Farrance expectations?

[JayJJeffery]

Hi all, been offered Lassi Thomson + Michael Del Zotto for David Farrance in my 24 team bangers dynasty league. Zotto would eventually be dropped given I've got Seguin, Kucherov, Hamonic on IR right now and still no empty spaces (would likely try to find a trade for Kassian or Gusev) but as of right now I have only the minimum amount of D Men so I've been looking to add one in somewhere.

I don't think I'm going to take the offer because I don't think it's worth it for Zotto short term, but I wanted to gather peoples thoughts on the trade and on Farrance in general, his trajectory has gone sky high recently.

[Axeman33]

Basically prospect D for prospect D. Thomson is probably underrated by many but he's a very good looking prospect. Same can be said for Farrance. Both are going to teams that arent screaming for D help so neither will be immediate fantasy contributors. Neither are big banger guys although Thomson did have 40 PIMs in 63 games in the WHL two seasons ago.

Take a look at both teams. In Ottawa, Thomson will have Chabot, Brannstrom, Bernard-Docker, and Sanderson in front of him. Guys like JBD and Sanderson will be more shutdown types where as Lassi is more of an offensive guy. He does shoot right so thats a bonus for Thomson.

Nashville has Josi, Ekholm, Fabbro and Ellis locked into their top four and none of them are 31 years of age. so that means all of them still has plenty of tread on their tires. Farrance is arguably their best D prospect coming down the pipe but where does he fit in? In six games he has zero PIMs.

Which system do you think either kid has the best shot of getting to the league in a reasonable amount of time? If you think Thomson has the best opportunity to make a dent, go with him. Same for Farrance. If you aren't sure which way to go, keep what you have. It's not easy to differentiate these two in my eyes.

[MCARTER82]

I just drafted Farrance in my dynasty league in the off season as I like his upside.

I was reading that there are no guarantees that he signs with the Preds once he's done at BU. So a new NHL home on a team who have more D openings might elevate his fantasy appeal even more.

Just a thought.

[Dover]

For me, Farrance has more upside than Thomson. It’s his fourth season with BU and if the Preds can’t sign him, he could be a free agent this summer ( a la Vesey, Hayes... ) I would not be surprised if he choose a team with an easier acces to the NHL... By the way, i hate this rule and don’t know why the player can pick the team he wants after his 4th year.

[Dennis]

For me, Farrance has more upside than Thomson. It’s his fourth season with BU and if the Preds can’t sign him, he could be a free agent this summer ( a la Vesey, Hayes... ) I would not be surprised if he choose a team with an easier acces to the NHL... By the way, i hate this rule and don’t know why the player can pick the team he wants after his 4th year.

So NHL teams can't draft a player at 17/18 and then have complete control over their potential career in North America in perpetuity without ever having to offer a contract. Look at Maxim Shalunov, (players drafted out of Russia never have their rights expire because of a lack of a transfer agreement) he was drafted nearly a decade ago and despite, again, wanting to come play in America, Stan Bowman wouldn't even bother to return his agent's calls. So Shalunov's career gets screwed basically because of a pissing contest between the trust-fund babies who own NHL teams and the Russian oligarchs who own KHL teams (I may be generalizing there.)

4 years is plenty of time to sign a player. if you can't do it in 4 years (Farrance is actually 4 years +1-1/2 months, NCAA players are at a disadvantage here compared to their non-Russian peers) then you don't deserve to sign him. NHL teams get plenty of control over teenagers already.

[Dover]

Yeah i agree on your point but i’m pretty sure the Preds offered him a contract last year after his big season ( 43pts/34games) Maybe he has already decided not to sign with them or maybe he wants to finish his university... Who knows? I guess they will never be a perfect system for this kind of situation. It reminds me a bit of Adam Fox, the Canes traded him away knowing Fox would never sign with them. Like the Preds, the Canes had a very strong D.