The Patrik Laine comeback season has been delayed. The Blue Jackets winger is expected to miss the next 4 to 6 weeks with an oblique strain. Laine had been delivering on that hope, scoring 10 points (3 G, 7 A) in nine games.

Cole Sillinger, who is one of the players profiled in this week's The Journey, took Laine's spot on the first-unit power play in practice. Not only will Sillinger remain with the Blue Jackets past the nine-game trial period, but he has also been playing on the top line. Rostered in just 2 percent of Yahoo leagues, Sillinger might be a player to watch

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Hopefully you can handle another injury. If not, I need to tell you about it anyway. Anthony Mantha underwent shoulder surgery on Friday and will be out indefinitely. Mantha is known for having bad luck when it comes to injuries, although he did play 56 games in a 56-game season last season. It is interesting to note that Jakub Vrana, the player traded for Mantha last season, is also sidelined.

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Mikhail Sergachev has been suspended for two games for a hit to Mitch Marner's head on Thursday. The suspension means that Sergachev will miss Saturday's game against Ottawa and Tuesday's game against Carolina. The Lightning play only two games next week, so those in weekly leagues should consider benching Sergachev.

Mikhail Sergachev has been suspended two games for his hit on Mitch Marner last night. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/58v86KG4Ga

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 5, 2021

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Carey Price is expected to return to the Canadiens on Monday. He may need some time to get himself back up to speed, which may include an AHL stint, so don't activate him for next week. His arrival may provide the Habs with a much-needed lift, though.

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The Sharks have reassigned 2021 first-round pick William Eklund to Sweden. Eklund had played nine games for the Sharks, so the Sharks had to immediately decide whether to burn a year off Eklund's entry-level contract. It's debatable as to whether Eklund is NHL-ready now. They'd probably have to keep him if he was scoring close to a point per game, but he wasn't (four assists in nine games). The incentive of the extra year of the entry-level deal means that these decisions will be salary-cap motivated if the team really isn't sure. Keep Eklund in mind as a potential sleeper in next season's drafts, as he will likely be back full-time.  

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Hypothetical question of the day:

This is the 6th time in 8 starts this season that Marc-Andre Fleury has given up at least 4 goals. If he could go back and do it over this summer, do you think he just retires?

— Michael Amato (@amato_mike) November 6, 2021

I'm very happy that my head-to-head opponent this week (who is a fantasy hockey expert for another site, I might add) decided to start Marc-Andre Fleury against Winnipeg. Because at the rate Fleury is going, I'd leave him on the bench, or at least be very selective of matchups. The Flower allowed another five goals on Friday, which gives him a stinky goals-against average of above 4.00 for the season.

Fleury didn't suddenly forget how to goaltend, so the new team in front of him has a lot to do with this. When various goalies switched teams this offseason, we factored in the team’s ability to win and play defensively in determining what the goalie's new value would be. No position shows higher variability with a team change than goalie. Consider, for example, that two of the three Vezina Trophy finalists changed teams this offseason. Check out their extended stats this season.

	QS%	GSAA
Marc-Andre Fleury	25.0%	-7.77
Philipp Grubauer	33.3%	-3.60

QS% = quality start percentage, GSAA = goals saved above average (Go to Frozen Tools for more)

Only Carter Hutton has a worse GSAA than Fleury, who has been well below average as a fantasy option. Grubauer hasn't done quite as much damage to fantasy teams as Fleury, but his minus GSAA and less than 50% QS% shows he has not been among the upper echelon of goalies either. I suppose it can't get much worse for Fleury, but hopefully you have at least one other half-decent goalie option because it's difficult to have much faith that he will deliver a W with solid ratios like he did last season. The 36-year-old Fleury is on the final year of his contract, so if this is it, it’s an unfortunate way to go out.

Nearly forgot to mention: Eric Comrie has won each of his last three games. Maybe Winnipeg is in better shape with its backup situation than we thought? Comrie has started three of the last four games for the Jets while Connor Hellebuyck has been away for the birth of his child and not feeling well. Check Goalie Post to find out who gets the start for Winnipeg against the Islanders on Saturday.

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With an assist on Friday, Troy Terry now has points in 10 consecutive games. Terry's four-game goal streak was broken, but fantasy team owners should be fine with the assist because Terry has been shooting the lights out (7 G, 29.2 SH%) and is bound to regress in the goal department. Terry also led Ducks forwards with 21 minutes in icetime on Friday, so Dallas Eakins does not view him as simply a flash in the pan. That should bode well for Terry going forward. Terry has had injury issues in the past and has never reached the 0.5 PTS/GP mark in a season, so it appears he is taking a big leap forward.

Terry is one major reason that the Ducks have won three games in a row, albeit at home against teams that are all last in their divisions (Montreal, New Jersey, and now Arizona). Another reason is Terry's linemate Adam Henrique, who scored a goal and added an assist with five shots on Friday. If you plucked Henrique off waivers recently, he has delivered with four goals and seven points over his last five games. Given the number of light days that Anaheim is often on the schedule for, Henrique is at the very least a guy that you can fill in on days where you don't have many players in action.

