Latest / Banger Management - Fantasy Hockey Podcast / Atlantic Division Rankings for the 2025-2026 NHL Season

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Atlantic Division Rankings for the 2025-2026 NHL Season · Banger Management - Fantasy Hockey Podcast

0:00
Barbara Bound Bound Banger Management Fantasy Hockey
0:03
podcast. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
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OK. Every dance.
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Yeah, I'm pointing. Fuck.
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Nice. Cool, welcome in y'all to Bangor
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Management, the Fantasy Hockey Podcast with Jake, Josh and
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whatever the hell that sound was Kevin.
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You're welcome. It's almost like it was almost
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like Borat, you know, like Wawa. Oh well.
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There you go. This isn't practicing that one.
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I have, I have. Today we are going to be doing a
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very interesting episode. This is actually, this last year
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was our second episode, the Atlantic Division Rankings.
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Wow. Yeah, yeah.
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And it was our first actual episode after our first one,
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which was really just an intro. But it's fun.
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It's back. To crazy about full circle year
1:09
#2 season 2 baby. Back 2.
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Television. Yeah, it's called that because
1:18
of the ocean, so. OHS, never really thought of
1:22
that before. Good. 1.
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Very insightful. Thought it was for the Atlanta
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Thrashers. Rest in peace, they'll be back
1:32
one day, I'm sure. Yeah.
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So this, yeah, this is gonna be an interesting episode because
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it's not exactly, you know, we're not gonna do a deep dive
1:43
into every single player on these teams.
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We've spoken a lot about each one of these guys, but
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definitely the hockey oriented and you can derive some fantasy
1:53
value out of it. When we talk about these teams
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where they're ranked, some may come as a surprise.
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I'm gonna get ripped on a lot over the next 4 episodes so
2:01
everyone can have a good time with that.
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It was very spicy with his predictions.
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Yeah, I do. I do.
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I feel like less spicy than than normal.
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But still, I think it seems spicy because usually Josh and I
2:13
are kind of like in the same state of mind.
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We're making these picks and Jakey is just kind of like
2:17
different. And different doesn't mean
2:19
worse. You means different.
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Special, special little snowflake.
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Thanks, I think. Yeah.
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Like, yeah, it's not gonna be a deep dive into every player, but
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we will touch on obviously fantasy relevant assets.
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Exactly. And yeah, before we dive in,
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follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your
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podcasts. We have noticed some people have
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been listening but not following.
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So please give us a follow. You'll be notified.
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God, yeah, that when? Yeah, you'll be notified when
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all the new episodes drop. We're gonna be doing it three
2:52
times a week at least from here until the end of the fantasy
2:54
hockey season. So lot of great content coming
2:57
your way. Keep listening to us trees and
3:00
yeah, all the links are in the link tree in the podcast
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description. New to Discord and TikTok, so be
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sure to follow us there. Happy to interact with you guys
3:09
and bring you content throughout the season.
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So shall we begin? With the worst team in the
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Atlantic Division, our predictions for #8.
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And #8 we've got the Buffalo Sabres.
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Last year they finished 7th in the division.
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All three of us ranked them at #8 this year.
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Last year their power play ranking was 24th in the league.
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And some notable players fantasy wise are Rasmus Dahlin, Tage
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Thompson, Josh Norris, Alex Tuck, Jason Zucker, and Jack
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Quinn. Why do we all agree that they
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suck? Because they keep trading all
3:48
their best players and I think that management is just
3:52
terrible. Honestly, with Buffalo, I don't
3:54
think we're gonna get it right. None of the moves they make have
3:57
any coherent vision with like, there's no 510 year plan, it's
4:01
just random moves. They're just scrambling
4:03
constantly and they're not making their roster better
4:06
despite having so many young and talented players on that team.
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So just the lack of direction and coherence in a plan is what
4:13
makes me think that they're going to stick around in last
4:16
for now. So we've seen weird trades and
4:18
weird like contracts in recent years.
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There's no reason why they should have Darlene O and Power
4:24
and Bowen Byram on this team when you know the attackers on
4:28
this team are so weak, if we can put it that way.
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Like, yeah, why would you trade middle staff for buyer and when
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defenseman is like the one position you're strong at, why
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would you pay the way J Peterka for Kesselring, which is another
4:40
defenseman? It just, it really makes us like
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players are forcing their way out and they're kind of
4:46
scrambling to get the most value we can, but they're not really
4:49
taken into account the needs of the team.
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I mean, you take the deals that are on the table, but maybe they
4:55
just try to flip these guys during the season.
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Like we know Byram has already been in trade talks that he
4:59
wants out. He wants to go somewhere where
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he can be more of a integral asset.
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If we're talking fantasy, though, I think the names you
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mentioned, I mean, change is gonna be a high draft pick.
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Darlene is going to be a high draft pick.
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And I think that's pretty much in terms of like the elite guys.
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But after that, it's Josh Norris, Alex Truck, and then a
5:17
huge cheer gap, I think, until the next fantasy.
5:20
Relevant. Yeah.
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And then soccer is one of our sleepers, and Quinn probably
5:22
doesn't even get drafted in most leagues.
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Yeah. It's tough, jerky.
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What do you think? Yeah, it's just it's a bit of a
5:30
sad story. They keep training their their
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best guys, as you guys said. I mean, there's, there's no.
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They will go and win the cup. Yeah, actually like they're they
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are the good luck Chuck of. Yeah, yeah.
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Exactly what it is. I even think you PPL are pretty
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good goalie who's just not gonna have success because the team in
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front of him is not very good. The defensemen are the best part
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of this team. Like they're really good
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offensive defensemen, yet they're still not gonna they're
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still not going to be great. And I'd be curious if there are
6:00
any Buffalo fans that listen to this podcast.
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Like what do you think about the outlook for this team this
6:05
season after trading a lot of their a lot of your guys just
6:09
crazy I. Guess think about right, like
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sorry, like I was just like the like O'Reilly, when's a cup
6:13
Michael wins a cup, Reinhart wins back-to-back cups all mark.
6:17
I mean just becomes really good. You know, like it is everyone
6:21
who leaves this team just becomes immensely successful.
6:24
And it's just it's. Called Cousins to be a beast on
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Ottawa for his short stint there.
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I don't know, I feel like if I want to get into a little bit of
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the fantasy aspect of these players, like we've already
6:35
spoken about today, we've spoken about Dolly and we know what to
6:38
expect. I'm interested in Josh Norris as
6:40
a late, late round. Like, you know, we play in a
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very deep league. We're starting 4 centres, 4 left
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wings, right wings. I like him as my 4C or MY3CI,
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feel like he's low key banger league stud where he's hitting
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those categories and I think it's gonna be the one on this
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team. I can't imagine it being Yuri
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Coolidge or Ryan McLeod like those are two or three.
7:01
CSI mean he's gonna be alternating between two
7:02
positions and that's the 1C and the injured reserve.
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Build. Sad, but but accurate.
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Yeah, he is 1. He may be the squishiest player
7:15
in the league in my opinion. Right now I can't think of
7:18
anyone squishy. You're off the top mark Stone.
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No, Norris is more squishy than Stone.
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Stone is a strategic squishiness that he could come in for the
7:26
LTR loophole, you know. Do you think there's a late
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round value of any of these guys?
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Like we saw Ryan McLeod have a stint being valuable end of last
7:35
year. Zach Benson is a prospect that
7:37
we've had our eye on for multiple years at this point.
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Like Jake loves to talk about is a his stats in previous years.
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We know Jason Zucker provides power play exposure at A at a
7:47
reasonable draft cost. That's pretty late.
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I think all these guys have a role, but nobody's excited about
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any of them. Really the only ones that I'm
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like a late guy is Norris, Tuck and Zucker.
