Fantasy Hockey Life Ep. 431 My Guys with Blake from A&G

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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, staylock.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Here's your hosts, Jesse Souvier and Victor Nunio Fantasy Hockey.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Live once again, talking with Victor Nunio of Dabber. I
am Jesse severa fantracks. How you doing there, Victor, I'm
doing awesome, Jesse.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
We finished our team preview series and it's time to
move on to other things, and I'm looking forward to
discussing that with you.

Speaker 5 (00:41):
How you doing I'm doing good.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm yeah, No, it's great times. Yeah, I don't know
what to do with myself without team previews to keep
me busy, without editing two episodes a week, without all
this stuff, We're just like doing normal things now. And
we know, like this is crunch time for people who
are listening. You are preparing. You might be doing slow
drafts as you listen to this, as you wait for
your turn to come up on the clock, which, of course,

(01:05):
when it comes to you, you will draft within five minutes,
even if you have an eight hour timer, because that's
the right thing and the hygienic thing to do for
all people.

Speaker 5 (01:15):
Hey man, Yeah, I'm definitely it's and it's a fun time.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
We're seeing training camps, we're seeing news, we're seeing the
media tour, We're seeing all these fun things and definitely
gets me excited. And I love draft season with slow drafts.
I have multiple going on right now. That's always really fun.
Oh I get to make another pick.

Speaker 5 (01:33):
Awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
That's right, Victor.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
People can celebrate this time of year over on our
Fantasy Hockey Life discord.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's free.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Just emails Fantasyhockeylife at gmail dot com. We'll give you
a link. You can pop in the discord and just
enjoy your life, just talk to people. You might still
be able to set up a leak with friends. Just
say hey, go into the final join my league room
and say hey, anybody want to do a leak? You
get together, set up a fan tracks league and to
have fun with that. But also, in addition to the

(02:04):
free discord, you have other things to tell people about.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
Yeah, you can check out all the bonus content at
patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life. You can look
at the player cards which have all kinds of information
about how they're doing in their leagues, transition data, play driving,
how good their block shots and hits are, all that
stuff that's really hard to find, and you can check
out my ranks, tiers and lists. That's all available on
the website to ultralifers. You can do roster doctor one

(02:31):
on one help with me. I'm scheduling a bunch of
those right now as people are coming into drafts and
having keeper decisions and all that. So lots of great
content including patron casts and other bonus things like joining
the Tier Dynasty the Tidy check all that out over
at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
You're right back with a fun one today talking to
Blake Kreamer. Welcome to the show. Blake Kreamer doing little apples,
little genos out there doing a little bit of fantasy
hockey talk with us today.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
So cool. How you doing today, Blake, buddy. I feel good.
I'm happy just to be in the presence of two
legends such as yourselves here at Fantasy Hockey Life.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
It feels good in terms of length, the amount of
time that we've just stubbornly continue to put stuff out legends.
In that case, like legends that no longer anyway.

Speaker 5 (03:25):
All right, So so.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Honest too, Jesse, that's a double thread right there. Yeah,
all right, I.

Speaker 5 (03:31):
Think it's more like you guys are still doing that.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Really, I thought it was just a legend that you
guys did that. Nobody's ever seen it in person.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
I'm learning something today and I feel good about that.

Speaker 5 (03:43):
We're excited to have you, Blake.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
We've been enjoying all your content over apples and ginos,
you and Nate, and as we get closer to the season,
we start thinking a little bit more about redraft because
our brain always goes to Dynasty all the time and
there's no off season, but we also like to partake
in our redrafts, and so we wanted to get you
on to talk a little bit about some strategy and
a little bit about some guys, some sort of depth option.

(04:04):
There's my guys, guys that you want to get towards
the end of the draft. How does that sound?

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah? Absolutely. I love conversations like this, and this is
what I'd be doing if I wasn't on camera right now. Yeah,
it's good to capture this for the people.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
Heck, yeah, man, I know that we all are on
the zero G train. That is something that we all
agree on in terms of our approach. I wanted to
tell you a little bit of how I think about
redraft leagues. I'm thinking in the fourteen to sixteen team
league range where you're getting about eighteen picks, so something
like that. So my approach is generally the first three rounds,

(04:37):
I don't want to take any risks. I want to
get for sure guys that I know are going to
be top line, top power play, top defenceman. The next
few rounds, I might take a mild swing, but I'm
still looking for guys that I know pretty sure, maybe
some guys like celebring you that are ready to take
the next step Mitchikoff, guys like that. And then round
seven to ten, I try to want to take bigger swings,

(04:59):
mind some value. And then after that I'm gonna get
my goalies after round ten and then looking at some
deep sort of guys, maybe look at the schedule, maybe
look at always looking at off night and things like that.
Is that sort of similar to what you would say,
or how do you think about that a little bit differently,
just in terms of like how you structure your draft,
Because I don't go in saying I'm gonna take a

(05:19):
left wing first or a center for I don't do
that sort of towards the end, and I don't want to.
I don't want to come out of the first three
rounds with three left wings though.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Either.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
That's a problem. So you want to have a little
bit of an eye on that. But I think you
also just want to make sure you get the right
value and the sort of safe picks at the front,
don't you think.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, that all makes sense to me. Full disclosure. My
strategies they change all the time based on what the
draft gives me. I've been thinking about this a lot lately,
just because I work with Nate and he's so analytical
and I'm getting there. But it's funny, He's like classical
music and I'm like jazz, you know what I mean. Like,
I could just see what the draft is giving me
and then I adapt my strategy to it. But yeah,

(05:58):
to your point, I don't want to be taken big swings,
certainly not in the first round. I want safety. You
said the top three rounds. I like being somewhat safe
for the top five or six rounds. That's where I
want to make sure, I'm getting guys that I know
are going to produce, that I know their rule is secure,
and then yeah, I'm definitely on board with zero G.
Still I've adapted it a little bit just to different formats,

(06:20):
Like I find that sometimes in categories leagues, I will
pick up a goalie a little bit earlier, still, not
before the tenth round. I like the tenth round as
a just a starting point. That's when I start looking
for goals. But yeah, in category leagues, I might go
like round nine, round ten, whereas in points leagues, I
go a little bit later. But one of the things
that I like to do that is a little bit
different than what you mentioned here is I like the

(06:41):
load up on defense early. That is something that especially
with this season coming up, I feel like defense is
really drying up. I feel like a lot of people
are on this draft d early kind of train and
it's drying up pretty quick. And I think the value
over replacement aspect of some of these top guys is
really important as well, and you just can't get it
if you don't get some of the top defensemans. So

(07:02):
I like getting a couple defensemen in my first five
rounds and then yeah, I'm just looking for upside as
the draft goes on there.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
It's funny because I've been doing a lot of mocks
and it is I agree with you. It's been really
interesting what I've been seeing because I have my value,
do my projections, and I look at, Okay, who do
I want? And I did it a couple different ways.
With one, I just went average points. I just filled
it in and I got zero defenseman through eight rounds.

(07:30):
It's just the way it happened. And then I went
one strategy went exactly what you said. I was like, no,
I really want to make sure I get some high defenseman,
So I went McKinnon with when I had one of
the top picks, and then it was like Sanderson, Cider, Dobson, Lacombe.
And then I still got some pretty good depth centers
like Thomas and Strom towards the end, and so like
you put these side aside and you're like, which of

(07:50):
these teams would I rather have? And it's interesting because
just straight by the numbers, in terms of how much
straight up points per player, the forwards probably do more.

Speaker 5 (08:01):
But then as you said, it completely drops off, so you.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Can get some good banger defensemen some guys that have
all around points, but you're not gonna find power play
defenseman after the first few rounds, at least not someone
that's consistently. You might get someone who steps into something
that wasn't expected, that tends to always happen, but you're
not gonna get one of those sure things. So I
think that that's something that I would also be looking
at in those middle four to six round. Okay, make

(08:26):
sure I come out of here with a high end
defenseman and not just nothing but forwards because that could
be a little bit tricky.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yep, absolutely agree with that. It's an interesting draft this year,
especially in that first round. What have you noticed there?
You guys just like the pick nine, ten, eleven, twelve
for the first round, it doesn't seem as locked in
as it has in years previous. Right, we got Matt
Kichuk who's obviously out he's a perennial first round or
you got guys like zak Arensky and Queen Hughes maybe
pushing into the first round. What are you seeing out there?

Speaker 4 (08:56):
Well, I think I had nine or ten, and I
can tell you I hated it. It was awful, totally
Like the first six or seven, you're like, I'm good
one of these like mccarr, Pasta, Caprisov like you're pretty good,
even Brady Kuchuk. But then you're in that range. I
don't know what is rontin and gonna do? Do I
take another? Is Ronsky gonna live up to his hype?
Hughes is off An injured? There's just I feel like

(09:17):
that range of nine or ten through twelve thirteen is
where I would definitely not want to be because there's
just a lot of questions with those guys, and.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
I feel like that could go reallyside it.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
They're still gonna get pretty good players, but I don't
know that you're gonna get the value. I think I'd
rather just pick towards the end of the second and
pick up whoever's left there.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
I feel like that's a lot easier. Is that what
you've seen?

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah? Oh sorry, go ahead, Jasey. I'd love to hear
your take too. First off, Jesse, did you play a
bunch of redraft leaks? I don't.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Honestly, I think I'll have two redraft leagues this year,
but I play majority Dynasty. My toe only dips in
so far. What I was gonna say, because one of them,
I won't draft until like opening night. But in the
other one, somehow Victor contrived for there to be a
twenty three team Guillotine League and I got picked twenty three.
So talk about first round rubbernecking, trying to figure out

(10:07):
what the heck happened here? Yeah, the turn at pick
twenty three. Let me tell you something. Be thankful if
you're picked nine and ten.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, it drops off steep, doesn't it. Oh Man?

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yeah no, But go ahead, Blake, What was your what
was your take there? Oh?

