Mike provides you with some players, team schedules, and facts to look out for before you start your fantasy season.

It’s never too early to commence with the process of scouring the waiver wire in the hopes of adding a useful player or two to one’s fantasy roster. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some widely available skaters who could provide some production for poolies in the season’s opening weeks.

Mika Zibanejad, C/RW, Ottawa (Owned in 19 percent of Yahoo leagues) – This young Ottawa forward notched his first 20-goal season at the tender age of 21 a season ago. While Zibanejad isn’t hockey’s next breakout fantasy star, his steadily improving fantasy production and ever-increasing ice time make the former sixth overall pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft a candidate for 50-55 points as soon as this year. He saw nearly three minutes of ice time per game on the power play (good for fourth among forwards on his team) and is firmly entrenched as a top-six player entering his age-22 season. The pedigree is solid, and the upside is there, too.

Mikael Granlund, C, Minnesota (Owned in 15 percent of Yahoo leagues) – Never forget. The Finnish forward has been a trendy sleeper pick for a year or two now because of his tantalizing potential and playmaking ability. However, Granlund has mustered a mere 88 points in 158 career NHL games over three years. Why expect anything more? With longtime Wild mainstay Mikko Koivu seeing his skills erode, though, Granlund is poised for an increased role in the team’s offensive attack this year. He’ll score 50 points if Koivu stays healthy, but he’ll get 55-60 if the Minnesota captain is forced to miss extended time.

Matt Moulson, LW, Buffalo (Owned in 16 percent of Yahoo leagues) – Playing for the hapless Sabres did not lead to useful fantasy production from this veteran winger last year, but better days should be ahead for Moulson. At this point, he is slated to play alongside uber-rookie center Jack Eichel. As long as he sticks in his team’s top six, Moulson is a safe bet for 50-plus points. Last season he scored 41 with a (significantly) weaker supporting cast and a career-worst shooting percentage of .083. There are other, more exciting fantasy options on Buffalo (the aforementioned Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly, Evander Kane) but Moulson should not be overlooked by poolies.

Matt Dumba, D, Minnesota (Owned in 18 percent of Yahoo leagues) – Ryan Suter is a pro’s pro at logging a ton of ice time and defending the blueline, but the Wild sure could use a high-end, offensive-minded defenseman. Enter Dumba, a former top-10 draft pick that oozes talent and upside. Minnesota has eased the 21-year-old Dumba into the lineup over the course of the past two seasons, and he flashed some incredible ability late last season. He’s a cheap add with the potential to rack up 35 points as soon as this year. That makes Dumba worth a look, especially in deeper formats.

The NHL schedule giveth, and the NHL schedule taketh away. During the season’s first 30 days (Wednesday, October 7 through Friday, November 6), some squads have an easier path to fantasy production than others. Now let’s see who can help or her poolies during that time.

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the season’s first 30 days)

Tampa Bay – During the opening month and two days of the NHL season, the Lightning play the Buffalo Sabres a whopping four times. That’s about all fantasy owners need to know.

Ottawa – Between Saturday, October 17 and Saturday, October 31, the Senators play five of their six games at home. No team closes out the month of October with a more favorable schedule.

Florida – Nothing portends a strong start to 2015-16 more than hosting Philadelphia, visiting Philadelphia, hosting Carolina and hosting Buffalo during the season’s opening days. A little while later, the Panthers finish out October with three straight home games.

Buffalo – Six of the Sabres’ first eight games of the year are in Buffalo, and JACK EICHEL.

Nashville – The Preds get an easy start with a season opening home tilt against Carolina, followed by a home contest against Edmonton and a road matchup against New Jersey.

Leave ‘Em (These squads will leave fantasy owners sorely disappointed during October)

San Jose – So many road games to open the season… The Sharks embark on a four-game East Coast road trip pretty early on (against Washington, New Jersey, the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers). At least it’s not a six-game road trip. That doesn’t happen until mid-November.

Calgary – The Flames finish out the month of October with four of five games on the road. Their lone home game is a tough matchup against Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens.

Toronto – Between Friday, October 16 and Friday, October 30, the Leafs play ONE game at home. At least they host the Arizona Coyotes.

Los Angeles – This squad has a ton of home games in October, but the matchups are kind of tough.

Vancouver – The Canucks open the season against the Ducks, Kings and Blues. It doesn’t get much more difficult than that.

To close out the article, here are 10 interesting and fantasy relevant facts (just for fun)…

1. Only three NHL players totaled more than 45 points and 100 penalty minutes during the 2014-15 season: Columbus forward Scott Hartnell (60 points and 100 PIM), St. Louis forward David Backes (58 points and 104 PIM) and Winnipeg defenseman/forward Dustin Byfuglien (45 points and 124 PIM).
2. Five NHL players registered a plus-minus of plus-30 or better in 2014-15. Three of them were Tampa Bay Lightning forwards: Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. They all played on the same line last season.
3. Chicago forward Patrick Kane scored 124 points at even strength over the course of the last three seasons. Winnipeg forward Andrew Ladd scored 122.
4. Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, San Jose defenseman/forward Brent Burns and Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson have both played 181 games. During that same time period, Burns has scored one more goal than Karlsson (48 to 47).
5. Justin Faulk scored 49 points during the 2014-15 campaign. That was two more points than the Carolina defenseman scored during the previous two seasons combined (47).
6. Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury registered a save of percentage of .920 a year ago. The last time he reached the .920 mark was the 2007-08 season, and his career save percentage stands at .911 heading into this season.
7. Goalie wins are difficult to project. Case in point: Devan Dubnyk racked up 36 wins for the Arizona Coyotes and the Minnesota Wild a year ago. Tuukka Rask registered 34 for Boston.
8. Three NHL players racked up more than 300 shots on goal during 2014-15: Washington winger Alex Ovechkin, New York Rangers winger Rick Nash and Montreal winger Max Pacioretty. However, Ovechkin’s total of 395 was 91 more than Nash (304) and 93 more than Pacioretty (302).
9. Alex Tanguay took only 104 shots on goal a year ago, yet the Colorado Avalanche forward managed to score 22 goals. That being said, his shooting percentage of .212 was not a career high, and it was just a little bit better than his .201.
10. Minnesota blueliner Ryan Suter has averaged 28 minutes and 47 seconds of ice time over the course of the past three seasons. That beats the aforementioned Karlsson and Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty (both tied for second place) by 1 minute and 38 seconds.