It’s time for hockey. After a shortened preseason that was cut incredibly short by DraftKings running three DFS slates up against football (including a Sunday slate that locked at 1PM EST despite just one game before 4PM and two before 6PM…) and being surprised when they heavily overlaid, it’s almost time for the real thing.

Before we get to the team-by-team, this edition will cover the Atlantic and the other three divisions will follow… kinda just when they are ready, because Tuesday’s preview will be for the Tuesday DFS slate (four-gamer starting at 7PM, rather than including the 5PM EST season-opener ☹ ). Likely Saturday for the Metro, Sunday for the Central and Monday for the Pacific, but we’ll see if I run out of steam here given I thought the Atlantic would be sent on Thursday (..oops).

NOTE: All offseason content, plus one newsletter per week, will be free. Same as always. New this year is an additional 1-2 writeups per week, covering both slate previews and contest reviews (such as Tuesday’s opening slate with $50k to first!), that will be placed behind a paywall. For the first month of the season, at least, I plan on this being closer to 2-3 per week, given the juiced prize pools. $10 for a month or $55 for a year (if you sign up before Tuesday, $60 for a year afterwards, both last the full 365 days). See moods.beehiiv.com/upgrade for more.

Enough planning. There’s hockey to dissect.

A shortened preseason means that NHL players will be only able to play in two games prior to the regular season, so I am expecting even more early offense than usual. I do not expect the sportsbooks to be behind the times on this by any stretch, as we have several instances of long layoffs (international breaks, etc.) in recent years to draw sample from, but I think it’s worth noting.

Along these same lines, should we get positive news on a guy like Adam Fantilli (late edit: he’s signed and looks to be playing Saturday, even better) or Dylan Larkin, neither of whom seem likely to play any preseason games, I will fade the public, as there have been some camp absences that led to slow starts in the past. I suspect these players would be vastly underowned in their first time out, but I don’t think the missed time is all that relevant considering just how accelerated this camp process has been.

I’ve thought about how to do this, and ultimately I think you should read one of the twelve other team previews series if you want to know the basics. I prefer The Athletic’s blend of raw stats/projections and story-telling, but there are tons out there that I don’t feel like taking the time to repackage. It’s not a terrible idea to have their preview up alongside mine, as I am doing the same thing (as available, for some teams).

For each team, I will highlight the main stories out of the gate and then dig in to my thoughts on the team, grade their PP from a few perspectives, and highlight my Moods Dudes for the 2026-27 season!

Boston Bruins

Out of the gate: Charlie McAvoy suspended six games (carry over from playoffs), JJ Peterka in for Viktor Arvidsson, James Hagens making his presence known.

Boston finds themselves in the unfair position of being at the bottom of the Atlantic. I never really bought that the Bruins were any good last year, and I in fact called them the league’s worst playoff team, which was looking really tough for about 52 minutes of the Sabres first playoff game since I was in 10th grade (seriously, I turned 31 in May…) but was ultimately not challenged in a great way by a rather meek performance.

That said, Boston could be on the precipice of finding a true second fiddle, with all due respect to Morgan Geekie, as James Hagens seems to have made the team easily. While he will start on a line with Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov, there’s been some chatter that he’s ultimately going to wind up a C, which the prospect folks would concur with. I suspect that will be as soon as this year, but Elias Lindholm looks to get first crack alongside Pastrnak. James Hagens appears to be the real deal, with Matt Boldy as his fourth-best comp (Hagens leaning even shootier):

JJ Peterka is the more immediate difference-maker, and while he’s technically replacing Viktor Arvidsson on the roster, he’s a high-upside complement to a high-end player like Pasta or a boom-bust candidate on a lower line, to which he largely busted in Utah who moved on from him after just one season. Everything took a downturn for him last year, but with clear talent and a strong profile for his entire tenure in Buffalo (and Rochester), at 24 he’s probably younger than you think and is poised for a nice do-over after his departure from Buffalo.

