While this year's free agent signing period was more calm than frenzy, there were still plenty of deals that can help you go for the championship next season.

While most of the focus is on the contracts of Taylor Hall, Jacob Markstrom, Torey Krug, Alex Pietrangelo and other superstars, there were plenty of smaller deals that aren't talked about as much that could help your fantasy squad next season.

Obviously, none of the players on the list below are superstars, but they have a better opportunity next year than they had last season. These are the late-round fliers you take in hopes of striking fantasy gold. In keeper leagues, you might be able to acquire them for cheap with the hopes they could bounce back into fantasy relevance.

10. Mark Borowiecki

Borocop is the kind of player that wins you hockey pools. I once won a Yahoo head-to-head league with daily defensemen spots that were mostly filled with Borowiecki, Dion Phaneuf and Radko Gudas. I crushed most of the peripheral categories. In banger leagues, Boro is invaluable in the amount of PIM, hits and blocked shots that he can dish out. In the last five years, Boro is third for hits (57 behind the leader despite 43 fewer games) and seventh for PIM. While he has been injury-prone his whole career, he'll also be out to prove to the Nashville coaching staff that signing him wasn't a mistake.

9. Justin Schultz

Up until this past season, Schultz was pretty productive in Pittsburgh. In 170 games from 2016-17 to 2018-19, he had 93 points in 170 games (that's an 82-game pace of 45 points). In those three seasons, he also had 36 power-play points, 310 shots and 250 blocked shots. He struggled most of this year, finishing with 12 points in 46 games (a 21-point pace). He finds himself in the same situation in Washington as in Pittsburgh: An underrated offensive performer stuck behind a much-better offensive defenseman. Schultz's biggest issue is staying healthy, but he could easily get back to a 40-point pace.

8. Thomas Greiss

Even a good goalie on a bad team has fantasy relevance. Most basic leagues go with wins, GAA and saves as the goalie categories. Oftentimes, a good goalie getting 65 starts on a bad team can finish with better numbers than a great goalie on a great team. After all, the former will be facing a lot more pucks. Probably one of the most underrated netminders in the league, Greiss has almost always been in a timeshare and never really given the chance to be the number one. The year he came closest, in 2016-17, he had a 26-18-5 record with three shutouts and a quality start percentage of almost 61 per cent. Now that he's in Detroit, his overall number won't look that great, but he's finally a number one. That means more opportunities for wins and saves.

7. Mikko Koivu

Recency bias is a big factor when looking at a player's performance, and while Koivu is 37 years old, I don't believe he's dropped that significantly in such a short time. Before this past season, he was usually good for at least a 50-point pace. This year, that dropped to a 31-point pace. However, there were numerous factors for that. His ice time was down three minutes per game, and his power-play time was down dramatically as well. If either goes back up with Columbus, he should see an uptick in production.

6. Craig Smith

At this stage of his career, you pretty much know what you're getting with Smith. He's a consistent 20-goal, 40-point player who will finish with a positive plus/minus, 200 shots, a hit per game and a few power-play points. And that's with lower minutes than many other players who post similar stats. After averaging 13:25 a night in his last season with Nashville, Smith should see an increase in ice time with the Bruins. He should also have better linemates than Nick Bonino and Rocco Grimaldi, his two most frequent linemates in Nashville.

5. Alexander Wennberg

Wennberg struggled in his last couple of seasons with the Blue Jackets, but he has put up 40 points on two occasions, and had a 43-point pace in another season. One of his biggest issues is the lack of shots, which leads to a lack of goals. He's only broken 100 shots once, and has scored 10 goals once. However, he knows how to pass the puck and he can help out on a power play. There's a good chance he slots into the second-line role in Florida, so a 40-to-50-point season could be achievable.

4. Malcolm Subban

With Corey Crawford now in New Jersey, Subban could be the de facto number one goalie for the Hawks next season. Unless the team makes a trade or signs another netminder, the Hawks will more than likely go into next season with Subban and Collin Delia as their two netminders. Subban has never been able to get any traction in the NHL, and he may always be at best, a backup. However, this may be his best opportunity to lay claim a number one job after he re-signed with Chicago.

3. Corey Crawford

Crawford is a much better netminder than his numbers show, and after a strong showing this past season, he signed with the Devils at almost $4 million a year for two years. Aside from wins, he posted almost identical numbers to Mackenzie Blackwood.

Blackwood: 47 games, 22-14-8 record, 2.77 GAA, .915 SV%

Crawford: 40 games, 16-20-3 record, 2.77 GAA, .917 SV%

Blackwood had a better record because of the team in front of him, but since their numbers were pretty similar, each has a good chance of being New Jersey's number one netminder next season. If Crawford can be that top guy, his stats should be better than if he was still the top guy in Chicago.

2. Vinnie Hinostroza

His numbers may not show it, but if you look at his 82-game pace, Hinostroza had back-to-back seasons of 40-plus points before this past season, when that pace fell off a cliff. This past year in Arizona, he had an 82-game pace of 27. Much of that drop has to do with a lack of quality linemates and zero power-play time. In Florida, Hinostroza should be able to get regular top-six minutes, and at worst, be on the second power-play unit.

1. Kevin Shattenkirk

After a couple of struggling years in New York with the Rangers, Shattenkirk had a bit of a bounce-back season in Tampa with 34 points in 70 games (a 40-point pace). While he probably won't get back to a 60-point pace he once scored, there is an outside chance he could reach 50 points in Anaheim. This is mostly due to Anaheim's defensemen not being very productive. No Ducks' player reached 30 points this past season, and none have reached 40 points since 2009-10. The Ducks defensemen have also been underwhelming on the power play. None reached 10 power-play points this past season, and no one has reached 20 power-play points in a decade. This is a long-winded way of saying there is plenty of opportunity for Shattenkirk to quickly become the main guy in Anaheim.