Fantasy Hockey Life Ep. 422 New York Rangers with Colin Stephenson

Colin Stephenson of Newsday is here to report on the New York Rangers. Jesse and Victor interview Colin about returning pros Artemi Panarin, JT Miller, Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, Gabe Perrault, Adam Fox, Scott Morrow, Vladislav Gavrikov, Igor Shesterkin, and Jonathan Quick. In Cat's Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag breaks down Dylan Garand and Callum Tang. In the Dynasty Dig, Victor breaks down Gabe Perrault, Scott Morrow, and Brennan Othmann with the help of scouting reports from FHL Scout X 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 shits,
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 locked block.

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

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Fantasy Hockey Live back once again. Jesse Severe Fan Tracks
and Victor Nunnoe the Fantasy Hockey Doctor. How are you
doing today, Victor?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm doing awesome. Jesse, Hey, happy to be here. How
are you doing, my friend? I'm doing good.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
I'm doing good. It's such summer. I'm thinking about hockey.
I'm thinking about the good folks who are getting out
there and enjoying a little bit of warm weather victory.
Do you think we'll ever have more countries get into
hockey that aren't into it now? Will China ever get
hard into hockey? With with with mister jesus a Shang
or Wang who just came in to how she Wang? Yeah,
who just came into the NHL? Or is France gonna

(00:59):
get past Texia who was here for a hot minute
and disappeared? Are they're gonna be some more countries that
get hard into hockey like Germany and Eastern Europe and
US and Russia.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Are I hope, so that would be fun. On One
of my favorite things about hockey and fantasy hockey is
how multinational it is. Certainly it is heavy North American,
but it is cool to see all the different flags
and all the different places people play, and how it
can bring us together. It's always a nice thing for me.
And I will say that if China ever really gets
really into this worst grade, because they just have so

(01:31):
many options, that might take them a while, but they
could probably ruin US over eventually if they really wanted to.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
They had. I thought they when they've posted an Olympics
and a Winter Olympics, I thought that they geared up
for these things and really spent years getting some elite
athletes in some of these sports, and they didn't really
do it on hockey. So I don't know what the
deal is there, but yeah, eventually one would think those things.
But like in basketball, France was nowhere and now suddenly
all the players are French and it's very difficult. It's

(01:58):
very confusing. Like a fifth of the sixth of the
first round or something was Refrenchmen this year, so it's
gotten out of control. In any event, Victor. Something that's
in control is our Fantasy Hockey Life discord. We keep
it in control. We keep it. We want it to
be a fun place. People have fun in there, and honestly,
I can think of one time in all the years
that we've had it that we had to tell people, hey,

(02:20):
cool down a little bit. Generally, it's a fun place
for people to be in talk fantasy hockey with other
people who really like it, Like somebody who's listening to
a fantasy hockey podcast in the middle of August, which
you are person listening or September. I'm not judging. You
could be listening to this in October. I don't care.
But regardless, I hope that people like it and they

(02:40):
can get in that Fantasy Hockey Life discord free by
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then you click and you're in and boom. But Victory,
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Speaker 3 (02:55):
What are they? Yeah, if you want to support the
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at Patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life being in
the tidy is one of the most fun things. The
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(03:16):
If there's an omni track where you can do that
and that happened last year, or that could be you again.
Right now, we're taking people on the wait list, and
there's usually some people who need to bow out for
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(03:37):
because every league is different and oftentimes people ask questions
should I take this guy or that guy or drop
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want at patrion dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life.

Speaker 5 (03:58):
We'll be right back with arms interview. Welcome me to
the show, Colin Stevenson of news Day, ready to talk
New York Rangers.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
How you doing today, Colin?

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Oh, I'm doing great. It's the middle of the summer
and training camp doesn't start for a little while yet,
and I'm getting my rest in on my relaxation time
in and I'll deal with the grind when it starts
back up again. How are you guys?

Speaker 4 (04:26):
It's August. There's no time better to think about cold
places like hockey than August, as far as I'm concerned.
Let me say just introducing this team boy, the Rangers.
I didn't see it coming. I don't know if anybody
else did. The Rangers went from two games from the
Stanley Cup Finals to fifth in the Metro in one year.
The afternoon of November twenty first, they were twelve four

(04:48):
and one this year, but by New Year's Day they
were sixteen nineteen and one, and about two weeks into
that run, captain Jacob Truba was sent to the West Coast.
They bought in the second hal half of anything and
called up some good prospects, but the special teams were
below average. They gave up a lot of shots against
and just generally things did not end well for the Rangers.

(05:09):
Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't see a ton
of games missed to injury, so that's not really it.
They add some players for the coming season we'll discuss,
and significantly a Stanley Cup winning coach, which is a
great coupe for this team. What happened with the Rangers
last year and will it happen again or is this
team ready to come back and play well again?

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah? What happened? Indeed, the simplest thing I can say
is two seasons ago they had a dream season where
everything went right, and last season they had a nightmare
season where it seemed like not a lot went right.
Two seasons ago you had, you had a new coach
in Peter Loviolette coming in and they bought into everything

(05:49):
he said and everything worked. Our Timmy Finair and had
a career year one hundred and twenty points playing with
Alexis Lafrenier. It looked like he had unlocked Lafrenier and
everything just went hunky dory. The only they didn't have
a couple of injuries they missed out and they lost
Adam Fox and Philip Heedle on the in the same game.

(06:11):
Fox missed ten games, title missed. The rest of the
seasons they did have. It's not like they didn't have adversity.
They had some adversity, but it seemed like just everything
went right. Their power play was off the charts good,
not just statistically putting up numbers, but timing of it,
huge goals. Many times they were down a goal late
in the third, they'd get a power play, they'd score,
they'd tie, they went in overtime, that kind of thing.

(06:32):
That was the kind of season they added in the
last year. It was almost the opposite. They were down
a goal late in the third, they get a power play,
and you say, okay, here we go. The power play
is going to bail them out, and it did. Things
went wrong. Now you have to remember too that I
think you mentioned Jacob Truba going and that was the
beginning of the dismantling of the team. And as they

(06:52):
were trying to do that, as Chris Drewy, the general manager,
was trying to remake the team on the fly during
the season. Maybe some didn't quite work out. But I
not to say it's all Drewry's fault or anything like that.
I just think that they had a dream season one
year and the next year they had a nightmare season,
and now we're going into a season that you would
think would be something coming back to the norm, and

(07:14):
they should be, especially with as you mentioned, Mike Sullivan
as their new coach. They should get a new coach
bump out of that. He's a great coach, and I
would think that they'll be They'll have a better season
than they did last year. I doubt that they'll have
as good as season as they did two years ago.
I don't know where they're headed, but i'd say that

(07:34):
they should be somewhere in between last year and the
year before.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Let's talk about that.
Aforementioned are Timmy Panair, and he was obviously unable to
replicate that one hundred and twenty point season he had
a couple of years ago, but given his surroundings and
everything that happens, still quite productive. His eighth straight point
per game plus season thirty seven goals, second best of
his career. The Rangers' power play was not great. They

(07:58):
finished fifth worst seventeen point six percent, which led to
an eighteen point drop in his power play production, and
that's that almost explains all of it right there, But
of course there's a little dip beyond that. The bash
has never really been Paneren stayings the block shots and hits.
He only gets about three point three one per game,
ranks four hundred and tenth. But Colin, heading into his
age thirty four season, do you think Paneren can continue

(08:21):
above point per game and any chance he can get
back too close to one hundred?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I mean, as a matter of fact, I do.
I do think that he'll He's been consistent since he
got here. The one hundred and twenty point season obviously
was a peak, but generally he's He's a ninety ninety
plus point guy. Last season eighty nine and eighty games,
maybe a little bit off that around that, and I
would expect him to be the same kind of player.

