00:00It's getting closer, isn't it?
00:09We got, like I said yesterday, we got the young stars classics happening in their various
00:13forms across North America, trading camp discussions are happening, it's all very exciting.
00:19And so the previews continue today, looking at some teams that maybe aren't being taken
00:23seriously enough across the National Hockey League.
00:26Let's start with the undervalued teams.
00:30No particular order to this.
00:32But at number one, it's Carolina.
00:34I did not expect Carolina to be on this list.
00:36Quite frankly, I thought they would be on the other one.
00:38But they finished with 108 points last year, I think.
00:41They might have had more than that, actually.
00:43But they finished well north of 100 anyway.
00:45And their point total from Vegas is 100.5.
00:50The East has gotten a little bit better, I do think.
00:53There are a lot of teams on the come up in the East right now.
00:56And Carolina did lose quite a bit of talent.
01:00They kind of recovered okay, right?
01:02They pick up Walker.
01:04They make a couple other additions.
01:06I don't think this team lost as much as we thought they did.
01:10And so I do think that there is a little bit of sticker shock in seeing, oh my god, those
01:13guys left?
01:14Okay, well that's a problem.
01:16And I think there's a little bit of fatigue with people based on a lack of playoff success
01:21for this team.
01:22But I still think that makes this a value at 100 points.
01:27And so I think Carolina probably gets it.
01:29I still think this is one of the best teams in the league.
01:30I worry about the goaltending.
01:32And so to make a long-term investment on a Carolina is a bit of a scare.
01:36But I have faith that they're, and I also think they have the best coach in the league.
01:41At two, it's Dallas.
01:42They lose Pavelski, but it's another year of development for the kids.
01:46It's another year of development with Jake Ottinger.
01:49They did have a lot go right last year.
01:52And I guess the counterpoint to it's another year of development for the kids, it's another
01:56year on the tires for Ben and Sagan and those gigantic contracts that they have.
02:01They do lose Tanev, which was a really, really smart move, picking him up last year.
02:06He's on his way now to Toronto.
02:08But I still think this is a really good hockey team that has a ton of offensive firepower.
02:12They have, I think, one of the best defensemen and one of the more underrated players in
02:15the league in Miro Hyskinen on their blue line.
02:18I still think this is one of the most talented teams in the NHL, and again, 103.5 points
02:25is a lot.
02:26They're going to have another very good year, but that is a step back from where they were
02:30a season ago.
02:31And I think they can improve upon things out in Dallas.
02:34At three, and honestly, this one, if we were ranking them in terms of who I thought was
02:38the most undervalued, it might be this team.
02:42It's Montreal.
02:43At 76.5, I think they're just quite a bit better.
02:48They go out, they acquire Patrick Lainé.
02:50And I understand there are some concerns about Lainé, and he hasn't been Patrick Lainé
02:54in capital letters in a real long time.
02:56But if I'm right about Montreal getting breakout performances from Slavkoski and Caulfield,
03:00Nick Suzuki is going to be solid.
03:03Gallagher's going to be him for as long as he is healthy.
03:05I don't think that you're going to have, like, I think Dock is going to be able to step up
03:09as well.
03:10I don't think Lainé is going to be called upon to do as much for this team, um, offensively.
03:16Well, I guess that's the only way he's going to be called.
03:19No one's asking him to do a whole lot defensively.
03:21But I do think that he's not going to have to go out there and carry a lot of the load
03:27for this group offensively.
03:28I think he is going to be a very well paid, but I think best case scenario for Montreal
03:33is he is kind of a complimentary type of a guy, and a bit more of a finisher, while you
03:36have some of the young kids kind of flying around.
03:38But I have great faith that you have some pretty good development in some of these kids,
03:44and they take a step forward.
03:45I think that there are going to be some steps taken on this blue line this year.
03:49You do have some concerns about what's happening in goal.
03:52I think they do kind of have to figure out what they have in a couple of these guys.
03:55And also, there have been some things tactically with Marty St. Louis while this team has been
04:01building up that make me concerned about really buying into Montreal this year.
04:09All that is fine when you're doing the rebuilding thing, but now when you're trying to take
04:12that step out of the rebuild category and into the competing for a playoff spot category,
04:18that is when you kind of need those coaching decisions to be ironed out a little bit.
04:22And so Marty St. Louis, I think, has to have his best season as a coach, and a lot of guys
04:26need to have their best year.
04:27But I think that this is a team that can finish over .500, and so I like taking them as an
04:33undervalued team at 76.5.
04:36Seattle is next at 87.5, and what is one of the lessons that we learned from the accountability
04:41episode that we did?
04:44The worry about the long-term contracts can absolutely be a long-term worry.
04:48But, for one season, that kind of goes out the window.
04:53Do not overvalue your concern about the value of a contract when you are looking at that
04:57player for a year.
