Welcome back all! Week 1 is in the books and we're officially off and rolling. Ah, the 12-game slates followed by slates where there's only three games that all start at 6:00 Central, so we're back everyone.

I would like to touch on a couple housekeeping items before diving in this week. First are apologies to all that the table was omitted from last week's Looking Ahead. It is included at the bottom here and will be all season long! Next is you'll notice on each player we highlight that there are also nifty roster numbers alongside each. Let's take roll call. ESPN, here! Yahoo, here! Fantrax…Fantrax?

The Fantrax public league I had been in unfortunately folded before the season began and I had joined another pub last week, or so I thought? What happened, exactly? I would go into a list of excuses like Joliet Jake gave, but I'm just going to chalk it up that it is a mystery that we may never be able to solve. Never fear, though, Fantrax folks, I can still see the roster numbers pre-draft, but won't be able to really get a feel for add/drop trends on that platform until next week. I hope.

The Immediate Fix (Grab this guy and use him for the next several days)

Jake Walman, D, Detroit Red Wings (Rostered in 6% of ESPN leagues, 28% Fantrax,16% Yahoo) – As someone who grew up in Chicagoland, despising the Wings was just something that you did. The United Center was never full until the Red Wings came to town, and you had to watch them raise Stanley Cup banners while the Hawks were blacked out on TV. Times change, divisions shifted, but still that animosity is still there which is why it's hard to tip your cap when they make a move that you really like. A couple seasons ago that was trading for Walman.

All Hawks pettiness aside, I think if I had to go through each club and find players I really like, Detroit has to be up there and I even roster two Wings in my main fantasy league, which is part of the reason why I've watched them so close early on. I can say right now that I want to get anything close to this top pair of Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Larkin as I can. A forward would be great, but the roster numbers on Lucas Raymond are up there and I do really like David Perron who has spent time up on the top line and is correlated with DeBrincat and Larkin on the power play, but even his roster numbers are much higher on Fantrax and Yahoo. This lead me back to my guy Walman, who is on Detroit's top defensive pairing with Moritz Seider.

I think the prospect upside might be 50/50 depending on what site you're on, but I'm still not shorting my Walman stock, and I just think he's in too good of a situation right now to be overlooked. He's had some bad injury luck in the past but if healthy on this Red Wings club I don't think that 40-44 points is out of the question here. Plus, the peripherals at least early do jump off the page as he already has 13 blocked shots so far this season. As an Immediate Fix as well, Detroit plays on both Saturday and Sunday, and I can only imagine that Walman will skate upwards of 20 minutes in each all while getting time on Detroit's second power play.

The Building Block (Buy now, sit back and enjoy the production)

Alex Newhook, C, Montreal Canadiens (Rostered in 6% of ESPN leagues, 43% Fantrax, 5% Yahoo) – I didn't think that we'd be having an Alex Newhook fantasy conversation here to start the season, but this is just how fantasy hockey goes sometimes. A player goes down with an injury and sometimes it's the replacement skater that makes for a great addition to your lineup.

With Kirby Dach now set to miss the remainder of the season, that has brought Alex Newhook up to the Montreal second line center spot and it's a line that I sort like here for fantasy and DFS where you'd get Tanner Pearson and Juraj Slafkovsky on Newhook's wings. We know the book on Pearson at this point, but if Slafkovsky really takes that next step this season, it will be Newhook that comes along with him as we saw glimpses of it during Montreal's game against the Wild. Minnesota pretty much dictated the pace of that context from start to finish but there's times where I watched this second line make really smart passes in their own zone.

For Newhook, moving up into Montreal's top six has already come with higher ice time as he saw 3:43 of power play time. For those in leagues that score faceoffs he was alright in the circle going 5/12, but keep in mind some of those came against Joel Eriksson Ek. If you want to sit on this addition or just keep Newhook on a watch list for a week or so, I think that's fine. If you're in a league where waivers are already starting to look a little bare, than reaching to the Habs second line centre might not be a bad play.

The Odd Man Out (His short-term value is cause for concern)

Ryan Hartman, C/RW, Minnesota Wild (Rostered in 22% of ESPN leagues, 64% Fantrax, 30% Yahoo) – So this is an interesting one here this week. It's an Odd-Man out, but only sort of? Let me explain.

