
·E428
Fantasy Hockey Life Ep. 428 Dallas Stars with Taylor Newby
Episode Transcript
Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks.
Here's shit Kiss, your source of information and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league.
Block off hot a step hit on, stay lock block.
Here's your hosts, Jesse Severe and Victor Nuno Fantasy.
Speaker 2Hockey Live once again.
Jesse Severe, Victor Nuno, the Fantasy Hockey Doctor, here to talk to you.
How are you doing today, Victor?
Speaker 3I'm going awesome, Jesse.
How are you doing good?
Speaker 2Good?
We're getting so close to the season.
I can taste it, Victor, I can just taste it.
And we're also nearing what I like to call the sports equinox, because for those of us who like multiple sports, there comes that little time when there potentially can be baseball, football, hockey, and basketball going on at the same time, sometimes on the same dog one day, Victor, my mind gets blown when that happens.
I understand why ancient societies organized their whole universes around solar eclipses and such, because that's what it feels like.
That doesn't matter as much to you, though, right unless the Giants and the forty nine ers are cooking and the Giants are in the playoffs or something like that.
This doesn't mean anything to.
Speaker 3You, right, I am a total fair weather fan.
With other sports, I really do not care at all.
I like watching them, I like watching good games.
I like watching in the playoffs.
But I'm certainly not going to follow any team closely unless it happens to be one that's close to me that is doing well.
If there's a baseball, random baseball game on or last night I was at a restaurant and the Giants were on, and so yeah, I'll watch that, but I'm not gonna watch it, watch any sport super seriously unless one of my local teams is on or it's the playoffs, because that really that ratchets it up the intensity and they're really fun to watch.
Other than that, I'll just oh admit prety faraoweather fan when it comes to those other sports.
Speaker 2Yeah, if you're like me, because I do show I talk about at the end.
People don't listen to the last two minutes of this show.
But I do a show called Dynasty Sports Live where I talk about four different sports, and that's the type of thing I should do an entire Eclipse episode where it's all the stars a line episode.
But we do have a not hockey room in our Fantasy Hockey Life discord.
No, for real, I know every episode I try to make up a new room that doesn't really exist in the discord, and I watch Vicker's eyebrows up like Barry Trotz's on the sideline when he gets stressed.
But this one actually exists not hockey.
If you want to talk about not hockey, you can get in there.
You can talk about things.
But other than that, you could talk about everything, including hockey.
As it turns out, in fact, that's the most popular thing to talk about the Fantasy Hockey Life discord.
All you have to do to get into it is email is Fantasy Hockeylife at gmail dot com, and you can get in there.
You can chat with people.
You can maybe it's the right time of year to be organized in the league is just around the corner, and victor to win those leagues, to do great in those leagues.
They could also get some stuff that you've got held in the back.
What do you got there?
Speaker 3Yeah, all kinds of great bonus content Over at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life.
You can get access to patron cash.
You can get access to bonus content like things on the website, the ranks, the tiers, the list of player cards, all kinds of great stuff over there, in addition to getting one on one roster doctor help, helps with drafts, things like that.
So check all that out over at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life.
Speaker 2Next up, it's going to be our special gut Welcome to the show a new guest, Taylor Nubi of The Hockey News.
Ready to talk some Dallas stars.
How you doing, Taylor, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 4Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2Well, we're excited.
We're excited to talk some stars into all these individual players in a minute, but first we just got to talk about the team in general.
For the rest of us.
Dallas playoff hockey has been pretty thrilling the last few years to watch.
The Colorado and Winnipeg series were just classics this year, Taylor and although aside from Game one against Edmonton in the Conference final, where the Stars came back with a five goal fifth period, the rest of that series didn't go so great for the Boys and Green.
But overall, for the year, Dallas scored the third most goals, sixth fewest against, penalty kill, top five.
Some of the best goaltending in the league.
Will get to the reason why a little bit later.
I don't know if Stars followers enjoyed the ride as much as the general NHL public did, since it was the third s great year that the Conference finals was the end and everybody wants it to be the next thing.
But how do you process the Stars season tailor?
And is there a reason to think that they're going to take another step this year?
Speaker 4That's a good question.
I think everyone's been wondering what the answer is to like why they can't get over that hump, And I think you have to look at what they've done this offseason and wonder if having the new coach coming in, if that is what they can do it, or if that's what allows them to be able to do it.
But I think it's like one of those things where everyone's happy that they've made it this far, but it's just this one.
We'll keep getting knocked out in the same place.
And so it's also what can we do to make a change.
Speaker 3Well, we're going to start with one of those big changes, and that was Miko Rontinen.
He had his fifth consecutive point per game or better season.
Despite the upheaval of being moved traded twice.
All of his per game numbers were a bit down this season.
His goals, assist shots, power play points, hits, and blocks.
He's never been big at block shots and hits bash ranking.
He was rank three three point seventy one per game this season, ranking him two hundred ninety second.
But even though he's never been that good at that, this was a pretty significant step back for him.
So I guess the question and is do you think that will come back.
Do you think we'll start shooting more and can he get back over to be one hundred plus playing player in Dallas or do we just have to adjust our expectations for Ronton and moving forward.
Speaker 4I think that just depends on who they can put him with that really gets him to where he was.
I think playing with Nathan McKinnon really helps anyone.
But the Stars.
They do have Jason Robertson repe hints, and I think they're going to have to tinker around with the lines.
You also have Wyatt Johnston who can get in there and mix it up.