(08:48):
He is not the player stylistically, He's not like a
guy that relies on super speed or anything like that.
He's a guy. He's a cerebral player, and I think
that he sees things, he sees the ice in a
certain way, and if he has players to play with,
good players to play with, I think he'll be fine.
The other thing that you need to consider as well,
is that this is a contract year for him. This

(09:09):
is the final year of his contract, so he will
be incentivized I think to have a good year because
he's gonna have to sign a new contract for next
year and he's going to be incentivized. Not that I
think he's the kind of guy that would, you know,
I don't know how much better he can be. Necessarily
one hundred and twenty points. I think I don't expect
him to get back to that, but but I think

(09:30):
he should be as you say, should be ninety plus points,
maybe mid nineties points. I think he's gonna I think
he's gonna be as good as he always is. I
really do.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
JT.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
Miller is the next guy to discuss. The Rangers brought
back a familiar face to the team at the end
of January from a Vancouver team that also had a
bit of a backslide last year. Miller topped a point
per game with thirteen goals, twenty two assists thirty five
points in his thirty two games in blue, two shots
a game, over two hits per game, and stats loved

(10:01):
to see even strength offense, but as we said, penalty
kill not so much. Miller's got several years to go
at eight million per but seems like a great guy
to have on your side. Fantasy types tend to value
his mix of stats very highly because he can produce
in all kinds of stat categories. Last year, it appears
he was going to be second line minutes wise with

(10:21):
Zabanijad rather than on the top minutes line. But what
is Miller going to be on the twenty five to
twenty six Rangers.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
I think that I think he'll be in the first
line center, and the question will be not so much
about him, it'll be Zavanajad and where he ends up playing.
As you remember when they got Miller, they got him
on January thirty. First, they played a game the next
day and Laviolette decided he wanted to put zavantage Add.

(10:50):
Rather than put zavantage Add on the third line, he
put him on a movement the right wing and played
him with JT. Miller, And that seemed to work out
really well actually, And so that's led to look, the
question all summer has been where is the Vantajead gonna play?
Is he gonna play right wing with J. T. Miller
or is he gonna center his own line? And with
if J T. Miller is your first line center, and

(11:10):
then you have Zabanajad and Vincent Trochick because the other
center savanaja Ads make a eight point five million. Can
he really be a third line center at that price point?
Or is he the second line center and then Trochick
drops down to third line center. I don't know necessarily
how that's gonna play out. We'll see what happens when
training camp starts, and we'll see how Mike Sullivan chooses
to deploy them. I suspect that Savana Jad's gonna move

(11:33):
back to center just based on the moves that Chris
Drury did or didn't make in the summer in terms
of players that he acquired. He went out and got
got a right wing or I'm sorry, he got a
winger in Taylor Radish and he didn't get a centerman.
But if he didn't get a centerman, and if Savanahjad's
a winger, then that means Savanajad is playing on the

(11:53):
right wing. JT. Miller and Vincent Trochik, you're a top
two centers, and then you're looking at somebody along the
lines of Parsonen as your third line center. And I'm
not sure that the Rangers are necessarily going to be
a better team with Parson as the third lines and
or Johnny Brodzinski. Right, these guys are guys that we're
not necessarily sure that you want them to be your

(12:14):
full time third line center. So based on who he drewid,
did or didn't get, my suspicion is we'll seez the
vantage add start out at least as a centerman, and
they'll go with those three centers in some order, Miller's advantage,
Ad and Trocheck. But of course we don't know that
until training camp starts and we see probably he's gonna
look at both possibilities, I would imagine, and we'll figure

(12:37):
that out. But as far as J. T. Miller goes
he'll be the number one center, He'll do what he does,
which is he'll be, as you say, a point of
game or a point of game plus player. And he
adds not from a fantasy perspective, I mean, it's all
about the numbers. In terms of the actual team. He
adds a little bit of a different personality to that
locker room than they had previously had. He's a bit

(12:58):
of a prickly guys. It was just not necessarily the
Kumbaya kind of guy in the locker room. You need
all kinds, and you need all kinds of a mix
and such, and you gotta remember too, the Rangers lineup
has changed, has changed drastically since that game six of
against Florida, which wasn't that long ago. It was June

(13:21):
first of twenty twenty four, which is what fourteen months now.
And I looked it up and if you look at
the lineup from that night, of the twenty players that
were dressed that night, ten of them are no longer
on the team. And Jimmy VC wasn't dressed that night
because he was injured. He's gone too, so it's really
eleven of twenty one. And you can even drill down
even further. Both goalies are back, so it's really ten
of eighteen skaters that are no longer on the team

(13:43):
from that night. They've changed the team pretty significantly, and
that I think is what kind of makes them interesting
because I don't necessarily know exactly what to expect. I
think they'll be pretty good, but it's a new group
really to me.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Let's dig a little bit further into a couple of
those depth centers, those that amazing depth of centerman that
this team has with Meka's Abanajad. He did play, as
you said, with Miller late in the season, and that
was great news for Zabanajad when he did before that,
it was a lot of him and Riley Smith together
for a lot of a season, but that wasn't nearly
as productive. He had twelve points in a twenty twenty

(14:25):
seven games span between December and January, which is very
unusual for Mica. Other than that, he was roughly his
accustomed point per game pace for the season sixty two
points in eighty two overall, when you go start to
finish on the season, that was a real drop from
his normal pace overall. Is there a hope that with

(14:45):
these changes, the possibility he could play a wing or
who knows where he's going to end up, that he
could have a bit of a bounce back this year,
or what are you really expecting from Mika's Abanachad.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, again, I would leave towards some kind of a
bounce back season, but I don't know, because again from
a numbers perspective, there's more than just a numbers perspective.
You remember, his closest friend on the team was Chris Crider,
and I think to a degree, he had some bad luck.
He had some shots that hit posts and shots on
the power play that they set him up for that

(15:20):
went wide that normally you'd expect that to be on goal.
So I think he had some bad luck. There were
Knights when he had big minus. He was a minus player,
a heavy minus player. But most of his career with
the Rangers, he's played with Chris Crider when those two
have been best friends. And Crider was battling injuries all

(15:41):
season long and wasn't the player that you expected him
to be. That would have an effect to on on Zavantage.
Add if his primary winger is not doing not living
up to expectations. Crider had a back thing early in
the season, he had I think he said he had
vertigo at some point, and then he had a wrist
injury either ended up requiring surgery in the offseason. So

(16:03):
he was not himself, and if he's not himself, that's
gonna affect the managad And you mentioned that his numbers
at the end were almost not too far off what
you'd expect, but a lot of that was because he
had a great second half of the season when he
was playing with J. T. Miller. So we'll have to
see whether the loss of his best friend Chris Crider

(16:24):
is traded over the summer, does that affect him mentally?
He's he is locked in. He's here for a long time.
I believe he's got five years left on his contract
and he's got a full no move or he's here.
So I would think that I would expect him to
bounce back at least somewhat. But again it also depends
on to certain degree how he's used. Is he a

(16:44):
third line center, Because if he's a third line center,
he's probably not going to be eighty five or eighty
seven points. I don't know. It also depends on does
the power play come back? The power play is going
to be different. Now if you don't have Criders standing
in front of the net, somebody else is going to
have to do. Probably gonna be Will Cooley. Maybe you
now have J. T. Miller playing on that right half boards,

(17:04):
probably or somewhere. I don't know where he's gonna play.
Where is a Banajad gonna play? Is he gonna be
on the first power play? So you know, we don't
know what. I can't promise you that he's gonna bounce
all the way back to what he was two seasons
ago or three seasons ago. But I do expect that
he's not gonna have expect as a strong word. I
would guess that he probably will be better at the

