10 tips for your fantasy hockey draft

With NHL fantasy drafts fast approaching, USA TODAY Sports hockey columnist Kevin Allen offers 10 tips to help your draft preparation:

1. Keep an eye on Hemsky: The Dallas Stars signed Ales Hemsky specifically to play with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Hemsky could finish with 60-plus points. If he doesn't play with those two, he will play with Jason Spezza. He had good chemistry with him late last season.

2. This is Tavares' year: Don't forget that New York Islanders center John Tavares was on a 92-point pace before he suffered a season-ending knee injury at the Olympics. At 23, he's ready to have a 95-point season.

3. Almost 40, under 30: New York Rangers winger Martin St. Louis turns 40 right after the season ends, but that's not why his production might dip a bit. He's still a premium offensive player, but he doesn't have Steven Stamkos as his center anymore. They had superb chemistry. Take a look at his Tampa Bay Lightning numbers and post-trade numbers before you draft him early. He probably won't score 30 goals or push near 70 points.

4. Take Lightning players: Tampa Bay is going to win 50 games this season, and goalie Ben Bishop's numbers will be exceptional. Stamkos should be the No. 2 pick overall. Victor Hedman should go high among defensemen. Matt Carle should have better numbers. Rookie Jonathan Drouin suffered a thumb injury but hopes to be ready for the season opener and should put up good numbers. Valtteri Filppula, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat are all exceptional second-level scorers. Tampa Bay players should all have good plus-minuses.

5. On the rise: Zack Kassian (Vancouver Canucks) could score 20 goals this season to go along with a strong penalty minute total. Brad Richards (Chicago Blackhawks) will have his best season since 2011-12. Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers) will be a 20-goal scorer. Radim Vrbata (Vancouver) will have 25 goals and 60 points.

6. No sophomore slump: Expect second-year NHL player Valeri Nichuskin (Dallas) to go from 14 goals to 25 this season. He could also be around 50 points. Look for Tomas Hertl (San Jose) to have a 25-goal season.

7. Warning, warning: The No. 1 goalie for the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks are both desirable for your fantasy team, but it is unclear who that will be. You can guess Brian Elliott in St. Louis and John Gibson in Anaheim. But Jake Allen could steal the net in St. Louis and Frederik Andersen could do the same in Anaheim. Even if the teams name a starter, it's still difficult to predict how it will play out during the season. It's safer to draft Chicago's Corey Crawford or Boston's Tuukka Rask or Montreal's Carey Price, etc.

8. Eriksson replaces Iginla: Keep an eye on Loui Eriksson as a possible replacement for Jarome Iginla on the Bruins' top line. He has scored 25 or more goals five times, and he scored only 10 goals last season after suffering two concussions.

9. Best rookie: Drouin is a candidate, but the Washington Capitals' Evgeny Kuznetsov is a potential 20-goal scorer. He's 22, and he already has been a top player in the Kontinental Hockey League. Much will depend upon who those two play beside.

10. Late-round sleeper:Don't forget about young, tough forward Tom Wilson (Washington). He had surgery in July on a fractured fibula, and he won't be ready for the season opener. But he is skating now with the injured players. If he is ready soon, he could be a undervalued source of goals and penalty minutes. If he is in the lineup by the end of October, he is capable of generating 10 to 12 goals and 125-plus penalty minutes.

Hockey season is under way at USA TODAY Fantasy Sports. Get player news, position rankings and our new daily fantasy game, FantasyScore, at fantasy.usatoday.com