Speaker 2 (10:24):
I don't even remember. I don't know what we were
talking about there, But yeah, it's to me, like you said, Victor,
there's lots of stuff that's up in the air, like
you said, Ranton, And that's an interesting piece this year
in the first round, because yeah, does he belong there?
A guy like Jack Eikel too. I was just talking
recently with a friend of mine, Jack Eikel. In the
first round? Is that something we're doing this year? It
makes sense, right, It definitely makes sense depending on your format.

(10:46):
And like I said, some of those defensemen pushing up
into the first round it doesn't feel good, but you
are getting that value over replacement. So yeah, it's weird
times there, but I still am a big proponent and
believer of get d early and faise centers for the
most part, because there's still going to be a lot
of good centers later on. And then yeah, like you said,
just mine for some upside towards the back of your draft.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
Yeah, I think if I'm getting Ico at the end
of the first if it's like a fourteen or sixteen,
I'm very happy. I would be very worried about reaching
it for him a little earlier, just because I think
it'll be fine. But it's one of those things where
I don't like to I don't like to have question
marks with my first pick. I feel like every time
I've drafted with question marks on my first pick this
season has not gone well. I think it just sets

(11:30):
the tone for the whole team. And you're just like, oh, man,
if you don't have one of those, for sure, like
talk guys like that. Your Koutrov announced he was out
for the whole year, and people already drafted in the ruin,
oh yeah, their whole season.

Speaker 5 (11:40):
That was a different story.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
But if any of your top if anyone's first round
pick just has a bad season. It seems like it
would be a miracle for you to actually make the
playoffs in that situation, like it's just so much to
recover from.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yep, for sure. I have a quick question for you guys,
just because obviously you're both so well versed in dynasty,
how do you extrapolate the value of a player in redraft?
Like these young prospects that you guys are really high on,
how do you translate that value over to a redraft league?
Is there certain things you look for, Like obviously a
player like mitchkav or Celebrini, like we know they're good
to go, right, Badard still good to go now? Yous

(12:14):
waning a little bit there, But what about some of
these other guys that you're really into.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
It's funny for me because I think people always assume
in my drafts that I'm going to go for the
young guy, and that is not usually what I do
because I want the proven track record. But I do
think it makes a big difference. Guys like Demodov who
have played professionally played in the KHL, that is a
completely different situation from a guy who just stepped out
of the OHL or WHL or even college like it's

(12:40):
a huge step for them, and unless you're talking about
these frankly that we've been spoiled with these really excellent
colder candidates the last few years with Badard and Celebrini.
I think that Demodov will probably be as good or
better in terms of points, But he's also had another
couple of years of experience in the KHL, so it's
not really the same situation. So I look for who's

(13:02):
done it at a significant level, because for the most part,
unless they have or less they've played in the AHL
already or in the KHL or professional league, I don't
think you can generally expect much unless they're like a
generational a type of player. So generally I've fade them
and people are always taking them earlier than I would think,
which usually surprised people that are like, aren't you going to
get them? I'm like, no, dude, Like yeah, why would

(13:22):
I get him? There's this, for sure, guy that I
know is going to get sixty seventy points or whatever,
I'm not gonna take. I would take the chance, was
it last year? If Celebrini felt till the fifth round
or something, I would have taken him. But people taking
him like in the second or like early third, I
was like, no, Like it ended up working out okay
for them, But I think that I'm generally more conservative
with the prospects.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Totally. Yeah, I'm in the same place as Victor.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
You can't really surprise people if you're in a shallow
enough draft that you really can get with somebody in surprise.
If I was in some draft where maybe Daniela You're
Off was there in the thirteenth round or something like
that and I grabbed. You just never know the competition
you're playing with. But in the types of leagues that
we play in, which is a lot with our patrons
and other people who have a lot of skill, if anything,

(14:09):
they probably err on the side of overestimating the the
precociousness of these players.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
And I'm with Victor.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
Sometimes better to have an aj Copepeitar than a brand
new guy coming up. Yeah, I totally with Victor on
that one.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
I love that. Actually, people want these league winners, don't they.
That's all I'm so smart. I'm picking this guy. He's
gonna win me my league. It's this is a luck
based game at the end of the day. Right, We
can't just go out just take a bunch of swings
on people. It doesn't make any sense, not if you
want to win. So I absolutely agree with what you're
saying there.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Awesome, And I think Jesse inadvertently gave me a perfect
segue to the first guy we're going to talk about
talking about and j Copitar, and that relates to the
first guy, not Copatar, That's not who.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
We're going to talk about.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
We talk about quin Byfield because it is I think, finally,
hopefully fingers crossed prayers, that it is his time, Like
it just seems like he has been waiting around. He's
done some really good things. Then actual points haven't popped,
but you've seen progression and time on ice and responsibility

(15:11):
going from the wing to the center. And an Jacobitar
is still a good player, but I think it's finally
quit in Byfield time, finally time for him to get
on that top power plan.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
And I think if he does, then he can really cook.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
So I think where you're getting Byfield right now, we're
gonna I'm gonna reference fan tracks ADPs. We're seeing him
at about one fifty, and that's what we're trying to
focus on here, Like you're one fifty to two to
fifty range where it's the last several picks of your draft,
like you really want to try to I think if
you hit these out of the park, like your team's
going to be really good and you have a chance

(15:43):
of winning.

Speaker 5 (15:44):
So that's what I'm looking at. And I think that.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
He's going there because he's been boring mid fifties point player.
But you look at the team around him, you look
at the context, you look at some shifts that are happening,
and the fact that Kopitar is taking another step back,
He's slowing down a little bit. He's still a good player,
but like he can't be your first line center anymore.
It's got to be it's got to be Buyfield's turn.
And so that's a guy that I'm looking at. What

(16:07):
is your interest level on Buyfield there?

Speaker 5 (16:10):
Blake?

Speaker 2 (16:11):
I love him. I love the player obviously, Like you
just have to watch some of his highlights from last
year to get jacked about the player. He scored one
of the sickest goals I've ever seen. I don't know
if you remember that one where he was in front
of the net. He had one hand on his stick,
He's battling a guy. He knocks down a point shot
with the one hand and then knocks it in with
the other hand, like the guy's elite. I love Quentin Buyfield.
My only concern with him is a pathway to offensive minutes.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Right.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
We saw the Kings run a five to forward power
play in the playoffs, and that's fine, right, Buyfield was
on there. But if they decide not to who gets
bounced off the top power play? We got Andre Kuzmenko there,
we got onse Coppatar, who I think should be bounced
off the top power play. But are they going to
do that? I don't think so. I like this could
be his last year. I don't see them knocking Copetar

(16:56):
off the power play. You got Campe, you got Fiala.
You know, I think Buyfield might be the odd man
out if they decide to put someone on quarterback like
Drew Dowdy or Brent Clark. So that gives me a
little bit of pause. But I'm definitely into the player.
This guy is an absolute stud. I think we've projected
him for somewhere close to sixty some odd points. He's
really good in all three zones. That's the other thing

(17:17):
I like, like he has the coach's confidence, so he'll
get out there for big minutes. That was indicated by
his time on ice last year, so that's not going
to change. It's just those offensive minutes that I'm concerned about.
And it's the power play really because his even strength line.
Kevin Fiala, Yes, please get that guy in your life.
He's an amazing offensive player, elite offensive play driver. And
then Alex Laferrier is another player I'm really interested in

(17:39):
just on my teams and as a late round pick.
So I think that second line is really good. We're
gonna get Quintin Byfield as the two C. What's going
to happen on the power play? I think that's really
going to make or break his value for Fantasy this year.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
Yeah, I'm disagree with you, but I do think that
this is the year that we start to see a
little bit of flip flopping, right, Like maybe not Cobaitar
on undred percent top power play, maybe not Byfield, but
maybe they give him a couple of face offs instead
of Copatar, or maybe they leave Kuzmenko off and put
Buyfield up there for one of them.

Speaker 5 (18:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
I think that they have to start doing more of
this transition. And I know when we talked to our
guests over the summer, that was a big thing that
Dennis Spernstein talked about, is that they needed, they want to,
and they need to start doing more of this. And
they're really happy with Buyfield's progress. I think that, and
they've been giving him more and more responsibility, which he's
been handling. So I think that was part of it too.
They want to see him down the middle, they want
to they wanted to see him with more responsibility.

Speaker 5 (18:30):
He's done it.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
So I think I hear your reservations, but I still
would be happy to have him that Like, I wouldn't
be reaching for him, but if he fell into my
lap in that range, I'd be good with it. Let's
move on to the next guy. And I heard you.
I was just telling you before we hopped on. I
was listening to you and they talk about some of
these players, and Pavelnevitch was one of them, and he

(18:52):
is someone that I definitely agree with a lot of
what you said. And just to reiterate some of the
things reason why I like him. First of all, he
he was an absolute stud for me down the stretch
last season and basically propelled me into the finals of
my league. So I have a saft spot for him,
but I try not to think about that. I try
to just think about what is it that is interesting
about him? And yeah, the Blues have a little bit

(19:15):
more mouths to feed now. It's certainly Snugrood is an
interesting piece that's coming up, and they have some other
guys there, but he should be on that top line.
He should be stable to Robert Thomas, who's an way
underrated elite playmaker. I love the fact that he has
try eligibility, and I love the fact that.

Speaker 5 (19:31):
They have off nights.

Speaker 4 (19:31):
This is a huge underrated play for me and redraft
is I often will prioritize the the guys on off
nights just because it makes streaming so much easier, just
so much easier, especially with goalies, but also any skater
and you're talking about a tr eligible skater on a
team that should be a playoff team, stable to one
of the best centers in the league, and you're getting

(19:53):
him at one sixty four. Come on, this is a
no brainer for me. I know that sometimes he doesn't
do anything. I've definitely seen those games where he gives
you Dittaly squad and you're.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
Just like, did you do anything out there?

