Dowdy further maybe down the

(22:17):
inevitable decline phase that we're afraid Copaitar might hit, or
could he have another vintage year or two at age
thirty five, if he's recovered from last year's damage.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Just look, there's a high amount of hate for this player,
like he's watched out. They should buy him out, they
should trade him. Look, he had a rough playoff. He
was a minus seven of the playoffs. He wasn't one
hundred percent with the specter's ankle, So he's chasing around
Connor and Leon, even though Connor and Leon really didn't
score that much when they beat him, it was his
other players time did more damage. I don't know why
they're off the Dowdy train, because if you go back

(22:48):
to before his injury last preseason, you could the last
two seasons he was a fifty point player. He had
a great season in twenty three twenty four, he had
fifteen goals fifty points. I don't know why if he's
one hundred percent of healthy and maybe you want to
wait on this player until you see what he's doing
in training camp and how much he's playing, because he's
probably gonna need a training camp. Can he make those
moves that he told me last year he was eighty percent.

(23:08):
Can he make the moves that he needs to make
to get to one hundred percent as well as the
eighty If that's the case, then he's still going to
be top unit power play guy. Even though though they
will use five forwards and they used it late in
the season. I don't know why he couldn't get back
maybe not fifty, but could he get the double digit
goals and maybe forty five points? I think so. Right now,
the key would be also be time on nice because
you mentioned the time on nice has dropped three seasons

(23:30):
in a row. Twenty six fourteen, twenty five forty eight,
twenty fourh eight, twenty four oh eight might be the
right price for him to play now because you have
Brand Clark coming and there's an advanced ageustry. He's not
going to play twenty seven minutes a night like he
did in the playoffs, and that was the issue. He
played a lot in the playoffs. Twenty seven minutes. That's
too much for that player. But I think with the

(23:51):
spectro productivity you mentioned seventeen points in thirty games, and
if he gets to one hundred percent health, I think
he can approach what he did in twenty three twenty four.
I don't think theres any reason not to. He's still
a competitive player. You mentioned he played in the Four
Nations as well. I'm not sure why there's so many
people dismiss it or think that Drew seeing better days.
I think he's got at least one more season in
him at that level. I think next season could be it.

Speaker 4 (24:15):
I think it was four or five seasons ago now
that somebody traded me Drew Dowdy because he was done
in a fantast creek, and I've reaped that benefit ever since.
I'm not dropping him until he's officially retired because I
think he'll still be good. Let's talk about the young
gun that you refer to, Brant Clark. He had a
decent rookie year. He had some games before, but he
played nearly a full season seventy eight games. His time

(24:37):
on ice really was all over the place in the
different quarters. Quarter one it was just under nineteen minutes,
and it went down to fifteen thirty nine. Quarter three
was pretty low twelve fifty, and then pumped back up
to just over sixteen minutes and the power play wavered
with that. He did ended up having a pretty decent
number of points. Five goals, twenty eight assists. He did
not shoot a whole lot, just a little under two

(24:59):
per game. He had a decent number of blocks for
his time on ice and nine power play points. So
the bash was three point five to one, ranking him
in the three hundreds. Not ideal there, but still getting
his feet under him. His offensive metrics look really good.
Defensively he looked a little underwater there. He is still
finding his place. So with Dowdy healthy this year, what

(25:20):
do you think Clark's role is going to be? Dennis
and should he have an increased time on ice With
Spence and Gabkov now changing teams, this has to be.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
The year for bran Clock to breakthrough. This is it
and he looked he was the hot leading scorer defensively
for this team last year. That's more statement about how
the lack of offensive journerators from this team, and now
the second and third leading scorers, Gabrikoff and Spence are gone.
Now Dowdy's not going to score seventeen points this year,
so he's going to be more productive. But this has
to be the breaker. And here I mentioned early in

(25:50):
this spot about trust, Jimmiella has to trust blank Clock
more than play him sixteen minutes a night. If Cody
CC is playing more than brand Clark, there's a problem.
This player has to come through. It's time. He has
all the tools. He's an X factor, he's a wild card.
He wasn't player. He wasn't that bad defensively, he was
a plus thirteen. I know there are other guys on

(26:10):
this team, like Spence and Gavikov that were in the twenties,
but this has They have to take the range off
brand Clark now. The time is now. He's played enough games.
He played seventy eight games last year, Victor, he got healthy,
scratched a couple of times like this has to be
the guy who takes the ruins if they're going to
elevate right off of getting limited in the first round.
This has to be a key player has to. And
the one concern I have about him productivity wise is

(26:33):
his goal scoring, Like so far he hasn't proved to
be a great goal scorer. His shooting percentage last year
was three point eight percent. That has to be better.
He's got the tools, maybe doesn't look he does have
a booming slap shot like Judas from the point, but
he's got to get more than five. He's got to
get the double figures. I think the most pressure on
any player because you look at the look there's an

