Plenty of storylines are emerging very early in the season, including injuries, debuts with new teams, and even a signing. I'll cover the ones that seem to stand out, at least from a fantasy perspective.

One game was all that it took for Patrik Laine to hit injured reserve. The Blue Jackets winger is expected to miss the next 3-4 weeks with an elbow sprain. Laine was injured in Columbus' Wednesday opener against Carolina, likely after a collision with Brett Pesce. Obviously the Laine – Johnny Gaudreau magic that was expected to occur will now have to be put on hold, while Boone Jenner stock will probably fall a bit.

The player elevated to the CBJ top power-play unit after Laine left the game was… Justin Danforth? Yep, that's what the boxscore shows. Not only that, but according to @JacketsInsider on Twitter, Danforth was on line rushes with Gaudreau and Jenner during Thursday's practice. Not who I expected at all in either case, but Danforth might deserve a pickup in deeper leagues if he can stick on these first units while Laine is out. Danforth recorded just 14 points in 45 games last season, although 10 of those points were goals. He's a 29-year-old undrafted 5-9 forward who has spent some time in the KHL and ECHL, so he arrives with virtually no pedigree (and a potential nice story.)

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The Flyers have signed Travis Sanheim to an eight-year, $50 million extension. For those in salary cap leagues who need to plan ahead, this works out to a raise of just over $1.5 million per season.

This signing doesn't have a ton of implications otherwise in fantasy leagues. To give you an idea, Sanheim is just 2% rostered in Yahoo leagues. From a real-life hockey perspective, the number of 7-8-year deals seem to be on the rise, with this signing and the Mattias Samuelsson contract yesterday showing as two examples of non-star players landing the big term. Teams are taking a bet that these defensemen will progress as hoped and that the cap hit will be a bargain once the salary cap rises, especially with the cost of top-4 defenseman normally coming at a premium. We'll find out years from now whether this is an effective strategy.

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In what might be the least surprising lopsided score of the day, the Penguins trounced the Coyotes 6-2, which included three first-period goals. Now in his team record-setting 18^th season with Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby scored a goal while adding two assists with seven shots on goal. At age 35, Crosby hasn't shown many signs of slowing down.

I said in the preseason that Arizona games look like they're going to be freebies for their opponents. After this effort, I'll double down by saying they might be historically bad this season for a non-first-year team. If you have anything invested in Coyotes players, Nick Ritchie (remember him, Leafs fans?) scored a pair of power-play goals with defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere and J.J. Moser assisting on both of them.

With Nick Schmaltz leaving this game early with an upper-body injury, the Coyotes' first-unit power play consisted of Clayton Keller, Travis Boyd, Ritchie, Gostisbehere, and Moser. I don't imagine they'll pile up the power-play points, but for what it's worth they are all on the PP1 unit on an NHL team. Do with that what you will.

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From one potential lottery team to another, someone has to score in Philly this season. In John Tortorella's debut as the Flyers coach, that was Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost. Each scored a pair of goals in their 5-2 win over New Jersey. Also making his Flyers debut, Tony DeAngelo chipped in a pair of assists. We'll probably see the frustrated version of Torts a lot this season, but at least for today everyone is bright and cheery in Philadelphia.

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The Senators debuts of Alex DeBrincat and former Flyer Claude Giroux weren't quite as successful, as both were held off the scoresheet in a 4-1 loss in Buffalo. DeBrincat at least provided seven shots to those in multicat leagues, so at least there's that.

Victor Olofsson scored a pair of empty-net goals while taking six shots. Perhaps more notably, he was on the top line with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner. That was the spot that Alex Tuch occupied for much of last season. Tuch was on a line with former first-round picks Casey Mittelstadt and Jack Quinn. Olofsson is rostered in only 14% of Yahoo leagues, so he might be worth taking a flier on at the moment.

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Until one of the goalies can turn into the second coming of Johnny Bower (or maybe even Felix Potvin?) Leafs Nation will constantly worry about the goaltending situation. After Matt Murray's disappointing result on Wednesday, Ilya Samsonov received his turn for his first Leafs start – and it happened to be against his former team. Fortunately for Samsonov and the Leafs, it turned out better as he turned aside 24 of 26 shots to pick up the 3-2 win against Washington. Expect both goalies to split starts as they get their feet wet in the pressure-cooker environment. Yet as the season goes on, expect Sheldon Keefe to ride the hot hand.

