The past few weeks in the NHL have been, for the most part, whisper quiet. After the July 1st frenzy that saw franchises across the league shuffle rosters at a frenetic pace while spending well over a billion dollars, teams have been relatively dormant while the dog days of summer wind down and we get agonizingly closer to puck drop on the 2024-25 NHL and fantasy hockey seasons. However, given the intense pace of roster moves during the first week of July, there are obviously a number of players rocking fresh colours in new cities this year – meaning, the right guy with the right fit could equal fantasy hockey heroism.

Here's our favourite Eastern Conference targets that could pop off in new places.

Elias Lindholm, Boston Bruins

At some point the Bruins were going to have to land an offensively-gifted centreman and it seems they have their guy in Elias Lindholm – but what will his fantasy value be following a down year across the statistical board? Even though he put up the third-lowest goal total of his career with only 15 tallies, we like Lindholm for a major bounce-back season in a new city and system. However, the degree of that bounce depends on what Jim Montgomery has in store for a Boston club that's been unceremoniously bounced from the postseason by the Florida Panthers in back-to-back fashion after two historically good regular season performances.

Up-the-middle still isn't exactly a strength for Boston even with Lindholm in tow, but taking some pressure off a guy just one-year removed from a career year in Charlie Coyle and a 20-year-old kid in Matthew Poitras with only 35 regular-season games under his belt could work wonders for the Bs if Lindholm can regain his previous 70-plus-point form. Even though the Bruins finished with a respectable 263 overall goals scored last season, it still only put them 14th in total scoring to go along with the 13th-best power play, that's just not going to be good enough to run through such offensively gifted clubs as the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, and others. Boston's strength clearly lies on the backend where the club is anchored by a legit number one and elite fantasy goaltender in Jeremy Swayman and a blue line that touts six bruising rearguards all well over six-foot tall that should allow players like Lindholm a lot more room to do their thing at the offensive end. Lindholm is a prime bounce-back candidate that, with a change of scenery, could do big things for fantasy GMs willing to take a shot on him come draft time – expect a 20-point uptick with increased shots and peripheral metrics while feeding the puck to one of the best shooters in the game in David Pastrnak.

Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning

Speaking of shooters, Guentzel was the biggest one on the free-agent market and the Lightning landed him to play with two of the best in the business when it comes to offensive production in Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. That trio is poised to do scary things and should be looked at as one of the most dangerous top lines in the entire league with all three players possessing 90-plus-point caliber. Is this more of an obvious take? Sure, especially considering Guentzel silenced the haters that said his value was tied to Sidney Crosby's elite skill level when he put up 25 points in 17 games for the Carolina Hurricanes while playing on Sebastian Aho's wing. But the fact remains: The Lightning were already a deadly offensive unit scoring the fifth-most goals in the NHL last season overall while running out the most-efficient power-play that clicked at an impressive 28.6%. Adding in Guentzel has a lot of fantasy GMs out there salivating at the potential of another creative playmaker who can also bury 30-plus goals. Of course, Steven Stamkos' departure has to be considered, but Guentzel is an upgrade and his fantasy value coming into the offensive-minded top-six the Bolts employ definitely takes his stock up a few notches.

Jakob Chychrun, Washington Capitals

We can feel the keyboard warriors out in the nation's capital already warming up the digits to spit some hate over this one, but when it comes to pure fantasy, Chychrun is definitely a draftable asset that now gets the best opportunity of his career to really settle in on a team's top pairing alongside a guy in John Carlson that could just be the missing piece that allows fantasy GMs to finally solve this puzzle and for Chyrchrun to finally establish himself as valuable asset and not just a name needed a reset. There is no denying the brutal drop off fantasy owners of Chychrun had to navigate last season that saw the six-foot-two rearguard register only 11 points over 31 games to round out the 2023-24 season for the Ottawa Senators after putting up 30 points, 12 power-play points, 40 penalty minutes, and 122 shots over the first 51 tilts of the campaign. Although, he is still fantasy relevant and this could finally be the change of scenery the much-maligned blue-liner needs to once-and-for-all turn the page on what has, for the most part, been a very disappointing start to a career that was expected to take a different trajectory after the then-Arizona Coyotes drafted him with the 16th-overall pick in 2016. With a rejuvenated Capitals team and new additions in the crease with Logan Thompson and more tweaks to the blue line in Matt Roy, playing with veteran offensive and all-around stud Carlson might be the cherry on top of a tasty fantasy season upcoming for Chychrun.