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Anyone else on the team other than the two studs who are going
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early? I'm not interested in it.
8:00
So the other thing is that last year Buffalo had they were tied
8:05
for third worst in the league in goals against per game.
8:09
And as far as goals 4 per game goes, guess where they were just
8:15
top what? Third worst?
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I don't know. They were top 10 really goals 4
8:22
per game and they still ended up like, you know, bottom of their
8:28
division or 7th rather second lowest in their division.
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So to me, like having given up Peterka and just consistently
8:36
trading all their offensive studs, like I don't believe that
8:39
this team is gonna be more shut down than they were last year
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and I think that their goals for are gonna regress.
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So although I am excited about the Bensons of the world.
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Cool. It could be interesting because
8:50
it doesn't seem like they have anyone else to play centre
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there. I guess Norris and McLeod, but
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they're not that exciting. I feel like Kulik is the guy who
8:58
they want to maybe be their 1C, but we'll see.
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Nevertheless, I just think that they're gonna score less than
9:05
they did and they're gonna let in as many goals.
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So I'm just not excited about this at all.
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I think we could go to the next one, which is pretty
9:13
interesting. Let's go to #7.
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At #7 we have the alliteration Kings of the Atlantic, the
9:26
Boston Bruins. Last year they finished 8th in
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the division, surprising everyone but Jakey.
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They. Yep, they.
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Made a huge double here. For me last.
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Year me and Jackie have them ranked 7th this year and Kevin
9:40
has them ranked 6th. They were 29th in the power play
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last year which is brutal. I didn't realize they were that
9:46
bad. And they're notable players for
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this year are obviously David Pasternak, Jeremy Swagman,
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Morgan Geeky, Charlie McAvoy, Elias Lindholm.
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Really, once you get past Pasternack, the names just drop,
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right? Like, yeah, like, that's crazy.
10:00
But. But yeah, I mean, also like,
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what the power play ranking from last year, McAvoy was out for
10:05
most of the year, so that definitely didn't help them.
10:08
But yeah. What's going on with this team?
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Are they full? They're full committing to the
10:11
rebuilds. They're done.
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We all seem to kind of agree on that.
10:14
I feel like it's not in Boston DNA to fully commit to a
10:18
rebuilding if they're just always going to try to compete.
10:20
Would I be shocked if they finish slightly higher?
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I have them at six. I have them a spot.
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I have a spot above. Really, Boston always finds a
10:28
way to to be good. Last year was honestly a huge,
10:34
you know, black mark on their history in terms of fantasy.
10:37
I mean, Pasta is still going to be a top five, six pick.
10:40
He just delivers year on, year on year.
10:42
No matter how bad the team is or how good the team is, you can
10:44
rely on him to be productive. But these other guys, it's all
10:49
like late round value. You know, Elias Lindholm was a
10:53
guy that were targeting as one of the later ones sees available
10:56
that are exposure to elite talented.
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He didn't even produce for fantasy that much.
11:00
He was kind of like the laughing stock of our of our league, a
11:03
little bit between me and J fighting for.
11:06
Kevin draft late last year and then made a comment in the draft
11:10
chapping like can't believe you guys.
11:12
Let me get past those one see this late.
11:15
He was good for like a few weeks, then he kind of like fell
11:18
off completely and but he had a great banger league category.
11:20
So you know, that's something, but definitely not exciting to
11:24
have on your roster. Morgan Geekie was one of the
11:26
lone bright spots. We've mentioned him on various
11:28
episodes in terms of late round breakout.
11:30
Mentioned Sleeper too much to keep talking about it honestly.
11:33
Was high on him. I don't see anybody else excited
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about. Moving.
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I actually keep seeing people projecting his regression this
11:39
year, which is crazy because we're so high on him.
11:41
Yeah, I don't understand, because the deployment is going
11:44
to be there the whole year. They don't have enough talent
11:46
for him to be like, bumped down anywhere.
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I think the exposure is just too good.
11:49
I'm surprised that people are predicting him to, like, take a
11:51
step back. Yeah, if anything, I feel like
11:53
he just does what he did last year.
11:54
Yeah, exactly. You know who I actually really
11:58
like from this team that we haven't spoken about at all?
12:00
Fraser Minton. Really.
12:03
You would like Fraser Minton. Yeah, no, cause he's kind of
12:07
like he's got a lot of grit and I feel like when you go to the
12:12
Bruins, it kind of becomes like a part of your personality.
12:15
You have no. Choice.
12:16
I mean, you become like that idiot.
12:18
Middlestadt is soft. He's just he's squishy.
12:22
He's soft. He's like he.
12:24
Doesn't get traded from Toronto. I somehow missed this one.
12:28
Yeah, seeing the offseason like look, I don't think he's gonna
12:31
be like a 90 point player or anything crazy like that, but I
12:34
I think that there is some room down the middle for there to be.
12:39
A for Brandon Carlo, OK. Yeah, I think it's possible that
12:43
that Minton can actually have a quietly decent season.
12:45
Like I'm not projecting anything in the points category but for
12:48
bangers like if. He was hitting.
12:51
Yeah, he was. It just feels like he's a good
12:53
Bruins player, you know what I mean?
12:55
And his linemates are Tenner, Genoa, and Montage.
12:59
Bluegill so sure. First of all, don't hate
13:02
automated. Second of all, who is Mataji?
13:08
And the third, it's not gonna. It wouldn't surprise me if he
13:13
goes to line 1 and and Lindholm goes to line three.
13:16
He can't predict that. But Lynn home is not a staple on
13:19
that. Line, I don't know.
13:20
I think there is more in line. I think, I think he's fourth in
13:23
line after Lindhome, Zaka, Middlestadt, and then it would
13:27
be Minton. They don't play with knowledge,
13:31
they play with the lines. Centres.
13:32
Ohe Centre, Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:35
Like I, I won't. Look, I mean at the end of the
13:36
day. Time or anything?
13:37
But at the other day when they're gonna do so bad, like we
13:39
all predict, it's definitely possible because when you have
13:42
nothing to lose, why not let your young guys get a chance?
13:44
I still don't see it happening because, like Kevin said,
13:46
they're not the team to kind of actively tank.
13:49
But but it's definitely interesting. 1 like you said, he
13:51
was hitting a lot last year towards the end of year on the
13:53
on the leaf. So that's could be interesting
13:55
to look at. We haven't talked much about
13:56
swimming. I don't know if you guys think
13:58
he bounces back this year at all.
14:00
If you think he's a good late goalie because I'm sure his ADP
14:03
dropped with how he did last year, I don't know.
14:06
I think it's a good goalie, but he's on a team that's not gonna
14:08
win a lot, so. And we saw him already be shaky,
14:11
so that's built into his ADP. Like, I'm not, I'm not itching
14:14
the drafts, Jeremy swimming on my team, you know?
14:16
Yeah. But I do think that Boston
14:17
always has guys that are valuable for bangers leagues in
14:21
deep leagues. They got my prize possession,
14:23
Sean Corelli on their fourth line.
14:25
Like this guy is always good as a deep league play for your
14:30
fantasy rosters. Last round pick every year.
14:33
Jean Carelli, he's gonna get you 2 shots, two hits, some locks
14:36
and some face off wins with fourth line minutes.
14:38
It's nuts. Anyways, Sean Kuraly is the
14:40
GOAT, but I can see like, you know, counter Juneau obviously.
14:43
I mean, he's he's no Nola Chari, but you know, he's close.
14:46
He's. Better.
14:47
He's single handedly almost won my matchup against Jackie and
14:50
like I think it was the semifinals like two or three
14:52
years ago where he just had like a game where you had like 3
14:57
points and almost a Shorty to win.
