Aleksander Barkov wasn't on the ice for Sunday's practice and won't play against the Oilers on Monday. Florida's captain suffered a soft tissue injury after taking a knee-on-knee hit during Friday's clash with the Ducks. Coach Paul Maurice seemed optimistic when speaking about the injury, suggesting the outcome was better than they originally thought.

Barkov is day-to-day, per Maurice.

He won't play tomorrow.

"We got lucky with it. Those are dangerous, dangerous plays. … It's day-to-day. … Every day he comes in you check the swelling, you check the strength, you check the range of motion."

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) November 19, 2023

During practice, Anton Lundell was skating in Barkov's top-line spot between Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart. Without Barkov, it looks like Florida's top power play will feature Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe. It'll be interesting to see whether OEL or Verhaeghe drops to the second unit once Barkov returns.

Cats lines at practice ⬇️

Verhaeghe – Lundell – Reinhart
Rodrigues – Bennett – Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Stenlund – Cousins
Gadjovich – Lorentz – Lomberg

— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) November 19, 2023

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Patrik Laine was a healthy scratch against the Flyers on Sunday. The 25-year-old winger has just three points in nine appearances this season, but I'm hesitant to be too critical of his performance. After posting two points in his first four games of the year, he sustained a concussion and was sidelined for three weeks, posting a single point in five games after returning. Now, it's not out of the ordinary for a player to struggle in their first few games back after an extended absence. The thing about Laine's situation that's concerning for his fantasy outlook is that he doesn't have unlimited leash to find his footing. He saw his ice time cut down to 12 minutes in back-to-back games prior to this healthy scratch.

We know that Laine's strength is his offensive ability, not so much his defense. When I saw he'd been benched and scratched, I assumed that first-year head coach Pascal Vincent was punishing Laine for poor defensive play. From a fantasy perspective, that would be concerning because Laine's defensive shortcomings aren't going to disappear overnight. So, if he's being punished for bad defense, and that bad defense isn't going to improve any time soon, then he'd be stuck in a limited role all year. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. Here's how coach Vincent explained his decision to scratch Laine:

#CBJ head coach Pascal Vincent on the Patrik Laine scratch: "He's not happy about the decision, don't get me wrong. But right now I think Patty needs to take a deep breath, go back to the working lab and get his touches back, get his shot back, get his confidence back so he can…

— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) November 19, 2023

To me this is a reassuring quote. It tells me that Pascal Vincent understands Laine's strengths. The Finnish Finisher isn't being scratched because of poor defensive play, he's being scratched because he's not excelling in the areas he normally excels in – and that's fair. Now I'm not a masochist, so I haven't watched much Columbus hockey this year (only kidding Blue Jackets' fans, Adam Fantilli is a special talent). However, Brian Hedger, who watches closely as the team's beat writer, shared Vincent's assessment. Hedger reported that Laine's had trouble making passes, receiving passes and getting good shots on net. Laine has shown across a large sample that he's very capable of doing those things. He’s scored a point per game for the Blue Jackets in each of the last two years – he hasn't lost that offensive talent overnight. For what it's worth, he started last season with an underwhelming four points in eight games before posting 48 in his next 47. I will say that, oftentimes, when an individual is struggling, they can draw confidence and strength from teammates who are playing well. That's virtually impossible for Laine right now as the Blue Jackets are a fragile group, winless in their last nine games. I'm not sure if the impact of Sunday's scratch will be immediate, but I'm still optimistic Laine can turn things around.

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William Nylander extended his season-opening point streak to 17 games on Sunday, tallying an assist and scoring a beautiful overtime winner against the Wild. While looking at Nylander's hot start in Saturday's Ramblings, I came to the conclusion that even if he doesn't maintain this torrid pace all season, he's primed to have an elite year. I'd prefer to hold onto him in one-year leagues instead of trying to sell high.

HOW SWEDE IT IS. 🇸🇪

It just had to be William Nylander scoring the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner for the @MapleLeafs! pic.twitter.com/VCAf8tCZhb

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 19, 2023

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Heading into the season, most had low expectations for the Philadelphia Flyers because of the team's lacklustre roster. As we approach the quarter-way mark, it's becoming clear that those expectations need to be updated. With wins over Vegas and Columbus this weekend, Philly now boasts a 10-7-1 record, sitting 11^th in league standings. They're averaging 3.33 goals per game, which ranks 15^th in the league, with 2.89 goals against per game, which ranks 11^th. The team has been playing solid defense, sporting a league-low 2.62 expected goals against per 60 minutes (via NaturalStatTrick).