(17:27):
start of the season than he was for the first
half of last season. Just I have to believe that
he's a good enough player that he's gonna be better
than he was the first half of last season. So
from that standpoint, yes, but I'm not one hundred percent
confident in all that. It just can't I can't. I
can't guarantee anything.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Another guy that we hope is better than he was
last season Vincent Trochek. He's the next guy we're going
to talk about, and he had He was another one
who couldn't quite maintain its coin pace from the previous season.
He dropped from a career high seventy seven points to
fifty nine this past season in eighty two games. Both
his offensive and defensive metrics took a hit this past year,

(18:09):
definitely not looking so great. One thing that is for
sure is that his bash, his block shots and hits
have always been elite. He finished thirteenth best in terms
of all skaters with six point oh one block shots
in hit per game. That's pretty amazing, including a career
high two hundred thirteen hits. I guess it helps when
you don't have the puck as much, you can go
around hitting people a little bit more.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, that is part of it, right, Yeah, he's But
I think to a degree, seventy seven points is probably,
as you say, a career high for him. It's I
don't know that's who he is, right, I think fifty
nine points is probably closer to who he is. Right.
He's a two way guy. He's a great face off man.
He's a gritty player, but he is gonna block shots
and he is gonna hit people. I've seen him fight.

(18:52):
He is gonna do a lot of those gritty things.
A lot of those quote unquote don't show up in
the box score type things. In terms off, you're looking
for a guy who's a point producer. I don't know
that he's necessarily a guy that you should expect to
produce a ton of points. The other thing that I
would point out is the year he had seventy seven points.

(19:13):
Remember he spent most of that season the last seventy
two games of that season playing with our Temmi Panaren,
who had one hundred and twenty points, So there was
a lot of points generated by that whole line. Panaren
had one hundred and twenty points, Alexi Lafrenier had twenty
eight goals, which is a career high, and I think
fifty five points or something like that if I recall correctly.

(19:33):
So that line just worked, and I think a lot
of it was driven by Panaren. So if Panaren comes
back to normal, it goes from one hundred and twenty
points to eighty nine points, you got to figure that
his linemate's numbers are gonna come down a little bit too,
So I mean that would be Lafrenier, that would be
Trocheck for the most part. And again the power play,

(19:55):
right if the power play I think was third in
the league in twenty three twenty four, and it was
up there for the first half of the season or so,
and it really was the last I don't know, the
last couple of months where it just seemed to fall
off a cliff and stop working. And I don't know
why that is. It may have to do with the
fact that they were trying to fit JT. Miller in

(20:18):
and that kind of messed up the chemistry. I don't know.
You would think that a power play, the power play
would be better with JT. Miller because you have he's
a lefty shot. He can go on the right boards
as a VANGI can go on a left boards, is
a right shot, and you would think that would give
them better balance. But maybe it just messed up the chemistry.
Trying to put a new guy in mid season. I
don't know. But if the power play bounces back a

(20:40):
little bit, then everybody will bounce back right. So we'll
just have to wait and see how that plays out.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
Let's talk about Alexis La Frenier, because after climbing to
fifty seven points in his fourth season, his production slid
a bit back to forty five last year. He's missed
the only four games in his five year career. That's
pretty remarkable, pretty remarkable stamina reliability for the young man
takes under two shots per game, although he throws hits.

(21:08):
He throws one and a half hits a game too.
Advanced stats actually like him quite a bit, enough to
be the team's third best forward and goals above replacement.
Feel like maybe this is a bad come from an
exact personality of the player or whatever. But he's on
the Ryan NuGen Hopkins actually really good, but never feels
like in number one overall pick and people hold that
against him. Track. I don't know. The Rangers have invested

(21:31):
in Lafrange long term as a central piece of this team.
Now what do you make of his development so far?
And where is this guy headed?

Speaker 2 (21:39):
It's it's the biggest mystery on the team, isn't it.
Look he had timing and work against you or in
your favor. You got to remember that he was drafted
in twenty twenty. His rookie year was that weird what
was it? Fifty six game season of that twenty twenty
one they had. It wasn't a normal season by any

(22:00):
of the imagination. They had like road trips where you
would go in and play Pittsburgh three times or whatever.
COVID was a thing. People would be out of the
lineup for five games or whatever. It was just a
weird year and that's how his career started off. He
didn't get to walk across on the stage in his
hometown of Montreal to get drafted number one overall. It
was done over zoom. He lived in an apartment, but

(22:22):
they couldn't go anywhere. Really, the whole place was kind
of locked down a little bit. He kind of I
don't It seems like a long time ago, but that
was his first his entry into the league. I don't
think that Gerard Galant necessarily knew what to do with
him when he took over as coach. He seemed to
have a I don't know if I want to see
a love hate relationship with him, but he just didn't

(22:43):
seem to really know how to develop him or didn't
care to develop him. There was a whole thing about
he was playing left wing and he didn't want to
switch the right wing or he couldn't adjust to the
right wing. And David Quinn was his first coach. He
tried him at right wing early on, didn't like it,
put him back a third line left wing. He played
right wing the last two years under Laviolette. Gerard Glant

(23:04):
wasn't interested in developing Lafrenier at all. He just he
liked him as a third line left wing. He liked
that line. It was a great line with Coco and Heatl.
So I don't know, we thought in the first year
under Laviolette, playing in the top six on right wing,
with Panaren scoring twenty eight goals. We thought, okay, this
is the real La Frinier. And he got off to

(23:26):
a great start last season, great start. Then they signed
him to a contract, and it seemed once he signed
a contract, he was not the same player after that.
So this is the guy that nobody really can predict
with any degree of certainty what you're going to get
from him. I can tell you that from a personality standpoint,
he was more open last season than more approachable and

(23:49):
at ease around in the locker room, around the media
than he had been in his first three or three
years or whatever. So I don't know if that change
in personality had something to do with his dipping numbers.
I don't know. But again, it's three guys, right. You
can't just say it's not just his numbers that went down.
It's not just Trocheck's numbers that went down. It's his
numbers and Trocheck's and Banaras. So I don't know. I

(24:12):
fully expect that I have great confidence in that that
he's going to be him. I have Trocheck, great confidence
in tro Check that I know what Trocheck is. With
LAFERNI I really, I don't know. I can't tell you
what he is yet. And it's a long time now, right,
He's played a long time, he's played, he's played now,
He's played under three different coaches. He's going to be

(24:32):
playing under his fourth coach. He had a year of
David Quaney, had two years of Gland, two years of Laviolette.
Now he's going to play under Mike Sullivan. So I
don't know what to expect from this guy. What is
his potential? I think his potential is that of a
thirty goal guy if everything goes right. But I can't
I can't vouch for the fact that's gonna happen this year.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
Several things went wrong last year, but don't blame Will Cooley.
He has to be surprise. Yeah, he's up to fifteen
to oh five irishamman Ice in his second full season,
forty five points, steady rolling that middle six, sometimes flexing
up to the big lines. He hits like gangbusters nearly
for a game, two shots, third best goals of a

(25:15):
replacement on the team. Really great stuff. I feel like
there should be a stat for clean bashers, that is,
guys who get a lot of hits but not many
pims and this guy had a seven to one hit
per pim ratio. That's got to be one of the
best in the league.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
That's good.

Speaker 4 (25:29):
So that's got to be good. Don't yeah, don't be stupid,
don't get in the box, but inflict pain. That's good.
What's going on with the breakout of Will Cooley? And
how far could this go?

