#(also me saying I don’t want to just draw Micheal doesn’t mean I won’t draw them if you send me a request to- just want to make that clear)

[booplesnotts-art]

Guys help I’m trying to figure out what to draw since I have some free time lately and I cannot decide if I wanna draw Danny again or hb😭

Also— feel free to send me asks and stuff for some drawing requests/ideas! I’m in a stage right now where I just want to draw SOMETHING but haven’t come up with any ideas yet. I can’t guarantee I’ll get any requests done right away but I’d certainly like to take a crack at it at one point!

[keysszz]

i have a request- maybe something about mikey being in danger and all of his brothers worrying about him afterwards? sorry if this reqs sounds silly- i know little to nothing about writing, but your fics are AWESOME

@tenk0saur

Aw thanks! I actually love this idea!!!

Midnight Crisis

A ROTTMNT Fanfic

This hadn’t gone the way he expected…

Mikey had gone out late at night to get some fresh air (and to get some kind of new ideas for his drawings, art block was a pain), and the night had gone normal for the first thirty minutes. He had walked into the alleyways of the city to make sure that he wasn’t spotted by any humans.

Though if he thought about it, it’s not like anyone would have cared anyway. Everyone in New York had either seen or heard of mutants already, so he could walk into the streets whenever he wanted to.

What the box turtle didn’t anticipate was being ambushed by the Foot Clan. 

It wasn’t that many soldiers; he could have taken them all he was sure, but the Foot Lieutenant kept making more and more paper ninjas, and Mikey was only one turtle. He swung his weapon in attempts to shred most of them, but since more were coming to attack, it wasn’t exactly an easy task.

The worst part was that he didn’t even tell his brothers where he was.

He shouldn’t even be out here right now. It was around midnight when he left, and who knows what time it was now. No one was awake at this time (well, maybe Leo was, but Mikey didn’t feel like checking), and since the box turtle was so good at sneaking out no one had heard him when he left. He wasn’t even sure that anybody would get up later; Raph and Splinter were such heavy sleepers that they probably wouldn’t hear if someone was in danger. Leo and Donnie did stay up late some night, but Mikey had assumed that Donnie was sleeping since he didn’t hear the sound of his tech whirling in the background.

Mikey was so deep into his thoughts that he didn’t realize a foot soldier was coming up behind him. The paper ninja punched the box turtle and sent him to the ground, making Mikey grunt in response. He rubbed his shell as he tried to make the pain go away.

“That’s gonna hurt later…” he whispered to himself. He looked up and his eyes went wide as he saw the number of ninjas that were around him. 

He was surrounded… There was no way he could take them all.

Uh oh, he thought to himself. He could try and call his brothers, but there was no guarantee that they would pick up. There was also the fact that there were a number of paper ninjas around him, and he didn’t know if they would try and stop his call.

Mikey looked around and saw the Foot Lieutenant and Brute not too far away from him, and they appeared to be smiling. The Lieutenant made a couple more ninjas before leaving with his partner.

“What about the kid?” the Brute asked.

“Leave him,” the Lieutenant answered. “The ninjas can handle him.”

Mikey watched as they slowly got out of view, and he stared back at his problem. Fear started to rise up in him as the paper ninjas waited for his next move.

He was trapped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he walked into the kitchen, he stifled a yawn as he went to start up the coffee maker.

He hadn’t been up for that long, he only woke up a couple of minutes ago. Donnie planned to spend the rest of the morning working. S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N needed a new upgrade, and he might as well work on his other pieces of tech while he was at it. He looked at the clock as he drank his coffee, seeing that it read 3:23 a.m.

He was surprised that Leo wasn’t up right now. The slider normally had problems dealing with his insomnia, and Donnie would find him in the living room watching a movie in hopes of falling back asleep. 

Donnie took his mug and walked back into the lab, stopping outside of Mikey’s room.

Huh… He didn’t see Mikey lurking around the lair when he got his coffee.

Raising an eyebrow, Donnie walked into his younger brother’s room.

“Micheal, you in here?” Donnie called out. He didn’t get a response, so he decided to check around the lair to see if his brother was just having a rough night.

That’s when he began to get worried.

