The Hockey PDOcast - Players to Be Excited About in Fantasy Hockey

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Chris Meaney to highlight buy low players, and under the radar options in good situations that can you target in your fantasy leagues.  If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name is Amitra Filippovich. And joining me is my good buddy, Chris Beanie. Chris, what's good on, man? Hey, Dimitri, always a pleasure to join you, man. We're creeping up here in the middle part of the NHL seasons. So always a blast, man. Thanks for having me. You're one of my favorite people to have on because I honestly feel like very few

are as dialed into everything happening across the league as you are. And I thought it was good timing with the recent use of your new gig with the NHL and all the stuff you'll be doing for them with the NHL Edge data and fantasy and all of that. We'll get into that as we go on today. I also got to say I love every time you and I get together and we've been doing this for a few years now, kind of these like quarter mark and then halfway mark around the trade deadline check-ins that we do from a fantasy perspective because I often feel like I sort of have to play the role of pessimist on this show because like I come on here and have to tell people either

why certain production is unsustainable or have to be critical of player usage and personnel decisions when teams make moves or like just digging into the why of why teams are struggling or what's going wrong and all that's fun and obviously I think it provides value and people enjoy it and it's part of the job and I like it but it's nice that when you and I get together I feel like we can just be so, um, just positive. It's like a nice counterbalance, right? Because we essentially just like look at the good performances so far, ones we're buying,

ones we're excited about roles and situations for players that they're in now that we're excited about. And so I feel like just the general tenor of it is very exciting. And hopefully we'll also help people, um, with their, with their leagues, right?

We're going to help them out, uh, try to identify some players and help them with some of their decisions. And so it's going to be a fun one. The plan for today is you and I are just going to essentially go back and the way we always do, and we're going to either identify a team or a player and just talk about why we find them interesting. So with that out of the way, I'll give you the floor. You can have your first pick of the litter. What's the first team or player you want to talk about?

So I want to talk about one of the biggest by-low candidates, I think, in fantasy hockey, and it's Y Johnson. Why Johnson is the most questions I've received so far since joining the NHL and what to do with Y Johnson. I'm sick of holding on to him. You know, it's been a few weeks, a draft hit him early, and I've just had enough. And, you know, you look at some of his numbers, you know, he's second on the team in shot attempts, set all strengths behind me or Heishkanen. He leads Dallas in expected goals. He's first in scoring chances and high danger chances. He's got a 5% shooting room, you know, 14% last year's 5 and 5 numbers are solid. He's fourth on the team and shot attempts. He's second among forwards behind

rookie Logan St. Coven, who's been great. He's third and expected goals behind Stancovin. And Tyler second, who leads the team. I'm sure we're going to discuss Dushain second and Marchman at some point as well. They're stealing all the headlines. But if you look at Wyatt again, you know, just three goals and 11 points through his first 20 games and some of the data that we're looking at per NHL edge stats, you see Johnson 54 shots on goal ranks in the 87th percentile. And he's 22 high danger shots on goal ranks in the 93rd percentile. And he's got the 4.6 shooting rate on those high danger shots compared to 19.5 last year. So maybe punching above his weight last season, but certainly below it this year because again,

and the high danger goals, the high danger shot attempts, you know, 93rd, 96 percentile. So he's still getting those quality chances, but, you know, the puck luck is just not there. There's signs that he's turning it around, you know, Pete DeBore had him on the third line, recently put him with Rupert Hintz and Jason Robertson. Those guys are all clicking here now. So, you know, you look at last year, Kerr high 32 goals, 65 points. Had a slow start last year, too. He had 44 points in the final 47 games, 16 points in 19 playoffs.

game. So I just feel like the window is closing, getting a lot of questions, as I mentioned, what to do with him. Let's just hold. Let's be patient. And I do feel like, you know, in the second half of the season here, he's going to be a guy that, you know, can flirt with top 50 status at the forward position. I think that's a great shot. I've certainly gotten a lot of that as well, especially considering how, you know, he really took a massive leap in last year's postseason and sort of cemented himself as at least their best forward or most dynamic one that was kind of carrying them offensively and it hasn't really carried over this year and generally I think we'd expect like after a playoff showing like that especially for a young player they'd enter this season with just like this

newfound confidence and swag and just keep the good times going and as you mentioned only the three goals and 20 games so far only two of them at five on five as well and in back-to-back years he in his rookie and sophomore seasons he had eclips the 25-on-five goal mark so I certainly expect that to improve another stat I'll give you as well to go along with all the ones you mentioned that are sort of indicative of like he's getting his looks is he's currently 10th in the league in rush chances as well and the guys ahead of him one of them is rupe hens who's his new linemate although i believe hints is banged up here and might miss tonight's game but it's all the guys you'd expect right like kairu mckinin badard mcd david jesper brat jack hughes and wyatt johnson's right there with 22 rush chances so far as well and so he's getting

his look he's getting his opportunities i fully expect that i mean goal scores are generally streaky but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him have a five game stretch here where he scores like seven or eight goals. And then you pull up his stat sheet and his numbers look perfectly normal to the level we'd expect for a season long. And it's like, all right, he made up all that ground in just a couple games. So I'm with you. If there's anyone panicking on Wyatt Johnson right now, I would be buying all those shares because not only has he proven already, I think, in my opinion, that he's a legitimately elite offensive player, but he's already doing some of the stuff this season that, you know, is generally conducive to scoring. more a goal. So I think it's just a matter of time for him.

Yeah, absolutely. And again, I mean, the line that is doing it every night, surprisingly, is to be Shane line, right? I mean, how sustainable is just Shane's numbers, but that line at 5 and 5 has been extremely productive. And Tyler Sagan's been a point per game guy. And, you know, kind of surprising when you look at the expected goals,

at 5 and 5, and you see him near the top as well. So, yeah, Dallas is, no, we're not breaking any news here off the top. They're a juggernaut on offense and they can bring it. offensively. And there's, you know, even those, even Sagina Marchmen are kind of having around the 50% market Yahoo leads. I would be buying that trio. Yeah, I'm with you. I actually didn't even have Johnson on my list, but I did have that star's second line. And, you know, Marchman and Duchet in particular, they've played 213, 5-1-5 minutes together

this season. And the stars are up 16 to 7 in that time. And you even watch their most recent game against Carolina. They were essentially responsible for creating everything. They chipped in with a couple of goals. They manufactured, but multiple just opportunities. And It looks like a line that just hasn't been in chemistry, right? And it makes sense because they play it all of last year together with say again and we're incredibly productive as well. And they've carried that over. And so I'm buying it because, you know, I'm not necessarily buying Matt Dushain finishing the year with 45 goals and 103 points the way he's currently on pace on.

