At this point of the fantasy season, there just isn't a whole lot to talk about. There are a handful of injuries and line changes across the league, but we have lots of columns here at Dobber Hockey that cover those things. We have Ryan Sheppard covering line changes in his 'Lining Up' columns and Brennan Des pores over all the relevant injury news in the 'Injury Ward'. And anything that pops up daily is often covered here in the Ramblings by one of the editors.

In that sense, I just want to go over some stats. At this point of the season, though, nothing is concrete. A lot is also noise; things like expected goals, in a sample of a couple games, can be greatly influenced by something as simple as a flurry of shots in a scramble. There are other indicators we can look towards, though, for some performance in shot attempts and ice time.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 10 teams had played four games. Those 10 teams were Seattle, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Toronto, New York (R), Chicago, Vancouver, Dallas, and Anaheim. That seems like a good mix of teams. Upper-end rosters, injured rosters, a couple bad teams, both East and West. Here is one fact, about TOI or shot attempts, about a player from each of those 10 teams.

Seattle – Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz

In the early parts of the season, the top-line wingers are both hovering around 20 minutes a night. Eberle hasn't been anywhere close to that ice time since his Edmonton days, when he was pacing for 25 goals and 60 points every year. The last time Schwartz played over 19 minutes a game was 2017-18 and he had 59 points in 62 contests.

These guys won't be point-per-game players, but they have zero goals and three assists in five games combined. They're sure to be dropped in some leagues, but Yanni Gourde has returned, and players skating 20 minutes a night anywhere should probably be rostered. This team played five games in three time zones in eight days to start the season. Give them a break.

New York Rangers – Alexis Lafrenière

There are sure to be panic buttons pressed eventually. He had 21 points in 56 games last year, finishing nowhere in Calder voting, and has one point in four games to start this season. The upside here is he is second among their forwards in shot attempt rate this year. Compared to last year, his shot rate has jumped nearly 80% in the early going. With the injury to Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov back in Russia, this team is running out of wingers. His 15-and-change minutes a night should climb, and if that shot rate stays constant, the goals and points should come.

Toronto – Rasmus Sandin

Not only does Sandin lead the Leafs blue line in shot attempts per 60 minutes, he's top-10 in the league and comparable to names like Makar and Josi. It is still very early, of course, but he hasn't looked out of place in his minutes.

The minutes are the problem, though. He is skating under 16 minutes a night and his shot rate is likely to decline from here on out. It is just too high on a team that doesn't prioritize point shots. Can his ice time start climbing? We're going to find out but it's doubtful.

Chicago – Alex DeBrincat

The leader in ice time among Chicago forwards? I wouldn't list DeBrincat here if it weren't him. Yeah, he's neck-and-neck with Patrick Kane so it's really a wash, but it's pretty incredible how a couple years ago, he was on the verge of a down season. Now, he's exceeding Toews and Kane in TOI.

He should be able to maintain this level. The team just doesn't have the depth to play him only 17 minutes a night. Let's just hope he doesn't keep shooting under 10% like he did a couple years ago when he had 18 goals in 70 games.

Tampa Bay – Steven Stamkos

I was concerned in the offseason about Stamkos having two short offseasons, given his injury history. He had also seen his shot rate slide in recent seasons. Well, he leads the Bolts in shot rate this year and he finds himself inside the top-20 league-wide. If he can maintain this shot rate, it would be his highest in five years.

With Kucherov injured, the team needs Stamkos to turn back the block a bit. Seven points in four games with 16 shots is a good start. More of this and he could have a special fantasy season once again. I love when guys prove me wrong.

Vancouver – Conor Garland

I would mention OEL and his very high shot rate but I thought I saw it mentioned here on the site elsewhere, so I'll go the other direction. Garland has the lowest shot rate of any Vancouver forward, exceeding just Tyler Myers and Tucker Poolman on the team as a whole. It has declined roughly 75% from where it has been the last few seasons in Arizona.

It won't stay there forever, and that could mean a buying opportunity. At the same time, the Canucks have looked pretty bad to start the year and maybe there isn't a massive rebound coming. Thoughts from Canucks fans?

Pittsburgh – Jeff Carter

He just keeps doing it, hey? Sidney Crosby's return is around the bend, but Carter is currently earning more than 30 seconds in TOI per game than any other Penguins forward. He should stay around 19 minutes as long as Evgeni Malkin remains out of the lineup, and he's nowhere near returning.

Carter also leads the team in shot rate, so his four points in four games could be even better if his 7.7% shooting starts to climb. It has been a superlative start to the season for the Penguins pivot, and that should continue for a couple months.

Anaheim – Rickard Rakell

With all the hubbub about Drysdale, Zegras, and Comtois, we may have forgotten about the veteran here. Rakell leads their forwards in ice time – the only one over 18 minutes a night – and he's second in shot rate. The problem is his personal shot rate has come down, so we need more shooting from him to offset the drop from his 20% shooting.

Just keep an eye on Rakell. The Ducks don't look very good but 25 goals, 90 hits, and 200 shots will play in most any multi-cat league. Imagine if that top line starts to click? There may be a 50-point season ahead.

Montreal – Brendan Gallagher

His fantasy value is starting to flatline a bit. He is skating just 14:27 a night, the lowest since his rookie season, and seventh among their forwards. Not only that, but his shot rate has fallen about 25% from his last three years. Those two things, in conjunction with just how bad Montreal looks, is a very big concern.

Not that Gallagher has needed 18 minutes a night for fantasy value, but once we get down to 14 minutes a night on a team that is struggling worse than a three-year-old being thrown in the deep end, we have to question the value of roster spots. It may not get a whole lot better (he won't go pointless, obviously).

Dallas – Denis Gurianov

What if Brendan Gallagher's situation, but worse?

On the season, Denis Gurianov is averaging 13 shots per 60 minutes at all strengths, top-10 in the league, sandwiched between Jeff Skinner and Alex Ovechkin. Dallas has the second-lowest scoring rate in the league. How does Dallas leverage his shot rate to help this struggling offence? By giving him 12 minutes a night, of course.

I don't know how it gets better. I mean, obviously moving up the lineup and getting more ice time is the key here. Early on in the season, they don't seem to want to give it to him. He will get dropped in leagues, maybe keep an eye on him in case the team realizes he might be their best goal scorer now.

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While on the topic of Stamkos, he was skating on the top line with Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat in practice yesterday. It was likely not going to be long for Corey Perry on the top line, but it's interesting to see Stamkos here.

Stamkos has often skated with Point over the years, and to much success: with the two of them on the ice – without Kucherov – the team scores 3.2 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 and carries a 58% expected goal share. Point is a much better centre for fantasy purposes than Cirelli, and Stamkos should see an uptick in the meantime.

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It appears New Jersey is toying with the idea of a 3F-2D second PP unit. We see some teams do that in anticipation of the end of the PP and wanting to have two defencemen on the ice. Someone is going to be the odd-man out, though, once Ty Smith returns (which could be very soon). It'll be Dougie Hamilton PP1, and then a mix of Severson/Subban/Smith on PP2. One of those guys is going to lose out, and it's going to be a big hit to the fantasy value. Even 10 PPPs in a season is a lot for secondary guys.

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Marc Bergevin had a presser and while he said a lot of useless stuff as usual, this was very useful, and scary:

Marc Bergevin says Shea Weber hasn't had any surgeries since the end of last season. Said he won't be back this year. When asked if he was holding out hope he'd resume his career one day, he said, "it's a longshot."

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) October 20, 2021

That's just very bad news for Shea Weber. Players don't deserve to have their careers taken from them like that. Let's hope for some sort of recovery here.