November is here and the NHL season is now settling into its rhythm. Teams are getting to the point where they need to make decisions on rookies, burning the first year of their entry-level contract. Wyatt Johnston in Dallas is sticking around, we found out recently, but there are decisions for guys like Juraj Slafkovsky and Shane Wright that need to be made. Rosters are also getting back, or are shortly getting back, players that were injured in the offseason or early this campaign. Boston just got back Brad Marchand and should welcome back Charlie McAvoy over the next month or so. Aaron Ekblad may make a return to the Florida lineup in the next couple weeks while Anthony Cirelli could be back in the next few weeks as well. Let's just hope we don't keep getting hit with more top-end injuries this month.

We did get some good news on the McAvoy front, by the way:

Charlie McAvoy (regular jersey) is practicing.

— Fluto Shinzawa (@FlutoShinzawa) October 31, 2022

He was skating on the fourth defense pair in practice so he's obviously not an imminent return, but it may not be that long either. We just need to look to Marchand, who went from the fifth line in practice to game action in what seemed like a couple weeks. It might be worth checking the wire in case McAvoy was dropped in leagues with shallow IR spots (or none at all). He was ruled out for this Boston road trip but they return home next week for a four-game week.

Anyway, I thought it'd be worth looking ahead to the next month of NHL games, which teams can help/hurt in fantasy, and guys we may want to use in our lineups. We do have a column every week for this from Andrew Santillo, just consider this one guy's opinion to supplement Andrew's fantastic 'Looking Ahead' corner. We are going to use the Schedule Planner over on Frozen Tools to look at situations that can help or hurt us and use Natural Stat Trick for additional data.

Arizona Road Warriors

The Coyotes opened their new temporary home last week but aren't going to get much time in the new rink for several weeks yet. They are 1 of 6 teams with just 12 games in November, the lowest total in the league. Of those 12 games, 10 are on the road for the Coyotes as they head out on an absolute circus of a road trip: 14 straight road games through November and into early December. That is a full month's worth of games away from Arizona. There really aren't many easy games in there, either. They aren't going to Montreal, or Columbus, or Anaheim, or San Jose. They have games in Detroit, Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Vancouver but that's as easy as it gets.

Fantasy owners outside of deep leagues may not have many options from this roster anyway as Shayne Gostisbehere is the only reliable player anyway. Regardless, this is not going to be a team where we're looking for many streaming options unless it's a one-and-done start from Karel Vejmelka. Someone like Clayton Keller is going to struggle for value over the next several weeks. Fantasy players have been warned.

15-Game Teams: Calgary, NY Islanders, Philadelphia, San Jose, Toronto

There are five teams that play 15 games over the next 30 days, the heaviest schedule on tap. However, not all schedules are created equal among these 15-game franchises. The New York Islanders play 10 of their 15 games on the road, but do have some easier games on tap, going into Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia, facing Columbus twice, and hosting Arizona in one of New York's few home games.

An issue with fishing for Islanders skaters to roster in fantasy is how the players are used. Just one forward – Mathew Barzal – is averaging over 18 minutes a night and they have five wingers playing in the 15- to 16-minute range. We could say to consider a player like Kyle Palmieri, who is skating on the top PP unit, but he's played under 17 minutes in seven of his nine games. His multi-cat appeal makes him at least a target because of all the games, but this is still a tough team to thrive on fantasy-wise.

Calgary and Toronto both play 15 games as well. What is notable about Toronto is that not only are 9 of 15 games coming at home, but they also have five games on light days (M-W-F-Su), which is tied for second-most in November. They also have three B2B situations in this stretch as well. All the core players are obviously rostered, but guys like Michael Bunting, Nick Robertson, and Erik Kallgren might be worth considering for the additional games on lighter nights.

As for the Flames, it is another team where the core guys will be rostered, but smaller leagues may want to check for players like Andrew Mangiapane or Noah Hanifin. They have nine games on the road out of the 15, and they include a lot of top teams from the East: New Jersey (x2), Boston, Pittsburgh, Florida (x2), Tampa Bay, and Carolina. (Whether they're all top teams are for others to argue but I think they could all be playoff teams.)