But it's clear that they play really well together. They're incredibly dynamic. And so I'm buying them just being generally good. So if there's anyone in your league that's like skeptical of it continuing and thinks they're just selling him, immensely high. I still think they'll be productive regardless. All right, here's the first one on my list. Jacob Chikrin. So before Alex Ovechkin got hurt, Jacob Chikrin had had 15 minutes and 40 seconds of power play time in 13 games total. In the three games since then, he's already played eight minutes and four seconds on the power play. And essentially the adjustment they made, Spencer Carberry

and the Cavs did was they moved John Carlson into that Ovechkin office. shooting spot on the left flank and they put Jacob Chikrin at the top of the powerplay umbrella. In those three games, he's averaging 22 minutes, all situations. He's taken 26 shots as well. You watch the most recent game against Florida, a bit of a homecoming for him. He scores a goal on the 5-1-3. He has two assists. He took 13 shots.

He was involved in pretty much everything they did offensively. And in general, like, we've already seen him. It's been a couple years now, but when he was healthy and he was an integral part, of a team's offense like this. He scored, what, 18 goals in 56 games or so in that shorten season for the coyotes. And he's already up to six goals and five assists this year playing only 16 games because he missed a couple weeks there with injury. And it's a contract year for him as well, right?

And it's a tougher thing to quantify, but it makes sense that like this is a pretty big moment for him this year, especially getting traded to Washington, getting a bit of a fresh start. He's been playing on this $4.6 million a.AV deal for years now since 2019. I believe. And so it's his opportunity. I'm sure he's viewing it as such to cash in really for the first time in his career and set himself up really nicely moving forward. And so it's all kind of coming together and coalescing here for me where he looks really good. I think this capital team we can talk about them in general is playing significantly better offensively and attacking so much off the rush. And if they're going to be featuring him on the power players all the way they have recently, I think the sky is a limit for him from like a shooting and scoring perspective. And so I really want to get in on Jacob Tricker now while you still can. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. He was one of my favorite targets heading into the season as well.

And of course, the Ovechkin injury doesn't open it up. At the time of his injury, he was no surprise to anybody. He's top five in power play minutes, right? He lives on the first unit and the second unit. So Jacob Tricker and one of those guys that certainly benefits getting some time there as well. And, yeah, I mean, this Capitol team is playing pretty good. I mean, Connor McMichael, what he is doing right now, maybe slightly unsustainable,

but when you look at some of the 5 and 5 numbers, you see expected goals, he's right there behind Connor McDavid. So, you know, it's a leak company, but he's doing most of his damage away from a batch going out 5 from 5.

It's, you know, a line with Pierre Luke Dubois and Tom Wilson's been pretty productive. And I even look at PLD, you know, I know he gets a bad rap, but, you know, you look at his seasons with Winnipeg.

He was leaned on heavily. You got top power play time. You know, he flirt with 30 goals. The ice time was there. In L.A., it just didn't work out. you know, he's in the bottom six.

There were times he was on the fourth line. He didn't really get top power play time. He hardly played with any of the good players there. So he's getting leaned on. I know the coaching staff has talked a lot about him being one of their better players, despite going, you know, a few games without hitting the score sheet. So I like the chicken call. He's a guy that I think is, you know, he's got a season with over 200 shots.

He's got three seasons with the double digit goals. So, you know, he can carry a workload and he'd be leaned on here offensively. So the Capitals, man, I think they're going to weather. the storm without Ovechkin. What a fun story to the start of the season. It's unbelievable to think that he was on his best goal pace ever, considering his track record and his age. But yeah, this Capitol's team,

they made some really good moves in the off season and they play a good brand of five and five hockey. Well, and I ultimately just won as many shares of this caps office as I can get because they're seconding goals right now. And part of that is because they're just scoring on nearly every shot they take. But you look a bit closer. Their second and expected goals generated as well as a team, their third and high danger chances.

And I think a lot of what they're doing under the hood is quite legit from that perspective. And I had PLD on my list as well. Now, he lost, at least for the time being Tom Wilson as his winger, because Wilson was the one that got promoted to the top unit with Dylan Strome and Ovechkin's absence. But you look, he's second on the team in forward usage of 515. He's playing with the aforementioned Connor McMichael, who's leading the league in 515 goal

scoring this season. And Dubois himself has only the two goals so far, despite 32 shots on goal, 74 shot attempts, and nearly half of those attempts. being registered as high danger ones. And you just watch and it's like so much of it is either these like rush opportunities where he's like legitimately getting breakaways or they're in tight where he's living. And I've been praising him this season because just watching ever since the season started,

he's clearly locked in. He's trying again, which is great. He's active. He's involved. He's creating plays very selflessly like blocking shots and then springing transition opportunities. And so yeah, I want to get in on the capitals here as many of these guys as I can.

I think it's pretty tough to get in on Connor McMichael now if you didn't in the preseason because as everyone knows how many goals he scored. But all of these other sort of secondary and supporting pieces I think can can get involved because it's a team that's going to spread the wealth around as well. It's not necessarily going to be just sort of centralized to one or two guys. I think they can all get in on the action. So I like that quite a bit. All right. Who's next on your list? I want to talk to you about the Blue Jackets, the Columbus Blue Jackets, like, surprising offensively.

Right. They've moved inside the top 10 and goals per game. Seventh. They're near the top and expected goals of five and five. You know, a lot of overs in their games. There's a lot of goals score. They can't keep the puck out of their net is one thing. But they're inside the top five in shots on goal per game as well. And you look at Shaw Monaghan and Carl Marchenko. I mean, these guys each have 20 points in 20 games. I mean, Monaghan is third and expected goals at five and five and five.