Offseason perception of the Flyers painted them as a cellar dweller. Such perceptions tend to influence lineup decisions. For example, if two players on my roster are playing equally well, but Player A is facing the Flyers and Player B is facing the Islanders, my preconceived notions would lead me to start player A because they'd have an easier time scoring against a weaker team. However, now that I know how well the Flyers have been playing, my perception has been updated, allowing me to make the better decision of starting player B. In a similar vein, I now know not to seek out goalies for a spot start just because they're playing the Flyers. This team is performing much better than we thought they would. There's no telling how long it'll last, but they're far from an easy out right now.  

Another important takeaway from all this is that Carter Hart is finally a strong fantasy asset again. Through 10 games, he sports a 2.40 GAA and .919 save percentage.

Joel Farabee posted two points in Philly's 5-2 win against Columbus on Sunday, putting him on a 64-point pace this year. After flirting with a 60-point pace back in 2020-21, Farabee paced for 40 points in back-to-back seasons before this one. It's important to remember that he's just 23 years old, so his best hockey is likely ahead of him. It's interesting that he's scoring more this year despite averaging 15 minutes a night, which is a two-minute drop from last year's average. Although I think he can be an asset in fantasy leagues, I'm hesitant to endorse him with this current deployment, which includes a measly 31% share of Philly's total time with the man advantage.

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Alex Nedeljkovic stopped all 38 shots Vegas took on Sunday, leading Pittsburgh to a 3-0 victory over the defending champions. It was his first NHL start in almost a month as he was recently activated from long-term injured reserve (LTIR). As a result of that extended absence, Nedeljkovic has been limited to just three starts this season. It's still early, but he already looks like a more serviceable option than last year, when he posted a 3.53 GAA and .895 save percentage through 15 games with the Red Wings.

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Ahead of Sunday’s battle with Buffalo, Lukas Reichel was elevated to Chicago's top line beside Connor Bedard and Philipp Kurashev. It's a promotion fans have been wanting for a while now, as Reichel, the 17^th overall pick of the 2020 draft, seems to have the offensive talent to make magic with Bedard. Reichel picked up an assist on Sunday, giving him three points in his last four games. He's seeing more ice time and power-play opportunity during this stretch than he did earlier in the season, so this could be the beginning of his rise in fantasy formats.

Kurashev tallied two points on Sunday, giving him 10 points in 10 appearances this season. Although I'm more excited to see what Reichel can do this year, there's no harm in streaming Kurashev while he's hot. At the end of the day, both players should benefit from playing with Bedard.

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The NHL schedule this week (Nov 20-26) is a bit of a strange one, with no teams in action on Tuesday and Thursday, and virtually all teams in action on Wednesday (28 teams) and Friday (30).

Monday (14), Saturday (16) and Sunday (10) represent 'light nights', when fewer teams are playing. To maximize the number of games your fantasy roster gets in this week, you may be looking at the waiver wire for players with favourable schedules. There are eight teams you should be focusing on this week as they play four games, including two 'light-night' tilts. This includes the Bruins, Flames, Avalanche, Oilers, Predators, Rangers, Sharks and Canucks. Here are a few streaming options to consider:

Gustav Nyquist (Yahoo: 2% Rostered) – The 34-year-old winger has five points in his last four games. With Tommy Novak sidelined for the next few weeks, Nyquist is enjoying a new role on the Preds' top power-play. It's only been two games since Nyquist was promoted, but he tallied a point with the man advantage in both of those appearances. He'd been skating 15 minutes a night for most of the season but is up around 19 over these last few contests.

Valeri Nichushkin (Yahoo: 60% Rostered) – Artturi Lehkonen suffered a neck injury against Seattle on November 9^th. Prior to that game, Nichushkin had seven points in 11 games, skating 17 minutes a night without much power-play time. Since November 9^th, Nichushkin has six points in five games, averaging over 21 minutes a night. To fill in Lehkonen's absence, Nichushkin is enjoying a prominent power-play on Colorado's top power-play unit and skating beside superstars Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen at even strength. He has roughly four shots per game during this stretch after posting two per game while Lehkonen was still in the lineup.

Connor Zary (Yahoo: 3% Rostered) – The 22-year-old rookie has eight points in eight appearances for the Flames this year. He's enjoying a prominent power-play role and averaging 16 and a half minutes of action per game. So far, Zary has spent most of his even-strength minutes beside Nazem Kadri, injecting some life into the veteran center's game. Since Zary entered the lineup, Kadri has nine points in eight outings. That stands in stark contrast to the two points he had through nine games before Zary was called up.

Erik Gustafsson (Yahoo: 31% Rostered) – The 31-year-old defenseman has seven points in five games since Adam Fox went down with an injury. He's in an excellent spot quarterbacking New York's top power-play, although only two of his seven points during this stretch were tallied with the man advantage. Currently on LTIR, Fox isn't eligible to return until November 29^th. That means Gustafsson has at least five more games in this favourable role.

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