Charlie McAvoy is set to miss the first six games of the season due to the suspension carrying over from the end-of-series shenanigans against Buffalo, but we know what Hampus Lindholm is and he appears set to run the PP1. This role appears to be largely unchallenged out of the gate, especially if Mason Lohrei misses any time to the injury sustained this week, making Lindholm an immediate candidate for cheap PP1 work with a substantial boost to 5v5 minutes as well.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 7/10. Any unit with Pastrnak has one guaranteed stud, and McAvoy is pretty close to set in stone, health-permitting. I was surprised to see just how well his season from last year showed, too. This was primarily a points-driven boost, as his shot rate hung around league-average just like it did from 2022-25.

Morgan Geekie has earned a ton of leeway as the second forward on PP1, while Pavel Zacha and JJ Peterka are the clear guys to be bumped if it struggles. I would not be surprised to see Hagens on this unit by mid-year.

Talent: 6/10. Zacha vs. Lindholm is not exactly the best situation to be in for your PP1 C spot, though Lindholm’s added value here is faceoffs. In 2025-26 he took 173 PP faceoffs, 18th in the league, and won 62% of them. Zacha was much closer to 50/50 at 52% in many fewer, so don’t be surprised if Zacha (or JJP) gets replaced by Lindholm at some point.

Intrigue: 4/10. Meh. As much as I want to love the Peterka experience, I am more curious about the 5v5 play with Pastrnak.

Moods’ Dudes: JJ Peterka, James Hagens, Fraser Minten

Everyone loves Pasta, so I don’t get to just own all the best players. Anyway… It’s possible the BOS 1C hasn’t been brought up yet. Minten is very unlikely to light the fantasy world on fire, but is incredibly competent and has great prospect pedigree. If he hits any sort of offensive potential, be it through facilitating with Hagens or with Pastrnak, he’s already shown the hits + blocks to be a clear UD buy next season.

Buffalo Sabres

Out of the gate: Samuelsson is week-to-week with a LBI, Zellweger is concussed (Q for Opening Night, I assume), and Jason Zucker is injured to start the year. This D corps is incredibly stretched thin with the loss of Bowen Byram looming large over the start of the season, as well. Is this the year Owen Power takes over games?

The Sabres are a fascinating team to think about, and I think that would be generally true even if I weren’t a Sabres fan. Feeling some things last spring was fun, but the loss to Montreal was fairly easy to process after an hour or so, not too dissimilar from the Buffalo Bills experience. So anyway.. what a joy that season was. I hope Kevyn Adams is doing well, and that his new front office didn’t immediately acquire the player he traded away that kind of set this whole season up for success… minus the whole “everyone hated his guts” thing that made his firing the catalyst of the season.

The injury to Samuelsson is especially grueling, as Dahlin’s unbelievable season shouldn’t overshadow Samuelsson’s contributions, not just defensively but offensively too. I worry especially about what the PK looks like on the back-end, as beyond Owen Power and Dahlin there’s just not much there, even if Zellweger is healthy. Hopefully Louis Crevier can step in, or else Logan Stanley might need to extend that short-term rental he picked up in March.

The forward situation in Buffalo is a muddled mess for fantasy. To start things out, Tage appears like he’s going to be playing alongside Peyton Krebs, which considering the options is not the best. I’d much prefer a high-upside shot at a Helenius or Quinn, but presumably that spot is being held for Jiri Kulich as he plays his way back into game shape after missing the entire fun part of the season last year due to blood clots. No sense in rushing him, I suppose.

We’ll reconnect on the Sabres forwards in November/December, otherwise I think this is just a PP1 situation for fantasy.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 4/10. I suppose Tage and Dahlin are locks, and it’s sounding more and more like Jack Quinn is, too. Both Benson and Doan are on the top unit, mirroring what this unit looked like to close the Montreal series, which was awesome. I worry that there’s a little too much bite and not enough set-up work with this trio, but Benson taking a step in the playmaking department as his first round pedigree indicates would be huge. For now, he’s stuck with greatest comp in the history of this program based on last season, plus Trevor Zegras and two Jesper Bratt seasons. Yeah, I’d say the playmaking is coming:

Talent: 7/10. If Doan and Benson can’t get it done, then Helenius and Ostlund will get a crack as highly touted, highly producing 1st rounders who have dominated the AHL at ages 19 and 20 respectively. If Quinn is insufficient, I am a bit less confident in the Norris/Kulich replacements for him as one-shot finishers given the track record we have, but I am incredibly high on Jack Quinn… Dahlin and Tage are unassailable, especially if the coaching staff took the offseason to watch Tage’s Olympic tape and deploy him closer to goal. I’m hearing they did, and they even get a bonus point for slandering the Avalanche in the process.