He's top 15 in high danger chances. Werenski leads the league in five and five shots. He's second in attempts. Merchenko, you know, he's got a nice shot. He had 21 goals as a rookie who's really only scoring goals, not picking up any assists. Last season, his sophomore campaign, 23 goals and 42 points,

career highs for him as well. So, you know, we've seen a boost in ice time for him, nearly two more minutes per game. Kent Johnson's back. He's helping out the power play. So this does seem like a fun team. I mean, it's like high octane games when they play.

Like they're allowing the goals, they're scoring the goals, it's up and down the ice. Sean Monaghan is a, I mean, he's an underrated player. I thought when he was with the Montreal Canadiens for a couple of years, he was, you know, up on the top power play. He was really productive in that spot as well. So, I mean, Veronicaoff's another guy who's, you know,

you know, chipping in lately with some goals. So I think they have like four or five underrated players. And a lot of these guys are available in fantasy hockey. And if they're going to continue to play, you know, this style where we're seeing five to eight goals a game, I mean, that's going to do wonders for you. Zach Gorensky is, was a steal in drafts.

I mean, nobody really wanted this guy. He's a top five fantasy hockey defensemen at the moment, getting drafted well outside the top 25 at his position. So I did not think that I would be talking about the blue jackets here, creeping up to the end of November as a juggernaut on offense. We could see a little of regression with some of their players, but right now they have got my eye.

No, they certainly have. I know this is a concept that you probably think about and talk about a lot when it comes to fantasy football, but this idea of kind of either game scripts or game environments, right, in teams that are much more willing to either, enable or get involved in kind of shootouts or back and forth affairs. And it feels like the blue jackets have been so far. You watched your last two games in particular.

What was that 7-6 win in overtime against the lightning? And then a 5-4 shootout win against the hurricanes. And both were jam-packed with high event hockey, lots of chances, a bunch of goals. And so we love that. And I had Varankov on my list here as well. Obviously, I think I don't need to repeat the stuff that you said about Marchenko. I've been seeing his praises for years now on the show. So I think people that are listening get it.

but Varankov might be sneaking under the radar a little bit because he did miss the first nine games of the season, right? So he's only played the 11th so far, but he's got five goals in that time. They promoted him to playing at 5-1-5 on the top unit with Marchenko and Monaghan. And he's just such a beast around the net, meaning like he has 20 high danger chances in that time. He's 13th in the league and inner slot shots per game. And he's also just an elite 5-1-5 player. Like when he's out there, even last year when the Blue Jackets were struggling, they win his 5-on-5 minutes. They control the quality of.

shots and chances and they're carrying that over again this year. So I think that's going to endear him to the new coach Dean Everson and give him an opportunity to just like lock down significant usage because that was a frustration last year, right? Like on a permanent basis, he ranked in the top 20 or 30 at 5-1-5 amongst like pretty much all skaters. But then you looked and it's like, all right, he played 13 minutes again tonight. There's not that much though you can ultimately do with that. And in this case, he played 18 minutes, I believe, in his last game, which he did only once all of last year under Pascal Vincent. And so I think that That's really refreshing and nice to see.

And if he's going to keep producing this way, I think the minutes are going to keep coming. So, yeah, this Blue Jackets team is quite fun. I completely agree with all the other guys you mentioned. And it's just a team that I want to get in on as well, especially offensively, because it seems like they certainly have their artillery to keep up in these games and not, you know, some young teams, if they start getting into high scoring games, and then they kind of feel like they're, like, being dragged into the deep end and they start struggling, they sort of start getting incredibly conservative to try and quote unquote play good NHL,

hockey and then their young players wind up being stifled. We saw that with this Blue Jacket team in past years. It feels like that's not going to be the case this year. They're giving them a lot of runaway to just keep developing and keep getting their own opportunities, even if it results in a bunch of goals against. And so I think that's really exciting. Yeah. And if they can't get a save, right, they're going to continue to push this thing offensively as

well. So, you know, it's a learning process. It's a new coaching system. There's a lot of young players there, but there's a lot of underrated players as well. And Veronica picked up a power play point in that game as well in the 18 minutes that she alluded to. All right. The next guy on my list. Another Ronkov was one of quote unquote my guys heading into the season. Another one that I had on my list that's delivered on all of that hype is Pavel Dorofiyev, who leads the Vegas Golden Knights with 11 goals. He's just one shot on goal, I believe, behind Jack Eichol for the team lead in shots

across the entire league. He's 18th and 23rd in those two categories on a permanent basis. that shot is a legitimate lethal weapon and he's using it freely and they're allowing him to do so he's playing that shooting position on the right flank on their power play now and that's a power play that's been just dominant all year. I think they're fourth in the league in goals on a permanent basis.

And in the most recent game against the Flyers, you saw that in action where Tomah Tritle, as he always does, cleanly wins the face off to start the two-minute power play. It comes back to Shay Theodore. His first read is to just quickly swing it over for a one-timer to Dor 5 and it's in the back of the net within like three seconds.

And that's not always going to happen, but I think that's a legitimate option for them. And they're going to keep giving him those looks. And I'd say another bonus perk here is you look at the depth chart, he's listed on the third line right now, but you look a little bit closer. And I think Bruce Cassidy's done a good job of situationally manufacturing a shift here or there for him

with that Barbashev Iko combo, especially with Mark Soen Out, where he's getting about two or three minutes per game with those guys at five on five as well, even if he's not playing full time. And so every time you get that as well, considering how well those two guys are playing, it's another opportunity for some offense

or at least some good chances. And so with the power play usage, with that and then his legitimate scale as well, I think he's set up pretty well to keep scoring a bunch of goals. And so Durauev is someone who I continue to really love. We usually have one or two names, you know, similar. And he was on my list as well. I don't have too much more to add than what you said.

