We are about a month into the NHL season and it does seem like the games are flying by, right? It doesn't feel like a month has passed since the season opener, but here we are.

While it's still too early to make some determinations, there are definitely some players and situations I've moved on from completely in fantasy. In that vein, I thought I would go through my misses at this point of the season. We all like to talk about our successes, but there are more lessons in failure, and having done this for nearly a decade now, there have been lots of failures.

Here are some players I've whiffed on. They are players or situations that I was higher on than others and it just hasn't worked out as anticipated.

Antti Raanta

Before the season, my reasoning for drafting Raanta was as follows.

First, neither he nor Freddie Andersen had been very good recently. If they had, their respective teams wouldn't have ditched them. Second, while Raanta is certainly injury prone, Andersen was coming off an injured season of his own. It seemed a bit foolish to discount Raanta for injury while not at least assigning some of the same risk to Andersen. Finally, this team has long run a 1A/1B situation, with neither goalie getting monster start volume. Maybe Andersen would get 45-50 starts but a healthy Raanta would still get around 30. Needless to say, this has gone all wrong.

Honestly, not sure what to make of this. As mentioned, this is a deviation from what this team does: last year, the team didn't see any goalie start more than five games in a row, same as the year before. To see Andersen come right out of the gate with six starts is not only a deviation from what we could have expected this year, it would have been way out of left field in any recent season as well.

That is why I'm struggling to see if there's something to be learned here. While we can say that situations in the NHL can change on a dime, that doesn't really help us; "stuff changes" isn't good advice. If Andersen starts 60+ games this year, I will truly be at a loss . It is just something I never anticipated. Maybe that's on me, but the fact that Raanta is now hurt should mean even more starts for Andersen. We could see this team give 50+ starts to a goalie for the first time in five years.

Brady Tkachuk

It isn't as if he's off to a terrible start. He was late getting into the lineup because of his contract status but has five points and a whopping 43 hits in eight games. There is one problem here, though: shot volume. After averaging very nearly four shots per game last season (3.93) he is down to 2.88 shots per game this season, a career-worst. Three shots per game isn't terrible, obviously, but he was often taken at the end of the first round in part because of that shot volume. There is a big difference between 220 shots on goal and 320. That, of course, has a cascading effect if he can't keep his shooting percentage at the career-high 13% it is now.

What is going on here, I think, is that he finally has line mates that shoot. Tkachuk didn't play a lot with Josh Norris and Drake Batherson until the end of the season last year, and those two guys are shooting a lot more than they were last year; Batherson is shooting roughly 15% more than last year while Norris, on a per-minute rate, is closer to 40%. Ottawa's shot rate with Tkachuk on the ice hasn't moved – in fact it has declined a bit – so we have the same number of shots available but other players are taking a larger share of them. It may not even be anything related to Tkachuk directly because if his line mates are shooting more, there's really not much he can do.

It is a question of whether Tkachuk can bring value elsewhere. If he can stay at a 30-goal, 50-point pace with 350 hits, well, that'll play just fine. The problems start if his shooting percentage declines, or his hit rates decline, or his shots decline even further. Just something to monitor as the season progresses. I don't have huge concerns here as the line looks great together.

Roope Hintz

We are going to have a pair of Stars players here.

No goals, two assists, minus-5 in 11 games played. It has been an awful start to the season for Hintz, and for almost all their skaters, really: Miro Heiskanen and Ryan Suter have 17 points while Seguin/Pavelski/Radulov have combined for 18. Anyone not drafting a Dallas defenceman is probably disappointed with their Dallas skaters this year.

I will be honest and say I have no idea what is going on in Dallas. Hintz started the season playing 13 minutes a night as the team started the year on the road. His ice time has jumped considerably since then, particularly with Jason Robertson back. Two points in seven games since is still not nearly good enough. Why his ice time was nuked early in the season, who knows. There has to have been something going on behind the scenes we don't know about.

Since Robertson's return, the line of Hintz-Pavelski-Robertson has been really good, controlling roughly 70% of the expected goals and 60% of the shot attempts. The problem is that line is goalless in their ice time together. They are playing extremely well but are snake-bit right now. The question is if their coach allows them to play through the struggles or breaks them up beforehand. I am still buying Hintz for the season, by the way. He should be very cheap in a trade right now.

