Some fun news yesterday with the return of Patrick Kane, signing a one-year deal in Detroit with a full no-movement-clause, and a cap hit of $2.75 million. He could line up with Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin and be plugged into fantasy lineups immediately, though there is lots of reason for caution as well:

NHLer's post-hip resurfacing surgery:

• Nicklas Bäckström: 47GP, 22 PTS
• Carl Hagelin: 0 GP, 0 PTS
• Ryan Kesler: 0 GP, 0 PTS
• Ed Jovanovski: 37 GP, 5 PTS

Here's hoping Patty Kane is different, but everyone needs to temper expectations in a big way.

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) November 28, 2023

Keep an eye on Kane's status at this point, and how reports are once he's back at practice. There's a wide range of outcomes here. Cliffy covered most of the fallout down the rest of the lineup as well with his fantasy take here.

The hit to Daniel Sprong is likely, as his sheltered offensive minutes are exactly what Kane will eat into. I'm not as worried about Lucas Raymond or David Perron, as they can create on the second line, and without top power play minutes, though their upsides do drop as a result.

To muddy the waters even further, Jonatan Berggren was recalled yesterday as well, and he is another offensively inclined prospect winger who was just finding his game at the AHL level again after sitting for a number of weeks at the NHL level. With Larkin out and day-to-day for the time being, Berggren will be with the big club, though how much ice time he gets remains to be seen.

In the meantime, centres J.T. Compher and Andrew Copp will see a boost in opportunities while Larkin is out.

*

General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the #Canucks have acquired a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for F Anthony Beauvillier. pic.twitter.com/Biiz96UmLD

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 29, 2023

The Blackhawks have replaced Corey Perry's cap hit and his spot in the lineup with a younger player that has some upside, but just hasn't been given consistent opportunities in New York or Vancouver. There should be a lot of runway for him next to Connor Bedard, and all the power play time he can handle. He's maybe not a 60+ point threat right now, but I would expect more along the line of a 50-point-pace the rest of the way.

*

The Islanders opened the scoring last night against the Devils with three of their top-four point producers getting in on the goal. Rick touched on Noah Dobson last week, with plenty of positive things to say, meanwhile Cliffy dove into some of Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat's numbers from two weeks ago. There has been some market correction for both, as Cliffy indicated was coming, but the underlying numbers still say that there is more ground to make up. It's not too late to buy-in on this duo and ride the wave.

Barzal made up part of that throughout the rest of the game, and he isn't the best in the peripheral categories, so your best bet may be Horvat.

*

Sticking in New York, Adam Fox's return comes with the universe balancing things out and taking Kaapo Kakko away from the team with a long-term (but not season-ending) knee injury. Fox slides back onto the top power play, Erik Gustafsson moves down to the second unit, and that might be it for K'Andre Miller's power play exposure for a while. I'm interested to see how things look the next game or two with the lineup changes.

*

Not quite as important, but still relevant to your fantasy teams, Thomas Chabot is set to return Friday from his injury. He may not be put back on either power play unit though, needing to dislodge one of Jake Sanderson or Jakob Chychrun to do so.

*

Mike Reilly QB of PP2. #Isles

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) November 29, 2023

For some reason Mike Reilly is the darkest of horses that I just can't put down. Every time I swear off of him he gives me just a little sliver of hope. The talent is there if things ever break right all at the same time.

*

Michael Bunting has flown under the radar in Carolina, and is up to 14 points in 20 games. Thanks to the handy new info boxes on the FrozenTools page, it's easy to see that his Fantrax and Yahoo ownership are both below the 50% mark. His hit and shot rates are way down in Carolina, but at least the PIM numbers are still there, thanks to the misconduct against the Lightning last week. The PIMs will come in bunches.

Another new addition in Carolina, Dmitry Orlov, has struggled early, and it seems to have mainly been due to the chemistry issues in playing with Tony DeAngelo. Without DeAngelo now, Orlov looks freed, and his numbers should really improve. He's typically a 35- to 45-point-player, and thus far he has only been a 30-point guy. There's room for improvement, especially as Carolina has a lot of fire power to match up front.