I mean, top 25 overall on scoring chances. is expected goals at 5 and 5. He loves to shoot the puck. That's one thing that I like as well. And you're right. There was, I think he's moved from line 2 to 1 to 3 in the past week and a half, but he's stayed up on that top power play.

And there was a game the other night against the Canadians where on Saturday night where he actually spent a few minutes at 5 and 5 back with Jack Eichel and Barbersheb. So, I mean, they can go back to that. Unfortunately, Mark Stone has, you know, been dealing with injuries over the past couple of seasons. in the regular season. So this is a real opportunity for him to continue to get leaned on and shoot the puck. I mean, team high expected goals, third and shot attempts and first and high danger chances. So yeah, I really do like that call. And he looks like a good player. And he's still available

in a lot of Yahoo leagues. He is. And just to kind of finish up on that note, I'd say Eichol and Barbertschev right now have the best chemistry of any two players in the league. Like you just look at, it's not just, I mean, they're creating goals and bunches. I think the stat that I have down here is they've played 285-on-five minutes together so far, and they've created 25 goals in that time. The Predators in over 1,000 minutes as a team have created 25-5-on-five goals this season. So they're matching them step-for-step just in their minutes alone.

And you watch it, and it's like every single time, they're almost doing these like no-look passes where they just know where the other guy is going to be at all times, and is these quick-hitting ones off of a turnover, off or rebound where there's no extra thought but to it, it's like you get the puck, instantly swing it over to Eichol if you're a barbishop or barbishop, your Eichol, and it's in the back of the net. And so those two guys are playing remarkably well, obviously.

I think everyone's pretty aware of that by now. But pretty much anyone that's in their orbit, in my opinion, is going to be putting a pretty good chance to be on the ice for chances and goals. And so even if it's a couple minutes at a time here or there, or especially on the power play full time, I think that's a very lucrative spot for anyone. Who's next on your list? since you brought up the prets is there anyone in Nashville you would buy low on or hold like what is happening to this squad right now i mean a 5% shooting rate as a team roman yosi heading into i think last weekend had the two goals you know his career his shooting percentage at the time was 2% no he's a defense

but he had 23 goals and two of his last three seasons he doubled his you know output you know in a two it was the win against the jets over the weekend where he had a couple goals there um i saw you tweet this out as as well. Jonathan Marsha, so his first five and five goal picked up his first five and five assist inside the same game as well. Curlo's shooting percentage for him and Stamcoast. Forrest's been fine. Nyquist is, you know, he's got a really high shooting percentage, had a good season last year. He was the guy that I thought would regress a little bit, but, you know, he's, he's been fine, but this Predators team right now, I mean, it's a struggle.

Barry Trots is trading, you know, talking about trading players and moving on from guys. And, you know, he was very aggressive, obviously in the offseason. I think, and I'd like to get your input, I just think they don't have anything down the middle of the ice. Like Colton Sizzins was centering the second line the other day, and he played like seven minutes of five and five, is the fuse of anybody on the Predators Squad. I mean, that's your second line center.

So do you feel like Marsha? So I feel like if there's one guy would buy, it would be him as opposed to Samcoast. But right now, if you're an owner or manager of any of these guys, apart from Yosie or Forsberg, I have a hard time telling people to hold on. Yeah. I was going to say initially, like, yeah, Yossi and Forsburg would be the guys that I would buy on in case someone just wanted to get away from the stench of owning Predators players at this moment.

Just because they obviously have the track record and I think still are in their physical peak and still really good. I think generally, though, like, as a systemic situation, it's just such a mess because not only the lack of talent down the middle, but I'd argue like they got so much slower this year as well with their additions. and the blue line in particular is making so many mistakes that they just they're trying to play up tempo and attack off the rush and kind of push the way they did up the ice offensively last year, but then they're just unable to sustain it and then they're just getting buried coming back

on the counterattack every single time. And so I'd like to see them incorporate more young players, right? They brought up Zach Leroux. They brought up Federer Svechkov recently. They traded away of Phil Tomasino. They still have a couple other guys in Milwaukee with their HL affiliate that are promising and have been productive and I think we'll get a look if this continues. So it could get better in that sense and there might be some guys you can pick up

for cheap along the way. But I just think conventionally they're a good buy low candidate all these guys just because everyone's shooting percentage is so incredibly low and you just think law of averages it's going to have to regress. But I also feel like it's so unreliable. And then just fantasy hockey is I think supposed to be fun as well and you're supposed to like enjoy having some of these guys and watching them play, and then you watch them play against New Jersey the other night or just countless examples of that this season. And it's just such a,

it's such a bleak situation that I feel like if you want to cut bait or pull the shoot and get out of it, I feel like I'm okay with that as well. Yeah, well, let's get back on the fun track. Dylan Gunther, he's a guy that I love to watch play hockey. 18 goals and 35 points and 45 games last season, 10 goals and 20 points here in 22 games. He's got a rocket of a shot.

You know, 17 power play goals and 100 career games. He's got a 34 overall. He's done nothing really but score goals since he's entered the league, especially over the last couple of seasons. He's up on that top power play. He got that spot last year. He held on to it towards the end of last year and into this season as well. Slight boost in ice time this season compared to last year.

But more recently, you know, 16 minutes per game in the opening month, 17 minutes per game in this month here. He leads the Utah Hockey Club with 90 scoring chances. He's second in or he's got 90 shot attempts rather than he's second in. scoring chances. He's got 10 points at 5 and 5, 4 goals. So he's a guy in Logan Cooley too. You're starting to see chemistry between both of those players. Logan Cooley continues to, you know, get more games on his NHL resume. So I know a lot of the attention goes to Clayton Keller. I'm definitely buying Mikkel Sergachev on the blue line. He's

playing so much. He's eating up a lot of ice time there with Sean Jersey sideline. So, yeah, I'm a fan of Gunther. And he's a guy that I think it may not happen this year, but like 35, 40 goal score is definitely in his future. Oh, certainly. I mean, you just watch him shoot the puck and the puck just comes off differently off his stick than pretty much everyone else in the league. And in that game on, what was it, on Tuesday night in Montreal, like he gets that in tight opportunity and the puck just in a blink of an eye is in the back of the net. And the goal, he just can't even react to it. So I'm with you.