Speaker 2 (25:38):
I tell you, this is a guy who well was
drafted to be a power forward second round pick. He's
a guy that they I think he the pick that
they used to draft him was the one they got
from la and when they traded LEAs Anderson, so he's
a bonus pick for them in effect totally makes up
for the fact that LEAs Anderson was a washout for them.
So they knew he was going to be good. But

(25:59):
I think he got good faster than they expected he would.
I don't think his first year, I don't think he
was expected to make the team, and he forced his
way onto the team. He made the team first year
and had a great year. Last year had a step up,
as you pointed out, started killing penalties and things like
that as ice time went up, and this year it's

(26:19):
gonna go up even more. Because now that Chris Crider
is gone, then will Cooley's gonna be in that top
six more or less every night. And not only is
he gonna be in the top six, but he's gonna
be the guy that replaces Crider on the power play.
In all likelihood is a NetFront guy. I would assume
right now we got a new coach, and guys have
to play, and guys have to earn their spots and

(26:39):
everything like that. But I'm guessing I would. I would guess,
and I would predict that he's gonna take another step forward.
Even I played in the World Championships for Team Canada.
That was a good experience for him. And I think
the additional life time that he's gonna get playing on
one of the top two lines and in front of
the net on the power play, I think is gonna
lead to his numbers going up even further than they

(27:00):
were last year. So that's a guy that I feel
really good about.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
I'm wondering how you feel about this other guy. We
have been tracking, obviously gay pro for many years and
thinking that he has tremendous upside. I'm wondering if you
think he'll make the team. I know he played a
little bit at the end of the season and clearly
has a ton of upside, but he also might need
some HL seasoning. So do you think it's Gay Borrow

(27:25):
season is? Are you ready for that or anyone else?
Do you think that can be super Fantasy relevant here,
like squeak sneak into the top six.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
I don't know. I don't know if he's gonna make
the team, right. I think right now I'm looking at
pro Brett Burrard, Brennan Afman, those three guys, and depending
on where Mika's a manager that plays, there's gonna be
room for one or two of those guys. I don't
think all three of them will make the team. Pro
those two guys would be ahead of Paro in terms

(27:54):
of seniority, So I don't know. I think he's gonna
have to have a really good camp and preseason in
order to make the team. That said got pedigree, right,
like if dad played in the league for a number
of years. He played on a great Boston college team
for the last two years and had lots of success there.
So I think he's ready and I think he can

(28:14):
add to this team. But is he my pick to
make the team out of those three guys that I mentioned,
I don't know that I'm ready to do that personally
from what I've seen. I like Brett Barrard, and I
think Berard's gonna make the team barring something unforeseen. That
would be my thinking. And then if there's a second spot,
if it's Avantage that plays center, and then there's a

(28:36):
second spot open on the wing, then there's a chance.
I think that Pero would make the team here off,
but I can't promise you that he's going to make
the team. That's to be earned. He played last after
this college season was over, he signed and he came
in and he played and he was okay. I thought
perhaps his best game might have been his first game. Remember,

(28:56):
he's set up Lafronier with a pass that should have
been a goal and Lafrenier wasn't expecting it and completely
flubbed it and stuff. But so he is not He's
a different player than the other two guys. He's a
little bit more cerebral, more of a playmaker type guy,
I think, whereas Berard, I think is a straight up
shooter and I think Tuffman plays a little bit more

(29:18):
all around. He can shoot some he'll hit, he'll drop
the gloves, and maybe he can make some plays too.
But I can't tell you for sure that Pio's gonna
be on the team at the start. I wouldn't be
surprised if he's on the team at some point, but
I can't promise you it's going to be opening night.
So you got me there. I'm just gonna wait and see,
like everybody else.

Speaker 4 (29:36):
All right over to the blue line, Colin Adam Fox.
I don't know what to say here. He seems to
have a little less juice behind him than he used to,
which is not fair. The guy had sixty one points
in seventy four games, and yet this is what happens
when you win a Norris Trophy at twenty two is
people are always gonna think there's something you're supposed to

(29:57):
be doing. But he did miss a couple weeks in
March with an upper body injury. He continues to be
a defensive mainstay on In fact, he's the only returning
defenseman on the team who had even a minute a
power play time last year. When I looked it up,
what do you think? What do you make of Fox's
year last year? And what do you think is coming

(30:20):
next for him.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
He's interesting. I think he's a good players. He's a
fabulous point man on the power play. And then that said,
the power play wasn't good toward the end of the season.
He's got to take some responsibility for that. But I
think he probably was a little banged up. Guys will
not necessarily want to tell you that they're banged up.
But you mentioned the fact that he did miss some
time in March with nupper body injury. I think so.

(30:46):
I think he probably was a little banged up too.
But then you also have to understand, like he didn't
have his longtime defense partner Ryan Lingren with him for
the entire year. Lingeran, as you recall, missed of the
season because he got a broken jaw in the preseason
in a fight against the Islanders, and then so he

(31:07):
started he missed the first five games. I think he
came in, they played him on the third pair, and
so it took a while before he actually got back
to playing with Fox. I don't know that lynn Gren
was the same player that he always was toward the
end of the year. Obviously, Linron got traded at the
trade deadline, so I think it was I don't know.
It was not a smooth season necessarily for Fox, and

(31:30):
I think that is now we're going back to what
we talked about before. Matter how much turnover there's been
on the roster. Ten of eighteen skaters from that game,
six are gone, and four of the six defensemen who
were dressed that night are gone. Right, Fox and Branden
Schneider are the only two remaining. Or Gustafson played that night.

(31:50):
He was a one and done player with the Rangers
who didn't come back. But Truba got traded in the
middle of last season, Lyndron got traded at the deadline
last season, and KeAndre Miller got traded in the offseason.
It's a whole different defense score And now you're wondering.
You look at the guys that came in, right and
Carson Susi came in at the deadline. I don't think

(32:11):
he necessarily impressed a ton of people with the way
he played, but he played with Adam Fox for a time.
Now they've gone out and they've gotten last lab Gavrikov
and I would suspect that he's gonna step in and
be Fox's partner, and maybe that stability will help Adam Fox.
If Adam Fox is healthy, if he's got a stable
defense partner who is going to take care of the

(32:32):
defensive end and allow him a little bit more freedom
to go forward, maybe his numbers will come back to
where you want him to be. And so I expect
that Adam Fox will have a better year this year
than he did last. But you never know, right, It's
just and especially with the power play, I don't know.
I can't quite put a finger on what was the
reason why the power play fell off the end of

(32:53):
last season and until they fixed that. If they don't
fix that, then you know, then that's a problem. But
if they fix it, then everybody's numbers go back to
where you expect them to be, right, and Aaron's numbers
go up, and Savantagezz numbers go up, and Trocheck's numbers
go up, and Fox's numbers will go up too.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
All Right, I'm excited to ask you about this next guy.
Scott Morrow, the twenty two year old defenseman who was
traded from Carolina to the Rangers in the offseason as
part of that Calendra Miller deal. He got fourteen regular
seasons with the Hurricanes last year six points, and he
also played five playoff games. His underlying offensive metrics were good,
but the struggles defensively were a little bit apparent. He

(33:31):
should be in line to play some significant minutes this season,
thinking maybe even some second power play time. If he did,
that would be some pretty good contributions in fantasy. This
guy I've been pretty excited about for a while, Colin,
what do you think Morow can contribute this season?

