Hockey fans around the world are starting to rejoice at the same time as the countdown to the season winds down. We're five days from the start of the season, and it sure seems preseason goes faster than we remember? At least it did for me.

Anyway, this weekend is a big weekend for fantasy hockey drafts so let's get to some help for the fantasy owners out there.

Of course, there is our 2021 Dobber Hockey Guide. It has been updated throughout exhibition and is sure to help anyone from the amateur hockey fan to the hardcore fantasy analyst. We have projections, rankings, depth charts, prospects, sleepers, busts, power-play configurations, and a whole lot more. Dig in.

Secondly, the KKUPFL Tier 1 Draft from the fellas at Keeping Karlsson. If podcasts or YouTube videos are more your thing, I joined the KK guys for the Draft of Drafts, as it were. These have auction values but there are dozens of players discussed.

Finally, I'm going to take the next two Ramblings to give all my thoughts on this NHL season, as best I can. I am going to discuss the teams and the league today, and then tomorrow I'll talk important players. The first part will have some team predictions, league trend predictions, and the like. Part two will discuss specific players and their values. Good? Good. Let's roll.

Seattle

It has been funny to see the reactions to Seattle this summer/fall. I am in the camp of most people that the Kraken didn't do nearly well enough at the expansion draft. They didn't really hold teams over the barrel to load up on picks and prospects as they probably could and should have.

With that said, that Seattle may not have drafted the best team they could, or acquired as many draft picks as they could, doesn't mean this is a bad team. We can't let one piece of information affect the other because they're not relevant. The number of draft picks they have next year doesn't tell us whether the roster they have now is good or bad. I think that's something that is getting people to see the Kraken as a worse roster than they really are.

This Seattle team isn't bad. The top line of Schwartz-McCann-Eberle, for example. How much worse is that than, say, Comtois-Zegras-Rakell? Or Dahlen-Couture-Meier? Or Arvidsson-Kopitar-Brown? In other words, is that top line demonstrably worse than many of the top lines in their own division? Maybe, maybe not. It's at least a conversation. They also have Joonas Donskoi on the second line, a guy who has been on the second line in Colorado – a Cup contender – in recent seasons. They have Calle Jarnkrkok – a good defensive winger who can score 15-20 goals – on the third line. While they may not have gamebreakers like a Panarin or a McDavid, they have a deep forward group without glaring weaknesses. Not being bad in some areas can be as important as being elite in others. It gives them an advantage over some of the teams across their division and conference.

The same goes with the blue line. Mark Giordano isn't the same guy he was five years ago, so there are no true elite defencemen here. At the same time, their second pair could be something like Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson. Again, not elite, but better than some second pairs other teams have. Ditto in net.

This was a point raised in The Athletic's preview of the Seattle season. They don't have high-end talent, but they don't have obvious holes either. The worst we can say is that Carson Soucy might be the sixth defenceman, as he has been at times for Minnesota over the years. Not giving up anything to the opponent anywhere on the roster is an advantage a lot of teams don't have.

That is why I think Seattle will be a good team this year. Probably not great, but I think this team is deep enough that they're going to be in games night after night. They are not in Colorado's/Vegas's league and may even be a step down from the Dallas/St. Louis/Minnesota tier. But there is no reason they can't be in the mix for a playoff spot either in their own division or in the wild card. Playoff teams mean fantasy relevance, either up front or on the blue line/in goal.  

Philadelphia

In my mind, there is no team with a greater range of reasonable outcomes this year than the Flyers. If Travis Konecny continues his growth, as does Joel Farabee, and Giroux/Couturier stay healthy, combined with a Carter Hart rebound, a Stanley Cup would not shock me. In fact, I bet on the Flyers over the summer. I think they really do have the upside for a Cup.

There are a lot of ifs there, however. Giroux needs to turn back the clock, Konecny/Farabee need steps forward, Hayes needs to get/stay healthy, Hart, needs to get himself right, and all the new defencemen need to acclimate themselves. All this done, by the way, under the direction of Alain Vigneault. I know some people like him as a coach. I am not as high on him as others seem to be.