I don't know that he was with the right lines during the playoff run, but they didn't have much time to try different things, especially moving forward into the playoffs, you don't want to mess with too much because then you're risking the time that he's on ice.
I think it starts to show, especially after the all his hat tricks and the Colorado City Series and then a little bit into the Winnipeg series.
I think it started to show that maybe he wasn't the best line mates to set him up to be one hundred prime player, But I think they do have players that can compliment what he's best at.
Speaker 2Normally, we take the players we're going to talk about in order of points performance.
I think somebody set these up by salary today because Tyler Sagan is next, and Tyler is a great veteran with this team, but he missed a lot of time last year.
I stayed mostly on the ice early on.
He had twenty one points in those first twenty games up until December first, but then a hip injury bit him and ended his regular season pretty much.
After a surgery, he was able to come back in the playoffs, and I think he was in the regular season finale Shenanigan's denied on this case, and in the playoffs then he was good for eight points in eighteen games, two years left of his nearly ten million dollar contract.
The hammer is about to drop on some huge free agents we're going to talk about later.
So that's not great news.
But still that's not Tyler Sagan's fault.
Tyler Sagan is still a really good player and the injuries have taken a lot out of him.
The shots aren't what they are.
What's left in the tank for this guy?
What do you expecting?
Speaker 4Yeah, I think you have to look at what he's been through.
And then before the season when he was with Matt Duchane and Mason Marchmant, they were one of the best lines in hockey for about two seasons, and it felt like he really got rejuvenated in his game and it was like, Okay, there he is.
Obviously, it took him a couple of years after his hip surgery and he had to relearn how to walk and all that, but it felt like after this hip surgery he looked almost to form, I think when he came back, but that line just wasn't doing it anymore.
Matt Duchane and Mason Marchmant, Matt Justchine couldn't buy a goal, couldn't buy points.
All of the playoff run.
So I think Tyler Sagan can be what we've seen him last couple of years if you can again find line mates to really put him with.
But now that Mason Marchman is gone, I think looking a little thin in some places, but Tyger can I think he can elevate his game if same thing with Mikrandon.
If you put him with who's going to complement his game?
But he's not a concern.
I don't think.
Speaker 2I'm here to praise Matt Duchane as well, because even though he didn't end well, I'm old enough to remember Matt Duchane as a declining salary dump from the Predators, which is to say that I am more than two years old.
Thirty four.
Yeah, the thirty four year old hit a point per game last year, and he thrived in the regular season mostly next to that Mason Marchmont you referenced, And these guys were really nice balance of playmaking and shooting.
Statistically, if you look at the evolving hockey, they were right in the balance for the best on the team in that cross section.
And if you could keep that up, this extension of four years, four and a half per looks like it could be a steal again like the first time they got Dushane.
But aside from the point in the regular season, the performance doesn't entirely translate to the fantasy stats we crave under two shots per game, not a whole lot of hits and blocks.
The advanced stats didn't love his defense at five on five.
It didn't look all that great as I tend to think of him as a big two way player.
What do you think of Dushane's role on this team now and the prospects of him to repeat this great scoring performance.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think they're going to rely on him a lot to drive another line, especially since, like I said, they lost the depth with Marchmen and Granland, so they're going to have to reconfigure some line.
So I think he's going to step up more until second line rule and have to drive a line, which I think he can do just fine, But they're going to have to figure out the combinations and then hopefully he can continue playing really well.
It's sometimes it didn't look like he was as old as he is, and I know you said that his defensive metrics weren't as good, but a lot of us up in the press Box have talked about his second season with the Stars versus the first.
He looked a lot better defensively.
Hopefully he can keep up his like two AA game and step up into a role where he is driving the line and driving the scoring for that line, depending on who's.
Speaker 3With next guy.
Jason Robertson his third freight season, playing all to eighty two games, second straight eighty point season, but his goals bounce back a bit over thirty this year.
So he had forty goal forty plus goal seasons back to back, then back to back twenty nine and thirty five goal seasons.
I'm not sure if he can get back to that forty plus mark.
This is the final year of his current deal, and maybe the next contract will have something to say about that.
His BASH was at three point eight seven per game, ranking him two hundred forty seventh.
I think I have so many questions about Robertson Taylor.
I'm just gonna throw a bunch at you.
You can see how you want to go with it.
But I think the arrival of Ranton in is tricky for Robertson.
He might lose his spot with Hints, which might be difficult for him.
But maybe he stays there.
I don't know how they're going to rearrange them things.
I guess we're just wondering what are we going to expect from him.
Do you think he can get back to being over that eighty point or is he going to regress a little bit and take a secondary role.
What do you expect from Jay rob this season?
Speaker 4Yeah, that's a question I've been wondering myself.
I think it goes back to losing Joe Pavelski for that line.
I feel like this past season they had a hard time finding someone else to be with him and rope hints that really made that their number one line.
I think it got covered up a little bit when they had Duchane and sag and a Marchment able to act as another first line, so it wasn't something they really had to worry about.
But I think you're right.
I think Miko Rannon does put him at risk for being like on the first line.
But I do think that his spot is in jeopardy and he does.
He's such a small art shooter and he makes goals from angles that you just cannot believe they went in.
But I think his game is one dimensional in the way that it's hard to find him line mates, and I think, you know, up until the Edmonton series, you could see that they didn't know where to put him because it just felt like he was dragging that line down wherever he was.
So I think that's one of those things that they're really going to have to think about.
