The Olympic Men's Ice Hockey kicks off this morning, and to get all you insatiable fantasy geeks your cheat sheet on who you should be keeping an eye on, Peter Harling has you covered. He dives into a whole bunch of NHL relevant prospects that are going to be covered in the games. Just like the world juniors, this might be a great time to pick up one or two of them, and see if you can flip them in a couple of weeks when their names are all over and their value peaks. Rinse and repeat, every year.

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Tuukka Rask is not expected to continue his comeback attempt with the Boston Bruins, sources tell @FlutoShinzawa.

Rask may reportedly "finalize his retirement decision in the next few days."https://t.co/t1hykRvN8O

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 9, 2022

Unfortunate news for Rask that he doesn't get to go out under his own terms. For his fantasy owners, it's now time to hope that Swayman is still available in your league, otherwise you may have to go fishing in the FA pile. There should be a few names worth looking into though. Mike Smith is back healthy again, and though his ratios may not be great, the volume and wins should come. Phillip Grubauer has been excellent of late as Seattle settles in to play within their identity. Pavel Francouz has two shutouts in his last three games to go along with wins in his last seven appearances. He's splitting time in the Avalanche crease with Darcy Kuemper right now. All three could bring some value and may be available on the waiver wire or cheap on the trade market.

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Here's a random one. Dawson Mercer somehow has only one secondary assist. (10 Gs, 14 A1s, 1 A2)

93% of his assists were A1s — the highest percentage in the NHL among all players with at least 1 secondary assist.

— CJ Turtoro (@CJTDevil) February 9, 2022

If Mercer was playing with a better offence and getting even low-end of what an average NHL forward sees for lucky secondary assists, he would be up to 30 points already through 47 games. That luck may turn around pretty quickly, and with the Devils starting to gel a bit more overall, in shallower leagues he's someone that is worth looking at streaming whenever the schedule allows it. In deeper leagues he makes an excellent building block.

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We love seeing first career goals, and it's even better when those players were undrafted, or drafted super late. In Trey Fix-Wolansky's case, it's the latter. Click on his name to be taken to his DobberProspects page.

Trey Fix-Wolansky scores in his NHL debut!

He was drafted 204th overall in 2018 by the #CBJ.

Profile🔗:https://t.co/JlRMQR6OpDpic.twitter.com/wvBKJLunn7

— Elite Prospects (@eliteprospects) February 9, 2022

Only three and a half years after he was drafted, he now has more goals than 174 players drafted alongside him. The five-foot-seven winger has some serious offensive upside, but he's a risky option to be able to reach it. If you have a deep minors system and can wait on him, he might be worth a stash, but at best he's still a couple years away from earning a full-time spot.

In the short term, there could be a spot for the next few games if Jakub Voracek misses some time. He looked to hurt his wrist partway through the third. He returned and finished the game, but a few days rest may be the better option for him.

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Early in the game the Capitals looked like they might soon have four goalies with a win, but unfortunately Pheonix Copley coulndn't shut the door and the Blue Jackets came back with four against him before he was pulled in favour of Ilya Samsonov. Of the four goalies to start for the Caps this year, Copley figures to be the least relevant here, but considering he got the start in place of the healthy Samsonov does continue to knock the value down of the Russian netminder, who was expected to carry the majority of the load this year. This is one of those goalie situations where there are lots of wins to be had, but in order to get all of them you have to use up more roster slots than is worth it. I own the WSH tandem in one league, and I'm looking to move them for a single starter as soon as possible.

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Much sought after goalie prospect Matt Guzda has chosen to sign with the Florida Panthers. On the surface that seems to be a head scratching move for a 21-year-old who can pick his spot between the 15+ teams that were reportedly interested, but when you dig a little deeper the red flags fade away. With the Panthers likely needing to clear cap for Jonathan Huberdeau's extension in the summer of 2022 (if not sooner), the odd man out is likely Sergei Bobrovsky. That leaves only Spencer Knight as real competition in the organization moving forward, where there is a real shot at an NHL job within a year or two. On top of that, the Panthers don't have a lot of goaltending depth in their system after having traded Devon Levi, which means Guzda can soak up starts in the AHL as he turns pro.

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Speaking of Florida, if you haven't clued in to the wonky schedule yet, then go check it out now, as the Panthers haven't played yet this week, and are off until next Wednesday. Don't hold any of their fringe guys, and make use of the three to five games you can get in that time frame from players on other teams. The Kings, Rangers, and Sharks also don't play at all for the rest of the week.

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Tampa Bay re-upped Patrick Maroon as he continues his quest for four (or more) Cup wins in a row. He was extended on a two-year pact at the $1 million rate that Tampa has going for their cheap veterans.

The Blues extended a pair of depth players as well, though neither should be on your fantasy radar. What is interesting though is that they are finding the need to sign these cheap extensions now, which tells me they think their offseason is going to bring them tight to the cap, and maybe get a little messy. These kinds of cheap deals help management plan a little better around possible movement of larger contracts, in addition to sorting out how much they have leftover to re-sign free agents. Between David Perron, Scott Perunovich, Ville Husso, and Niko Mikkola, there are a few players in need of raises, so the Blues likely won't be able to fit everyone. Odds are David Perron (who currently finds himself on the third line) may be priced out and have to find another home in free agency. My projections have him at around a $5 million AAV on his next deal, which the Blues just can't fit. 

Fun fact, Perron has played for five different NHL teams, but has only ever signed contracts with St. Louis.

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It's interesting looking at the #Sens stats and seeing Michael Del Zotto still tied for 3rd in points amongst d-men on the team despite only playing 10 games.

He's over a point per game down in Bellville.

Wonder what Dorion decides to do prior to the deadline.

— Kyle Bukauskas (@SNkylebukauskas) February 8, 2022

For those of you in deeper (cap) leagues, Michael del Zotto is a name to keep an eye on to see if he gets moved at the deadline. Lots of upside with the peripherals too.

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Another Ottawa defenceman is seeing his stock take a turn towards the positive. Erik Brannstrom has now seen 20+ minutes of ice time in six of his last eight games. He's seeing one minute of powerplay time as well, though he only has two points on the season to this point. Between the ice time, his shots, and some extremely unsustainable bad luck, his turnaround may see him with 10-15 points in the second half of the season, which would be a great stepping stone towards making good on his high offensive potential.

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No one plays the anti-hero for your fantasy team better than Marchand:

Brad Marchand didn't let Tristan Jarry give a puck to a Pens fan in Boston 😂 pic.twitter.com/9U2VlSACqS

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) February 9, 2022

Marchand trying to stop Crosby from getting a new stick 💀 pic.twitter.com/i388DigJ9K

— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) February 9, 2022

And to cross the line and get ejected from the game:

Brad Marchand gets heated with Tristian Jarry in the final minute of PIT/BOS tonight. pic.twitter.com/UbJghSP8oQ

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) February 9, 2022

Even when he doesn't score, he makes sure he brings something for your fantasy team. Sucker punching and then trying to shave Tristan Jarry might lead to some supplemental discipline though. Keep an eye on that.

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Find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.

Cheers!