There have been some injuries, covid issues and some unexpected players emerge early in this 56-game season that have created opportunities for players and changed some depth charts. We will go through each team in the West (excepting the Dallas Stars for now) and briefly see what players are in what roles and how they might influence your hockey pools (good and bad). These are very early returns so please take any PDO or CF numbers with a grain of salt.

Anaheim Ducks

There have been a few surprises in Anaheim as Trevor Zegras was sent down to the AHL and Sonny Milano has been scratched in both games the Ducks have played so far. Troy Terry, Sam Steel and Maxime Comtois have outscored the opposition two to none for goals at even strength notwithstanding a CF percentage of 37.8. On the opposite end of the spectrum lies the line of Adam Henrique Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell who have been outscored three to none while having a CF percentage of 61.0 early on. Isac Lundestrom has been given an opportunity to play with Danton Heinen and Ryan Getzlaf but the line has yet to click. Lundestrom could have a short rope before Milano is given another opportunity. On the power-play, Derek Grant has seen time, whereas Comtois has not.

On defence 28-year old rookie Jani Hakanpaa has seen limited minutes, but I figure he will be replaced when newly-signed Ben Hutton is ready to go. It appears that Kevin Shattenkirk and Cam Fowler are sharing the first unit PP duties with Shattenkirk appearing to have the inside track.

Arizona Coyotes

The big news out of Arizona is the injury to Oliver Ekman-Larsson which is listed as day-to-day but is at least a week because he is not on the Coyotes road trip. This opens up a chance for Kyle Capobianco to step into the lineup and see some PP time for at least the three games this week. It will give Jakob Chychrun an increased role as well.

The line of Derrick Brassard, Clayton Keller and Tyler Pitlick has dominated opposition at even strength with 33 CF and 13 CA (71.7 percent) and managed two GF and one GA. Currently, the first unit of the PP is Conor Garland, Clayton Keller, Christian Dvorak, Nick Schmaltz and Chychrun. Phil Kessel, Barrett Hayton, Pitlick, Brassard and Ekman-Larsson (now most likely Capobianco) have been the second unit. Kessel has three goals in two games and Keller has three points, so I would think both will see increased roles while they are going.

Calgary Flames

The most significant new role for a player on the Flames is Rasmus Andersson being the number one PP quarterback and seeing his ice time increase as a result. This could result in seeing his points per game rise to at least 0.50 and perhaps a little bit more. Dillon Dube seems to have found a home on a line with Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk and so far the line has generated two goals for with one against and a CF of 20 with a CA of 12. Josh Leivo should benefit from getting time with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau but the line hasn't generated yet and has slightly been outplayed being outshot 14-7 with a CF percentage of 47.2. The line of Milan Lucic, Sam Bennett and Joakim Nordstrom was caved in during the first game with a CF percentage of 18.1 while giving up two goals with none for. The coaching staff took out Nordstrom, brought in Dominik Simon and put Bennett with Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane with much better results in game two. Look for that line to stay together for a bit.

Oliver Kylington looks like the odd man out on defence after Jussi Valimaki's return from injury and Nikita Nesterov returning to the NHL after going back to the KHL for three seasons.

Chicago Blackhawks

This could be a long year for the Blackhawks with Jonathan Toews being out of the lineup for an indefinite period. As a result, Pius Suter is between Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat for now and the line has been outscored three goals to none at even strength with a CF percentage of 44.4. Dylan Strome was tried between Kane and DeBrincat and fared a little better in the plus-minus at even but the CF percentage was not much better at 40.7. 21-year old Philipp Kurashev who played 13 games with nine points in the Swiss league this year got to play with Strome and Dominik Kubalik in the top six with no success in his first game.

The first unit of the PP is very clear on this team with Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane, Dylan Strome, Andrew Shaw and Adam Boqvist all seeing over 70 percent of the PP time. Kubalik is on the outside looking in and though he managed 30 goals last season with only four on the PP, there is concern that with either Strome or Suter being his center and limited skill on his other wing, he won't come close to producing what he did last season.

In net, neither Collin Delia nor Malcolm Subban has had any success so it might be Kevin Lankinen’s time sooner than later but I don't think it would matter who was in net this year, wins won't come easy.

Colorado Avalanche

There haven't been many surprises in Colorado so far other than Brandon Saad appearing to struggle so far. A closer look has him playing with Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog and the line has given up three goals with zero for, but the line has only given up four shots and has a CF percentage of 68.8 so we will no doubt see these numbers revert a little. It is still worth a closer look in a bit to see if Tyson Jost will supplant Saad from the top six at any point.