(26:53):
ab here right Buyfield and Clark. If they're gonna get
to the next level, both these players have to elevate,
take the lead, be the best center, be the best
defenseman on the team. No doubt that Beifel can do
that now at this point, I'm not sure about Clark,
like this is a huge year for him. But at
what I do know about this player, and I've asked
him about his confidence a couple of times this year

(27:14):
when he got healthy scratch when things weren't going well.
This player doesn't lack of confidence, like he knows this
is the year and I'm sure we'll will remind him
in training camp that this is the year that really
he needs to get out of that thirty three point
level and get to a fifty or fifty five points.
He has to have that breakout season if they're going
to succeed. Like I mentioned, breakout season. So if you
like that bet, you take that bet. You bet on

(27:34):
Brant Clark. But this is a pivotal season for this
player because he really has to prove that when they
drafted him as high as they did at number eight,
that it was worth that pick.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
Yeah, for sure, I'm looking forward to these steps being
taken forward. Let's move on to the goalies. The Kinks
were ranked number one in the NHL and expected goals
against for sixty and conceded the second ranked actual goals
per game. That's pretty great, so you can tell by
those numbers that they're expected. Their goalies performed pretty well,

(28:03):
a little bit close to as expected. Kemper's the main
guy there, outstanding season, twenty nine goals save above expected.
His delta Fenwick was one point five to nine. His
contract statusy's got one more. He's in your four of
the five point two five, which is pretty reasonable. They're
bringing in Anton full Forstburg, who had an up and
down season for Ottawa. But I imagine it's going to

(28:24):
look a lot better behind this sound defensive team in LA. So, Dennis,
what do you think we can expect from the LA
goalies next season?

Speaker 3 (28:32):
Forstbrook is an upgrade over Riddage, right, who was a
sub nine hundred save percentage. Great in a room, the
players love them, that's great. Make us safe, right, So
they're better there, right, Look, if they're gonna play the system, Victor,
then the numbers will be about the same. Now the
question is will they play the same system, will they
play the one two two? Will they be more aggressive?
Will they be more aggressive? For check? I don't see
them making changes on the skating roster that lent himself

(28:53):
towards that. So I got to think this still is
going to go the one two two. It's still going
to be a defensive first team. And Hiller, Andrew and
Top mcclumb before him. You check for your chances, that's
the mentality, that's the approach. I think it's still going
to be that approach. So with respectat I think, Look,
do I think that Darcy Camera is going to be
another Vesent No nominee this year? I don't. But do

(29:14):
I think he could be above average with respecta goals
against in savey percentage. Absolutely, because the system will protect him.
And I know people were hitting for the Hills when
they traded for him out its washing when I wound
up being a decent trade. Look, did what do bid
does in the playoffs? Didn't show up and they got
a good performance. They got a great performance from Darcy
Kempra in the playoffs. It wasn't the reason they lost.
It's because they were short their bench and the coach

(29:35):
didn't trust the depth. But the goaltending should be on par.
It's not better than last year because I think they'll
get better from Horsburg. Maybe a little bit of regression
from Darcy, but not much. He's healthy, he likes the system.
He's functioned in the system. Now the question is do
you like the changes on defense, Victor. I think it's not.
I think the goaltending that the numbers will be a
referendum on what Holland did with the defense, because you

(29:58):
took out Gavratalk, you took out Spence, you put in
CC and Doomelin and CC. For all the criticism, he's
the top twenty five guy in block shots and this
team doesn't block a lot of shots. Now, I did
warn fans that block shot total. He did play for
San Jose for a good amount of games. He had
an opportunity to block a lot of shots because they
never had the puck. So I think if this defense's

(30:20):
functions as well as it does as it did last year,
those numbers should come in about the same. I think
they'll be a top ten team with the spect the defense,
maybe get the top five. The question is how much
do they want to generate offensively and change the style
of their team. I don't. I don't see it changing much.
I think the big key will be what happens in
training camp, how they go about their games in training camp.

(30:40):
But I do think that the goaltending overall will be
a slight improvement of over they had last season, which
is a good thing for the Los Angeles games.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Tremendous, Dennis, this has been a nice tour through the
Elie Kings and getting ready to watch them next season.
Let people know where they can check out all your work.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
I'm pretty conspicuous, Jesse. If you can't find me, it's
probably your full at the fourth Preer dot com. My
ex account is Dennis TFP. You can hear me on
Serious XM. I sometimes Holst with Steve Cooley is from
through to six on The Power Play, and then we
have our own show, The Hot Stove on Saturdays from
eleven to one Eastern. Like I said, I've been around,
I've been off the grid lately. I haven't done a
lot of appearances in July. But when Victor said the email,

(31:17):
I said, absolutely happy to hop on the Fantasy Podcast
with you guys. It's always a lot of fun talking
kings hockey with you.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Out standy. We appreciate you so much. Thanks Dennis, what.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Was a pleasure, Dres, thanks for the time.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Will since then that's good fires Pats top Oh my goodness,
long with a Cat quick Gram. Now it's your weekly
goalie talk. But Kat Silverman, Kat's instincts.

