Fantasy Hockey Life Ep 417 Minnesota Wild with Dylan Loucks

Dylan Loucks is here to report on the Minnesota Wild. Jesse and Victor interview Dylan about returning pros Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Johansson, Frederick Gaudreau, Liam Ohgren, Danila Yurov, Jared Spurgeon, Zeev Buium, Jonas Brodin, Brock Faber, Filip Gustavsson, and Jesper Wallstedt. In Cat's Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down Jesper Wallstedt and Chase Wutzke.  In the Dynasty Dig, Victor breaks down Zeev Buium, Danila Yurov, and Riley Heidt with the help of scouting reports from FHL Scout Jeremy 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
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 1 (00:20):
Here's your hosts, Jesse Silvier and Victor Nuno.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Fantasy Hockey Live, Minnesota Wild. I am Jesse Severe Fan Tracks.
That's Victor Nuno, the Fantasy Hockey Doctor. Victor. How you doing.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
I am doing awesome, Jesse. I'm excited to talk about
this interesting team. How you doing, my friend, I'm doing great.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm doing great. Keeping it up, Victor. We're making it through.
We're making it through. It's it's been wet and rainy
where I am. That's interesting. You gotta have a few
you gotta have a few storms over the center, or
you don't know what's going on. A lot fewer storms
in Wisconsin than their work. Growing up in Iowa, Man,
we had the tornadoes rolling through the trailer park every
other week the day. Do you get nasty thunderstorms in California, Victory?

(01:04):
I continue to be fascinated by your lack of weather state.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
No, we don't really get that, and very much. It's
sometimes in the winter. What we get is just a
lot of rain and more than that we're used to.
So there's there tends to be some flooding and landslides
and stuff, but it we don't usually get the thunderstorms.
That's pretty rare. Every once in a while you'll see that.
But no, that's why people love California because the weather
isn't so dramatic. And actually, like I always say, we

(01:34):
have all four seasons. They just happen all on one day.
It gets cold ish in the morning, and then it
warms up a little bit, and then sometimes it can
get pretty hot in the afternoon, and then it cools
off again. That's not truly all four seasons, but we
do get the variety. I was actually back east recently
and drove me crazy because it stayed the same temperature
the entire day. It was like seventy to eighty five

(01:56):
degrees and it didn't matter what time of day it was.
Is it just never really cooled off and never really
got that much harder. And that was a challenge. And
people comment on that in California is that when they
come here they don't realize that. Yeah, I'd dress in
layers because it does change throughout the day.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
All right, all right, Victor. One place where they know
about some weather, some cold weather is down there in Minnesota,
if you would like to talk about it. I keep
threatening to have a weather room. It's a weather an
interesting opening topic. I can't help it. It's my farmer roots.
We have to talk about the weather. But you don't
have to talk about that in the Fantasy Hockey Life discord.
You can, you don't have to. More likely you'll be

(02:34):
in there talking dynasty fantasy hockey with a bunch of
other people who enjoy doing that. Talk to each other,
mix it up. We're just trying to make a nice
space where people can do all those things and also
engage with a lot of the content. A lot of
the cool things that we do Fantasy Hockey Life at
gmail dot com will get you in the door. That's free, Victor.

(02:54):
There are things that people can do once they get
into our little ecosystem. Why don't you tell them what it?

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, all kinds of great stuff. If you want to
support the show, get some bonus content. Patreon dot com
slash Fantasy Hockey Life. You can check out all the
bonus content there. One of the big things is big
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If you want to just preview the ranks and all
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(03:23):
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good time. And then of course helping you through your
drafts and helping you through one on one sessions. There's

(03:45):
lots of other bonus features available, so check it out
at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Right after this, we'll be talking minute a little while.
Welcome back to a man who loves to talk about
the Minnesota Wild, Dylan Loux of The Hockey News. How
you doing today, Dylan.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
I'm doing good. Thank thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Oh we love having you on, love talking wild with you.
And this was quite a season to talk about my
operating theory here Dylan is that there were two Minnesota
Wild seasons. There was opening night to Christmas, and then
there was everything from Christmas and after. And it's because
on December twenty three they lost the franchise cornerstone. At

(04:33):
the time, they were twenty one, ten and four before
Caprizof went out, and then after a short aborted return
in late January, he was out until the last few
days of the season, where a three to one run
with him back on the ice kept the Wild in
the playoffs. Now we're going to get into caprice Off
the player. Momentarily we'll get to actually the player. But

(04:56):
it wasn't all about that one player.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Here.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
From the overall team perspective of the Wild, they took
a beating on the penalty kill top five, top five
penalty kill percentage and among the top five most goals
allowed on the power play. They also allowed some of
the most shots against. But the positive side, they had
a great say percentage nine oh three was the number
five overall, and they threw a scare into the Golden

(05:20):
Knights in Round one. Man that it looked like they
were gonna do it, and I was fired up, Dylan.
It could have happened but hey, they got to the
playoffs from the darn Central Division, which is the bracket
of death in today's NHL. If you ask me, was
this season just a mulligan for the Wild at this
point and they can come back maybe try to get
a higher seed, or is this kind of where this

(05:42):
core is going to get them? What do you expect
for the coming.

Speaker 5 (05:45):
Year, Yeah, I would expect it. It'll probably be around
the same. They've got a bunch of young guys that
they're really hoping take a big step this season. But
when you look at it, it's really the first season
they're entering without these freezy and suitors huge contracts that
they're still paying. So it was the first real summer
that this team could really do something, and they are

(06:06):
playing it a little bit safe in terms of handing
out money and things like that. But they brought in
a few guys Nico Sturm and vlad Tarasenko, and both
of them they hope can add a boost. Stem obviously
is a good penalty kill guy, so the hope is
that he can improve that penalty kill, which has been
pretty bad the last few years and it kind of

(06:27):
hurt them a lot at key times. But I would
expect it. It's probably the same team, probably going to
make the playoffs again. It's just hard to believe they
can't with guys like Carill and guys like Boldie. But
in terms of the result, it's probably going to be
the same. They'll probably be third or fourth in the
Central and maybe get a wild card spot, things like that.

(06:47):
But in terms of last season to this season, it'll
likely be about the same.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
I don't mean to make the whole season where the
whole team about one player, but we got to talk
about that player, capriz Off. He had fifty points in
thirty six games before that lower body injury that wrecked everything.
He still finished top ten in scoring rate in the
NHL last year at twenty two to twenty eight average
time on ice. And this is the guy who came

(07:15):
back and played after he was hurt. Only Nathan McKinnon
had a higher average time on ice four forward in
the NHL last year. He was good in the playoffs.
He actually garnered hart votes, which is weird for a
guy who played forty one out of eighty two games.
But okay, there's talk his next contract could be the
biggest in the history of the league that's been some
buzz for a while, that's coming up in about a year.

(07:37):
What do you see with the twenty eight year old
capriz Off now and into the future.