15:00
But this, this top six in this top, in this bottom 6, I feel
15:03
like there's zero to 100, like they put all their all their
15:07
resources into the top 6 and they took the scraps for their
15:10
bottom 6 and that's kind of what it's going to be so.
15:13
Yeah, it's not much. You guys.
15:15
Bruins, I feel like. Would you guys rather swim in on
15:18
your team this year or Mrs. Lakins?
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Lykins. Really.
15:21
I'm going swing. Yeah, I honestly, because what
15:24
happens is when you have such a weak bottom 6 like this, the the
15:28
matchups get taken advantage of so, so strongly when you're
15:32
playing against other teams that are capable offensively,
15:34
especially when you're away from home.
15:35
There's something to be said about the fact that both Charlie
15:38
McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm were injured for most of last year,
15:41
right? Those are coming in healthy.
15:43
That's your two top defensemen who are both very good defensive
15:46
defensemen. I still don't think the team as
15:48
a whole is going to perform well, but I don't see how
15:50
someone doesn't have a slight bounce back and I think it's
15:53
better like he's gonna put up better numbers than mislead and
15:56
does. Who gets more wins?
16:02
I think, I think it's gonna be close.
16:04
Swimming got 22, started 58 games last year and he got 22
16:08
wins. Yeah, but he was out.
16:10
He was out his top 2 defensemen. I don't know I'm give me
16:13
swimming over Miss Lykins. But that's interesting.
16:16
Yeah, I would just rather not draft swimming or where he's
16:19
going and just music is not gonna get drafted.
16:23
Yeah, fair enough. I mean, I'm not picking swimming
16:25
highly, you know, but if it was just between the two, I take
16:27
swimming on my team. Alright, you move on to the next
16:29
one. Yeah, we should.
16:30
Yeah. Alright, number six.
16:33
At #6 we've got the Detroit Red Wings.
16:36
Last year they finished 6th. Me and Jakey ranked them 6th,
16:40
and Kevin ranked them 7th last year.
16:42
Their power play though, interestingly enough, was fourth
16:45
best in the entire NHL, and they have a lot of notable players
16:49
here. For fantasy value, you've got
16:50
Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex Debrincat, Moritz Lighter,
16:54
Patrick Kane, Marco Casper. It's a very fun fantasy team
16:57
that's not going to be great in real life.
16:59
I think it's a really fun fantasy team.
17:02
It's it's to me like this roster at different times in their
17:09
respected careers. Look, we could have been sick,
17:12
but like right now, like like I don't think Kane is washed or
17:15
anything, but I think Kane is certainly passed his prime and
17:18
for surgery on that. Although, listen, if this came
17:22
to bring it stack could work and they weren't bad last year.
17:25
I think costs were gonna be really, really good.
17:27
That's why I'm very high on him myself.
17:29
As a team, though, managed poor John Gibson.
17:32
We set it in our goalies episode last night.
17:35
Catch a break. Seriously.
17:37
I still don't understand how you didn't end up in Edmonton.
17:40
It just made so much sense. But the we're not the ones in
17:44
charge, unfortunately, you know, Otherwise I'm sure Jake would
17:46
pull that trigger after he picked him up last year.
17:48
Yeah, seriously. I think like honestly between
17:51
6-7 and eight, I mean, I think between Detroit and Boston, like
17:57
I don't know how much necessarily separates them,
17:59
although I do like Detroit's roster on paper a lot better.
18:03
And then get into the next one. It's going to be pretty spicy.
18:06
But for now, I don't know. I just, I think the way you
18:10
described is perfect. Really fun fantasy team, not
18:13
great IRL. Last year for goals four, they
18:16
were really middle of the pack. I actually think that they can
18:19
become a top 12, maybe goals 14, but I think they're gonna let in
18:23
a lot of goals. Yeah, I think the biggest thing
18:26
that stands out to me here is the fact that they were the 4th
18:28
best power play in the league, which is crazy.
18:31
Like so they finished, they're still gonna be bad, like we
18:33
said, but that just shows how much fantasy value is available
18:36
there, right. Like and there was like a lot of
18:38
mouse to feed, like even like you said, like Patrick Kane to
18:40
bring it, you know, guys. So I'm like not like dying to
18:42
have on my team. They had really good power play
18:44
numbers last year, you know, and then you've got like the actual
18:46
studs like Raymond Larkin and Cider.
18:48
And then yeah, Casper is one of our sleepers we've mentioned who
18:50
is also going to be really solid and Bangers League.
18:52
So a lot of guys that I'm excited about in fantasy, but
18:55
they're still not gonna be great in real life. #4 power play #22
18:59
goals 4 per game. That's screams power play
19:01
regression. It does, yeah.
19:03
What I mean either their goals forget better, which I think is
19:06
possible and there but their power play has to get worse
19:09
because that's just a way too big of a difference to be
19:12
sustainable. Do you think we get coaching
19:14
change? Then they just changed coaches.
19:18
Yeah, but I'm like, I, I can see them be like, you know, a team
19:22
that doesn't pan out again. I can see Iran getting fired.
19:24
I was gonna say, I'll be honest, I see Eiserman going before the
19:27
coach, going like how many, how many coaches, Wade, do you get
19:30
as a GM, Right? You can't keep blaming the coach
19:32
if it's the roster construction or the players.
19:34
But no, I don't think the code is gonna be a coaching change.
19:36
He just came in. I think go ahead I.
19:40
Just feel like Todd McClellan is too scary to fire.
19:45
I mean either inspired a few guys so but.
19:49
Mcclelland's, like, just so scary.
19:51
Looking I don't know. I wouldn't want to be the one
19:54
type to tell him he's fired, let's just say.
19:56
Yeah, he's like though. No, you're.
20:00
Fired. Didn't see that one.
20:07
I for some reason, Detroit always has.
20:11
Obviously we talked about the the best guys like Raymond,
20:13
Lark, Insider and none of them ever end up on my teams.
20:16
For some reason they just add costs I always end up taking.
20:19
Somebody, probably you don't draft them.
20:21
Yeah, you know what? I should look at that.
20:24
Relation between not drafting them and them not ending up on
20:27
your team is just too high to be ignored.
20:32
We are stats guys at the end of the day, so I but are you
20:36
confident in I feel like this is the team that at any point could
20:40
just end the 8th and. But they can also end up like a
20:44
wild card I feel like. I don't I don't see them being a
20:46
wild. Card, I mean, I don't, I don't
20:48
either. I put them at six, but I feel
20:49
like they're they're very kind of like either like all the
20:52
pieces come together, it's like, whoa, Eisenman was right all
20:54
along, or they keep kind of being like mid and it's like,
20:56
OK, we need a change of of GM. Yep.
21:01
We get the real space. Yeah, we should go to the real
21:03
space, all right #5. #5 We've got the Ottawa Senators.
21:10
Last year they finished fourth in the division.
21:13
I have them ranked at 5, Jakey has them ranked at 3, Kevin has
21:17
them ranked at 5. Power Play ranking Last year
21:20
they were 11th and notable players.
21:22
They've got free Chuck Tim Stutzel, Drake Batherson, Jake
21:25
Sanderson, Big Squishy, Linus Omark and Dylan Cousins.
21:30
The best guy on this list is Dylan Cousins, obviously.
21:33
Kevin loves cousins. He's he's one of my favorite
21:38
fantasy players, but a loss. I'm not coming.
21:41
This year I'm grabbing. Him.
21:42
Are you serious for who's drafting of the earliest but I
21:47
mean I'm gonna do everything in my power down when my team
21:49
there's a lot of you as. He was a monster last year.
21:51
Yeah. No, there's a lot of fantasy
21:53
value here. It's interesting that me and you
21:55
have them 5th where Jackie has them third.