Speaker 4 (31:50):
And once again for Kat's Instincts with Kat Silverman a
ENGLD Mag. We're talking La King's goalies and we're gonna
start with Carter George. Carter George. Actually this system is
fun because we have two goalies who played against each
other at the U twenty World Junior Championships. So we'll
start with the Canadian Carter George sixty one ninety pounds
drafted second round back in twenty twenty four, he had

(32:12):
another successful season for the n Sound Attack of the OHL.
He also was really good, probably arguably the best player
for Canada at the U twenty World Junior Championships. So
a lot of the skaters weren't great, certainly a lot
of the scorers at a hard time scoring, but he
was great. Nine to thirty six eight percentage one point
seven six JA in the four games he played. That

(32:34):
should win you more than two games, but he only
was able to win two. Looking at his equivalency, he
was able to bump it up just a little bit
of to thirty two percent. He doesn't have the best comps. Unfortunately,
there is a John Gibson comp but John Gibson's equivalency
were insanely low for the talent that he had and
eventually produced. So the more likely comp is Scott Darling,

(32:55):
and he was backup and not super irrelevant in the
league for a long time. What do your instincts tell
us about Carter George?

Speaker 5 (33:03):
I think so we've talked about a lot of prospect
goaltenders by the time we hit the King system, and
a lot of the goaltenders that we've talked about who
have a good technical foundation, we watch them play and
we say, oh, they understand how to hit their marks,
they understand in theory how to track, but their actual

(33:27):
decision making skills are still lacking a little bit, and
their ability to determine when they need to throw their
technique out the window isn't quite there yet. Or we
see guys who throw their technique out the window because
they don't like technique. And I think that Carter George
has really good technique but does not like technique, And

(33:52):
I think that's going to be a really interesting player
to follow because he does like to get a little wild,
but you can tell that he has you can tell
that he's a product of the Hockey Canada system where
he's had some really strict technical foundation just hammered into
his game that he really doesn't seem to enjoy. He

(34:14):
I know that Scott Darling is the comp that they gave,
but a different Coyotes goaltender is one that I think
he instinctively wants to play, and that is Mike Smith.
He seems like he in another life, really would have
liked to play as a defender who enjoys leading the breakout,

(34:36):
and that's a really interesting type of goaltender to watch,
especially among prospects. We will see what that looks like
as he ages and matures, because he is still pretty young.
He won't turn twenty until May of this upcoming year,
which once again makes me feel extremely old. But it's

(34:58):
going to be fun to see what he does with
his game, and it'll be fun to see what path
he decides to take, because there are some goaltenders who
follow more of the exciting path, like I'm Matt so Guard,
for example, and then there are some who like to
follow that exciting path but end up becoming a little

(35:22):
bit more controlled, and that I think his upside could
be as far as other young goaltenders, that we would
see him become a parallel to, almost more of a
Drew Comesso. And so that's not a bad name for
Kings fans to have linked to a prospect in their system.
So we'll see what he does. I don't think we're

(35:42):
going to be seeing him there anytime soon, but I
don't think the Kings need him right now, so that's okay.
And he has a really cool name, so win win.

Speaker 4 (35:55):
He sure does although I don't know it's as cool
as Hampton Slakinski. That's that's a pretty rad name. So
he's the next guy we're going to talk about. And
he was on the American side, the winning side at
the World Junior Championships, although to be fair, he didn't
play the big of a role, but he did get
in two games and was awesome, I think against a
couple of the weaker opponents. But what is season Hampton had,

(36:16):
my goodness. So he's six one hundred and ninety pounds.
He was drafted back in the fourth round in twenty
twenty three, and he after a strong USHL season last season,
he was went to Western Michigan and for those of
you who haven't followed along, Western Michigan had quite the season,
winning their conference, winning the NCAA championship, and he was

(36:39):
just incredible with a one point nine to ZEROJA and
nine to twenty two stave percentage and really fantastic program
defining championship for that organization in that program. So that's
pretty fantastic to see his equivalence. He's pretty low though,
because the previous two seasons he started out in high school.
That's where he was drafted out of and then he

(37:00):
went to the USHL and the equivalence he was low there.
So he's slowly bumping that up. But right now he
doesn't have too many great comps. But one of the
ones that he does have is Jordan Bennington, who you
know would be a pretty stellar outcome for the La Kings,
although I don't know no word on whether he has
the same attitude as Bennington. But Kat tell us about Slakinski, I.