Speaker 5 (07:44):
Yeah, I just saw a stat the other day that
he's sixth in the NHL in the last three seasons
in most points per game. So you're talking about a
guy who's up there with the McDavid's and the mckinnons,
Kooch roughed or I said, those are the guys that
are ahead of him in terms of points per games.
So we know that he is a super star type player.
And you mentioned the start that he had the season.

(08:04):
People in Minnesota and US media members were like, this
guy deserves the MVP at this point. And then obviously
he has the injuries and derails things. But if you
look at the way the wild were playing, they were
eighteen four and four at the start of the season.
They were one of the best teams in the league.
They were first in the NHL at one point it
was them in the Jets, and then, yeah, Carell gets

(08:25):
hurt and the rest of the team goes in a
bit of a row. They have other injuries too, But
the type of player that Caprizov is honestly insane, and
I think last year, at the start of the year,
a lot of people started realizing more and more how
good this guy is. And then when he got hurt
and you watch the Wild play, I think people then
realize again how good this player is. But yeah, you

(08:47):
mentioned the contract. The Wild don't seem like they're worried
that they can't get this done. Obviously, it's gonna be
one of the biggest contracts probably in all of NHL,
and he deserves it. But he's also the type of
player that the Wild need to keep. They've never really
had anyone like him, and it's just a guy that

(09:07):
you have to be. You have to be willing to
do something to keep this guy, and I would expect
that that's exactly what the Wild will do.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
All Right, We're going to talk about the next best
guy on this team, and he's a guy who I
absolutely love, and that's Matt Boldie.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
He is spent.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
He spent a little less time with caprisof this season,
but still put up his another seventy point pay season
after doing that last season. For the first time, he
played over twenty minutes per night and put up career
highs in shots per game, though ended up a career
low shooting percentage at ten percent. Makes you feel like
maybe there's a little bit more that he could do there.
He did finish short of his second thirty goal season

(09:48):
with twenty seven, but he also started blocking more shots
up to sixty nine from a previous of thirty nine
and cracked the top one hundred for BASH at four
point seven to seven per game. That's pretty solid and
ranking him the eighty third best basher in the game
for skaters, that's pretty fantastic. So, Dylan, what do you
think we can expect from Bolding next season when we
go back over thirty goals and maybe hit the point

(10:10):
per game mark.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Yeah, I would expect.

Speaker 5 (10:12):
So I think last year I was thinking that would
be the year that he's a thirty goal scorer, eighty
point guy.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
And then.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
Obviously he is a pretty streaky player, like a leve
times throughout the season where he might go nine to
ten games without a goal, and I know, as a
fantasy owner of him, that might be a little complicated
and frustrating, but he is a star player and if
you look at what he did towards the end of
the season and into the playoffs. He proved that he
can be a thirty goal scorer in this league and

(10:42):
an eighty point guy. And I know the Wild have
all the confidence in him and to really break out.
And you mentioned the block shots and things like that.
He took a bigger role. He was getting some PK time,
and honestly, when they started putting him on the penalty kill,
it did get better.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
He's just a type of player.

Speaker 5 (11:00):
That wants the puck, he wants to make plays, he
wants to help his team as much as he can.
And I do think that next year will be more
of a breakout season. He's covered around the sixty seventy points.
I think next year you can see him as a
eighty to ninety point guy for sure.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Matt Zucarello, I feel like I do a version of
the exact same talk on him every year, but I
can't help it. Five eight thirty eight year olds who
have taken the kind of where and tear and beating
that Zukerrello has in his career are not supposed to
have this type of career. Still, the cooling wins of
the Minnesota of a Minnesota have sustained Norwegians for more

(11:38):
than a century, and Zucarello continues to age well. Fifty
four points in sixty nine games is a slightly slower
pace than the past, but then again, there were some
guys missing, as we've discussed, Zucarella was one of them missing.
He missed about a month for lower body injury. Back
in the first half, he played a ton with Marco
Rossi and Matt Boldi and was quite effective in that time.

(12:00):
And so overall fifty four points in sixty nine games played.
By the time it was all said and done, is
Zucarello going to play with caprizof again? And can we
get another late Zucarello season or is this the one
where finally Peter's out and takes him out of that
top six?

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (12:18):
I think every year we go into it thinking is
this the year that he finally takes a dip? And
is the wild got Tarasenko? They basically said that he's
going to be on the second line. So if you
start to look at things, he's probably Tarasenko would be
playing with either Rossi or Boldi, or he would be
playing with Rossi or Zucarello, and then you'd have the
first line of caprizov, Ek and Boldie or you. In

(12:42):
my opinion, I think maybe they should go back to
the Zucare with Caprizov just because towards the end of
the season Zucarella's points dipped even in the playoffs, he
was away from capriz Off and didn't really.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
Look like himself.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
You mentioned the age, but he still is a quality,
playmaking kind of guy and you can always bet on
him putting up power play points as well, especially with
the healthy capriz Off. So I don't think this is
the year he takes a huge dip. I do think
there's going to be a chance for Zukurel to get
back to that and be the kind of guy that
can compliment and play with Caprizo.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, for sure. Let's talk about the next guy, Marco Rossi.
And it's been an interesting offseason. The Dominion of Austrian
had a breakout season, earning a bigger role on the
team and increasing his production from forty to sixty points.
He played in all eighty two games for the second
straight season, and the underlying metrics were pretty excellent. Above
average defensively, above average offensively looking pretty good. The bash

(13:42):
is low at two point ninety three per game, doesn't
really hit, block, or shoot enough, so he ranks in
the five hundreds in terms of bash and there have
been a lot of rumors about him. Keep refreshing to
see if he's signed yet, what are they doing. There's
been rumors about whether they might trade him or what
is going on. And I guess the question is will
he still be on the team next year? And if so,

(14:03):
what do you think kill contract will be and what
kind of production do you think we can expect from
Marco ross.

Speaker 5 (14:09):
Yeah, I think it's a very fair question, and it's
one that I keep asking myself sometimes. But I do
think he'll be on this team at the start of
the season, and the type of contract, I don't believe
it's going to be as long as what maybe Rossi's
camp wants. But either way, I would say there's a
good chance that he is on this team next year,

(14:31):
and the type of production that you'll see out of
him is probably even more than what he did last year,
and he's a big part of it.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
Being at his age.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
To put up sixty points as a twenty three year
old is pretty good, especially to play back to back
eighty two game seasons. When this team has struggled with
injuries at time. He is an important player to this team,
so I know that they want to keep him, but
obviously they view him at one price and maybe Rossi
and his can't view him at a different price, and

(14:59):
that's why he's not signed right now. But the type
of player he is, it's too hard to just ignore
the fact that he is who he is, and it
would be hard to just move on from him. And
if you look at all the centers that have been
traded and signed recently, I think the Wild would probably
be dumb to move on from him. So he's an
important piece and definitely a guy that can play in

(15:22):
the top six again.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Like he proved.