Denis Gurianov

On the flipside, a player I'm not buying for the rest of the season from Dallas. The problem here being their current line combinations. While they did switch a couple lines at times against Vancouver, for their last several games they've largely been running the aforementioned Hintz line, plus Benn-Seguin-Radulov. That leaves Gurianov in the bottom-6 playing with less-skilled players, and that's very bad news.

This was a problem I raised in the offseason. The team could either balance three lines or load up two. They've gone with the Load Up Two approach, and Gurianov is getting the short end of the stick. Despite high per-minute shot rates, Gurianov has played more than 15 minutes just once this season. Very few players can skate 14 minutes a night and retain relevance in most fantasy leagues.

I still have belief in Gurianov's offensive skill and his fantasy potential. However, the team clearly doesn't think much of his game, having been healthy scratched for a reason. It is hard to see him regaining much fantasy value this year without an injury or a 180-degree turn from the coaching staff. He reminds me a lot of how the Rangers used to treat Pavel Buchnevich.

Seth Jones

This is the double-edged sword of drafting a defenceman who will play a lot of minutes on a bad team. That title might actually go to Jakob Chychrun but we've already fed that horse and honestly, a minus-20 rating in 12 games is impressive in its own way.

No, this is about a player who is producing but still having their fantasy value suffer. Seth Jones has 11 points in 13 games, and that's really good! Two problems though: he's minus-8 in those 13 games and he has just eight hits. This was a guy who averaged about 1.8 hits per game last year, and over a hit per game the year before. Being on pace for 50 hits and a minus-50 rating is, uh, not great for Jones.

There is, of course, upside here. Presuming he doesn't end up the season minus-50, then the last month was as bad as it's going to get here. He also hasn't scored on 40 shots on goal, where he should have 1-2 goals. He could legitimately be a point-per-game defenceman, or close to it, this year. It is just a matter of those peripherals lining up for an elite season. It isn't hard to see the pieces coming together, we just need to get there.

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Just a heads up that the Sens could have some incoming positive COVID tests:

#Sens won't skate before going to Boston. Waiting on more results. pic.twitter.com/N7V2wnKorh

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) November 8, 2021

They are in Boston Tuesday night but then are home for three more. It'll be interesting to see if they just leave anyone behind for the quick trip to America.

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Good news from the Winnipeg Jets on the Connor Hellebuyck front:

Connor Hellebuyck is back on the ice. No sign of Mark Scheifele or Paul Stastny yet for #NHLJets practice this morning.

— Ken Wiebe (@WiebesWorld) November 8, 2021

Riley Nash did skate in Mark Scheifele's spot in practice and it appears he'll be a gametime decision on Tuesday night. The big news is obviously Hellebuyck, as he's missed three games now, two due to illness. That he seems to be fine is very important for Winnipeg.

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And some good news on the Dougie Hamilton front

Dougie Hamilton is on the ice for Devils practice. Colton White is still here, too. Marian Studenic, who went on waivers yesterday, is not.

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) November 8, 2021

It appears as though he's good to go as Hamilton would continue in practice on the top PP unit, generally an indication of a player ready to return. Hamilton owners can breathe a little bit of relief here, though the short-term schedule of Florida, the Islanders, and Boston is not particularly appealing.

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Valeri Nichushkin update:

Val Nichushkin, who hasn't played since the opener (wrist), is in a regular jersey. #Avs optional underway

— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) November 8, 2021

Colorado is starting to get healthy and Nichushkin remains one of the few yet to return. Cale Makar also appears to be ready to return sometime this week.

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Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc were both skating for San Jose, having come off the COVID list. We will see if they’re ready for Tuesday night.

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Adam Fox scored a pretty nice goal, short-handed, on Monday night:

Adam Fox all alone in front…

Yeah you can guess the end result of this one. pic.twitter.com/U15ay4ZRYa

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 9, 2021

That goal ensured he kept at least a point-per-game pace on the season, as he went into the game with 12 points in 12 contests. That also gave him 53 points in 53 games dating back to the middle of February last season. It has been quite the run for Mr. Fox.

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A pair of goals from Tom Wilson plus one from the Gr8 lifted Washington to a 5-3 win over Buffalo. For Wilson, it’s worth noting that while he’s not shooting a lot – about two per game – he is playing over 19 minutes a night, by far a career high. Part of that is surely injuries, but it’ll be interesting to see his ice time level once Oshie and Mantha return.