Happy Tuesday y'all… and opening night!!!

We made it through the summer, and Monday truly felt like Christmas Eve because we had a pretty big trade go down that kind of came out of nowhere. The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Matt Knies, Emil Andrae, Steven Lorentz, and a draft pick to Columbus for Kirill Marchenko, Miles Wood, and Elvis Merzlikins. For fantasy purposes, the two main players we are interested in are Knies and Marchenko.

Knies value takes a hit as he is moving from playing with Auston Matthews or John Tavares to a potential line with Adam Fantilli or Sean Monahan. The winger seems like he is a Rick Bowness type of player so he should be a skater the coach leans on and should be a lock for more power-play minutes so if he can take advantage of the extra opportunities, he'll have another 60-65 point season, but I feel that is his ceiling in Columbus. 

Marchenko, on the other hand, shoots through the roof because of the move. He'll play five-on-five with much more talented players and may supplant Jack Roslovic off the number one power-play unit as both players are right handed. If he does receive that power-play time, the 70 point potential turns into 80. The winger also signed a six-year contract extension, signaling that the Leafs believe in the player and will give him many opportunities to succeed.

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Since the league starts tonight, we have a ton of players who made opening night rosters that will be given an opportunity to make some noise early on, but things can change quickly if said player does not gel. To start the season, we'll look at some of the opening night lineups to try and find players who have an early opportunity.

TJ Hughes was an undrafted free agent signing for the Colorado Avalanche last season after his collegiate season with Michigan ended. He played in two regular season games for the Avs’ AHL affiliate, along with 17 contests in the playoffs. The winger impressed during that run and throughout training camp and earned a spot on the main roster, but he didn't just make the team; he is getting a chance on the team's first power-play unit. If their group can find success early on, playing with some of the league's best talent is a nice way to accumulate points to start your career. 

The Golden Knights signed Victor Olofsson to try and replace the goals Pavel Dorofeyev has scored for the franchise the past two seasons. If the Swedish winger can stay healthy, he should be a lock for 20 goals. Shea Theodore has been placed back on the number one power-play unit with the departure of Dorofeyev, but there are a lot of shy shooters on that top unit. Olofsson could easily fit right into the spot Dorofeyev was playing and replicate his success.

Anaheim had a major turn over this offseason, whether trading or losing players to free agency, but because of the coaching staff, I still have confidence in this team. I expect a big season from Leo Carlsson, and if rookie Nikita Klepov lines up with the center, he is a strong rookie of the year candidate. Troy Terry will start the season on IR and will not return until at least November, opening up a big spot on the power-play for second-year winger Beckett Sennecke. The winger has a big opportunity to seize his spot and cement himself as one of the best young players in the league.

Even though Tampa Bay lost Darren Raddysh over the summer, the organization replaced him with veteran John Carlson. The defenseman brings plenty of experience to the lineup and like Raddysh, he is right handed. This is a big detail because Carlson has slotted into Raddysh's power-play spot from last year, a spot that saw him score 26 power-play points, with 10 of those coming in goal form. The defenseman was a staple on Washington's power play for years so we know what to expect and can easily see him contributing. Carlson has always possessed a hard shot with good accuracy; in seasons where the American has played at least 70 games, the defenseman has scored fewer than 10 goals only once. Expect another double-digit goal campaign if the defender can stay healthy.

The Penguins had some interesting powerplay lines at the end of training camp because of a week-to-week injury to Bryan Rust (what else is new?). The pawn to draw Jason Robertson to Pittsburgh next summer, his brother Nick, is filling in on the top power-play unit, as well as on the number one line with Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell. The winger has increased his goal total in each of the last three seasons and has great sleeper potential to do that again this year if he is going to be the first option to fill in on injury duty.

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We don't have the percentage ownership on Yahoo out yet, but next week we will have our streaming options for low ownership players. Good luck in your first matchup and throughout the season! If you have any lineup decisions or trade questions, hit me up on Twitter @LAM1926.