Speaker 5 (15:24):
I know obviously he played fourth line in the playoffs,
but in terms of regular season I do think there's
a role for him in the top six for sure,
and the point production will probably take an uptick of
sixty from last year.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Joel Erickson Eck had a bit of a starcross season.
He missed long stretches to injury, and now he's undergoing,
if I read it, offseason core surgery. He's generally in
his career have been very consistent and He's a very
physical player. The scoring pace, to the extent you want
to read into it was down from the established norm.
Again forty six games and April ninth, four goal tally

(16:02):
versus the Sharks actually inflates. The goals he had for
the year was fourteen. Four of them came against sufficing
to say subpar team in kind of a mop up
game near the end. I've always thought of Eric Sinak
as a better real life player than a fantasy player
in some ways. His defense always provides some value. What
do you think will be Joel erksin K's performance last year?

(16:26):
Will he be healthy? Should we expect the types of stats,
those mid sixty type scoring years like he had the
two years prior to last, or more like a fifty
points second line, do everything type role on this team. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:40):
You mentioned the surgery and there shouldn't be any complications
to start the season. It seems like he'll be ready
to go on that front. And the type of player
he is, it's hard to stay healthy just the way
that he plays, and he has proven that he can
stay healthy before. Obviously last season was I think he
had four separate injuries them out of the lineup, so

(17:01):
it was hard on that front. But the type of player,
he is a NetFront guy and he's going to pick
up a lot of his goals net front and things
like that. But I could definitely see him being a
sixty point guy again, and getting back to that, I
know the wild think heavily of him, and towards the
end of the season they were playing him with Boldi
and capriz Off and it was one of the best

(17:21):
lines in the league. And if he's starting with those
two again, you would have to imagine that he will
put up points, and he has proven to do that before.
So we could see another thirty goals sixty point season
for Eric Sinek, and he might not be the quote
unquote first line center because he might not put up
seventy eighty ninety points. But you mentioned the defense and

(17:44):
the type of player he is extremely valuable. But yeah,
he's likely going to be another sixty point guy. But
he has the ability to put points up on the
power play as well, and he's such a good net
front player, so definitely has a ton of value.

Speaker 4 (17:58):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
We'll put a couple wildly vets up against each other
here in a bit of a pick them Marcus Johansson,
Frederick Gudrou Johansson just signed himself an extension there. Ol
Mojo had, let's see, thirty four points last year in
seventy two games. Freddy Gudroau, of course, occasionally has found
his way up to that top line on the Wild

(18:22):
and thrived there when he has thirty seven points only
last year in eighty two games, Gadrou Johansson. Which one
of them would you expect to be the better producer
next year?

Speaker 4 (18:33):
I would just go.

Speaker 5 (18:35):
I would go with Johansson for sure, just the type
of player he is. Like ever since he's been with
the Wild, he's played in the top six role. I
don't think heading into next season he's a top six
player because of the addition of Tarasenko. Obviously you still
have Boldie, Zukurello, capriz Off in Tarasenko, those are your
top six wingers. But if there's a time Tarasenko struggled

(18:58):
last season, so there's no guarantees and be a top
six player the entire year. So if you think of
it that way, there's a chance that Johansson can sneak
back into the top six, whether that's with Rossi, whether
that's with Zucarello, Boldie things like that. So in terms
of point production, I would go with him. Obviously, he's
playing second powerplay unit as well. The only thing that

(19:23):
might scare me a little bit is the emergence of
Liam Ogrin and Daniel You're off. These are two young
guys that if they produce, they're going to play, and
that would probably diminish Johansson's minutes. But if I had
to decide that between the two, I would go with Johansson.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Speaking of Ogram, let's talk about him next. Yeah, he's
been an exciting player. He came over to North America
last season eighty one AHL games, thirty seven points. That's
pretty fantastic production for your first stint in the AHL.
He did get into twenty four NHL games too, definitely
played more of a depth role at five points. Looking
at some predicted lines for this upcome season, Daily Faceoff

(20:01):
seems to suggest that he'll be on a third line
with Hartman and maybe You're off. That I'm sure is
very much up.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
In the air.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
But what do you think Ogren's role will be with
the Wild and what do you think we can expect
from him in terms of points in production?

Speaker 5 (20:15):
Yeah, I worry about his role, but I know that
if he plays, he's a quality player, Like he's proven
it in the AHL that he can score goals, he
can play in the top six role. It's just the
wild of never they've never really given him a full
chance in the top six like he's played, but usually.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
It's been third line or fourth line role.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
And I just think back last year he came in
because Johansson was hurt for a game.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
I believe it was Johanson.

Speaker 5 (20:43):
It's either Johansson or Felino, and they played Ogren and
he scored immediately, and then they sent him down again.
It's like he's proven that he can be a player
in the NHL that can produce. He's still young, and
obviously they're not just going to throw him into a
top six role immediately, So starting him on the third
line or maybe even the fourth line is probably likely,

(21:05):
and then it's just up to him to decide to
push the needle for John Hines in the wild to
move him up the lineup. If he plays well on
the fourth line, he moves up to the third line.
If he plays well there, then he'll move up to
the second line. It's just up to him to decide
his role this season, But Garan's talked about before the
year that they need a lot from these young guys,

(21:26):
and Ogrin is definitely one of them.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
I wanted to ask you since you mentioned about You're
Off and we've been thinking and talking about him as well,
and he certainly seems like he's in line for an
NHL role after playing in the KHL for several years.
Do you think he's gonna have the same treatment, start
in the bottom six and maybe have to work himself
up and what do you think we can expect from him?

Speaker 4 (21:50):
Yeah, I would assume.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
So.

Speaker 5 (21:51):
Garan's talked about that they want him to be a center,
and that's the path that they have. So if you
just start thinking about it, they just signed Nico Sturm,
he's your fourth line center, and then obviously you have
Eric Sinek and Marko Rossi. Now I guess it's still
up in the air with Rossi, but if you think
of it that way, you have two, you have three

(22:11):
guys that are not moving, and then you have Ryan
Hartman who can play center but can also play wing.
So if you think of it that way, You're Off
is probably the third line center. Now maybe you want
Hartman there, so now you might have to move year
off to wing, or he's just a scratch. I don't
think that they would completely healthy scratch him, but he's

(22:32):
probably going to start the year in a little bit
of a smaller role. But they do believe in you're
off a lot, and he's he's a bigger guy, bigger center,
and has proven to be to pick up points in
the KHL. He even broke Tarasenko's KHL record. I think
he was for twenty one year old. So he's proven
that he can pick up points in that league. And
I know that they're they're definitely going to give him

(22:54):
a chance to show his game at the NHL level,
but it's probably going to start in a little bit
of a lesser role.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
The shift of the blue line. And it's a fascinating
mix here because there's the young guys, there's the older
guys who maybe aren't quite the stars anymore. We'll start
with Jared Spurgeon, though if you were in this year's
NHL draft, it seems like he would have had a
hard time. You have to go to the end of
the third round with Cam Schmidt to find a defenseman

