Amid all the playoff baseball and preseason NHL games still taking place, the NHL regular season officially started on Friday in Prague. The Predators, led by a goal and an assist from Kiefer Sherwood, skated to a 4-1 win over the Sharks. I had wondered why up-and-comer Philip Tomasino wasn't in the lineup while fringe NHLer Sherwood was, but this turned out to be a good call on the boxscore even if it annoyed fantasy teams. We'll have to wait and see whether Tomasino is added to the lineup for today's game.

Juuse Saros stopped 30 of 31 shots to earn the win for the Predators. James Reimer was your opening-game starter for the Sharks, stopping 28 of 31 shots he faced in the loss.

So that I don't sound overly redundant (and because I prewrote much of the below content earlier in the week), I'll break down the Predators and Sharks series in more detail tomorrow.

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In a late Wednesday night news drop, the Dallas Stars announced that they had finally signed restricted free agent Jason Robertson. Player and team have agreed to a four-year contract with a cap hit of $7.75 million.

Given Robertson's trajectory as an impact player (41 goals in his second NHL season), this seems like a fair deal for the Stars, especially when the $9+ million contracts of the declining Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are on the books for another three seasons. Robertson will still be an RFA at the end of the four years. Maybe the Stars were hesitant to commit long-term, and that could be related to how the Seguin and Benn deals are aging.

According to Frozen Tools, only two lines had better production than the Stars' top duo of Robertson, Joe Pavelski, and Roope Hintz last season.

Line Combination	Team	POS	GF
ELIAS LINDHOLM – JOHNNY GAUDREAU – MATTHEW TKACHUK	CGY	F	83
MITCHELL MARNER – MICHAEL BUNTING – AUSTON MATTHEWS	TOR	F	61
JOE PAVELSKI – ROOPE HINTZ – JASON ROBERTSON	DAL	F	54

Since we're less than a week away from the start of the regular season, Robertson won't have much time to get up to speed. That's why a slow start might be anticipated. An example of that last season was Elias Pettersson, who signed on October 1 and stumbled out of the gate with just 10 points in his first 22 games (a coaching change also helped Pettersson). Brady Tkachuk signed even closer to the start of the season (October 14), but he didn't seem quite as affected with 11 points in his first 16 games. Either way, temper your expectations on Robertson initially.

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On Friday, the Flames signed Mackenzie Weegar to an eight-year extension worth $50 million. Weegar stands to earn a $3 million raise on his current $3.25 million contract, which expires at the end of the season. After a potentially disastrous offseason in which the Flames initially lost both Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, they have rebounded to lock up all of Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and now Weegar to long-term extensions. The potential net gain could be a major reason why the Flames were a popular pick to go to the Stanley Cup Final in our writers' 2022-23 Season Predictions.

Weegar is coming off his first 40-point season, but it's his peripherals that make him a universally-rostered defenseman in fantasy leagues. Over his past two seasons in Florida, Weegar has been a combined plus-69. In addition, he reached 200 shots for the first time in his career last season – one of 13 defensemen to reach that number. He also has plenty to offer in bangers leagues with 81 PIM, 179 HITS, and 156 BKS last season. One potential downside is power-play points, as he's never recorded more than 3 PPP in a season, but he could receive at least second-unit power-play minutes now that he'll be the highest-paid defenseman on the Flames (starting next season).

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Sonny Milano has been released from his PTO with Calgary. Milano, a former first-round pick, recorded 34 points in 66 games last season and seemed to click with Trevor Zegras in Anaheim. I think he could easily catch on with another team.

Further north in Alberta, Jake Virtanen has been released from his PTO with Edmonton. Between his recent lackluster play and the sexual assault court case, this is probably it for his NHL career.   

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The Dobber Tiered Invitational is looking for a few more members. The league drafts at 1:00 pm Eastern on Sunday, so don’t miss out!

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Last Sunday, I was finally able to put all my mock draft practice to good use, completing a league draft for real on Yahoo. I made what I thought were some interesting picks, so I'll take you through my thought process as I try to extrapolate as much value as I can for my team. If you'd rather not read about that, at least I share a few thoughts on players you may have drafted or kept as well.