Mikey wasn’t in the lair at all. Donnie had made sure to double-check each room to make sure (heck, he even triple-checked the box turtle’s room), but there was no sign of him.

Maybe Leo knew where he was.

The softshell took his mug and walked to his twin’s room, placing down the mug on the slider’s side table. He shook Leo in hopes to wake him up, smiling when Leo let out a grunt.

“The one time I get to sleep, someone has to wake me up…” Leo groaned. He opened his eyes and raised a non-existing eyebrow at his twin.

“Donnie?” he asked as he rubbed his eyes. “What is it? Do you need help with a project or something? Because I’m sorry, but I’m just not in the mood to work right now.”

“No, it’s not that,” Donnie responded. “I was going to ask if you knew where Mikey was.”

“Shouldn’t he be in his room?”

“If that was the case I wouldn’t be asking you where he was, now would I?”

Leo sat up in his bed and looked at his brother, worry slowly filling his voice.

“Wait, what are you saying?”

“He’s not in the lair, Leon,” Donnie responded with a frown. “I don’t know where he is.”

“Can’t you track his phone?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s on him,” Donnie answered. “But it would give us a good estimate of where he would be.”

Leo got out of his bed and followed his twin to the lab. He watched as Donnie tapped into one of his computers, and he smiled a bit when Mikey’s image popped up on the screen.

“It looks likes he’s in some alleyway,” Donnie thought out loud.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Leo said as he turned towards the exit. “Let’s go find him.”

“Shouldn’t we wake up Raph?” Donnie questioned.

“By the time he wakes up, Mikey could be in danger,” Leo replied. He walked out of the lab and went to his room to grab his sword as Donnie grabbed his techbo from his desk. He followed Leo out of the room, both of them walking towards the exit and into the city in search of their younger brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was getting tired of this.

He was outnumbered. Every attack he would land on one of those foot faces he would get punched and thrown off guard. He had many bruises on his arms and legs, and he was starting to wonder if he could take any more of this.

He shouldn’t have left the lair. If he had just stayed in his bed and waited until morning, maybe Donnie or Leo could have gone out with him. He’d have someone with him, and he wouldn’t have to deal with this whole situation.

...What if his brothers never found him?

He was sure that someone had to be up by now, right? Donnie would wake up soon and start working on his tech, and he would have to notice that the box turtle was missing. But if that’s the case, why didn’t Donnie call him?

Mikey was then punched by another foot ninja and sent to the ground, and he decided to look at his phone to see if he had any messages. He glanced up before he did and knocked one of the oncoming ninjas away from him to buy him time.

“Of course…” Mikey groaned. “It had to die now, didn’t it?”

He threw his phone back in his pouch and stood up as he fought more of the foot.

Hopefully, his brothers would find him soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“He should be around here somewhere,” Donnie muttered as he jumped down from on top of one of the buildings.

“I don’t see him,” Leo said with a frown. “Are you sure your tech is correct?”

“My tech is never wrong,” Donnie scoffed. “Well, most of the time it’s never wrong…”

Just then the twins heard a faint voice and looked behind them, trying to find the source of the noise.

“Something tells me that he’s over there…” Leo pointed. Both turtles ran over to see who had yelled out and they stopped once they saw the scene before them.

Mikey had been ambushed. And by the looks of it, he couldn’t take any more hits.

Donnie took out his techbo and charged at the foot soldiers as Leo went for Mikey.

“Miguel, you ok?” Leo asked as he pulled Mikey out of the fight, hitting a couple of ninjas as they went for him.

“Yeah... yeah, I’m fine…” Mikey answered.

“What were you thinking?!” Leo questioned with anger (though he was mostly concerned). “Why did you leave, let alone not tell anyone?”

“I just wanted some fresh air,” Mikey responded, wincing as his bruises began to hurt. Leo noticed and sat Mikey down against the wall as he looked at his brother with worrying eyes.

“Stay here,” he told the orange masked turtle. “I’m gonna go help out Donnie.”

Mikey watched as Leo went and fought the remaining foot soldiers, though it didn’t seem like Donnie needed help. Once they had finished them off and made sure there were no more, they both went to inspect Mikey’s wounds.