On defence, the Cale Makar and Devon Toews pairing has struggled a little at even strength with a 38.9 CF percentage so far. Ryan Graves has been paired with Samuel Girard for the most part and they seem to be doing quite fine at 63.6 CF percentage. Erik Johnson should be back in the lineup, so Connor Timmins will be sent back to the taxi squad.

In goal, it appears that Philipp Grubauer has become the clear 1A over Pavel Francouz after starting the first two games of the season and playing well.

Edmonton Oilers

The additions to Edmonton have been underwhelming after three games and I wouldn't be surprised if some Oiler fans are a little concerned that the expectations for Kyle Turris, Tyler Ennis, Tyson Barrie, Dominik Kahun and Jesse Puljujarvi were a little high and won't be met. I'm willing to give Barrie, Kahun and Puljujarvi a little more time, but Turris and Ennis are unlikely to improve this team much if at all over 56 games. Will Barrie's presence on the PP outweigh his limitations at even-strength?

On the PP, the first unit is Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Tyson Barrie and Alex Chiasson. This unit will score over 25 percent no matter who they have in the spot of Chiasson, but why not set up Puljujarvi for some success and slot him there instead? How does Kailer Yamamoto ever slot in with this first unit? I'd even prefer him as a net-front presence over Chiasson just for the sake of development. There is no second unit of the PP in Edmonton as the first unit plays over 80 percent of the time.

No one could have seen this team have an issue with the goaltending combination of Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith. Maybe Stuart Skinner will be that out of nowhere rookie goaltender that becomes a star?

Los Angeles Kings

The only young players that made the roster were Gabriel Vilardi and Mikey Anderson and the team is hunkering down for a long season with its veteran players still playing prominent roles. Drew Doughty has played over 28 minutes per game, while Anze Kopitar is over 24 minutes so it is hardly sustainable Dustin Brown is playing on the top line and seeing first unit PP time as well, while the other 36-year old Jeff Carter is playing on the 2nd line and the second unit of the PP. Carter has had a great start with four points in two games, but his PDO is a sky-high 117.3 with a CF percentage around 30. He is not back to being a point per game player. Andreas Athanasiou has two goals in two games, which would be cause for celebration, but he has two shots on net, so tempering expectations are key with him as well.

Players on the first unit of the PP are Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe and Drew Doughty. This unit struggled for most of last season so I wouldn't expect much of an improvement this season unless they get some new blood in there (Vilardi or Athanasiou).

Minnesota Wild

You couldn't script a better start to an NHL career than Kirill Kaprizov's first two games. An OT winner and then setting up the OT winner in back to back games. His four points in his first two NHL games will be hard to keep up, but he certainly has the skill to sustain a point per game. So far, the Wild have tried Victor Rask, Nick Bonino, Nick Bjugstad and Marcus Johansson (briefly) at center with Kaprizov and Zach Parise. This will probably be a revolving door all season as it doesn't seem to matter to Kaprizov that much and it might be which center plays better with Kevin Fiala. At least until Marco Rossi is ready that is. The Wild look to have three productive lines, so are improved from last season as they boast one of the best top-four defence in the NHL to go along with that.

The first unit of the PP has Kaprizov, Fiala, Parise and uses the rarely deployed  two defensemen in Matt Dumba and Jared Spurgeon but the unit has yet to score a goal. Kaapo Kahkonen will need to bide his time, as Cam Talbot is as advertised so far in goal.

Nashville Predators

Newcomer Luke Kunin is getting a great opportunity in Nashville playing on the second line with Matt Duchene and has two goals in two games to show for it. The bad news is that he is not seeing any PP time at all. Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson are back together and that is a good thing for the Predators fortunes this season. The other wing with Duchene and Kunin appears to be between Erik Haula and Nick Cousins with Haula having earlier dividends so far (until Mikael Granlund is back). Yakov Trenin and Eeli Tolvanen have yet to see a game yet.

On defence, newcomers Matt Benning and Mark Borowiecki are playing about 15-16 minutes per night and are holding their own as of now at a 47.9 CF percentage. The first unit of the PP is Forsberg, Duchene, Johansen, Arvidsson and Josi and if healthy will remain that way.

San Jose Sharks

Tomas Hertl has emerged as the offensive leader on this team after two games this season. He is averaging over 22 minutes per game and has three goals and four points, playing alongside Evander Kane and John Leonard who was a surprise to make the team, let alone move ahead of Ryan Donato in the depth charts. Leonard had 27 goals in 33 games at UMass last season, so there is some skill there. Leonard is also seeing time on the second unit of the PP.