This is a 14-team league with the following settings:

Goals (G), Assists (A), Plus/Minus (+/-), Powerplay Points (PPP), Shots on Goal (SOG), Hits (HIT), Blocks (BLK)

Wins (W), Goals Against Average (GAA), Save Percentage (SV%)

C, C, LW, LW, RW, RW, D, D, D, D, Util, Util, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR, IR, IR, IR+, IR+

I had the 13^th pick, which I totally expected because I almost never have a high pick in this league and often have a turnaround pick as opposed to evenly spaced picks. That's why I'll be explaining some my picks in pairs.

1.            (13)        Victor Hedman (TB – D)

Best player available, according to my Fantasy Hockey Geek league-specific rankings. It came down to either him or Roman Josi.

2.            (16)        Artemi Panarin (NYR – LW)

I would have loved to pick Josi in this spot, but I also didn't want both of my first two picks to be defensemen. Not long after I made this pick, I discovered that I had accidentally downloaded LAST year's spreadsheet (the giveaway was a high ranking for Robin Lehner). I then immediately downloaded this year's version and discovered that Panarin wasn't nearly as high and that this pick was a reach given his 23.7 ADP. Granted, it's not a terrible pick, but maybe not the most optimal one given the league settings. Since I now have Panarin rostered in two of my leagues, I guess I'm really betting on him this season.

3.            (41)        John Carlson (Was – D)

With my updated spreadsheet, I went with best player available again. I'm stacking the D, which is a strategy I've used in the past that's paid off better that I'd expected.

4.            (44)        Alex DeBrincat (Ott – LW)

It was between DeBrincat and Jack Eichel for this pick. Not surprisingly, Eichel was selected with the next pick.

5.            (69)        Pavel Buchnevich (StL – LW,RW)

6.            (72)        Sam Reinhart (Fla – C,RW)

I realized that I had only picked forwards with two of my four picks, so I figured I should go with best available player here. Buchnevich and Reinhart weren't players that I had previously picked in mock drafts, but these spots were about where their ADPs were and where I have them in the Roto Rankings. These are probably safe bets as opposed to picks that will blow anyone away.

7.            (97)        Mark Scheifele (Wpg – C)

As I had mentioned in a previous Ramblings, I had thought that a certain group of centers had been drafted too low. Right after I made the Buchnevich and Reinhart picks, I searched for them all. Scheifele, Brayden Point, Roope Hintz, and Anze Kopitar. Had them all starred in my queue too. A few of these folks might have read that article because all of Point, Kopitar, and Hintz got picked early in Round 7. Naturally I was relieved when Scheifele was still available at the end of Round 7, where I wasted no time in selecting him.

8.            (100)      Zach Werenski (Cls – D)

At the same time I was searching for those centers, I piled up a few defensemen to select alongside my center. Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo, and Shea Theodore – all selected right before Werenski. The only other defenseman that I had in the queue was Even Bouchard, who was selected in the next round.

9.            (125)      Pavel Francouz (Col – G)

Yes, I am leaning hard into the Zero G strategy this season, both on this team and another one. I didn't necessarily plan it that way prior to this draft, but goalies were getting snatched up before I noticed they were gone. Using this strategy takes a certain amount of courage… and some luck during the season. If you haven't heard of the concept yet, it was started by Nate Groot Nibbelink on his Apples and Ginos blog and has now even made its way onto Yahoo. 

I originally had my eye on Alexandar Georgiev, but he was selected a few picks after I selected Werenski which was about the time I started thinking about my goalie situation. Francouz fit the bill for me because I think this is one of the more unsettled goalie situations, given that Georgiev has never been a starter. Francouz should be considered a strong bet for a win with decent ratios whenever he starts.

10.          (128)      Cole Caufield (Mon – LW,RW)

Following the coaching change to Martin St. Louis, Caufield was a near point-per-game player in the second half last season (35 PTS in 38 GP). Now he gets St. Louis for a full season. Caufield's ADP was 114.6, so I didn't think he'd last much longer in that spot.

11.          (153)      Linus Ullmark (Bos – G)

Anyway, my goalie picks get Nate's seal of approval… or maybe even he thinks I'm rolling the dice.

That is serious ZeroG 😂

— Apples & Ginos Fantasy Hockey (@ApplesGinos) October 3, 2022

Similar thinking with Ullmark as with Francouz. Boston probably won't have as many wins as Colorado, but I think Ullmark is getting undervalued a bit. Jeremy Swayman seems to be the Bruins goalie that drafters prefer, even though Ullmark could still start the slight majority of games because of his bigger contract.