For reasons I'll never truly understand, I enjoy watching Montreal. Sometimes I try and watch the games in French to pick up a word or two while my wife looks at me confused, but they're a fun watch and being in Central time I can usually catch their games while I'm working out after work. I'm watching the game (in English) the other night and I'm intrigued here because I roster Ryan Hartman in my main league and read earlier in the day that Hartman might get top power-play time with Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov, which is also perfect seeing as those are his linemates at even strength. But who didn't come over the boards to take the opening draw on the power play? If you guessed number 38, you'd be right, which is why I think we should weigh our options here.

At even strength if we're going to get the Mats Zuccarello we've seen so far this season along with Kaprizov, then Hartman could be fantasy gold. He had a really high ADP and, in some leagues, went drafted all together which made him a perfect preseason add. Where weighing our options comes in is if you are between Hartman and another player to start on a given night. On most platforms he is C/RW eligible, which is always a positive, but if he's not going to spend time on the top PP unit for Minnesota than it might be more than a blind start, you may benefit just checking the matchup to make sure you're in the best possible position with who you choose to start. For DFS it gets interesting because if you full stack this line that's always super popular, sure, you get Hartman with two excellent wingers, but you're missing out on the power play opportunities. Like I said, it's an odd man out situation, but only sort of.

The Anchors (They’ll do nothing but disappoint even over the long haul)

Lawson Crouse, LW/RW, Arizona Coyotes (Rostered in 50% of ESPN leagues, 44%, Fantrax, 21% Yahoo) – I think the case for the Anchor here is more or less to give a heads up to folks out there who drafted Crouse late in their draft assuming that he's going to be on Arizona's top six like last year. So far in the early going that is not the case and that might lead to some very low fantasy numbers to start the season on a player with fair rostership numbers. Yes, I know that "rostership" isn't a word, Microsoft, but I feel like for fantasy it should be.

I was having a conversation with a friend in my main league who had recently dropped Crouse off of his club and I think there's going to be more of that to follow here in the early going. Last season I think, sure, Crouse was a decent addition on fantasy clubs in league with bigger rosters where you may have had to dig down a little bit on the waiver, and there's no denying that he brings plenty of hits and blocked shots. The issue here is that right now he's not on Arizona's top six and although in the past we've poked fun at those lines in the past, they don't have a bad top line this season and the second line centered by Logan Cooley is also generating offense.

I feel like maybe this is going overlooked that many casual fantasy players just see Arizona and assume that Crouse is somewhere on the top six when in reality he's not. This is going to lead to less 5v5 shooting, a higher start in the offensive zone start percentage, and much lower fantasy output this season.

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming days)
This period runs through October 20^th – November 1^st

Montreal – The analyzer is back this season and top of the list of clubs that it loves in the short term here is Montreal. The Canadiens will play four times next week which makes them a Love 'Em.

New Jersey – Another club that will appear in four games next week but in looking at their schedule they may be catching some clubs at just the right time. Montreal, Washington, Buffalo, and Minnesota have all looked shaky to start the season. This may be a very good upcoming stretch here for the Devils.

Detroit – Another week, and another Love 'Em for Detroit! Back-to-back games this weekend helps but along with their hot start offensively I look to them to continue to generate offense moving forward.

Leave ‘Em (These squads will leave fantasy owners sorely disappointed in the short term)

Nashville – With only two games on the schedule next week, the Predators will be a Leave 'Em for now. That's difficult to navigate for those rostering Juuse Saros or Roman Josi in fantasy.

Chicago – The Blackhawks return home after a very long road trip to start the season and will be rewarded with games against Vegas, Boston, then Vegas again on the road. That is a very difficult stretch for any club let alone the Hawks.

Colorado – Colorado starts an east coast road trip which sure, if there's a club that can handle that it's Colorado, but they will face off against an Islanders club that slows the game down to a crawl, followed by a Penguins team that seems to score in bunches early. They're a Leave 'Em for now.

*For continued fantasy news and notes, follow me on Twitter @ndySanz.