Speaker 4 (20:03):
But then he gives you those games where he gives
you massive Fantasy points, well above sometimes even your superstars,
and he won me week. So I generally don't like
that type of player, but at this value, I'm more
than happy to take Pabouchevitch for that ride and just
know that some nights he's not gonna give me much,
but some nights he might win me my week, and
I'm good with that.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
How about you, Blake, Yeah, this is a player I'm
way in on this year at cost. It's a no brainer.
Like you said, I feel like this is a guy
for two straight seasons now, so it's fair that he's
His ADP has dropped a bit, but he's been inefficient.
He's mostly been a very inefficient or sorry efficient player
throughout his career. Last two seasons not so much. Also,
his performance on the Power Play the last two years

(20:44):
has been declining, and that's where I think that there's
room to grow because, like you said, he's with Robert Thomas,
and I love Robert Thomas. Actually it's hard for fantasy
because Robert Thomas doesn't do a lot of the things
that we want to see fantasy do, like shots, hits, blocks, nothing.
He's doing nothing there. But I absolutely agree with you

(21:05):
that he's elite, maybe one of the best facilitators in
the league, and he's underrated at that Pavel butch Naevich
attached there. I think this is it's only a matter
of time, right. He's had a couple of seasons here,
a little bit of a down season. They had a
coaching change, right, you bring in a guy like Jim Montgomery,
who's a pretty elite offensive mind in terms of coaching. Right,
So I think a full training camp under Jim Montgomery,

(21:28):
healthy papuch Nighbors coming into the year, Like, it's a
no brainer to me. This is a guy that he's
at the end of a lot of really high danger
passes from Robert Thomas, and I think that it's going
to be a matter of time for that shooting percentage
to start going up. I also like Jimmy Snugger Rude.
I like him on that line. I hope they start
him there because he's an underrated playmaker as well, and

(21:49):
he had he just showed himself pretty well in the
playoffs there, So I think that's a nice top line.
I love Jim Montgomery as the head coach of the Blues.
I think it's going to equal good things for this team.
And yeah, shigamors at won sixty.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
Yes please or sure, let's move on to maybe one
a little less known and at least in not in
Dynasty Circles but for Redraft.

Speaker 5 (22:10):
Alex Nikishin. Now.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
We've been drooling over Nikishin in Dynasty Circles for a
long time now, mainly because he's been starring in the KHL.
He was the captain of the SKA team and just
looking amazing. We were wondering if he'd ever come over,
and he did, and he suited up for some playoff
games and the first one was an adventure. I think
he had some communication issues, but there was you could

(22:32):
just see when they when he settled in and played,
he was he looked amazing. He was trucking guys, He
had an incredible shot and you could just see him
settling in. I think that he's going to start out
being probably a second or third pair guy, but I
think he moves up. I don't think there's anyone on
the left side that completely blocks him.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
KeAndre Miller is a great compliment. Depends on who he
plays with, but I could see nikishin and they might
even want to insulate him with Jacob Slavan on the
other side, and that could be a perfect combination for
some offense and some security there. And the fact that
this guy he bashes like he's a bash master. He's
been that in the KHL. Yeah he's mocking or he's
being drafted around one seventy. I think that's incredible value

(23:13):
because I think this guy by the end of the season.
Might take him a few weeks to a month or two,
but I think by the end of the season he
could end up being one of the top fantasy defensemen.
It all depends on that power play, but even without it,
I think he's going to get a really high floor
and I think you're going to be pretty happy. He
may not be your top defenceman, but he might be
your second or third, depending on how things go. And
I think that he's one of these guys we talked

(23:35):
about the beginning, you can't find these good defensemen.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
Later he might be.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
One that you can and that I wouldn't want to
bet all my chips on, but I think that he's
one who could return tremendous value, so I'd be all
over him a little bit later in drafts. What do
you think, Blake, Yeah, absolutely, Nate's got me stoked on
this player.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
So we've had some good discussions about mentionin here. Yeah.
I like what you said about him not needing power
play one to really be fantasy relevant. Obviously because of
the solid peripheral floor that he's bringing here with the
hits and blocks, that's awesome. This guy's going to be
a Beefer right off the bat. He's got experience in
a high level league for a lot of years, so
that's definitely playing in his favor. And I like you
said about Jacob Slaven too. If they put him a Slaven, Yeah,

(24:13):
go for a skate, my guy. Slaven's got it, no worries.
That's one of the best defense defensive defensemen in the league.
So yeah, it's really just about power play time. And
I can't quite get there on the power play with Nikish.
And when you have a guy like Shane Gorostis Spear
here who really has no other role on this team
other than to quarterback, that top power play. Right, He's
not a good defenceman per se, Right, he fits into

(24:34):
the system here. But yeah, if you're not gonna play
Shane gostis Beear on the top power play, Like now,
Shane Gosispear's value just goes in that toilet. He's gonna
be like a fifteen minute guy, right, So I just
don't see him displacing Shane Gossispear there. But if there's
a Shane Gostispear injury, bang, I think Nikkeishen is easily
the next guy up, and he's probably the heir apparent

(24:55):
as well, right, Like maybe they're transitioning depending on how
Nikishon does this year, like to room him for that
role on the top power plays. I definitely like Carolina
this year. Like you said, I think his even strength
minutes are probably going to be pretty good. What kind
of ice time do you think he's going to get?
What are you projecting there? Because Nate and I have
him for like just over nineteen minutes on the year,
I should just tell you the rest of our projection.

(25:16):
Year two got him for ten goals twenty six assists.
So yeah, thirty six points for Nikishan with eight points
on the power play, nineteen minutes average time on ice?
What do you guys think.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
I think this is one of those things where I
don't necessarily disagree with that. I think you have to
do these projections based on an average of the whole season,
but I don't think that's what it's going to be
the whole season. I think he's probably going to start
off a little below that. I could see him by
the end of the CN being in the twenty two range,
and that's where I think a lot of that value
is going to come. I think that they're going to
trust him more and more. This guy was the top

(25:46):
dog on the best KHL team for years and played
against the best competition out there. He knows how to
handle himself. This is not going to be a problem
for him. Yeah, the smaller ice and the way the
Carolina plays and all those things are going to be
a little bit of a jus. But he's gonna have
all of training camp unlike he did in the playoffs,
and I think he's gonna figure it out. I think
he's gonna be over twenty towards the end will his

(26:07):
whole season. I think you might be dead on in
terms of your average for the whole season, But I
think it's one of those things that's going to creep up.
And so maybe, depending on the size of your league,
you don't draft him, maybe you wait and pick him
up after a few weeks, depending on how things are
going for you. And I think he could end up
being a league winner for you, because I definitely think
by Christmas he's gonna end up being a pretty valuable piece,
and I think at that point he'll probably be close

(26:29):
to if not over twenty minutes. And then I agree
with you on the power play. The whole reason you
have Shane gossis Bear is to play him on the
power play. He's not really effective at even strength, but
we've also seen I don't think Carolina is one of
the teams that would just scratch him and give it
to someone else, like if they are not beyond that.
There are certain teams that probably wouldn't do that, but
I don't think that's Carolina. They're gonna go with whoever

(26:50):
helps him the most, and if they feel like Nikishin
can just do it all, they might give it to him.
I doubt that will be the case, just because he's
got so much to learn it even strength, but it
could happen. If it does, then he'll blow that projection
out of the water. Let's move on to the next guy.
So Cole Profetti, He's been one of my favorites for
a long time. He's just he's so smart, the way

(27:10):
he plays, the way he dissects defenses, and yeah, he's
a little small. This discussion of him not being good defensively,
I just I find that offensive quite frankly, because he
is good defensively. In fact, if you look at his
course against numbers, he's literally like the fifth best on
the team, and in terms of who plays the hardest minutes,
he's definitely up there. And he puts Kyle Connor, Mike

(27:31):
Streifley and Gave Valardi to shame, who are like literally
the three worst defensively on that team. But yeah, he
doesn't provide as much offense, and when you look at
expected goal differential, those guys average out a little bit
better because their offense is so good, but Profetti is
right behind them, and he's he offers a lot in
terms of his offense. Of course, it comes down to
is he going to get on that top power play,

(27:51):
which I think he will. Now that I think that's
going to be his and that could make a difference,
but still it might not be so exciting, and centers
are tend to be devalued. Although it's very possibly ends
up on the wing, and I think having that wing
eligibility for Profetti could really swing things in terms of
rostering him, because if he's center only and you don't
have as many skater spots that could shift things. With
wing eligibility, I think that makes it a little bit easier.

(28:14):
So he's going at one eighty nine right now, which
is really late, so I'd be happy to have. It
is hard to define top power play guys that late,
and he should be one of them. And depending on
how they structure their power play, he could end up
outperforming what he's done previously, which is at most last
season with fifteen power play points. I think he could
touch twenty or more depending on how things go. What

(28:36):
do you think about that, Blake?

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, no, this guy's got a ton of acumen. I've
been a big fan of the player as well. But
it is going to be interesting. I do agree. I
think he's going to be on power play one. I
think that makes sense. I know they've run Nino Nita
Rider up there before. Like al, I have follow I
don't know they're putting weird guys up there. Cole Profetti
should have that spot locked down at least at the
start of the year. But his deployment at even strength

(28:59):
is a little bit concerning to me because you lose
a guy like Nick Eelers, Right. Nick Eeler's one of
the best play drivers in the entire league, one of
the best rush players in the entire league, just electric
out there, right, And Cole Profetti. I think those two
had some really good chemistry and they played well together.
So now Profetti is going to be looking at playing
with Jonathan Taves, which is which sounds good in theory, right,

(29:19):
If we get Jonathan Taves back to some even close
to a level he was at previously, Like, that's a
nice two see situation for Winnipeg. We got maybe Gus
Nyquist out there, who he can do stuff. He's a
good facilitator. I think that Profetti is going to have
to adjust his game a little bit because with Nick
Eelers out there, he's a bit more of the passenger.
But I do think that Profetti has the skill to

(29:41):
be the driver. We just have to see it. We
haven't seen it yet because I think he spent a
lot of his time with a guy like Nick Eelers,
So it's just a player of interest for me for now.
But I do think that the power play deployment getting
more points there, maybe a little bit less at even strength.
I think it's going to equal kind of a similar
season to what we saw last year. Nate and I
projected for fifty four points, nineteen points on the power play. Yeah,

(30:02):
that's exactly what happened. More power play points, a little
bit less and even strengthen it comes out in the wash.
The ceiling case here though, if he truly is an
elite play driver and he's able to up his game
and let's say Jonathan Taves comes back and he's just
good to go, same old defensive stalwart like play connector,
I think that, Yeah, there's a sixty point ceiling for
Praffetti here, maybe more if he really cooks on a

(30:23):
power play. But I think it's a swing you absolutely
need to take at that ADP on fan tracks, that's crazy.