12.          (156)      Charlie McAvoy (Bos – D)

Yes, I'm aware of the injury. However, I think people are forgetting that he should be available for over 50% of the season (expected return early December). He's a fourth defenseman for me at this point, so I can easily find a replacement that can help with hits and blocked shots, which I don't think I've made a point of addressing during this draft. But I figure I can target someone for that in the later rounds or on the waiver wire later when I move McAvoy to IR.

13.          (181)      Nick Suzuki (Mon – C)

If all of the centers I listed in Round 7 were taken, I was actually considering drafting Suzuki in that spot. Imagine my surprise when I saw that he was still available at that spot and that I had picked only two C-eligible players prior to this pick. If a player you had been thinking about picking a few rounds ago is still available a few rounds later and you can fit them in based on team needs, you draft them. Value-wise, this is one of my best picks, provided Suzuki doesn't miss significant time with his current day-to-day injury.

14.          (184)      Blake Wheeler (Wpg – RW)

I also thought Wheeler was artificially low in Yahoo drafts (ADP 167) and had picked him in a few mock drafts prior to this one. Yeah, he's 36 years old now, but 60 points in 65 games is still very productive.

15.          (209)      Philipp Grubauer (Sea – G)

At this point I was looking for a volume-based goalie without regard for ratios, so it was either Grubauer or John Gibson. If Grubauer is a disaster again this season, then the plan will be only to start him if I am in jeopardy of not meeting my required two starts for the week, or I need to catch up in all goaltending categories late in the week. If he's better than that, then picking him is a bonus.

16.          (212)      Rasmus Ristolainen (Phi – D)

As explained during my McAvoy pick, I wanted to find a D that would stuff the hits and blocked shots category. Hits leaders Radko Gudas and Tanner Jeannot (I know, not a defenseman) had been picked back in Round 11, and I was planning to choose one of Ristolainen, Martin Fehervary, and Alexander Romanov. Fehervary, to my surprise, was picked at the end of Round 14, so I just selected Ristolainen. He may have his defensive shortcomings and he could be a plus/minus disaster with the Flyers, but he will rack up those peripheral categories. I was kind of surprised that Romanov was not picked at all during this draft, although he was added from waivers shortly after.  

17.          (237)      Marco Rossi (Min – C)

18.          (240)      William Eklund (SJ – LW)

My rationale for these last two picks was simple: high-upside rookies instead of replacement-level players. I turned to the Dobber's Calder Trophy Picks page in the Fantasy Guide and found Rossi to be the highest-ranked player remaining. I received a compliment from another league member who admitted he was hoping to select Rossi with his final pick. So at least there's that, plus Rossi's outstanding play during preseason (8 PTS in 5 GP), which at the time of writing leads all players. Rossi is only 10% rostered in Yahoo leagues, so now's a great time to add him in mid-sized to deeper leagues.

Marco Rossi is going to be a PROBLEM this year 👀
pic.twitter.com/sPYeIdk2iG

— Nathan "Grav" (@NathanGraviteh) October 7, 2022

After that, Shane Wright had already been picked, while I decided to bypass Juraj Slafkovsky because I think he's several years away from making an impact, if he plays in the NHL at all this season. The next player up was Eklund, who I thought would be used in more than just a limited capacity by the Sharks. Turns out, he was a healthy scratch for Friday's game. Might have to wait on him a bit longer. Yet I was thinking that if one rookie is a hit and one is a miss, then it’s worth it.

So, to summarize… the biggest takeaway seems to be my use of Zero G. I can't say I was planning to go all in on the strategy before I picked my teams. Now it's clearly the plan on two of my teams. In this draft, the goalies just got away from me. In my other draft (slow auction draft), it was borne out of necessity. In that league, I lost out on a bidding war on Frederik Andersen, and most of the other first- and second-tier goalies were already being kept. That means I'm going into the season with Ville Husso, Cal Petersen, Anton Forsberg, and Craig Anderson. Between my three teams, my highest-ranked goalie is… Sergei Bobrovsky. Zero G all the way…

I know that on at least one of these teams, I’ll also say at the end of the season that I lost because my goaltending let me down. However, I’ve said that before even when I use high picks on my goalies.  Anything can happen, including injuries or poor play in a playoff week. Either way, goaltending is a crap shoot and incredibly difficult to predict.  

I'll have a follow-up on this team tomorrow, including a few waiver-wire pickups I've made. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.