The final two teams with 15 games are the Flyers and Sharks. Philadelphia also has a lot of road games, nine in all, but there are some easier matchups facing Columbus twice, going into Montreal, going into Washington, and facing the Islanders (though facing Ilya Sorokin is never easy). The top line and Tony DeAngelo need to be rostered, but Scott Laughton is getting top PP time and regularly playing 19-20 minutes. He is a guy that can put up huge hit totals with that much ice time and is a nice add for banger leagues.

As for San Jose, they have more home than road games in their 15 November contests, including home tilts against Anaheim (x2), Detroit, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. They also have road games in Seattle and Montreal. This is a bad team but for deeper leagues, guys like Alexander Barabanov and Mario Ferraro could be considered, especially with 4 of San Jose's 15 games coming on light days. Just look for Ferraro news, as he left the team’s practice early on Monday so he may also be injured now.

No Nashville Light Days

Speaking of light days, Nashville has zero games on these days in November. The Predators play 14 games total, eight of them at home, but none on the M-W-F-Su stretch. They have a difficult schedule to start the month, too, with a five-game Western Canada/Seattle/Colorado trip, then returning home for games against the Rangers, Wild, Islanders, and Lightning. However, once they get to the end of the month, they have a five-game stretch that includes a road game in Detroit but home games against Arizona, Columbus, and Anaheim.

Fantasy players will have a decision to make on their rosters. Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, Roman Josi, and Juuse Saros are obviously mainstays, but players like Mikael Granlund, Ryan Johansen, Tanner Jeannot, and Mattias Ekholm could be in tough. If Nashville is constantly playing on days with 20-24 teams playing, how often are these guys getting in a starting fantasy lineup? Jeannot might be the best option, in all honesty. Some difficult decisions will need to be made.  

Many Buffalo Light Days

At the opposite end of the Light Days Spectrum is Buffalo, who lead the league in games on off days with six. That is out of 14 total games, eight of them at home, so there could be a lot of great opportunities to use some Buffalo depth over the next few weeks. It feels weird to say, but here we are.

This comes at an interesting time as Buffalo played last night and drastically changed their lines, moving Kyle Okposo alongside Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner, moving Alex Tuch to a line with JJ Peterka and Dylan Cozens. Okposo got some top PP time in their game on Saturday night, but it was Jack Quinn with the PP1 role last night.

Buffalo's issue is the same as the Islanders, in that they are a team that loves spreading ice time. Heading into Monday night's game, no Sabres forward was averaging over 18 minutes a night and 11 of 13 regular forwards are skating at least 12 minutes a night. With the ice time spread around so much, it can be hard to rely on the non-elite players night in and night out. But we do need to keep an eye on guys like Kyle Okposo, Dylan Cozens, and Jack Quinn because top-end usage could come in handy for a team playing so many M-W-F-Su games.

Pittsburgh Back-To-Backs

The team leading the league in back-to-back situations over the next month is Pittsburgh with four. That starts right away with Boston/Buffalo today and tomorrow, road games in Toronto and Montreal next week, road games in Chicago and Winnipeg the week after, and Philadelphia/Toronto at the end of the month. In that sense, backup goalie Casey DeSmith should get at least four starts in the next four weeks, and those games could include teams like Buffalo, Montreal, Chicago, and Philadelphia. That is on top of maybe spelling off Tristan Jarry for a start as the schedule compresses towards the end of the month.

Columbus Home Cooking

We'll briefly touch on Columbus here. They only have 12 games this month, tied for the fewest, but nine of them are at home, tied for the most. Now, two of those are in Finland so they don't really count, and they visit the Islanders when they get home, but then the schedule gets much better: six straight home games, including Philadelphia, Detroit, and Montreal twice. There may not be a lot of value for Jackets fantasy options in the first couple weeks of November, but the back half of the month looks favourable to them, or as favourable as can be considering their poor start. Don't run out and grab some players just yet, but Jack Roslovic and Jakub Voracek may be decent fantasy options two weeks from now.

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Washington injuries for TJ Oshie and John Carlson:

Capitals say RW T.J. Oshie is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.

D John Carlson is day to day with a lower-body injury.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 31, 2022

This is really getting to be a problem for the Caps. They are without Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson already. Losing Oshie for an extended period makes an entire scoring line missing, and that doesn't count guys like Connor Brown and Carl Hagelin. It doesn't appear as if Carlson will be out too long, but this team missing so many top-end forwards is a concern. Dmitry Orlov and Marcus Johansson may have some decent short-term fantasy value, considering the Caps play Arizona and Detroit later this week.