On defence, Mario Ferraro has been given a bigger role and is currently paired with Brent Burns. This looks like a decent pairing as they have outshot opponents 19 to five and have a CF percentage of 63.6. The biggest thing for Ferraro is playing time as he has averaged over 22 minutes per game.

Martin Jones was given the starting role over Devan Dubnyk but seems to be letting it slip through his fingers after two games. Keep your eyes on 22-year old Alexei Melnichuk who is the Sharks taxi squad goalie.

St. Louis Blues

Newcomer Torey Krug has yet to register a point in his two games as a Blue. His current deployment in St. Louis has him seeing about two more minutes at even strength along with some penalty killing that he hadn't seen in Boston. The five-on-five play has never been his strength so we will see how long this lasts. Mike Hoffman has yet to play with Ryan O'Reilly or David Perron so we have to see where he will settle in. Zach Sanford has seen some time on the top line but this might not continue but he, Jordan Kyrou and Tyler Bozak might make a good line going forward.

The first unit of the powerplay has had no success yet with Jaden Schwartz, David Perron, Brayden Schenn, Ryan O'Reilly and Tory Krug. Vince Dunn has seen 53.8 percent of the PP time so it looks like the Blues have been experimenting with two defencemen at times. It's going to be difficult for Dunn to progress as his ice time at even strength is still very limited and doesn't appear to be increasing entering his fourth year in the NHL.

Vancouver Canucks

I titled this article 'Early Opportunities' because there are moments in a player's career that they are afforded real opportunities to advance their role with their team and within the league. Not surprisingly more players fail when given that chance than grab the golden ring and run with it because it is a lot of pressure. Some players get numerous opportunities and never seem to take advantage of them and at that point, one can't just write it off to pressure. We have to come to a point where we need to realize that the player is probably not capable. Most people might have guessed that Jake Virtanen was the name on the Canucks that would come up with this topic and they are 100 percent correct. With J.T. Miller out for the first three games of the season, Virtanen was given a chance to play with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser and take advantage of it. It wasn't like Virtanen was awful and gave the puck away and missed his check constantly, he was just average. Average isn't good enough when given these moments if you want to shine in this league. At 24-years of age and almost 300 NHL games under your belt, how many more opportunities like this will he receive?

Nils Hoglander got his opportunity and ran with it and scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game. He has made mistakes, but he has played well and seems to fit well with Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson early on with that line producing two goals for and none against and having a CF percentage of 68.6. It is refreshing to see another player on the Canucks not playing to not make mistakes, but just playing.

Olli Juolevi is finally healthy enough to be given a role on the team and so far it has been pretty limited in ice time and matchups, but he has been fine and is holding his own. This will not be a fantasy-relevant season for him as he plays to not make mistakes still.

The first unit on the PP has been Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, Nils Hoglander and Quinn Hughes. J.T. Miller will be back next game so Hoglander will lose his spot here while Virtanen gets moved down or scratched.

Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas has elected to start five defencemen in their first two games and dress 13 forwards, so we will see if this continues as they have yet to lose a game.

Chandler Stephenson has had the chance to play with Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone in the first two games and the line has outscored the opposition two goals to none. Cody Glass has been with Alex Tuch and Nicolas Roy and this line has tilted the ice in their favor in the two games played for CF 69.2.

The first unit of the PP has been Stone, Pacioretty, William Karlsson, Cody Glass and Alex Pietrangelo getting the early reps over Shea Theodore. Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith seem to have lost a little bit of time with the man advantage, but it is very early.

Winnipeg Jets

We only have one game from Winnipeg to go from but it was an overtime win over Calgary where Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor had three points each. With Jack Roslovic still not with the club, Mason Appleton had a chance on the third line in his absence and he played just over 11 minutes with no points. Laine might not be able to play the next game so perhaps the 24th overall pick in 2017 Kristian Vesalainen gets a chance.

Dylan Demelo is not with the team and Tucker Poolman has been placed in Covid Protocol so Logan Stanley will get a chance to dress in the next game over Ville Heinola. Sami Niku only played 12 minutes in the one game and didn't see any PP time.

The first unit of the PP appears to be Kyle Connor, Blake Wheeler, Paul Stastny, Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey while Laine, Nik Ehlers, Neal Pionk, Mathieu Perreault along with Scheifele made up the second unit. Interesting to see Scheifele play 99.3 percent of the Jets PP.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.