Speaker 5 (37:25):
Putting aside the fact that his name sounds like it
was created in one of those AI name generators for
a hockey player, Like I've never heard a more created
to be a hockey player name in my life. He's
a fascinating one because he and like how we used

(37:45):
to talk about the difference between Drew Camesso and Spencer
Knight is I know that they don't play on the
same national team, but they will be in the same system.
That's how I look at Carter George and Hampton Slikinski
and I pronounced his last name correctly, Is it Slukinski?

Speaker 3 (38:02):
I think so? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (38:04):
I love that. What an elite to your name. He
first off, it's great seeing a kid who stuck with
playing high school hockey all the way through. I think
that's one of the best things that can happen for
a kid. And he did a really good job of
maintaining his enthusiasm levels when it comes to the energy

(38:27):
he brings to the net, I think his technique is
a work in progress. So he's like I said, he
and Carter George really are two sides of the same
coin essentially, where Slukinski has a lot of really good
instinct but his technique really looks like a work in progress,

(38:51):
and Carter George looks like he has had technique Cameron
into him since he was seven and really wants to
break free and just have fun with it. So it'll
be interesting to see how the Kings work with that,
you know, how they play them off each other. They
could potentially, I know it's a little bit more rare

(39:11):
at this point to see two prospect goaltenders get drafted,
brought up through a system together and then end up
playing as a tandem. But it would be cool they
both play in a way that I think would be
complementary of one another without being carbon copies of one another.
But we do need to see a little bit more
technical precision added to Slikinski's game before he goes up

(39:34):
against elite NHL shooters, because right now he looks like
he truly needs just a little bit more refinement there.
He does have a lot of raw talent, though, I
would say far more than the last high school hockey
product that we saw get drafted, which I believe was
Dominic Bass, who at that point I looked at and

(39:57):
thought he very clearly was not ready. I think Swilkinski
looks far more ready at this point. So well, we'll
see what goes for him. I think we're probably four
to six years out on him. I think he's probably
going to be an older goaltender when he makes his
debut as a regular NHL goaltender, but I think he's

(40:19):
got the tools there, which is nice.

Speaker 4 (40:22):
If you had to bet on one of these guys,
who do you think is the starter in three or
four years?

Speaker 5 (40:29):
Probably Carter George, I do agree.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
I like that. Like you said, they have two different styles,
and we've seen that a little bit. I know we
talked about that with Detroit. That's nice when you have
competing styles and you can just see who takes the
reins and runs with it. At the right time, so
it's nice to have that option for the Kings. Fantastic.
Thanks so much for giving us your instincts on the
Los Angeles Kings goalies.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Of course, we'll be back right after this.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
Dig the.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Dig LA Kings Edition, Victor. The Kings are your number
twenty seven ranked system and they start with your no brainer.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Who's that?

Speaker 4 (41:20):
That would be Liam green Tree. Green Tree was drafted
in twenty twenty four to twenty sixth overall. He's sixty three,
two hundred and sixteen pounds. He's a left shot right
wing and he was drafted out of the OHL and
he had a pretty good season last season, ninety points
in sixty four games. This season he upped that to
one hundred and fourteen point or so one hundred nineteen

(41:41):
points in sixty four games, just shy of that fifty
goal mark, which is pretty impressive. Twenty four points and
eleven playoff games for the Winsor Spitfires, and he's been
their captain in the last two years. All that's looking
pretty great. He also was at the He was at
the UA teens last year. He wasn't on the U
twenty World junior team, so he has represent Canada internationally
a bit and looking at some of the microstats from

(42:06):
Mitch Brown, the overall score for green Tree is thirty
nine sixty nine. The offense is seventy one, transitions sixty four,
defense sixty two, so overall pretty solid. There's a couple
of places where he's not as good, and the physicality
is won, he's only thirty fifth percentile for that. His pace,
which is definitely an issue for him, is forty six percentile,

(42:26):
but the shooting is seventy ninth and some of the
translability is pretty high as well. One of his best
attributes are his expected goals. He's pretty even though with
his expected goals and expected primary assists, so that's nice.
A lot of his transition data is pretty decent, and
some of the expected goal build up and off puck

(42:48):
play is very mixed for green Tree, I would say
looking at his FHL player card, I have him at
at seven point two too, the twenty two percent chance
of being a seven, which is a well above average.
His shots are really high in the OHL one hundred percentile,
it hits our fortieth and blocks are thirtieth percentile, so

