Dylan Larkin was at practice for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday, per Helene St. James. It is Larkin's first practice of training camp, which is notable considering his pending trade request. At the least, it appears he may be in the lineup for the regular season, though we need to wait for official confirmation on that front.  

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According to Dallas Stars reporter Lia Assimakopoulos, forward Tyler Seguin is expected to play in Dallas' final preseason game on Friday night. Seguin missed two-thirds of the 2025-26 season due to a knee surgery, but that he's going to get an exhibition game in before the regular season starts is a good sign that he should be good to go for their regular season opener on October 2^nd.

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Minnesota Wild top line in practice on Wednesday appears to be what they'll open the season with:

Lines at second practice look very opening nightish

Kaprizov-Yurov-Shabanov
Coleman-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Trenin-Hartman-Brink
M. Foligno-McCarron-N. Foligno

Hughes-Faber
Brodin-Spurgeon
Maatta-Bogosian

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) September 23, 2026

I have my doubts this will work, and that Ryan Hartman will eventually work his way back to being Kirill Kaprizov's centre, but this is what they're doing with for now.

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After leaving a Philadelphai Flyers preseason game due to injury, there was good news about goaltender Dan Vladar:

Vladar is day to day, per Tocchet. He says he thinks they dodged a bullet.

— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) September 23, 2026

Being day-to-day is a lot better than what the alternative seemed to be, but now we wait for an official timeline.

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For the last few weeks, my Ramblings have been reviewing my projections for the 2026-27 fantasy hockey season. On Tuesday, we discussed players with LW/RW designations, and which are good draft values. Before that, we covered those with C/LW designations and their draft values. In the handful of Ramblings prior to the positional write-ups, we evaluated draft values for:

• Shallow league forwards
• Shallow league defencemen
• Deep league forwards
• Deep league defencemen
• Rookies
• Goalies
• Teams to stack

With the final fantasy draft weekend just ahead of us, I want to take today's and tomorrow's Ramblings to create my Draft and Do Not Draft lists. These are basically players I've been targeting or avoiding in my drafts. We are going to use ADP data from Fantrax and the data for my projections come from Evolving Hockey, Natural Stat Trick, All Three Zones, and Frozen Tools. The fantasy categories are goals, assists, shots, blocks, hits, and power-play points.

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For all your last-minute fantasy draft needs, be sure to grab a copy of Dobber's 2026-27 Fantasy Hockey Guide now available in the Dobber Shop!

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My projections use a value method called 'Z-Score' which just reflects how far above/below a player's projection is in a given category compared to a replacement-level player in a 12-team league. Today will go over forwards – and they will be assembled into one 'Forward' category – I have been targeting/avoiding and tomorrow we'll do the same for defencemen.

Forwards to Target

We won't post a chart for every single player, but rather just provide one chart that shows each of our target forward's overall Fantasy Value Z-Score and their rank at their position compared to ADP. That gives us players who are expected to provide positive fantasy value and have ADPs lower than their rank in my projections. I have done eight drafts so far this fantasy season, and the following forwards are on at least three of my teams:

Let's go through each of them quickly.

Wyatt Johnston (Dallas Stars)

There is concern that Johnston scored 27/45 goals last season on the power play and shot 21.8%. Usually, that means a player would be over-valued. However, he is in his prime, should skate 19-20 minutes on the top line and top PP unit, gets plenty of time with the empty net, and a healthy Stars roster should be better at even strength. He is at the top of the second tier of centres below the likes of Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews.

Dylan Guenther (Utah Mammoth)

My projections have Guenther achieving his first 40/40 season with over 3.0 shots per game, totaling just over 25 power-play points along the way. As with Johnston, he is now in his prime production seasons and though the Mammoth got deeper up front this offseason, Guenther is locked into a top 6 and top power play role.  

Timo Meier (New Jersey Devils)

In this format last season, Meier was the 54^th overall forward, and that was with just 24 goals, 20 assists, and 10 power-play points. He will be a mainstay of the top 6 forward mix and though he might get more secondary PP time, as we saw last year, he doesn't need 20 PPPs for good fantasy value. Posting over 3.0 shots and 1.5 hits per game goes a long way.

Jared McCann (Seattle Kraken)

As things stand, McCann grades as a break-even fantasy value per his Fantrax ADP. That is also with my projections assuming he shoots under 12% this season. If the rest of his projections hold and he shoots anywhere above 12%, he becomes a positive draft value. He is still Seattle's most dangerous offensive player, for whatever that's worth.

Alex Laferriere (Los Angeles Kings)

As with Meier, being great in peripherals with just solid goal/assist production goes a very long way. My projections have Laferriere for 25 goals and 28 assists, which is more than last year, but it's not a massive leap and the fact that he can bring so many shots and hits is what makes him a great multi-cat option.

