John Gibson, Marco Kasper among several Detroit Red Wings poised to outperform their early undervalued Fantasy Hockey rankings.
The Fantasy Hockey season is underway on several platforms, including Yahoo Sports, which has released its early player rankings ahead of draft season along with projections for the upcoming year. Some players are listed at great value, while others seem overvalued and may be better to avoid based on their current rankings. Fantasy Hockey continues to be one of the most exciting parts of the sport, giving fans the opportunity to build teams with their favorite players, whether from their hometown club or from across the league, all competing for Fantasy success.
Some Detroit Red Wings are featured in intriguing spots within the early rankings. Certain projections appear to undervalue their potential, while others hint at expectations of a drop in performance. Here, we dive into some of the most interesting and compelling storylines taking shape in the opening stages of the Fantasy season.
Detroit's second line heading into next season is expected to be Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane centered by the young Marco Kasper. The 21-year-old Austrian forward enters his sophmore season and excelled during his time with the two veteran wingers as a rookie, posting a solid +4 net rating after playing 192.2 minutes together over 30 games. With a full season in the top six and more time with the line and on the second power play unit, he should blow past his 37 total points from last season and could also outperform his 50 point total projected by Yahoo for this season.
His minutes per game last season finished at 15:27 and this should change as he will be in a more secure role in the top six with the potential of even hoping up to the team's first line at left wing. If they can't find a suitor for the line of Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, Kasper will have to be the answer but even without landing that job he should see his minutes jump to around 17-18, typical for a second line centre.
This should lead to more chances to land more hits in which he's projected to finish with the second-most on the team after Mortiz Seider and fire off more shots as he's projected to finish with only 151 which is just six more than his total last season at 145 despite his playing time likely seeing a sizeable spike. If you also play in a league that counts face-off wins, his added time will likely see him jump from fourth on the team in wins last season to hopefully second or third.
The Red Wings brought in Gibson to be the goaltender who can hopefully lead them to the playoffs, but Yahoo doesn’t see it that way.
He’s ranked behind players like Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner, even though the Oilers are actively searching for his replacement, Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry, who was sent down to the AHL last season due to poor performance, and Carolina’s Frederik Andersen, who shares the net with Pyotr Kochetkov. Yahoo is significantly undervaluing a goaltender expected to play a major role in his team’s push for the postseason. Early projections have Gibson winning just 20 games, allowing 123 goals, and making only 1,139 saves.
That save total is lower than what he recorded in seven of his ten NHL seasons. The only exceptions were during seasons when he was primarily a backup in Anaheim, during the COVID-19-shortened season, and in his rookie year. Realistically, Gibson is likely to start 50 to 55 games this season, with his win total more likely landing in the high 20s or even 30s.
His fantasy value is shockingly low considering his expected workload, track record, and the improved team around him. Fantasy managers should take advantage of this overlooked opportunity.
It's hard to say what the lineup will look like next season for the Red Wings but early signs have indicated they would like to keep together the second line with Kasper, Kane and DeBrincat. This leaves a hole at the very top of the lineup with Larkin and Raymond not having a competent left winger to round out the line. As of right now, lineup predictions have the veteran James van Riemsdyk occupying the spot which makes sense after he saw top line minutes last season when playing on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He is currently ranked outside the top 500 players as he sits 547th overall in preseason rankings. If the lines turn out to be true, van Riemsdyk could turn into a solid sleeper option as he consistently produces 35-40 points and could produce more on the first line.
Dylan Larkin - Pre-Season Ranking: 49 (Projected 33 Goals, 44 Assists)
Alex DeBrincat - Pre-Season Ranking: 68 (Projected 35 Goals, 32 Assists)
Lucas Raymond - Pre-Season Ranking: 72 (Projected 29 Goals, 51 Assists)
Moritz Seider - Pre-Season Ranking: 76 (Projected 7 Goals, 37 Assists)
Patrick Kane - Pre-Season Ranking: 140 (Projected 19 Goals, 34 Assists)
J.T. Compher - Pre-Season Ranking: 221 (Projected 11 Goals, 22 Assists)
John Gibson - Pre-Season Ranking: 254 (Projected 20 Wins, 123 GA, 1139 Saves)
Ben Chiarot - Pre-Season Ranking: 266 (Projected 5 Goals, 9 Assists)
Marco Kasper - Pre-Season Ranking: 456 (Projected 23 Goals, 27 Assists)
Mason Appleton - Pre-Season Ranking: 512 (Projected 11 Goals, 15 Assists)
Michael Rasmussen - Pre-Season Ranking: 542 (Projected 10 Goals, 16 Assists)
James van Riemsdyk - Pre-Season Ranking: 547 (Projected 12 Goals, 18 Assists)