21:57
This is where I think 678, we all kind of agreed this is where
22:00
the Jakey spiciness kind of takes off.
22:02
Me and you are pretty much matched up for the rest of the
22:04
list. But Jake, he's got some
22:06
interesting ideas. Jakey has to say what?
22:08
Why was so high? I mean, listen, I can see three.
22:13
If everything comes together, I can see three as their ceiling.
22:17
But I don't think this is the craziest janky take we've had.
22:19
Yeah, absolutely not. Yeah.
22:22
So I certainly like them over the team that I have 5th and
22:28
we'll get into that later. And one of the main reasons is
22:32
like look, you just named like 6 really solid fantasy assets from
22:39
this team and you left out Shane Pinto, clothed Giroux.
22:44
Those two are great. And then you also got like
22:47
Ridley, Greg, David, Peron and Zetterling.
22:50
Their top 9 is an amazing top 9 and Lars Ellers their 4th
22:54
centre. He's been a third line centre
22:57
and even a second line centre on other teams and has had success.
22:59
They are super duper deep at the forward position.
23:03
Not great on knee. No question about.
23:05
It you got Sanderson Shabbat and then dot dot dot.
23:09
Yeah, and they have. Yeah, well, actually, Jordan
23:12
Spence could be. Pretty sure that was a good
23:14
acquisition. It was a good yeah, like
23:16
offensively especially. So I think that what's gonna
23:19
happen with them is that they're just gonna be like a really
23:22
solid goals for team. Like they were the top half and
23:29
goals against last year. So they weren't bad.
23:31
And if they could sustain that, I'd be very happy with Almark as
23:35
my goalie because I think they're gonna score more and win
23:37
a lot of games. Like last year they were under
23:41
three goals per game and I think they're gonna go above 3 this
23:43
year. And to me, that's why I think
23:46
they could be a top 10 offence. I don't think that's a crazy
23:49
exaggeration and I'm just really, really excited about
23:54
them. And, and honestly, it's funny
23:55
because a big catalyst for why I have the senator so high is the
23:59
Cousins acquisition. And it was really you guys who
24:02
got me so hyped on Cousins this year.
24:04
I, I'm not like full Alabama like Kevin, but I'm like, I'm
24:10
pretty, I'm pretty high on them and he's a huge part of that.
24:13
And it's funny that I have them higher than you guys at this
24:17
point, but I really believe in them.
24:19
Yeah, I mean, I love their fantasy assets for sure.
24:21
I think all their fantasy assets are gonna get even better this
24:24
year. So I definitely get why you put
24:26
them there. For me, it's less about wanting
24:29
them at 5th and more about wanting the other team.
24:31
Like these teams, are they bumping down, you know, so it's
24:34
less about not believing in them and more believing a bit more in
24:37
the other teams. I also think that, you know,
24:40
like to your point, Jake, you mentioned a lot of really good
24:44
depth assets and I think that's one of the things that Ottawa
24:46
hasn't had in recent years and that we see with very successful
24:49
teams. You know, when they make runs in
24:50
the playoffs, they have, you know, 4 lines that they can
24:53
throw out at any point. If larger is your fourth line
24:56
centre, I think honestly that's pretty sick.
24:58
And I think, you know, we touch on the elite fantasy assets of
25:02
this roster, but I've been. Sutherland is poised for a
25:05
breakout if he keeps Line 1 deployment.
25:07
We were really excited about him in the acquisition from San Jose
25:10
last year. I think he could really take a
25:12
step up this season and Ridley, Grieg, Shane Pinto, closure.
25:15
These are guys are going to be on your, if you're playing a
25:17
deep league where you know 14 teams are plus and 20 roster
25:22
spots are plus. Like these guys are going to be
25:23
rostered in those leagues because they're going to provide
25:25
way more value than where they're going to get drafted,
25:27
probably be undrafted. Especially face off wins
25:30
leagues. Exactly, exactly Ridley Greek,
25:33
We saw him be like honestly pretty decent in bangers leagues
25:36
because he was touching those shots in his categories.
25:38
He was hovering around a double 77 pins and pins and we've seen
25:42
Shane Pinto, you know, he was supposed to be the two see for
25:44
this team like he was the the kind of future there.
25:46
Yeah, bet on it. Yeah.
25:52
Let's print out. Do not bet on it.
25:55
Not again. They're yeah, this is going to
26:01
be a bit of a an interesting way that I'm trying to frame this
26:04
properly. But if you're in a league that
26:07
there are more than 200 players rostered, I think that the
26:11
Senators are going to be the team that has the highest
26:15
percentage of their IRL roster rostered in your fantasy league.
26:20
That makes because they're so deep.
26:22
That was difficult before, like really thinking it through.
26:26
I don't know if I put them on number one, I can see them being
26:28
top five though. I just think off the top of my
26:30
head, like I'm thinking teams like Dallas and Florida who just
26:32
have so many like assets. But no, I definitely agree.
26:35
They have so many like guys who are relevant and deeper leagues.
26:38
So they're gonna be fun. And I think the next one is
26:41
going to Jake is going to have some more explaining to do so
26:45
and it ties into this one. Alright, so #4.
26:49
Alright, at #4 we've got the Toronto Maple Leafs.
26:53
Last year they were the first in the division.
26:56
Me and Kevin have them ranked at #3 this year and Jakey has them
26:59
ranked at #5 last year. Their Power Play ranked #9 and
27:03
some notable players are guys you may have heard of like
27:06
Austin Matthews, William Elander, Matthew Noyes, John
27:09
Tavares, Morgan Riley, Anthony Stolarz, and Joseph Woll.
27:13
Wait, no. Mitch Marner.
27:15
Oh did I forget? Wow, Jakey think that thinks
27:21
that Marner is worth 4 spots in the division?
27:23
That's crazy. Yes, yeah, it's look, it's it's
27:30
that and it's also the fact that I I just find the other teams
27:35
got better. Like, I think that Ottawa is
27:38
just like they're, they're young and they're up and coming and I
27:42
just think that they're going to be better.
27:44
I I still think that. The other teams got better, but
27:47
they were also way worse than the Leafs were.
27:49
Like the Leafs were first in division last year, they got
27:52
worse. But.
27:54
Yeah. How much exactly?
27:55
Yeah, listen like. 100 plus point player where?
28:00
So I guess that's fair, yeah. Yeah.
28:02
And you're, you're placing that with like Nick Wah and.
28:05
Matthias, Michelle, you see. True.
28:08
Loki Sleeper this year. Loki.
28:11
Not in bangers. He's not gonna do anything for
28:13
that. Yeah.
28:14
Yeah, it's it's, I actually think his points are awesome, to
28:19
be honest, but because he doesn't do anything in the
28:22
peripheral categories. I just excited about it.
28:24
I just need to ask you Jackie, how you can really do your boy
28:27
dirty like this because what if Bobby McMahon do to deserve this
28:31
rag after everything he did for your fantasy team?
28:34
Last. True, if Bobby McMahon could get
28:36
deployment he would be such an All Star in what years leagues.
28:40
He shoots and hits so much and it's just.
28:43
I still remember last year when Jackie was you and Jackie were
28:46
discussing a trade and Jakey was talking about Bobby McMahon for.
28:49
Like 2 hours. He was just like, but Bobby
28:52
McMahon, look at him, he's line 1.
28:55
And I was like, all, I'm gonna drop him in the next 14 days.
29:00
All I have to say about that is that 2 hours was not enough
29:03
because he was the man. Yeah, I just look it it's it's
29:09
really that I I find the Leafs are are just basically simply
29:14
status quo except for the big elephants in the room.
29:17
He's gone. Marner's not there anymore.
29:20
Dakota Joshua was a good depth piece.
29:22
He's an addition. Nikolai good third line centre
29:24
fine, but like it's not replaceable.