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To get back to Cirelli for a second, he was skating at Tampa Bay's practice Monday morning:

#GoBolts practice lines and D-pairings:

Hagel-Point-Kucherov
Killorn-Paul-Stamkos
Colton-Namestnikov-Koepke
Maroon-Bellemare-Perry
(Cirelli) drawing in

(Bogosian)-Cernak
Sergachev-Perbix
Cole-Foote
Fleury-Myers

— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) October 31, 2022

Like the others, he will need time to work his way back to where he's a regular top-6 option, but it seems he may not be too far off, either.

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Some good news on Miro Heiskanen:

Correction on previous tweet: Miro Heiskanen is on the ice for practice. Jake Oettinger is NOT. Apologies for the mistake, my eyes deceived me. Will update on Oettinger after practice.

— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) October 31, 2022

The team said after practice that he could be ready to go as early as tonight. Keep an eye on news through the day for his potential return.

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Jake Guentzel was back on the top line for Pittsburgh in practice, but they were missing Kris Letang on the back end:

Penguins' forward combinations: Guentzel-Crosby-Rust, Zucker-Malkin-Rakell, Heinen-O'Connor-Kapanen and McGinn-Poehling-Archibald. Blueger is cleared for contact, but is not eligible to come up the Long-Term Injured list yet.

— Dave Molinari (@MolinariPGH) October 31, 2022

In the meantime, Jeff Petry was practicing on the team's top PP unit to replace Letang. Just don't get too far ahead here though, the team said it was just an illness for Letang and that shouldn't keep him out too long.

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We got some line blending going on in Calgary:

#Flames line blender alert …
Huberdeau-Kadri-Mangiapane
Lucic-Lindholm-Toffoli
Dube-Backlund-Coleman
Lewis-Ruzicka-Ritchie

— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) October 31, 2022

This seemed inevitable as the old top line had yet to score at 5-on-5 this season. Andrew Mangiapane and Nazem Kadri have been playing very well offensively and this gives Jonathan Huberdeau a chance to get his even-strength production going as he has one such point in seven games.

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Good news for Brock Boeser and the Canucks:

Boudreau says Boeser will be a game time decision tomorrow #Canucks

— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) October 31, 2022

It probably can't come at a better time, schedule-wise, as the Canucks have homes games this week against New Jersey, Anaheim, and Nashville. It just depends on whether Boeser gets his PP role back or not. That is TBD.

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Bad news for the Ducks and Jamie Drysdale:

Jamie Drysdale update:

Injured defenseman out four to six months

— lisa dillman (@reallisa) October 31, 2022

That should leave Klingberg in the PP1 role all year, but a brutal break for the young blue liner.

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Jack Quinn scored his first goal of the season going upstairs in a hurry on Detroit goalie Alex Nedeljkovic:

The Jack Quinn show. 🤩#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/KHZaDmpb3G

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 1, 2022

That play between he and Tage Thompson are the sorts of things Buffalo fans – and fantasy players – want to see a lot more of. Hopefully these guys are starting to develop some chemistry together.

Thompson had himself one of the best fantasy evenings we'll see this season. He capped off a hat trick in the third period to go with just as many assists. His six-point night doubled his season total to date. The Buffalo center had nine total shots, too, giving him 39 shots in the first nine games of the campaign.

Jeff Skinner had a goal and two assists to go with four shots in the team's 8-3 drubbing of Detroit. Rasmus Dahlin had one of each, bringing him to 12 points on the season. His remarkable start continues.

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Alex Ovechkin scored his fifth of the year in his 10^th game to help Washington take Carolina to overtime (and eventually a shootout). Martin Necas had a pair of assists, one on the power play, on the team's two regulation goals. That brought Necas to 13 points on the season before November even rolled around. He didn't register his 13th point last season until early December.

Ovechkin failed to register a hit in this game, the first time this season. He is still averaging over three per game so I think fantasy owners will be happy.

Andrei Svechnikov scored his eighth goal of the season. He is still averaging over 3.5 shots per game and his two hits bring him to 16 on the year. His multi-cat appeal is really shining through.