Speaker 2 (33:47):
It sounds like more about Morow than I do. Quite frankly,
I don't. I'm a little until I see him personally,
I don't feel necessarily all that comfortable telling you what
I think he can do. What I know is right
handed shot, and Fox is a right handed shot, and
Branden Schneider's a right handed shot, and Will Borgan's a
right handed shot. So that's four right handed shots. And

(34:09):
you only play six guys in a lineup, which would
mean one of those gay all four of them are
in the lineup, one of them is playing on the
left side. Now that very well could be Braden Schneider.
He played on the left side a little bit last year,
I think, at least at the early part of the season,
So maybe that'll sort itself out. I don't know, but yes,
on the surface of it, yeah, he's a guy that

(34:29):
absolutely would look like a candidate to run that second
power play, because I don't know that they see Schneider
as a power play point guy, and certainly I don't
see Sussie or Borgan's a straight up defensive defenseman, so
that's not gonna happen. This seems like a guy who
would be a great candidate to be the point man

(34:49):
on that second power play. And if that's the case,
then yeah, that's an important role that he would fill
on the Rangers and should lead from a fantasy perspective,
we should get some points out of that. But I
would caution that what I've seen in the past few
years is that when admittedly this is a different coach,
it's a new coach, but I've seen a number of
coaches go through the same thing where the second power

(35:12):
play unit really doesn't play a lot. So I don't
know how much of a factor to expect him to
be even if he is running that second power play,
because every coach tried to tell oh, we're going to
play the second power play more and give him some
more minutes than they and none of them did I'll
believe it when I see it as far as a
second power play being a contributing factor. But if it is,

(35:33):
then he's a guy that you would think would be
the guy to run that unit. From the point, I
would only caution that four right handed shots in the
lineup is tricky.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
The other defenseman that you mentioned, Vladislav Gaberkov, certainly a
big investment to come in into New York this year.
They went out and said, we're going to get ourselves
a big, old d man who has had success in
the defensive side of the puck. Seven for contract. He
is thirty points under a shot in a half, close

(36:06):
to two blocks per game. Pretty modest on the score sheet,
but that's not really his game. What are you expecting
for him in the blue line of the Rangers? You said,
maybe playing with Fox or could he even work into
a power play two role. What is Ladeslaw Gaberkop gonna
do for the Rangers.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
I think what they want him to do is play
defense right and helps stabilize the back end like they've
they've had so much trouble in the last few years
and especially this past season with turning the puck over,
giving the puck away and in neutral z old and
giving up rush chances and things like that. They need

(36:45):
a guy that's gonna solidify that back end, clear the
crease and cut down the angles, intercept passes and just
play defense. And if he can do that, then I
don't know, by the way, if he's gonna be Adam
Fox's partner. What I do know is that he's gonna
he had a lot of ice time wherever he plays,
whether he's Fox's partner or whether perhaps he plays. There's

(37:06):
been some speculation that maybe you play him on a
matchup depair with Will Morgan, which is a possibility as well.
But either way he's gonna be Fox is gonna probably
lead the team in ice time, and Gavrikov is gonna
be second on the team in ice time, is what
I would imagine. He was second on the team of
ice time in LA. And he didn't play any power

(37:26):
play in LA, right. I don't know that he played
a shift on the power play there. I don't necessarily
see him factoring in on the power play here. But again,
is Maro gonna make the team? Is Marrow gonna be
that second power play point?

Speaker 6 (37:39):
Man?

Speaker 2 (37:39):
I don't know. And if it's not Marrow, then it's
got to be somebody else. Right, So I suppose it's possible,
But I think from a so again, from a fantasy standpoint,
in terms of the numbers, I'm not sure what numbers
he's gonna give you. It's probably his defensive metrics are
gonna be great, but I don't know if his points
per game and is gonna win you a league. But
I think for from the Rangers standpoint, what they want

(38:02):
is for him to be solid at the back end
and be stable if he partners with Fox so that
Fox can do his thing. His contribution therefore would be
if he can stabilize the back end and allow Fox
to freedom to be a little bit more offensive, then
that'll work for the team. But I think, to be fair,
I think, certainly based on last season, he'll be an

(38:24):
upgrade over KeAndre Miller. Right, ca Andre Miller struggled last
year in a lot of ways. They had more goals
than did Gabrikov. But and I think DeAndre Miller did
not have quite as bad a year as the fans
maybe put on him. I think he was fine. Yes,
he had some horrendous mistakes and a lot of times
where he's turning the puck over and it leads directly

(38:47):
to a goal, and so he did not have a
good year. I do expect that KeAndre Miller, who's twenty
five and entering his prime, is going to do well
in Carolina, and good for him. But Gabrikov, who's twenty
nine and going to be thirty in November, I think
represents an upgrade. I believe at that position he should
help the Rangers from a team perspective, be a better

(39:08):
defensive team, and if they're a better defensive team, then
they'll win more games. And if they win more games
than everybody will.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
Score good stuff. Let's move on to the goalies. The
Rangers ranked twenty eighth and expected goals against P sixty,
but conceded the nineteenth ranked actual goals and it was
definitely a mixed bag between Shasturkin and Jonathan Quick had
negative almost four goals to save above expected with the
negative delta. Fenwick, even though he won more games than

(39:36):
he lost, and the Shasterkin. I heard a lot of
rumblings coming out of New York, and I know that
there was a lot of pressure put on him, But
the reality is that they would have lost by a
lot more and more games if it went for Shaskirkin,
because he saved almost thirty goals save above expected his
delta Fenwick was one point z nine. Just incredible stuff.
And he's in year one of an eight year contract,

(39:57):
paying him as it should, one of the best goalies
in the league, and he was outperforming the protection offered
to him. I think the biggest question I have about
the goalies next year is can they offer their goalies
a little bit better protection, because I think if they
can be fine, if they continue to be in the
bottom five of expected goals against their protection, then I

(40:18):
think that they're going to be underwater the whole season.
So what do you think we can expect from their
two goalies and their defensive structure next season?

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Gone, Yeah, I think that the goalies. I'm not necessarily
worried about e Roshusterkins and his prime, but got paid.
I think we know what he is. He's, if not
the best goalie in the league, certainly on the short
list of best goalies in the league. And he you know,
there was a time, I think probably two or three
years ago, where they probably relied on him too much,

(40:45):
right and he probably masked a lot of a lot
of their problems, and last season he wasn't able to
cover up for their defensive problems as well as he
had done on previous years. But they seem by swapping out,
by getting Gabrikov and replacing swapping out KeAndre Miller, they
believe that their defense should be better in some ways. Now,

(41:08):
I'm Will Borgan is a pretty good defensive defenseman. They
liked what he did for them after he came over
from Seattle. If it's not a one for one because
they weren't traded for each other, but if he replaces Truba,
then he's an upgrade over what Truball was in his
final year or so with the team. Gabrikov, as that

(41:29):
I already said, is probably an upgrade over KeAndre Miller.
So I think that their defense on paper should be
a little bit better. And again there's a there's a
new coach factor too, right, you know what, not just
a head coach, but but the assistant coaches as well.
Maybe the head coach and the assistant coach can help

(41:50):
the defense be better. David Quinn is back. He was
the head coach a few years ago and now he's
back as an assistant to Mike Sullivan, and I believe
he's gonna he's gonna run defense. We'll see what sort
of changes they're able to make. But defensively, I think
that's gonna be an area of emphasis for them, because, yes,

(42:10):
you want to have the best goalie in the league
if you can, and I think they feel pretty good
about Igor, but you don't want your goalie winning games
for you by himself, and in spite of a leaky
defense every night, so they knew they had to shore
up their defense. I think they've made efforts to do that,
and we'll see if it plays out on the ice.
Carson Susi, as I mentioned, didn't necessarily have a wonderful

(42:33):
showing when he came over after the trade deadline. We'd
like to see if he can be better than he was.
There's a chain he played he partnered with wilborgon I
think in Seattle's is a chance that those two are
put back together and maybe maybe they have a good,
solid partnership again. If Cabricov and Fox play, and then
we'll see. Brian Schneider's been on the team for a

(42:54):
number of years and he's shown flashes of being a
good player and stuff, and yet he still seems stuck
in that third role. So we'll see what you get
out of him, and who that sixth defenseman is going
to be, if it's going to bemorrow or if not,
then who these are unknowns? I can say that I
do think that Gavricova and Morgan are upgrades over the
guys that they essentially replaced. But is the group going

(43:17):
to be better? I don't know, but it had better
be if they're going to go anywhere.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
We're all going to be tuned in. This is going
to be a fascinating one. Colin. How do people, because
they're going to want to follow the Ranges this year,
how should they do it by following you and all
the great input you're gonna put out there.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Yeah, you want to follow me on x formerly Twitter,
I'm calling s Newsday and I'm also on Blue Sky
as well, and then newsday dot com. Slash Sports is
where you can get my actual stories. It is a paywall.
I'm warning people in advance. I'm getting a bunch of
bad feelings about that, but that's what it is. But
if if you're interested in my take on things, well,

(43:55):
you should be able to get enough of my takes
on Blue Sky and Twitter, and and if you want
to subscribe to news Day, we'd appreciate that as well.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
Outstanding.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
All right, thank you for coming on today, Colin, and
good luck following the Rangers this year.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Thanks for having me. It's a lot of fun to
talk hockey in August. We're a month away afore training camps.