Speaker 5 (30:29):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
If we're talking earlier, I would pass, like super early,
but at that point you have to all right, I
got one more, and I think that you're going to
be a fan of this one. Maybe we'll be out
on our John Klingberg island all by ourselves. Blake, I
don't know, but I think that, as we were saying,
when you get towards the end and you don't have
a top power play quarterback, it can be really hard
to find one. John Klingberg's ADP is basically being undrafted

(30:52):
in some leagus. He's gone at two twenty one, and yeah,
I get it. Like the Sharks, in case anyone didn't remember,
he's going to play for the Sharks season and their
top power play will be probably amazing in a few years.
William Ecklin Celebrini to Foley will Smith. But it should
also be pretty good this season. And I think that
he doesn't have to do much, and they haven't really
had anyone who's been able to do even a serviceable

(31:14):
amount of moving the puck, and so I think that's
going to be really huge for them.

Speaker 5 (31:19):
And those four.

Speaker 4 (31:20):
First of all, they get along really well, and so
that is helpful. They like, they love playing together. I'm
sure Cleveland is gonna fit in seamlessly. There's a couple
of Swedes already on the team there, so I'm sure
that'll be fine, and they have nothing to play for
other than fun. Just go have fun and try to score.
So I think that I've seen some projections of Cleanberg
down as low as like ten to twenty points, And yeah,

(31:41):
it might be that low, but heck, they could just
get out there and have fun on the power play,
and he could get that many points just on the
power play, let alone even strength. So no one's asking
him to defend, no one's asking him to try to
help win games.

Speaker 5 (31:52):
Really, like, that's not really going to be a huge
expectation for him.

Speaker 4 (31:55):
We know he's not great defensively and he's older now,
But I think if I'm staring at him with one
of my last picks, I say, why not Blake?

Speaker 5 (32:01):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Hell yeah, why not at the klingon the Klingons here,
I'm actually I think this is an absolutely viable pick.
I'm not even like, how dare any fantasy analysts say
this man's gonna only get twenty points?

Speaker 1 (32:14):
No?

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Okay, first off, I love what's going on in San Jose,
and it's nice to talk to you because that's your
team obviously, Victor. But there it's like the way I
want Chicago to be Chicago vibes bad. San Jose vibes good,
even though they're both stinky in terms of point production.
At the end of the day, San Jose's having fun.
They're playing entertaining brand of hockey. And yeah, I think

(32:35):
that John Klingberg, like this guy is, he's Shane Gostisper.
You don't sign John Klingberg unless you're gonna put him
on the power play. And they don't have anybody there,
so it makes perfect sense. Who are you gonna put
on the power play besides John Klingberg. I don't like
they were running a five forward set there, but that
was terrible. I've seen like Jack Thompson maybe if he's

(32:55):
if he makes the team even I don't know, Lil
Chagrin sure, but yeah, I love John klinger Also, I
read an interview just in the offseason here that yeah,
he's come to realization about himself, which is I think
he was really reliant on just his talent to carry
him through and he wasn't really putting the effort into
the other parts of the game, the defensive parts. And
we saw in the playoffs with Edmonton, John Kleinberg and

(33:17):
Jake Walman played as a pair they won their minutes
out there, they had a positive course. He four percentage
in the playoffs in a limited role. But Kleinberg was
out there doing stuff. He wasn't getting danced at the
blue lines. He was playing some big minutes on a
team with Stanley Cup aspirations, and I think that kind
of stuck with him as well. He's not going to
be a muffin out there just some offensive guys. He's
going to bring an NHL caliber defense to the San

(33:40):
Jose Sharks. Is it? You know, at what degree of caliber?
That's questionable, But I do think Klingberg is not the
same player that we've seen in the past. I think
he's got a little bit more meat on the bone.
And yeah, he's going to run that power play. So
we've got him projected for almost forty points. That'll play
right at the end of your draft. You're getting a
guy that could potentially get forty points. You could probably
drop them pick him up again, like people aren't rushing

(34:01):
to the wire to pick up John Klingberg. And also
just on John Klingbery, I don't know what he's doing,
but in his head shots, here put your front teeth
in my man. It's I kind of respect it actually,
because yeah, I'm just looking at his headshot here, zero
front teeth, so he does that, he's Yeah, he seems
like a character to me, and I'll draft him for
that reason alone. I don't care.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Is Brent Burns rubbing off since he's in San Jose now?

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Is that what's going on? I don't know, but it's good.
It's a beautiful smile. He's got kind eyes and no
front teeth. So there you go. I love it.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
I love it, like you say, that's worth drafting him alone. Mate,
you can upload the image of John Klingberg's face and
make it your team icon.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
And I should be in good shape, all right.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
And I'm going to give you a couple of my
guys here, Blake, and you can tell me. I'm gonna
start with keeper Sherwood, winger of the Vancouver Canucks, and
look in redraft maybe you can still get him. I'll
tell you where I'm living in dynasty. I ain't getting
him because whoever had him on his team last year
or her team is not going to give that player up.

(35:02):
And keep in mind, everybody, I play in bash leagues.
I play in leagues where hits are valued and that's
part of the story. For Q for Surewood, it was
actually fairly close to half a point per game his
last year in Nashville, half a point per game in Vancouver,
which is fine for a guy who lives off something
else two shots per game considering the rest of his profile.

(35:25):
And all right, I have burying the lead. Four hundred
and sixty one hits. Just stop in basking that for
a minute. Five point nine to one hits per game.
Tom Wilson's career average for hits per game is three.
It's half what Keith for Surewood had last year in
a category league. That's a category winner. That's better than

(35:47):
Connor McDavid.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
Is at assists.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
All right, you're just gonna win hits if you get
something like this. And in our tidy format, our tier dynasty,
minor penalties and negative Fenwick are risks for bruisers. You
can actually take negative points in our format, and that
doesn't really happen with Sherwood. He never last year. I

(36:10):
looked at his game log. He never had fewer than
two Fantasy points in one game all year in our format.
That's just steady. That floor is amazing. If you rely
on a guy for goals and assists. You're gonna get
a lot of zeros, You're gonna get a lot of
goose eggs. But when he's thrown six hits a night,

(36:30):
you always have that floor. And god forbid, you're in
a salary league one point five mil. Are you kidding me?
And Okay, I get that. The case against this guy
is he's only done it once. He's thirty years old.
He's a late bloomer. But you might also say he
was in a premo role. Vancouver was in kaot He
wasn't in a premo role last year. He didn't have

(36:51):
padded minutes, and he was playing with kind of not
to insult them, but let's just say he was playing
with some of the less prominent members of the Vancouver
Canucks forward lineup blueger is an Einen and Peels Suitor
and Dakota Joshua. There were the guys. He was not
out there with Elias Petterson all that much. He was

(37:11):
not out there with Brock Besser or whatever. The Patrick
Johnson our guests who came on to talk about the
Canucks said that the Elevander Kane could take his role.
I think there's probably more than one of these physical
roles on this team and the other thing for all
that violence one major penalty last year from sure what
one fight out of after five and after four hundred

(37:34):
and sixty one hits. The second place hitter in NHL
last year, Matthew Olivier had fifteen majors and he had one.
So if that just takes you off the ice, and
in some formats it could cost you. Point out some
formats it might gain you points. So I guess keep
that in mind. But I feel like, yeah, keep for
sure what's getting drafted. He's certainly got a heck of

(37:56):
a lot more value than last year, but only one
eighty one ADP Blake, Have I sold you or were
you sold?

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Did I have you at Hello? What's the deal? You know?

Speaker 5 (38:05):
Damn?

Speaker 2 (38:05):
I was sold on key for sure with Oh yeah, buddy,
this guy's an absolute unit. I like to call him
Hunter beef Castle. Yeah he does that. But obviously the
hits are great, Right, that's unbelievable, And I agree with
what you said. It's not like he got so much
more opportunity. He just got a defined role on this team,
and that role was the third line grinder. Go out

(38:26):
when your minutes, hit people get off. He had a
career high in ice time, which I don't think is
going to go much higher, So that would indicate he
was getting more opportunity. I don't think that's gonna happen,
but yeah, forty points. Like this guy. It was basically
one of two or three players on the Canucks last
year that made the team watchable because other than that,
oh man, it was a sad trombone all year. Something

(38:48):
I do like about Sherwood as well. He's not just
a beefer, right, this guy. He's pretty damn good at
things like rush shots, like generating shots off the rush.
He's really good at zone entries, right, That's unexpected for
a grinder. You would think, like these guys are, they're
just dumping the puck in and trying to bang. Surewood
does that as well, but he also is pretty adept

(39:09):
at carrying the puck in, which is something you like
to see and is a kind of an indicator of
potential offense. He's also amazing on the four check, so
if they do dump the puck in, sure what's going
to get it? He's excellent to that. I'm just I
think that the problem with Sherwood is the offensive talent
just isn't there. Right. He had a pretty efficient year
last year, shot thirteen point six shooting percentage for nineteen goals.

