Lots to talk about after a busy Tuesday night in the NHL, but before we get to that, if you're a Pavel Buchnevich owner then you're going to have him stapled to your bench for the next few days as he received a two-game suspension for head-butting. This isn't his first offence either, and he appears to have an anger streak. Something to keep in mind for future, as those suspensions could start to pile up.

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Brock Boeser returned to the Canucks' lineup and was immediately slotted in on Elias Pettersson's wing, as well as on the top power play unit. He's now a threat for career highs in points (60+) and goals (30+), as long as he can stay healthy – though as a band-aid-boy trainee, that may be too much to ask for.

Speaking of injury returns, Quinn Hughes is due back very soon, and it could be as early as Thursday.

Also, the Buffalo Sabres are… good? Not quite, they're still going to be a terrible team, regardless of how well they start the year. Might be time to sell high on anyone not named Rasmus Dahlin or Dylan Cozens. They should also not pose great threats to opposing goalies, but keep in mind they haven't been easy outs so far.

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Someone you might want to look into buying before he heats up is Mike Hoffman. Rick has more on him in today's "Goldilocks and the Three Skaters" column, but I do just want to mention that he should be in line for more offensive minutes in Montreal than he was seeing in STL. The Blues also stifled his shot rate a little, but he should be able to bump it back up over the 10 shots per 60 minutes mark this season. Generally, that would mean over 2.5 per game.

Otherwise though, Montreal did not look good last night, letting San Jose walk right in and take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission, and only putting three shots on net themselves.

There was one take about Nick Suzuki that I saw on Twitter which would concern me as a fantasy owner, and the more I watch him the more I agree with Jack here. Go read the whole thread and then come back:

With MTL down 2-1 late in the game, Nick Suzuki had 2 opportunities to take a puck from the NZ into the OZ.

Instead of gambling on a solo rush, he dumped the puck in. MTL was not able to recover either pucks.

— Jack Han (@JhanHky) October 18, 2021

The Sharks won't be terminating Evander Kane's contract according to multiple reports. He's eligible to return from his suspension on November 30^th, but I'm skeptical the team gets him back on the ice at any point this season.

It's tough to blame them as they are off to a 2-0 start on the backs of Timo Meier and Adin Hill. Hill may still be found in free agency of some leagues. He's worth a speculative add if the Sharks can turn into a playoff team in the weak Pacific Division, though he has never had a quality-start percentage over 50%, so don't get your hopes too high.

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Nikita Kucherov's initial injury timeline is six-to-10 weeks, meaning at the latest he should be back for the new year (and importantly for him, the Olympics). In the meantime, he's on LTIR, so we get to watch and see what the Lightning do with the extra cap this time around.

In his absence, Corey Perry was up on the top line with Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point, but that may not last. Keep an eye on the line combos in Tampa.

On the other side of the state, the rookies won the game for the Panthers. Anton Lundell potted his first NHL goal, and Spencer Knight won his fifth straight start to begin his career. Sergei Bobrovsky may have the contract, but Knight should net at least 30 starts by the time the season is over.

🚨 FIRST NHL GOAL ALERT 🚨

Keep that puck, Anton Lundell! #NHLFaceOff pic.twitter.com/ytL9d1da4A

— NHL (@NHL) October 20, 2021

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Yanni Gourde made his Seattle debut, and took over on the top line while kicking Jared McCann down the lineup to see time with both the second and third lines. That's a hit to McCann's fantasy appeal, while Gourde takes over as the best fantasy option on the Kraken moving forward. McCann scored anyways last night though; he may take a hit, but he can still put up 50-points without playing on the top line.

After losing big to Philly, the Kraken came out flat against the Devils too. Speaking of Philly though, I did want to mention Ryan Ellis' excellent start to the season. I managed to target him in a couple of leagues after saying a few times through the summer that landing with the Flyers was going to be great for him. He's an underappreciated offensive threat after playing in Josi's shadow for so long, but he has a floor of 40 points and a ceiling of 65. With the added firepower of the Philly forwards, it's looking like he could push for 60 even without being deployed with the top power play unit.  

With Chris Driedger suddenly placed on the IR (no word yet on why or for how long), Joey Daccord got the start. Philipp Grubauer started the first four games of the season, and had played Monday night.

Despite the bad start to the game Daccord settled in and could be a good option to stream if goalies are scarce, but don't go blowing your whole free agent budget on him as he likely won't pick up too many wins; plus we don't know how long Driedger is out. It's also possible that this ends up being his only start of the season.

On the Devils' side, Dawson Mercer's first NHL goal has to be highlighted.

WELCOME TO THE NHL DAWSON MERCER pic.twitter.com/lZ5t0CXr2f

— Devils on MSG (@DevilsMSGN) October 19, 2021

Mercer broke camp with the team after coming in with very long odds to make the team. He's a riser from his draft year, a very smart player, and one that should carve out a long and productive NHL career. He doesn't have quite the same ceiling as a Cole Caufield or a Trevor Zegras, but he could see a couple seasons around the point-per-game mark.