Speaker 4 (44:17):
Can't wait, all right, Victor, there is something else we
gotta talk about, don't We have something special to give
to the listeners.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
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
appule Pad Podcasts or the podcast app of your choice,

(44:47):
and then send it to me, Victor, 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 winners from all those who enter and
get you your guide.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Wolf.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
Since then, well that's good fire, Pat, Oh my goodness,
Well long goal with a cat we gram. Now it's
your weekly goalie talk with Kat's Silverman.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
Cat's Instincts done once again for cats and staincts with
Cassoveman and gold mag. We're talking Rangers goalies and Dylan Grand.
So we're gonna start with twenty three years old six
foot oh one hundred and seventy two pounds, drafted one
hundred and third overall back in twenty twenty. This was
his second season with a Hartford wolf Pack, and when
a lot better than his first. He improved his goal save,
goals against average, and save percentage. Looking at some hockey

(45:45):
prospecting comps, he looks a bit like Mussam Montemba, which
has turned out pretty well. It wasn't always so exciting,
but not looking too bad. Now, Okay, what are interestings
tell us about Dylan Grand.

Speaker 6 (45:56):
I'm excited to see that things finally clicked in Hartford
for him. I was a little worried. He's an undersized
goaltender who plays such a precise, calm, controlled game, but
doesn't really like to get aggressive and over challenge things.
He's not an Alex staylock for better or for worse,
and I was a little worried that he was going

(46:16):
to stay a little too calm and he wasn't going
to gain that sense of urgency. But it looks like
things turned around for him. It looks like Hockey Canada's
started to respect him. I do feel vindicated there. I
think he's I'm going to stick with what I've been saying.
I think he's a promising starter for them. I don't
know if they need him as a starter right now,

(46:36):
but I think he's a promising starter for them, and
I think it's time to start giving him some NHL games.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
I think we would all love that too, those of
us who roster him, so that would be great. Let's
talk about another guy that have in their system. Callum Tungue.
He's twenty one years old, six three hundred ninety eight
pounds undrafted, went from the BCHL to the NCAA and
was great for the University of Connecticut this season. He
saw some really good numbers. He also got into two
HL games for the Hartford wolf Pack, which did not

(47:04):
go super well, but Kat what Inkston's tell us about
Kalum Tongue.

Speaker 6 (47:10):
I think he's a good backup to have in their system.
I don't think he's anything overly remarkable at the moment,
but he's a player that they got to watch, obviously
very closely. Last year he was playing in excuse me,
he was playing in Connecticut, so easy for their scouts
to keep an eye on, and did really well. I
don't think he's their next top prospect or anything, but

(47:36):
I think his technique looks he looks like a reliable
collegiate goalie, so I think that's probably what they need
in their system, is someone who's at the very least
can be a reliable tweener in the future and at
best could end up being a backup. So we'll see
how that goes for them.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
I'm not out on him.

Speaker 6 (47:57):
I thought he looked really good in college. We'll see
if he's able to train that to the pros.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Awesome. That's good to hear. Thanks so much, Kevireg. Giv
meus your instincts on the Rangers goalies.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
Will be back right after this Dig The Dynasty Dig
New York Rangers Edition Victor this Ranger system, what can

(48:34):
you say it's right in the middle. I guess it
could be worse for a team that you just don't
know which way they're going up or down. Number sixteen
and it starts with our no brainer. We've been talking
about him for a few years because he's been playing
with some prominent prospects. Who is it?

Speaker 3 (48:51):
The New York Rangers no brainer is Gabe Perro. That's right,
Gabe pro He was a twenty twenty three twenty third
overall pick. I personally thought much later than he should
have gone, but Rangers got him at twenty third, five
eleven hundred and seventy nine pounds. His scoring at Boston
College took a little bit of a step back. He
had sixty points in thirty six games in his d

(49:13):
plus one season there in twenty three twenty four, and
then last season he had forty eight points in thirty
seven games. Still incredible, but a little bit decreased. And
then at the end of the season, I think, I
don't know how many people notice. I actually didn't even
really realize it. He got these five games because the
Rangers were irrelevant at the end of the season, but
he got five games with the Rangers. Didn't score any

(49:34):
points didn't look great, but also the whole team just
looked like they were ready to be done with the season.
If we rewind a little bit and look at the
World Junior Championships, he was awesome there, ten points in
seven games, same as he did the previous season, ten
points in seven games. It seems every time he puts
on that USA sweater he has a pretty awesome performance,

(49:55):
and hopefully he'll carry that into the next season. It
does seem like he's to be in competition for an
NHL roster spot, and at the very least he'll be
in the AHL this season. Looking at the Fantasy Hockey
Life player card, you see a lot of really good
things for Gabe pro. His transition game is pretty excellent,
except when he decides to dump it in or out.

(50:16):
His net expected goals in Fenwick is pretty awesome. His
loose puck recovery and puck battles were also pretty decent,
considering his off puck play was always a bit of
a question mark. But I think the thing that stands
out the most is his bash just twenty two percentile
for blocks, fifteen percentile for hits. His shots are pretty good,
but overall his bash appears to be much lower than average,
and he's going to be more of a points only

(50:37):
kind of guy, although he does get a fair amount
of pims, which is interesting since he doesn't really do
anything else but scoring. His best attributes definitely his playmaking.
You would see his pass attempts, accurate passes, passes the
slot all that is elite. His goals are actually pretty
good too, but not as good as his playmaking. So
overall I have him at a seven point four to
three four to three percent chance of being a seven.

(50:58):
He's definitely one of the top prospect forwards in my ranks.
Let's hear a little bit more about gay pro from
our Fahl scout.

Speaker 4 (51:05):
Jesse FHL scout Patrick has this to say about Pero.
Skating is average, not the fastest, but keeps up well
with play. The east and west movement is positive. Parole
is above average and passing and handling. Doesn't often keep
the puck on his stick long enough to display the handling.
The passing is imaginative and precise, and he makes good

(51:27):
passes even in bad situations. For shooting, Pero has a
high quality shot. He has good hands in close, can
find holes and place pucks there IQ high HOCKEYIQ from
gay Paro. Even under pressure, he makes good plays that
show his awareness of where his teammates and the other
team are ford checking. Can contribute on the ford check
by stealing pucks, staying in motion, and cycling the puck,

(51:49):
and he's committed to defense. Patrick says he skates back
hard and covers his man. So the best overall asset
was the hockey IQ. It boosts every other skill and
the biggest concern still that skating. The top tier outcome
potential for Parro is line one power play one eighty
plus points. That's because he has the high end skills
in most facets of his game and has made improvements

(52:12):
in his skating that will help him reach his top
end potential the median outcome second liner, top end third
liner power play two sixty to seventy points. Perhaps the
skating will hold him back and higher level of play
is more than he can process, which limits him and
the stylistic comparable We're gonna go with Johnny Gudrou and
Mason Black are tidy champion and NHL rank King has

(52:36):
this to say. He put gay Parole up against the
hotness of a couple of years ago, who's been all
call about discussion for a long time and also taking
a little bit of time to break into the pro
excellence ranks. Shane Wright. Anyway, fifty eight to forty two,
Shane Wright comes out ahead of Gabe perro One in

(52:58):
the hand burd in the hand, Burden the Bush victor
Who do you like Right or Proro?