(39:30):
I think that's going to regress a little bit. Not
nothing crazy, right, He's he's definitely found his stride here
with Vancouver and we love him out here. But I
could see him taking a little bit of a haircut
on the goals. But he's still generating a bunch of offense.
He's still hitting like a mac truck. I could see
him getting over four hundred hits again this year. He
does some stuff shorthanded as well. I just think you

(39:50):
could do a hell of a lot worse than picking
up Keith for Surwood. It's interesting you mentioned McDavid, right, because, yeah,
if you're in a category league, that's what key for
Surewood is he's basically like Austin Matthews of hits. Right,
He's going to win it, There's no question. It is
an interesting piece though, and I'd love to get your
guys take on, like how when do you prioritize players
like this that are just really good at one category.

(40:11):
They're going to win you that category, but maybe the
rest of the stuff is not quite there. Are you
prioritizing players like this? Are you looking for players that
kind of cover more categories as you go along?

Speaker 3 (40:20):
This is why people don't like category leagues. I used
to love the category leagues, but this is why people
play points anymore. Is and I've tried to advocate at
some points, maybe we could make goals and assists categories
that are worth double what the other categories are worth
in a head to try to equal out this because
people just don't pass the sniff test of keeper. Surewood's

(40:42):
as valuable as Austin Matthews. But yeah, I here's the thing.
When you go about targeting these guys, you'll have so
many people who'll be like, you'll always find a guy
like this off the waiver wire. You don't need to
go out looking for somebody like this. Here's the thing
with Sherwood. It's an underrated thing that he can still
get two shots and half a point per game. There's

(41:02):
plenty of the biggest bangers in the league do not
get that. They're more like a fifteen point one shot
a game type guy.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
And that's huge.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
That's an enormous bit on your margin. So there's a
reason to value something like that. But yeah, if you're
playing in a true categories league, you can take this
guy at a point where other people's eyes will pop
and it will still be a wise choice and not
first round.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
But depending on who you're playing with.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
Who knows. All right, let's go to our next guy,
and I'm gonna go to the post hype sleeper zone.
I'm going to go to the guy who somebody overdrafted
a couple of years ago and now might just be
coming back into view. And that's Bran Clark, defenseman for
the Los Angeles Kings. It was his first full year,
really last year, twenty two year old. It was an escalation,

(41:52):
It was a big jump. He showed it in the OHL.
He showed it in the EHL. Almost a point per
game in the AHL for a defenseman, pretty darn good.
Before last question is the way he was traded during
the season by the coaching staff. He was jerked around
at to some point, he was sent down to he
was benched, he was moved down to lower lines. The playoffs,

(42:15):
they didn't give him nearly as much run, although he
did score two goals for the Kings in that one series.
In the playoffs, but at some point the talent is
going to be undeniable. I think we should maybe just
relax about his deployment in his real year one. Jordan
Spence and are both gone now the right d on
the team. You got your Drew Dowdy, sure, and then

(42:38):
it's Brank Clark and newcomer Cody CC. There is no
way that Cody CC in a just universe, Cody CC
cannot play above Bran Clark. He does not have that
upside and he's made plenty of mistakes over the years either.
If that's the problem they've got, I think the guys
they brought in this offseason in defense are guys who

(42:59):
are more defensive defenseman, which would be great to put
with Bran Clark. That's exactly what would benefit him. Yeah,
his defense, even string defense, was a little below water,
but his offensive goals above replacement, according to Evolving Hockey,
was behind only Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe on the
whole team last year. The defense wasn't great, but Joel

(43:21):
Edmondson was a whole lot worse. So don't tell me
that he was the one outlier. I wish he took
more hits or made more hits, but he blocks and
he shoots, and at some point I think he he
is the heir apparent to surpass drough Dowdy at some point.
I don't know if it'll be this year. Dowdy is
already starting to show a little bit of wear and tear.

(43:42):
I think we're going to get to the point where
we see fifty five point Brant Clark maybe this year,
maybe next twenty average time on ice, If he had
twenty minutes on ice, he would have almost been on
pace for that last year. I'm saying maybe close to
three shots per game, maybe more like two blocks, maybe
half a hit. That's all gonna significantly beat the draft

(44:03):
slot of one to eighty five that he's at right now.
What are you feelings on Bran Clark?

Speaker 2 (44:06):
They're blake. I love it. I love the take for sure.
I'd love to see Brent Clark hit for fifty points.
Oh man, that'd be incredible. Yeah, we're looking at a
player that is really good under the hood, that yeah,
is unfortunately just not getting the deployment needed. And LA
has a very distinct identity as a defensive squad and
you got to fit into that. And I don't think

(44:28):
Bran Clark does. We've heard Jim Hiller talk about Bran
Clark at times, not in the most glowing way, and
I don't like to hear that he hasn't been poop
pooing on him or anything like that, but just the
fact that he is getting sent down, he's not getting
the deployment right average only sixteen minutes average time on
ice last year, when there was a role for Brent Clark,
he could have stepped up and done something right. You
look at the King's power Play last year. What was

(44:49):
it like, twenty seventh overall in power play percentage? Come on,
you got this guy's elite. He should be running the
power play right and then instead of that, they went
to a five toward set in the playoffs and little
bit at the end.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Of the year.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
There. Yeah, I love the player. I just again, I'm
concerned about the deployment. I do what you said though,
about a couple defensemen leaving and who's in here to
take his minutes now, Bran Clark, Cody CC no, right,
it's not gonna happen. So there should be more of
a role for Brent Clark. We project them at Apples
and ginos here for rough flee, what do we do? Yeah?
Forty one points, so ten goals, thirty one assists, forty

(45:21):
one points. Bran Clark. I like that, and we have
them just under nineteen minutes average time, and I so
slowly being brought along. I think the stuff that you're
bringing to the table here, though, Jesse, I think that's
absolutely in the wheelhouse if they, like you said, in
a just world. But is it a just world here, Jesse,
I'm not sure about that. But that said, if this
guy gets over twenty minutes, yeah, now we're looking at

(45:42):
a fifty point defenseman. We're looking at good power play
numbers with ceiling for more. I think that this guy
is in the same vein as a player like players
that we really like, guys like Lane Hudson. Right, I'm
not saying he's Lane Hudson, but they have offensive acumen
and they need to be put in a position to
reach that potential. Lane Hudson was in Montreal. Bran Clark
hasn't been given that opportunity here in La so time

(46:03):
will tell. I think he's absolutely draftable though, certainly like
one of these defensemen, if you miss out on some
top guys. You can wait much later and get a
guy like Bran Clark, Nikish and ze Buyam Zamperak. These
guys are all the same style of defenseman to me.
But I would prioritize Bran Clark a little bit more
just because he's already been in the league for one
year and I think that there's a pathway.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
Two minutes, listeners, we're going to take a break during
this commercial. I want you to contemplate whether we're living
in a just world.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
I'll be right.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Back with Blake Kramer, the jazz man of Fantasy Hockey,
ready to talk about a few more guys who are
a little bit my guys this year.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Nothing you could take jem me away from my guy.

Speaker 5 (46:50):
Nothing you could do.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
Because I'm so, I'm sticking my claim. I'm going on
the hills for Marco Rossi. Marco Rossi the average strap
position to eleven point nine, and I say he's gonna
beat that. There are playmakers on the wings, Caprill Capriz
of Danila Euroff, He's gonna have another opportunity. He had

(47:13):
sixty points in his age twenty three year. That's not
so bad, and the tidy rank last year he had
already beat out his ADP for this year. Now he
went to war with the team in the offseason, or
the team went to war with him. Bill Garon came
into the offseason saying, they really need to focus on
getting another center, and that kind of feels like he

(47:33):
was talking about Rossi. They negotiated hard with him on
that contract, but he signed it and they ended up
getting that done. He's got to find a way. His
production dropped a little bit in the second half, as
Bell Garon pointed out publicly somehow, So again we're talking
about a team of a player who's values a little

(47:54):
bit suppressed because of the questions with his team. So
I'm betting against that and saying he's going to come
back Hungary something to prove. This guy has overcome some
serious heart issue COVID. He's overcome serious stuff in his
life and in his career already. I think he's got
the makeup and this offense the lily your off's getting
plugged in. It's getting better around him. I think he'll

(48:16):
be good. And my last my appeal to authority here
the logical fallacy of appeal to the authority. Scott Wheeler
just ranked him his number sixty one, Dynasty player, the
prospect boys over the athletic. So, Marco ROSSI are you
willing to bet against what Bill Garon is trying to
do here and see the Rossie rising, the Rossie Rising.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
I was like, Marco Polo, Yeah, that's a great game. Yeah,
the Rossie Rising, I'm here for it. I love the player.
I am like in redraft, I am concerned about this
whole narrative. In the offseason, I feel like he signed
the contract because he had to, Like they couldn't get
any trades done. I know the Canucks were pushing really hard.
I was really hoping that would happen. That would have

(48:58):
been amazing because I do love this player. All the
stuff you said holds water. This guy had sixty points
last year. He's been underrated his entire career, and I
do think he will come out with a B and
his bonnet. But is he going to get that deployment
like that? That's really the question. And yeah, he averaged
eighteen minutes fifteen seconds time on ice last year, but
in the playoffs it fell off a cliff. He averaged
eleven minutes. They just went another way and it didn't

(49:21):
really make any sense I didn't get it at the point,
I thought Rossi had a really strong season. Yeah, and
then when you got your GM publicly outing you like,
it's just not a good look. We saw that happen
in New York last year, right with Chris Drury and
a bunch of players on that team, like it's not good.
Guys need to feel good to play good. And I'm
not sure. I don't know what's going on behind closed doors.
Maybe Rossi and Garin are good and he's excited about

(49:42):
the season, But I wouldn't be surprised if Rossi's playing
for another team this year. They got they signed the contract,
get it done, and maybe trade him away right just
to buy themselves some time, because I'm not sure that
he's in their plans here. But if he is, yeah,
I think he's the two seat with a bullet for sure.

Speaker 5 (49:57):
He should be.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
And we got Matt Boldies, Like if Boldie's not playing
with Cap and Jeek, now Marco Rusk gets to play
with Matt Boldie, who is an elite shot producer, an
elite offensive driver, right, and Rossi's no slouch either, And
then who you're gonna get on the right wing there,
like you said, maybe Daniela, you're off. That's an interesting piece,
Ryan Hartman. Tarasenko's there now, so he's got some good
even strength deployment. I don't think he's gonna get power

(50:19):
play one unless somebody gets injured or they go with
a five toward set, which I don't think they will.
But yeah, I do like Rossi certainly in Dynasty. I
think this guy's future is extremely bright. I'm just not
sure what's gonna happen here this year. And for that reason,
unless I'm picking him up with one of my last picks,
I'm probably out on the player.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
All right. I could go on about players, but I'm
fired up to get to some of your guys here, Blake.
I want to know a listener's probably they're listening to
your show, they're hearing it. But I need to know
who your guys are this year once you start him out.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
All right, let's get the biz on that first guy
I want to talk about. I gotta go with my boy,
Philip heatl Oh.

Speaker 5 (50:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Yeah, I've been talking to you guys about this all
but I'm always interested in a player that's doing all
the right things under the hood when it comes to
offensive production and is now in line for an increase
in deployment and opportunity. And that describes Philipetal to a
tee for me. Up to this point in his career,
Hetal's been a third liner. So now he's penciled in
for the two C in Vancouver. They've tried to pick

(51:19):
up another center, right, there's no trade partners, right, so
I think they're going to have to do it internally.
And Philipiito is the guy. There's no one beneath him
on the depth chart here in Vancouver. That's going to
be the two CE over Philipetel. I'm excited about that.
For better or for worse, Philipetal's the guy. And I
also think that he has a really good shot at
power play one here with the team, so I imagine
that he'll starts there. One of the things, one of
the many things I like about Philipetal and the reason

(51:41):
he's exciting to me, is because of what he brings
to the team. And I did listen to you Patrick
Johnson interview there and he mentioned as much. Right, this guy,
he's bringing something different to the Canucks right speed, rush play,
the ability to drive offense, rush play, in particular, like
Vancouver was one of the worst teams in the league
at generating shots off the rush last year. That is
hard to watch. Okay, that's They've been doing this to

(52:02):
us for a bunch of years now. So a guy
like Philipito coming in here is like a breath of
fresh air. And you guys may or may not know.
I like to look at Corey Schneider's All Three Zones
microstat project. That's something that I'm really into. He For
those that don't know, he manually tracks things like zone entries,
scoring chances, assist shot assists, these zone retrievals, all kinds
of stuff that would provide context for why a player

(52:23):
may or may not be performing. And in Corey's data set,
Philip Hetel is third in the entire league in zone
entries that lead to scoring chances per sixty Philip Hedel,
he did that, all right, that's excellent. And that's behind
Jack Hughes, who is ahead of him, and Joel Ferrabee
for some random reason. So yeah, Philipido was number three
in that metric, and that just says a lot about

(52:43):
his ability to make offense happen. So when a guy
like that has that going on under the hood, and
now he's playing with better players, which he should, it's
reasonable to expect that more of those scoring chances get converted,
meaning more points for Philipetels. So yeah, in terms of
projection for him, we've got him for twenty four goals,
thirty one assists, fifty five points for Philly. Yeah, pretty
nice stuff. Only fifteen points on the power play, so

(53:05):
I think there's a little bit of room there. Average
time on ice, we've got him for sixteen minutes and
forty five seconds, which would also be a career high, right,
and he could get more than that. Right. There was
a couple games last year with Vancouver he played over
twenty minutes. So I just think everything is really lining
up for Philip Heetel to have a big time increase
in opportunity and deployment, and I think he's good enough
to do something with it. There's an interview this offseason

(53:27):
as well with Philip Hetal where he was talking about
the whole offseason. He's just working on his shot, right.
He wants to be a more efficient shooter and that'll play, right.
This guy's been inefficient for years, right, So if he
can put the biscuit in the basket at a higher rate. Obviously,
that's going to be great for fantasy, and he's playing
with better players, so he should be in better positions
to do that. I don't know, guys, what do you think,
Philip Hetel?

Speaker 4 (53:48):
I hate to be the poor of cold Water, but
I don't know that I can get there with you. Like,
I don't disagree with your reasons, other than some of
it sounded a bit like someone has to score in
that two s role, and I don't necessarily agree with
that philosophy. No, they don't have to score there, and
I don't think that's super rich fifty five points. Certainly,
if he is on the top power play, I think

(54:08):
that's the huge difference. I feel like it. I think
besser and better center locks. So then is it Garland Debrusk?
Does he displace one of them? It certainly seems reasonable,
but also it could not be or he could share time,
he could alternate, and in those cases then I think
that might not work out so well. The other thing,
which you also alluded to, is that it's really bleak

(54:30):
beyond him. There isn't really a next best option, and
so I think he's going to have to do a
lot of the dirty work to drive play just to
keep them out of their own end, and that's a
lot to ask. I think Teddy Blueger is great in
terms of the bottom six center, like he's fine, Like
he can do some of that. But I think they're
gonna they're gonna ask Filipedo to do a lot and
that just might be tough to get all the way

(54:52):
past fifty. So that'd be my concern. I could certainly
see it. And I think that where is he going?
I didn't hear that part.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
I did look at his ADP here, but let me
find it here. I think it's really late. Yeah, ADP
for him two seventy.

Speaker 4 (55:04):
Four, Okay, so and a lot of that not being drafted.
So yeah, in that case, then I think that you
probably could do worse. But if he's going in the
same range as Prefetti, that's not a difficult decision for me.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
No, I can dig it for sure. What do you think, Jessie?

Speaker 3 (55:19):
Nah? Yeah, I old Philly heat Man, You'll never give
up on that guy. But I don't know. Yeah, it's
very hard to say.

Speaker 5 (55:26):
I did.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
I can't get a read on Vancouver. All I can
say is if he's with Philip, if he's with Keith
for Sherwood, he'll be fine.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
Philly Heat.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
Can I use that? Jesse? You mind that?

Speaker 3 (55:37):
That wasn't any What were those guys called? It was Bennette?
Rip ben Burnett.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Yeah, he's not deadbody. He doesn't glad to hear. Oh,
I know professionally rip. He's alive and well. All right
to shout out to ben Burnette. I love you, Ben.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
You're not listening, but I love you. But yeah, Philly Heat.
They used to what was it, They would microwave a
glass of beer. Yeah, when Philly when Philipeedle scored, and
they would drink it down immediately. It was a strange
thing that they did, but they were really into him,
those Ranger fans.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
These guys sound like people i'd like to hang out with.
All Right, that sounds good. Yeah, nothing better than microwave beer.
All right, let me tell you another player here that
I'm gonna get you. I'm gonna get you go. I'm
gonna get you with one of these here, all right,
Next player, Josh Norris. All right, the Buffalo Sabers. I
feel people are forgetting about Josh Norris. And what his
potential role with the Sabers might be this upcoming season.

(56:27):
That's what his ADP is telling me anyway, Like it's
way down there, and for me personally, I'm seeing a
much bigger role for Josh Morris this upcoming year with
the Sabers. I think that he's gonna be the one
see here in Buffalo. I know some people might think
that it's Uri Kulik. He was there at the end
of the year playing with Tage Thompson. He's also showing
there on daily face off as a top line center.
But I'm not here for it all right. I think

(56:48):
that Uriy Kulik was playing there because Norris was injured, right,
He had an oblique injury to end the year. I'm
also looking at Norris's contract, right, this guy's the highest
paid forward on the team. That's first line money. Okay,
he's getting paid more than Tage. You're play him with Tage, Okay.
But that's not really good analysis there. But that's fine.
I do think that Koulik is a good young player,
but I think Tage was just on a here and

(57:09):
Koulik was a passenger there this year. I think it's
gonna be Tage Thompson, Josh Norris, and Zach the Butler
Benson Online one to start the year, and I should
mention as well. With Norris, there's so many things that
he does well. One of them is four checking. This
guy's an elite four checker and he's also a Beefer,
so big time hits, so you're gonna get a good
for a full floor with hits shots, yeah, and all

(57:32):
those like he's he four check pressures, like his four
check pressures for sixty huge right, So he's gonna win
his fair share of board battles as well, which should
really extend zone time for the sabers there in the
offensive zone. So that said too, nor should be a
staple on power Play one all year. I don't see
anyone that's challenging him for minutes. They need his face
offs out there. And in the past he's been a
pretty effective power play performer as well, especially in Ottawa,

(57:55):
but he was never given the reins there in Ottawa
they always did a one B or kind of like
a sixty already split, Whereas I think in Buffalo this
year it's gonna be a true power Play one and
Norris is gonna be on it. I think he's gonna
help the team there. Buffalo has had the twenty third
best power play percenters last year. I think they're too
talented to be that low. I could see them middle
of the pack there, like fifteen fourteen and around there.

(58:16):
And I do feel like the value on Norris is huge.
This guy's been left for dead. Just do his injury
history there, which is valid, But I don't know he's
fully healthy going into the season. I don't really draft
for injuries unless it's like a repeat injury to the
same place. There are just very few players who I
will fade due to the injury narrative. Actually, one thing
I will say I do try and avoid players that
aren't healthy going into camp. That's not something I'm interested in,

(58:38):
like drafting players that are still rehabbing an injury or
not fully there. I want to hear, yep, I'm here,
I'm good to go. A's something you guys do really
well here at Fantasy Hockey Life. With all your beat
reporter interviews, we get all the insider news at is
super helpful just how players are doing. So kudos to
you guys, great offseason content here. Thank you for your service.
But yeah, long story short Top six player power play

(58:59):
one Josh Norris. It's a dunk to me where he's
being drafted. Wow, I'm going to clip that. Do we
do ads anywhere?