“Do you know how much danger you could have gotten into?!” Donnie asked. “If I didn’t wake up and realize you were gone, who knows what would have happened to you!”

“I know…” Mikey said quietly. “I’m sorry, Dee.”

“At least tell us where you’re going next time,” Leo sighed. “Or better yet, just wait until morning.”

“Let’s get going,” Donnie said as he helped Mikey up. “I need to check and see how badly you got hurt once we get back to the lair.”

Leo began to walk in front of the two brothers and Mikey followed behind, stopping when he felt Donnie tap his shoulder. Mikey turned around and frowned once he saw Donnie with his arms crossed.

“Donnie, I know you’re mad,” Mikey started. He looked at the ground as he continued. “And I’m really sorry, I won’t-”

Mikey startled at the sudden hug he was giving. He looked up at his genius brother in confusion.

“You really had me worried Michael,” Donnie whispered. “I don’t know what I would have done if you were hurt more than you already are.”

Mikey smiled softly and leaned into his brother’s hug.

“I see you’re getting better at managing your feelings,” Mikey chuckled. He began to laugh as once Donnie groaned.

“No one told me we were hugging now!” Leo exclaimed as he got into the hug as well. “I was wondering why I didn’t hear you guys behind me.”

“Ok, hug over!” Donnie said as he pulled away from his brothers. “We gotta get back to the lair.”

Mikey laughed as Donnie and Leo walked in front of him. 

He always knew Donnie could express his feelings. Maybe he should do more sessions with Dr. Feelings, just to make sure the softshell was improving.

[evanbuckley-heartofgold]

Hiii me again, cause I love your Baby Buck stories.... What about Buck having nightmares, and Athena babysitting him cause Mama Thea and Baby Buck melts everyone's heart ❤️

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy!

TW: implied child abuse

Before Bobby knocks on the door, he crouches down in front of his son. Evan tips his head to the side expectantly. “Listen to me, bud. If at any point you are overwhelmed or uncomfortable, all you have to do is tug on my sleeve and we’ll go, okay?” 

Evan nods and Bobby affectionately ruffles his hair. He stands and knocks three times on the door. It swings open after a few seconds and Athena smiles at the two of them. She’s dressed a little nicer than normal, but they both agreed that his dinner won’t be anything fancy. “Come on in,” she steps aside and allows them to walk past her. “Dinner’ll be ready in five.” 

“Sounds good,” Bobby responds. He keeps a hand on Evan’s shoulder as they walk down into the living room, Athena trailing behind them. May and Harry are sitting on the couch, they stand when they see Bobby and Evan. May smiles at Evan while Harry looks at him curiously. Evan looks up at both of them nervously. Bobby has met Athena’s kids a handful of times before, but this is the first time their kids are meeting each other. 

Before deciding on this dinner, Bobby and Athena had a long talk about the future, their future. Since they both have kids it was an especially important discussion. Their decision at the end was not to make any more concrete decisions until their kids meet. If for whatever reason they don’t get along, Bobby knows he might have to rethink some things. Because Evan is the most important person in his life and he doesn’t want to force the boy into something he doesn’t want or would be comfortable with. 

May smiles at Evan and gives him a wave, “Hey, Evan. I’m May and this is Harry,” she nods to her brother. Evan returns the wave shyly, hiding a little behind Bobby’s legs. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

“You too,” Evan’s voice is quiet and Bobby knows it’s because he understands how important tonight is. He wishes Evan didn’t have to worry so much. 

“You’re dad’s a firefighter, that’s so cool!” Harry exclaims. “Have you ever been in a firetruck?” 

Evan nods, “Yeah.” 

Harry groans, “You’re so lucky, mom says that I can’t ride in her police car.” 

“Not unless you’ve committed a crime,” Athena laughs and ruffles her son’s hair. The oven beeps in the kitchen and she touches Bobby’s shoulder as she walks past him. Bobby watches on as Evan walks over to Harry and the two strike up a conversation. 

May walks over to him and says, “You don’t need to be so worried. Evan seems really sweet.” 

Bobby smiles at her, “I know, it’s just nerve-wracking. This is the first time my son is meeting my partner’s family, I think I’m allowed to be worried.” 