04:59And so yes, signing Stevenson and Montour to those contracts, specifically Stevenson,
05:04signing those guys to those contracts feels rather inhibitive long-term.
05:09That being said, also makes this a better hockey team this year.
05:14Stevenson I think is the exact type of a player that this group kind of needed, and they still
05:18have a very good blue line, I think, and adding Montour to that really does help.
05:24There's going to need to be a little bit more scoring on this team, but I think Beneer's
05:27taking a step forward and maybe getting a little bit more out of a Shane Wright.
05:32I think that there is potential for this Seattle team to be a playoff team this year.
05:37And at number five, it's Winnipeg.
05:39The last impression we got wasn't good, but this is still, I think, a good roster.
05:44Connor Hellebuck is still one of the best goalies in the world.
05:47Defensively, Morrissey, one of the best defensemen in the world.
05:51You still have Shifley.
05:52You still have Connor.
05:53You still have, for now, Ehlers.
05:55You still have a lot of offensive talent.
05:57I think they have some very good depth when they made that trade with the LA Kings for
06:04PLD in being able to get guys like Aliafalo to add to guys like Namesnikov and Lowry and
06:11Appleton and all of that.
06:12I think this is a very well-built team that is going to give other teams some problems,
06:16once again, in the Central Division.
06:18And so 95.5 points?
06:20Love it.
06:21I will take that.
06:22I do feel a little bit worried that a few of my undervalued teams, actually all of my
06:24undervalued teams with the exception of one, still have pretty high point totals.
06:29So that could come back to bite me a little bit.
06:31But overall, those are the teams that I think are wildly underrated or undervalued going
06:35into this year.
06:36In terms of players, again, going off the NHL.com fantasy rankings, just quickly, at
06:41five, it's Steven Stamkos, 53rd overall.
06:44He had 40 goals in two of the last three years.
06:47To get a 40 goal guy in, what would that be, like, fourth, fifth round, seems kind of awesome.
06:53And so I think people, there is, I think, a real undervaluing of Steven Stamkos going
06:58on right now.
06:59We talked about it yesterday in people overvaluing the Tampa Bay Lightning.
07:05Going from Stamkos to Gensoul is a step down.
07:07And for Stamkos, yes.
07:09Going from having Kucherov and Point around to, um, Marcheseau, is a bit of a step down.
07:15That being said, Stamkos is still good.
07:18People I think are treating him like he's this old vet who's just going in to just
07:21be the leadership hire for the National Predators.
07:25That is not the case.
07:26This is a guy who can fill up stat sheets.
07:27And so I think he's being undervalued right now.
07:30His teammate, Gus Nyquist, comes in at 4th, at 126th overall.
07:3423 goals last year with Forsberg, and A, Philip Forsberg is an amazing distributor of the
07:39puck.
07:40B, I think now, with Stamkos, with Marcheseau, as a second line, and then whoever you want
07:46to put with them, that is going to get a little bit more of the attention that Forsberg and
07:51Nyquist got last year.
07:53And so you're probably going to get the top defensive matchups on those guys.
07:56And so there is one in the column for Stamkos.
08:00But also, I do think that it's not going to be the sole defensive focus, because that
08:04was it last year for Nashville.
08:06It was Forsberg, it was Nyquist, and that was it offensively.
08:09And then whatever you're getting from the blue line.
08:11But now, with a bit more of a rounded out lineup, you can't just focus on one team
08:17this year.
08:18And so I think Nyquist might be able to benefit from that.
08:20Also, Nyquist is 100% on my I-can't-quit-you guys.
08:22I will always be a Gus Nyquist fan.
08:24At 3, it's Mika Zbinojad, 65th overall.
08:28Point total the last 3 years, 72-91-81.
08:31He fills up a stat sheet.
08:33This is still a very good New York Rangers team, and so I think people are kind of overlooking
08:37him a little bit.
08:38At 2, Adrian Kempe, 44th overall.
08:4128 goals last year, ended up a stretch of back-to-back 35 goal seasons.
08:46Also, I know fantasy isn't just goals and assists.
08:49He had 75 penalty minutes last year for an LA Kings team that likes to kind of go crash-bang-boom,
08:55and so he can do that as well.
08:57And so I think there's a little bit of value with him at 44th overall.
09:00And coming in at number 1, it's Conor Bedard, 50th overall.
09:04We saw last year, with limited teammates, and in a bit of a limited sample size, that
09:09he is the truth.
09:10And yes, he's probably not getting 100 penalty minutes for you this year, blah blah blah
09:14blah blah blah blah blah blah, but I think this is going to be a gigantic step forward
09:18for him.
09:19I think he has better linemates than he had last season, and I think that is going to
09:23rocket him into some gigantic numbers this year for the Chicago Blackhawks.
09:28So those are my undervalued players in the NHL this year.
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