Hello and welcome to my first Ramblings as an Associate Editor for DobberHockey. I wish it was under different circumstances, but as most of you know, Dobber is taking some time away from the website as he prepares to kick cancer's ass for a second time. Aside from sending love and strength to one of the greatest minds in fantasy hockey (who also happens to be an awesome human being), please look into becoming a stem cell donor and donating blood. Those seemingly simple actions have profound effects. Cancer's a battle we all fight together.

I'm hoping Dobber's back and sharing his fantasy hockey wisdom with all of us soon, but it's an honour to keep you company in the meantime. I was just a kid in high school when Dobber first gave me the opportunity to write for this legendary website. Nearly seven years later, it feels surreal to join his amazing editing team.

If you ever have fantasy hockey questions, follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza and shoot me a message!

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Sunday's biggest hockey story came out of Edmonton as the Oilers fired head coach Jay Woodcroft and replaced him with Kris Knoblauch. Knoblauch has been coaching the Rangers' AHL affiliate for the past few years, but his most notable experience comes from coaching junior hockey back in the day. Overseeing the Erie Otters, he coached younger versions of Connor McDavid, Connor Brown, and Warren Foegele – three members of Edmonton's current roster.

Of the three, I'd be most interested to see how the coaching change affects Connor Brown. This is a player who consistently scored at a 50-point pace for the Senators from 2019-22, averaging nearly 20 minutes of action per game. That momentum was derailed last season, when he appeared in just four games for the Capitals before tearing his ACL and sitting out the rest of the campaign. This season, Brown understandably needed some time to reacclimate after being away from the game for so long. Still, it's been disappointing to see him go pointless in his first nine appearances with the Oilers, averaging just 14 and a half minutes per game. More concerning is the fact that he's missed Edmonton's last four games with what seems to be a lower-body 'muscular' injury. Hopefully this isn't related to the reconstructive ACL surgery he recently recovered from, but it's certainly worth monitoring. A healthy Connor Brown under Kris Knoblauch could see the opportunity required to be a strong fantasy hockey asset.

In sports, there's often a dichotomy between process and results. Sometimes, you can be playing well, but the results don't match. The puck's just not going in and the wins aren't coming as frequently as they should be. That seems to be a good description of the Oilers this season. Although they sit second last in league standings with an abysmal 3-9-1 record, the advanced stats suggest they're playing quite well. At even strength, Edmonton sits second in both expected goals for and expected goals against (via NaturalStatTrick). That indicates that their process hasn't been the problem; they've mostly been unlucky. Bad luck tends to correct itself over the course of a season, but since we're currently working with such a small sample, the team's struggles have been magnified. Many will see the coaching change as a catalyst for improved results going forward, but I'd classify it more as positive regression – something that would've happened regardless of the coaching change.

For more on Edmonton's coaching change, check out Ian's breakdown here.

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On Sunday, the Avalanche announced that they signed Joel Kiviranta to a one-year deal. Kiviranta had been on a professional tryout contract with the organization, tallying six points in 10 games for the AHL's Colorado Eagles. The 27-year-old forward is most famous for his Game 7 hat trick, which propelled the Stars to round three of the 2020 playoffs. Kiviranta didn't produce at a high rate across four regular seasons with the Stars, but he primarily played a defensive role and averaged just 11 minutes of action per night.

There's potential for him to see more opportunity with Colorado. Considering Artturi Lehkonen's sidelined with an upper-body injury for the next few weeks, there's room for Kiviranta in Colorado's top six. In addition, the Avalanche have lost five of their last seven contests. During that span, Colorado's 2.14 goals per game represent the league's second-weakest offense, behind only San Jose. Expect coach Jared Bednar to tinker with his lineup as he tries to get the team back on track. Keep an eye on the team's lines to see who's skating with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen over these next few games.

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Colorado also announced that netminder Pavel Francouz will miss the rest of the campaign because of a lower-body injury. Francouz had been sidelined for the past few months, with reports indicating he hadn't fully recovered from offseason adductor surgery. This solidifies Ivan Prosvetov as Colorado's backup for the time being. However, considering the 24-year-old has just 17 games of NHL experience under his belt, with largely lacklustre numbers, it wouldn't surprise me if the Avs traded for a more reliable backup.

Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season due to a lower-body injury. He will return to the Czech Republic with his family for rest of the year. pic.twitter.com/HoinjxUdEM

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) November 12, 2023

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Sam Reinhart registered a point on all of Florida's goals en route to a 4-3 win over Chicago. The 28-year-old forward now has 21 points in 14 outings, sitting sixth in league scoring. Reinhart's underlying numbers suggest he's benefited from some good luck to this point – luck which we can't rely on all season. Although now would be a good time to sell high on him, if you're not happy with prospective returns, there's no harm in holding on. Currently in the final year of his contract, Reinhart is motivated to perform this year as he seeks to secure a lucrative new deal. He's shooting the puck more frequently than he had in years past, averaging 3.3 shots per game.