Arizona is still winless (0-10-1). Jakob Chychrun is still without a point. Silver lining, though: Shayne Gostisbehere spoiled Anthony Stolarz's shutout bid with just eight seconds left in the game.

Karel Vejmelka seems to be settling in as the Coyotes' starter, though. Not the guy you want if you need wins. However, his .920 SV% is better than that of top-5 fantasy goalie draft picks Robin Lehner, Darcy Kuemper, and Connor Hellebuyck, among other well-known goalies. Yeah I know, it's still early. Even if he evolves into the second coming of Dominik Hasek in his prime, the team in front of him will probably discourage you from adding him (rostered in 7 percent of Yahoo leagues).

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This is unfair. If you're watching your favorite team play the Oilers, you're worried that Connor McDavid will pull something like this at any moment. And he probably will. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

CONNOR. MCDAVID.

WHAT. A. GOAL. 🥵 pic.twitter.com/ujq0WeMSbw

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 6, 2021

McDavid finished with a goal and two assists. So did Tyson Barrie and Leon Draisaitl, who scored the overtime winner. Jesse Puljujarvi continued his breakout season (12 PTS in 10 GP) with a pair of goals. McDavid now has a point in all ten games he has played this season, and he has been held to "just" one point in only two of ten games. Only a 180-point pace. No big deal.

But wait, it's not McDavid at the top of the scoring race. It's Draisaitl, who has 23 points compared to McDavid's 22. Draisaitl has been held without a point in only one game, and he is on pace for… 189 points? There's going to be more than a few fantasy championship teams that have either McDavid or Draisaitl. And Eric, in case you're wondering: Draisaitl has ZERO Draisaitl Hat Tricks this season (but McDavid has one). Draisaitl has been a minus player only once this season, which was a game he scored a goal but was held without an assist.

Edmonton's success this season means that Mikko Koskinen is second in the league with seven wins. Koskinen or Mike Smith only need to be okay in net in order to pick up wins, as the above-mentioned players will provide more than enough goal support. Smith continues to be day-to-day, so continue to start Koskinen with confidence. He is playing well enough to challenge Smith for starts once Smith is healthy enough to return.

Mika Zibanejad scored a pair of goals, giving him goals in back-to-back games. His linemate Chris Kreider scored a goal and added an assist, giving him eight goals on the season. At the time of writing, only the aforementioned Draisaitl and Alex Ovechkin have more goals than Kreider. The Rangers winger is thriving under new coach Gerard Gallant, who is using Kreider a minute and a half per game more than David Quinn was last season.

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I mentioned earlier that I like Nashville's schedule this week because of the four games and the number of light days they were on schedule for. Suddenly there was a rush on players like Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, and Ryan Johansen. Duchene has delivered this week, scoring goals in all three of Nashville's game along with two assists and 11 shots. Duchene's linemate Granlund has four assists over those three games, including two assists against Vancouver on Friday. Johansen, a player I targeted in one league, has five points in his last six games. None of these players were appealing options in drafts, but you have to admit they haven't disappointed so far.

Eeli Tolvanen even got in on the fun, recording a power-play assist. With Filip Forsberg out of the lineup, Tolvanen was moved up to the first-unit power play, which is a positive if you've been trying to be patient with him.

Juuse Saros stopped 26 of 28 shots to lead the Predators to a 3-2 win over the Canucks, giving Saros four straight wins and four straight quality starts. The only way the Canucks could beat Saros is if they deked around him, which is what happened on both goals. Saros basically willed the Predators to a playoff spot last season. Could he help them hang around in the playoff race again this season? In nine games, Saros has allowed more than two goals just twice. He is also tied for the league lead in quality starts (7) and quality start percentage (77.8 QS%). Expect him to continue to provide solid ratios, although he probably won't lead the league in wins.

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Alexander Holtz's first NHL game, in case it was on too late for you to watch: no points, 15:25 of icetime on a line with Pavel Zacha and Dawson Mercer. It's good to see the Devils are using him on an actual scoring line and even tried him on the first-unit power play.

With his overtime winner on Friday, Alex Iafallo has a five-game point streak in which he has four goals and seven points. Shooting the puck more (3.4 SOG/GP, up over one shot per game) has a lot to do with Iafallo's success this season (10 PTS in 11 GP). As I mentioned last weekend, Iafallo hasn't been on the Anze Kopitar line this season because he hasn't had to ride his coattails. In fact, Iaffalo is making it work with new acquisition Phillip Danault, who has been a two-way force for the Kings. I'm sure glad I added Iafallo from waivers a week ago in one league.

IAFALLO in OVERTIME! What a shot from Alex Iafallo after a terrific defensive play from Danault!#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/BbExdOTfzB

— Hockey Daily 365 (@HockeyDaily365) November 6, 2021

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For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding