I try not to get too excited about line combinations at the opening of training camp. Oh no, not me. I'm not that guy. However… I'll break down a few recent training camp developments and what they mean.

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— Keeping Karlsson (@keepingkarlsson) September 22, 2022

At Leafs camp on Friday, Adam Gaudette was skating on the second line with John Tavares and Mitch Marner, and he is expected to receive power-play reps during camp as well. Gaudette is a former Hobey Baker winner who at one time was pegged to be the Canucks' third-line center of the future (33 PTS in 59 GP in 2019-20). Yet he fell out of favor in Vancouver and was traded to Chicago for Matthew Highmore during the COVID-shortened season and the next season was claimed off waivers by Ottawa.

In spite of two relatively subpar seasons, Gaudette is a strong skater who has averaged second-unit power-play time throughout his career. At 25 years of age, Gaudette is at least being handed a golden opportunity, although I'm not rushing to add him in any league yet based on this recent development. If he's still there on opening night, then I might be more easily persuaded.

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The Canucks appear to be spreading out their scoring to create a top 9. Offseason additions Andrei Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev have been skating on a line with Elias Pettersson. Those two might not be the most ideal linemates for Pettersson himself, but the two Russians haven't been brought in to get pushed down the lineup either.

If you have been concerned about Bo Horvat as a possible third-liner, he was on a half-decent unit with Conor Garland and Vasily Podkolzin. J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, and Tanner Pearson formed the other scoring line, which seems to leave Nils Hoglander as the odd man out. Although Hoglander is only 21 and still possesses considerable upside, I wouldn't be surprised if some time in the AHL is in his future in order to provide him with more icetime and scoring opportunities.

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Vincent Trocheck is expected to receive first-unit power-play minutes for the Rangers, replacing the departed Ryan Strome. Even though I've removed Trocheck from the Top 100 Roto Rankings, I still like him as a potential late-round option in fantasy drafts. His ADP in Yahoo is 158 and in Fantrax is 127. Although his shot total has dipped in recent seasons, Trocheck still provides double-digit hits and a high faceoff win total. He had also been on the first-unit power play in Carolina, although he could very well build on his 12 power-play points from last season because he had recorded 18 power-play points in just 47 games the season before.

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Earlier this week, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant stated that Sammy Blais would start the season on the top line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. Although this may not last, given his lack of overall career scoring (0.29 career PTS/GP), Blais is an obvious waiver-wire pickup in deeper leagues if you're looking for deep sleepers. The proposed future line deployment may not be the only reason to add Blais to your lineup, though.

Because of a torn ACL, Blais played in just 14 games last season. He didn't help his cause in the games he did appear in, failing to score a goal while chipping in four assists. However, Blais is a hit machine, averaging over 2.5 hits per game in 2021-22 while reaching double-digit hits the previous two seasons in spite of playing no more than 40 games over each of those two seasons. I added Blais in my 20-team salary cap league for the reasons listed above and because of his affordable cap hit ($1.525 million). But deep leagues are probably as far as I would go with Blais at the moment.   

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Also news from a couple days ago but worth reiterating, Jakob Chychrun has publicly requested a trade from the Arizona Coyotes. Given the long rebuilding state of the Coyotes, a move to just about anywhere will probably help his fantasy value, even with even-strength and power-play icetime considerations. Plus/minus is one stat that will for sure improve, as he had already dipped to a minus-29 over the first two months of the season. Chychrun has also battled injuries that held him to just 47 games last season.

For more news, check out the new Player Newsfeed on Frozen Tools.

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In the span of two calendar years, the Flyers have nosedived from popular Stanley Cup contender to possible Connor Bedard winner. The latest dose of bad news in Philadelphia has to do with Sean Couturier, who seems doubtful to start the season and could miss substantial time due to a possible back injury. Couturier's injury means that Kevin Hayes and Scott Laughton could start the season as Philly's top two centers. That seems okay for an expansion team, but not for a team like the Flyers that expects to compete every season.

I was curious to find out how Dobber would handle the projections of several Flyers after the Couturier injury, particularly the centers. Sure enough, only Couturier was downgraded, with some fringe players inching their way into more games. If Couturier isn't out for the majority of the season, those Flyers shouldn't be affected much. Yet are you expecting a big bump in value for Hayes or Laughton anyway? Maybe a little bit, but the Flyers don't have a ton of scoring depth to begin with.

I would normally try to break down the Ryan Ellis injury as well and how it might affect the Flyers, but he's only played four games for them and they were at the start of last season. Although many of Philadelphia's problems are self-inflicted, it's hard to find another team that's been as snakebitten with key injuries as they have. Hopefully Ellis can resume his career at some point.

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Have you seen the Canadiens defense this coming season? Not exactly the big 3 of Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, and Guy Lapointe. To complicate matters, recently appointed alternate captain Joel Edmundson will be sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury. That's why I'm intrigued with Mike Matheson there, as he might become a Mr. Everything defenseman there – high minutes, power-play time, you name it.

Matheson has been a second-unit power-play option at best throughout his career. Yet the only player that might stand in his way from the first-unit power-play initially is Chris Wideman, who profiles similar to Erik Gustafsson in that he can bring the power-play numbers but is a healthy scratch risk because of his defensive play. The more I think about this, the more I like it for Matheson. Enough so that I've added him in one of my leagues.

Fantasy Take: Petry to Pittsburgh for Matheson

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Do you want to compete against your fellow DobberHockey readers for a chance to become ultimate champion? Spots are now available for the 2022-23 DobberHockey Tiered Invitational! The league comes complete with three tiers of roto leagues with promotion and relegation. For more, go to this Forum thread.

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Mike Amato will appear as a regular guest on the Ultimate Fantasy Sports Daily. In this episode, he previews fantasy hockey forwards and goaltending battles. Weirdly enough, I own the exact same hat.

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In case you haven't noticed this on either Frozen Tools or the Forum, user rjfisher83 has created the Same Night Tool spreadsheet again this season. I find this particularly helpful for a partially created team of some kind – think a team in the middle of a draft or even a keeper. As you venture further down the rankings, the options become more and more similar, so number of available games could be one deciding factor for you. Of course, later-round picks are more likely to be replaced during the season anyway, but finding that right schedule fit could maximize the usefulness of that player on your roster.

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.