2024-25 Fantasy Hockey Week 1 Primer and Pickups: Florida Panthers' Quest To Defend Championship Officially Begins

With the Global Series in Czechia done, it's time to turn our attention to the start of the season in North America. 

It's a triple-header on Tuesday with Bruins at Panthers, Blues at Kraken and Blackhawks at Utah. 

Note with Hurricane Milton potentially reaching Category 3 status on Monday (today), it may put the Panthers' season opener in jeopardy. The team had already cancelled their Stanley Cup ring ceremony.

Adjust your lineups accordingly. 

The Capitals play just once in the opening week, so they're the team to avoid. It's a low-upside offensive lineup anyway, even with Alex Ovechkin chasing Gretzky's record, so in most cases you're not missing out.

There are plenty of back-to-backs but once again Saturday features the most action with 14 games. The opening week of fantasy can be tough, so try to avoid making hasty moves. 

We were all turned off by the Sabres' performance in Czechia, but I would not give up on their players just yet, such as Jack Quinn. Injuries are already starting to play a role with J-J Peterka and Zach Benson missing the second game of the Global Series. That's opened the door for Jiri Kulich, another high-end prospect, and Jordan Greenway, who moved up to the top six and might have some sneaky value for hits and points, to have some fantasy value. 

If you haven't checked it out yet, all team previews and other fun stuff, including funny names for your fantasy hockey team, are included in the link below. Projected lineups have been adjusted according to the latest information. 

Pick players from teams at the top of the schedule matrix to maximize games and matchups. Green is good. Red is bad. All advanced stats courtesy naturalstatrick.com. All positions and rostered percentages are courtesy of Yahoo Fantasy. Points percentages are from the 2023-24 season.

(< 50% rostered on Yahoo, on teams with at least 3 games this week)

Total Hits, 2023-24

Keegan Kolesar, RW, VEG - 277
Simon Benoit, D, TOR - 246
Michael Pezzetta, LW, MTL - 242
Martin Pospisil, C/RW, CGY - 238
Liam O'Brien, C, UTA - 229

Total Blocks, 2023-24

Colton Parayko, D, STL - 218
Chris Tanev, D, TOR - 207
Brayden McNabb, D, VEG - 207
Jacob Trouba, D, NYR - 183
Jamie Oleksiak, D, SEA - 177

(< 50% rostered on Yahoo)

Andrei Kuzmenko, LW/RW, CGY (46% rostered)
Yegor Sharangovich, C/RW, CGY (45% rostered)

Sharangovich was less than 40 percent rostered so it looks like he's starting to get noticed. Along with Kuzmenko, they'll form two-thirds of the Flames' top line with Nazem Kadri. Kuzmenko, in particular, was excellent with Kadri last season, and he possesses 70-point potential while Sharangovich is a virtual lock to score 30 goals.

Update: Sharangovich was placed on IR on Monday, which means he'll be forced to miss a minimum of seven days. He suffered an upper-body injury Friday in a pre-season game against the Jets. Stash him if you can. 

Gabriel Vilardi, C/RW, WPG (43% rostered)

Vilardi will open the season where he left last season as the top-line right winger for the Jets playing alongside Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele. Prior to his injury last season, Vilardi was scoring at a 62-point pace. The big risk here is injury, but until that happens, I think Vilardi deserves to be rostered.

Dylan Strome, C, WSH (39% rostered)

He's the top center in D.C. and he'll be feeding pucks to Alex Ovechkin all season. His consecutive 60-point seasons proves it's no fluke. I don't think Pierre-Luc Dubois is a threat to steal this spot as he stylistically doesn't fit with Ovechkin as well as Strome.

Jonathan Drouin, LW, COL (35% rostered)

Drouin will likely begin the season as the left winger on the Avs' top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He scored 56 points in 79 games last season riding shotgun. 'Nuff said.

Justin Faulk, D, STL (43% rostered)

Faulk had a very good pre-season looking very much like a 50-point player with 100-block and 100-hit upside. With Torey Krug out for the season and Scott Perunovich not ready for a significant role, Faulk will open the season as their QB on PP1, with even-strength 'D' partner Philip Broberg quarterbacking PP2. 

(< 50% rostered on Yahoo)

Dylan Cozens, C, BUF (42% rostered)

The Sabres looked lethargic as a whole in their two games in Prague, but I thought Cozens had a good showing in their season opener with seven shots and 11 faceoff wins. Through two games, even though he has yet to score a point, he's registered eight shots, 17 faceoff wins, three hits and a block. That's good multi-category coverage for a L2 and PP2 center.

Dylan Guenther, RW, UTA (39% rostered)

Utah has spread out their scoring on three lines but head coach Andre Tourigny has made it abundantly clear that Guenther and Logan Cooley will be spending a lot of time together. The big upside is on the power play, where Guenther is expected to play PP1 with top scorer Clayton Keller.

