Montreal was in tough to begin the season, knowing they'd be without Shea Weber and Carey Price. News got worse recently as Joel Edmundson revealed an injury and he'll be out for a few weeks. The news kept rolling on Thursday as there was a surprise announcement from the team and Price that he would be participating in the NHLPA assistance program and would be stepping away from the team:

The NHL and NHLPA announce Carey Price will be "away from the team while voluntarily taking part in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program."

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 7, 2021

This can mean a variety of things and I will not be speculating on what it is. All we can say is all the best to Price and his family.

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With Brady Tkachuk still unsigned, the Sens were under the cap. They needed to add some money, and they did:

With the #Sens signing Ennis to a $900k contract, the team is now $251k under the salary cap lower limit with a roster of 22.

The team will therefore become salary cap compliant with a full 23 player roster.https://t.co/XHlIzrH3j5

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) October 7, 2021

Whichever callup they use will bring their roster about $500K over the lower cap limit. And they want to start winning this year. Yikes, man.

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This is my last Ramblings before the start of the season. Well, technically I get one next Tuesday that is the morning of Puck Drop, but it's close enough. This is, effectively, my last chance to hand out some fantasy advice for drafts.

Advice for this season has been doled out consistently for a couple months but I'll re-link some of the important Ramblings, in my opinion.

• New line combinations in training camp and their importance
• Standings Gained Points and Pionk, Trocheck, Point, Hintz, and more
• Reinhart, Eriksson Ek, Josh Anderson, and Jordan Binnington and their fantasy values
• Charlie Coyle, Denis Gurianov, and others with line combination upside
• Comparing Morgan Rielly and Rasmus Sandin with thoughts on Tarasenko here
• Early fantasy values for Kakko, Fiala, Josi, Palmieri, Batherson and more

That is just some of my stuff going back about six weeks. There is also the 2021 Dobber Guide in the Dobber Shop that will give you a very heavy dose of fantasy information.  

Whether free with Ramblings or paid with the Dobber Guide, we've had fantasy owners covered here for information, updates, projections, and more for months now. Those who've been paying attention have a big leg up on this final draft weekend. The rest have some reading to do.

I am going to take the rest of this Ramblings to discuss players. Yesterday was teams, today is players. A lot of players were discussed in the articles linked above, and a few will be discussed again. Whatever their status, here are a bunch of players I'm interested in drafting for one reason or the other this season. I will try to discuss players I haven't talked about too much in the last six weeks or so but my targets haven't changed too much. The descriptions will also be short.

Forward

Max Comtois – The young Ducks winger has shown the ability to score and put up big hit totals with very little help. Preseason has seen him skate on the top line with Trevor Zegras. If this duo takes a step forward together in their development, we could be seeing the beginnings of a great top line.

Sam Bennett – There probably isn't a player with a wider range of draft selections than Bennett. I have seen him go in the eighth round in a 12-teamer and the 15^th round of a 12-teamer. I believe he'll be great alongside Huberdeau and his peripherals make him easily a top-100 player.

Zach Hyman (J.T. Miller) – One of the arguments against Hyman is that he played with elite players in Toronto and still put up good – not great – numbers. To that I say: he has 11 career power-play points. Like, ever. If he's a lock on the top PP unit last season, he probably paces for over 70 points. He's a lock on the top PP unit this year, and maybe the best one in hockey. With his hit totals, he has genuine top-25 upside. I really don't know why he's going so late. I will take him over Nylander, Hall, Robertson, and Palat, to name a few.

Batherson/Norris – These two have often been discussed in my Ramblings over the summer and draft season. The Tkachuk contract situation is becoming a real problem though. They're good players and will be getting top billing, sure. But the best player on that line, and on the team, doesn't look like he'll be in the lineup opening night, barring a miracle. I still think they'll be fine this season but we want Tkachuk signed sooner rather than later.

Dmitrij Jaskin – Finding his scoring touch in the KHL could have been the key to unlocking Jaskin's fantasy value, as he's a guy that can bring a lot of hits anyway. The problem is he's being stuffed down Arizona's depth chart and looks to be lining up with Johan Larsson. They could make a fine defensive line, but I'd prefer he play with the likes of Keller or Schmaltz at even strength. Either way, he's going to be on my bench at the end of a lot of drafts.