(43:10):
the hits and blocks are pretty low, but overall, the
bash probably won't be too bad because of the strong hits.
He also takes a fair amount of pims if you're
into that kind of thing, which show up as negative
and our metric. He also has some pretty strong play
driving metrics, so that's good to see. But let's hear
what else is interesting about Liam green Tree From our

(43:30):
FHL scout Jesse.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Fahl scout Patrick has this to say about Liam green Tree.
Average skater. Sometimes it looks a little awkward and is
a little snow from the standstill, but he has a
decent stride and the lateral movement is a plus. It
shows signs of improvement and at times the pace is lacking.
Passinger and handling well above average in both categories. Able

(43:56):
to hold possession of the puck for the right pass,
make quick and accurate pass is when needed, and use
the threat of a shot along with deception to feed
teammates in a good position for a further pass or shot.
For shooting very good. Has a positive risk shot, including
an accurate backhand, and has improved his one timer to

(44:16):
be a legitimate weapon. Able to delay for a better
shot or release quickly as needed. IQ There are some
areas green Tree can improve on. One is his IQ. Overall,
it's above average, though his playmaking, positioning, and shooting demonstrate
positive in that category. He sees the play well when

(44:37):
making passes and being in position for breakouts and receiving
passes for shots. For checking, green Tree has some size
but doesn't always use it, more of a playmaker facilitating
play rather than checking along the board, but he shows
the ability to develop this further. Green tree skating hinders
him a little in regards to defense as well. Overall,
he shows a commitment to compete, so so it seems

(45:00):
like there's a good chance he'll improve in this area.
So the best asset the passing and handling. The biggest
concern the skating, although it's improving. The top tier outcome
could be a top six winger, possibly a high end
second liner a low end first liner in power play one,
and that's because his skating is somewhat lacking, but improving
the rest of his tool kit is slightly above average

(45:22):
together could get him up to the role discussed the
meeting outcome maybe more of a middle six winger. It's
the second power play. That's because the shot playmaking and
vision are going to create that baseline of skill that
likely translates at least to the Middlesex. But if the
skating doesn't improve, the defense will limit the further upside.

(45:42):
Stylistic comparable well in terms of style of game, Matt
Boldy Jason Robertson are comparables Patrick has cited, although maybe
not quite as good as those two. And the NHL
rank King Mason Black puts Liam Greentree up against il
Ya protas Ilia protas Is. He went it solid here,

(46:03):
victory seventy five to twenty five percent. Is that how
you rank them?

Speaker 4 (46:09):
Yeah, definitely, I like Protasts a lot more. He's definitely
one of these guys whose stock has really risen. It's
funny how he and his brother broke out at the
same time in different leagues. And protass is really young
for his draft year. In fact, the day we're recording
this is the day before his birthday. He was eighteen
for this entire D plus one year. He was seventeen

(46:30):
for his entire D minus one year, and it was
a big jump from USHL to OHL and he just
absolutely killed it. One hundred and twenty four points in
sixty one games. And because he started in the USHL.
He can go to the AHL next year, and it
looks like he was he went through them. I'm not
sure where he's gonna end up playing next year, but
he still has got a little bit of development to go.

(46:51):
But I really like the upside with Protass, so I'd
be taking him. He's big, he's a little bit more mobile,
and we've seen the production really ascend as opposed to
what it has with green Tree, which it's been good,
but I just like the progression from Protash a little
bit more. If you look at the pnhle between the two,

(47:12):
it's somewhat similar, but Protests is approaching one hundred and
green Tree is just above eighty and I have my
puck started rating for Protest is seven point four to five.
If you look at the hockey prospecting between the two,
green Tree has been stable at twenty four percent chance
of being a star, but Protest was really low in
his Draft minus one and draft season, and that's why
it started off low. But he went from three to

(47:33):
fifteen percent chance being a star, so that's a big
uptick and he can probably continue to increase that. Looking
at the FHL player card for Protests, you can see
that he actually doesn't really hit a lot, but he
blocks a lot, so his bash is projected to be
a lot better. And so that's another factor here. Looking
at some other comps for green Tree, there's some Bobby Ryan,

(47:54):
some Shane Ryan or Timmy Panera, and I think Bobby
Ryan's probably a reasonable comp. You know, someone who has
pretty strong production but is not a total star, but
a fringe star, and that I could see that working
out for green Tree. Jesse, looking at the top Town
Hockey model, green Tree has thirty six percent chance of
being a star, ninety four percent chance of being in NHLer.

(48:16):
So that's pretty nice as well, and very optimistic from
j Fresh.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Very good victor. Who is your need to know prospect?

