Today is the start of Bubble Keeper Week. This week, our writers will focus on players “on the bubble” when it comes to keeper league decisions. No elite players will be covered here – just very good ones at best. The idea is to share our own knowledge and decision-making process to help you with your keeper league decisions.
For today’s Bubble Keeper Week, I will focus on players from one of my keeper teams that I have to decide whether to keep. I have three players that fall into this category, while my remaining players from last season must either be retained or let go to auction bidding.
One of the rules about keeping players is that they must have fallen below a certain number of league points last season. So ideal keepers in this league include rookies who seem like a decent bet to improve the following season, players who missed a chunk of games due to injury the previous season, or players that could bounce back after an unusually poor season.
In addition, I have one free buyout for players currently under contract, where I’ll briefly bring up a few buyout candidates. I’m not obligated to make a decision on these players, but it may be better to use one of my 35 roster spots on a better option. (In this league, teams can sign players to multiple seasons, but they must honor those contracts. The contracts signed in this league have nothing to do with real-life NHL contracts. It is an auction league, not a true salary cap league.)
Let’s start with the players I must decide on by discussing their 2024-25 season and what might be in store in 2025-26.
Following a 2023-24 season where he scored just 11 points in 31 games, DeAngelo signed in the KHL after he could not secure an NHL free agent contract. After scoring 32 points in 34 games with SKA St. Petersburg, DeAngelo landed a rest-of-season contract with the Islanders after their blueline was hit with numerous injuries. He made good on that opportunity, scoring 19 points in 35 games (a 45-point pace) while spending time on the Isles’ top power play. Even more impressive was the fact that TDA logged over 23 minutes per game, the highest single-season average of his career.
Two red flags have been prominent in DeAngelo’s career: 1) His subpar defensive skills, and 2) A reported negative attitude toward others in the organizations where he has played. In his half-season with the Islanders, DeAngelo was able to improve his overall game to the point where Natural Stat Trick described him as an “average top four two-way defenseman” compared to the previous season in Carolina where he was a “struggling sheltered defenseman.” We’d also have to assume TDA was a good citizen with the Isles, as they re-signed him to a one-year extension on July 1 worth $1.75 million.
With Noah Dobson shipped to Montreal, the opportunity for a defenseman on the top power play is DeAngelo’s for the taking. Among currently rostered Islanders defensemen, Adam Boqvist led with six power-play points in 2024-25, although only three of those were with the Islanders. On top of that, Boqvist has been in and out of the lineup and dealt with his share of injuries. First overall pick Matthew Schaefer might be the only real competition for the top power-play job, and he’s not even guaranteed to make the team. Even if he did, it’s also rare to see a player as young as Schaefer (18 in early September) run an NHL team’s top power play.
In this league, I’m keeping DeAngelo. In fact, I’m sold enough on him that I’ve added him on a second team. I guess I believe in second chances! TDA’s league point total last season wasn’t high because he spent half the season in the KHL, and that point total should be much higher over a full season. The risks that have plagued him throughout his career don’t appear to be as apparent now. To manage those risks anyway, I will keep him for one season in this league, even though I have the option to retain him for two seasons if I wish. Keeping him for one season aligns with his current NHL contract of one season in case his situation changes for the worse again.
Leafs fans may have been eager to wave goodbye to Mitch Marner after years of playoff runs that failed to launch. One question: How do the Leafs plan to make up for Marner’s 27 goals and 75 assists? Well, I suppose a good place to start is with a Utah castoff who managed just 18 points in 55 games last season.
All kidding aside, Maccelli may have preferred that the Coyotes stayed in Arizona. Following seasons where he put up 49 points (in just 64 games) and 57 points with the Coyotes, Maccelli struggled mightily in the Utah Hockey Club’s first season, even being a healthy scratch at times. The Leafs didn’t seem to mind, adding Maccelli for a third-round pick this offseason. That would be a small price to pay for a winger who could potentially thrive beside Auston Matthews. At least that’s the hope.