Travis Konecny – This is a player who looks to be lining up on the top line and top PP unit for his team, has a few 20-goal seasons under his belt, and is still under 25 years old. That is the type of player to bet on in fantasy, especially where he's being drafted. There could be 70 points here if all goes right, and at least a useful fantasy player at the other end of the spectrum.

Oliver Bjorkstrand – While not quite in the same situation as Konecny, Bjorkstrand has shown the ability to score at high rates even on very bad offensive teams. This should be a better offensive environment than last season and he maintains his 30-goal, 60-point ability. It would be nice to see the Jackets with a good power play sometime.

Roope Hintz – The concerns for his TOI seem warranted but at the same time, I think the coaches are exceptionally high on him. He was playing 18 minutes a night as he could barely skate and through the entire preseason, he's been given great line mates. I think the coaching staff wants him to be a focal point of the team, both at 5-on-5 and on the power play. I will buy in on him this year.

Defencemen

Neal Pionk – It could be a fluid situation all year but Pionk has taken over the top PP role during preseason. I should probably remind everyone that he's a season removed from being a top-3 fantasy defenceman when he was the PPQB in 2019-20. He is able of putting up 45 points, 25 PPPs, 175 shots, and 175 hits with that role, and with ease. And I think there's a lot of upside beyond that. Even if he loses his PP role, the shots and hits will float his value.

Seth Jones – Seth Jones is the Neal Pionk of Chicago. We have seen monster seasons from him in recent memory and he's now going to be in a great role on a high-scoring team. Jones brings value across the board and could break 60 points if things really go well for him. He can genuinely be the top defenceman in fantasy this year.

Charlie McAvoy – If my guys among the first six or eight defencemen are gone, McAvoy is the guy I'm going to. His problem in recent seasons was two-fold: no PP role and no shots. He should push two shots per game this year and looks locked on the top PP unit. It would not surprise me to see a 55-point, 160-shot, 125-hit season this year.

Noah Dobson – With Nick Leddy gone, a consistent PP role has opened for Dobson and the team needs him to fill that role. I think he has the abilities to do it and will show it now that he has the chance for 82 games. He is going late enough in drafts that even if he falters, it's not a big loss.

Goalie

Jordan Binnington – Not that I think that Binnington is a great goalie, but I do think the Blues are being undervalued considering just how injured nearly the whole roster was last year. With a healthy lineup and a locked starter's role, he's a target. Good defence and 60 starts is enough for a good fantasy season.

Carter Hart – I am buying the rebound on the young netminder. The team should be better as a whole and the addition of Ryan Ellis can't be overstated. This should be a season where the Flyers surprise some people and Hart is being drafted late enough that he should give us a decent value. He is also another guy that should be locked into the starter's role.

Laurent Brossoit – I told my brother I see Brossoit filling the role Jaroslav Halak did with Tuukka Rask: maybe 30 starts behind an elite team that should give him a top-20 fantasy season. I also think that if Lehner falters a bit, Brossoit can even be better than that. He's a goalie I'm targeting late in all my drafts.

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A couple notable lineups to look at.

First, this looks like St. Louis's opening night roster:

Down to one group in practice after the cuts today.
Saad-O'Reilly-Perron
Kyrou-Schenn-Buchnevich
Neal-Thomas-Tarasenko
Barbashev-Bozak-Neighbours
Clifford-Joshua-MacEachern
Brown-Kostin
Scandella-Parayko
Krug-Faulk
Walman-Bortuzzo
Perunovich-Mikkola

— Tom Timmermann (@tomtimm) October 7, 2021

I'm dubious how long Neal lasts on the third line but he's being put in a prime spot for now.

If Neal can find a bit of juice, those look like three good scoring lines. That is a big 'if' from him, though they should get softer matchups as the O'Reilly line takes all the tough assignments.

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Both Chinakhov and Sillinger are in what looks to be Columbus's opening lineup as well:

#CBJ forward lines today
Laine-Texier-Voracek
Nyquist-Sillinger-Bjorkstrand
Jenner-Roslovic-Chinakhov
Robinson-Kuraly-Hofmann
Foudy-Stenlund-Bemstrom

Domi shuffling in at times. Danforth practiced but haven't seen him so much 5-on-5.

— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 7, 2021

Is Sillinger now in the running for the Calder?

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Colorado will be without goalie Pavel Françouz for up to a month. This puts a lot of pressure on Kuemper, who will be relied upon early on. It also makes Kuemper about 4-5 starts more valuable in fantasy, presuming he stays healthy.