Intrigue: 7/10. I am a bit lower on Tage than the field, which makes this entire operation a little bit frustrating. If the stable of gifted passers produces a star, and if Rasmus Dahlin does his thing again… Tage could very well win the Rocket. I am just banking on a world where the Tage price plus slightly more deference to Jack Quinn saves my bacon, because I really don’t want to deal with DJ for another lost season if the Sabres are bad again, the other obvious outcome where Tage fails.

Moods’ Dudes: Jack Quinn, Rasmus Dahlin, Konsta Helenius, Olen Zellweger

I don’t really have a way to profit off this other than DFS and shot props, but I think the world of Jack Quinn. He’s super, super unlikely to pass Tage as a goalscorer, but I believe he’s a far more functional shot-taker for the PP1. It’s clear to me that while the Sabres have half-a-dozen candidates to be their best playmaker, the oldest of their 1st round picks at F still on the roster (2020 8th Overall) is really the only guy who I see cracking 40 goals from this bunch, and I think he still has the potential to do that. In fact, he was on pace to do it over the final 22 games after being installed as a PP1 fixture in March.

Dahlin spent a year being Quinn Hughes, not generating any hits/blocks despite gargantuan amounts of offense. He hasn’t really done this in the NHL, but it was even a step lower than his NHL averages. I just appreciate this visual so damn much of him from his draft year. He was an absolute monster at just 17 against men!

Konsta Helenius held his own at 18 in the AHL (incredibly rare, obviously, thanks to the existence of NCAA and CHL rules) and then absolutely took off in his age-19 season for Rochester. He’s gonna be in the top nine out of the gate for Buffalo, and while Jason Zucker could throw a wrench into things if someone in there is struggling when he returns, I don’t think it’s going to be an issue.

Please Olen. Do the goals. I can’t believe the Sabres pulled another Moods Dude out of Anaheim.

Detroit Red Wings

Out of the gate: Do they have a GM to trade Larkin? Do they have security for Larkin at home games if not? Does anyone actually want Dylan Larkin? Will they be signing their #2 defenseman, who is just at camp participating as usual despite not having a contract? What is the plan here?

There are lots of questions in Detroit. Sometimes, that’s a good thing as it creates opportunity. But a lot of this opportunity just feels like an opportunity to be frustrated. I thought Larkin requesting out would be a godsend for this organization, but they even managed to fumble this opportunity to get a slightly younger or worse version of Larkin plus some lotto tickets and fit more cleanly into the Raymond-Seider window which also nicely lines up with Tampa and Florida vacating the top of the Atlantic division as they age out.

I feel like for all of the shit that’s gone on here, I don’t really have any takes.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 4/10. Larkin’s one use was in the bumper. Now he’s not there. Seider is the PP1 D unless ASP takes another offensive step forward, as he was even slotted there to begin last season before the world decided actually Moritz Seider is great offensively. I guess I disagree, I don’t think he’s a clean enough puck handler to be a major positive PP asset, and I’d rather use his minutes to dominate evens. He was great last year, though! Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat are certified locks, but this fourth and fifth wheel is going to be quite volatile, at least early on.

Talent: 3/10. I like Cat and Raymond, but with Copp as the 1C I feel like we are wasting this duo. I’d split them up, personally. For the PP1 that doesn’t really matter, but I don’t think Seider is going to elevate things and Arvidsson seems like the #4, and I’m just not sure what he’s adding to a PP1.

Intrigue: 5/10. If Larkin plays, he’s going to produce on the PP even if he struggles at 5v5, I reckon. Does his first goal at home draw boos? Marco Kasper is the cleanest Larkin replacement, and is coming off of a season from hell. The latest we have though is Andrew Copp as PP1 C, which sucks out loud man. Stop that. This score could be like a 7 by puck drop, but is most likely to be like a two come March.

