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The journeyman managed to play a career-high 81 games last year while helping to solidify the Wild's bottom six, but as per usual, Winnik didn't make a huge impact on the score sheet. He did top 20 points for the second straight season, but the 33-year-old is no threat to receive the kind of ice time he'd need to break through to another level of production. A free agent heading into 2018-19, Winnik scored a training camp invite from the Bruins and will look to prove that he still has something to offer in a depth role.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 206 pounds, Winnik offers size up front, but he'll almost assuredly claim a bottom-six role if he latches on with the Wild. The journeyman played with the Capitals last season and notched 25 points in 72 regular-season games, but he put up goose eggs in the box score over 13 playoff contests, and he now has just three assists for his only points over 58 career matches when it matters the most.
Winnik provides the Leafs with an instant upgrade on the penalty kill and is the perfect checking line winger. He will be one of the leaders of the Leafs' lunch-bucket brigade. He'll play hard minutes. He'll play fast and physical. He'll wear down the opposition on every single shift, but he probably won't replicate last year's 30-point production unless he is forced into action on the second line. He'll be an emotional leader, but that's about all.
Winnik logged six goals and 13 assists during the 2012-2013 regular season, during which he played all 48 games. His lunch-bucket approach and willingness to do the dirty stuff that might break the fingernail of a sniper are legendary. Clearly, he's an asset on the ice, but in fantasy? Not so much. Thirty-five points are probably the max and that would take a perfect situation.
Winnick is a role player -- you know, the kind who willingly puts on the hard hat and work boots, and does the dirty jobs that no-one else wants. He has tallied 26 points in two separate seasons and excelled on the penalty kill. But he also has just enough speed and skill to play mucker on a scoring line. Expect him to be a third-line staple in Anaheim. But don't be surprised to see him skating with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne if Andrew Cogliano continues his decline.
Winnik will likely line up as the Avs' third or fourth line center next season. With just 19 points in 74 games for the Coyotes last season, he doesn't possess much by way of fantasy value, except in ultra-deep leagues.
Winnik is a powerful center who is ideal for a third or fourth line role with Phoenix. Last year marked his NHL debut, and he did nothing but appear in 79 games, notching 26 points (11 G, 15 A). The 'Yotes have added some nice pieces on both wings this summer, so there is no reason to think Winnik won't improve on his 2008-2009.
Winnik finished his junior year in the University of New Hampshire hockey program in 2006 second on the team in scoring with a career high 41 points, 15 goals and 26 assists, and tied for fifth in the league for scoring. He signed an entry level contract in 2006 with the Coyotes and reported to San Antonio. With the Rampage, he scored 21 points, nine goals and 12 assists, in 66 games played. Winnik will have to draw on his earlier successes from his time with the University of New Hampshire to find his scoring touch in the NHL.