*

If you need an early season team audit, some in depth analysis before pulling the trigger on a trade, or if you are just uncertain as to whether a specific player's hot (or cold) start to the season will continue, then make sure to get your question in to Rick Roos. The next edition of the Roos Lets Loose monthly mailbag drops a week from today. There are two ways to send in questions (1) private messaging "rizzeedizzee" via the DobberHockey Forums, or (2) emailing [email protected] with "Roos Mailbag" as the subject line. No one will do a better or more in-depth analysis on your question than Rick will.

*

Rasmus Ristolainen has played two games so far this year since returning from an injury, and has four hits, four shots, and three blocks in 17 minutes per game. Those numbers should only rise as per-game-rates as his minutes increase as well. He usually sees at least 20 minutes per game. Meanwhile, elsewhere on Philly's D-core, Travis Sanheim is pointless in five straight games, and Sean Walker is now running the top power play unit (though he's also on a cold streak at the moment).

*

With the injury to Rickard Rakell (and Bryan Rust already back in the lineup) Drew O'Connor has drawn the plum assignment of being the other winger alongside Evgeni Malkin – Reilly Smith is on the other side, with Jake Guentzel and Rust up on the top line with Sidney Crosby. Malkin and Smith notched points last night, and I would expect we'll see O'Connor follow suit soon. He has some excellent underlying numbers, and is worthy of a top-six spot in Pittsburgh, there just hasn't been room before.

*

Nashville's depth wingers this year have been surprisingly fantasy relevant. There's the scoring upside (and occasional healthy scratches) from Luke Evangelista and Philip Tomasino, but it's actually the bottom-nine guys including Cole Smith and Kiefer Sherwood that I own in a couple fantasy leagues that have surprised most. It was actually Michael McCarron's turn last night though, with two goals, five PIMs, three shots, three hits, and a few faceoff wins in less than 10 minutes of ice time.

*

Last night we got further confirmation that Joseph Woll should get a longer starter run in Toronto. He has a 5-1 record in games where he also started the Leafs' previous game. He has allowed only one goal in each of those five wins. When a goalie plays that much better with regular volume, you give them an extended run – especially when the team in front of them is unfocused and flat. He made 37 saves in last night's game, and it looks like he's here to stay as an NHL goalie. Unfortunately, we can't say the same about Ilya Samsonov at the moment.

*

The four points that Dawson Mercer have scored in the last two games are the first that he has scored with Jack Hughes in the lineup. It helps that he has been playing alongside Hughes for those two games, and if he can stick in that spot, his scoring shout hang around too. Good timing as his breakout threshold is coming right up too.

Unfortunately, the Devils lost Dougie Hamilton to an injury last night and he didn't play the third period. That's a boon to Luke Hughes' value, and maybe it gives an opportunity for a Simon Nemec call-up. Keep your eyes out for today's Injury Ward article for the latest news on Hamilton and others.

*

Apologies for the Nokia flip phone quality, but here's the Oskar Sundqvist slew foot on Jake Middleton #mnwild #stlblues pic.twitter.com/ewRIg9wgKn

— Brett Marshall (@B_Marsh92) November 29, 2023

Expect a suspension of a game or two for Oskar Sundqvist as a result of his slewfoot of Jake Middleton. The bar was set by Middleton's teammate Ryan Hartman a few days ago with his two-game suspension for a similar slewfoot.

*

The opening games for the PWHL have been announced, and the first game is on a World Juniors off day, in the 2.5hr slot leading up to the Winter Classic. A perfect timing to get some of us hockey-craved holiday-ers some more excitement. I'll be looking to tune in if they ever announce where the games are streamed. And if they ever sort out fantasy leagues for it, I'll be in there too.

The first games in #PWHL history have been announced. Home openers:

Jan 1, 12:30 pm – New York @ Toronto
Jan 2, 7 pm – Montreal @ Ottawa
Jan 3, 7 pm – Minnesota @ Boston
Jan 5, 7 pm – Toronto @ New York
Jan 6, 2:30 pm – Montreal @ Minnesota
Jan 13, 3:30 pm – Boston @ Montreal

— Melissa Burgess (@_MelissaBurgess) November 28, 2023

*

See you next Wednesday! You can find me on Twitter/X here, or BlueSky here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.