And you might see him on the second line with Matt tew Sheen, but he needs someone who's going to be quick and get the puck to him so he can get in the right places.
But I think their top six is in such just up in the air because they have so many moving parts that they haven't had in several seasons.
Speaker 2Well, another one of the stars on this team, I don't know.
He just baffles me is Rupe hints.
His expected goals against per sixty at five on five has been declining a little bit, but he still gets selky boats.
He's doing some things that people really like.
On defense.
His offensive total points a little down from those sizzling point totals of his mid twenties.
He's twenty eight now, but he still charts.
Is an elite power play, penalty kill and expected goals per sixty guy in the Advanced Stats doesn't get a ton of shots.
He takes about to a game, but he did seem to play well with Miko Ranton in the stats that I saw, so that's a good thing to have on this team.
Is he's going to be back with Ranton in this year?
Will it be part of the power play generally?
What do you expect out of Rupe Hanson the coming year?
Speaker 4Yeah, I think I think Rupe he does play well with Miko.
I think his numbers have declined a little bit, but I think it goes without melding of the first line and just trying to juggle who would fit with him and Jason Robertson best.
But I do think whole season with Miko Randon probably elevates his numbers a little bit more.
But I think he stays on the first line.
I think he is one of the more pivotal players for them, and I I think he'll continue to do the penalty kill all of it as long as he stays healthy, which is something that he struggles with.
He does tend to get injured here and there, but I don't see his rule changing at all.
So hopefully they can put him with someone else who will help elevate the whole first line.
Speaker 3Next, guys, why at Johnston he has yet to miss a single game in his NHL career.
That's pretty remarkable.
His numbers have improved across the board every season.
He's come up goals, assists, time, and ice face off percent.
Last year he was at seventy one point pace.
His bash is pretty low at three point five to seven per game, ranking him three and thirty fourth, But if there's more points to come, then that could be very appealing.
So, Taylor, do you think he's going to improve on that seventy one point pace or with the crowded top six that we've been talking about, is he going to get pushed down a little bit?
Speaker 4No.
I think he's so young.
I think he's got several steps higher than what he's doing, and every year it seems like he just impresses more and more.
And then on top of that, he's mister clutch, right, Mister game seven is what they like to call him.
You know.
I think he definitely has a space in the top six.
I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I think they're going to continue to rely on him more and I think they're going to have to lean on him this year because their depth won't be what it has been.
Speaker 2Jamie Ben, I have long been here for the beniscence.
Last year was down for it was down from those one hundred and thirty eight points in one hundred and sixty four games scoring to the prior two years.
Perfect attendance and a ton of points, but still eight or forty nine points in eighty games was a strong, reliable year for a thirty five year old.
I love that he still throws a lot of hits, although the shots continue to decline slightly for him.
Advanced stats showed him pulling many line mades to the positive at five on five offense, although generally was not a factor that improved this that's of his linemates on defense at five on five.
The captain signed a bargain deal to stick with the team for a million again this year.
Seems fair.
He's already gotten one hundred and two million dollars from the team over his career.
He could probably afford to take a mill this year.
So what has been this year?
Is he a steady third liner?
And what kind of scoring would you expect from him?
What's your take on Jamie Bent Taylor.
Speaker 4Yeah, I think he had a completely different role this past season than he did the season before, where they had Wyatt him and of getting to Dawnov together and that line was really good as well.
This season, it seemed like he did take a pretty hard decline, especially in that like last third of the season.
It felt like his game hit a wall and he was just a fourth liner essentially.
But if he can stay anywhere in the thirty forty point range, I think for a million dollars and what he brings like on and off the ice as a leader, I think the stars are in the positive there for sure.
I think, of course they would like to see him put more points on the board and stuff like that, but I think he has a lot to offer, so it's just going to depend on where he goes.
They added a few more fourth liners, so I think that is going to stick him on the third line, but the bottom six is a big question mark for me on how they put it together.
Speaker 2In Maverick Bork.
His rookie year was not an offensive breakout by any means, twenty five points in seventy three games in really in depth minutes for the team, but this was a highly anticipated prospect.
It's unfair to make him too highly anticipated because he was picked at the end of the round, but he was so good after being drafted at thirtieth overall that he's definitely risen over the years.
The depth chart is not friendly to the rise of the somewhat short but plenty solid five, that's solid man Bork.
What do you see of his rookie campaign and what kind of progress do you expect from him this year?
Speaker 4He actually wrote an article today about it because he changed agents if you guys didn't know.
But I think he is one that they're hoping that really works out for him the way Logan Stinkovin did.
They lost him in the micro Ranting trade.
But yeah, Maverick Bork, he won the trophy for the most points in the AHL, so I think the expectation was he was going to take off like Logan Stankovin.
But I don't think they set him up for success in a way either because he was stuck playing on the fourth line and a few games here or there they would move up depending on agrees or just trying to shuffle up some lines.
But obviously that fourth line role does not play to his skill.
But I think he does have an opportunity this season to move up in the lineup, and because there's less depth in her has been and there's so many combinations that they're going to have to try out.
I think he can earn his spot in a second line or a third line position, but it's going to be on him.
But I think they're really relying on him to be what they were hoping he was going to be, and I think that's what that one year deal was about.
Show me what you've got because we've got to make a decision.
So I'm hoping that he gets set up for a success in a way that he didn't get last season just because of the depth that they had, because he needs it.
You just never know how some of those prospects are now.
Speaker 3Indeed, let's move over to the defense and talk about one of my favorite players, Temus Harley.