29:27
Mariners also a super good defensive forward.
29:30
That's like something that like it's going to be like, I mean
29:33
Michelli literally like is does nothing except for get assists.
29:38
Like that's the trade off there. To me, I think it's going to be
29:42
a clear step down. I still think they'll make the
29:44
playoffs having them rank 5th. They could be a wild card team.
29:47
But honestly, if there's one team of these top five that's
29:52
going to slide to me like that Detroit would finish on top of
29:56
them. I think it's it's the least.
29:58
I think if they fall from 1:00 to 5:00, I think everybody's
30:01
getting fired. Yeah.
30:04
But I don't really acceptable for this roster.
30:07
I I'd be very surprised if they dropped that low, but honestly
30:09
this is not even the most egregious in my mind of Jake's
30:14
Atlantic. Rankings.
30:16
I think the next two are the ones that I'm like, OK, let's
30:19
let's let's go, let's get at it. OK, we should talk about this
30:22
next one, but I will say, you know, Austin Matthews is going
30:25
to be your first round pick. His injury status is obviously
30:29
up for debate and where, you know, you're comfortable taking
30:31
him. But Nylander knives were
30:33
expecting big things from them this year.
30:35
Tavares is going to be a sneaky, I feel like good fantasy player.
30:38
Nobody talked about the virus offseason.
30:39
Nobody talk about the virus. Yeah, and he's still gonna.
30:42
Deliver. I feel like the last like 2-3
30:44
years, everyone's like kind of like wrote him off and.
30:46
Then he said yeah, yeah, Morgan Riley, I think, is the most
30:50
polarizing, though, in terms of Toronto's fantasy assets,
30:52
because if he's not on P1, you don't want him on your team.
30:54
But even on Martin's not great. Yeah, but no more Warner.
30:58
Does that make him more valuable now that you know where they
31:00
could run 55 attackers without Marner?
31:04
I don't know if he's gonna be 1 or not, but I will tell you he
31:06
will not be on my roster. And this goalie situation, like
31:10
you were heavily invested last year, Josh, I want to hear your
31:12
take because nobody's talking about these goalies like they're
31:15
not anywhere in the top ten, top 15 of ranking.
31:17
Yeah, nobody wants to draft them.
31:19
Might feel like everybody. Split.
31:22
My take is that Stolarz is definitely the 1A and well is
31:25
the 1B because just the performance last year, the fact
31:28
they went with stars in the playoffs, I think he's the clear
31:31
1A. But I think of pretty much every
31:35
team in the league, I can't think of 1 where the two goalies
31:37
are gonna have more evenly split starts.
31:40
Like I could honestly see them alternating starts unless they
31:43
don't want to mess with like the groove of people.
31:45
But like I really think both of these guys are going to get
31:48
close to 42 starts and 41 starts.
31:50
So so that's why no one really talking about them because who
31:53
really wants to get a half the season goalie on a team that is
31:57
also just lost in 100 plus point player.
32:00
You know, I'm not taking these guys like even if they drop, I
32:04
mean obviously the right price, you know, but I don't know when
32:06
I. Went to the stores.
32:07
EDP right now is 90.5. The two goalies ahead of him are
32:10
Logan Thompson and Jacob Markstrom.
32:12
The two goalies behind him, Arlene is Almark and Jordan
32:14
Binnington. That's crazy.
32:16
I'll take all mark over strollers like any day of the
32:18
week this year. What about Bennington?
32:20
Honestly, even Bennington, yeah. I mean, I, I wanna, I wanna
32:23
goalie who's gonna play most of the games in the season, you
32:25
know, especially like maybe if Toronto was that one ranking
32:28
that they've been the past like five years or whatever, you
32:31
know, they didn't lose Mariner. You know, I'm like, OK, there's
32:33
an argument there for quality over quantity, you know, but
32:35
when they're dropping in quality as well as not having the
32:38
quantity, I'm just not interested.
32:39
Saros or swimming? Give me both of those guys.
32:43
Honestly, I like once, once we're going, once we're.
32:46
Going do that? No really like.
32:49
I don't know I would. Swim over, stole ours.
32:51
I think. I mean, OK, look, it really
32:53
depends on the way you're building your if I take
32:55
Stollers, I have to take another guy who's gonna do quality over
32:58
quantity. I prefer going for the quantity
33:01
guys on lower teams, but that also ties into my whole 0G
33:04
strategy, so. So yeah.
33:05
So it really depends on who you're gonna be wearing them
33:07
with and where you can get him. But yeah, I'm just not that
33:10
interested. To segue into #3 would you
33:13
rather Anthony Stolarz or Samuel Montalvo?
33:16
Give me multiple all day. Thank you.
33:18
What about you? Same here for sure.
33:20
Yeah, yeah. I will get into why that's for
33:22
sure in a second. So.
33:24
Right #3. At #3 We have your Montreal
33:29
Canadians. We are such homers guys despite
33:32
our best efforts. We have the house at #3 you're
33:35
right, his he messed up our average.
33:36
But last year they finished fifth in the in the in the
33:39
Atlantic. Me and Kevin have them ranked
33:41
4th this year and Jakey has them ranked at #2 putting them above
33:46
such teams as Toronto, Ottawa, Tampa, Detroit, Buffalo, Boston.
33:55
There's only one team in this entire division that Jackie put
33:59
above the haves. And apparently, what it takes to
34:02
be ranked above the haves this year for Jakey is to win
34:03
back-to-back Stanley Cups. I guess sasoli cook boys.
34:09
Last year they're power play was ranked 21st in the league.
34:12
Some notable players. We've got Nick Suzuki.
34:15
Let me put it this way. We got cold Cofield.
34:19
You Rice, Lefkofsky, Ivan Demidov, Lane Hudson, Noah
34:22
Dobson, Sam Montalvo, Patrick Liney.
34:24
That's a lot of notable players. Yes, it is.
34:29
The floor is yours. Explain yourself myself, OK?
34:33
So let's let's kinda let's start with the fantasy relevant
34:38
assets. They're all top to me, and I
34:42
think the biggest underrated one by far by far is Lione.
34:46
He's not coming into this season injured like he was last year.
34:50
He's been able to train all off season.
34:52
And of course, you know, I I believe in like Demidov and and
34:57
stuff Kowski over him, but they have like a potential fifty goal
35:03
scorer in him and obviously could be washed.
35:05
It is what it is. Like this is the last year on
35:08
his contract. But look, that is a part of it.
35:10
He he's playing for another contract and I think that he
35:14
could be really, really fun to have.
35:18
We also just offloaded prices contract, which correct me if
35:22
I'm wrong, but that would apply for this year, right?
35:24
Yeah. We have to do it because they
35:27
changed the CBA and then they didn't tell us until last second
35:30
that some of those changes were effective immediately.
35:32
And one of those things was that the LTIR had to be, you couldn't
35:35
use the LIRR to be cap compliant going into the season.
35:38
So we're kind of forced to make the trade.
35:40
We've done it anyways. 5 million tap room and you know,
35:44
definitely, yeah, flexible to add a 2C.
35:47
That's unbelievable like that's that could be amazing, honestly,
35:52
And we we also added Dobson, which we were all kind of like
35:59
weary of him fantasy wise, but IRL is a fantastic addition.
36:04
This decor is easily the most underrated in the league because
36:09
I think it's top like top top. And I also believe that
36:14
Montebello is just going to be an absolute stud because he was
36:17
last year and the team was not nearly as good.
36:19
Like this is a huge, huge difference because these guys
36:23
are really young and like getting every year in the league
36:27
you're your progress increases at a decreasing rate.
36:31
But for guys like Cofield, that could be a huge jump this year.
36:35
I believe in them wholeheartedly.