I think he's going to score a ton of goals. I feel like the sky's the limit still for him in Kooley. There was a bit of a struggle there after such a hot start for the team. team in general where they really faded offensively and went through a really dry spell. But I ultimately feel like there's just too much talent there for that to continue to that degree. We've already started to see them bounce back a little bit over these couple games out east recently. And I think that's probably going to continue. So yeah, I think maybe the more even interesting thing is what's going on right now with Keller and Schmaltz

because Schmaltz still doesn't have a single goal this season. I believe the status Keller hasn't scored in November yet either. And those are two guys who speaking of chemistry. were right up there near the leaders in the league in terms of that exact sort of trait over the past couple seasons. And they've been so productive amidst the team's general struggles and turmoil. And then this year, that hasn't really carried over. They haven't been able to find their groove, especially recently. And so I'm kind of looking to see if they can get it going because I feel like there's just too much talent there for them to keep being this unproductive.

Yeah, I would buy on those two players as well. Yeah, Schmole's picked up a couple points last night in that game that you mentioned. And he's more of the playmaker, but you would expect some offense from him. And Clayton Keller, I mean, he's been an elite goal score over the past couple of years. So, you know, if anybody's concerned with their production, I would just hang tight for now. But Dylan Gunther was dropped after that slow, he had the hot start, as you mentioned, and then cooled off a little bit. And he was dropped. He was one of the most dropped players.

His ownership was sub 50% in Yahoo Leagues. It's somebody that you want to hang on to. Yep. I'm right there with you on that. All right. Let's take our break here. And then we come back. We'll jump right back and I will go through at least another handful of players that we're excited about.

You're listening to the HockeyPedio cast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. We're back here on the HockeyPedioCats joined by Chris Meen today as we take our look around the league and fantasy situations that we are excited about and buying. I think if I'm keeping track correctly, it's my turn because you just had Gunther there before break. Let's go with the Philadelphia Flyers. who play a fun, chaotic, high event back and forth style that I think that we're looking for in fantasy. Now, the goals sometimes aren't there because I think despite the addition of Mitch Cobb this season, there's still not where they want to ultimately be from a talent perspective. And I think they know as such.

We keep hearing them in trade rumors still as a seller. So we'll see if that's going to provide opportunities if they get guys out the door for more minutes for some of these younger players. But that game I just mentioned when we were talking about Dorofa V, that they played against Vegas recently was one that was just filled with a million chances and really fun action and there were a couple guys that really stood out to me watching that so one of them I think there's a buying opportunity because ultimately I think people generally are familiar with how valuable guys like connect knee and sandheim because of his workload are I'm not sure if you can still get those guys but a guy like owen tippet I feel like this is a good buying opportunity because

after scoring 27 and 28 goals the last two years he's only got four in 22 so far which puts him at about a 15 goal pace. He's only shooting 6.5%. So I think that's going to certainly bump up. And you look at the four goals he has scored, I believe all of them are like essentially highlight real beautiful goals that just demonstrate what kind of talent he has and what he's capable of. And I feel like he's going to channel that more moving forward.

And now he's playing at 5-1-5 with Mitchcove and Frost as well. I know that Frost's situation is very tenuous because John Turtall keeps just taking him out of the lineup and we'll see whether that's going to stick. but if he's going to play with Mitchkov at least in that game against Vegas on Mitchkov's goal, you could even see why I'm so high on that combination because on the entry, Mitchkov sets up a nice play to give him a rush opportunity,

then he retrieves the puck and tries to go behind the net and pass it back out to tip it again. He gets broken up and then he eventually comes around and gets a rebound and scores himself. But he's a playmaker at heart. He's going to try to get tippet into these opportunities where he can take advantage of his skating and his shooting ability. And so I feel like if that combination

sticks and I don't see why I wouldn't moving forward. I think there's going to be so many opportunities for Tippett here to just feast offensively. And so I want to get on that because I feel like we were so excited about him last year. And especially in the middle of the season or so, he had such a hot stretch. And so if someone drafted him or picked him up, they were probably pretty excited about it this year. And then now you look and it's like, all right, four goals in 22 games.

It's just not happening. The Flyers aren't necessarily thought of as a high end offensive team. And so I feel like this is a good spot for you to step in and start reaping the rewards of when he starts scoring along the lines of what I'd expect him to. Also on my list, Demetri. Yeah, Owen Tippett. We're on the, we're on the exact same page there. And it was a fun debate. Just, you know, get my feet wet over at NHL.com and getting into the rankings. And, you know, there was some talk about moving Tippett down. He was one of the most drop players. I mean, he's currently 176 over in, you know, standard Yahoo leagues.

And he was drafted as a top 60 player. He was one of my targets. I completely bought what I saw last year. And I'm buying again. And I mean, you mentioned him. He's got 105 shot attempts, which is 11th in the NHL, is third among four, it's a five and five. And he's only 44 of them on net. Like there's shots that are blocked, there's shots that are missed. It's the biggest thing that I keep telling people is that the attempts are there.

The scoring chances are there. It's like, you know, it's not like they've just disappeared. Where are they? He's getting them. He's averaging nearly a minute more per game. So it's not like, you know, a lot of people will say, oh, he's in John Torrell's dog house or whatnot. It's not the case at all.

he's getting an opportunity here and you mentioned the shooting rate is easily a career low for him, double digits I think in each season of his career. And Mitchcoff too, it's a good call by you. I think a lot of people just view him as like a sniper, but he's a playmaker. Like he sees the ice and I kind of view him

as a past first guy of what I've seen from the first six weeks of the season. He's got a hack of a shot. He's very creative with the puck. But yeah, 27 and 28 goals the last few seasons for Owen Tippett. It's, you know, if you see him on your waiver wire, scoop him up because he's he's somebody that I still could even with the slow start I could still see him flurry with 30 balls yeah I'll give you another guy on the flyers that I'm keeping an eye on and I think I'm really excited about what I'm seeing so far emilandre on the back end so his last four full games any had a game in between there where I think he left early in the third

period didn't come back missed up a little bit of time but the first the four full for four games he's played fully of late. 2540 ice time, 2319, 24-04, 21-28. He's on the top unit power play now. He scored his first career goal in his most recent game. And this is a guy who,

despite being listed at 5'9, and I think just watching them, it looks pretty generous. I think he's probably even shorter than that. He was the 54th overall pick in 2020. And the reason he was is because he demonstrated just fantastic skating ability and legitimate offensive instincts, right?