But we can see how this can go very right, very quickly, yeah? A top-9 of this:

Giroux-Couturier-Konecny

Lindblom-Hayes-Atkinson

JvR-Brassard/Frost-Farabee

If Frost can become the player we think can be – another if – we see how good this top-9 can be. Add in Provorov, Ellis, Sanheim, Braun, and Keith Yandle running the power play, combined with a rebound Hart, and the pieces are there. It isn't hard to see how this team can turn into a contender.

But, again, there are a lot of ifs here. A lot has to go right for this team to reach their potential, and the more things need to go right, the more likely things are to go wrong. It should at least make for an entertaining season, regardless of what happens.

St. Louis

When talking about St. Louis last season, we need to start and end with their injuries. A small taste of games missed (out of 56):

• Jaden Schwartz – 16
• Vince Dunn – 13
• Tyler Bozak – 25
• Sammy Blais – 20
• Vladimir Tarasenko – 32
• Robert Thomas – 23
• Colton Parayko – 24
• Oskar Sundqvist – 28

Their top-line left and right wing missed 48 games while their #1 and #2 defencemen missed 37. They also had a slew of depth players miss significant chunks. Sure, guys like Perron and ROR stayed healthy, but you can't lose a third of your roster for half the season and expect to succeed.

As such, I think the Blues are being kind of over-looked this year. They seem ready to run three good scoring lines, something very few teams have. The blue line isn't elite, but it isn't terrible, either. And as mentioned in the Seattle section, this isn't a deep conference.

If this team stays healthy and Tarasenko returns to Tarasenko form, why isn't this one of the four or five best teams in the West? Goaltending may be an issue but it's an issue for about 27 teams in the league. That doesn't illuminate much here.

Keep an eye on St. Louis. I think they surprise this year. Again.

New Jersey

This will be short because there's no need to dive deep into negativity but I have to say I'm lower on the Devils than a lot of people this year. Yes, Hamilton, Graves, and Tatar will help a lot, and I also think Jack Hughes will take a big step forward.

With all that said, look at the East. There are the elite like Boston, Toronto, Florida, and Tampa. Then there are the hopeful playoff teams like New York (x2), Carolina, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. Is New Jersey any better than 10^th in the Conference?

That isn't meant to be a dig here, either. This team isn't Buffalo or Detroit. They won't be in the basement, and if the goaltending holds up, maybe they're in the mix for a wild card playoff spot come April.

All I see, though, is a potential wild card team if things go very well for them. If things don't go well, this isn't a playoff roster. There are a lot of nice pieces here for fantasy, I'm just not sure it's enough to get them over the hump this year.

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An interesting lineup for Washington in their preseason game last night:

Here are the #Caps lines for tonight's preseason game in Boston.

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Eller-Sprong
Sheary-McMichael-Oshie
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

TvR-Carlson
Kempny-Schultz
Orlov-Jensen

Vanecek
Fucale

Rotating in: Lapierre, Malensytn, Irwin and Samsonov

— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) October 6, 2021

We've seen them try the Daniel Sprong experiment before. Will this one last longer? We'll see. Also interesting seeing Connor McMichael as the 3C. Hendrix Lapierre will get another game but it's nice to see McMichael get another crack.

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Quinton Byfield was injured on Tuesday night and was seen leaving the arena on crutches. While more testing is needed, the John Hoven is reporting he’s going to be out a while with a fractured ankle. The Kings are just saying indefinitely for now.

This is brutal for the rookie. We will see the severity but it will be a difficult season for him regardless. On a much lesser note, this likely squashes any potential fantasy value he might have this year, at least for the first half.

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Lucas Raymond continues to skate on the top line with Dylan Larkin in Wings camp. The injury to Jakub Vrana has forced some changes to the lineup, and it appears the rookie might get a crack with the team's top centre.

We'll see if this lasts – Jeff Blashill is still the coach – but it's exciting for now.