36:37
I think they've got three awesome lines and Jacob Evans is
36:39
the best fourth line centre in the league.
36:43
It's really a nice team to finally watch and to be excited
36:47
about. So I I'm not, I really have no
36:50
bias when I actually think that they could be a top two team in
36:55
the Atlantic. So it's not like.
36:56
Poop. Alright, I'm convinced.
37:00
Music to my ears. Like obviously I agree with a
37:02
lot. By the way, we're as we're
37:04
recording this, Kevin is wearing a hamster jersey.
37:06
Of course. Not, but it's just hard for me
37:11
to to pick obviously like how does Nick Suzuki on my back, but
37:17
it's hard for me to pick them to finish second in division when
37:19
our 2C is Kirby doc and that's like the glaring hole that we're
37:23
missing right now. If we had somebody that could
37:24
fill that hot spot, I'd be way more comfortable finishing
37:29
putting them as the second team in the division.
37:32
But I think 4 is, is realistic. Listen, I hope you're right,
37:38
Jackie. Yes, we do have a lot of fantasy
37:40
assets. Line 8, I think I'm lower on
37:43
line than both of you guys. She's ADP right now is 170 on
37:47
Yahoo. That's around guys like Chris
37:50
Kreider to Foley Coronado, who I'd rather all them over line if
37:54
I'm being honest. Boone Jenner is going right
37:56
after him like Kuzmenko Lafreniere.
37:59
I, I take all of those guys over over the line, if I'm being
38:02
honest, because I do not, I do not think he keeps the P1 spot
38:06
and I think if he's not there, he's not valuable for fantasy.
38:09
I mean, I don't mind, I don't mind line as a dart through, you
38:11
know, these, these super late rounds.
38:13
The fact is that it's tough because you've gotten Demidoff
38:16
right like there and it's like, OK, they want this guy succeed.
38:20
He's going to be an amazing player.
38:22
Makes sense. He would end up on power play
38:23
one. We've also got lining who's like
38:25
really his only value to the team is his power play 1 snipes,
38:28
right? Like he's not a good defensive
38:30
player, even strength. He just you know, I mean we've
38:33
he's done it in the past and it's like first season or
38:35
whatever, but like recently no. So if you don't put him on the
38:38
power play one, why is he on the team?
38:40
So in that sense, if he's just sitting there clapping bombs on
38:43
the power play. I just checked up his stat.
38:45
He had like .63 points per game last year, which is obviously
38:48
not great, but he had .37 power play points.
38:50
That's like that's like a first round pick power play point
38:53
production, you know? Yeah, like literally so.
38:55
The thing is that. Are valued a lot in a lot of
38:58
leagues. That's all he does, but the play
39:00
is so Telegraph at this point that teams can easily shut it
39:04
down. So I know there's.
39:06
Certain guys like Ovechkin and Lynne, who like every team sees
39:09
it coming a mile away, but it still goes in when you're shot.
39:11
Is that good? All that to be said, I'm not
39:15
like super high online like Jackie is, but as a late round
39:17
guy who can get you .35 power play points per game, I'm
39:21
interested. I would take a dart throw at
39:22
that. I'm not gonna get him because
39:24
we're in a leaf of Habs fans. So he's gonna go higher than he
39:27
should. But it's definitely, definitely
39:30
interesting fantasy wise. And and yeah, in terms of the
39:32
two ranking that Jake gave is again, in terms of their future
39:36
and like the you know, where who's going in the best
39:38
direction. I honestly might put the house
39:40
at #1 And. We are.
39:41
Number like I love the direction of the team.
39:44
I think we have so many great. Besides, the offseason moves
39:46
have been unreal. It's just sometimes we jumped
39:50
the gun a bit, you know, and I feel like it's more of a gradual
39:52
thing of rising through the ranks as opposed to one year to
39:54
the next one from like 5:00 to 1:00.
39:56
But I mean, you know, we've seen both happen.
39:58
So I don't think it's that crazy.
40:00
It's just it's also feels like we have to fight our urge to be
40:03
a Homer, right? So like, yeah.
40:06
Anyways, it's a fun one for sure.
40:08
It'll be a fun team to watch and we will all be watching
40:10
religiously. I have a question for both of
40:13
you. Out of all Habs players, who is
40:17
most likely to end up on your fantasy team?
40:19
Slav. Montano.
40:23
I think for me it's also mountable just cause I, Josh and
40:27
I are both 0G guys and I think I mean, Jakey, listen, if you have
40:31
the house finishing second month, it's gonna be a sick
40:33
pick. So maybe you're in on the train
40:35
as well, but slap is gonna be. Yeah, I might just I think
40:38
Slough is elite, elite to have this year.
40:41
I think devil be overdrafted. I think somebody's gonna take
40:44
him in the top five or six rounds for some reason.
40:47
He's going to be like a tenth round pick, most likely in
40:50
value. I agree.
40:53
Yeah, we've just done such a good job with this team and like
40:56
I know it's. We're set up for the future.
40:58
We're set. We just did the 2C and we're
40:59
gonna be competitive. Well, look, Doc is not a bad
41:03
player. He's just.
41:04
He could stay healthy. Yeah, but even healthy, he
41:07
hasn't been sick, so I'm not. But.
41:09
He's flashes. I mean, I'm with Kevin.
41:11
I don't think that's the answer. But yeah, there's still hope.
41:15
You know, I think this is the last year he has a shot at it.
41:17
They're gonna, they wanna see what he can do, if he can stay
41:20
healthy and what he can do with it, and then we'll go from
41:22
there. I don't think they're in a rush
41:23
either. The management.
41:24
Sidney Crosby. Just do it, man.
41:26
Come, come with a cup with the have.
41:28
I know you want to. Speaking of 2C, let's talk about
41:32
our two team. All right #2.
41:36
At #2 we've got the Tampa Bay Lightning.
41:40
Last year they finished at #2. Me and Kevin have them ranked at
41:44
#1 and Jackie has them ranked at #4 last.
41:49
Year, their power play. By the way, Eva's hanging out
41:52
around here and she just laughed after he said that.
41:55
We have Jake's ranking. Tell her not to laugh at me
42:00
because I'm the only one upholding Ovechkin's good name
42:03
on this podcast. So.
42:05
Yeah. And they're last year they're.
42:07
Pulling. 5th overall in the league.
42:10
Notable players Some familiar faces like Nikita Kucherov,
42:14
Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman and
42:17
Andre Vasilevsky. How is this team finishing
42:20
fourth? Yeah, Jackie, you have the floor
42:22
once again. I, I just think it's like a
42:25
roster situation. I, I mean, I, I definitely.
42:28
Understand like about the roster?
42:30
It's not that it's just Ottawa and Montreal are two teams that
42:34
are younger and that I've are going to get exponentially
42:39
better, while I think Tampa is going to be the same.
42:42
What? What got worse about Tampas
42:44
team? Nothing, that's what I'm saying.
42:46
It's just the other teams are getting better.
42:48
It's, it is what it is like it's, it's not to say like
42:51
anything bad, I mean. John, I think Tampa got better
42:54
at the trade deadline as well last year that we saw them add
42:56
Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde and both of those picks ended up
42:58
being successful bottom 6 editions.
43:02
Yeah, yeah, Look, listen, I I definitely like this team in
43:05
fantasy wise. I mean it, it doesn't get much
43:07
better. I just for for me irreverent
43:10
reddish. When you have teams like what
43:14
happened with Boston last year, it obviously seems crazy, but
43:17
it's it's, it's a long season and there's something to be said
43:20
for the fact that that both Montreal and Ottawa are are
43:24
younger in general, like they at least their main assets are.
43:28
Yep, but also lost two of their two of their top 2 centres like
43:32
in Bergeron and Krejci when the falloff happened.