(23:25):
drafted who is as short as Spurgeon is listed five
to nine. Of course, the first time Spurgeon went in
the sixth round, so he has beaten the odds before.
I guess you wouldn't want to count him out. But
this krusty Vett, who was born in the nineteen eighties,
which I can't believe is now old in this society
since I was born in the seventies. He remains a
steady presence for the team. The toughness is there. My

(23:47):
guy took a puck to the throat in April, and
while he missed a little time, he was back in
the playoffs in April, playing over twenty eight minutes one game.
Is Jared Spurgeon, who scored thirty two points this year
in sixty six games on a unch minutes next year
and could he bounce back to a full season of
half point per game type.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
Production, Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 5 (24:08):
If you look at right shot defenseman on this team,
you obviously have Spurgeon favor Bogosian in your check. I
know they're going to give your check a chance and
want him like you're off to or like Ogren to
decide the minutes. He's making and playing. But if you
look at Spurgeon, it's hard not to continue to play

(24:29):
him as much as they have. Like, he's proven every
year to be one of the best defensive defenders in
the entire NHL, and he battled the injuries again after
a really injury riddled season two years ago. But the
type of player he is, I know he'll warrant the
amount of minutes that he had last year again this year.
He even got shifted to top power play towards the

(24:50):
end of the season just because the Wild felt they
wanted someone with a little more experience in Spurgeon instead
of favor with Buyam coming in, that top power play
spot is probably up for grabs between the three of them,
but I would say spurgeon minutes will likely still be
around the same, So you're looking at him being probably
another thirty to forty points defense went for the Wild

(25:12):
on the second pair, first pair, whatever it is. So
he'll continue to be the Jared Spurgeon that he is
every single season. And the only way that isn't the
case is if his injuries. Yeah, I would expect more
of the same from the Wild captain.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
All right, And I get to ask you about one
of my favorite players, the guy I think who should
have been the first defenseman taken in the draft last year,
but Zebe William did go twelfth overall. The Wild signed
him after completing his season with Denver and went straight
from the Frozen Four to the inn HL Playoffs, which
is a pretty big leap. He had one assist in
four games. There were definitely moments where he showed some

(25:51):
great skill and poise, and then there were definitely times
where it didn't look so great. In the series against Vegas,
he was definitely playing a limited role, but he did
have some time on the power play, which was nice
to see. So, Dylan, what do you think is William's
role is going to be next season? And will he
managed to hold some top power play time with Minnesota
And can he come anywhere close to what Lane Hudson

(26:12):
did this past season.

Speaker 5 (26:14):
Yeah, I think in terms of a role, he's going
to start on the bottom pair, whether that's with Bogosion
or with your check. But Jonas Brodein might miss some
time to start the season, and if that's the case,
then Bulliam is likely going to get an elevated rule
to start the year. And if he takes that and
runs with it, then maybe he sticks in more minutes
this for the next season. But he's definitely in the

(26:37):
running to run the power play and I know, playing
third pair, his minutes might be a little lower, but
if he's playing power play time, that's extremely valuable. And
he even played power play time in the playoffs, so
that just shows that they trust him there. They trust
his offensive ability, and he obviously proved to have those
flashes and his assist came on the power play his

(26:58):
only point in the playoffs. So he's an important player
for this team to take a stride and help push them.
He's definitely a fantasy player that I would want to have.
I would say that it's a big year for him.
It's his first year. I don't know if he's going
to put up sixty points like Lane Hudson, the type
of player he is.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
It also wouldn't shock me if he proves to do that.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
Nice all right, let me give you a points pick
him now between the other defensemen, maybe a bit surprising,
but Jonas Burdein and brock Favor. Some people might be
surprised to learn that Jonas burdeen had a better point
pace than brock Favor did last season. He also had
much better defensive and offensive metrics. In favor, Favor played
twenty eight more games against tougher competition, so there has

(27:43):
to be that caveat. But Craver's underlying metrics took a
nose dive of this season. They were really quite poor defensively,
and his offensive metrics were they expected. Numbers were good,
but the results weren't that great. And so what do
you think, Dylan, between these two depth defensive scorers, but
who do you think will get more between Rodein in Favor.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
I would go back to Favor. He admitted at the
end of the season that he wants to be better.
He had obviously such a great rookie season, and I
think there's a lot of pressure on him coming into
the season. But he also his minutes jumped. The Wild
were playing him and in an extremely important role, like
he was playing against everyone's best. He was on the
ice all the time, and there was a time during

(28:24):
last year that you could see fatigue catch up to him.
But the Wild obviously saw that and they know that
next year they might have to be a little more
careful with him. But he's still such a good young defenseman,
and in terms of the offensive ability between the two,
Favor obviously has that over Brodein. You mentioned the analytics,
they did take a huge nose dive, But if you

(28:46):
think back to his rookie season and just the pedigree
of this player and what he's done before, it would
not surprise me if he can get back to being
a forty point defenseman. And obviously there's still a chance
for him to run the power play. They don't really
have a full number one guy consensus to run the
power play. There's a lot of guys that'll be in

(29:07):
the mix the season, and favors one of them because
he's done it before. So if you just look at
those sides of things, I would take Favor over Brodin.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Sounds good. Let's move over to the goalies. The Wilder
ranked third and expected goals against per sixty, but conceded
the fifteenth rank actual goals per sixty. Definitely affected, definitely
influenced by their main goalie and also their backups. Flurry
is not going to be back this season as he's retired.
He was definitely quite a bit below expected, But focusing

(29:39):
on Gustavsen, he had ten point eight five goals save
above expected in a delta Fenwick of point four two,
which was really quite good overall. And he's in the
last year of a three point seventy five million dollars contract,
and as I can far as I can tell, they
don't have another option right now other than having j
justper Walsaid as their option. So do you think that's
how they're going to roll with Gus getting most of

(30:00):
the starts, in Walstead maybe getting twenty to thirty, And
how do you think they can perform this season?

Speaker 5 (30:07):
Yeah, it's going to be heavily favored for Gus Lison
this season. He played in fifty eight last year and
you're talking about a guy that's likely going to get
over sixty this season. But Walstead is the backup. I
know he struggled a lot last year in the AHL,
obviously not the numbers that he wanted, but the wild
Still they still do believe in him.

Speaker 4 (30:28):
And they want to give him a chance.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
So I think you're going to start the season with
Gus as the starter and Walstead's there to be the backup.
And they also signed Cal Peterson, a guy who's played
in the NHL before and has had decent numbers. He
struggled the last few years, but he's there as an
insurance whether one of the two gets hurt or Walstead struggles.
But they're definitely entering the season with those two. And

(30:52):
it's important for Gus to be the goalie that he
was last year, because what he was two years ago
was not very good. The season before or that he
was phenomenal as well, the type of goalie he is,
the Wild need him to get back to being consistent,
and if he is, it'll propel this team to the playoffs.
Last year, we were talking about him being the MVP

(31:12):
of this Wild team just because the way he played,
he was stealing games. He was getting back to the
goalie that they saw two years ago. He obviously struggled,
and then he bounced back last year and was fantastic again.
So I know there's no doubt that he can do
it again, and I know the Wild believe in him,
just like they do in Lawstead. But they do feel

(31:33):
that they have a good young goalie tandem, and Gus
is in the last year of his deal as well,
so there's something to prove that he can get back
to being that guy and being a consistent goalie and
putting back to back good seasons together. So I would
expect another really good season for Gustison.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
This has been a great tour around the Minnesota Wild. Dylan,
why didn't you let us know how people should keep
up with your work?