He had career highs on offense.
Goals, assists, shots were all up.
It came with a little bit of a decrease of his priffs, hitting blocks were a little bit down, but he was still at four point zero three bash per game, ranking him two hundred and sixth.
With that amount of scoring, it's pretty nice his time when I went up more than two minutes more per game.
That coincided with Heiskinin's injury.
With Heiskin and back, I'm sure it'll have a little bit of an impact on Harley's numbers.
But I still think that he's going to be the power play point man.
It seems like he's that's a better role for him.
But then, of course, between him and Heiskin and both being on the Olympic teams for their countries, I imagine that's going to impact them a little bit.
So do you think that Harley can do about the same as last season, maybe increase his points And how do you think the Olympic break's going to affect him?
Speaker 4Yeah, I think I think hopefully with this new coach coming in, he does get that first power play role.
I think he everyone saw while he's skin was out that he elevated his game that whole time he was gone, But they got they gave him a chance to run the power play and most of the time he was running a minute and a half or most of it as the game would allow.
So I think that his points stay up there.
I think they might see him hit a career high, and I think that he you might see a little bit less time on ice, but I'm imagining they're going to want to kind of restructure Haskin's role and let him do the defensive things that we all know he can do, and then have Thomas Harley really leading everything.
But I think that kind of depends on the new coaches system and stuff like that.
And I think it's going to be really fun to watch them all play in the Olympics.
But Stars fans, I think are just hoping that everyone comes back healthy because they're the ones that are going to play such like important players for the team.
Speaker 2Let's talk about that other major defenseman on the team, Merrol Hayskin, and he has been the minutes munching d one for this team for a long time, but that late January knee injury kept him sidelined well into the second round of the playoffs.
Pro rated stats were still excellent last year, though his scoring pat pace was well down from the prior two years twenty five points in fifty games.
He's twenty six years old, actually barely two years older than Thomas Harley, which kind of blows my mind.
It seems like it should be a bigger gap than that, but he should have many more years of All Star and Nors votes like he got last year to accumulate in the future because he's an excellent defenseman.
But what is the pecking order on this team now way and what do you expect Hay's going to look like this coming year, Taylor.
Speaker 4Yeah, that's a good question.
I think we're wondering what the new system is going to look like.
I don't think anyone takes away from him being the number one defenseman.
I do think that his role will be split a little bit more as far as puck moving and the power play, because we've all seen that Thomas Harley, i think, stepped into that role and took it away in a good way because they were getting good results from it.
So I'm hoping that he can take a backseat a little bit on the Puck movie, which means he can play more defense and be that role for them and not have to do everything because sometimes he just tired and you can tell and maybe he's a little bit slop heer with a puck or whatever.
And towards the end of before he got hurt, and even when it came back, they did try to put him back in that first power point unit, and they weren't getting a result, so they had to put Harley back.
So I think it's going to be a good thing in the sense that he will get some rest and some breaks here and there in carrying the whole game, both offense and defense.
Speaker 3All right, And the next defense when we want to talk about is Leon bixl thirty eight games for the rookies, first taste of NHL action, nineteen point pace and limited action.
But clearly the thing that he seems to do really well is be physical.
He ranked twentieth in our entire data set for block shots and hits, mostly because of his hits.
Because he was over for a game that's pretty incredible value.
All fantasy managers immediately noticed him.
I guess the question is he going to potentially increase his time on ice, because of course we always want more.
If some is better, more is better, And if he could increase his time on ice, then maybe that can even go up more.
So do you think he will get a bigger role and do you think he'll ever score more than like a twenty point pace.
Speaker 4I do think he will get more time on ice.
I think what was his average like eight to ten minutes a game.
Speaker 3If that he was just under fifteen Okay, yeah.
Speaker 4So I think he will play a little bit more depending on what the new system looks like.
I do think that he proved himself in the playoffs that they were scratching Matt Dumba and other shin sorry I just lost his Yeah, they were scratching Matt Dumba and Ilia Lubushkin to have him play because I think he proved that he was reliable and he wasn't just this young kid that could throw a ton of hits.
So I do think he will have a bigger role.
I think the defencemen are a little bit up in the air as far as pairings with bringing Nils Lunquist back.
He was doing and then he got hurt, so that's going to change things.
I believe a twenty point pace is probably what he will stay in.
I don't see him turning into this big puck mover point producer for how but he is.
He does move the puck pretty well.
The first time I saw him go north to south, I was like, oh no, that's better than I thought he would do.
Yeah, I think twenty points pace is probably pretty fair, and then I would imagine the hits will just come the more he gets comfortable in the NHL.
Speaker 3Can you also clear one thing up for me is that how he says his name, is it Bixel, because I've also heard Michelle Oh.
Speaker 4Someone asked him, and I guess bixel is technically the correct way to say it, but he said that he prefers Bishel.
Speaker 3Really yeah, sounds good.
Let's move over to the goalies now.
Dallas was ranked seventeenth and inspected goals against per sixty, but conceded the sixth ranked actual goals.
I think a lot of us probably know why, and a big part of that was Jake Gonger, who had a really another, really strong season.
He saved nineteen, almost twenty goals above expected.
His delta Fenwick was stellar.
He was in he had thirty six wins.
He's in the first year of an eight million dollar contract, a point two five million dollar contract, and overall he I know that some people may point to some of his struggles in the playoffs, but during the regular season he's been fantastic and certainly one of the more steady goalies.