43:36
Right, what these guys are saying like.
43:37
Nothing Tampa has different, arguably the best centre depth
43:40
of the league potentially would point points to really Nick
43:45
Paliani gourd. Like if you give me better, it's
43:49
close. I mean depth, like, I don't
43:54
know, I feel like it's I I feel like that it is very close.
43:57
But that's what I mean though, you know what I mean by Ottawa
43:59
adding cousins. I think there's like that like
44:03
plus Zetterling and the other guys we just mentioned, there's
44:05
no reason for me to believe that they can't finish on top and top
44:08
and now. You're the biggest elite.
44:09
Top as well. Yeah.
44:11
Yeah, like, like for fantasy, for everything.
44:13
I just it's it's nothing. The Leafs got worse.
44:18
The Leafs got worse. There's no question about it.
44:20
That's why they're they're bumped down on my list and these
44:23
other teams are ranked higher. Like if it wasn't super
44:26
controversial to do so. I really see Detroit even
44:28
finishing above the Leafs. Detroit not finishing above
44:31
Tampa. There's no way I like Tampa.
44:34
I think that there are very good team.
44:35
I just think that the Habs are gonna take a huge step up and
44:40
sort the Senators and the number one team, I think is the number
44:44
one team despite injuries and stuff.
44:47
But yeah, I I'm just really happy to, to see what the hubs
44:50
are doing this year and the Senators too.
44:53
And I just think that the lighting are going to be kind of
44:55
status quo. They'll make the playoffs.
44:57
They'll be a force. They're good, but I just don't
45:00
think they're gonna deliver. Also most goals for per game
45:03
last year. So this is always a good thing.
45:06
They always score goals and they have Kutra.
45:09
Yeah. And I guess the one kind of
45:12
issue we, we, we're, we're fans of two things on this podcast
45:17
above anything else. One, following that money, and
45:19
two, the word talismanic. Yeah, and Gable are #3 yeah.
45:25
The Holy Trinity of thing management.
45:29
Yeah, but like if, you know, hopefully like everyone stays
45:32
healthy. But if, let's say something does
45:35
happen to Cooch, that's way more consequential than something
45:38
happening to Caufield or something happening to, you
45:42
know, like. Like.
45:45
Yeah, yeah. I mean like, like not to say
45:47
that those two things wouldn't be massive, but it's.
45:50
Like, I mean, you're just simply remove the best player on
45:52
somebody's team and you're saying like Trump is by far
45:54
their best player, so would be more impactful, but you're the
45:56
best player on any team there. You get significantly worse
45:59
usually. Absolutely.
46:01
I think for me, like it's just I find that with these young,
46:05
exciting teams like the haves in Ottawa, it's so easy to be like
46:08
from one year to the next, Like they did get better, all their
46:11
players get better. They get another year under
46:13
their belt. And so it's like easy to get
46:15
carried away a bit and be like, alright, they're they're making
46:17
the leap this year. You know, and I'm not saying
46:19
you're wrong. This could be the year, you
46:20
know, but it's like for me, when I'm doing my rankings, I'm
46:23
trying to like kind of fight that a bit, you know, and knock
46:25
it too overhyped about the shiny new toy kind of.
46:28
So you look at like a team like Tampa that's just consistently
46:31
been really good and didn't have anything changed, like you said.
46:34
And so I'm like, is, are these shiny new, you know, teams that
46:38
are coming up? Do they have enough to knock
46:40
this other team down a peg? I mean, who's to say that's it?
46:43
We, we all have our our opinion. And I don't think it's the
46:46
craziest thing, but I'm pretty high on Tampa for this year.
46:50
I think they're, I think we're going to be really solid.
46:52
I'm also really home Tampa. But to be fair, listen, like
46:54
Jackie predicted, the Boston, we gave Jackie some backlash for
46:57
his Boston pick and he ended up being right about that one.
47:01
So listen, maybe. He's really earned himself some
47:03
slack this year off that one. I know.
47:05
We forget about all the other predictions he made that were
47:08
really. Wrong, but that one boss.
47:12
Did like let me ask you something though, Does Tampa Bay
47:17
have a show about them on Prime? That's a really good point
47:21
actually. Mike, what is the correlation
47:23
between gonna show on prime and, you know, being successful?
47:26
Honest, you guys remember like the all or nothing for the Maple
47:28
Leafs. Yeah, yeah, they went.
47:31
That was nothing. Years ago.
47:32
They were really good. It's still turned out to be
47:34
nothing. Exactly.
47:37
But but yeah, listen, I I love Tampa.
47:40
It's really, it's really just a function of the other teams.
47:43
I totally see what you're saying.
47:45
But eventually we have to realize, OK, this could be their
47:51
year in certain Ottawa. Ontario into it's a bit much to
47:54
predict both the teams passing Tampa, Tampa 3 and for like one
47:59
of those two teams doing it, I'm like OK, you know I could see
48:01
that. I feel like the fact that too,
48:03
it's like, wow, both those teams are gonna like hit like, you
48:06
know, in the same year and whatever, it could happen.
48:08
But for me that's why. That's you know what, I actually
48:10
had the exact same thought process and I just couldn't pick
48:13
1 so I went with it. I respect that.
48:18
Alright, go #1. Yes, all right #1 the only team
48:22
that we haven't spoken about in this division yet.
48:23
Surprise, surprise. We've got the Florida Panthers
48:27
back-to-back champs and three time finalists.
48:30
Last year they finished third in the division.
48:32
Me and Kevin have them ranked 2nd and Jake actually has them
48:35
ranked first. They they're properly finished
48:37
13th overall last year and some notable players.
48:40
It's a long list. Alexander Barkov, Sam Reinhart,
48:43
Matthew Kuchuk, Sergei Bobrovsky, Seth Jones, Aaron
48:46
Ekblad, Carter Verhaeghe, Brad Marshall And I tossed in Mackie
48:50
Somerset, which because it makes me happy.
48:52
Yes. Yeah.
48:54
Easy to see why this team is back-to-back champs.
48:56
He have to list off that many names.
48:58
Yeah, I mean, obviously there's the Chuck injury for a lot.
49:01
Honestly, I could see them finishing two or three as
49:03
opposed to 1 because they feel like you.
49:06
Even mentioned Sam Bennett. Oh my God, yeah, sorry, the
49:09
constant winner. My bad.
49:10
Yeah. It's too excited about Samus
49:13
Gavage. Yeah, but but I put them at
49:17
2:00. I could see them finishing two
49:18
or three actually, because they feel like that team that they
49:21
don't really care about the regular season at this point.
49:23
They're in it to win the Cup for the third time in a row.
49:26
So they're like, OK, if we have to load manage our guys and
49:29
whatever, we know we're making the playoffs.
49:31
So for that reason I could see putting them out like even 3.
49:34
But I put them at 2. Jake, I don't know if you agree
49:37
with that at all or you just you just stuck them out because
49:39
they're the best. Actually do I understand what
49:43
you're saying? It's it's close one for me
49:46
between this top four really I can see it going either way.
49:50
The bottom 4 I'm like honestly. It was really close to putting
49:55
Montreal and this was the first two teams.
50:01
Maximum chaos. My my specific rankings.
50:04
Basically I have the Leafs at 5, Red Wings 6, Bruin 7, and Sabres
50:09
8. So then between the Lightning,
50:11
Senators, Canadiens, Panthers. No real idea where it's going to
50:14
go, but I gave it to the Panthers just because literally,
50:20
like, you forgot to put Bennett because you there's so many
50:24
guys. Yeah, put.
50:25
It's like, it's crazy. Like they're just so loaded that
50:29
even without Matthew to Chuck, like he doesn't even know what
50:32
talismanic means and he's their best player technically.