And since he got drafted, he played in the SHL overseas and was about a half point per game. Then he comes over to North America, plays in the AHL is once again over half a point per game. And now he's getting this full opportunity. You look at his five on five minutes as well in 200 minutes or so, 58% of the shot share, 58% high danger chances. And so he's winning his minutes. And I think the reason why that's important is because for a young player, John Jordan is going to love what he's seeing there.

and he's going to keep just feeding him more and more opportunity. And you think of a guy like Sean Walker who really benefited in this system last year, similar stylistically in terms of that skating ability, offensive instincts, and joining the rush as the fourth guy and just jumping up at every opportunity. I think that's there for Andre right now. And so whenever I watch the Flyers these days, it feels like he's making some sort of or just like scintillating offensive play.

And so I want to see more of that. But I think this is a great opportunity because the points haven't necessarily been there yet for you to take stock of this guy because, anyone that's going to keep playing this much, especially in scoring situations that has the offensive talent that he does, I feel pretty good that the actual points and shots and all that stuff we're looking for are going to come accordingly as well. Yeah, and he's going to, you know, through the minutes, he's going to rack up, you know, not just shots, but there's a couple games where he's had three hits, a couple games where he's had multiple

blocks. And this is what the Flyers are starving for. Somebody on the back end on their top power play, right? They made the trade for Jamie's, Jamie Triesdale that didn't seem to really work out. Sanaheim is a beast. You know, he's a stud, but need somebody else about that top powerplay. So I like that call. And I'll just transition to a defenseman on a new team who is getting an opportunity on the top power play as well as Jake Wallman of the San

Jose Sharks. He's got points in five of his last six games since returning to the lineup. He's got 19 shots on goal over that span, 14 points and 19 games this season. I expected him to touch Kerr-Heyes in a lot of categories. I mean, with Detroit last year, He had the career high 21 points in 63 games. And it just felt like the usage rate should be much higher, right?

There was a lot going on there on the back end with the Red Wings last season. And for him so far, I mean, 1946 last year is what he averaged. 2240 is what he's averaging here with the sharks. And he's in NHL edge standout. I mean, he ranks among the leaders in top shot speed, 90 plus mile an hour shots. He's got 10 of them tied for eighth in the NHL, long shot range. You know, he's got 27. which is 94%tile entering tonight.

So, you know, he's up on that top power play for now. I know they tried a couple other guys on that top power play, but he's on it. And there's a lot of sharks that are available. I mean, Macklin Celebrini, you saw what he did the other night. He's got 10 points in his first 12 games. I think people cut bait when he suffered the injury early on in his NHL career. Mikel Granlin didn't play the other night, but a hot start for him.

You straight really high. Tyler Tofouli, wherever he goes, he scores goals. Fabian Zetterlin is a guy. that just touches a lot of categories as well. If you're playing in leagues with hits and blocks, you'd be surprised. He's the top 34 in that setting over the past couple of weeks. So, you know, this San Jose team, like Columbus, you know, some issues defensively for certain. But there's some guys here that are getting a lot of minutes and getting a lot of ice time.

And even Eklund is another guy, right? That's available. And he's up on that top power playing. There's some chemistry with him in like Zetterland and Granlin the other night. I watched them play last week and I was like, wow, these guys are kind of feeling it right now. Like the one touch passes, the Nola passes, some cycling down low. And offensively, this is a team that, you know, they got some nice young forwards. Will Smith is struggling, but all these other players are playing pretty good at the moment.

Yeah, I'm with you. I had Zetterlin on my list as well because we've only seen about 17, 5 on 5 minutes or so right now with that line of him celebrating in Eklund. But I think they're going to move forward with that. And regardless of who he's playing with, Zetterland, all season has been getting a pretty heavy. and consistent dosage of minutes in a scoring role. And then now in this situation, you watch Celebrini and he's just a one-man transition machine. And then once they get into the offensive zone, Eklund has such elite creativity and playmaking. And so for a guy like Zetterlin, just to play off the puck, get into the right spots, kind of crashed in that,

do all the cleanup and get a lot of a shot opportunities set up on a silver platter for him as well. That's all going to be there. So, yeah, any piece of that line, and I feel like this is going to be a constant for us. hopefully you and I get to keep doing this show for the next 10 years. And I feel like whoever's playing with Macklin Celebrini is probably going to be in our list of guys that we want to come along for the ride for, similar to early in Jack Hughes's career when you and I were like, all right, whoever's playing with him, I want to share of that.

I feel similarly here as well. While you, you know, let's stick with the topic, I should say, of the defenseman, because I had Andre, then you had a Walman. Let me give you Olin Zellwecker, who after a quiet start this year, first five games, he didn't really do much. The last month since, 14 games, four goals, five assists. He leads the ducks in total ice time in that span of games. He's also got 33 shots on goal, 84 shot attempts.

He's QBing PowerPlay 1. This is a guy who we are really excited about for the past couple of years, pretty much ever since he kind of came on the prospect radar because his WHO numbers, from a scoring perspective, were just out of this world. And then last year in his first pro experience, he's got the 12 goals and 37 points and 44 AHL games as a 20-year-old, which is no small feat. And then now he's doing it again. So I know that myself and many others have been disappointed with the Ducks this year.

They're not particularly fun to watch, like some of these other young teams like Columbus or even San Jose. But I feel like because of that, it's flying under the radar a little bit that Zellwecker is legitimately making these strides and has been one of the bright spots or silver linings of their first 25 games or so. And so I just love his playing style, his instincts, his talent. now he's getting the usage to go along with that. And so I feel like Zellweger needs a shout out here as well.