Carter Verhaeghe scored a power-play goal on Sunday, giving him three points with the man advantage in his last 10 games. He's been deployed on the top unit frequently during this stretch, enjoying a 54% share of Florida's total power-play time. That stands in contrast to his first four appearances of the year, where he saw a measly 26% share and failed to register a power-play point. Last year, Verhaeghe managed a 74-point pace without much power-play production. A greater role with the man advantage doesn't necessarily make him a point-per game player, but it allows him to contribute to the PPP category more than he has before. It's worth noting that last year, Florida used two defensemen on their top power-play unit. With those two defensemen – Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad – set to return from injury soon, it'll be interesting to see if Verhaeghe gets bumped off the top group.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson posted two points, giving him nine in 14 games this year. Four of those points have come on the power play, fuelled by a 68% share of Florida's total time with the man advantage. With Montour set to return in these next few games, OEL's offensive role will likely evaporate going forward. If you can get any sort of return on him right now, I'd pull the trigger on a trade.

Maurice on Montour:

"We'll skate him full tomorrow and then we'll turn it over to the doctors."

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) November 12, 2023

I'm proud to say Connor Bedard and I have something in common. This weekend, we both took two immaculate shots. His resulted in two beautiful goals, mine resulted in a drunken stupor.

Oh my, Connor Bedard. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/mubeBha0sr

📢 advertisement:

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) November 12, 2023

CONNOR BEDARD. WHAT MORE CAN WE SAY?? pic.twitter.com/vmPwDBch6k

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) November 12, 2023

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Dallas entered Sunday's game against Minnesota with one of the league's worst power plays, sporting a success rate of just 10.8%. It was an unexpected area of struggle considering the same group – Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Joe Pavelski, Jamie Benn and Miro Heiskanen – converted on 25% of their opportunities last year. Sometimes regression is gradual, other times it's immediate. The latter proved to be true here as the Stars exploded for five power-play goals against the Wild, rocketing their conversion rate up to 20%.

Robertson and Heiskanen both posted three points with the man advantage, significantly improving their overall production rates. Robertson entered the game scoring at a 63-point pace and left it on a 76-point pace. Heiskanen entered on a 44-point pace and left on a 59-point pace. This should serve as a reminder that sample sizes are still small and single-game outbursts can quickly correct underwhelming point paces. Don't worry about proven superstars unless their deployment has been adversely affected.

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Erik Gustafsson registered an assist against the Blue Jackets, giving him six points in four games since Adam Fox went down with an injury. Although Gustafsson has stepped onto the team's top power-play unit and enjoyed more minutes with the man advantage in Fox's absence, it's interesting that five of those six points were scored at even strength. Currently on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), Fox isn't eligible to return until November 29^th. Early indications suggest he'll need even more time to get fully healthy, so Gustafsson should hold this high-profile role for the foreseeable future. Currently available in 70% of Yahoo Leagues, I'd rush to grab Gustafsson if you need a blueliner who can put up points.

When Filip Chytil went down with an injury on November 2^nd, Vincent Trocheck took his place between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere. Sunday was their fourth game as a trio, and they had another strong showing, with each player registering a point. During this stretch, Panarin has eight points, while Trocheck and Lafreniere each have seven.

Panarin has posted a point in each of his 14 appearances and currently sits second in league scoring.

With this recent run of production, Lafreniere is now on pace for 64 points this year. He's playing with a level of confidence that we haven't really seen in his previous three seasons. It seems the 22-year-old is finally putting together the breakout season many expected when he was drafted first overall in 2020. Although this is an important step for Lafreniere's long-term development, his value in one-year leagues remains limited by a lack of power-play opportunity.

With this new-look second line playing so well, it'll be interesting to see where Chytil slots in once he returns from injury. He hasn't been skating recently, so a return isn't imminent, but if the second line is still playing well when he's ready to return, you have to wonder if he starts out on the third line.

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With a goal against Montreal, Ilya Mikheyev now has nine points in 11 appearances this season – a 67-point pace. Although I'm optimistic about his fantasy value because he's skating beside Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko on Vancouver's top line, it's hard to endorse him as a long-term hold because he's only seeing 14 minutes a night and doesn't have much of a power-play role. To add to those woes, his current shooting percentage (21%) looks unsustainably high beside the 14% rate he posted in previous years.

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A three-point night against the Sharks gives Frank Vatrano 15 points through 14 appearances this year. That's well out of character considering he's consistently scored at a 40-point pace over the last five years. On one hand, Vatrano is riding unsustainably high shooting percentages, so he'll be hard-pressed to maintain this pace all year. However, it's encouraging to see him skating a career-high 18 minutes a night, while also shooting more than he has before, averaging 3.4 shots per game. Anaheim's entire second line has been on fire to start the year, with Vatrano, Ryan Strome, and Mason McTavish all scoring above a point-per-game.

The Ducks have a favourable schedule this week, with four games over the next seven days. Three of those games will be played on 'light nights', when most teams aren't in action, making it easier to incorporate players from Anaheim into your fantasy roster. While Vatrano and McTavish are rostered in most leagues, Strome is still available in 69% of Yahoo formats as I write this. Nice!

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Thanks for reading! Have an awesome week :)