Speaker 4 (32:00):
Yeah, I appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (32:01):
I guess just Twitter at Dylan Luks for as the
handle and then the Hockey News Minnesota Wild page.

Speaker 4 (32:07):
You can find all news and stories over there.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Awesome. Thanks so much for coming on and talking with
us about the Wild.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
Dylan appreciate it. Thank you guys, Victor.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
There is something else we got to talk about. Don't
we have something special to give to the listeners.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
That's right, Jesse Dauber Hockey has generously given us a
couple of free copies of their amazing fantasy hockey guide.
It's the Bible. It's the best fantasy hockey guide out there,
and we're gonna give it away to some of our listeners.
All you need to do is leave us a recent
from the time you hear this five star review on
apple Pad Podcasts or the podcast app of your choice,

(32:48):
and then send it to me Victor, a screenshot with
your name or a way to identify you and your
most recent five star review, otherwise I don't have a
way to track who it was. And then we'll select
a couple of the win from all those who enter
and get you your guide Wolf.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Since then that's good fire, Pat Top Oh my goodness,
who long with a cat?

Speaker 1 (33:17):
What Gram?

Speaker 2 (33:22):
Now it's your wingley goalie talk with Kat Silverman, Kat's Instincts.

Speaker 6 (33:27):
Time once again for Kat's Instincts.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
With Kat's Silverman and ngol mag we're talking Minnesota Wild goalie,
which means we get to talk about one of our
favorite goalies. And that's just for Walstett. Wilstett was taken
twentieth overall back in twenty twenty one. I famously said
he should have gone earlier, but he did go fairly early.
First round six three two h fourteen pounds is where
he's at. Two decent HL seasons, although this past season

(33:52):
wasn't that great in the AHL, and he did get
into two NHL games which went pretty poorly. I'm starting
to get officially a little bit worried about him, Kat,
but he's still my guy and I still believe in him.
It seems like the Wild believe in him a bit too.
Because it seems like he's going to see some NHL
action this season. What are you thinking about Whilstet, What
do your instincts tell you about Jasper.

Speaker 7 (34:15):
Uh I think he's probably going to be the most
important goaltender to watch this year, specifically because, like you said,
he had really good numbers his first couple of years there,
he looked like a guy who was ready to jump
directly into North American pro hockey, and then he just
really struggled last year, and it didn't seem it was

(34:38):
necessarily exclusively related to injuries or just their depth charts
a little wonky, just because of their kind of transition.
They're not using only old goalies, they're not using just
their young crop. But Whilst that was one of the
few goaltenders who spoke really candidly about for lack of

(34:59):
a way to say without mincing words like I sucked.
He did some interviews last year where he said it like,
when I was looking up his highlights, I was trying
to figure out what went wrong, because it looked like
everything was off by a half second, and it looked
like his technique hadn't just completely blown itself up. He
just everything looked a little wrong, and I found an

(35:20):
interview with him where he said that it was like
he'd forgotten how to play hockey and something had just
misfired for him with his technique, and that he got
a chance to be set and climb his way back,
and that he's looking forward to getting a chance to
take this sort of reset to his game and build

(35:42):
upon it. And that's something that obviously no player is
going to be like I forgot how to play hockey
and I still don't really remember. So it's not like
I think he's our most exciting guaranteed prospect for next year.
But I do think that if he did manage to
identify whether was working with like an off ice sports psychologist,

(36:03):
if it was working with the conditioning trainers, even if
it was working with the goalie coach and just almost
stripping away what he was working on and then rebuilding
it back, clearly he identified as well and acknowledged that
something went very wrong, and that's usually a reassuring.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Do or die if that makes sense.

Speaker 7 (36:22):
Where if he identified that something went wrong, he's able
to really identify that he needed to work on his
technique a little bit, he needed to work on his timing,
and if he was able to do that, then I
think we're in good shape. If he was not able
to do that, I think we're in big trouble because

(36:42):
that can be really hard for a guy to shake
when they don't have the chance to do it without
any pressure. And for all intents and purposes, he is
who the Wild have pinned a lot of their future
hopes on. So for him, he needs to start this year,
needs to hit the ground running because in the past
he's been just so consistent and solid where you watched

(37:04):
him play and you knew that he was going to
hit his marks, he wasn't going to over commit to things,
he wasn't going to be too slow, and seeing his
timing off just felt really weird. So I think if
we see more of that to start the season, and
we're in trouble. But I think we'll know within the
first month if he's going to be okay. And if

(37:27):
he is okay, I think he's going to be ready
for full time NHL action.

Speaker 6 (37:32):
I am ready for it.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
I think the Wild are too, because they have Gustavsson
and Whilstead as their tandem, so I'm sure Gustin Sin
will get most of the starts and hopefully they'll ease
in Wilstead and not.

Speaker 6 (37:43):
Throw him to the wolves. So it seems like a
pretty good situation.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
They can speak the same language, and hopefully Gusts can
be a bit of a mentor to him.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
So I'm optimistic.

Speaker 7 (37:50):
Kat I do think that I was going to say,
I do think that Gustosen is someone who is able
to really talk with him about that's a good goaltender
to have in your corner as your sort of quote
unquote senior tandem partner if you are going through a
little bit of a aggression slump, because we have seen
gust Offson statistically at least take a few ups and downs,

(38:15):
so that is someone who's able to help him bounce back.
Because I do think that Gustavsen in the past has
been able to take a little slump, take a little
bit of a technical anomaly where you watch him play
and you're like, that's not what you look like, and
shake it off pretty consistently, and having someone in the
tandem who's able to do that, I think is extremely valuable.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
Indeed, let's talk about their other young goalie, Chase what Ski,
which might be one of the best last name for
any hockey player like what Upski?

Speaker 6 (38:50):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
It just seems like there's plenty of plenty of good
vibes there. I don't know the kid at all, but
he's sixty to two hundred and sixty one pounds draft
in the fifth round in twenty twenty four, finish his
second WHL season with the Red Deal Rebels, and his
numb get a little worse. His hockey prospecting equivalency is
stagnant at twenty four percent. There aren't a whole lot
of great comps at this level other than guys that

(39:11):
completely defied the odds like Corey Crawford and cam Ward.
But Lauren brossois someone he might look a little bit alike.
Wo ended up being an average starter. So, Kat, what
are you interstincts? Tell us about what Ski?