Speaker 4 (48:27):
The need to know prospect is Cohen Zeemer. He is
a twenty twenty three third round pick, seventy eighth overall
by the King sixty one, two hundred and sixteen pounds.
He was playing in the WHL and he's been there
the last several seasons. He's been with Prince George the
whole time. In his draft season, he was already over

(48:48):
a point per game. He lost a lot of time
injury in twenty three twenty four. Played a little bit
more this past season and progressed in terms of his
point metrics seventy one points in sixty one games. Not
sure how much that's injury related. He did get into
a couple games with the Ontario Rain didn't have any
points though. Looking at midst Browns tracking data, the real
issue with Zeemer is his off puck play. He is

(49:10):
defensive metrics are pretty poor. He doesn't have a whole
lot of boards to the middle or board battles one.
The offensive retrievals and defensive play controlled exits all pretty poor.
The other interesting thing that's really poor with Zeemer is
the expected goals per sixty so that's not ideal. He
does have a really strong expected primary assist rate, so

(49:32):
that's good to know, but some of the other offensive
metrics aren't as good as you would like for a
top prospect, so that makes you a little bit worried.
The transition game overall, including the entries and transition success
is really high eighty third percent tile and the offense,
based mostly on the playmaking is at seventy fourth percentile.
Looking at the FHL player card for Zeemer, I have

(49:53):
him at a five point five to one, so just
over a fifteen percent chance of being a five. Just
over that threshold. He does actually hit a lot. That's
something good about Zeemer. He's ninetieth percent out for hits
and actually sixtieth for blocks and shoots a ton, so
if all works out, Zeemer could be a strong basher.

(50:14):
He also it takes a lot of penalty, so that's
good if you like that sort of thing. He did
struggle a little bit with some play driving though, But
let's hear a little bit else about coin Zeemer. From
our FATEL scout, Jesse.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
If Ahl scout Grant has this to say. The skating
is slightly below average. He's a north south skater who
lacks agility, strong on his feet with good balance. He's
going to need to improve in this area at the
AHL and NHL levels. Passing and handling an average passer,
and while he does possess pretty good hands in tight
he's going to need to improve his pass taking abilities

(50:47):
at speed. He'll need to process the game much more
quickly at THEHL NHL levels, which will be a test
for his current skill level. Shooting nice quick snap and
wrist shot that seems heavy at the WHL level, but
might not be at higher ones. IQ clearly nervous playing
his first few games at the AHL level, but you're

(51:08):
in the headlights at times. For the first viewings there,
showed some flashes of offensive vision, exhibited very little anticipation.
At the WHL. He played with confidence and the puck
seems to follow him. Didn't hurt to play with Riley height.
He knows his limitations with the puck in his own
end and gets the puck out when he can. For checking,
Grant says that Ziemer should have this as his bread

(51:31):
and butter. He's strong on his feet, good size skating
holds us back a little bit to get on the
fore check in the AHL. He's gonna need to really
work on this aspect of his game, as this is
what will get him to the NHL. For defense, he's
fairly responsible defensively with the puck, but he lacks some
awareness without the puck in his own end. Like a

(51:53):
lot of young players, he has a habit, bad habit
of holding his stick with one hand for most of
the time at his own end, forgets to move his
feed at times, can be quite static. Not a shot
blocker at this point. The shot is probably the best
asset then, with potential of being a physical player who
combines that with scoring as his biggest appeal. Biggest concern.
He appears to put all of his eggs in the

(52:14):
offensive only basket so far, which is unlikely to get
him past the AHL. So Zeemer is going to have
to drill down on his physical play and become a
defensive stalwart who regularly sacrifices his body to make the NHL.
He's not close right now. The top tier outcome then,
Grant says, bottom six forward chips in twelve to fifteen
goals and one hundred plus hits justification. Bit of an

(52:37):
act for scoring, but he's got the physical tools anyway
to play this role. The median outcome AHL player twenty
to twenty five goals in the top six at the
A do you even get in this tier? He's going
to need to elevate his game. A bit of development
ahead of him in the next year or two. Stylistic
comparable bits of bits of Brockbesser and Keegan Kolasar would

(53:01):
be the ultimate combost style in the NHL if he
could put it all together. Zeemer is just twenty years
old with three games, the of AHL experience after one
hundred and twenty eight goals in two hundred and forty
four WHL games, so Grand Overall says the AHL is
going to be a tough challenge for him, as he
lacks the skating and skill set to do well there
in the short term. If he's got any success, it's

(53:22):
going to be two to three years, and he's going
to need to revamp his game to include defense and
more physicality. Our friend, the Ultimate Stanley Lord Stanley Tidy Champ,
the NHL rank King Mason Black put out the poll
Gohen Zeemer versus Ahmedis Lombardi, and Ziemer wins that one
pretty handily over the red Wing Lombardi and he wins

(53:44):
it sixty five to thirty five.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
What do you think of that?

