Regular season games in North America are underway, and the full-fledged fantasy season is upon us!

Last night started with two games, seeing the Rangers take on the Lightning in the battle of the fantasy first-round goalies. The late game saw the Kings and Golden Knights square-off in what was probably a slightly less anticipated matchup. With only five more days now in our first week of fantasy hockey, make sure you check the schedule and adjust as necessary to get some extra man-games in by Sunday in leagues where you can.

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Noteworthy to me was Jonathan Quick getting the start for LA over Cal Petersen, showing that the goalie split is likely still going to favour Quick's experience and contract, despite this being year two of Petersen's $5.0 AAV contract. He will take over as soon as Quick leaves though, and this is a team on the rise. If you own Petersen in a keeper, be patient.

At the other end of the rink, Logan Thompson got the start in favour of offseason acquisition Adin Hill. Likely Vegas wants to see what they have in Thompson first, as his time with the team may be cut short, by no fault of his own.

Laurent Brossoit was spotted at practice for the first time today as he returns from an injury. He may only be a couple weeks away now, and Brennan DeSouza should have a better update on him for you in his Injury Ward column later today.

What is working against Thompson is his "waiver-exempt" status, meaning that he's the easiest one to send down to the minors without risk of losing him. Adin Hill and Brossoit should also be able to combine as a reliable-enough tandem to put the Golden Knights in the playoff picture, so Thompson is going to have to make his play earn him a permanent spot on the roster, and fast.

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Speaking of sticking with the roster, I'm going to run through some quick-hits in no particular order of first-year players that I find noteworthy that they made their respective NHL teams.

A.J. Greer – The sizeable winger plays a bruising style which has endeared him to the braintrust in Boston. He's penciled in on the third-line already, and with how injury-prone the top-six is, there's a little room to move up and round out his production on top of his base of lofty hit totals.

Kieffer Sherwood – After scoring the first goal of the 2022-23 season, Sherwood is providing some reason for optimism for those dozen of us that picked him up as a streamer for those first few NHL games. He's up on the second line for the Preds at the moment, and impressed in camp. He shot the lights out in the AHL last year, and can hold his own in the corners. His limited ice time is a looming red flag for the time being though.

Aliaksei Protas – Lining up on the second line for the Capitals in their most recent practice, Protas made the team out of camp las year too, but looks a lot more NHL-ready this time around. The hulking centreman has some very light hands for his size, and makes an ideal complement to the top-six core missing Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie. He should fill in while there are some injured forwards, and may be able to keep his spot in the top-nine even after most return.

Charlie Lindgren – Lindgren won all five of his starts last season, and was given a three-year deal to back up the injury-prone Darcy Kuemper on a possible playoff team in Washington. He's maybe not someone to hold on your roster full time, but he makes an excellent streaming option, and is a must grab in the event Kuemper misses any time.

Cole Koepke – Played last night on the third line for the Lighting, and we have seen how much they like to mix up their top-nine throughout the season and within single games. He could have some irregular exposure to the big guns, while the consolation prize in the meantime is Ross Colton and Vlad Namestnikov.

Jamieson Rees – Currently one of 13 forwards on the Carolina roster, the former second-rounder has a chance to make a mark and stick in the NHL. He may get a push back if Derek Stepan is given a regular lineup spot, but in the meantime there is lots of rope before Max Pacioretty returns around the All-Star break.  

Nils Aman – It is extremely rare that we get to the point of NHL teams releasing their opening rosters, and someone makes the list that I have never once heard of. Well Aman hits that list, and upon some quick research, he looks like a depth forward at best that has come over from Sweden. He had a flashy scoring touch in his under-20 years, but he really hasn't been able to translate that to any kind of scoring once he started playing pro. I expect the transition to North America to be a little rocky.

Denis Malgin – Speaking of transitioning to North America, Malgin has some experience here, so his return should be smoother. He has been up on the second line for Toronto, though with John Tavares looking likely to return for game one of the season, his spot in the lineup is up in the air. He could fit anywhere in the bottom-nine, though his play and his league-minimum contract should give him a leg-up at staying in the lineup all season.