And Casey de Smith has been serviceable in the backup role.
So what are you thinking next season for the Stars goalies.
I imagine Andre is still going to get the majority of the starts and maybe the Smith gets twenty to thirty again like he did last season.
Speaker 4Yeah, I would agree with that.
I think before last season, what did Jig play closer to the sixty sixty five games, and I think closer to the fifty mark is probably what's best for him.
As far as like getting being arrested for the playoffs, I think that he's only going to improve and grow just in his age.
But yeah, I think he's the pillar for the Stars.
And I think Smith did pretty well outside of the first stretch a few games.
There were some games that he stole for the Stars that well, that's all they needed out of him was to just be reliable and give him a game that they can try to win.
So I think he was a little bit better fit for them than Scott Wedgewood had been in the past.
So yeah, hopefully whatever happened in the last game between him and Pete de Bores didn't become some mental block and that he can just move forward.
And I know one of his big goals is to make the Olympic team, so hopefully he can do that as well and represent the USA and the Stars.
Speaker 2Tremendous, Taylor, this has been a great tour around the old Dallas Stars.
Why did you let people know how they can keep up with your Stars coverage all year?
Speaker 4Yeah?
So I right for the Hockey News, so the Hockey News Salastars page.
I also put all my stuff on Twitter at THHN Underscore Taylor and that's about it.
I'll be going to the games live, tweeting, writing articles, jumping on any podcast opportunities I have.
Speaker 2But yeah, awesome, thanks so much for coming on, Taylor, and it's been a pleasure speaking with you.
Speaker 4Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1Wilson.
Speaker 2That's good Fire pantop O, my goodness.
Speaker 4Long with a Cat We grab.
Speaker 2Now it's your weekly goalie talk Silberman Kat's Instincts.
Speaker 3Sign once again for Cat's Instincts with Kat' silverman a Vin Bull mag We're talking Dallas Stars goalies and Remy Poara is ever gonna start with twenty three years old, sixty five pounds, drappted back in twenty twenty one hundred and eighty fifth overall.
He had his second full HL season, did pore and improved his numbers, which is always nice to see.
His equivalency started around the low twenties and then dipped to the teams and back up to twenty three percent chance oft begin at NHLer in this past AHL season which is now complete for the model, and he's got not the best comps.
Jason Lebarbara is one who was a backup kind of guy, So Kat what her instincts tell us about Para.
Does he have upside beyond an NHL backup?
Speaker 4I don't know.
Speaker 5I wish I could say that he looked like there was some magic there and right now, I think he just looks like a really solid, consistent backup for them in the future.
He's got pretty good movement.
I don't love his tracking.
There are a couple times where I was watching some of his AHL games where he allowed goals that were tricky shots but not tricky sight lines for him, so that was a little concerning to see.
Speaker 3I don't know.
Speaker 5I think he looks like a piece of the puzzle for them.
He doesn't look like the answer overall, but I don't know.
He's They feel bad saying I don't know for a kid who took a step forward last year because that was nice to see.
Speaker 4But he still looks like he.
Speaker 5Almost gets in a little over his skates sometime.
It tries to do a little too much, and it seems like he does that to compensate sometimes for little inconsistencies in his tracking situation.
So we'll see how that goes.
I don't necessarily think that he is the answer for them long term, but maybe they see that all call.
Speaker 3Jim, I'm the fun right now and get the answer, so it should be.
Speaker 5I don't think he knows the answer at this point.
Speaker 3I think they're just happy with Donta right now and the smith.
Let's talk about the other guy.
Maxim Mavarov twenty one years old, six foot seven, two hundred and fifty four pounds.
Not to dwell on this point, but I think he's the biggest coolie I've seen who's been in the prospect system like this.
Speaker 4He's huge.
Speaker 3Drafted one hundred and forty seventh overall back in twenty twenty two.
He just had two KHL starts this season, which went well for Locomotive.
The rest of his games when the MHL so I was a little bit harder to tell with that looking at his Hockey prospecting equivalency.
He's been in the high thirties to low forties based on his MHL numbers, and his comp would be like a Michael Layton type backup.
So, kay, what are your interestingcts tell us about Mayarov?
There we go.
I don't know.
Speaker 4I think he's a lot of fun.
Speaker 5Like you said, I think he is one of the biggest goaltend not just in the Dallas system.
I think he is one of the biggest goaltenders that is listed in an NHL depth chart right now.
Speaker 4Because he is a huge boy.
It was really cool.
Speaker 5He did get his KHL debut start this year and recorded a shutout during that first game, which is really nice to see.
I had a lot of fun going through and watching his movement because he is.
Speaker 4Really big, but he still.
Speaker 5Looks in control, and he looks like he has been developing the tools needed to keep himself healthy as much as possible, which is always once you get into those really big goaltenders where we run into some trouble.
Speaker 3Thanks for giving us your instincts on the Dallas Star, Victor, there is something else we got to talk about.
Speaker 2Don't we have something special to give to the listeners.
Speaker 3That's right.
Jesse Dauber Hockey has generous given us a couple of free copies of their amazing Fantasy Hockey guide.
It's the Bible.
It's the best fantasy hockey guide out there, and we're gonna give it away to some of our listeners.
All you need to do is leave us a recent from the time you hear this five star review on apple Pad Podcasts or the podcast app of your choice, and then send it to me, Victor, a screenshot with your name or a way to identify you and your most recent five star review, otherwise I don't have a way to track who it was.
And then we'll select a couple of the winners from all those who enter and get you your guide.