Speaker 7 (39:22):
I think it's really fun seeing Lauren besois. Is that
one of the top comps for him, just because sometimes
when we see the comps from a statistical standpoint, you're like,
those are two guys who look and play nothing like
each other. But I do think that what Ski is
on paper, he's much lighter than Lauren Buswah, but he

(39:44):
plays a very similar game where he relies on, at
least at the moment, because he is still pretty young.
He relies on using his extremities, using his limbs to
really make sure that he's covering as much space as
possible without over committing mobility wise, he doesn't come out
to challenge too far, he doesn't overslide past his posts.

(40:07):
He's got really good angles when he's down in reverse
VH when he's sliding across the net. I've enjoyed watching
what I've seen of him so far, but he also
looks really really young, Like when I mentioned that he
is smaller than Lauren Besois. Obviously, every heightened weight statistic
that we see on the internet for professional hockey players

(40:29):
is totally fake. There is a fifteen to twenty pound
window that we sometimes see for these guys. But he
is listed at sixty two and one sixty one. Laurynbasa
is sixty three. That's only an inch taller than two
hundred pounds. I think, what Ski. I don't know if
he's missing forty pounds of muscle, but he is missing
a significant chunk. So for him, biggest thing is going

(40:51):
to be that physical development, and I think that's what
we saw last year when we saw his numbers take
a dip, when he almost doubled his workload. Because he did,
he went from playing I think it was thirty something
games for Red Deer two. Yeah, I was thirty six
in his first full season of WHL hockey. Second year
he played fifty And so I think that we saw it.

(41:12):
We saw that conditioning level when a player just doesn't
have that physical strength to get through it stamina wi
That's that's what we saw from him. So this will
be a year where we see if he manages to
do a little bit more of the physical conditioning without
losing that kind of fun spark that he has to
his game. Right now, he's not my favorite prospect to watch, like,

(41:34):
He's not someone that I would start edging wall Set
out of the way for. But he is a good
player for them to have waiting in the wings, which
I don't like that they need to have someone waiting
in the wings, but I think maybe they do. So
it's nice to know that he's there and that he's
not a long term project for them, per se.

Speaker 6 (41:57):
It's Wall said, or we're all going down with this ship.
That's what I'm saying. Sorry, Chase. No, that's good.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
Thanks kath Giving forgive me as your instincts on the
Minnesota Wild goalies.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
Will be back right after this Dig the Dynasty Dig
Minnesota Edition, Victor. These guys are your number four system

(42:29):
in the NHL. Not too bad, not too shabby for
a playoff team, and we're going to talk about some
real cool players today. Starts with your no brainer.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
This is a true no brainer. Some of these teams
have a sort of soft no brainer or like a
week the best of what's there but not here. Minnesota
zeb Buyam is our no brainer. He is an elite
defenseman and definitely one that I'm super excited about to
already have seen some NHL action. If I just want

(42:59):
to look up my defenseman ranks, I have him number
four as all prospect defenders, So that's pretty awesome. Twenty
twenty four to twelfth overall pick. I still maintained that
he should have been the first defense went off the board.

Speaker 6 (43:11):
He was the last of the main.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
Six in that draft. Six foot, one hundred and eighty
five pounds, he had his second straight strong season at Denver.
He was well over a point per game, as he
was in the previous season.

Speaker 6 (43:26):
The guy's just a stud.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
He also was on that back to back World Junior
winning gold winning team for the US six points in
seven games. He also went over to the World Championship
and played with men, and he joined the Wild at
the in their playoff series, which was hit miss and
there were some really good moments. There were some nots
of good moments, but you would expect that coming from

(43:48):
the Frozen Fours, a pretty high level of competition, but
the NHL playoffs are several steps above that, so it
was a bit. It was a bit rough, but he
did get his first NHL assist, so that's cool. Looking
at the tracking data for zeb William, you can see
that all it's all blue like he's just pretty much
good at everything. The only thing that's maybe a little

(44:08):
bit lower is he's not the biggest shooter, and some
of his retrievals aren't as good, and some of his
physicality could be improved, but all in all, he's fantastic.
His FHL player card eight point sixty five is what
I have him at. You can see from the BASH
data and the FHL player cards that he doesn't really
shoot that much. He also doesn't really hit that much.

(44:29):
He's eightieth percentile for shots, fiftieth for hits, and twentieth
for blocks, so that gives him a bash of fortieth percentile.
He actually does take a fair amount of penalties, though,
so if you like that sort of thing, that does
help you. I guess let's hear a little bit more
about what makes Zee William the player he is from
reftel Scout.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Well Victor FHL Scout Jeremy has this to say. William
is a very slick skater. Moves at a high pace,
great lateral mobility, great opening up lanes with head or
shoulder fakes. Elusive skating. Can get himself into trouble at
times defensively because he's always on the move even if
drifts him out of position a bit. Passing and handling

(45:09):
top notch not great hand eye can do so at
high speed though This will be a strength of his
game when combined with his skating ability. Shooting well, jeremy'ld
like to see William shoot the puck more really watched
him pass up opportunities. In the NHL website only has
him with two shots and four games played. Granted those
were thirteen minutes a night in a playoff environment. As

(45:30):
with many pass versus d adding a shot to his
arsenal could make his passing more effective. His offensive IQ
is quite positive, able to see plays develop, create opportunities,
great power play one and quarterback skill set. Defensively, Jeremy
finds him puck watching and drifting a bit much. There
were definitely multiple instances of what is he doing there

(45:51):
in the defensive zone and in transition. He's also almost
too aggressive at trying to skate the puck. He has
the skills to beat guys one on one often, but
the risk of exposing his team to an odd man
break should temper this habit. Defense stick on puck defense
quite good, plays the body well for a smaller, younger guy.
Still has room to improve, so the best asset was

(46:13):
the footwork agility. The biggest concern overlay aggressive on the
offensive side. Top tier outcome, top five D in the league.
If he improves his offense defensive game, he'll be rewarded
with twenty five plus minutes a night, and then the
offense will really shine. He has all the skill sets
of the top tier young defenseman today the median outcome

(46:33):
top four power play D. He could lose minutes if
he can't be trusted defensively, Jeremy thinks his offense will
keep him on a team for a long time, like Klingberg,
Barry or Ghost of Spare. He's got more skills than
those guys, plenty of opportunities to prove his defense. So
the stylistic comparable Lane Hudson and overall, Jeremy wuld love
to see Minnesota hand in power Play one in top

(46:55):
four minutes next year to iron out the Kings in
his game. Doesn't think he has anything to learn or
prove at the E level. Mason Black put out the
poll and it's the Z squad Ze Bulliam, Zane Perrek Boom.
That's a heavyweight matchup, and Bullyum comes out ahead fifty
two to forty eight percent victor.

Speaker 6 (47:14):
What do you think?

