Jeremy Lauzon

Appearing in 78 games for the Predators last season, Lauzon led the NHL in hits with 388 and it wasn't particularly close. Garnet Hathaway of the Flyers finished second with 326. Lauzon also provided a tiny bit of secondary offense, finishing with career-best marks in both goals (six) and points (14). Lauzon is an automatic fade in standard formats, but he's also one of the only true difference-makers around if your league values hits. Don't be afraid to reach for him on draft day if you need a boatload of help in that category.

Lauzon posted 12 points, 250 hits and 75 blocked shots as an ultra-physical third-pairing defenseman last season. He added 66 hits, 77 shots on goal and a minus-11 rating in 67 contests. It's the grit that kept him in the lineup, though that heavy playing style likely also contributed to his season ending early with an upper-body injury. The 26-year-old is a drag on most puck possession and offensive metrics, and his defense typically isn't good enough to cover those flaws, so he'll likely be a fringe roster player in 2023-24, which makes him a non-factor for most fantasy managers.

Lauzon only appeared in 19 games with the Bruins last campaign, notching two points and 29 points over that span, but with it appearing increasingly likely that Zdeno Chara won't return to Boston for one final hurrah, the 23-year-old looks to be in line for a full-time gig in 2020-21. Still, he'd be lucky to produce more than 10 points while skating in a bottom-four role with no power-play time during the upcoming shortened season, so there's no reason for fantasy managers to have Lauzon on their radar.

Lauzon, a 2015 second-rounder, will likely gain some AHL seasoning before he sees regular work in Boston, but the 20-year-old -- who is coming off a 2016-17 campaign in which he scored five goals and 28 points in 39 games for Rouyn-Noranda of the QMJHL -- is part of the next wave of promising blue line talent coming down the B's prospect pipeline. The 6-foot-1, 204-pounder is thus on the short list of potential in-season call-ups once he gets some pro experience under his belt.

Lauzon, who the Bruins took 52nd overall in 2015 NHL Entry Draft, saw his stock in the organization rise last season, after he racked up 10 goals and 50 points in 46 QMJHL games with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Moreover, the 19-year-old, who is listed at 6-foot-1, 204 pounds, now appears past a scary injury that suffered in last spring's playoffs, in which he was cut on the side of his neck with an errant skate blade. Lauzon is viewed as an ascending prospect by the B's, to the point that he could even push for a roster spot with the big club as soon as this season. It's more likely though that he'll go back to Quebec for a fourth season of junior hockey, where he'll continue to hone his game, which already features puck-moving ability and solid skating.