Speaker 2We'll be back right after this Dig the Dynasty Dig Dallas Stars Edition.
The Dallas Stars have the number twenty two system in the NHL, doesn't mean much.
They always seem to pull in guys late who rise up the ranks, but in this case they're led off with the no brainer.
Who is it, Victor?
Speaker 3Our no brainer is mL Heming.
He was a twenty twenty four first rounder.
At the very end, twenty ninth overall sixty two hundred ninety five pounds right winger.
He played in Liga in twenty three twenty four, and then he moved to Barry of the OHL for twenty four to twenty five, putting up eighteen goals forty eight points in sixty games, which is nice.
You would hope that it would be more impressive production after coming from a men's league to the OHL.
Nonetheless, he did have nearly a point per game in Barry's abbreviated playoff run, so that was nice.
And he was actually pretty good at the U twenty World Junior Championship.
Even though he only had four points, including one goal in those seven games, he was a threat on the power play and his shot was a distraction and a weapon for the rest of the power player and creativity for the Finns.
So he was certainly an important factor there and so that's nice to see.
And by the way, fun fact, his younger brother is coming up in the twenty twenty six draft rankings, so that'll be fun to preview and think about as we get closer to that draft.
But back to emmel Hemming.
Looking at his Fantasy Hockey Life player card, I have him had a six point one five to fifteen percent chance of being a six.
A lot of his numbers in the OHL were hit missed.
Some of the things were pretty good, some things were not.
His scoring overall in the OHL was in the eighty fifth percentile, which is pretty good, but some of the other numbers didn't paint as rosie a picture.
Including his course he was just nineteen percent Fenwick up at sixty percent and the expected goals at thirty four percent.
You'd like to think that as a bigger physical guy, he'd have a little bit better than a seventy percent loose puck recovery and a sixty four percent puck battles one all in, although not too bad there, some of his play driving numbers were really good, like his breakout via care and entry via carry, both in the ninety plus percentile.
When he dumps it in, which isn't very often, it's not quite as good, and when he entries via pass also mixed results there, So painting a mixed picture here of Emil Hemming in the OHL.
And as of now we still don't know exactly where he's going to play next season.
Is he going to go back to Finland, is he going to play again in the OHL, maybe go to the NCAA route.
We don't really know yet, but there are some things we do know.
And that's what our FAHL scout thought about Emil Hemming Jesse.
Speaker 2That's right, Victor in our FHL scout this time is Jeremy, and he has this to say about Emil Heming.
The skating good but not elite.
Doesn't have breakaway speed, but as a good first step and quick reactions to often be the first man moving on a change of possession, passing and handling a deft touch on passes.
Seems much more poised than when Jeremy watched him last season.
Good at making plays from tight spaces and getting the puck to a teammate with more shooting, Hemming has a strong shot and a quick release.
He's a good finisher in tight and off the rush, iq good hockey sense on both sides of the puck.
Jeremy thinks he has the makings of an NHL player because of that.
For checking, good at winning puck battles, but doesn't apply a ton of pressure in the traditional for checking sense defense, Jeremy was really impressed with Heming's defensive instincts.
He backchecks hard, helps out down low, and Jeremy thinks more or less he's going to be a decent two way transitional guy in the NHL.
So the best asset was the shot the biggest concern.
Nothing really stood out for Jeremy, but maybe it was just the fact that he doesn't have a wow skill that will definitely keep him in the top six.
So the top tier outcome Jeremy could foresee as a second line, first power play sniper sixty ish points.
That's because he doesn't see first liner point per game upside, but he could settle into a secondary scoring role and be used often on special teams.
The meeting outcome more of a bottom six two way guy thirty to forty points, power play, two, penalty kill, et cetera.
He's trending more toward a nice, complimentary piece with potential for a long NHL career and the stylistic comparable Yakub Silverberg.
He's definitely matured as a player, says Jeremy since he watched him last year, but it hasn't popped in a scoring skills since yet.
And the NHL Ranking tidy champion Mason Black put out the poll in mil Heming versus Black Club Nestrasil, and Nestrasil wins this one fifty four to forty six percent victor What say you.
Speaker 3Yeah, I'm definitely going Estrasill here.
There may be a little bit of recency bias here since Nestro Sil just got selected and Heming by all accounts, had a little bit of a down season, But overall, I do think that there's a little bit more to like here.
One thing I did not mention about Emlheming is that his bash is just okay.
He hits about fifty six percent tile blocks the fourth percentile, and his shots on goal just eightieth percentile, which you'd like to see a lot more from a top prospect in the OHL, and that is something that Nestrocill does a little bit better.
His shots are similar based on his USHL rate numbers, but it's hits some blocks are much better.
So his bash figures to be pretty great considering assuming he can get enough of the time on ice to make it worthwhile, and a lot of his more underlying numbers, especially his transition game.
For nestro Sil, we're a lot better and he I would definitely say that he is a bit raw.
He's a bit of a late birthday.
He's six six, one hundred ninety pounds.
He's huge, has a lot of potential here to make a really big impact.
And I like that he's going the NCAA route next season.
We know where he's going.
He went from the USHL to he's going to be at UMass and I think that trajectory should be really good for him.
And I think Chicago has a great one there.
So I like nestrocill I think his trajectory is a little bit better.
Hemming a little bit of a disappointing D plus one season, but he can still turn himself around.
I'm not out on him by any means, but between these two, I definitely would take Nestro Still.