Moods’ Dudes: Marco Kasper (if Larkin is traded and doesn’t net a top six C at least)

Florida Panthers

Out of the gate: For the finally healthy Cats (minus Brad Marchand, the only one to almost stay healthy last year…), Brady looks to integrate himself in a top line, top PP role alongside… Barkov and Reinhart. Kick rocks, Matt, he says.

Florida really has little that hasn’t already been discussed. A, if not the, Cup favorite, Florida is the team expected to make the biggest leap from last season. And believe it or not, their good players were good last year! It’s just that they didn’t play. So the real question isn’t whether their games have fallen off from what made them two-time-defending Champs and three-time finalists, it’s whether their health will hold up over the course of an 84-game season in a division that doesn’t figure to allow them to take it easy.

I am no doctor, so I don’t have much to add for these guys. Let’s get to the PP, where all the relevant players are anyway.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 4/10. Not for the lack of talent, like some other teams, but rather because Brady’s role on the top PP feels like a given, but at the first sign of an issue Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, and even Brad Marchand later on could very well step into the top unit. Seth Jones is slotted in as PP1 D for now, but we’ve seen Barkov take this role on in the past, which could very well happen again. I would be shocked if Reinhart, Barkov, and MTkachuk weren’t PP1 staples all year, at least.

Talent: 9/10. Matthew Tkachuk’s antics on and off the ice I think have clouded something instrumental to understanding this Panthers offense.. Matthew is probably a top five passer in the game. His vision and ability to stick handle in tight quarters while using his size to create mismatches down low has fed Samson’s family and has been a hallmark of his dating back to his early Calgary days. The rest of his profile, however, has gotten more and more attention as time has gone on.

Imagine if Jesper Bratt both leveled up and had Timo Meier’s peripherals? That’s kind of how I view Matthew Tkachuk (trading some rates of Timo’s for guaranteed TOI), and he’s someone you can just draft alongside McDavid and MacKinnon at the 2-3 turn very easily. I may have some regrets on my 8% exposure.

Intrigue: 6/10. I personally don’t think there’s much excitement here, especially with Mackie being traded in the summer and everything settling in to place with Brady in town. When Verhaeghe and Bennett are manning your PP2, we can expect a fully healthy Matthew to run both units, so that’s maybe the thing I am most curious about, seeing if we can steal some cheap PP2 production as well. Also, can Samson return to 57 goals or somewhere close, with two extra games to do it?

Moods’ Dudes: The Matt who has a dumbass as his podcast co-host that he just can’t seem to shake free of, Samson because obviously

Montreal Canadiens

Out of the gate: Some defensive injuries will throw David Reinbacher presumably right into the spotlight. The #5 pick a few years ago, his stock has fallen a bit over the past couple years, and his fantasy outlook was never especially high, but these types of opportunities on strong teams are rare. Will Montreal discover another high-end piece of their build as his pedigree suggests?

Otherwise, we’re keeping an eye on the Chris Kreider situation and how that impacts the 2C. It seems like Kreider is going to play alongside Caufield and Suzuki, which frees up Slafkovsky to reinforce a 2nd line with Ivan Demidov. Whether the 2C is Oliver Kapanen, Kirby Dach, or Alex Newhook, this spot looks to be vastly overmatched come playoffs time, and doubly so if it is Jake Evans as it was toward the end of last year.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 8/10. This would have been a clean 10/10 had Kreider not shown up. That said, Slafkovsky for Kreider, one of the league’s premier net-front options for a decade now, wouldn’t be an insane downgrade, just one that likely puts too much playmaking duties toward the flanks for my liking, considering how lethal aesthetically pleasing the low-to-high Caufield one-timers are. He’s so little, no one can find him! Then boom! Goal.