A look at the Leafs’ depth chart doesn’t show a ton of real competition for a top-6 spot for Maccelli on the wing. Max Domi? Bobby McMann? Nick Robertson? Scott Laughton? One of the main reasons Maccelli failed last season is that he was used at a bottom-6 forward. Another was a super low 6.2 5-on-5 SH%, which seems guaranteed to improve in the 2025-26 season. On top of that, Maccelli has played 224 career NHL games, which is just the right time for a breakout.
The sleeper potential for Maccelli is enticing enough for me to keep him. Like DeAngelo, it will be for just one season. A major rebound season in Toronto could catapult him into a longer-term extension with the Leafs (or elsewhere). Another poor season could mean Maccelli is out of the NHL and signing somewhere in Europe.
I’ll keep this one shorter than the first two players. Varlamov played just 10 games last season, with the only update provided this offseason stating that his recovery from offseason knee surgery is going well. That update was provided on July 1 by Islanders GM Mathieu Darche. On the same day, Darche signed veteran goalie David Rittich to a one-year contract. If actions speak louder than words, Varlamov’s recovery isn’t going so well. (Update: In early August, Darche has said again that Varlamov’s rehab is going well and that he will skate next week.)
With only a certain number of roster spots, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to keep Varlamov. This league is deep enough to roster some of the league’s better backup goalies, and there was some doubt as to Sorokin’s availability to start the 2024-25 season. However, there are fewer compelling reasons to retain Varlamov entering this season. I need to make my decision before training camp anyway, and there’s simply too much uncertainty.
–
Now onto my buyout candidates:
Acquired from the Leafs early in the 2024-25 season, Liljegren finished his first season in San Jose with 17 points in 67 games while averaging just over 19 minutes per game. Although his point totals were never strong in any one quarter of the season, Liljegren averaged 22:06 during the final quarter, while he also led the Sharks in power-play time after Jake Walman was traded near the deadline.
I had added Liljegren last offseason hoping he could build on scoring 23 points in 55 games while receiving power-play time with the Leafs in 2023-24, but that has not been the case in San Jose. John Klingberg appears to be the PP1 d-man in the here and now, while Luca Cagnoni and eventually Sam Dickinson appear to be the future of that role. Not an ideal spot for Liljegren, but the good news is that the Sharks don’t have a ton of depth on defense at the moment. However, it’s now or never for Liljegren, since he has only one year left on his contract.
Ironically, Daws’ NHL numbers (6 GP, 1.60 GAA, .939 SV) were much better than his AHL numbers (34 GP, 3.16 GAA, .893 SV%). My hope last season was that he would be able to assume the backup role in 2025-26 with Jake Allen‘s contract expiring, but Allen decided to re-sign with the Devils for five years instead. That means Daws is on the outside looking in again. On top of that, the Devils will even have to expose him to waivers if they wish to send him down to the AHL again. The best-case scenario for Daws might be being claimed by another team that has an injured goalie.
Another goalie who has been buying time in the AHL, Sogaard wasn’t particularly effective in either the NHL (2 GP, 5.24 GAA, .800 SV%) or the AHL (8 GP, 0 W 3.69 GAA, .858 SV%) in 2024-25, also battling injuries. Once the Senators’ goalie of the future, Sogaard has now been leapfrogged by Leevi Merilainen. One catch: Merilainen is still waiver-exempt, while Sogaard won’t be in 2024-25 (neither is depth goalie Hunter Shepard, signed by the Sens in the offseason). The backup goalie job behind Linus Ullmark could theoretically be a training camp battle, especially if Sogaard plays well.
Should I keep all of my buyout candidates, or should I buy out one of these players to create a roster spot on my 35-player team? I’d love to get some opinions.
–
Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads @goodsfantasyhockey and Bluesky @goodsfantasyhockey.bsky.social