Kiefer Sherwood (San Jose Sharks)

Early training camp reports seem to have Sherwood skating on San Jose's fourth line. That is… not great. My projections assumed a third-line role and putting him with some talented offensive players. If he's on the fourth line and skating with Zach Ostapchuk, then Sherwood basically becomes Yakov Trenin. I might be done drafting him for the year. I have taken him a few times and that's probably enough risk.

Pierre-Luc Dubois (Washington Capitals)

In his two seasons with Washington, Dubois has averaged 19 goals, 44 assists, 136 shots, 65 hits, 55 blocks, and 15 power-play points every 82 games. That is solid production, and now the team has re-loaded its forward group. He will get top 6 minutes on a split power-play unit, and that puts 20 goals, 45 assists, and 20 power-play points within reach.

Anders Lee (Utah Mammoth)

Last season, Lee finished as the 109^th forward in this 6-category fantasy format. That was while skating 15:38 per game on a New York Islanders roster that finished 26^th by goals per minute. Now, Lee is with a Utah roster that was 10^th by scoring per minute last season and his ADP among forwards is 169^th. Just a 20-goal, 25-assist season with his peripherals makes him a fringe top 150 forward.

Forwards to Avoid

These are the players I have yet to draft on any of my fantasy rosters:

Let's get into why fantasy managers should avoid these players.  

Matvei Michkov (Philadelphia Flyers)

Three things are true about Michkov:

1. He is extremely talented and his production will rebound from last year
2. He offers very little for hits/blocks
3. Philadelphia's power play has been awful for years and we can't rely on any of their players for 20+ power-play points

My projections have Michkov posting a 25-goal, 35-assist season and that makes him a bad draft value. If I arbitrarily give him 30 goals and 40 assists, he's still a bad draft value. Unless fantasy managers expect Michkov to approach a point-per-game status, there just isn't enough peripheral value to rely on him being a top 100 multi-cat forward. For reference: Gabriel Vilardi scored 30 goals, totaled 39 assists, and posted 24 power-play points last season but because his peripherals were so weak (150 shots, 20 hits, 35 blocks) he finished as the 83^rd forward in this format.

Gavin McKenna (Toronto Maple Leafs)

I won't go long here. As a general rule, I don't draft rookies inside the top 100 players. Right now, McKenna's overall ADP is 112. It is just too high without an 80-point season. He will be a star player, he just won't be a star fantasy forward in 2026-27.

Logan Stankoven (Carolina Hurricanes)

The injury to Seth Jarvis opened a spot on Carolina's top PP unit, but early training camp reports have that spot going to Jackson Blake and not Stankoven. I believe that with 19 minutes a game including top PP time, Stankoven can be a 35-goal, 75-point forward right now. But he won't get anywhere close to that usage, which limits his fantasy output – I have Stankoven's production increasing 16% from last year, and he's still an awful draft value. Keep in mind that he was Carolina's top centre in the playoffs by even-strength usage (27.9%), and in the regular season that translates to about 14:30 per game of EVTOI. Add 90 seconds of power-play time, and Stankoven might skate about 16 minutes a night. With few blocks/hits, there isn't enough TOI or a prime PP role to rely on Stankoven being higher than a forward in the top 125-150 range.  

Mitch Marner (Vegas Golden Knights)

Using our six fantasy categories, Marner was the 58^th-ranked forward last year. So far this season, his ADP is as a top 25 forward. To be a top 25 forward, he needs to add something like 10 goals, 5 assists, and 10 power-play points to last year's output. If he scores fewer than 30 goals, he needs more than 70 assists. It is just a lot to ask for a player who lost over 1:20 per game in ice time compared to his last year in Toronto.

Jack Quinn, Josh Doan, and Zach Benson (Buffalo Sabres)

It isn't that I'm low on these three players, or low on Buffalo; I think they're now a perennial playoff team and are maybe a year or two from being a true Stanley Cup contender. However, Buffalo spreads out their ice time as their only forwards last year with > 17 minutes a game were Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, and Ryan McLeod. Tuch is gone, but Konsta Helenius and Jiri Kulich are on the roster. There is just a lot of competition on the wing and until one player asserts himself as the go-to guy to replace Tuch, I think we're just guessing as to which will be a great fantasy asset. It wouldn't be surprising if any of the three had fantasy value in 2026-27 that exceeded their ADP, but which winger it could be is a roll of the dice, and I don't like that. If I have to choose one to draft, it's Quinn, because I feel more secure in his top PP role, he's a heavier volume shooter than the others, and he has the lowest ADP.

Cole Caufield (Montreal Canadiens)

Last year, Caufield was on my Do Not Draft list and he slapped me across the face with a trout. Well, we're Tin Cup-ing this thing and I'm betting he won't repeat close to last year, especially with Juraj Slafkovsky getting a bigger role in late-game situations, Chris Kreider being brought in, and more growth from Ivan Demidov. I have Caufield ranked as a fringe top 35 forward – something like Kyle Connor's 2025-26 season with more goals and fewer assists – but his ADP is as a top 20 forward and I think that's too high.