Samuel Ersson – As a result of a recent (minor) injury to Felix Sandstrom, it's possible that we see Ersson steal the Philadelphia backup goalie spot that we all believed to be Sandstrom's to lose. Ersson is a goalie, which means his upside is sky high and his floor is bottomless… kidding aside, he is a fifth-round-pick from five years ago, and his stats from the previous couple of years lend some credence to what seemed like a joke in the last sentence. He has only one year in the last decade where his save percentage has finished between .899 and .920. There isn't a lot of middle ground with him, and that's not likely to play well behind a bottom-five NHL team. At least he should rack up a lot of saves.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph – POJ is someone that the Penguins are desperately hoping can continue to grow in the NHL, as he is the only high pick from the last number of years that is still in the system and has a realistic shot to play in the top-half of the lineup (excluding the 2022 crop). With a deep defence core though, he can be brought along slowly… so slowly in fact that he will likely end up with more healthy scratches than powerplay minutes on the season. Not-great for a puck-moving defenceman.

Robin Salo – Another puck-moving depth defenceman that you may want to consider instead is Salo. He too is unlikely to see much power play time, but his upside both in the short and long-term is higher. The Isles don't have a lot of scoring upside in general though, and the fun minutes will be soaked up by Noah Dobson. It's nice to see Salo finally make his mark, but the real impact is still years away.

Nick Blankenburg – Blankenburg is another depth defenceman that I have had my eye on since he finished last season with three points in seven games, in addition to posting some solid peripherals. He's sixth or seventh on the depth chart in Columbus at the moment though, so there will be some time in the press-box, and he may not stay up all year. However, when one or two injuries strike (and looking is the Columbus group, they will) Blankenburg couple become a veritable fantasy asset right away in all formats.

Parker Kelly – While sometimes we look for well-rounded players, sometimes you just need a few hits or PIMs to shore up a category, and that's where Kelly comes in. He played 41 games last year, but it's my list so I included him anyways. His final stat line was 12 points, 60 PIMS, 48 Shots, 131 Hits, and 30 Blks.

Alec Regula – Over in Chicago the roster is ripe for a couple out-of-nowhere youngsters jumping up and making their mark. In one league I have Mackenzie Entwhistle and Alec Regula stashed. I'm most excited for Regula though as a defenceman, because he's a bit of a Swiss-army knife, and has some offensive upside. Back in his OHL days, his size and offensive tough actually meant he spent a lot of time as the net-front presence on the London Knights top power play. He's seeing second-unit minutes for the Blackhawks as of yesterday's practice (on the point), and his sandpaper in his own end may be needed as well since the Hawks traded away Riley Stillman a few days ago.

Pavol Regenda – A bit of a quiet offseason signing for the Ducks, Regenda is an unknown commodity for most. He was a scorer back in Slovakia, and also seems to rack up a lot of PIMs. There's cross-the-board coverage upside in fantasy here, though it's more likely he's a 30-point third-liner who adds in 50 PIMs. Still better than most options on the waiver wire if your league is big enough though.

Matias Maccelli – If your league counts plus-minus you can skip the young Coyote, but if you're just looking for points, the upside on this list doesn't get much higher than this. He posted six points in his 23-game cameo last season, but didn't get many minutes. If he sticks around all year it will be because he's earned a spot on a scoring line, making him relevant as a possible 40+ point scorer. He has a 7.5 upside rating on DobberProspects, which means his ultimate upside is around 75 points.

Connor Ingram – One of my favourite bubble NHLers to root for, Ingram is moving to the Coyotes after having been claimed on waivers. It won't take too much for Ingram to outplay Karel Vejmelka, and Ingram showed in last year's playoff games against the Avalanche that he can handle himself in games where he sees a lot of rubber. As far as goalies on bad teams go, there is still some intriguing upside here.

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I'll briefly say that there are also a ton of Calder candidates this year, including Alex Holtz, Marco Rossi, Calen Addison, Jack Quinn, Mason McTavish, Owen Power, Dylan Holloway, Wyatt Johnston, Nils Lundqvist, and just a bunch of other solid names. It's a great time to be building a young team, because the wait times are just shorter and shorter nowadays.

I was also going to mention Vitali Kravtsov as a possible Calder candidate, but he left last night's game with an injury. That puts a bunch of games, but maybe more importantly his top-six spot, in jeopardy. Hoping for a speedy recovery here.

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There are also a few rookies that made the opening-night lineup that should get a nine-game trial, but are a good bet to be sent back down after that.  

Simon Nemec, the most recent second-overall pick by the Devils had a standout camp, and earned an opening night roster spot. However, the Devils have a solid six defencemen, with some other reliable fill-ins waiting in the wings. Nemec is best served in the minors this year.

Former top-10 picks Dylan Guenther and Brandt Clarke made their respective teams as well, however neither is really needed this year. The Coyotes don't need to put Guenther through a year in purgatory, while the Kings have at least four other NHL-worthy right-hand-shot defencemen.

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You can find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments. See you next Wednesday!