Unfortunately, Jack Hughes left the game after being thrown to the ice by Jeremy Lauzon, and landing awkwardly on his left shoulder. Hopefully it isn't serious.

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Denis Gurianov is getting wasted on the fourth line in Dallas at the moment. Keep an eye on his as a buy-low opportunity, as he should be a 20+ goal scorer with 200+ shots by the time the season is done.

Sidney Crosby is nearing a return, but remains out of the lineup for the time being. Time to sell Jeff Carter and/or Danton Heinen if you can get a good enough price on them.

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Nathan MacKinnon has twice tested negative for Covid, so he was eligible to return for last night's game. Unfortunately for his fantasy owners, he went minus-five with a single assist.

We did however get one of Evgeni Kuznetsov's patented bird goal celebrations only a few minutes into the game. He looks refreshed after an off year last year that was capped by trade rumours. Kuznetsov would add another, while Anthony Mantha, Nic Dowd, and Nick Jensen also scored. It was Mantha's first goal in 17 games (regular season and playoffs). His owners are really hoping that breaks the floodgates wide open, but in the meantime at least he does bring some peripherals.

Connor McMichael made his NHL debut last night, replacing Hendrix Lapierre on the third line between Conor Sheary and T.J. Oshie. He has long been a favourite of mine, and was even above a few players such as Matt Boldy and Evan Bouchard on my 2019 draft list. He doesn't have a lot of flashy talent, but he just puts up points everywhere he goes. In the meantime, McMichael and Lapierre will likely both get their nine game trials while the Capitals wait for Nick Backstrom to return from the IR. If Backstrom isn't ready by game 19, my bet is McMichael gets some leash as he should make the team next year anyways, while Lapierre's ELC could slide for another year or two. When the talent level is even, it often comes down to contract politics.

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Detroit dominated the possession in this one, but Joonas Korpisalo showed why the net isn't just Elvis Merzlikins' for the taking, despite the contract discrepancy. It has been rumoured that one has been almost moved out the door on a few occasions, but by the end of the year we may finally see it happen due to Korpi's expiring contract. If he is moved, the value of both goalies rockets up.

Lucas Raymond did beat Korpisalo with a laser shot for his first career goal.

Lucas Raymond with his first NHL goal!

I absolutely love this kid's game and I am stoked to see him get his first! Great shot with pinpoint accuracy! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/3STdFz11mQ

— Tony Ferrari (@theTonyFerrari) October 20, 2021

Raymond left the game after a hit from behind by Jack Roslovic. As a heads up to Roslovic owners, it's possible there's some supplemental discipline coming here.

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Not that there was much room for him in the Toronto lineup anyways at the moment, but Nick Robertson will be out of the lineup until Christmas time.

INJURY UPDATE: Marlies forward Nick Robertson suffered a non displaced fracture of his right fibula in Sunday's game vs. Manitoba. Robertson will not require surgery and is expected to be out a minimum of 10 weeks.

— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) October 19, 2021

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What a Wild game in Winnipeg where Kirill Kaprizov took over in overtime for Minnesota for the 6-5 win. Hopefully you aren't the Connor Hellebuyck owner. Nights like that happen for every goalie though, and he's still a must-start in every game.

With Blake Wheeler out of the lineup, P.L. Dubois moved up and played a team-high 6:26 with the man-advantage. The offence flowed through Kyle Connor though, who put up the first two goals for the team, and added an assist for good measure. Connor's linemates Andrew Copp and Mark Scheifele combined for five points as well.  

Connor was topped by a four-point night by Mats Zuccarello, who might have been the most under-appreciated scorer heading into the season. Zucc is seeing 18:30 per game, which is his highest since 2018-19. He's aging extremely well.

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Semyon Varlamov may be back in time to start Thursday's game, so adjust your lineups accordingly.

Oliver Wahlstrom scored two goals, and he's someone to watch for the Isles. Playing on Long Island isn't conducive to high point totals, but Wahlstrom seems to be in a position to break out a little, possibly passing the 50-point threshold in his second season.

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Tanner Jeannot is still flying under the radar after going pointless through the first two games, but he's a hits monster, and can chip in a sprinkle of offence. He netted the game winner last night, and has been seeing third line minutes, unlike those other fourth line hits specialists you're looking at.

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The Blackhawks make for some excellent buy-low opportunities early into the season. You can probably wait a little while on Jonathan Toews though, as he looks to need a fair bit more time to get up to speed.                                

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Mason McTavish left Monday night’s last night's game with an injury, and it appeared to happen while absorbing a hit that may have caused some contact with the knee. It's possible he misses some time, and an injury like this during a rookie campaign can often close the opening in the lineup for said player, meaning they don't have much of an opportunity to make an impact for the rest of the season.

Mike Smith left the game with a lower-body injury. All of a sudden Mikko Koskinen becomes a must-own if a bunch of 6-5 wins are valuable to your fantasy team.

Zach Kassian potted two goals, but as long as he's playing in the bottom-six like he is now, he can be safely ignored unless you're chasing PIMs.

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Feel free to find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy questions.