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Victor? Do we place ads? I need to clip what
Blake just said. That was very nice of you. Yeah,
it's with Norris. The whole thing is the injuries, right
do you if you believe that what he's had has
been transitory and it's not going to come back, you're
in good shape. The shoulder has been the chronic thing
that's been the scary one. Last year it was the oblique,
but the shoulder stuff has been the stuff. He's had

(59:28):
multiple surgeries and missed time over and you just worry
that kind of thing has been debilitating. But like you, man,
that one stretch where he was healthy and just producing,
I can't unsee it, and I think he's I've gotten
lower offers in one of my dynasty leagues for him
over the years. I just can't forget that stretch he
was on a couple of years ago where he was

(59:49):
just a man of fire. And you're right, they've moved
out a lot of people in Buffalo. No JJP, no
Casey middle stat and yeah, there's there's been a lot
of guys that they've moved out, so now it may
be the time for Josh Norris. I here's my take
from your Lips to God's Ears. That's my take on
Josh Norris being a sleeper this year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
But I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
I really hope that kid breaks out with Buffalo. There's
also the Buffalo factor of that sometimes where players go
to die. But yeah, we'll try not to scout the
laundry too hard this time, Blake.

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
No, I appreciate that. Yeah, that's good stuff to meet.
Josh Norris is a great reason to fad centers as well. Right,
you got a guy like Josh Norris available way late
in your draft, like stock up on those wingers, stock
up on those defensemen early. You got players like him
waiting for you. That again, I think people have really
forgotten about victory. You got anything on Josh Norris?

Speaker 5 (01:00:40):
What do you do?

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
I think I agree with Jesse I. If fantasy were
played on a per game basis, I would be all
over for like Josh Norris.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
But the fact that he.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
Gets injured, and frankly, I'm just done trusting Buffalo players
to do anything unless your name is Dollen or Thompson.
I'm probably gonna look elsewhere because someone will probably be okay,
but I'd rather just stream them than bank on them.
And he's someone that he probably will end up being
a streamer at some point, Josh Norris, and I'll probably
just pick him up. There is probably is where I'm

(01:01:12):
thinking though in a deep enough league, late enough then
you could certainly do worse. And when he produces, he's fine.
I'm just not a fan of I'll just throw him
on ir No. I want someone that's going to be
in there all the time they don't have to worry about.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
Yep, that's absolutely fair. This guy hasn't finished the season ever,
it makes sense, it's valid. I feel like this is
the year. Is this the year? Boys? This is it?
All right? Josh Norris, eighty two games book it. We
feel good about that.

Speaker 5 (01:01:36):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Let me move on to my next player here, all right,
I gotta talk about a guy in Calgary, Matt Coronado. Okay, yeah,
big fan of this player, obviously really solid. Just secured
the bag, all right, seven years, forty five million dollars.
That's pretty nice. Big vote of confidence there from management
for Cornaro and when players, young players like this sign
a contract like that, it indicates to me that they're

(01:01:59):
gonna have a bigger role moving forward. And Coronado already
had a decent role on this team to begin with.
Obviously we know for Fantasy power Play one is king
and I think Coronado is going to be on it.
There In Calgary, they also just locked up Connor Zari
as well, but at a lower B. So yeah, that's
an interesting development that we'll need to watch. But I
do think top six deployment is secured for Coronado. I
think Powerplay one is there. Calgary's power play was serviceable

(01:02:20):
last year. Coronado had seventeen points there, pretty nice, only
a fifty two percent powerplay share, So I think that
goes up right, and that to me means his power
play points should probably go up as well, maybe when
the twenty to twenty five range. I feel good about that.
This is a guy that has a great shot and
he's a good facilitator as well. My thing with Coronado
that I'm hoping gets better this year wish casting. I'm
wish casting that it gets better this year. Even strength deployment.

(01:02:43):
It's definitely leaving something to be desired. He spent most
of last season with two distinguished gentlemen, Blake Coleman and
Michale Backland. Okay, that's not a great place to be
for fantasy, Ozley, these guys are a couple of slugs.
They should probably be on the third line. Honestly, it's
not a second line to me. But they play to
Calgary's identity. They do it really well and I just
want to see Coronado pop off for fantasy, right, I
don't care if they win games. I want to see

(01:03:04):
Coronado smashing for fantasy. And I think he needs to
get away from those two guys to do it. He
needs better facilitators. Obviously, we want puck possession guys like
Nasam Kadri Jonathan Huberto, and he did spend some time
with those players last year, but so did Connor Zara. Right,
Like I said, we're gonna have to watch in training
camps who gets that deployment. But if he can get
on a line with Cadri and Huberto, Cadre, the guy's

(01:03:24):
an underrated play driver. He's incredible. He's another reason to
fade centers. You can get this guy after pick one hundred.
In a lot of leagues. And then Huberto is still
an elite passer, right, He's not one hundred and ten
point Huberto and never will be again, but he's still
a pretty darn good passer. And yeah, I think Coronado
would do really well with a player like that on
his line. Fun fact here, this is something I've been
touting with Matt Coronado all offseason. Corey, Corey schneiders track

(01:03:46):
data again. Matt Coronado. He led the entire league in
offense originating in the neutral zone per sixty. Matt Coronado
led the entire league and no one was even close.
And for you people out there, offense originating in the
neutral zone for sixty, it's just a measure of how
effective players are at turning neutral zone possession into actual
offense once they cross the blue line. And Coronado was

(01:04:07):
the best at that. He was the best. So that's neat.
I think it's a potential predictor of success, right, It's
a small p potential predictor for success, but it's just
a neat data point. I think the players that excel
in that metric kind of are able to sustain offensive
possessions and actually do something with them, interesting stuff. I
like the opportunity coming for Coronado. We've got a projective
for twenty four goals, twenty seven assists, fifty one points.

(01:04:30):
Pretty damn nice. And what do you guys? So what's
your take on Coronado.

Speaker 5 (01:04:34):
I love Coronado.

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
This is definitely what I'm gonna agree with you on
because I've loved him ever since his draft season. Thought
he was one of the best picks. Certainly where he went,
which was a little bit later than I thought he
should go, and he is. He's a scorer, he's fast,
he's You mentioned all the things the transition data like
underrated playmaker, and I think a big thing is exactly
what you said. He did not play with their best

(01:04:55):
and Calari doesn't have that many great players, to be fair,
but he certainly if he plays with Cadre and Huberto
most if not all, the season, I think he could.
I think I take the over on fifty one. Actually,
I think that's a good place to start. I think
he can hit that. And where you're getting him is
found money. He should for sure be on that top
power play and I think that they could do a

(01:05:16):
little bit better. I think the Flames were struggling with
what do we embrace a little bit of this youth?
Did we stick with some of these older guys? And
I think that they saw that if they play the
way that they want to play, this aggressive, fast style,
they can be a competitive and fun team, and I
think that that's what they're going to be this season.
Especially really excited about Zamee Perrek. He's another one that
I think you could probably get way late in your redrafts,

(01:05:39):
and I think there's a very good chance that he
ends up being a very good top offensive defenseman. Just
depends on how many even straight minutes he can get,
But I think that there's a world where he could
help that power play really cook. Not that there's anything
wrong with Vigor and Anderson, but zame Perek is on
a completely different level. He might not get there this year,
but when he does, that power play is going to
be very elevated. And Coronado is a big piece of

(01:06:01):
that too, Like he is for sure one of the
best offensive players on that team.

Speaker 5 (01:06:05):
So I like it a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Yeah, man, I'm fired up. I'm all about Matt Coronado.
I'm all about those right Calgary Flames. Yeah, you don't
have to You don't have to tell me twice. But
you got another guy here, don't you, Blake.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Let's hear your fourth one. You bet your sweet bit
by buddy, I'm talking about Jackson Blake of the Carolina Hurricanes. Yeah.
I've done some digging in on Jackson Blake here after
he signed his contract. I started to, yeah, just become interested,
like what are they seeing in this player? And there's
some bits and pieces here to Jackson Blake, some really
interesting stuff. Obviously an eventful summer for him. Signed seven year,

(01:06:39):
fifty six million dollars deal. My god, I'm pretty darn nice.
Obviously there's some captionanigan's going on there so they can
defer salary before the CBA kicks in. What a coup
to lock up a young player like this for good
money in a contract that's probably going to age pretty well.
I like the signing. I think it's a glowing endorsement
from Eric Tolski obviously like what he saw from Jackson
Blake last year, especially towards the end of the year

(01:07:00):
and into the playoffs. And that's what gets me excited
about the potential for Blake moving forward. Found himself on
power play one right in the last quarter of the season,
once they move Ranto out of there. Right, Jackson Blake
was on the power play and it was pretty good.
Had it all off in the postseason as well. We're
gonna have to see what happens now we got Nikolai
Eilers in town. He's definitely taking a power play one spot,
so to me, on the top power play, it's gonna

(01:07:21):
between Jackson Blake and Andre Speshnikov, and that's just gonna
We're gonna have to see what RBA Rod Brandanmore wants
to do there. Svetch has been in the doghouse for years, right,
but he just had a really good playoffs, didn't he.
So I feel like because of the playoffs that Svetch
just had, he's probably earmarked for top power play right
off the bat. But I think it's a pretty short
lease with Svetch, Right, he's Rod Brandanmore is shown to

(01:07:44):
move him down the line up pretty consistently. Right, he's
either top line with Ajo or now he's moved down
to the third line with Jordan Martin Nuke, right, which
is not where I want to see Speshnikov playing. But
Spesshiankov's loss Jackson Blake's game. I think Jackson Blake is
gonna be top six for sure, and I think he
has a really good shot at power play one. We've
projected him for only eleven power play points this upcoming season,

(01:08:06):
but that's light, right, there's a lot of room to
grow there. We baked in the fact that him and
Svatch are probably going to be switching up and Jackson
Blake's not going to get the full treatment all year,
but he can do it, and they like him in
that position. Rod Brindemore likes him in that position. They
did it when the games mattered the most, they had
Jackson Blake out there playing on the power play. So
I really like that. A couple other quick things I
like about Jackson Blake really adept at setting up scoring

(01:08:29):
chances for his teammates all three zones I talked about.
They had the Jackson Blake in the top twenty five
in the entire league and scoring chance assists per sixty right,
not goals, but just setting up scoring chances for his teammates.
He was in the top twenty five in the entire league.
That's really nice for a young player, a rookie, right.
He only had thirty four points in eighty games, but
he was in the top twenty five and setting up
scoring chances for his line mat It's really nice thing there.

