As fun as the offer sheet news was Saturday evening, it's another confusing move for the Carolina Hurricanes this offseason. First the Canes trade Calder Trophy nominee Alex Nedeljkovic for virtually nothing and watched him sign a very reasonable deal with the Detroit Red Wings. Then, they don't sign Dougie Hamilton, presumably because they were outbid, but all of a sudden Carolina is willing to throw more than $6M at Jesperi Kotkaniemi? That's a drastic overpay, and yes, Montreal could match or maybe the Hurricanes have a shorter long-term deal in their back pocket with Kotkaniemi, but shelling out that money as well as losing a first and third round pick makes little sense considering what else they did this summer.

If I'm Montreal, I'm taking my time to see what I can flip those picks for in a trade before making a final decision on matching the deal. There are still some big names available on the trade market…….

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It's August 30^th and Jack Eichel, Vladimir Tarasenko and Evgeny Kuznetsov have still yet to be traded. As each day passes it gets closer and closer to fantasy hockey season and the likelihood of the lack of movement around these players screwing up someone's draft increases.

We've already seen some mock drafts trickle out on social media and real drafts undoubtedly won't be far behind. That puts fantasy GMs in a bit of a bind as how to approach not only the aforementioned three players in drafts, but those that have been rumored to be involved in potential deals for them. For instance, if Eichel isn't dealt before your draft, where would you draft him? Does he even get drafted at all? Even if he goes to a great landing spot, the longer he waits to have his neck injury taken care of, the less and less fantasy value he'll have for the 2021-22 campaign.

It doesn't sound like Tarasenko will return to the St. Louis Blues but maybe there's a chance Kuznetsov stays put in Washington. Still, it's going to be a gamble drafting either one of them without some clarity on where they will be playing next season.

There's also the issue of players that may be involved in a return for these three. This is obviously hard to forecast, but I've heard Mika Zibanejad's name come up in a possible deal for Jack Eichel. The New York Rangers appear to be one of the few teams able and willing to pull off an Eichel deal, so if Zibanejad is going the other way, it's obviously going to impact his draft positioning. You'd obviously take Zibanejad much higher if he's in New York with its potent top-six, as opposed to if he winds up with the Buffalo Sabres, who are likely headed into a season with the sole goal of landing the No. 1 pick. Without that been settled before drafting, taking Zibanejad also comes with some risk.

Perhaps the best way to avoid this is pushing your league's draft back as close to the season as possible if you can.

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Something to keep an eye on in training camp is Rasmus Sandin and the Toronto Maple Leafs power play. Sandin took Morgan Rielly's spot in the first power play unit for a stretch in the playoffs and scored a goal on a blast from the point. Now Sandin is by no means Al MacInnis back there, but the threat of a point shot is something Rielly can't provide and what the Leafs power play was certainly lacking in the second half of the season in 2021.

Sandin is likely going to be a full-time Leaf next year on the third pair with Zach Bogosian now gone and if he's quarterbacking the power play, a 40-point season isn't out of the question.

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Jacob Markstrom posted his worst save percentage last year since the 2014-15 season and in order for that to improve I think the Calgary Flames goaltender probably has to play a little less. Markstrom played 43 of 56 games last year and 60 games in two of three prior years. That workload started to take a toll on the 31-year-old and he appeared burnt out at times.

Playing Markstrom less is going to be tough, though, as Dan Vladar looks to be the backup and I'm not sure he's ready for 35 games or so. That said, if Markstrom can stay healthy he'll have a good chance to record some great win totals, as the Pacific doesn't figure to be that strong. Only two teams from the division, (Edmonton and Vegas) made the playoffs last year.

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Sticking with the Pacific, what players will have fantasy value on the Seattle Kraken next year? That roster doesn't really jump off the page at you, but if your league counts shot blocks then you may want to look Seattle's way.

Kraken defenders Adam Larsson and Mark Giordano ranked second and sixth respectively in the NHL when it came to blocked shots last season, and Jamie Oleksiak finished just outside the top 25. They'll get plenty of opportunities for blocks, too, as there's a good chance an expansion team is going to be spending a lot of time in their own end. I've voiced my concern over Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger next year because I don't feel Seattle will be very good, but having half of your defense corps being capable of blocking a significant number of shots will certainly help the cause.

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I'll be very interested to see how Vancouver's top-six shakes out this year and if the addition of Conor Garland freshens things up a bit. Specifically, who will take the majority of the draws for the Canucks outside of Bo Horvat? Elias Pettersson took well over 600 draws as a rookie, but has only been used sparingly in the faceoff circle ever since.

J.T. Miller has replaced Pettersson in that area over the past two seasons and it's been a blow if you're a Pettersson owner in a league that tracks faceoffs. For instance, in a keeper league I play in that counts faceoffs, I have to decide whether to keep Pettersson or Dylan Larkin for one more year. It seems crazy to let someone with Pettersson's talent go, but if Larkin is good for 600-700 faceoff wins, it makes the choice much tougher. Even if Pettersson gets 10-15 more points than Larkin, that probably isn't going to compensate for the lack of draws.

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A late signing Sunday, as the Ottawa Senators signed goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a two-year deal. It's a two-way deal in the first year and then it becomes one-way in the second year. Gustavsson isn't draftable but he may end up being worthy of a waiver wire add at some point during the season if an injury or another opportunity presents itself. The 23-year-old went 5-1-2 with a .933 save percentage in a small sample size with the Sens last year and he might be the team's most talented goalie.

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It appears Charlie Coyle will start the season as the No. 2 center for the Boston Bruins, replacing the departing David Krejci. Coyle had a down season offensively last year, which could be due to a knee issue he had taken care of this offseason. The 29-year-old managed just 16 total points last season after finding the back of the net 16 times in 70 games the year prior. Coyle has always been a good depth multi-cat guy for hits and faceoffs, but his offensive consistency leaves a lot of to be desired. If he does stick in that second line center spot, though, it's hard to see how his numbers don't rise. He'll likely play with Taylor Hall for much of the season and possibly even David Pastrnak here and there, as the Bruins have been known to drop Pastrnak down at times to create some more offensive balance.

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The Leafs inked goaltender Keith Petruzzelli to a two-year AHL contract Sunday. Petruzzelli was a Red Wings draft pick that didn't sign his ELC and was a Hobey Baker finalist this past season. It's a shrewd move for Toronto, as it comes with no risk or real cost and immediately improves their prospect pool at the position. The Leafs don't really have any NHL ready prospects in goal at the moment and while Petruzzelli isn't there yet, he probably jumps to the top of Toronto's list.

For fantasy hockey tips and advice, you can follow me on Twitter at @amato_mike