Welcome back to another week of Looking Ahead, where we look ahead to the next week or so of NHL action and where fantasy owners can help or hurt their lineups. We will look at players to add, players possibly worth dropping, and teams that could have some tough schedules. Let's hop to it.

The Immediate Fix (Grab this guy and use him for the next several days)

Nino Niederreiter, LW/RW, Carolina Hurricanes (Available in 55% of ESPN leagues, 67% Fantrax, 81% Yahoo) – Could I interest anyone in seven points in his past six games and skating on Carolina's top line? Plus is there a more fun name to have on your roster like Nino Niederreiter? Answer there would be yes there's two, Jani Hakanpaa and the shot block bot himself, Artyom Zub. Regardless, there's a lot to like with what Niederreiter can help bring in the short term.

The Canes shift their lines around pretty frequently, but the latest iteration has had Niederreiter on the top line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen and that's a very good thing for his offensive upside. It seems like everything Aho touches turns to gold for a player that is excellent creating offense with whoever he is paired with. The Canes don't have a line that has stuck together for over 75 minutes of ice time so this could be a great short-term addition so long as Neiderreiter remains on the top line.

The Building Block (Buy now, sit back and enjoy the production)

Evan Rodrigues, C/RW, Pittsburgh Penguins (Available in 89% of ESPN leagues, 53% Fantrax, 68% Yahoo) – The Penguins have mixed up their top line a fair bit this season but it's not because they have been trying out different line combos, it has been navigating both injuries and COVID. When Bryan Rust went out due to a lower body injury it drew Evan Rodrigues onto the top line and if I'm Pittsburgh, I'd consider keeping him there even after Rust returns.

Rodrigues has been a great surprise for Pens fans and fantasy owners this season and what's made him so good are his shot rates; he has a SOG per 60 rate of 11.7 and just in the past five games alone has 26 shots on goal. Now one piece of news as of late is that his line mate Jake Guentzel is now considered week to week with an upper body injury and that could hurt Rodrigues's offensive production with Guentzel off to a scorching start to the season and a 13-game points streak. It looks like Kasperi Kapanen will draw into his spot on the top line with Rodrigues and Sidney Crosby and we'll have to see how that line works as a unit with almost zero ice time together as a trio. Rodrigues is playing top power play time and with Crosby who is looking more and more like himself following a COVID absence, adding Rodrigues might be a sneaky way to get excellent offensive production moving forward. On the DFS side of things this line is almost always fully correlated on power play one and with Guentzel out that makes this line even cheaper to full stack. I'll take a fully correlated line with in-check ownership at a decent price wherever I can get it.

The Odd Man Out (His short-term value is cause for concern)

Jake Oettinger, G, Dallas Stars (Owned in 60% of ESPN leagues, 65% of Fantrax, 54% Yahoo) – Look I get it, the goalie landscape is hard to navigate, especially in larger leagues where you start more than one netminder. For right now Jake Oettinger has some value but that might be coming to an end in the very near future.

The notifications started coming through this week that Ben Bishop is now back to playing and is starting games in the AHL which, barring any sort of setback, means that he will soon be back in Dallas. All of this points to Jake Oettinger being, well, the odd man out as I cannot see the Stars sending down Braden Holtby or Anton Khudobin instead of Oettinger. It's not a bad strategy at times to roster two or more goalies from the same club, especially one like Dallas where the workload is split but with Bishop coming back it could be the case where that workload is mainly rotated between himself and Braden Holtby. For Oettinger owners I would keep an eye on the news at just how close Bishop is to coming back to make sure you're not essentially burning a roster spot.

The Anchors (They’ll do nothing but disappoint even over the long haul)

Jonathan Toews, C, Chicago Blackhawks (Owned in 66% of ESPN leagues, 55% of Fantrax, 30% Yahoo) – It's been a very slow first 25 games for The Captain, so much so he has to be considered as an Anchor moving forward.

Toews scored his first goal of the year Thursday night, but most of his offensive production this far is his nine assists. Not exactly the fantasy production you're looking for from a top line center. Toews missed last season with a medical condition but just eye test here, he isn't really behind the play at all and has a good faceoff percentage and defensive numbers so we can't necessarily look to missing time as the reason for his current slump. If we're going to look at anything here it's that he's posting the lowest 5 on 5 shooting percentage of his career of 7.6, he's just not putting pucks on net. Maybe this is just small steps getting back into form but at the current pace of a 30-point season I think it might be the time to take a stroll down waiver wire avenue.

Love ‘Em (These squads are sure to pay dividends in the coming days)

This period runs from November 10^th to December 16^th

Carolina – They'll have a road tilt vs Minnesota that could pose as a challenge for this club but then come back to Raleigh for a nice homestand to finish next week. Carolina has players all up and down their roster that are highly owned in most leagues that makes Carolina a Love 'Em club this week.

Vancouver – I think we can all agree that Bruce Boudreau might not be able to solve every problem the Canucks have on the ice, but his track record has shown that at the very least their offense should improve. There's plenty of spots to like on this roster and with four games next week this is a fantastic spot for Vancouver coming up. 

Boston – Okay everyone knows the drill here: Boston has a busy schedule coming up so that means plenty of chances to roster their first line. What makes the B's is a Love Em isn't just the amount of games they'll be playing coming up, but the clubs be seeing. Home matchups vs the Islanders, Canadiens, and Senators.

Leave ‘Em (These squads will leave fantasy owners sorely disappointed in the short term)

Anaheim – This week five games, next week two. It's the ebb and flow of a regular season schedule, the Ducks are a stay away next week.

San Jose – The Sharks also have a very light schedule coming up, it's a chance to get James Reimer back on the roster but until then Adin Hill should see the bulk of the workload.

Buffalo – The Sabres have a back-to-back vs the Rangers and Capitals to round out this week and then go on the road to play Winnipeg, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh. Yikes.