Talent: 9/10. No weaknesses here. I pushed back a fair bit on some Montreal regression talk some number of weeks ago, as I think the 20% Sh% Caufield carried is a little bit overblown as far as predicting regression for this year. I don’t think Kreider on that line changes the calculus a ton, since there is a lot of room for improvement in Caufield’s PP scoring (33 of his 51 goals came at 5v5, tops in the league).

The on-ice environment is what matters more to me, as with Lane Hutson you have another positive play-driver with insane chance creation abilities. One characteristic of the truly elite superstars is that they constantly outscore their expecteds. Think of the best PP units you can think of, and I bet the xGs are underwhelming. In today’s NHL, I think this is more and more true as players’ skill levels allow them to break the game via both their hands and their creativity. Caufield doesn’t strike me as particularly different from these superstars who led the league in on-ice Goals For last year:

Intrigue: 5/10. I am most curious about Demidov, and if he’s able to take a step toward running the show on the PP1 a la Kucherov.

Moods’ Dudes: Cole Caufield, Noah Dobson

Dobson is one of the most interesting contingency picks in fantasy, as if Hutson goes down Dobson is an absolute gold mine of a fantasy defender. Without the injury, he still looks like a premium option, especially if this second line finds some new sustained offense:

He’s an elite shooter, a great blocks candidate, and has enough skill to also add points to a fantastic peripherals profile.

Ottawa Senators

Out of the gate: Artem Zub’s injury appears to put a big dent in the Sens’ top pair. Can Carter Yakemchuk fill in to keep Sanderson playing at an elite level?

Brady Tkachuk’s absence hasn’t been filled the way I thought it would be, with William Eklund replacing him on the PP1 and not playing alongside Stutzle. I was 0/2 on Eklund there, but am incredibly interested in how this newly minted Batherson + Stutzle pairing works. Batherson has spent lots of time in the past ~100 games of Sens hockey alongside Dylan Cozens, but Batherson is one of my favorite players at-cost with the upside of being fed by Stutzle, a much better playmaker and who is less likely to use some looks himself than Cozens.

In about 900 minutes without Stu and 800 with (and without Brady in both occasions), Batherson’s on-ice GF/60 jumps from 2.16 to 2.75 with Stutzle, over a 25% increase.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 8/10. It’s hard to guess what this unit looks like post-Brady, but what we got seems fairly likely to stick. If things go way off the rails we could see Giroux return or Pinto slot in to a net-front role, but otherwise I don’t think there’s much to worry about as far as these players remaining featured.

Talent: 6/10. I am a huge Batherson guy and I like Sanderson, but I am a bit leery on the ceiling for both Stutzle and Cozens. Eklund is fine enough, but there’s a reason San Jose felt okay with moving on from him in lieu of their younger core, as he seems like a perfectly fine middle six minute-eater on the wing.

Intrigue: 4/10. I’m not sure the Sens have been intriguing since EK65 and Hoffman stopped lacing them up. While they get some points for the BathBombs (think of all the shot attempts that Brady isn’t there to steal from him!) and some uncertainty, I am not racing to the stream to catch a Sens PP opportunity.

Moods’ Dudes: Drake Batherson, Fabian Zetterlund

Line up all the Ottawa Senators forwards from top to bottom, and Fabian Zetterlund might not be a top that list. However, he’s as good a rate shooter as there is on the list. Reunited with his old friend from San Jose on a line with Cozens, but without PP time for now, Zetterlund will be an interesting guy in deep leagues or at cheap DFS prices, as his long-term shot rate (2022-2025) is better than that of even Batherson, with last year’s still-good rates possibly a sign that he never found the right role. In the top six, the now-27-year-old sure will get a chance to prove he belongs.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Out of the gate: It’s not clear to me what the 3rd line situation is, but with Yanni Gourde missing the start of the year and a handful of departures (Nick Paul and Bjorkstrand in particular), there are a number of top nine roles to fill. It seems like Ilya Mikheyev will get an early look alongside Point-Kucherov (though let’s be honest, they’re double-shifting Kuch every game anyway), but the third line will need to be entirely rebuilt. Right now it seems like that’s more of the Holmberg-Girgensons-Viel unit, but putting three fun players together on the.. other third line(?), could bear fruit with Goncalves, Sam O’Reilly, and Conor Geekie skating together lately.