(01:08:51):
That's a great metric, just to see how goals are scored. Right.
He's also incredibly involved on the ford check right with
fits in beautifully with Rod the Bod's chaos to me
here in Caroline up.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Again, just another example of a player that's doing a
lot of good things under the hood that I think
is potentially walking into some good opportunity. Talk to me
about Jackson Blake. What do you think his potential is
to this upcoming season.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
First of all, again the appeal to authority. The Hurricanes
paid him, and the Hurricanes tend to know what they're doing,
so that is good. We had our guests on the
Carolina Hurricanes, Ryan Hankel of the Hockey News come on
a few weeks ago, and he was a little up
and down on whether Blake would end up locking in
that first line position with the other moving pieces around there.

(01:09:34):
But Blake played the last quarter of the season with
Jarvis and Aho and he thrived and they thrived. So
why would you do something different?

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:09:42):
I mean like you say, and just because maybe camp
gets broken one way doesn't mean that for good or
for ill, it's going to stay that way for the
whole season. He's going to get good deployment throughout the year.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
They value him.

Speaker 3 (01:09:55):
Look, if you're worried about the fact that he only
listeners are worried about the fact that throughout last year
he only had thirty four points in eighty games. He
didn't have a ton of minutes, and he was less
than one year removed from living in North Dakota. People,
it takes almost a full year to thaw after you've
lived in North Dakota. When you move down south, your

(01:10:15):
joints are still sluggish. Point, So it's going to take
a while. Yeah, you gotta be a little sluggish, little sluggish.
She gotta get going again. I've lived up in the North,
so yeah. But he really improved as the year went along.
That's what you want to see. And this guy's barely
tasted the NHL so far.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
I don't know how strong he will go this year,
but certainly is a long term play. And I also
think just for the value of a guy who could
be on that first line in Carolina could be powerplaying
one in Carolina. You have to value that because he's
shown he can produce with it.

Speaker 4 (01:10:48):
You know, I, Jesse, I disappointed you mispronounced North Dakota
by a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:10:54):
You started saying I mispronounced something, and I'm like, how
did I screw up Jackson Blake?

Speaker 5 (01:10:58):
I screw up.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Every game on this Jackson Blake is a layup man Black.

Speaker 5 (01:11:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
Oh there you go, thank goodness.

Speaker 2 (01:11:06):
Yeah yeah, man, No, I like it, Blake.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
Yeah. Any last thoughts on this upcoming season are you? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
Go ahead, Victor.

Speaker 5 (01:11:13):
I just wanted to say about Jackson Blake. I totally agree.
I love this guy.

Speaker 4 (01:11:18):
I think he should have won the Hobe Baker a
couple of years ago. His season at North Quota was incredible,
and I thought he would be good. I did not
think he would be this good right off the bat
in the NHL, he was so impressive. In fact, if
you look at his evolving hockey metrics, he was literally
the third best and expected gold differential on the team
behind Ajo and Jarvis. And you might think, oh, he

(01:11:40):
just he played with them the whole season.

Speaker 3 (01:11:41):
No, he did not.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
He only played with them about twenty percent of the time,
and you have to see the rest of the guys
he was playing with Kakayami, Jack Drewy Nikoff, all these
other guys, Like he is incredible and not just offensively,
which is very good offensively, but defensively he's picking guys
pockets like a seventeen years like he is just really
smart and that's why he's getting so much ice time.

(01:12:04):
Rob Branda More loves him, and I was also looking
at this in terms of just offensive generation. He was
on a per sixty rate in the same neighborhood as
Miko Rontinen, which is incredible considering how amazing Rontin it is.
So yeah, this guy's awesome. I'm not sure he gets
top power play, as you were saying, Blake, but I
do think he's gonna be with Aha and Jarvis. I

(01:12:25):
think he compliments that line just so well, so at
even strength he'll probably get a lot and then hopefully
be able to get some power points to push his
point totals a little bit higher. I think in general
he suffers from the Carolina Hurricanes problem of just having
too many good forwards that they spread around, but the
player himself it's great. It's one of those things where
I don't really like to prioritize Hurricanes players early in

(01:12:46):
the draft, but for streamers or later in the draft,
it's great because they all get such similar opportunity except
for Aho and Jarvis, but the rest are pretty even,
and so you don't want that at the beginning, but
you definitely want that at the end.

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
Great stuff, Blake. This has been a great tour through
some of our guys. With the reactions flying back and forth,
everybody knows where to find you. Nonetheless, I'm gonna let
you say it, how do people get a hold of
mister Blake Kremer's work out there in the public domain?

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
You bet, buddy, appreciate that. Hit us up on X
I'm at Blake creamer ag. Also on Blue Sky at
play creamer Ag. We at Apples and Genos at Apples.
Gino's hit that up as well. We're doing stuff over
there also. I'd love to just quickly promote we just
released a Fantasy Hockey draft guide. It's one hundred and
sixty seven page document. It's basically what I did with
my summer right. It was really fun. We got yeah,

(01:13:40):
like three hundred and seventy five over three hund and
seventy five player projections, team previews for all thirty two teams, Sleepers, Busts.
It's licensed, it dices, it's Julie as it does it
all right. Yeah, if you're interested in that, definitely all
head on over to the Apples and Geno's Patreon. It's
a standalone purchase there, you can do that. I'm gonna
send YouTube studs a couple of free copies because you're

(01:14:00):
just so awesome at life, all right, and you can
help your feedback on that. But I really appreciate you
guys having me on the show. This is great work
you do here. I've really enjoyed listening to you all
off season here with your beat reporter interviews and your
elite banter. So shout out to you guys here in
fancy Hockey Life. Hey, I'll tell you what, Blake.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
You don't need to do that because your co host
sent it to us last week, so we've been enjoying it. Man,
this is some professional looking production, I'll tell you what.
This is some slick graphics work here, and not only that,
but great information. So yeah, I'm using it already. I'm
going to use it to try to beat Victor in
every league I play against him in.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
I need some help to beat Victor because he basically
just rinsed me the entire year last year and in
multiple leagues. So I don't know what's going on, Victor?
What did I ever do to you?

Speaker 4 (01:14:45):
Now? I think you might have got me in one
of them, now great or one? Didn't you beat me
in that one? But we were randomly in several different
leagues together.

Speaker 5 (01:14:53):
How that had ended up?

Speaker 4 (01:14:53):
But yeah, it sometimes, like you said, so much luck involved.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
Yep, yeah, you had a great season.

Speaker 5 (01:14:59):
Nobody, thank you?

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
All right, thanks for coming on.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
Big your Nuno. We are on the verge of the
season and many of us are doing drafts, and for
that there is a special offer we have for some
of our listeners.

Speaker 5 (01:15:23):
What is it?

Speaker 3 (01:15:24):
That's right?

Speaker 4 (01:15:25):
Jesse Dabber Hockey gave us a couple of guides earlier
in the summer, and they have generously decided to give
us several more free copies of their amazing Fantasy Hockey Guide.

Speaker 5 (01:15:36):
It is the Bible.

Speaker 4 (01:15:37):
It's amazing, has so many projections, breakdowns by team, schedule analysis,
amazing content in there. I use it as my bible
to reference everything. What's going on it's constantly updated based
on different news that's happening.

Speaker 5 (01:15:51):
How can you get yours?

Speaker 4 (01:15:52):
All you have to do is leave us a five
star review that's new as of when you heard this
message on Apple Podcasts or the podcast app of your choice.
Send me a screenshot to me victor via email DM,
on Discord, Twitter, or however you want to get it
to me. Make sure you can actually see your name
and the review in the screenshot so I can verify
who it is and that was you, and then we'll

(01:16:14):
select the winners from everyone who enters. Thanks so much
and happy drafting.

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
Our shows brought to you by fantracks dot com. You
can move leagues over there. You can start new leagues.
So many different sports to play, so many different options
for making things happen in those leagues. We did a
guillotine draft this year. Is there a guillotine format, No,
not yet, but you can make it happen, and that's
what we're gonna do. We set ourselves up a twenty

(01:16:42):
three team slow draft and are playing that out so
you can do about anything. On fan tracks, there's also
fantasy content. You can look for some positional ranks going
up there right now. At Fantracks. Hq FHL's team is Legion.
We have many people who are helping make things happen here.

(01:17:03):
Tim Ryan, Shimohon and Kraftz are the commission team for
the Tidy Leagues. The tidy is up and running. The
waivers will have almost run by the time you listen
to this episode. Tony and Patrick leed scouts, making all
the scouting reports you here happen. Mike, Steven and Matt
helped us out with show prep all summer long, and

(01:17:26):
I don't forget them. That's burned in my memory. How
much good work those guys did. Brandon helps with the
website prospect Ranks visualization. So much going on there and
if you'd like to help, Victor would love to hear
from you in the discord, email or on social media.
Dabra Hockey Dabra Prospects sponsored the show. Victor's an editor there.
He writes the column The Journey, which you would like.

(01:17:49):
It's good prospect related content. I do a solo show
called Dynasty Sports Life. I talk about all the different
Dynasty sports. This past week's episode was about some early
fantasy football dynasty players. Change our minds, follow us on
social media. Victor Nuno twelve is Victor's ex handle, Mine
is fan Hockey Life, or you go over to Blue Sky,

(01:18:09):
Jesse Severe's Mind and the One Victor with the one
being in numeral is Victor's rate and review us, Apple pod, Spotify,
wherever else you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to
my guys. Until next time, keep living that fantasy hockey life.

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Episode Transcript

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Fantasy Hockey Life Ep. 431 My Guys with Blake from A&G

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