Well, it is here. The NHL drops the puck tonight for the opening of the 2021-2022 season and while there are only two games — including the Seattle Kraken opening up against the NHL's 31st team, the Vegas Golden Knights. There are players across the league, though, that have favourable deployment that we should be looking to.

Anders Lee – Anders Lee played in 27 games last season so there may be people that forget about him. However, in 2019-2020 he was pretty awesome. His 55.9 Corsi For percentage (CF%) was second on the New York Islanders. It's safe to say he has settled into a 25-30 goal scorer that should put up 50 points. I expect that to happen again this season. Lee is a fixture on the Islanders top line and top power-play unit, and they are a team that is very sneaky underrated this season. They have very strong depth from a lot of underrated and underappreciated forwards, and defense for that matter, which will likely see Lee remain underrated.

Evgenii Dadonov – After a pretty disastrous season in Ottawa, where he was brought in to be a main contributor but faltered, Dadonov finds himself in Vegas on the third line. There are plenty of stars on Vegas that Dadonov will simply be able to go out there and do his thing against other team's secondary players and he won't be a player other teams focus on shutting down. Ideally, Dadonov gets into the top-6, but he may start on the third line as the top-6 is pretty set from the previous season.

Taylor Hall – Another player going from a disastrous season to a new situation is Taylor Hall. We do have a bit of a sample of this as Hall was traded to Boston at the trade deadline last year. He was amazing in the regular season for Boston, scoring 8 goals and 14 points in just 16 games after starting with a horrific 2 goals and 19 points in 37 games for the Buffalo Sabres. However, he struggled a bit in the playoffs with just 3 goals and 5 points in 11 games. A full season ahead of him on the Bruins should do wonders for him as he lines up on the second line with Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith. This is a pretty solid second line and a great complement to the stacked top line.

Lucas Raymond – The fourth overall pick in the 2020 NHL entry draft, Lucas Raymond has made the Detroit Red Wings as a 19-year-old. There is some solid offensive potential for him as he put up good numbers for a player of his age in the Swedish Hockey League. With 28 points in 67 games over the last two seasons, he hopes to bring his offensive ability to the forefront of the Red Wings roster. Raymond was playing with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi in the preseason which shows the Red Wings' faith in him as an offensive talent. He will be given every opportunity to succeed this season and despite playing on a poor team, could be a sneaky Calder Trophy candidate if he remains in the NHL all season.

Trevor Zegras – The Anaheim Ducks might be going relatively young this season as they will likely be relying on youngsters like Max Comtois, Trevor Zegras, Max Jones, and Jamie Drysdale, among others. He is one of the players the Ducks hope to lead them back into the playoffs in the coming years. He had over a point per game in the AHL last season; 10 goals and 21 points in 17 games. Additionally, he won the MVP at the World Junior Championships last season. Zegras certainly put up acceptable numbers in his 24 NHL games last season with 13 points. While his play was likely a bit isolated, he actually led the Ducks with a 54.3 CF% last season which gives even more hype to him coming into this season.

Kirby Dach – Tyler Johnson has been playing on the top line with Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, but I could see Kirby Dach getting some time there later in the season. After missing most of last season with an injury, he was still able to put up a respectable 10 points in 18 games. The 20-year-old could move up and down the lineup at even strength, but if he can get an extended look with Kane and DeBrincat there is some sneaky upside here. He has been playing on the second power play unit and, again, if he can get up to the top power play unit, I like him even more this season.

*stats from Natural Stat Trick