Welcome back to the Thursday ramblings where I cannot discuss more draft picks in my fantasy leagues as the two I am waiting on are taking forever. So instead I will discuss……other things, like my keeper leagues and just some random thoughts

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The draft I mentioned last week concluded and I did not add any picks so really there is not much need mentioning that one. I did add Kirill Marchenko (RW) in case I have room to stash him before the season begins as he has the potential to be a top six NHL player.

In another keeper pool I am in (this one is H2H, 16-team, and points only) where you keep all players rostering 9F, 6D 5 Reserve, and 1 Goalie spot, with 20 prospects, I have been waiting days as I have pick eight… in round two! There was a faller I tried to grab (Barrett Hayton) in the 13-15 range but had no bites, and now I wait at pick 16 for pick 24 overall. I cannot say who I would draft as people who are in my pool are ahead of me, but I will update in a week! I currently also have picks 2-11 and 3-4 where I hope to grab some fallers.

I recently joined another 12 team keeper league, this one is seemingly way more complicated in structure and rules (no additional salary cap headaches thankfully), here I have picks 2-12 and 3-8. I will update when progress happens.

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Random thought:

With the Neal signing and Lindholm and Hanifin trade the flames have a pretty nice looking top nine but I have seen some crazy combinations of it. First I do not like the length of the Neal signing at all and I think by year three the Flames will be looking to get out from it, as Neal hasn’t scored more than 44 points in two seasons. I do like the Lindholm move up front but at the expense of Hamilton was a high price to pay. Figuring out the Flames top nine will be tough as Peters is pretty great at using sub-optimal deployment (see: 3^rd line Jeff Skinner) and I have seen some crazy line projections, but I think I would set it up as:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal

Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik

Bennett-Jankowski-Lindholm

With Peters as a coach you kind of have no idea what he will do and I get this feeling he will force Derek Ryan into the top nine at the expense of Jankowski or Bennett (not like Bennett has shown much of anything though). I can’t see Jankowski or Bennett scoring many points in this set up but they may be good late round picks. Same with Austin Czarnik who may be used in a fourth line role with Derek Ryan, Troy Brouwer and Curtis Lazar

Another random thought:

I want to discuss Nail Yakupov. He was so dynamic in the CHL, drafted by the Oilers, used correctly in his first year, and then misused in Edmonton, St. Louis and then never recovered in Colorado. There are aspects of his game you can tell he did not care to work on and if he did he likely would be succeeding today. How was he not started in the offensive zone ~80% of the time and given all the powerplay time to set up in the right circle and blast one-timers, and then you develop his game later on.

I hope he dominates the KHL for two seasons and comes back like a top six player that he can be. #ByeForNowNail

That is al for now. Follow my twitter: @FHPQuinn