Speaker 3 (47:16):
I think Mason's I'm messing around, that's for sure. He's
putting these two together. This is a heavyweight out. Obviously
you want both of these guys. I think who you
choose might depend a little bit on the what league
you're in and what are the stats that are counted,
because there is a little bit of difference here in
terms of Bullam. If it's a league like the Tidy

(47:36):
where you're counting time on ice, you're counting takeaways, you're
counting play driving and all of that, and I'll getting
all the minutes and the priffs is going to be valuable,
then I'm taking Billiam for sure. I think he's the
better real life player. PreK has more points upside, I
think his defense is going to be good enough, and
he's definitely going to run the power play. The question

(47:57):
is is he a top line number one d I
don't think so. So then is he a second pairing
or maybe a worse third pairing, top power play kind
of guy. So his value is a little bit more
tenuous there in that sense. But if you're mainly just
looking at points, then you're forst I think you're taking Perek.
The bash isn't is better for Prerek, but not that

(48:18):
much better. He just shoots a little bit more than Bullyam,
but the rest of it isn't really there. He does
probably take more pims than Bullium, but the hits and
blocks are also pretty minimal. So yeah, I don't think
you can go wrong. I think it might depend slightly
on your league. I prefer Bulliam as an all around
complete player. But if I'm playing in a league that's
more points heavy than I'm taking PreK and also thinking

(48:38):
like contract wise, Bulliam's type tends to get paid more
just in terms of being number one all around kind
of guy, whereas Perk's player type probably a little less
expensive on the market. So there there might be a
little bit of a bargain there in terms of fantasy leagues.
Looking at the hockey prospecting between these two, it's pretty

(49:01):
fantastic in terms of the percentage. Is eighty six percent
for Billiam, Perrek ninety two percent, So you're splitting hairs
there in terms of who's more valuable. Both pretty much
locks to be NHL ers. Looking at the FHL player
card for Perrek, eight point eight nine is what I
have him at and I have Billiam at eight point
sixty five. But again it might just depend a little

(49:22):
bit on the type of league that you're in. And
I went over some of his bachel already William's other comps.
I mean, he actually looks a heck of a lot
like Quinn Hughes in this model, which obviously would be
an amazing outcome. Brian Leach, Brian Barrard Chris Pronger, are
other guys. Basically all of his comps are like superstars
in Hall of Famers, So it's pretty likely he's going

(49:45):
to be up there looking at the top down hockey
model seventy five percent chance of being a star, one
hundred percent chance of being an NHLer. So yeah, I
think he's pretty looking, pretty amazing.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
And Victor next the need to know prospect? Who is it?

Speaker 3 (50:03):
This would be none other than Danila. You're off the
man who famously allowed me to make the pun Jesse
or off your rocker. But it turns out that you
had a good idea that he was going to be good,
because he has turned out to be pretty productive in
the KHL. He was a twenty twenty two to twenty
fourth overall pick six one hundred and seventy six pounds.

(50:24):
The production took a small step back this year, but
part of that is because he said that this was
going to be his last year in the KHL, and
oftentimes we know that when players do that, they get
their ice time and opportunity limited, and that's what happened.
So he did have some pretty fantastic production the year before,

(50:45):
and I do think he can get back to that
level once he gets the right opportunity, and he is
expected to be in the NHL this upcoming season, so
that'll be really fun to see. Looking at his FHL
player card, I have him at a six point five
to five, so just over that fifty percent thresh mark
of being a six, and the shots are pretty high
one hundred percentile. The hits and blocks are also above average,

(51:08):
so his bash should be really strong. So even if
you don't have all that opportunity given to him and
all the production immediately in the NHL, you have a
nice peripheral floor to go from, which is always super
super helpful when you're waiting on these prospects to develop.
So I think he's most likely going to be on

(51:28):
the third line, but maybe he gets a second line
opportunity and he might be able to run with it.
There's not there's huge names blocking him. Certainly he's not
going to take capriceoff Rossi or Boldie's spot. Maybe Tershenko
goes down to the third line and maybe he gets
pumped up there. So we'll see exactly what happens. But
I'm really excited for You're off now that he's going

(51:50):
to be in the NHL, and we'll see what else
is exciting about. You're off from our FHL scout Jesse.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
And it's Jeremy. He says, you're off. Skating is average
low wide, great for strength and on the puck and edgework,
but acceleration and agility isn't great. Passing and handling, Smart's
passer and stickhandler likes to simplify the game. Doesn't go
after defenders one on one, but he can slow the
tempo and find openings with his vision, impatience the shooting.

(52:17):
It's a high end shot, quick release, strong one timer.
Jeremy thinks he'll be dangerous from all areas in the
offensive zone. The vision and anticipation is the best trade here.
Seems to always find the right place to be on
both offense and defense. One of the most mature prospects
and positionally sound prospects, Jeremy says he's ever watched, although

(52:38):
he sees him more as a wing than a center
for checking. Not particularly aggressive in that area, but strong
on his skates, can create chances when put in the position.
Defense responsible defensively, too, has good positioning instincts, strong on
his stick and with his body, Jeremy prefer to see
him deployed it in a more offensive minded role, but
he can do the dirty work if so. The best

(53:01):
asset was that hockey iq. The biggest concern not a
lot of offensive flash, good vision, handles, above average shot,
but not dynamic the way today's superstars are. Big tier
the top tier potential here, top line forward point per game.
That's because he's got all the talent in the world
and could evolve into a force with a bit more time,

(53:21):
the median outcome, middle six secondary scorer with some power
play one time. That's because if he doesn't show elite skills,
he may be more of a secondary player in the NHL,
reliant on good line mates or relegated to more defensive roles.
Stylistic comparable Austin Matthews with less offensive talent, Victor, I
am also Austin Matthews with less defensive talent. Just significantly Yeah,

(53:44):
it's just significantly less than Danilla eurof You and I
did it, Victor, we did it. Oh and Mason Black,
the NHL rank King made a comparison Danilla Europ versus
Cole Eiserman. I profer to be a little bit surprised.
Eure Off wins only fifty four to forty six percent

(54:04):
over Isserman. It's that US bias. What do you think
about that comparison.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
Yeah, I'm a little surprised by that too. I think
that yes, Cole Eiserman has had more fanfare, more talked about.
He's scored a lot of goals, He's starred internationally for
Team USA, all of that. But I could not agree
more with what Jeremy said. All of the questions that
surround Iserman's off puck play are not going to be
the case for year off. I also agree with him

(54:32):
that he's more of a winger than a center, even
though a two way center like Matt Boldie who probably
could drive his own line and doesn't require the same
kind of center. But I don't know that he'll be
able to be a center. They sounds like they're going
to try him down the middle and maybe he'll be
able to do it, But I think that's too much
pressure for the young man jumping into the NHL. So
I hope they give him a shot on the wing.