If you're looking at the hockey prospecting between these two, they're pretty similar.
Both had just two percent chance of being a star in their draft season, which was Nestor Sills this season and Hemming's last season.
Hemming increases star potential just up to four percent, which is pretty minimal.
Still, and some other comps for Hemming where you're basically looking at guys that had an awful equivalency in the first couple of years and then turned out to be good, and one of those such players would be unders Lee, who turned out pretty well.
But for the most part, and a lot of these guys are bus or guys that weren't really very interesting at all.
Looking at his tock down hockey model with j Fresh emal Hemming two percent chance of being a star, fourteen percent chance of being an NHL er.
So this is one of those rare occasions where hockey prospecting and the j Fresh card agree Jesse, it is going to be a long shot for emal Hemming.
Speaker 2Nice, nice, always nice when we all just get along.
Victor, who is your need to know prospect?
Speaker 3That's going to be Lion bixl Actually we heard on the show that it should be Bixel, but he pronounces it Bichelle, So there you go.
Lian Bischelle twenty two, first round pick, eighteenth overall, six seven two and thirty one pounds.
We talked about a little bit on the main show because he did get some main NHL action this season thirty eight games.
He also got twenty eight games in the NHL, and it was a really good first professional season he did.
Also, it wasn't his first he's played in the SHL and he played in the AHL last season, but he was solely in North America this season, playing professionally and looked really good at times and certainly had some positives there.
If you look at his Fantasy Hockey Life player card, though, there's so much red and burgundy on this card, meaning that things really did not go well.
A lot of his transition game, his play driving pretty awful, his priffs, which he's known to be really we all know his hits are amazing, but the blocks and shots are pretty poor.
So he's basically just a hit monster, and I really worry about whether he's going to be able to keep up with the pace of play with some of these transition and play driving numbers.
I do think he reads the play pretty well and I think that he can probably figure it out, but there's going to be a learning curve and it may be rough.
So hopefully they insulate him and give him a little bit of protection.
Looking at his evolving hockey numbers when he was in the NHL, we're pretty reassuring.
Actually, a lot of his expected goals against and four and his even strength defense and offense were positive, pretty significantly positive, So that tells me that he probably is going to be able to figure it out.
But I want to hear what our lead, one of our FHL scouts wants to say about Bischelle.
Speaker 2Jesse Jeremy says this about Bischelle, smooth skater.
Doesn't possess blazing speed, but perfectly adequate for a big defenseman passing and handling.
Prefers to make the easy play, good at doing so, can handle the puck find but doesn't force his way into pressure, make smooth breakout passes instead of forcing stretch ones.
If anything, Jeremy prefer to see him carry the puck a bit more instead of dumping it in as soon as he reaches the blue line.
Bixel Jill doesn't have a dangerous or booming shot.
Can flutter them through traffic, but nothing that makes him think he'll be a big shooting threat, and the IQ impressive poise for someone of his size, comfortable taking the puck behind his neck, net looking and hitting his man defense.
Bischell has massive reach in a big body.
He's adept at shepherding the puck carrier to a low danger area and clearing out the net front for his goalies, and Jeremy thinks this is going to be his biggest asset, so the biggest asset defense in size, biggest concern, minimal offense.
The top tier outcome could be a top pairing d lots of minutes and secondary assists because he's got all the tools of a really good minute muncher.
But Jeremy doesn't really see him getting offensive deployment unless it's by default because there are no other options.
The media outcome top four shutdown defenseman, but overall, Jeremy thinks he's definitely going to be an NHL regular for a long time.
Could disappoint in fantasy, maybe a Jacob Slavin or a cult in Peraco.
The NHL ranking Mason Black put up the poll.
Liam Bishell versus Stean Stolberg and Bischel wins this one handley, sixty four to thirty six percent.
Speaker 3What should think, Victor, I think I just imagine the Spider Man meme where they're all pointing at each other because these guys are like the same.
They're the same.
They're not, obviously, but they seem the same, and they both bash a lot.
Solberg had ninety first percentile for hits in the AHL and Bischell had ninety fifth percentile, so they're both incredible for hits, not so good for the other metrics.
When you look at the rest of Solberg's metrics from the AHL, they pretty much look similar to Bischell's.
They both are bigger dudes that hit a lot and don't actually have great transition or play driving numbers, So it makes me a little worried for both.
But seeing what Shill did and his first taste of NHL action makes me want to lean that way because there's already a proof of concept.
I actually have these guys rated almost exactly the same.
I think I have Solberg one hundredth of a percent before, and that's mainly because since we don't know how he's going to translate, maybe he could still develop more offense orven though there's a wider range of variety of potential there.
But I think these guys are pretty similar, and I would if I had to choose, I would probably go with Michelle, just because there is more proof of concept in the NHL.
When you look at the hockey prospect between the two, Stolberg actually had up to eight percent chance of being a star this year.
He was at zero in his draft season.
Mainly because there wasn't an equivalency from what he did in his draft season, and now he with his SAHL numbers, it went up a little bit.
Michelle graduated at one percent chance of being a star with his AHL numbers, so not that impressive.
If you look at other good comps for Michelle, they don't really exist unless you're talking about guys who completely broke the model, Guys like Neil Pianc who looked like absolute garbage and then turned into a be a pretty decent actual NHLer.
So maybe Bischell can do that.
Looking at his Hockey prospecting or sorry, his top down hockey model, one percent chance of being a star, seventy four percent chance of being an NHL as Jesse, this is two in a row where Hockey Prospecting and Jay Fresh agree.
