Jake Allen has signed a two-year extension with a $3.85 AAV, which is set to kick in next season. That's a slight raise on his $2.875 million cap hit, if you are in a cap league. With Carey Price's career very much in doubt, Allen seems like the number one goalie for the Canadiens for this coming season and beyond.

Allen is being drafted after pick 200 on average in Fantrax leagues, while his name doesn't even register in the top 50 of goalies in Yahoo leagues (interestingly enough, Price is still listed in the top 50). Because of his team's likely fate, Allen is more of a last resort among starting goalies than anything. Signing Allen to this extension should also provide Cayden Primeau with all the time he needs to develop.

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Calvin De Haan's PTO with the Hurricanes was successful, as he was able to convert it to a one-year contract worth $850,000. De Haan was the second player this offseason to turn a PTO into a contract, with Scott Harrington of the Sharks being the first. Although De Haan doesn't offer much in the way of scoring, he has value in the way of peripherals. De Haan was tied for third with 172 blocked shots last season while finishing with just over two hits per game (146 HITS in 69 GP).

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To think, by this time next week, we will have actual NHL games being played. Regular-season games too. Sure, it'll only be the Nashville/San Jose pair of games as part of the NHL Global Series in the Czech Republic, but at least we'll have fantasy-relevant games to discuss. Load up on Predators and Sharks if you're able to, as the first scoring period in many head-to-head leagues covers Friday, October 7, all the way to Sunday, October 16.

If you go to the Frozen Tools Schedule Planner, select Custom Date Range, then the above dates, you'll see that the Predators and Sharks lead the way with four games played for that scoring period. The two teams might be jetlagged by the time they return to North America, which is something to keep in mind for the Preds' home debut against Dallas the following Thursday and for the Sharks' home debut the following Friday against Carolina. In fact, the Sharks play home back-to-backs on Friday and Saturday (Chicago), which could present a real challenge as they attempt to get their internal clocks back in order.

Here are a few players that you could consider from those two teams:

Mikael Granlund

In one particular league, I'm leaning into Granlund at least partially because of the early schedule. His availability seems to vary widely since he's 75% rostered in Fantrax but only 22% rostered in Yahoo. This might have something to do with the fact that he's only C-eligible in Yahoo but has both C and RW eligibility in Fantrax. Don't expect goals from Granlund, since he hasn't reached 20 in his 3+ seasons with the Predators. However, he finished in the top 30 in assists with 53 last season. He was also a top-30 player in power-play points (28 PPP) on a surprisingly strong Nashville power play last season.

Ryan Johansen

If Granlund isn't available in your league, Johansen profiles as a similar type of player. Johansen is only C eligible in Yahoo and Fantrax while being rostered on a similar percentage of teams in both formats. Johansen's 26 goals seem like an outlier considering both his higher-than-normal 22.0 SH% and previous sub-20-goal seasons in Nashville. He also posted 24 PPP last season, although the Sharks may not be as much of a pushover on the power play as you might think. They finished with the second-best penalty-killing percentage in the league (85.2 PK%).

Philip Tomasino

Tomasino is a potential breakout that was identified by TJ of the Five Hole Fantasy Hockey Podcast as such (go to about the 34:30 mark of the below podcast that I appeared on earlier this week). In fact, Tomasino could be a player that you hang onto all season as a deep reach potential breakout. Tomasino, posted some outstanding junior numbers before a decent rookie 2021-22 season (32 PTS in 76 GP). He could easily build on that if he finds his way into Nashville's top 6. He's rostered in less than 10% of Yahoo leagues.

William Eklund / Thomas Bordeleau

I was going to include Alexander Barabanov here, but Barabanov is reportedly not on the Sharks' flight to Europe. Eklund and Bordeleau will be on that trip, even though they were already likely to make the Sharks., Eklund, the 2021 seventh overall pick, impressed on his nine-game trial last season in recording four assists. He's rostered in just 9% of Yahoo leagues, but if he is somehow spoken for in yours, you could also consider fellow prospect Bordeleau (2% rostered in Yahoo leagues). Bordeleau recorded five assists in eight games late last season after finishing at the University of Michigan.

Luke Kunin

If Eklund is rostered in your league, Kunin would be a potential deep league option and perhaps even a better short-term option than Eklund. Because Barabanov is sidelined, Kunin has moved up to the top line with Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl. Kunin's value in bangers leagues is even higher than in pure scoring leagues, as he was a top-25 option in the hits category (223 HITS).

If your league's draft hasn't taken place yet, why not make one of these players your final pick? If there are better players out there, you could always stream that spot afterward. It's about getting every edge that you can.

You may want to bench your Blues and Jets that week, as each of those teams plays only one game in that scoring period. The Blues in particular are a poor play schedule-wise, as their only game happens to be on a busy Saturday. Every other team plays either two or three games during the first scoring period.

Look for the Looking Ahead article to return next week to help you plan your upcoming schedule. Andrew will cover the schedule in more detail than I have here, but I just wanted to provide the key highlights for the early birds out there without stealing his thunder too much from him (I hope). While I'm on the subject, Lining Up (line combinations) and Injury Ward (latest injury news and analysis) will also be returning earlier next week.

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If you have a draft this week, best of luck to you. I've got one of my own happening later today. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.