(54:53):
But all of those things that you're Off is good at,
Iserman struggles and I would definitely rather take your I'm
I agree It probably should be a little bit more
separation there, because even though Izerman's an excellent scorer, there's
all those other things about his game, and I don't
think that You're off scoring is that far off. He's
a much better playmaker than Iserman. Of course his shot

(55:14):
and is good, but then who's is But he creates
offense in better, more sustainable NHL quality ways than does Iiserman.
So I'm definitely taking You're off. Looking at the hockey
prospecting between the two year, off started at sixty one percent.
He's trended down a little bit, but I also explained
why this year's production was so much lower. I think
he definitely deserves more than that. It was just a

(55:37):
construct of the situation there in Russia for him. Ierman
started at seventy two percent chance of being a star,
as trended down to fifty eight percent, so still very high.
Looking at the FHL player card for Cole Eiserman, six
point sixty three is what I have him at, which
is a little bit higher than then You're off. But

(55:57):
again context and nuance is important here, and I do
think that You're Off is a little bit more well rounded,
and I just like that security of him being able
to integrate into the lineup and stay in the lineup
and stay in the coaches good graces, a little bit
better looking at some other comps fer a year off,
there's one here where he looks somewhat like Alexis Lafarnier.

(56:20):
Not necessarily play style, but I think that upside that
we've seen from Lafarrenier is at least what you're off
can get to. So I like that looking at the
j fresh Car thirteen percent chance of being a star,
ninety four percent chance of being an NHLer, So that's
pretty pretty much a lot, and we're going to see it.
We're going to see it this year.

Speaker 6 (56:37):
Jesse. I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Outstanding and Victor. This has got to be one of
the better keep your eye on prospects that we're going
to discuss in this season. Who is it?

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Yeah, this is going to be Riley Heyite twenty twenty three,
sixty fourth overall pick five to eleven, one hundred and
seventy nine pounds. He had his third straight dominant WHL
season for the Prince Ku Prince George Couger's He's the
captain this year after wearing an a the last two seasons,
and his production went down a little bit from the
previous season. The Cougars weren't exactly as good as they

(57:10):
were last season, but he still had ninety points in
sixty games, which is pretty fantastic. Looking at Mitch Brown's
tracking data, you can see that what Height is really
good at is his expected primary assists, his shot assists,
his slot passes, his playmaking, essentially his elite A lot
of his transition numbers are also really good. The one
area that still continues to be not great is his defense,

(57:31):
and that continues to be a problem and will affect
his translatability. I would say, looking at the FHL player card,
six point seven eight is what I have him at.
The scoring is elite for the WHL the shots he
doesn't shoot that much. That's a big problem. I guess
I didn't mention that his expected goals and shots per
sixty are very low in Mitch's tracking data, and you

(57:51):
can see that in our metrics as well. Seventy eight
percent tile, which is really for an elite prospect. You
want that should be a ten, It should be one hundred.
Hits for Height are fortieth percentile blocks or sixties percent out,
so his bash figures to be just average. He does
take a lot of penalties, so if you like that,
there you go. Let's hear a little bit more about
height though. From our Rachel scout.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Jesse Jeremy has this to say, an average to above
average skater, not going to blow anyone away, but it
won't hold him back passing and handling, very good patients
with the puck as well. Has the tools to be
a good playmaking center. Shooting the SHOT's fine, but nothing impressive.
Jeremy'd like to see him use it more. Suspects he'll
be more of a playmaker and opportunity opportune finisher than

(58:35):
a goal scorer. The IQ is high end good positionally
on both sides of the puck, uses that to create
space or break up plays strong four checker for someone
his age. He tirelessly chases down guys and creates chaos
with a body's check or a stick lift. The defense
is very good too, strong on his man in front
of the net and in corners despite his smaller stature.

(58:57):
So the best asset was the hockey IQ and envision.
The biggest concernless offensive skills. They're not eye popping the
top tier outcome two s secondary power play one piece.
If that offense blossoms, he could be a nice secondary scorer.
But he thinks he'll take the hard minutes, so Jeremy
thinks that might cap his upside. He should see ice
in all situations. Expects him to be playing twenty plus

(59:20):
minutes a night in his prime if he develops well.
The median outcome bottom six center, PK, face off defensive
specialist because his head and his work great will keep
him on teams for a long time. He's a near
lock to have an NHL career, but it may not
be offensively impressive or fantasy relevant in the average case
outcome stylistic comparable Yanni Gord with better hands, maybe Braden

(59:43):
Sheen with a higher end outcome. And the final thoughts,
Jeremy likes him a lot, just has a hard time
seeing a star there. He does think has got a
really good hockey IQ instinct's work ethic, so it'll probably
be a valuable glue piece on many teams. The NHL
Rankking put out the pole Riley height versus Nikita Artemanov,

(01:00:05):
and it looks to me like Artamanov wins fifty three
to forty seven percent, Victor, how about for you?

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
I do agree with Artamanov. I think that he's the
guy that I would want. I definitely still like the
appeal of height, and I think that he can probably
hit those heights that Jeremy mentioned, but I'm just not convinced.
I do have Artamanov as a much higher rank in
my puck stud list. I have him at a seven
point seven zero where I had Height at a six

(01:00:37):
point seven eight. So both very likely to hit their threshold.
But I like Artamanov more, as you can tell, and
part of that is because look at what Artamanov's done.
He's been in the KHL producing for the last two
seasons as a teenager, which is super impressive in a
professional league, meeting professional goalies standing up against that physicality.

(01:00:58):
He's got the high motor, he doesn't have as many
holes and other aspects of his game. So yeah, I
definitely just like him better. But I would certainly want
both these guys on my team. It's not like I
wouldn't want height or anything like that. Looking at the
p andhle between the two heights has gone down to
about sixty, whereas ur Toamanov has moved up to almost eighty,
so there's definitely a little bit of a difference there.

(01:01:20):
Height is started in the Hockey Prospecting Model at forty
two percent chance of being a star. He's trended down
to twenty eight percent. Or Tamanov started at forty two percent,
but it has gone up to sixty eight percent, So
definitely favors Ur Tamanof there. Looking at some other comps
for height, there's some interesting ones here, like Nazem Kadri
is one. I think a more reasonable one is Dylan Cousins,

(01:01:43):
who is also a WHL player. Some of his equivalencies
looked similar. Heights are actually a bit higher, but I
think there's similar concerns with the defensive effort. Cousins was
actually probably a step to ahead of Height in that area,
so I could see a somewhat similar outcome there to
Dylan Cousins and the Jay Fresh model eight percent chance

(01:02:04):
of being a star for h forty nine percent chance
of being an NHL aer, So I always a little
bit more pessimistic there. That's it for the Minnesota Wild
dig If you're a patroon, you can listen to my
top ten prospect recaps per team on Patreon, and if
you're interested in doing any scouting with us, shoot me
a DM on Twitter, Discord, or email us.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
Victor. We will be right back. A reminder that our
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(01:04:58):
Victor edits at the Dabber prospect site. From time to
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(01:05:18):
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(01:05:39):
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Speaker 4 (01:05:44):
There.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
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Speaker 6 (01:06:05):
Yeah hm m mmmm

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Mm hmm