Absolutely. Another guy that's on my list for sure. Really impressive hockey player, man. I think he skates really well. He's up on that top power play. You mentioned the points lately. I mean, he's even got three points in the power play over the past couple of weeks. And I'm with you.

I've been a little disappointed with some of the ducks like Cutter Goce. He's fallen to the third line. He's still young, of course, but he's a guy that likes to rip it. Leo Carlson now dealing with an injury, you know, slow start for him. Alex Clorne's been a little bit productive. I think we, even your listeners could agree that Frank Petrano is going to, you know, regress us a little bit after last season, but certainly expect a little bit more from him offensively. Troy Terry goes through these streaks. They have some, you know, some decent players up front. I feel like they should be a little bit better offensively,

but Zell Wigger is a guy that has certainly caught my eye. And he's another one. I don't know if it's because he's, you know, a duck, but his ownership should be much higher in Yahoo leagues than it is. Like, for example, like, Brent Burns is just like owned in 75% of leaks. Like, just give me Zellwiger over a guy like Brent Burns is an easy swap for me. Yeah. Yeah, he's so integral right now to what they're doing offensively, though, as limited as it is. And so he's just like an initiator. And so if the puck's going to flow through him, I feel like if things are going to come as a result of it. Who's next on your list? I've got a couple more names here. We got about 10 minutes or so. I want to get through as many as we can to help people out.

Who's next? Let's do Josh Norris, the Ottawa Senators inside the top 10 and shots and shot attempts. And Josh Norris, health has just been a concern. This guy's been a sniper. I mean, his whole career, he's got a season with 36 goals, 17, 16. He's got equals and 14 points in his first 21 games here. I shoot first player, like a lot of guys that we've talked about up on that top power play playing on the blue line right now with Jake Sanderson's a guy that we're seeing break out in front of our eyes, right, with Chickren gone and Shabbat in and out of the lineup. Jake Sanderson's a, you know, a really strong asset on the blue line for your fantasy hockey squad. But Josh Norris is hanging around in roughly 60, 65% of Yahoo leagues.

Brady-Cochuk is doing his thing every single night, touching every single category. Tim Stootsler is on pace to surpass the 91, 92-point season he had a couple years ago. But Josh Norris on that second line next to Drake Batherson, there's some chemistry there between those two players. And like I said earlier, this is a guy that can snipe. He loves to shoot the puck. And he's averaging Khrie, 1858, which shows me that he is healthy at the moment. and that's the biggest thing that, like I said,

has been his concern over the past couple years. So the Sends are a hard team to figure out, but, you know, they're getting some quality chances at 5 and 5. Yep, I'm with you on that. I've been waiting to see them

get even more unleashed offensively at 515 because the power play has been so good and it's a lot of the young, talented offensive players up front that you'd expect to carry that over a 5-1-5, and it's been a slower trickle there, but I do expect that continue moving forward. The Sends played a game over the weekend,

against the Vancouver Canucks. And I'm using that as a segue here to talk about Kiefer Sherwood, who has stepped up into a top six role on the Canucks he's playing with Alas Patterson and Jake DeBrusk. In 56, 515 minutes with those guys, they're up six to one,

58% of the shots, a nice 69% of the expected goal share. It's a guy who started the year and more of a sort of defensive, secondary role playing with Teddy Blugher and Danton Hinen, right? But now is playing up top in the top six of those guys.

And you just watch them. There was a game recently that I just keep referencing because I'm blown away by how many opportunities he had against the Rangers. And it was just one rush opportunity after another breakaway, odd man rush, high danger areas. And that's kind of been a trend for him recently. He's played 1628, 2016, 1648, and then 1724 or 28

the last four games as well. So he's getting legitimate usage here. He leads the team in five on five goals with six and five on five points with 12. And so not necessarily. someone who would have been on the forefront heading into the season, even though he was pretty productive in that secondary role with the Predators last year, but he's made the most of his opportunity here with some injuries and absences for the Canucks.

And as long as he keeps playing this well and that line keeps playing this well, I expect that usage to continue, right? Because a big storyline for the Canucks this year has been trying to get Pedersen going. And it feels like the past whatever week to 10 days that have coincided with him playing with Sherwood have been the best version of what we've seen from him since about halfway through last year. So I'm not giving all of that credit to Sherwood necessarily. I think a lot of that does go to Pedersen,

just bouncing back and rounding in a form. But he's going to come along for the ride with it, and he's got the skill set, I think, to take advantage of the opportunity. Yeah, he was, Sherwood and DeBrusk were among the, we had a top 10 waiver wire pickup on Monday and the schedule is jam-packed this week with Thanksgiving,

but Tuesday and Sunday, it's like those were the games to kind of target streamers for the Canucks playing on both of those days. And, you know, and I had said in the article, you may just hang on to this guy. And it's an added bonus if you're playing in leagues with the hits. He kidding me he's got 28 hits in his last three games and at least five in like six straight. So he's throwing his body around. And a shout out to Jake DeBrest too. He's probably playing his best hockey as a Canuck. He's somebody that I liked and had some shares of early on.

He was hard to hold. But three goals, four points here recently, a couple of power. play points, three plus shots and 3.04. So he's shooting the puck, and I like the call there for for Sherwood. And another guy I'll toss out here before throwback to you is Gabriel Valardi. We all know that Connor and Shifler are crushing it right now, 27 and 26 points. The Jets are playing unbelievable hockey. But I just wonder why Gabriel Villardi is not owned in enough leagues.

Like it's sub 50%. Career high ice time for him. This is a guy that he's got eight goals and 16 points in 22 games, 22 goals and 36 points in 47 games last year with the jet. It was just injury. So he's been productive ever since he's been a jet when they made that deal to get him in a package shipping off PLD. So production on the power play. Power play is cooking right now, clearly unsustainable, going to come down a little bit. But, I mean, as long as Schifley and Connor on that power play.