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One more debut: Matthew Tkachuk scored an empty-net goal to seal a 3-1 win in his first game as a Panther. Tkachuk was on what appeared to be the Panthers' second line with Sam Bennett and Rudolfs Balcers, with Aleksander Barkov centering the top line with Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe.

Sportsnet showed a comparison of the Panthers roster of this season compared to the end of last season, and one of their analysts even went as far as to suggest that they won't make the playoffs this season. I thought that was a bit unfair considering that some of the losses (Giroux, Ben Chiarot) were rentals acquired at the deadline after Florida was already at the top of the standings. Even if Calgary got the better of their blockbuster offseason trade, the Panthers will be fine.

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Another player that the Panthers lost was Mason Marchment, who impressed in his Stars debut with two goals on five shots. Marchment played on what appeared to be the Stars' second line with Tyler Seguin and Ty Dellandrea. Seguin chipped in three assists.

In his first NHL game, 19-year-old Wyatt Johnston scored his first NHL goal, which was also a power-play marker. Johnston and Stars newcomer Nils Lundkvist were both on the Stars' second power-play unit. Johnston was on what appeared to be the Stars' third line with Jamie Benn and Denis Gurianov. He might be worth a look in deeper leagues, but keep in mind that he's currently on the nine-game trial as well.

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Stick Alexis Lafreniere on a scoring line, and he might just thrive. Lafreniere recorded a pair of first-period assists while playing on the Artemi Panarin line. It's only one game, but Panarin and Vincent Trocheck might provide the right combination for Lafreniere to break out in his third NHL season. Panarin did his thing, scoring a goal and adding three assists, with three of those points coming in the first period.

Is Chris Kreider on your all-bust team, like a few of the Dobber writers? That'll have to wait another day, as last season's surprise 50-goal scorer scored a pair of goals in the Rangers' 7-3 win in Minnesota.

Not the best game for Marc-Andre Fleury, who allowed seven goals on 35 shots.

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Nazem Kadri faced his old Colorado team in his first game with Flames, receiving his Stanley Cup ring after the game. (If you haven't seen these Avalanche rings with their boxes, they are quite something.) Kadri recorded an assist on Tyler Toffoli's power-play goal while skating just under 18 minutes on a line with Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube. If you don't think Dube deserves to be there, check out this stat:

Dillon Dube leads the #Flames with 9 goals since April 8.

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) October 14, 2022

Perhaps overshadowed by Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar also made their Flames debuts. Huberdeau was on the top line with Elias Lindholm and Toffoli as you'd expect, and he assisted on Lindholm's power-play goal. Weegar chipped in two assists in just under 21 minutes of icetime.

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Vegas has played two games, and Logan Thompson has won both of them. Granted, he was a must-start on Thursday against the Blackhawks, and he didn't disappoint with a 27-save shutout. Even though he played 19 games for the Golden Knights last season, the 25-year-old Thompson still qualifies as a rookie this season. Thompson has experienced quite the hockey journey as a onetime former USports and ECHL goalie to the current starting goalie for an NHL team.

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Shane Wright played a grand total of six minutes in his NHL debut on Wednesday. So on Thursday, he was made a healthy scratch. Unless this is a one-time arrangement, I'm wondering how much sense it makes to bench him in the NHL when he could be playing as much as he wants to in the OHL. Ron Francis has stated that he expects Wright to spend the season in Seattle, but is that really what's best for him if his icetime is going to be limited?

Justin Schultz, and not Vince Dunn, was on Seattle's first-unit power play on Wednesday. Schultz made the most of it, recording two assists. Dunn logged slightly more power-play time on Thursday, although I think their second unit was on the ice longer than their first unit? Regardless, Schultz is only 4% rostered in Yahoo leagues at the moment. His injury history has made him an afterthought in many drafts, but a potentially increased role with an expansion team in Seattle as opposed to established teams such as Pittsburgh and Washington could help his value.

Matty Beniers was my Calder pick and that of some others on the panel. He's continuing to make his case.

Matty Beniers of the @SeattleKraken joined Jonathan Toews and Joe Sakic as the third teenager in League history to find the score sheet in at least 11 of his first 12 career NHL games. 🤯 #NHLStats: https://t.co/x8jvGzJfbK pic.twitter.com/CVykadvDgD

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 14, 2022

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