Speaker 4 (53:49):
I don't know that I love it. I totally agree
with what Grant was saying, and I do think that
green Tree has a lot of Zeemer has a lot
to do with a lot of work to do with
his two way game is defensive game to make it,
and right now he hasn't really had a chance to
work at that at the AHL level. What I like
about Lombardi is that He's already had two seasons in

(54:12):
the EHL, and this past one he increases point scoring
up to nearly point per game in the AHL, which
is pretty fantastic. He is twenty two, so he's a
bit older now, but it's been a really good progression
for him, and so I think I would take Lombardi.
Actually can definitely see a situation where Cohen Ziemer just
stalls out and ends up being a tweiner, a guy

(54:32):
whose offense isn't quite good enough to translate and the
defense has never really been there, and he doesn't flesh
that out enough. Of course, if he does become more offensive,
then better defensively than that offense can maybe shine. But
there's always also been concerns about Zeemer's attachment to Riley
height and whether that's going to continue or how much

(54:54):
that's going to how much that has played into what
he's been able to do is also something to consider.
So I think that would take Lombardi, even though it
may seem like a strange choice, but sometimes you just
have to realize that there's still a lot of work
to be done, and I'm not sure that Zemer can
get all the way there. Looking at the hockey. Looking

(55:14):
at the PNHIL between these two, Lombardi has actually raised
his PNHILI up to just over sixty and Zeemer has
trended down to a point of forty five. So that's
not that exciting. And looking at the hockey prospecting, will
Zemer start at forty two percent chance of being a star,
He's trended down to twelve percent and gone down every year.

(55:38):
Lombardy has been zero percent in this model, and that's
partly because his development started when he was in the
in the OJHL and leagues that don't necessarily have the
strongest equivalency. And then once he did finally get into
the OA, he had COVID year for his first OHL year,
which was shut down. So some of these numbers just

(55:58):
don't really make sense. But if you look at but
he's done recently, that I think it gives you a
better indication of what is going on with him.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
I don't have that much.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
I don't My ranking for a Lombardi doesn't look that
great four point twenty five, but I think if you
look at what he's done in the AHL, I think
there's a little bit more promise there. Looking at some
other comps, for Coen Zeemer, just for Bokefist is maybe
a reasonable one. He had a similar trend. There's some
other guys who might be reasonable comps, but I think

(56:26):
Bocus makes a lot of sense. And looking at the
top down hockey model, Cohen Zeemer has nine percent chance
of being a star and thirty six percent chance of
being an NHL or so definitely a little bit more
pessimistic there.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Jesse very good. And who is your keep your eye
on prospect?

Speaker 4 (56:46):
This is definitely one that people probably haven't heard too
much of and you need to keep your eye on.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
That's Ryan con Me.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
He is a twenty twenty three six round pick by LA.
He's five ten and ninety pounds and he's somewhat one
who He was drafted out of the USHL and had
a decent season. Then he went to New Hampshire of
the NCAA and had a pretty monster production right off
the bat thirty one points in thirty four games. New

(57:13):
Hampshire not known as the biggest, big scoring type of
programer one of the elite programs, and he followed that
up this past year with another near point per game
thirty three points in thirty four games. Pretty awesome stuff.
He's actually transferring to BC next years, scoring my increase
even more. Of course, they have a lot more skill
there and a lot more guys that might push him
down the lineup a little bit, but pretty awesome stuff.

(57:37):
Looking at the Fantasy Hockey Life Player card, I have
him at a five point four to four, so just
under that fifty percent threshold. But I think there's a
pretty good chance he could be an average roster player
for you, and that's'd be a great outcome for someone
taking in the sixth round. Looking at some of his bash,
it's one hundred percentile for shots, fiftieth for hits, and
thirtieth per block, so his bash should be good at

(58:00):
least above average, and he doesn't take that many penalties,
and some of his other play driving metrics are pretty solid.
But let's hear a little bit more about Ryan Commy
from my RETEL scout.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
And FHL scout. Tony lead scout has this to say.
Ryan is a very good skater, good speed and agility,
good passer and puck handler. Uses these abilities to get
around defenders for shooting. This is also a plus position
for Ryan Kamy to do rist shots to slap one
timer's great hockey IQ and vision, able to get around

(58:34):
defenders for a shot or past the teammates for checking.
Tony did see some for checking from Kmy and on
defense seem to play defense trying to get the puck,
but not noticeable in the defensive zone. So the best asset,
according to Tony, would be the accurate shooting, but the
biggest concern a lack of size and physicality. The top

(58:55):
tier outcome here could be a tier two middle six
little power play time. That's because his shooting and playmaking
ability would support it. He's not a play driver, but
a good play maker and the median outcome bottom six
type player doesn't have bash, a little bit of defense
lacking for him the stylistic comparable. Overall, he looks at

(59:16):
alex to Brinkett as a comparison and overall thinks Ryan
could reach the upper levels that top outcome tier two
with a little more bash and a little better defensive effort.
Mason Black put out the poll Ryan Conny against recent
Islanders prospect discussing Quinn, Finley, and Quinn comes out seventy

(59:39):
eight to seventy nine to twenty one percent ahead of
Ryan Conne Victor Quinn Finley in the route do you
see it?