And he's going to play his five and five hockey with those two guys as well. Valerty's a guy that I'm certainly buying. Oh, man, such a fun player and also such a unique skill set as well, right? Not just for the NHL as a whole right now as an at front guy, but for this team in particular. particular and so that sets them up really nicely to keep feeding in those minutes. I like that show quite a bit. Let me give you another Canadian forward to go here. Actually, two of them, both Matt Coronado and Conner's area. I've been so high on them all year because I think this flame team has been remarkably fun to watch,

way more competitive than they have any business being so far, at least an early going. Both guys are now up on the top unit power play. That power play is only 20th in the league, I believe, in terms of goals per hour on the season. but you watched them play recently and they move the puck so nicely. They're doing all the right things you see sort of structurally from like where they're trying to funnel the puck to where they're getting their looks from. Both guys are featured heavily there. And at five on five,

both guys are playing on separate lines in the top six. Coronado is playing with Backland and Sharon Gobich right now. And that trio has been phenomenal. Zeri's centering a top line with Hubert Owen Coleman. And I like that spot for him as well. I actually think Zeri just from like an individual talent perspective, clearly has a bit more juice. Some of the stuff he does with the puck is remarkable.

And I expect him to be a prolific score in the league. But Coronado is a really good player himself and is in a phenomenal spot right now in this lineup. So I like both guys because the flames are playing pretty up tempo, pretty high of end hockey. And so the opportunities are going to be there for them. And I think both guys are good enough to succeed in those spots. Yeah, and they're getting strong goaltending too. Yeah, you mentioned Sharon Govich. He's got goals in three straight.

He's been shooting the puck a lot. And it just felt like at some point it was going to turn around for him. I mean, he's only got the five goals and three of come, as I mentioned over the last couple of games. But you look at his last three games, four, seven and seven. Those are the shots. A couple of power play points there as well for him. So yeah, I like that call.

The flames are one of those teams that have been pretty surprising here through six to seven weeks. Yeah, my one final guy here, and then I'll give you a chance for one final guy, and then we'll sign out, is Jack Drury. Just because the points haven't necessarily been there yet. He's kind of played in a bottom six, and especially bottom line role early in the season, but now he's centering NACIS, and we talk about guys we want shares of,

anyone sharing the ice with Marty Natchez right now, I'm a fan of, and Svechnikov as well, and I think he's got, you know, good enough talent to keep up in that spot. And so the Hurricanes are kind of a rising tides team right now as well, where they're playing so up-tempo and creating so much off the rush that anyone that's in a featured spot in the lineup is going to get their fair share of shot attempts,

shots on goal chances, and the goals will come according. And so we'll see what happens. I think the hurricanes are a good bet, much like they did last year, to be aggressive at the deadline and potentially add a top flight forward. And so maybe that's going to bump some of these younger guys back down the depth chart. But for the time being, the spot is there and a scoring, centering opportunity for him to make the most of it because of the way they like to use the bottom six. And so if jury is going to stick there, we'll see. But for now, in terms of just like a flyer that you can get for nothing and just plug in, especially if the hurricanes have a busy week, I feel like he could benefit from that.

Yeah, just ask Jack Roselwick about the system. Yes. I mean, anyone, Eric Robinson, pretty much anyone that's playing the top six is getting points. So give me that and I'll bet on it continuing. Yeah, and you should, right? It's a large sample size of how they play hockey of 5 and 5. And Roslick is certainly benefiting. I wonder, you know, if he sticks on that top line with Ajo and Specialikoff with Seth Jarvis back. But he's scoring goals right now and, you know, he sees a little bit of a history.

of fill in the back of the net. I go one more guy here quickly and it's just a guy another one kind of off the top like with Wyatt Johnson, he can't pick him up off the waiver wires. Kind of Verhaggy. I'm getting a lot of questions of Verhaggy. I'm seeing his ownership drop here just to touch. But he's third and shots of five and five. 11th and expected goals. He's 14th in scoring

chances like Wyatt Johnson. He's still getting opportunities. He says four goals having five and five, that's it. You know, plus minus is a silly stat. He's minus 18. He's been on the plus side in each of the last four seasons. But he's got 34 goals, 42, 20, of his last three seasons.

Curlowe's 6.6 shooting rate, 13 last year, 14 for his career. You know, look at the Panthers short offseason, right? Been to the Stanley Cup finals and back-to-back years. The schedule was loaded to start. They went to Finland. Still very tough. It's going to open up for them. So I know that they've lost a lot of games recently.

Barkoff and Reinhardt have been absolutely unbelievable. It's not because of them. Cardover Hagee bump of the third line. Got him going a little bit lately. But I would hold on to Carter Verhaggy. And I think, like why Johnson, And he's the guy that you can check in and say, hey, you know, you concern? Because, you know, I'll buy.

And I'd be willing. I'm making phone calls to try to get her hanging. Good stuff, Meaty. This is a blast. I think the listeners are really good. A benefit from it. I had a great time myself. I'll let you on the way out here.

Plug some stuff. Let the listeners know about your new gig with the NHL and what they can expect from you and where they can find you and all that good stuff. Yeah, I appreciate it, Dimitri. Yeah, at Chris Meanie on the Twitter machine. I've been with the NHL now for about two weeks. just covering fantasy hockey for them, you know, with some rankings and diving into their edge stats and some featured articles on teams.

We're going to, you know, have three or four articles a week. So, you know, helping out Pete Jensen there with some of the NHL edge stats, given some picks as well, covering NHL betting over at NHL.com as well with some point props and shot props and some goal scores. So having some fun over there as well. It's going to get my feet wet. The podcast Fantasy NHL on Ice is on Mondays and Thursday. So you can catch me there as well and doing some guest spots on Sirius XM, the NHL network channel as well.

So it's been a blast. Any questions at all you guys have? Fantasy hockey. You want to talk some hockey with me. DMs are open. You can always reach out at Chris meeting. Awesome, buddy. Well, you're the best.

Keep up the great work. And I'm already looking forward to having you back around the halfway point when we revisit this and get back to it. That's going to be all for today. We've got one more show this week. I hope everyone's, or hope all of our American friends. and listeners enjoy their Thanksgiving holiday. It may be filled with all the delicious food and touchdowns that your heart desires. And thank you for listening to the Hockey Ocast streaming on the SportsNet Radio Network.