Rasmus Sandin and the Leafs have finally agreed on a contract, a two-year deal with a $1.4 million cap hit. Injuries on defense may have expedited the signing (more on that in a bit). In the end, Sandin has signed a contract with the same cap hit and term as fellow young d-man Timothy Liljegren. Since Liljegren is expected to be out until November after hernia surgery, Sandin shouldn't have an issue staying in the lineup on a nightly basis, at least to start. Sandin and Mark Giordano are both projected in the Fantasy Guide to play on the Leafs' second power-play unit.

Also related to the Leafs and as seen on the new Dobber newsfeed, John Tavares will miss the start of the season with an oblique strain. Tavares is expected to be sidelined a minimum of three weeks from now, which should force him to miss at least the first week of the regular season. According to Sheldon Keefe, either Alexander Kerfoot or Calle Jarnkrok could fill in on the second line while Tavares is sidelined, which could provide either with a short-term boost in value.

By the way, Jarnkrok and Kerfoot actually took shifts on defense in Wednesday's preseason game with Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlstrom both forced to leave the game with injuries. The regular season hasn't started and the injuries are starting to pile up already in Toronto. So much so that the Leafs are considering using Mitch Marner as a defenseman. Huh? Maybe Sheldon Keefe is envisioning a Quinn Hughes-type of rover on the blueline. That would be quite the positional eligibility shift if that were to happen. Marner's fantasy value would go through the roof if he became D-eligible.  

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Trevor Zegras left Wednesday's preseason game with an upper-body injury after taking this hit from Jan Jenik.

Ooof. Zegras left the game after this hit. pic.twitter.com/uBasQVIOL3

— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) September 29, 2022

According to coach Dallas Eakins, Zegras is being examined further, with the team hoping for results today (Friday). The fact that further examination is needed suggests this is likely going to be something more than day to day. Even if this turns out to be a minor injury, you should bump Zegras down your rankings if you have yet to complete your draft.

Zegras is projected to be the Ducks' leading scorer this coming season, so a lengthy absence could hurt a number of Ducks players from both an even-strength and power-play standpoint.

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Frank Seravalli put a bit of a scare into Canucks fans this morning on a radio hit, suggesting that Ilya Mikheyev might have a torn ACL. As a result, he had to follow up to state that Mikheyev's injury isn't quite so concerning.

Wanted to clarify something from @Sportsnet650 this morn. I said there was concern from #Canucks initially that Ilya Mikheyev may have suffered torn ACL & they were awaiting update.

Sounds like the prognosis was positive and worst was avoided. Expected to resume skating soon.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 29, 2022

Having two wingers (Mikheyev and Brock Boeser) down to start the season would not be ideal for the Canucks.

An early look at Andrei Kuzmenko, who scored a pair of goals and added an assist in preseason action on Thursday.

The Hughes pass 🤯
The Kuzmenko goal 🤩 pic.twitter.com/wACyF4vT7d

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 30, 2022

He ain't missing from there!
2nd of the night for Kuzy 🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/yQZANO6Fm1

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 30, 2022

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Not long after the Cap League Goalie Rankings were released, the Panthers and Spencer Knight agreed to a three-year contract extension with an AAV of $4.5 million. Do the math and that's nearly $15 million committed to goalies alone starting next season. That is, unless the Panthers are going to try hard to move Sergei Bobrovsky at some point. Yet with Stanley Cup aspirations, Florida may not be quite ready to trust the now-21-year-old with the bulk of the goaltending, as highly pedigreed a prospect as he is. Although it perhaps seems like longer, Goalie Bob has four years left on his $10 million AAV contract.

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With drafts taking place and keeper decisions being made, this time of season is as brisk as any for fantasy leagues. So I thought I'd take the time to provide some general guidance on some frequently asked questions, in particular with some of the resources you might find helpful.

I'm in a keeper league and I need to choose between (list of players).

Go to our Rankings page, where you'll find the Top 300 Keeper League Skaters (for points-only leagues) or Top 100 Roto Rankings (for single-season leagues). Heck, you'll even find Salary Cap League Rankings. If something doesn't seem right with the rankings, tell us and explain why. It often makes good debate for the Ramblings. I compile the Roto Rankings and am always looking for feedback. As far as other rankings, if you're asking for my opinion, I will quite often – but not always – have a similar opinion to what's already in the rankings. 

My league counts the following categories: (list of categories). Does the Dobber Fantasy Guide forecast all of these categories?

The Dobber Fantasy Guide forecasts some, but not all, fantasy categories. If you'd like rankings for very specific categories, the Fantasy Hockey Geek Draft Kit is the way to go. Purchase both at Dobber Sports and get a coupon code for a discount.

Where can I find a breakdown of the schedule for a certain week or month?

Go to the Schedule Planner at Frozen Tools and set a particular date range. Frozen Tools has a ton of useful data, but the Schedule Planner ranks at or near the top in terms of go-to reports there.

Where can I get information on off days (non-busy days) and back-to-backs?

Purchase a Fantasy Guide, then go to the "Understanding the 2022-23 Schedule" article written by Andrew Santillo, our Looking Ahead author.

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I continue to make the rounds on the fantasy hockey podcast circuit. This week I appeared on the Five Hold Fantasy Podcast, where TJ and I discussed breakout candidates. Upon reflection, I liked his better than mine, but you can listen to both of ours.

Talking #FantasyHockey Breakouts with @Ian_Gooding , managing Editor over at @DobberHockey

Caulfield, Jarvis, Lafreniere and more – Come check it out!https://t.co/hWPsskYXfZ

— Five Hole Fantasy Hockey Podcast (@FHFHockey) September 28, 2022

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In anticipation of my own 14-team draft coming up this weekend, I participated in a 14-team mock draft earlier this week. I'd share the results with you, but for some reason Yahoo didn't email them to me. I can't remember all of my picks, but I do remember accidentally picking Tanner Jeannot over Cal Petersen in a late round… but then being able to grab Petersen again in the next round.

A few observations from that error on my part:

Watch Yahoo's interface when you make a pick. Even though you might be removing a player from your starred list, that player may still appear as the pick you're about to make. This has happened to me more than once. It would be disappointing if you made a real-life pick this way, so just keep an eye on that. It could just be me getting old, as I also continue to forget to turn the kettle on after I make the effort to pour water into it and plug it in.

Petersen is going very late in drafts. I think I've mentioned this before, but Petersen and Elvis Merzlikins are great go-to options if you need a third goalie late in your draft.

Jeannot would normally be a great pick in that spot because of his hit total, although I'm betting the under on him reaching 40 points again. I had just realized that I had also picked hits leader Radko Gudas a round or two earlier, so I just thought it would be redundant to pick Jeannot as well.

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Finally, today is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada – a day where we recognize the generations of harm caused to families by residential schools. To reflect on these experiences, I encourage you to read Bob McKenzie's story about one particular survivor of the residential school system. I haven't read the entire five-part series yet, but I intend to as I learn about something that happened very close to home that I didn't know enough about growing up.

Beginning today, a five-part series entitled, 781: A Story of Sports and Survival in Canadian Residential School. If you want or need a deeper and true understanding of Residential Schools, Truth, Reconciliation and Calls to Action, I urge you to read it: https://t.co/bTPMSE53iW

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) September 26, 2022

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.