Dobber launched his fantasy hockey website DobberHockey back in 2005 and has been Puck Daddy's resident fantasy hockey 'expert' since 2009.

Usually when I do this column I run through some of the hot and cold sticks from around the league. But of course we're just one day in - eight teams have played one game - so that's obviously not going to get us anywhere. Although Phil Kessel is pointless in one game so you should probably drop him.

We do have some preseason data, via Frozen Pool, and I ran the league leaders in hits in the preseason. Note that a handful of games were without data, so not all the games were entered here:

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It looks like Kane is on a mission, which is a good sign if you're a Kane owner. But it's interesting to see some of the young players such as Chaput and Bjorkstrand on here as we're generally not privy to information on hits in the AHL and Canadian Junior ranks.

Waiver Wire

As the season kicks off, let's take a look at some of the best players available on your waiver wire. These guys are 7% owned or less in Yahoo! leagues. If you're looking to replace an injury, or you're already changing your mind about one of your Anders Lee picks, here are some suggestions.

Forwards

Nick Bjugstad, Florida Panthers - Bjugstad is coming off a 38-point rookie campaign and has a better team around him. Furthermore, the Panthers have Roberto Luongo between the pipes, which is bound to improve the ugly plus/minus. Then again, scraping a two-inch pile of snow along the crease line would improve that plus/minus. Bjugstad is worth stashing on the bench as anyone's No.5 center, to be put in when he gets hot or when someone else gets hurt.

Patrick Maroon/Devante Smith-Pelly, Anaheim Ducks - While Dany Heatley hides from the fact that he's lost his mojo nurses an injury, Maroon and Smith-Pelly get to audition there. At 455 pounds between the two of them, either one could provide a huge body on the left side of the Ryan Getzlaf/Corey Perry line, and each of them have the talent to keep up with the two stars. Maroon is the first choice here because he provides nice penalty minutes, but if your league is one of the 5% that owns him, then Smith-Pelly is a good consolation prize.

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning - How a player who led the preseason in goals (six) and coming off his 20-year-old season in which he had a pro-rated 14 goals is only drafted in 6% of the leagues is beyond me. At the very least he's worth keeping on the bench for a few weeks to see what line he settles in on and how he performs.

Jiri Tlusty, Carolina Hurricanes - Tlusty is playing with Eric Staal and Alexander Semin and this has been the case for nearly two years. Last year's terrible production can be attributed to the fact that at any point in time, one member of the trio was injured. With all three of them healthy, watch them take off. Don't get left behind here, Tlusty should be picked up and even activated.

Anthony Duclair, New York Rangers - There is a good chance that this is just a nine-game trial for the youngster Duclair. But he scored four times during the preseason and has the drive and work ethic to keep it up. And the way Rick Nash played back in May, I'm just about ready to say "hey look, Nash gets to line up with Duclair" rather than the other way around.