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Well, I think that's the right way to frame it.
I think it depends on where your team is at.
I think that if you're ready to compete and you
want someone who's NHL ready, then I would take I
probably would take Right because he's certainly going to make
an impact this year. But I think the reality is
that they're not that far off. I think that pro
he might take a little bit longer to adjust, but
as a winger it's a lot easier. As a center,

(53:25):
you have a lot more responsibilities, and the way that
Seattle distributes your ice time, I think it's just been
a little bit harder on Shaine Wright. I still really
believe in him being a above average contributor, but I
think he's because of the nature of his all around game.
It's just taking a little bit longer Perro, I could
see having a pretty strong rookie season. He couldn't end
up being in the Calder conversation, and certainly next year

(53:47):
I think he will be a strong impact. The following
season twenty six to twenty seven, he will be a
pretty impactful fantasy player. So I think if it were me,
I'm taking Parro probably regardless, unless I'm really just looking
at this year than I think Shane Wright interesting that
the votes were pretty much the opposite. I think people
continue to discount gay pro and you should do so

(54:10):
at your own peril, is my opinion. The p and
ch elite is still higher for Proro, which is interesting.
And you look at the hockey prospecting between the two
and Wright has definitely trended down from fifty five, fifty six,
forty one to thirty six percent chance of being a star.
He graduated the model this past season, and Paro holding
steady at forty percent chance of being a star still

(54:31):
really high. He's got some pretty interesting comps. Gury Hurdler
is one. There's just not a whole lot of guys
who hold their star potential steady like that, so it's
been interesting. But I think that would be a good
outcome certainly, and in terms of his underlying analytics have
been so interesting. They just show that he has more
to give and I definitely still believe in him. If

(54:53):
you look at the jfreshcard for pro, nineteen percent chance
of being a star, eighty six percent chance of being
in NHL, are so pretty confident there, and his ability
to translate Victor.

Speaker 4 (55:03):
There's mister Wright, and there's mister right now, and that's
what we're talking about here. Who is your need to
know prospect.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Need to know is none other than Scott Morrow, the
twenty twenty one to fortieth overall pick by Carolina, who
was moved at this offseason for Candra Miller to New
York sixty two hundred ninety four pounds. He had a
good first pro season after his productive career at UMass.
He played fifty two games for the Chicago Wolves of

(55:32):
the AHL thirty nine points, so that was pretty stellar.
He got into fourteen games for Carolina and ended up
with with six points there, so that overall looks pretty good.
If you look at his FHL player card, you can
see that there's actually a whole lot of red and
orange from his AHL time. Some of his transition game

(55:53):
left a little bit to be desired, so did some
of his play driving. His then expected goals was low.
Puck battles and puck recovery or lower. The priiffs aren't
really there, the hits and blocks are low. The shots
are good, but the hits and blocks are low, and
some of his playmaking, passing and past attempts were really
not ideal. So overall, there's some issues here. His scoring
and shooting looks really good, and he takes a lot

(56:14):
of pims, but overall he had under the hood. He
had a little bit of tough time transitioning, but I
think that he's ready for the NHL. He showed that
he's pretty ready and he should be on the team
or at least fighting for a spot this upcoming year.
I have him had a seven point thirty five, which
is pretty awesome that they were able to snatch such
a high upside guy for a similar productive player that

(56:39):
they didn't want to pay a lot of money too.
So I think that ended up working out pretty well
for the Rangers. We'll see, I believe in Moro. Let's
hear a little bit more about him though. From our
FHL scout Jesse.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
Patrick says this is Scott Morrow an above average skater, smooth,
able to get side to side, pivot and has speedy
uses to get back on defense. It plays break down
passing and handling. Scott is a skill manipulator for the puck,
able to maneuver the pucket, tight spaces, adjusted to get
the right angle on passes. The passing has zip and
it has accuracy.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Shooting.

Speaker 4 (57:13):
Marrow shoots often, but can use some refinement on his
shot selection so not as many will get blocked. His
wrist shot has snapped, but most of his goals come
from his soft hands. IQ above average. Has the vision
to see the play well on defense and offense. He's
able to see and execute highly effective passes, doesn't panic
the ford checking. Marrow can often be seen participating on

(57:34):
the rush when there's an opportunity and helping to maintain
possession in the zone defense. Several good qualities Formorrow smart positioning,
ability to maintain gaps. He uses his stick to poke
the puck and check when it's appropriate. There are some
areas for refinement, including consistency, but overall it looked up
to the level. The biggest asset then was the overall

(57:55):
offensive toolkit, and the biggest concern the defensive consistency. The
top tier outcome here probably a top four defenseman with
powerplay one scoring fifty plus points. That's because he has
a high end offensive toolkit, maybe able to iron out
his defensive inconsistencies. The median outcome though, bottom pair defenseman
power play two scoring around forty points. The toolkit on

(58:18):
the offense is indisputable, but it could be limited if
his defense doesn't improve to an NHL level. Stylistic comparable
Patrick will say maybe a John Carlson type archetype and
the NHL King Mason black He put Marrow up in
a poll and he did it against Kevin Korchinski of

(58:39):
the Chicago Blackhawks. We certainly talked about him in a while.
A while, he made it up, he went back down.
He were waiting to see him get established, and what
do you know, it's a dead on fifty to fifty
Scott Marrow Kevin Korchinski fifty fifty victor break the tie.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Yeah, this is so hard. I think I'm gonna have
to go Moro. Really, I think that I've been banging
the drum for him for a long time, and I
do feel like they rushed Korchinsky. That wasn't really his fault,
but he did play a lot more NHL games right
off the bat than maybe he should have, and then
he struggled with confidence in some of his some of

(59:16):
his movements and positioning. So you go back to the HL,
and I think that he's ready to make the jump. Now,
Moro hasn't had much of an issue, and he stepped
right in and at least was pretty serviceable in a
lot of his and some of his metrics. Anyways, the
PNHL is still higher for Morow got that going for him.
If you look at the Hockey prospecting though, it clearly

(59:36):
favors Korchinski, who have graduated the model at sixty two
percent chance of being a star wars more thirty four.
But I think a lot of that was driven by
some of his early high upside potential when he was
in the WHL. If you look at Korchinsky's FHL player card,
you see a whole lot of red as well, including
a very difficult and subpar play driving instremd just a

(59:59):
number His priffs were also extremely low ten percent bash.
I don't know, that's an extremely low number so not
going to be a super contributory there based on his
AHL time, and the scoring wasn't really that great either,
So overall it was a really rough season in the
AHL for Korchinski. So if you thought that Moro's card
look bad, if you look at Koorcchinsky's, it looks a

(01:00:20):
lot worse. And I have him at a six point
seventy four is quote Korchinski, and I have Moro at
seven point thirty five. So my ranks reflect that I
definitely like more a little bit better. If you look
at some other comps for Moro. One of the interesting
ones here, there's two I think that it probably fit
somewhat is Mike Green and Josh Morrissey. So it's in

(01:00:40):
between those two that's the upside there, And maybe he
doesn't quite hit that, but I definitely think that he can.
Of course he's got Adam Fox in his way, but
I think he can get some paraplay two time, and
I think that he'll be a steadying force back there.
Looking at the j freshcard, just four percent chance of
being a star, seventy six percent chance of being in NHLer.
That's pretty good. The NHL our probability, the star potential. Yeah,

(01:01:03):
maybe not so much, but that's what we know and
expect from j Fresh.