“Dinner, everybody!” Athena calls from the kitchen, interrupting whatever May had been about to say. Harry and May walk briskly to the dining table while Evan walks up to Bobby, sticking close to his side as they walk towards the dining table

Bobby gets Evan settled between him and Harry and helps him fill up his plate with the dishes they pass around. Once everyone’s plates are filled, all five of them take hands and bow their heads.

After they pray and begin to dig in, Athena looks over and Evan with a smile, “How’s school been for you, Evan? You transferred to a school in the city, right?.” 

Evan nods, “Yeah.” After Evan’s school burned down, Bobby transferred him to Harry’s school which is also helpfully closer to the fire station. He doubts that Harry and Evan have had much of a chance to interact since they’re in different grades. “Um, it’s been good,” he looks nervously up at Bobby who nods encouragingly for him to continue. “We went on a field trip to the museum last week.” 

May smiles, “I remember going there when I was in elementary school. Did you get to go into the butterfly room?” 

Evan nods excitedly, “That was my favorite part! It was really hot in there but there were so many different colored butterflies.” 

“My favorite part is the dinosaurs,” Harry says. “The one with all the spikes is my favorite.” 

Evan shakes his head with a little laugh, “Those are too scary.” As the three kids discuss the museum and their favorite exhibits and memories from school trips, Athena and Bobby share a smile across the table. He takes her hand and squeezes lightly.

After dinner, once all the dishes and in the dishwasher, Harry takes Evan’s hand and the two boys nearly run to Harry’s room, talking and laughing. Bobby feels a swell of pride in his chest. Athena sits down next to him on the couch as May departs to her bedroom as well. Bobby smiles at her, “This went well.” 

“Yeah, better than I could have expected,” Athena leans against his shoulder. “Does this mean another long talk is on the horizon?” 

Bobby chuckles, “I guess so. We can wait a little bit though.” 

Athena hums contentedly and links their fingers together, Bobby resting his cheek against the top of her head.

“Do you think you could watch Evan on Tuesday night?” Bobby asks after a moment of silence. “I have an overnight shift and I don’t really want to leave him with his babysitter.” 

“Of course,” Athena agrees. “I’d love to. Micheal’s got the kids that night so I can come over to your apartment.” 

“Thank you,” Bobby says. “I’m sure he’ll be happier with someone he’s more comfortable with.” He watches a smile spread over her face at that.

...

On Tuesday night, Evan is put to bed by Athena. She smiles softly at him and draws the covers up to his shoulders. It feels nice, Evan decides. She brushes a curl out of his face and reads him a chapter from his book. 

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Athena says as she leaves the room, clicking off his light. His room is illuminated only by the faint blue light from the nightlight across the room. Evan turns on his side, back facing the wall as he hugs Bunny and closes his eyes.

Evan dreams of people screaming at him, their faces tomato red in anger. He dreams of their harsh words and angry fists. He hears glass smashing and he can smell the thick scent of tobacco. 

Evan jerks awake when someone touches his shoulder. He scrambles backward in panic, pressing his back into where the corner of his bed meets the corner of the wall. He wraps himself into a tight ball, knees up protectively against his chest. All he can hear is the echo of angry words and his hard breathing. 

In the darkness, his eyes search his room, looking for anyone who could hurt him. There’s someone sitting on the edge of his bed. “Don’t hurt me,” Evan whimpers. “I-I’ll be good, I promise.” 

The lamp clicks on and Evan can see the person sitting in front of him. His dad’s girlfriend. Athena. She’s looking at him with a deep frown. Her voice shifts through all the noise in his head, “I’m not going to hurt you, Evan. You’re safe.” 

Evan shakes his head, “D-Daddy?” He can help, he knows he’s safe with Bobby. 

Athena sighs, “He’s at work, Evan. I can’t call him right now. I’m sorry, sweetheart. Is there anything I can do?”

Evan squeezes Bunny even tighter and shakes his head. He wants a hug, to be held in someone’s arms and know he’s safe, but he can’t ask for that. He can’t. 

“Are you sure, baby?” Athena asks. “Do you want a glass of water?”

Evan shakes his head. He takes deep breaths just like his dad and his therapist taught him.