I don't remember that ever happening before.
Speaker 2Wow, we got them all agreed.
We've got the spider Man meme, which means that Mason did his job.
Victor, the pressure is on you.
Can you give us the right answer for who to keep your eye on?
Speaker 3Prospect is I wrote the list, so yes, definitely I can do that.
That would be Arts and Martino twenty twenty one, third round pick seventy third overall five eleven hundred and sixty one pounds.
This was his senior season at Clarkson, and he nearly tripled his previous goal total and doubled his previous points, finishing with fifty one points in thirty nine games before joining Texas to close out the season and get a little professional experience, which she did for games.
No points and nothing else much to write home about, but his NCUBA numbers were pretty stellar.
As we mentioned, a lot of his great stats are his playmaking, his accurate passes to the slot, preshot passes, all that's really good, great playmaker.
He also had a lot of goals for NC DOUBLEA actions, so that was good to see as well.
He's someone whose bash is probably going to be pretty awful, though he literally had I don't think I've seen this before.
I don't know that this was a mistake, but he had zero hits in the NC DOUBLEA.
Maybe he just had the puck all the time that makes it hard to hit other people.
But fourteen percentile for blocks, seventy percent there for shots, meaning his bash is going to be just twenty first percentile and a lot of his play driving numbers were mixed.
His fedomak is good, his corsi and net expecta goals were pretty poor.
A lot of his puck battles and other metrics not so good.
And he passed the puck in and out with transition really well, but his carry in was really poor.
Mixed numbers there.
But let's hear a little bit more about Martinez.
Our fachel scout.
Speaker 2Our FHL scout.
Jeremy has this to say about Martino skating is very good skater, but possibly more importantly a high motor feeder.
Always move and bodes well for getting NHL opportunities.
The passing and handling are fine, but he does have a habit of holding onto the puck a bit too long.
Shooting, Martine's got a good shot, as evidenced by his twenty five goal breakout at Clarkson this year.
Jeremy'd like to see him shoot more, as he thinks he's dangerous inside the circles the IQ.
The vision with the puck is good.
Jeremy likes the way he gets breakout passes the teammates instead of just dumping and out, and he operates well in space behind the offensive net.
He does have a habit of getting lost on the perimeters without the puck and going long stretches without impact the fore checking definite strength, likes to close down time and space, and will even throw hits just bounces off his guys at his current size, though, and the bash on the player card is so low that either was unusual for him or he's not getting credit for those hits.
As you said, Victor Martino definitely has a habit of flying the zone early.
Doesn't think he's bad defensively, but he's certainly an offense first guy, which might not work in some systems.
So the best asset that motor.
Jeremy thinks he'll be able to chip in through sheer willpower even if the skills don't put him on a scoring line.
The biggest concern needs to put on some weight.
Got muscled dof pucks quite a bit in the NHL or the AHL Games.
Jeremy was looking at.
So a middle six score is the top outcome.
Here got the shot and the vision to put up points, but maybe not ever lead the charge offensively for his team or line, and the median outcome third line secondary score energy guy because he brings some speed and pressure to the port check that a lot of bottom six guys do, and he has a better, better scoring touch than a traditional grinder.
The stylistic comparable he's got Logan Stankovin, although Martino's ceiling is significantly lower.
Nope, Martino is actually older than Stankovin and probably won't reach the NHL this year unless there's an inch and the NHL ranking puts Martin Martino against Dylan Duke and Dylan Duke comes out ahead fifty two to forty eight percent.
What do you think?
Speaker 3I think that I would probably go with Martino actually, even though yeah, we had some strong NCUBA numbers for Duke.
For Duke at times, and he has played in the AHL, but I think that right now there's more offensive upside with Martino.
We have to see if he can translate that from the NCUBLEA to the AHL.
But Duke's HL numbers were good, but they weren't amazing.
Forty points in sixty two games, that's good.
He's also a bit older twenty two, so sometimes he's older guys.
The more impressive numbers don't get you that excited.
Reality is both these guys are probably depth options at best, and no one to be super excited about in fantasy.
But I think if either one of them had had more hidden offense, I think it's Martino.
We just had to wait and see.
So that's who I would be picking.
Unless you just wanted someone who was closer to NHL action, then I would just take Duke because he is closer.
And looking at the hockey prospecting between the two, Martino graduated this year at seven percent chance of being a star fifty eight percent chance of being in NHLer.
Duke graduated last year at one percent chance of being an NHL a Star and fifteen percent chance of being an NHLer.
And Duke does have a little bit better periffs.
His blocks are really good, his hits are pretty good.
His shots are really low though, so maybe there's a little bit more of a peripheral floor for Duke.
Looking at some other comps for Martino, there's some interesting ones here.
Raffi Torres is one who at least the scoring kind of matches, and maybe he could do something similar to that, but overall not too exciting in terms of the comps on hockey prospecting.
The j Fresh card a little bit more pessimistic.
There we go, now we're back in line with whether we were used to Jesse just one percent to being a star four percent chance of being an NHL.
That's a little bit more of what we're used to from Jayfresh.
And that's it for our Dallas Stars dig.
If you're a patron, you can listen to my top ten Patron prospect recap on Patreon, which Jesse has promised to turn into one large episode.
And if you're in still doing any scouting with us, shoot me a DM on Twitter, discord, or email us.
Speaker 2I promise to do that doesn't sound right, Victor.
Speaker 6Anyway, we'll come back to close out the show.
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