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Dobber Hockey Dobber Sports

Published on Tuesday, July 28, 2015

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Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Stepan and Wilson signings, arbitration, free agent defensemen, and more…

If you’re used to seeing Neil on this day, I’m filling in for him today. He’ll be back on this day next week.

I’m excited about the new relaunch for Dobber Hockey. Honestly, I have no idea what the site will look like. And by the time you read this article, it may already be on the new site.

I’ve been told to save my article on a Word document, which is where I originally type articles anyway. In case any of you ever post content to websites, this is an absolute must. You’d hate to type 1000+ words and have it all disappear because the website didn’t save properly. Save and backup. Save and backup.

Website redesign is always an exciting time. When I was the content editor over at fantasyhockey.com, we went through a couple site redesigns. Both helped make the site look more modern. But finding everything always takes a bit of getting used to.

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Now onto the hockey-related news for the day. The New York Rangers and Derek Stepan were able to avoid arbitration on Monday, agreeing on a six-year contract worth $39 million (cap hit $6.5 million) (NHL.com).

Stepan is an important part of the Rangers’ attack, leading all Rangers’ forwards in averaging just over 18 minutes per game in icetime last season. Don’t be fooled by his -135 SAT ranking, which was third-worst on the Rangers. Stepan was equally deployed in offensive zone starts and defensive zone starts (50.3 OZS%) last season (Behind the Net), often facing off against an opponent’s top line.

Stepan is a very consistent goal scorer, ranging between 16 and 21 goals over his five-season NHL career. Even if Derick Brassard is the preferred center for Rick Nash, a 20-goal, 40-assist output with 15 of those points on the power play seems like a very realistic projection for Stepan.

Don’t forget that Stepan provided us with this moment to advance the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final (Apologies to Capitals fans.)

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Stepan’s signing wasn’t the only arbitration-avoiding signing on Monday. The Nashville Predators and Colin Wilson were able to reach an agreement for four years and $15.75 million (NHL.com).

Wilson finished sixth on the Predators in scoring last season with 42 points (20g-22a), a career high for him. Last season, he only seemed worth starting on your fantasy roster during the middle third of the season, as he scored 23 points in 25 games over December and January. This spike in production seemed to coincide with the return of Mike Fisher, who was Wilson’s linemate for much of the season (Frozen Pool).

Looking at Wilson’s trending career stats, I think that 45 points seems to be a reasonable projection. This is in spite of the number of players that can play center on Predators. In spite of the fact that Wilson is listed as a center, he took only 178 faceoffs in total last season, suggesting he is more often used as a winger. Keep that in mind for his positional eligibility. Dobber’s July 1 article on the Cody Hodgson signing might provide a little more insight into the Nashville situation.

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So here are the remaining players on the arbitration watch list, along with their hearing dates (NBC Sports ProHockeyTalk):

Marcus Johansson (Wednesday)

Mike Hoffman (Thursday)

Erik Haula (Friday)

Jonathan Bernier (Saturday)

Ever wonder why so many arbitration-eligible players manage to sign contracts at the 11th hour, avoiding arbitration? This article from Justin Bourne at theScore tells three interesting tales about players who went to arbitration. Story #2 may shed some light on one of the many reasons that Mike Milbury is no longer an NHL GM. Or to put it another way, try asking for a raise at your job and find out if your boss is brutally honest about why he or she is not giving you that raise.

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Also from theScore, if you’re any bit interested in owning Daniel Briere on your fantasy team, he should be deciding whether he’ll play another season over the next few weeks. Briere has only 27 games left to reach the 1000-game mark, so it will be interesting to see if a team will take a chance on him. Briere would prefer that team to be close to his home in New Jersey. His ship has probably sailed in most leagues, though.

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I enjoy reading Tom Collins’ Top 10 articles, and not because I was a huge David Letterman fan. (Letterman was okay, but I didn’t often stay up late to watch him.) I agree with Tom in his latest article in which he mentions he’s surprised that Cody Franson has not been signed. Doesn’t it seem like in previous years, defensemen of the ability of Franson, Christian Ehrhoff, and even Marek Zidlicky would be scooped up by now?

On the local sports radio station here in Vancouver, Franson mentioned that he was being pursued by several teams (Yahoo Sports). I’m wondering how much his failure during his most recent stint in Nashville is affecting his ability to attain a contract. But it could also be the fact that he wants a multi-year contract – he says in the radio interview that he’s “sick of one-year deals.”

The Predators were clearly the wrong fit for Franson. Loading up for what they hoped would be a deep playoff run, Nashville added Franson as a depth defenseman, a situation that didn’t help Franson. Scoring just four points in 23 games, Franson averaged only 15 minutes of icetime per game in the Music City. Three of those four points were scored on the power play, proving Franson’s ability to contribute with the man advantage.

Meanwhile, Ehrhoff was someone I projected as a super sleeper last season for moving from the Buffalo situation to the Pittsburgh situation. I drafted him on multiple teams and was left hugely disappointed. If hindsight were 20/20, he probably should have stayed with the Canucks after their 2011 playoff run and not signed that massive contract with Buffalo.

A portion of Ehrhoff’s value is probably tied to that career season in Vancouver. That season, Ehrhoff scored 50 points with over half of those (28) on the power play while taking 200 shots on goal. But he took the money, like a lot of players do. And his production fell, like a lot of players do when they take the money. Not staying with the Canucks hurt not only the Hoff but also the Canucks, whose power play was never the same after he left.

I’m assuming that the Mike Green signing made Zidlicky obsolete, since he didn’t appear to perform too badly in Detroit (11 points in 21 games). His age (38) might have a lot to do with the fact that he hasn’t signed. If and when he does sign in the NHL, I wouldn’t expect to see him on anything more than a one-year contract.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your Tuesday.


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