Matthew Knies, LW, TOR (29% rostered)

Great for leagues that count hits and he's got arguably the best deployment out of any role player in the league playing with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

Pierre-Luc Dubois, C/LW, WSH (24% rostered)

The optimist in me believes Dubois will bounce back; if he doesn't, he might end up playing himself out of the league. With LW eligibility, Dubois has added value in leagues that count face-offs. Let's see if a change of scenery sparks his play.

Cole Perfetti, C/LW, WPG (18% rostered)

The Jets want Perfetti and Nik Ehlers to anchor their second line Rick Bowness is no longer there to limit both their minutes. This could be a breakout season for Perfetti; keep an eye on his ice time and how the Jets deploy him.

Anthony Duclair, LW, NYI (15% rostered)
Maxim Tsyplakov, RW, NYI (3% rostered)

Duclair will open the season on the top line with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, and that's a great spot for him. He's got 30-goal potential and he won't have to carry that line. Remember last season when he was traded to the Lightning at the deadline, his offense popped and he scored 15 points in 17 games. 

Tsyplakov is potentially a great play in deeper leagues. With Pierre Engvall waived and assigned to the minors, it all but assures that Tsyplakov will open the season on the second line playing next to the ultra-steady Brock Nelson. Both Duclair and Tspylakov are expected play PP2. 

Philipp Kurashev, C/RW, CHI (13% rostered)

It looks like the Hawks will open the season with Kurashev as their second-line center rather than Connor Bedard's right winger, which is a huge bummer. I don't think Kurashev is good enough to carry his own line, especially when his best winger is a kinda-washed-up Taylor Hall and Ilya Mikheyev, who might have the worst hands in the league. The upside is Kurashev will likely play PP1 with Bedard. 

Marco Rossi, C, MIN (8% rostered)

It seems like the spot between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello on the Wild's top scoring line will be a rotating door, but right now it's occupied by Rossi. (Last week, I highlighted Ryan Hartman). Rossi possesses oodles of potential, and he skipped representing Austria over the summer to stay in Minnesota to train. If he can stay in the 1C spot, he's a helluva pickup.

Sean Durzi, D, UTA (42% rostered)

It really looks like Utah will run two equal PP units since Barrett Hayton will play PP1 and Logan Cooley will play PP2. Based on talent, it should be the other way around, especially since Cooley's even-strength linemate, Dylan Guenther, is playing PP1. I think PP1 still has more upside by virtue of having Clayton Keller, but if the power play ice time is being shared equally, I don't see Mikhail Sergachev (96% rostered) that much ahead of Durzi.

Brandt Clarke, D, LA (28% rostered)

Clarke's expected to be PP1 QB with Drew Doughty out, and play on a pairing with Joel Edmundson at even strength. Jim Hiller has been pretty effusive with his praise, and there's no guarantee that Doughty takes over PP1 upon his return, especially if the Kings PP is running fine with Clarke at the point. 

Sam Montembeault, G, MTL (33% rostered)

The Habs should be much improved, even without Patrik Laine for the first few months. If they are, Montembeault has fantasy value for quantity of starts and saves since he'll play more than Cayden Primeau.

Arturs Silovs, G, VAN (31% rostered)

Thatcher Demko has not returned, which means Silovs will be the Canucks' No. 1 when the season begins with Kevin Lankinen backing him up. Silovs showed very well in the playoffs last season and he should have a lot of short-term value on a team that has Cup aspirations. 

(< 50% rostered on Yahoo)

Lukas Dostal, G, ANA (8% rostered)

The Ducks play back-to-back right off the bat, visiting San Jose on Saturday and then Vegas on Sunday. Dostal will likely be their opening night starter with John Gibson on the shelf, which means a juicy matchup against the Sharks.

Calvin Pickard, G, EDM (4% rostered)

If Stuart Skinner gets the home opener on Wednesday, that would give Pickard either Saturday against the Blackhawks or Sunday against the Flames. Either matchup will be good. This is a good chance to take advantage of the Oilers' explosive offense as I'm sure they'll have no problem scoring their way out of trouble against the Hawks or Flames.

Joel Hofer, G, STL (4% rostered)

The Blues have three straight games on the road, including a back-to-back Thursday in San Jose and then Friday in Vegas. If Jordan Binnington gets the season opener Tuesday in Seattle, I think Hofer gets the start in San Jose. That should be an easy win.

Casey DeSmith, G, DAL (2% rostered)

Jake Oettinger likely gets the home opener on Saturday against the Islanders, which leaves DeSmith the second home game on Sunday against the Kraken. This is a good matchup since the Kraken will be playing the second game of their back-to-back on the road after playing the Wild in Minnesota on Saturday.