Speaker 4 (01:01:07):
Jesse Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in its petty pays
from day to day. No, never mind, I'll break out
of that to keep your eye on prospect, Victor. Who
is it?

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
That would be Brendan Athman. Brendan Othman, twenty one, sixteenth
overall pick six, ver h one hundred ninety two pounds.
He split this year between the HL, where he had
twelve goals and twenty points in twenty seven games, and
in the NHL he struggled to score with just two
assists in twenty two games. He brings plenty of physicality
though nearly two hits per game at the NHL level.
You love to see that. And you look at some

(01:01:41):
of his underlying numbers with the Rampom chart at Evolving Hockey,
and he's either above average or well above average, and
a lot of the metrics of expected goals against goals
for COURSEI four so you know, shows that he's driving play.
And remember that was a really bad Rangers team. So
the fact that he was able to keep his head
above water and drive play the other way, I think

(01:02:02):
says a lot about his potential. So I really like that. Really,
I've liked Othman for a while. I thought that he
had more to give, and we're starting to see it
a little bit. If you look at the FHL player
card for Authman, he has a pretty decent amount of
pims and the shots, blocks and hits all that looks

(01:02:23):
really good. He looks like a bash master. His blocks
are actually the best of his prifs, which is interesting.
You don't tend to get a lot of blocks for forwards,
but based on his AHL time, he was doing a
lot of that and getting pretty decent time on ice.
Some of the other play driving numbers aren't so good
for Authman. He has more of that physical presence third
line checker, which the question is how much offense can
he contribute, But that high peripheral floor should help. Six

(01:02:46):
point thirty five is what I have him at, thirty
five percent chance of being just above average on your roster.
Let's hear a little bit more about Authman from refgl scout, Jesse.

Speaker 4 (01:02:56):
Patrick says this about Brendan Oathman, a fast oo skater
can and does get up and down as well as
East and West with ease passing and handling, simple obvious
passes that are as effective as they keep play going.
The handling is average. Generally he doesn't hold the puck long,
but he can transport it when he does. Oathman has

(01:03:17):
a hard shot with quick release, but often shoots from
bad angles and can use some work in regards to
picking his spots. He will need to adjust at some
for it to be effective. In the nhl IQ average
vision isn't exceptional, but he can follow the play well
enough and maintains his poise for checking good presence on
the fore check. He uses his body effectively to steal

(01:03:39):
the puck or make checks. Defense, Oathman shows a commitment
to defense. He skates back hard when needed and shifts
his cover his man or zone. The best asset. Oathman's
best asset is his skating. The biggest concern higher end
talent lacks, especially in the passing and handling and in
the Hockey IQ top tier role or potential middle six

(01:04:02):
maybe some power play one time in fifty to fifty
five points justification, the skating, compete and shot are there,
which can endear him to a coach and lead to
time higher in the lineup. The median outcome bottom six
power play two and forty to forty five points. If
he can't improve his shot selection, along with the lack
of better vision and above average passing, he will be

(01:04:22):
limited to a lesser role. The stylistic of parable Brendan
Morrow and the final thoughts could be a very effective player,
says Patrick, if his skating, vision, tenacity and shooting only
the lack of physicality should hold him back. Well, Victor
Offman is up against William Horkoff of the Pittsburgh Penguins,

(01:04:43):
and like many Penguins prospects, he is no match for
Brennan Aufman. Sorry, now, I come on, that's a that's
a stray caught by William Horcoff. He doesn't deserve it.
But Brendan Aufman, nonetheless, seventy five to twenty five percent
is the victor here, Victor Should he be Victor?

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
Yeah, definitely, I'm taking Othman for sure in this one.
We I talked a little bit about Horcoff in the
draft show Who's twenty two? He was? After the draft,
Shane and Peteon, a bunch of us went over to
a bar and Horcoff and his whole crew were celebrating
right next to us, which was fun just watching them,
And I'm happy for the young man. I just don't
really think that he's going to score a lot. I

(01:05:24):
do think he's gonna be an NHL er, So if
you want for sure NHL R, then that's great. He
is a little bit younger, and in terms of the
funnel theory, he's further down the He's not as far
down the funnel his Horcoff, so you know, maybe he
can develop more scoring. He didn't do that much of
it at Michigan, but maybe there's more to be seen there.
He's got great size, He's six' five two hundred three,

(01:05:44):
pounds a good, skater so the bass should be good
there as. Well BUT i believe An athman a little
bit more in terms of, discovering rediscovering some more of
that points. Upside so that's WHY i would take. Him,
yeah definitely. Easily and the fact that he's already. THERE
i guess it depends if you want someone who's now Than.
Authman if you want someone who maybe can develop more
offense and could get, there then sure Take. Horkoff BUT

(01:06:07):
i Think horcoff is going to be more of a bottom,
sixer and so looking at the hockey prospect between the,
two they actually both similarly have really terrible. Equivalents He's
amen who finished at zero, percent but that's partly because
he missed a whole year of THE ohl in twenty twenty,
one so that wasn't really fair to. Him that messed
up his numbers quite a. Bit horkoff started this year

(01:06:28):
in the model at three percent chance of being a,
star so pretty. Low if you look At horcoff's player,
card there's a lot of orange and some bread hit
and miss what things are good and. Bad the bash
is clearly good and the pims are above, average so
all that looks pretty. Good some of his play driving is.
Mixed his play driving and transition are both in the
fifty ish, percentile so all in all not super. POSITIVE

(01:06:52):
i actually have a card for him both on HIS
NC doublea time and HIS ushl, time so you can
see the difference, there and clearly some of the things
are a little bit better in THE ushl well. Time
if you look at some other comps For, OTHMAN i
was just trying to figure out someone who might look
similar that he could, emulate And Josh done is actually
someone he looks a bit, alike who also had zero
percent chance of being a, star but has at least

(01:07:14):
somewhat made. It they've played a similar number OF nhl.
GAMES i think that he could have a similar trajectory
and have a high peripheral floor with maybe some. Scoring
that's what we're hoping, For. Athman if you look at
the sorry The jfresh player, card one percent chance of
being a star and twelve percent chance of being AN.
NHLer so not as excited as usual From. Jfresh and

(01:07:35):
that's it for Our. Rangers. Dig if you're a patreon
you can listen to my top ten prospect recap On,
patreon or if you're doing some scouting with, us you
can shoot me a dam On twitter Or.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
Discord be right back to clotes on the. Show we're
near in the end of the. Show that MEANS i
have to tell you a couple of, things and it's
my happiness to do. So Fan tracks is a place

(01:08:04):
to play fantasy sports. Period you have not but a
couple more months until the hockey season is. Upon it's
not even that so why not go start up a
new league on fan tracks right? Now they've got everything
you're going to want slow, drafts rookie eligibility. Customization THERE'S
i don't even know how many different scoring categories you
can use if you want to be different and give

(01:08:28):
it a. Try fan TRACKS hq also has lots of
fantasy content articles on fantasy, hockey all the other fantasy.
Sports FHL's team is. Growing we are legion AND i
thank them all And victory AND i think them. All
the tidy leagues are. Rolling Mister tim is the pretty

(01:08:50):
much been leading the charge this summer getting things organized
and doing an insane amount of work to make sure
that the tidy leagues are up and. Running Simoon Ryan,
craft they all are also helping. Out they're also on
that commission, team and it's a year long. Project it's
an ongoing, project but we thank. Them tony And patrick

(01:09:11):
are our lead. Scouts they do a great job making
sure that we have all these things on. Board, Mike
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read our little fifty page reports if you have other.
Skills oh And. Brandon don't Forget brandon because he does

(01:09:33):
the website prospect ranks and visualizations that make a lot
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