Then before he can help himself, he crawls to Athena and worms his way into her arms. He rests his head on her shoulder and waits with a pounding heart for her to shove him away, but she doesn’t. Instead, her arms curl around him, squeezing just the right amount. He cries softly into her shoulder and she gently runs her fingers through his curls. 

“It’s okay, baby,” she tells him softly. “You’re okay.” 

He lets her arms support him and protect him from his memories. 

“You’re safe,” Athena repeats over and over. 

And he believes it. He knows that he’s safe with her, she’s the first person besides his dad that he’s ever believed those words from. 

Please reblog if you enjoyed! :)

[nerdylittleshit]

Thoughts about Spn 13x02

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Trigger warning for mentions of self-harm and suicide

I felt asleep on the sofa. Don’t mention it.

Ah Bucklemming. On the plus side: they didn’t kill off a fan favourite. On the down side: everything else? It just felt like exposition, exposition, expostion, that really cool thing Dean did with the angel blade, expostion. Like a big info dump instead of an episode, with a weird cutting between the scenes, and the usual awkward dialogues (do they even read their scripts? Do they think actual people talk like this?). I mean we had worse from them, but it always saddens me to see in one week how great this show can be (13x01) and then we have this. I don’t think there was much to learn about the characters, at least nothing we didn’t already know, so I will focus a bit more on the mytharc stuff and what we could possible see in this season.

Bizarro World

In which Mary lands in apocalypse world and her hair still looks better than mine *sigh*. I really hope they kill of Lucifer, simply because the guy (and the dude who plays him) likes to hear himself talk. And is it just me but I think the reason why he keeps Mary alive doesn’t really make sense? He wants her as a trade for his son, but a trade doesn’t sound like Lucifer. Like, at all. I assumed he would just take Jack with him, and needed Mary to get back to our world. And by now I’m not sure iof Jack even wanted to be reunited with Lucifer, but maybe Dean’s behaviour will get him there? Believing his father is the only one who cares about him? (And does he? Don’t give this character feelings or a redemption arc, please don’t)

So, we learned a few new things about bizarro world. Appearently women are hard to find, which turned all men into rapists, because Bucklemming can’t write an episode without any sort of sexual assault in it. Angels dress up like soldiers, and Michael is cosplaying Cas. And he doesn’t kill Lucifer because he needs him, hopefully not for another trade. But why though? I wonder if this Micheal regrets killing Lucifer, because the big endfight didn’t bring paradise on earth like promised. Now he is stuck in an eternal warzone and maybe that is why he needs Lucifer to fix it? Also, look at these screencapes from the Shaving things promo: (credit to @postmodernmulticoloredcloak)

That looks like a cage to me. Is this some sort of ritual? Let me hear your thoughts.

Asmodeus

I already don’t like him. Dude looks like a comic book villian in his white suit and his accent makes it hard for me to understand what he says. I had a hard time understanding why he would wanted Lucifer and Jack to return, especially after he told stunt demon number three how Lucifer humiliated him, but at the end the picture got clearer. Asmodeus is out for revenge, and he tries to get Jack in order to help him achive his goal (the same way Crowley wanted to use Amara, and we all know how that ended). He asks (as Donatello) Sam about two things: Jack’s powers and his relationship to Lucifer. What he learns: Jack might be one day even more powerfull than Lucifer and he barely knows his father. Bucklemming are not very subtle with it, but you can see the direction in which this is going and why Asmodeus won’t stop to manipulate Jack.

Other than that Asmodeus was used to introduce a whole lot of new stuff to the show’s mythology. In true Bucklemming fashion they just created new stuff instead of working within the existing mythology, to make the story they wanted to tell work. I hated it.

So, appearently Princes of Hell can shapeshift, which from now on will have us second guessing everyone who even looks at Jack. Also, there is another gate of hell, a special one, because why not? Makes Azazel’s big plan in season 2 kind of redundant. And now there are the Shedim, who will probably play a bigger role in this season. They are actually quite interesting, at least if you look at their wikipedia entry:

Shedim are said to have had the feet and claws of a rooster and share some characteristics both of human and angels. Like angels, they know the future and have wings, but like humans they eat, drink, procreate and die. [...] The shedim are not always seen as malicious creatures and are also considered to be helpful to humans.

