Kyle Brodziak

After the Blues traded Paul Stastny to Winnipeg in February of 2018, Brodziak was called upon to center the second line for a majority of the remaining 19 games. He facilitated that line excellently, registering one goal and 12 assists including three multi-point games. Brodziaks' 33 points marked his best total in the last six seasons, and the Blues sought to re-sign him to continue centering their bottom line, but he opted to sign closer to home in Edmonton. The 34-year-old is destined to drop back to his 20-point range as a fourth-liner with the Oilers.

Brodziak is a fourth-line grinder who'll win half his faceoffs, play a solid defensive game and score the occasional goal, but he doesn't belong in the overwhelming majority of fantasy lineups. The 33-year-old was able to score eight goals and add seven helpers in 69 games last season, but he may have trouble maintaining even a fourth-line role once Patrik Berglund returns from a shoulder injury in December. Fellow pivot Oskar Sundqvist could be a more appealing option for the Blues, since he’s 10 years younger than Brodziak with little difference in talent.

Brodziak scored eight goals and 16 assists last season, a slow pace for this former 20-goal scorer, so it's a little difficult to know exactly how he will produce for fantasy this season. His ability on the penalty kill works against him -- he was on the ice for half (49.7 percent) of the team's short-handed situations in games he played last season. But there's room for a rebound in that miserable seven percent shooting percentage. That should go up a bit and get a little closer to the mean. His ceiling isn't very high and the floor may be sinking. But he'll still start the season as the fourth-line center in Minnesota any way. Expect a 10-goal, 25-point season.

Brodziak struggled on offense to begin last season, scoring just one point his first 11 games, and ended up with just 11 points and a career-low points-per-game rating for a full season. He couldn't repeat his career best season from the year before and his 22 goals in 2011-12 look like the ceiling for the defensive-minded center.

Here's a little known fact -- Brodziak took the 11th most faceoffs (1429) in the NHL last season. Who knew? He took 251 more than the next closest Wild player (Matt Cullen). His winning percentage was 49.1 and he was the team's key guy at the dot while shorthanded. He's also been slowly, but surely, topping up his career mark in points, culminating in a 22-goal, 22-assist effort last season. Will it continue? Sadly, we think not. There's an influx of youth and talent coming into Minny, and that will surely reduce some of his offensive opportunities. But those faceoffs will likely stay so consider him in your specialty formats.

Brodziak is a solid two-way center for the Green and Red. In 2010-11, he finished second on the Wild with 48 takeaways and established new career highs in goals (16), points (37) and penalty minutes (56). The one knock on him is that he does not receive much time on the man advantage, though he did average a full minute longer on the power play in 2010-11 (1:16) than the year before - 0:16. As long as you don't expect Brodziak to be a fantasy hero on a nightly basis, there should be little risk using him as a sleeper pick in the late rounds of most fantasy drafts.

Brodziak scored a career-high 32 points last season, but he's a defensive-minded center on a mediocre offense and isn't used much on the power play. His upside for fantasy purposes is limited as a result.

The Wild are transitioning from the defensively focused neutral-zone trap to a more offensively minded system this year, but Brodziak will still play a primarily defensive role for the Wild this season.

Brodziak had his best season to date scoring 14 goals and adding 17 assists. He should see plenty of action as the third line center and be on the first unit penalty kill. His fantasy value is limited however as he sees little to no power play time.

Brodziak bounced back offensively in his third AHL stint in 2006-07 with 56 points in 62 games. Unfortunately, the team would like to give some of their more talented prospects a shot at earning a job, so he'll likely call the AHL home for most of 2007-08.

Brodziak has some decent scoring potential. However, he will only see time with Edmonton if there are significant injuries to the forward corps.