Speaker 4 (59:48):
I could see why people would say that if you're
just looking at the PNHL E Quinn Finley's as much
higher or it's trended up more. He went all the
way to sixty, which is actually Conny is just a
little bit that. But I think that there he had
just overpoint per game, So I guess if you're just
looking at those raw numbers, it was a little bit
higher than con me His numbers have. Actually, Quinn Finley's

(01:00:12):
numbers have been a little bit up and down because
he was in the USHL for a few years and
in his first n CUAA season he was less than
half point per game, and then he shot up to
over point per game. I think I'm going to take
conmy here because he's shown two back to back seasons
of consistent near point per game production. So I like
that a little bit more, a little bit more consistency,

(01:00:33):
less variability, and actually the comps are much better for
Konne matthew NY's is one Matt Calvert, whereas for Quinn
Finley it's like Joel Snively and Vinnie Hennistroza. So I'll
take the Konmedy side here looking at the Hockey prospecting
between the two, it's actually better, a little bit better
for Conmy too, but because of some of his Draft

(01:00:54):
minus one production, he only looks like five percent chance
of being a star in the model and Quinley's zero
or Quinn Finley sorry, is at zero. Looking at the
Hockey Prospect team player card, guy Finley at five point
five to five, so a little bit more than con Me,
But looking at this again, I think I would still
prefer con Me in this comparison. The other comps for

(01:01:18):
con Me, there's some there's these are difficult, not too
many that are clear, but I think one that kind
of makes sense Shane Pinto. Maybe he could have that
outcome that would be pretty awesome. And there's a bunch
of other guys that are like Josh Archibald who's not
super exciting. And then looking at the Jfresh model four
percent chance of being a star and twelve percent chance

(01:01:38):
of being an NHL or as usual, little bit more
pessimistic from j Fresh.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
Jesse. That's it for the Kings dig.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
If you're a patroon, you can listen to my top
ten Prospects recap per team on Patreon, which I've already started,
and Jesse has promised he's going to collate into one big,
unified episode And if you're interested in doing any scouting
with us, shoot me a DM on Twitter, Discord, or
email us.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
That's right, somehow I'm gonna get that done. We'll be
right back to close out of the show.

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
Before we leave.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Fantracks dot com. Play your fantasy sports there. I got
a fantasy basketball rookie draft this week. That's right, we
can do it. Want college players in there?

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Sure, yeah, put your college.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
Players in there. You can set up pretty much anything
you want in fan Tracks, especially for fantasy hockey. And
don't we ever you ever get in the tidy league,
you're probably going to see all the stuff we got
going on. But fantracks dot com you can play free.
You can get the super bells and whistles with a
little bit of money put in, but you should enjoy

(01:02:52):
it if you're a fantasy fan. Fan Tracks HQ has
also got fantasy content articles on fantasy hockey and the
other sports FHL. We are a team here at our podcast,
tim a Orian, Simo Kraftzer. They are the commissioner team
for the Tidy Leagues. Tony and Patrick are lead scouts. Mike,

(01:03:12):
Stephen and Matt are helping a ton putting together these
show sheets for the summer. Brandon helps with a website,
prospect ranks and visualizations. If you have skills you'd like
to lend the show, hit Victor up on Discord email,
social media. You'll see on social media, Victor's been sharing
some mockups of our new Fantasy Hockey light player cards

(01:03:34):
to see if what you folks think about the revisions.
So do all those things. We're also brought to you
by Daber Hockey and Dauber Prospects. Victor does some work
there which you may follow. I do a solo show
called Dynasty Sports Life. I talk about many different Dynasty sports.
The one that came out yesterday as I broadcast this

(01:03:57):
was about baseball prospects and friend of mine who goes
and sees a lot of baseball prospects kind of does something,
you know, the sort of thing that we like to
talk about because he's also focused on fantasy. So if
you like that, go have a listen. Social media. You
can follow us on x It's Victor Nuno twelve and

(01:04:18):
it's fan hockey life on Blue Sky Jesse Severe or
the One Victor. I'll let you guess which belongs to whom.
Rate and review us on Apple, pod, Spotify, wherever else
you get your podcast. Thanks for listening. Hope you enjoyed
this talk about the La Kings and keep living that
fantasy hockey life