50:36
Well, no. Bark, but yeah, but or.
50:38
Reinhart Or like, you know, like we.
50:42
No, you, you. You were discounting Temple
50:43
because you're like, what if Kucherov gets hurt but like
50:46
Kojak is hurt and you. Didn't, and I'm still not high
50:49
on them because they're so so loaded everywhere.
50:52
It's. Like, yeah, it's like they're
50:54
like, Herbie you. Know code in a video game like
50:57
it doesn't make any sense like they're just good everywhere and
51:00
if they're well coached they've. Done.
51:03
They didn't hear that one, I said.
51:05
They're like Herbie, Herbie fully loaded.
51:09
Do you remember that movie? Oh my God.
51:13
Actually, sorry I couldn't let that go as too.
51:15
Happy. Yeah, it's just they they have
51:18
no weakness. They're they're like just
51:21
amazing across the board. And for that reason, just
51:24
because they're the best team now, I totally get the argument
51:27
of wanting to kind of not go all out in the regular season to
51:31
succeed in the playoffs. I actually see that.
51:34
But at a certain point, like teams are happy when they win.
51:37
I think it's reliable to me to Yeah, I think it's I.
51:41
Should try going to. Cheeky, so basic, putting the
51:43
best team at #1. Yeah, yeah, at least be cool and
51:47
put the number 2 like me and Josh.
51:49
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
51:50
So you guys have lightning at one over then.
51:53
Why do you think that's gonna happen?
51:56
I mean, it's like, yeah, go ahead.
51:58
I was gonna say, I think for me the biggest thing is all these
52:01
other teams that were usually at the top have a lot of question
52:03
marks about them. And Tampa and Florida are the
52:06
only teams that I feel like either stayed the same or you're
52:09
worried about less things about them.
52:11
Like, I'm not worried about them being good teams.
52:13
It's the same roster as last year.
52:15
They're well coached and we've seen them have a lot of success
52:18
in recent years. You know, Toronto has the big
52:20
question with, you know, just them being a team that can last
52:24
and no more. Mariner, Ottawa and Montreal,
52:28
it's young teams. Are they poised to take the job
52:29
like these other teams all have question marks.
52:31
These are the two things I don't, and that's why I agree
52:34
with Josh. I feel like two or three guys
52:36
realistic just because I think they just won't care about the
52:39
regular season. Like maybe they have some
52:40
injuries and they're like, OK, let's just pump the brakes a
52:43
little bit, like coat sale a little bit throughout the season
52:46
and just turn up for the playoffs.
52:48
I can really see that happening. They just have a lot of fantasy
52:50
guys too, so I just want them. But like.
52:55
The The thing is like NHL teams don't tend to like they get, I
53:00
guess like the the only real scare is not like, oh, they're
53:04
not gonna play in this game or, you know, they're not gonna do
53:07
this. It's it's more just like if
53:09
there's a getting injured guy, they're going to keep him out
53:11
for longer just to be safe. But they could just got rid of
53:13
the LTIR stuff like or at least going into next season, right?
53:17
Yeah, they're not gonna be doing like for caption antigens, but
53:19
it's literally just like we know we're looking to do another deep
53:22
playoff run. It's the last month of the
53:25
season. We're hovering around second or
53:26
third in the division. We could make a push for first
53:29
in the division, but why bother? Why?
53:31
Why risk the health of our guys for the next month when we could
53:35
just save it for the playoffs, You know?
53:36
So it's not even just about the LTR like shenanigans.
53:39
It's just, what do they have to prove, you know?
53:42
Yeah, that's absolutely. Clearly don't need the home ice
53:45
advantage or anything like that. They'll make it work in the
53:47
playoffs. They just want to get out of the
53:49
regular season as healthy as possible and then go deep again.
53:53
By the same token though, whenever Tab Up finished first
53:56
in the league, they never won the cup.
53:59
Another Columbus sweep in the works.
54:06
Alright, I think that that wraps up the Atlantic Division.
54:09
Some spicy stuff, but I think honestly the the next ones are
54:12
going to be even spicier. Yeah, This was, this was pretty
54:15
chalk in terms of what we expected from Jake.
54:18
I feel like I'm not surprised at all.
54:20
Yeah, this next divisions will be much more entertaining.
54:24
I will say even me, I've got some interesting stuff cuz
54:27
you've helped me with my standing, so we've got some good
54:29
stuff in. There so finally finally be
54:31
correct. Yeah, exactly.
54:35
Yeah, of all the the divisions, this is like I feel like the one
54:39
that's going to surprise everybody the least though.
54:41
Like like even though my rankings are like a bit off,
54:45
they're, they're not crazy at all I feel like.
54:48
And wait, we didn't like Tampa in Florida.
54:51
Who do you want in your fantasy team the most?
54:54
And who do you think is the most likely to be your fantasy team?
54:57
Who's gonna be most likely? Yeah.
54:59
Or like a, you know, given ADP and how much you like them, who
55:01
do you think is the most likely to end up on your team like
55:03
that? You pressing the draft button on
55:05
them? Honestly, I don't think I'm
55:06
getting any Tampa players because unless I can luck into
55:09
Kucherov, yeah, I don't think I'm gonna end up with any of
55:13
them. I think they're all gonna get
55:14
taken higher than than I wanna take them for Florida.
55:18
I I could see myself. I mean, I'm getting Samus
55:21
gavage. I feel like that I'm going to
55:23
have like super late. No one else is going to take
55:24
him, but probably Sam Bennett. I feel like I could take him.
55:27
And everybody wants Sam Bennett because he's fair.
55:30
The cheapest of the. Final I'll toss in maybe Seth
55:33
Jones, then yeah. That's a good picture.
55:36
Yeah, I was gonna say Bennett. And then on Tampa, I feel like I
55:41
would just take Hagel like he's the one I'm.
55:44
Comfortable getting Hagel like, around earlier than you're
55:46
willing to take. Yeah.
55:48
Yeah, yeah. So.
55:49
And I think Hegel and then Josh takes slap right after me, so.
55:53
No. I'm not doing that again.
55:54
Jake could do that this year. Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
55:58
I mean, for me it's like Coach and Haggle are the only two that
56:01
I really want. We've spoken like a lot about
56:03
the other players on different on different episodes that you
56:06
could go listen to. But I mean honestly.
56:11
You want Markov again, don't you?
56:12
I do I. Do.
56:14
Nobody. Nobody likes Verdae anymore.
56:16
Everybody hates him now. I know, but that's why I'm
56:18
thinking maybe he could slide a bit and because they're so deep
56:21
everywhere, they. Can maybe I just don't.
56:23
I don't trust them to get power play 1.
56:26
And Dimitry? Where do I technically, but
56:28
anything could happen. There's such a wagon.
56:30
Yeah. Like he'll succeed, I find.
56:33
All right, that wraps up the Atlantic division.
56:36
Be sure to tune into our next three episodes where we're gonna
56:39
break down the Metro, Central and Pacific divisions.
56:42
Those are going to be even spicier.
56:45
If you enjoyed their slander, you'll enjoy it even more over
56:49
the next three episodes because I certainly had fun with it.
56:52
We. Were easy on you today.
56:53
Yes, you were. You were.
56:54
It was a bit of a warmup. There is.
56:57
Well, now you've worked past your Boston goodwill from last
57:00
year, and now we're gonna get into the good stuff.
57:01
The goodwill. Love that.
57:04
Cool. So thank you everybody for
57:06
joining us. If you enjoyed the show, make
57:07
sure to follow us on our socials for updates and more fantasy
57:10
hockey content. You can find all those in the
57:12
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57:15
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57:18
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57:22
Help us help you. That was the week you gotta be
57:26
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57:32
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57:35
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57:43
Alright.