The season is officially upon us. There haven't been a ton of games played as of this writing (Thursday October 13), but I did want to take a moment and touch on a few players. There have been a number of interesting developments, and guys to watch through camp or the first few games.

For this week we don't have a specific report we are working off – more taking a look at changes in lines and flashes of production through preseason and the early going. The goal is to identify if players are worth holding/grabbing, or if we should be cutting bait. We will be referencing the player profiles, using the game log, line combo, and career pages, while using rostered percentages from Yahoo. Also this is all based on Wednesday night's games, so I will undoubtedly miss some storylines from Thursday night. The usual caveat also applies here that we are dealing with small sample sizes, and deployment can change quickly.

To start we are going to Carolina as they had a bunch of players on my list. Based on preseason lines, Ondrej Kase (0 percent rostered) was up on the top power play, with Martin Necas (11 percent) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (4 percent) playing on the second line and second power play and Seth Jarvis (65 percent) getting top-line deployment. Jarvis is an obvious add if he is still available to you, but it is actually Necas who has been blowing the doors off. He put up six points in three preseason games (which yeah, it's preseason), but then went and put up three points in game one and played almost 18 minutes. Kotkaniemi got closer to 15 and a half minutes total, but also got a point to go along with four over four preseason games. I am reasonably interested in both going forward.

Next, we have a bunch of players that are in very interesting spots, where we have some evidence that their deployment is working. These are definitely all players I would grab if I have them available. They are deployment dependent so keep an eye on those lines as these folks might not be worth much if things change.

Dylan Strome (25 percent) looks to be anchoring the second line in Washington and getting a turn on the top power play. That unit is lethal so getting access to it is ideal. Strome saw almost 20 minutes of total time in his first game, five and a half minutes of power-play time, and got a goal. He had four points in four preseason games for what it is worth.

Andrei Kuzmenko's (38 percent) name has already been making the rounds, but he is worth your attention if your league mates haven't noticed yet. He saw over seven minutes of power-play time in Vancouver's first game on the top unit, is playing with Elias Pettersson at even strength, and got a goal in his first game.

Reilly Smith's (15 percent) fortunes have dramatically improved with a new coach. Through most of preseason and Vegas' first game he has been lining up with Jack Eichel on the top line and top power-play. He put six shots on goal and got an assist in Vegas' first game, so go take a look.

With Gabriel Landeskog out, Artturi Lehkonen (58 percent) is getting a spin on the top line. It suited him in game one with almost six minutes of power-play time, almost 19 and half minutes of total time, two goals, an assist, and three shots. If he is somehow not owned in your league, go get him right now (and then come back and finish the article).

Our next group of players are those who I am interested in, but either have some reservations or would like to see a little bit more.

Connor Brown (14 percent) didn't hit the score sheet in his first game, but he did play for 19 and a half minutes, and with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin at even strength. He has never really eclipsed a 50-point pace, even with big minutes in the past, but those big minutes never included Ovechkin. Definitely one worth watching.

Luke Kunin (eight percent) has top-line deployment in San Jose. That's about it though. He does have two points in two games, though only two shots. He does also hit if that is helpful. The point production has been nice, but it doesn't look very sustainable. If he can hang onto the top line spot, he is going to get a few points to go along with decent hits, which can be valuable.

Victor Olofsson (14 percent) ended preseason on the top line in Buffalo with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner. He also saw some decent power-play deployment. The expectation was that the top line role would be Alex Tuch's, but I am interested to see if Olofsson can do something here.

It might finally be Marco Rossi's (10 percent) year. After a few fits and starts to his career he finally seems ready to enter Minnesota's lineup. There are no regular season games as of the time of this writing, but he put up nine points over six preseason games. The lines have been a little all over the place (because, well, it was preseason), but he did see a couple of looks on the top line with Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov. I am still assuming that that top line spot is Ryan Hartman's for the moment, but Rossi still definitely bears watching.

The final group is guys who I had been monitoring, but am not particularly interested in.

Kaapo Kakko (14 percent) is again getting a shot with good deployment. Through the end of preseason and his first regular season game he was skating with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Given his pedigree and opportunity I was interested. His first game was an absolute dud. Thirteen and a half minutes of total ice time, barely any power-play time, no shots, no points. It's not like it was full line problem either, both Kreider and Zibanejad got goals. I am not particularly interested until Kakko shows something at this point.

Nino Niederreiter (29 percent) made a splash over two games with three goals. The reason I am less interested is that they were on three shots. He is also on the second line, and not seeing a particularly high amount of ice time. We have seen a lot from him over the last several years, and nothing has been particularly spectacular. At this point I would rather take a shot at some of the above list for upside.

At some point Jakub Vrana (61 percent) is going to break out, right? We can hope, but I really don't love second line, second power-play Vrana in Detroit. Even in preseason games he was getting less than 15 minutes a night and put up two points in four games. He could still end up with a 55–60-point pace as he has done in several shortened seasons, but it is not looking great for more. 

Finally, it looked like Evgenii Dadonov was in line to start on the top line in Montreal which made him marginally interesting. He didn't get the spot in Montreal's first game though and Montreal did great so tough luck. Less than 12 minutes overall, third line, and only one shot, make Dadonov very uninteresting.

That is all for this week. Do your part to support organizations working to make hockey for everyone.

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