We are now a full week into November and there's no shortage of interesting storylines to follow this season. The Carolina Hurricanes' miraculous winning streak to start the season finally came to an end last night when they ran into the other hottest team in the league, the Florida Panthers. The Leafs have seemed to bounce back nicely after huge wins versus Tampa Bay and Boston this week, but the Oilers and Flames both have continued to stay red hot. By now, I'm sure you've all seen Connor McDavid's incredible goal versus the Rangers on Friday night, but if you haven’t, check that out! 

For this week I would like to go over some players that could see some extra playing opportunity or more advantageous deployment due to injuries rearing their ugly heads early in the season. The good teams in this league roll with a "next man up" mentality so there are always opportunities abound during the course of an 82-game schedule. Let's take a look!

Bowen Byram (COL) – D

2020-21 Stats: 10 GP, 3 G, 5 A, 8 PTS, 17 SOG, 13 Hits, 11 Blocks, 21:04 ATOI

The Avalanche have a bevy of solid defensemen at their disposal. The star of that group is obviously Cale Makar, but unfortunately Makar has been sidelined with a lower-body injury and currently is on an IR stint. It's unknown how long Makar will be out for, but the good news for Avs fans is Bowen Byram has stepped in and has looked fantastic in doing so. 

The slick and speedy 20-year-old defender has found himself on the top pairing as well as the first power play unit. Getting a chance to play on that special teams unit with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen is a golden opportunity. So far though, all of Byram's offense has come at even strength, as he has shown he is not afraid to jump up on a rush from time to time in order to create some offensive chances.

When Makar returns, Byram will likely see his usage get cut ever so slightly, but even then, I think he has a chance to really shine. The only thing I fear is if head coach Jared Bednar ever feels like he needs to shake up his defensive pairings in order to get his team playing up to snuff, Byram might get lost in the shuffle. As I mentioned right off the top, the Avs have quite an impressive collection of blueliners. Between Byram, Makar, Samuel Girard, Devon Toews and others, they definitely have options at the back end. 

For now, it looks as though Byram is up to the task of competing for top-pair minutes. And furthermore, if he can keep his early momentum rolling, he might even get some nods for a potential Calder Trophy. He played in 19 contests last season, but he is still rookie eligible, so that's something else to keep an eye on. He could be an excellent pickup to bolster your blueline.  He's up to 55% rostered in Yahoo leagues, so people are certainly starting to take note of the youngster's strong play. 

Chandler Stephenson (VGK) – C/LW

2020-21 Stats: 11 GP, 5 G, 7 A, 12 PTS, 18 SOG, 16 Hits, 11 Blocks, 19:16 ATOI

I'll admit, I've never been a huge believer in Chandler Stephenson. But with that being said, after key injuries to Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty, Stephenson finds himself as one of the main contributors to the Golden Knights' offense. Ever since their inception a few years ago, Vegas has pretty much been a top-level team. They are definitely facing some early adversity this season with their top two forwards on the shelf. 

Stephenson actually started the year in the top-six for Vegas, so it's clear the coaching staff already had a fair bit of confidence in the 27-year-old. He currently is centering a line with William Carrier and Evgenii Dadonov and also has a home on the top power-play unit. He's getting a ton of ice time and has made the most of it thus far. There are some alarms here though. His shooting percentage is at an unsustainably high rate of 27.8 percent. Also, most of his seven assists have been secondary assists, which isn't always a great indicator of his actual performance.

Also, for a guy who plays nearly 20 minutes a night, you would like to see more than his current pace of 1.6 shots per game. Fantasy owners would like to see that number rise a bit, but he definitely does bring a ton of other things to the table. He will get you a reliable amount of hits and blocks most nights. Also, he can get you a decent number of faceoffs from the wing position which is always nice if your league tracks draws.

At 55% rostered in Yahoo leagues, Stephenson is a decent option to take a flier on for the time being. In a few months this offense could be looking very different though. Aside from the Pacioretty and Stone injuries, the Golden Knights also made a huge splash this week by acquiring disgruntled center Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres. He will be undergoing disc replacement surgery in his neck next week and is expected to be out for three months. If he can make it back for the tail-end of the season, Vegas could be a team to be reckoned with. But until then it's all eyes on Chandler Stephenson.

Alex Iafallo (LA) –  LW

2020-21 Stats: 11 GP, 5 G, 5 A, 10 PTS, 37 SOG, 10 Hits, 6 Blocks, 17:43 ATOI

Alex Iafallo embarked on his fifth season in Los Angeles this season and it seems like the 27-year-old winger has finally started to breakout a bit. He has shown some scoring prowess in past years, but so far this season he has looked fantastic. He finds himself on the wing of Kings' newcomer Phillip Danault, and it seems the two have found some nice chemistry in the early going. 

Granted it's early still, but Iafallo is shooting at a high clip, averaging 3.4 shots per game. His career average up to this point has floated around two per game, so that's a huge increase for him and will definitely yield positive results. The downside of Iafallo is that he doesn't bring a whole lot of other fantasy production to the table, so you really need to rely on him to score in order to be a viable asset. He gets a decent amount of power-play time, but I would still like to see him get more deployment. Last season he averaged just under 20 minutes per game. If he could get back to those kinds of minutes, that would be massive for both him and fantasy owners alike.

The Kings have quietly improved slowly over the past couple of seasons, and while they are still rebuilding and developing this young crop of talent they've acquired over the past few seasons, I think they are already better than most people give them credit for. They recently hit a snag with the injury bug. Drew Doughty is out with a knee injury for the next couple of months, and winger Viktor Arvidsson has been out due to COVID-protocol as well. The past week or so Iafallo has really stepped up and been red hot. 

Currently Yahoo has Iafallo as 35% owned, but his ownership has shot up over the course of the past seven days thanks to his strong play. He has points in seven of his last eight games, and I think a lot of what he is doing is sustainable. He is currently on pace for 75 points, which I think is a stretch obviously, but I don't think 50-60 is outside the realm of possibility. He's definitely worth taking a shot on if you have the roster room for him.

That's all for this week! Continue to stay vigilant on those waiver wires! There's still a lot of good finds out there if you look hard enough. Until next Sunday, have a great week and best of luck in your leagues!