That... sounds like Jack? not the rooster part of course, but: both human and angel? Check. Knows the future (his vision in 12x19) and has wings (can teleport)? Check. Eats and drinks (and sleeps)? Check. Helpful to humans? Check. But also:

Asmodeus is a king of demons [...]. In Jewish and Islamic lore he is the king of the demons (Shedim/Jinn).

Asmodeus is already linked to the Shedim, he wants to free them, but he also wants to free Jack (”Jack, they wanna stop you. Contain you”).

Nougat

Can someone just like hug him? Kid needs a hug. A lot of what we saw was a continuation of 13x01: Sam thinks Jack can be good, Dean thinks he’s the devil. Nature vs nuture (and thanks Bucklemming for letting Donatello spelling it out, it’s not like every meta writer came to this conclusion since may this year). So far the jury is still out. What we know is that Jack is powerfull, enough to draw Donatello to him, and that he will become more powerfull. But his powers still don’t seem like a part of him, he has no control over them. He uses them unknowingly during times of emotional stress: when he is afraid, or hurting, or angry. He needs to learn to understand his emotions and how his powers are influenced by them, or else he ends up like the next Anakin Skywalker. (@margarittet wrote a great meta about the connections between Star Wars and what we could possible see in season 13, go read it).

Jack is still paralled a lot to his foster dad Cas. We start the episode with him sleeping in the back of the car like Cas did in 5x22, he enjoys TV the way Cas does (Scooby Doo, so you can bet Jack is somehow causing Scoobynatural) and he desperately wants Dean’s approveal. Mimicking Dean? That is what Cas has been doing for years. His whole manuael on how to be human is to act like Dean. And what is the first thing Dean teaches him about being human? that pain is being part of it. Because at the moment Dean is nothing but hurting.

There was a short moment where Jack rembered Lucifer reaching out to him, which was quite interesting, because if anything Jack seemed afraid of him. Donatello tells us that his power is not dark or toxic like Lucifer’s was, but then again power is just power, neither good or bad.

Sam tells Jack that he believes he is worth saving, like his mother and Cas did. Unlike them Sam though was never influenced by Jack. His faith in him is genuine. Also, with all the brainwashing talk, we should remember that Kelly already loved her son before 12x19. She wanted to keep him, to raise him, to take care of him. It was only after she learned that she wouldn’t be able to do so, and that Dagon would twist him into something evil, that she decided to take her life. At least when it comes to Kelly I like to believe she and Jack influenced each other in equal parts. “I was her”.

So what is Jack to the Winchesters? In the tattoo parlour Sam says they are brothers, that the tattoo is a family crest. But the tattoo vanishes, and though it is unintentional on Jack’s side it is rather symbolic. He is not a part of the Winchester family (yet). Later he calls them his friends.

The ending scene was pretty heavy. Jack doesn’t know who he is. More so, he is afraid to find out, that he will hurt everyone around him and can’t be saved. It was an interesting choice that Dean stopped him. Dean, who never believed he deserved to be saved, not after hell or the MoC. And he tells Jack the same. And I get where Dean was coming from, why he said, but that doesn’t make it OK. Dean telling Jack he will be the one to kill him makes me believe the opposite now, that Dean will die for Jack (who will bring him back of course).

Also, when Jack read the bible we saw The Book of Solomon opening:

Jewish tradition reads it as an allegory of the relationship between God and Israel. Christian tradition, in addition to appreciating the literal meaning of a romantic song between man and woman, has read the poem as an allegory of Christ and his "bride", the Christian Church.

Now, I already speculated about Jack’s fate on the show. If he turns out to be good where will be his place in the universe? I could see him replacing God, and him reading a text about the relationship between God and his chosen people? Interesting.

Anyway, “What would Mr. Rogers do?” is a motto we should all live by.

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Draft Analysis, Weekend Trades and Signings

Draft Analysis, Weekend Trades and Signings

First off, I just wanted to give a shoutout to Peter Harling, Cam Robinson, and the rest of the Dobber Prospects team for some amazing work at the draft (and for Cam for actually dropping a Ramblings to boot – these things don’t take five minutes to write, you know). It was awesome seeing the Dobber brand showing up on the Sportsnet ticker as each big name fell off the board.

As significant as the Dobber presence has been in Dallas, next year might be even better, with the 2019 draft coming to Vancouver! Will Quinn Hughes receive the honor of announcing his brother Jack as the first overall pick and his new teammate? Wait just a minute Canucks fans… you seem to have forgotten about the crummy luck that you have in the draft lottery every year.

By the way, I’m ecstatic about the Hughes pick. I can say that a puck-moving defenseman is something that the Canucks have been missing since, well, ever. I think the one takeaway from this draft – at least the first round – is the type of defensemen that were drafted. After years of teams drafting bigger and bigger, the smaller defensemen were all the rage as teams move toward a faster style that stresses the importance of moving the puck out of your zone and keeping up with the play. Here’s the height and weight of the first seven defensemen drafted in the first round:

Rasmus Dahlin (BUF): 6’ 2”, 181 lbs.

Quinn Hughes (VAN): 5’10”, 173 lbs.

Adam Boqvist (CHI): 5’11”, 165 lbs.

Evan Bouchard (EDM): 6’2”, 195 lbs.

Noah Dobson (NYI): 6’3”, 176 lbs.

Ty Smith (NJ): 5’11”, 176 lbs.

Ryan Merkley (SJ): 5’11”, 167 lbs.

Not one of these defensemen is over 200 pounds, and there are more that are under six feet tall than over. Of course, these are still kids who could continue to grow and should also fill out a bit more. But the trend of blueliners scoring more should continue, while fewer enormous-bodied stay-at-home defensemen will be able to survive in the NHL.

What made this draft fun is that after the first two picks, it didn’t seem to proceed according to plan. It’s easy to criticize Montreal and Arizona on their off-the-board picks, but the fact is that we’re putting faith in 18-year-old kids and perceptions will change. Let’s check back in ten years to find out how these picks really turned out. Maybe these Habs fans will become huge Kotkaniemi fans one day.  

Habs fans are not happy about their 3rd overall pick pic.twitter.com/EVIbIcXrg4

— Hockey Central (@HockeyCentraI) June 23, 2018

There’s certainly a lot to unpack from the past two days, so let’s get started.

*

I’ll start with a question that was asked to me this weekend. Some keeper leagues have an entry draft in which draft-eligible players can be drafted by teams. So if you have the third pick (or are simply ranking draft-eligible players), who would you choose? Assume Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov will be picked first and second overall. This person was initially thinking Filip Zadina, but with Jesper Kotkaniemi being picked third overall by the Habs, he wasn’t so sure anymore. Should the third overall pick in fantasy drafts be Zadina, Kotkaniemi, or someone else?

Settings and team needs could determine who you pick, but just because a certain NHL general manager decides to go off the board to pick the player he wants doesn’t mean that you also have to. And there’s a reason that the Kotkaniemi pick was considered off the board. Zadina obviously fell down at least a couple teams’ draft boards, but picking a real-life team is different from picking a fantasy team. Zadina says he will “bring the goals” to Detroit, something that he did in the QMJHL (44 goals in just 57 games). If you like fantasy goals on your team, he’s the guy I’d look to add at number 3.

For you (and for my own benefit, since I participate in one of these leagues), I will produce a draft list during the summer of draft-eligible prospects. But I’ve started with those three. Who would you pick after that? Or would you include someone else in your top 3? Remember that if you don’t want to wait and/or require far more detailed prospects analysis, you’ll want to pick up your copy of the Fantasy Prospects Report.  

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Dobber himself provided the Fantasy Take on the Ilya Kovalchuk signing, which includes how top-6 forwards in LA might be impacted. I’d expect Kovalchuk to be a decently productive fantasy option next season, but at age 35 he’s already seen most of his peers his age drop off from their prime (or drop out of the league by now). As productive as Kovalchuk was in the KHL (over a point per game over his last two seasons), I can’t help but think that someone like now-34-year-old Rick Nash is a comparable at this point in his career. And Nash isn’t someone you should be reaching for in next season’s drafts. But don’t get me wrong, I’d still rate Kovalchuk over Nash.

Another point I’ll add: After the Kovalchuk signing, the Kings are left with just over $3 million in cap space. They don’t have much work left to do (possibly extend a qualifying offer to Tobias Rieder), but barring any other moves to clear cap space, they probably won’t have enough room to bring back Slava Voynov. And they may not be planning to bring him back.

From The Athletic (this article is free):

Sources indicated that the Kings trading Voynov’s rights is likely the most plausible scenario.

This article, written by Katie Strang, describes both what would need to happen in order for Voynov to be reinstated, as well as the details of the events that led to his contract being terminated by the Kings. Although the 28-year-old Voynov could provide a team with an all-important right-shot defenseman who can deliver some offense, I don’t imagine that his acquisition will go over well with a significant portion of any team’s fanbase.  

With Kovalchuk now off the board, John Carlson getting close to a deal in Washington, and John Tavares still considering re-signing on Long Island, could July 1 be kind of a “meh” day? Diehard hockey fans will no doubt tune in to the programming on TSN or Sportsnet (at least in Canada), but for the most part we’re not talking about franchise-altering players. Lots of over-30s who have had productive careers, though. You can check out the list over at Cap Friendly.

Speaking of Tavares, he is set to meet with five teams ahead of free agency. According to ESPN, those teams are expected to be San Jose, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Vegas, and Dallas. And according to David Pagnotta, the Islanders’ initial offer to Tavares is an eight-year deal worth $88 million.

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Dobber also gave you the Fantasy Take on the Calgary/Carolina blockbuster. Fantasy-wise, this trade has a major impact on the Flames’ top line, with the forwards swapping places on it.  

Bill Peters says Lindholm is penciled in on the top line w Gaudreau and Monahan already and will take draws on his strong side. Said he spoke to him but kept it short as Lindholm was attending Sweden’s World Cup game when the call came.

— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) June 23, 2018

As far as the trade goes, I’m going to concentrate on the forwards in the deal.

I really like this move for Elias Lindholm – more so than anyone else involved in the deal. The previous relationship with Peters should result in Lindholm receiving at least a long look with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. There was no real continuity when it came to Lindholm’s linemates last season, but both Gaudreau (1.05 Pts/G) and Monahan (0.86 Pts/G) scored at a higher pace than any Carolina forward. This is a significant upgrade for Lindholm. If Micheal Ferland can score 21 goals while (mostly) playing on that line, then the more talented Lindholm should score at least that many. Lindholm has never scored more than 17 goals in a season.

Conversely, the main reason I decided to take a flier on Ferland last season was his place on the Flames’ top line. Of his 41 points last season, 35 were even strength. And of those 35 even-strength points, only three were without either Gaudreau or Monahan. There could be more turnover with the Canes’ forward group, particularly if Jeff Skinner is traded. But for now Ferland is buried among a large pile of wingers, which means that he should probably only be targeted in leagues that count hits.

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One day after being traded to the Avalanche, Philipp Grubauer has signed a three-year contract worth $10 million total (Fantasy Take from Mike). I know one Semyon Varlamov owner that is livid right now, as he was counting on Varlamov again after bouncing back to fantasy respectability last season. Given that Varlamov has started 50+ games in four of the last five seasons even with an injury-prone reputation, I don’t think this turns out any worse than a 50/50 split for Varlamov. But it might be better to bet the under than he will play 50 games again in 2018-19.

This probably goes without saying, but the Grubauer trade all but assures that Jonathan Bernier will be headed to unrestricted free agency. The UFA goalie market is thin (you can check out that group at Cap Friendly), but Bernier should be considered a top-5 option in that group. That probably should net him a goalie timeshare situation of his own at best, with the more likely scenario of him being signed as a team’s backup.

As for the vacant Washington backup goalie job, recently signed goalie prospect Ilya Samsonov is expected to play a lot in the AHL next season. That would make Pheonix Copley the little-used backup behind Braden Holtby. The native of North Pole, Alaska (maybe he has met Santa Claus!) has played in just two NHL games – both with the Blues.  

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For more fantasy hockey information, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-draft-analysis-weekend-trades-and-signings/