Conor Geekie is someone I am especially interested in, as he has legitimate prospect potential and his fantasy stats leap off the page, both in the AHL and in juniors. His AHL production has been especially impressive considering that he’s played ~70 NHL games across the two seasons, as well, so he’s taken the three hour flight to Syracuse and back several times and still produced at a high level despite the obvious disappointment of never carving out a legitimate NHL role. The 11th pick in 2022 and second main piece of the Sergachev return, it seems like his permanent role is finally here. I think he earns his way up to the Kucherov line (for whatever that’s worth with the double-shifting) by the end of the season, he’s big, mean, and has a great release.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 9/10. John Carlson is a clean 1-for-1 replacement of Darren Raddysh at the point, and it seems like Brayden Point will kick out to the left flank for Hagel to man the bumper. Guentzel and Kucherov will continue to play their two man passing game down low on the PP1 and I don’t expect any changes as the year progresses. There’s potential for them using deadline assets to trade for a true right-hand sniper to move Point back to the middle where he’s more comfortable, but we’ll see how things go.

Talent: 10/10. These guys rock. Kucherov is a magician with the puck, and in a league where it seems like MacKinnon and McDavid get faster and faster as they obliterate the league’s scoring tables, Kucherov and his janky stride and otherworldly patience continues to outperform them, and everyone else in the NHL. Over the last three seasons, no player has more points than Kucherov’s 395 (235 GP). The league just keeps getting dumber, and Kuch loves that.

Intrigue: 7/10. How does John Carlson fare as a triggerman for Kucherov, or will he have to score some goals himself for a change? Can Brandon Hagel reach fantasy dominance with a full-time PP1 role? Was it Brayden Point’s injury that prevented him from replacing Stamkos in a competent way a couple years ago now? For a team this good, not knowing where the goals will come from is pretty interesting. It’ll probably just be shared by all of them and lean toward Guentzel.

Moods’ Dudes: Nikita Kucherov, Conor Geekie, Charle-Edouard D’Astous

Free D’Astous! Seemingly the 7th D for Tampa, D’Astous played incredibly well without Hedman and is a very fun DFS punt with a really fun name to say. Something to keep an eye on!

Toronto Maple Leafs

Out of the gate: Darren Raddysh looks to jumpstart a disappointing Toronto squad, especially their high-end players on the PP1 and top pair. Dakota Joshua is set to miss time, but have no fear, five new bottom sixers (and Jack Roslovic, who should be usurped by Easton Cowan any day now.. I hope) are here to save the day.

Jim Hiller is the new coach, and I am… not mad about it at all. I’ve said this many times now, but I feel like I am objective enough to note that while I despised Hiller as the coach of the LA Kings, his issues were not so much “systems” as it was specific to his personnel. I don’t see an analogous situation to Brandt Clarke unfolding in Toronto with any of their young players, and I think his ability to create positive environments for his players shouldn’t be overlooked. After all, it was because Clarke looked so good that we were so upset by his deployment. With such a clear delineation between the top six and bottom six, his penchant for underplaying his fourth line won’t really be a problem, either!

Gavin McKenna debuts in the cushiest gig imaginable, on a line with Tavares-Nylander getting the good offensive deployment and PP1 reps. Matthew Schaefer seems to have broken our brains with what is possible for 18 year old rookies, based on McKenna’s UD ADP, but that sort of instant impact is made much more likely by getting to work with Nylander and this new PP1.

PP1 Grades:

Consistency: 7/10. Mostly because Matthew Knies is here after an offseason of not being traded, but it seems like his mostly likely path at this point is to replace Tavares. If McKenna struggles, that could be the switch as well, otherwise it seems like Raddysh is just the alpha #1 (and Morgan Rielly kind of seems.. happy about it? I see you, Morgan, as a fellow middle-management type) while Matthews-Nylander are of course going nowhere.

