A note of maintenance on fantastic drafts.

For the past two years I have spoken in my Ramblings about the Best Ball leagues. They are very, very popular in NFL fantasy circles and hopefully they start to appear more for the NHL.

In short, a better ball league has no deals. You write a team at the start of the year, and that’s your entire roster. Now you can only count half of the players’ total points for the final ranking, or three quarters, but there are no trades or waiver threads. You set your roster every day, week or once a year, and it’s a good way to practice draft without having to manage a team all year round. You also have the skin in the game.

At Underdog Fantasy – no sponsorship here, I just personally like the site – they have the best ball leagues for the NHL. They start at 6 people for $ 3 each and it goes up to 12 teams, $ 50. There’s also a big $ 10 tournament, which is sort of a global prize.

For anyone who finds managing multiple fantastic teams in season can become overwhelming, this is the perfect alternative. There aren’t a lot of spins, you don’t have to manage the roster, and you can play for as little as $ 3. Not bad at all. I hope to see some of you there.

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Head over to the Dobber Shop and pick up your copy of the 2021 Dobber Hockey Guide! It’s updated throughout the camp, so you’re never short of relevant data.

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A few days ago in these Ramblings I started a series looking at each team and selecting a player from each team to talk about it. It’s an attempt to talk about the relevant players on each roster, looking for value and my thoughts on this draft season. We’re only a month away from the start of the regular season, so now we come to the most important part of the fantasy season.

Today we are going to go through another batch of teams. Remember these are only players I’m higher than their current ADP / Yahoo draft rates. These can vary from league to league, depending on settings, goalies, or a host of other issues.

Los Angeles – Arthur Kaliyev: It’s a common refrain that the Los Angeles Kings have a lot of prospects ahead and their closet is full. This is true, but it does not address the question that is close to our hearts: what perspectives will be useful for 2021-2022, and to what extent? The signing of Phillip Danault proves to be a hindrance for guys like Rasmus Kupari and Quinton Byfield, their future crosses – it takes away the potential for a role in the Top 6. The Kings don’t have (m) forwards High-end lefties, so if Kaliyev can play in training camp, he could play a big role here. Kaliyev led the AHL team last year – which included Kupari, Turcotte, Byfield, Thomas and Fagemo – in points by five and had 2.75 shots per game. All this at 19. If he’s had a good training offseason I think he can at least start in the top 9 and could improve as the season progresses.

Minnesota – Kevin Fiala: Fiala finished the season in an absolute tear, posting 22 points in 20 games. Looking at a larger sample, Fiala has averaged 68 points every 82 games over the past two years. He is now 25, firmly in his prime, and the team around him should be better this year with the addition of full-time Marco Rossi. The lingering problem is that Fiala probably won’t have one of Rossi or Joel Eriksson Ek as a cross, and there are only a limited number of good crosses in this squad. Still, Fiala had a very good year last year playing with Victor Rask and Ryan Hartman. He can do it again, and if all goes well, we’ll see him with his first season of 30 career goals. If the team deemed him worthy to play with the top 6 players in the NHL, he has immense potential, and I would love to see him someday. Just be careful that he doesn’t bring a lot of hits.

Montreal – Josh Anderson: There are problems with Anderson’s on-ice game and the Habs have to sort them out. But, uh, this guy had 17 goals, 125 shots and 139 hits in 52 games last year. That equates to 27 goals, 197 shots and 219 hits in a full season. They’re better than Tom Wilson’s numbers right away, and Tom Wilson is a few laps ahead of Anderson. Now I understand it’s just one season with Montreal, but Anderson had seasons of 17/118/147, 19/188/109 and 27/230/214 at Columbus. To say that Anderson is a very real threat for 25 goals, 200 shots and 225 hits is a true statement. Plus, unlike Wilson, you don’t have to go 10 suspension games every time you draft Anderson in the regular season. The center situation in Montreal is a bit of a concern, but even if Anderson doesn’t score 25 goals, the peripherals will likely be enough to make sure it’s not a flop.

Nashville – Roman Josi: The only big hit on Josi has always been his total number of hits. He’s never had a season with more than 80 hits, and he’s had 132 in his last 199 games. It doesn’t seem realistic to assume that we can get over 50 hits from him in an 82-game season. But I see Josi being drafted around the 10th^e defender off the board, and that’s the best we can do for a guy who scored 57 points last year, and it was a bad year? It looks like if Josi has a gap year, he’ll be good for almost three shots a night and 50 points. It’s a bad year. And he leaves later than Dougie Hamilton – who’s part of a brand new (and worse) team – and Morgan Rielly, the guy who doesn’t shoot. Where hit? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Any sort of rebound season here sees a 60-point season. Think about it! Are we sure he will be worse than Victor Hedman? Seems like a good season not to draft a defender early if he does.

New Jersey – Jack Hughes: There it is. It’s the season. This is when Jack Hughes asserts himself as an elite center. I understand we’ve said it before – and even about New Jersey’s young centers, in particular – but Hughes has the stats to back it up. According to Corey Sznajder’s data, in 2021 he had a similar shooting / play-making profile to Patrice Bergeron and Mikko Rantanen. It was a year after being inside the 97^e percentile of the transition game in neutral zone. This year, his closest comparables for the controlled zone entry rate were Brayden Point, Leon Draisaitl and Kirill Kaprizov. The problem will be the lack of high-end winger to play with, but this should be the season when Hughes scratches the surface of his potential. Owners should be wary of his lack of hits, but other than that it should be a good season on his part.

NY Islanders – Kyle Palmieri: The good thing is that, at least for now, Palmieri is greatly undervalued because of a bad season. This guy averaged 30 goals in every 82 games from 2015 to 2020, had a season where he hit a career low of 8.7%, and now he’s an afterthought. Re-signing with the Islanders was important because it probably keeps him in the front row with Mathew Barzal now that Jordan Eberle is gone. That should mean more minutes than the 14 a night he got when traded to Brooklyn. It should be noted that even in his bad season, he would still have reached 15 goals, 170 shots and 100 hits. It’s not nothing. If there is a rebound here fueled by better linemen and more ice time, on top of a natural rebound, there might be a big season ahead. I will definitely buy at the draft table.

NY Rangers – Kaapo Kakko: The problem with Alexis Lafrenière’s draft is that the left side of the Rangers forward squad remains stocked with Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider. The loss of Pavel Buchnevich means the right side is wide open to competition. One of the guys on the left can slip, but that still leaves Kakko fighting with Kravtsov and Blais for a role in the top 6. Whichever line he starts on, if Kakko starts in the top 6, it will. gives a head start. We just saw Buch score 48 points in 54 games with a top 6 role that didn’t include many PP minutes. Kakko improved his defense, rate of fire and transition play, all within a year. It was a big leap for him after a bad rookie year, and I think we see another leap from him this year. Like Hughes, the shots will fail and that’s a problem. I do think we are seeing a Kakko breakout though, and he will be a bench option for me in some leagues.

Ottawa – Drake Batherson: I won’t be spending a lot of time here because I wrote a lot about him a week ago. He’s drafted in the Jeff Carter / Cam Atkinson / Alex Killorn level, and I think he has more advantages in the successful leagues than any of them. I’m in.

Philadelphia – Joel Farabee: I will say the same for Farabee because I also wrote a lot about him last month. I find it interesting that he and Atkinson have relatively the same ADP. It kind of tells me that the owners don’t know which way the wind will blow, and it seems fair at the moment. I still think Farabee has more perks, but it’s definitely a conversation now.