Talent: 10/10. Talented from top to bottom, there’s also a nice mix of skillsets here between Matthews and Raddysh being able to score from anywhere (in completely unique ways, too!), Nylander & McKenna’s ability to stickhandle in a phone booth while beating a round of Frogger, and being able to set your watch to Tavares scoring 30-35 goals. It didn’t really work last year, however, so one or both of Raddysh and McKenna are going to have to change the narrative here, and fast. That being said, I am just so in on the collection of raw talent here.

Intrigue: 9/10. These are the guys and this is the team. While not quite at Edmonton-levels of desperation, Toronto is also at a much lower starting point than the perpetually-playoff-bound Oilers. If Matthews struggles for another year, does he follow his buddy Mitch out of town and to the desert? If everything comes together under Jim Hiller, are the Leafs Cup competitors? It truly feels like everything is on the table, and how the PP1 fares could legitimately change the league’s landscape in 10 months’ time.

Moods’ Dudes: Auston Matthews, Darren Raddysh

Let’s score some goals, boys.

Bets to Consider: full disclosure, I do not enjoy betting futures all that much (see: last year’s show where DJ and I torched $1500 for approximately six seconds of a sweat) and much prefer the day-to-day grind of DFS and the fantasy game. I may bet these, I may not, but I truly do like them, if you do like betting futures! All lines are from DK or FD, of course you should shop around, but this is not a line-shopping preview, now is it? DK also doesn’t have O/Us, so keep in mind you’re likely getting screwed by juice on one-sided bets there.

Nylander Art Ross - 125/1 FD. If anything is possible from this club, isn’t Willy pulling a Kucherov-esque season plausible?

John Carlson Norris - 300/1 FD. Why is he longer odds than Hedman? Carlson doesn’t quite reach “Mark Giordano Legacy Award” status, but the way things ended for him in Washington, perhaps there’s some narrative behind this? 75/1 on DK.

UPL Vezina - 100/1 DK. What if one of the league’s best goalies for 55 games last year remains one of the league’s best for 84? A Hellebuyck trade never materializes and Alex Lyon is nothing to worry about. UPL has some pedigree, Levi was shipped out, and if the Sabres win the division again this time there may be a need to give someone an award (and Dahlin is already single digits for the Norris!).

Sam Reinhart o34.5 Goals -114 FD. I am not particularly worried about role, and with Barkov and a Tkachuk his efficiency should be quite high. I like this the best of the Atlantic Division’s O/Us on FD.

Buffalo o96.5 Points +100 DK. 11 points of value over FD, I think the losses of Byram and Tuch have been dramatically overstated. The young talent is significant here, and unless Samuelsson’s injury stretches into November I am just not worried about finding two players among quite literally a dozen to fill those two (sizable) holes. The best way to test young talent is to play them in legitimate roles, and it’s so much easier to do that when there’s not an albatross in the way. Tuch is good, but one of these players might be better, and the Sabres’ Cup hopes are dependent on that being discovered. Their playoff odds are -125, and I’m not sure in an 84-game season that 96 points does the job in this division, making +100 feel really strong.

Detroit u86.5 Points -120 DK. Is 15 points for an u85.5 number on FD better? I don’t know. I just don’t see it with these guys, not in this division. There’s just no plan here. They’d be incentivized to get a crack at Dupont if the season is anywhere close to where I expect it to go, and with no Larkin and no trade they suffer from a total lack of C talent. I like their prospect pool, but they don’t seem to want to use them in classic Detroit fashion. Give it a year and then we’ll see what they look like.

As always, thanks for reading!

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If you haven’t yet and you play Best Ball, you should definitely read the Best Puck Manifesto, with this year’s latest and all prior strategy pieces at moods.beehiiv.com/t/best-puck-strategy.

You should also subscribe to my YouTube channel and DJ Mitchell’s YouTube channel, where we do a show at least once a week, and stream live during the season breaking down the next day’s action.

Subscribe to the Morning Skate Podcast, where during the NHL season DJ and I break down the NHL slates every Tuesday and Thursday, also simulcast as a live YT stream.

If you like gambling on hockey… just make sure you follow/subscribe everywhere. And join the Discord (DM me if you want in the MSP Discord), if you somehow haven’t already. That’s the best possible thing you can do for your sanity, as I’ll ping you when anything of note happens.