When Connor McDavid left Edmonton's game on Monday night after jamming his foot into the boards, it was easy to fear the worst. We saw a similar player with Drew Doughty in the preseason, and that resulted in a broken ankle that will keep him out for months.

Fortunately for Edmonton fans and fantasy hockey managers alike, the news seems to be more on the Aleksander Barkov side of things than the Doughty side of things:  

Good news as, thankfully, the worst-case scenario is averted with Connor McDavid.

Looking like at least a couple of weeks, but exact timeline TBD.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 30, 2024

Thankfully, Edmonton doesn't have a very busy schedule coming up. From the Monday (October 28^th) through November 10^th, just five games for the Oilers. Considering how poorly things could have gone, this is about the best anyone could have asked for.

At Wednesday's practice, these were the Oilers lines without McDavid:

Oilers lines & pairings at practice:

Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Arvidsson
Skinner – RNH – Hyman
Janmark – Henrique – Brown
Ryan – Philp – Perry
Caggiula

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Dermott
Kulak – Emberson
Stecher#Oilers

— Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) October 30, 2024

Keep in mind that it was Viktor Arvidsson who took the time on the top PP unit when McDavid got hurt, so it very much seems he's going to be getting all the minutes needed to produce well, though that light schedule doesn't help his upside much.

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Kaiden Guhle is traveling with Montreal for their two-game trip to Washington and Pittsburgh. and that means Logan Mailloux was sent down:

Les Canadiens ont cédé le défenseur Logan Mailloux au Rocket de Laval.

The Canadiens have loaned defenseman Logan Mailloux to the Laval Rocket. pic.twitter.com/dmKASzvjOg

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 30, 2024

Justin Barron is also with Montreal, so they are starting to get some of their injured bodies back on the blue line.

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There were significant updates on the injured Colorado forwards, namely Miles Wood, Jonathan Drouin, Ross Colton, and Artturi Lehkonen:

On @AltitudeSR, Bednar says he doesn't have a timeline on Ross Colton, but says it will be "significant time."

Didn't sound like Lehkonen had his appointment yet. Drouin still in that day-to-day spot.

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) October 30, 2024

There were other tweets, but without inundating the article with embeds, it seems Colton will be out 6-8 weeks with a broken ankle suffered on a shot block. Wood missed Wednesday's game and is out at least a week. Lehkonen was a full participant in practice and that even included skating on the top power play as Nathan MacKinnon was given a maintenance day. It sure seems as if Lehkonen is on the verge of returning.

Drouin was back at practice with Colorado, but he was in a non-contact jersey so it appears he still needs a bit of time.

That Wood may be back by the end of next week, Lehkonen appears on the verge of returning, and Drouin is back practicing is all good news. Remember that Valeri Nichushkin is eligible to be reinstated in two weeks as well. Colorado went into Wednesday night's game with a 5-5 record which, considering the injuries and getting arguably the worst goaltending in the league, feels like a miracle. Once the lineup starts filling out again, they will be a force.

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After healthy scratching Timothy Liljegren for most of the season, Toronto finally traded him and he's now a member of the San Jose Sharks. Here are the details:

The #SJSharks have acquired Timothy Liljegren from the #leafs for a 2025 third-rounder, 2026 sixth-rounder and Matt Benning.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 30, 2024

For a defenceman the team wasn't using, getting those two picks and shedding his salary feels like a win for the Leafs. This is also the kind of bet the Sharks need to take at this point of their rebuild, so it feels like a win for both sides. I will have a more detailed breakdown of the trade in the morning.

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Samuel Honzek returned to the lineup for Calgary on Wednesday night, skating on a line with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman. Nazem Kadri was reunited with Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, a line that had a good amount of success last season, so we'll see if it can last.

Also, the Flames put Andrei Kuzmenko, Yegor Sharangovich, and Jonathan Huberdeau back together. They were also a line that played well in 2023-24, though the counting stats really weren't there. Who knows how long it lasts but at least they're trying new things instead of just letting the ship sink.

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In just their 10^th game of the season, the New York Islanders were shut out for the fourth time, dropping a 2-0 loss on the road in Columbus. The good news for the Islanders is that in the six games they haven't been shut out, they have averaged 3.7 goals per game and have a plus-1 goal differential. The bad news is that they've been shut out in 40% of their games, which is really funny to type out.

Credit to the Blue Jackets, they didn't give up many grade-A chances to the Islanders, and when they did, Elvis Merzlikins was there to shut the door. He stopped all 28 shots he faced for the shutout, and his save percentage is up to .926 in his four starts.

Damon Severson scored his second goal of the season while Justin Danforth's empty-net tally was his second goal of the season, too. Severson finished the game with two shots and three blocks in a good fantasy performance.

Ivan Provoriv had an assist, two shots, one block, and two hits in a solid across-the-board performance of his own.

Semyon Varlamov allowed just one goal on 25 shots, but it was enough to take the loss on this night.

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Coming off their first loss of the season, the Winnipeg Jets were looking to rebound and they did exactly that with a 6-2 beatdown of Detroit in Detroit. The Jets got out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and while the Red Wings made it a close game with a pair of goals, the Jets scored three more in the third period to seal the win.

Kyle Connor kept his hot start rolling with a goal, two assists, four shots, and a block. He now has nine goals, eight assists, and 40 shots in 10 games on the season. Just 5 of 17 points have come on the power play, so he's doing a lot of his damage at even strength, which is kind of a terrifying prospect.

Neal Pionk scored twice, including once on the power play, for his third multi-point game of the season. He now has three goals and 12 points in 10 games, adding 25 shots, 16 blocks, and 13 hits along the way.

Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and an assist while Colin Miller scored the other Winnipeg marker. After a somewhat slow start, Vilardi now has three goals and two assists in his last four games.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 of 21 shots for the win.

Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat both scored on the power play with Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider assisting on each goal. Seider added three shots and now has eight points 20 shots, 27 blocks, and 40 hits on the campaign as his stellar start continues.

Detroit has just 103 shots in their last five games, though they do have 13 goals, so it hasn't been all bad offensively.

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Kaapo Kahkonen made his first start for Colorado but was unable to do much more than Alexandar Georgiev had by allowing four goals on 20 shots in their loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday night. In fairness, a couple of those goals were Harlem Globetrotter-esque, but Colorado finishes the month of October with a team save percentage of .832, by far the worst in the NHL. That they're 5-6 with all those injuries and mostly abominable goaltending feels like a small miracle.

Nikita Kucherov added to his blazing month with a goal, two assists, two shots, and a block. He posted 17 points in 10 games this month, landing 35 shots and registering five power play points. Just a superb effort for fantasy managers.

Jake Guentzel had his first two-goal game in a Lightning uniform and he quietly finishes October with four goals, seven assists, 32 shots, 14 blocks, and four hits in 10 appearances.

Brayden Point had a pair of helpers to round out the top line's excellent night. He also had 11 points in 10 games, but there is a worry of him registering just 16 shots on goal. Something to keep an eye on.

Anthony Cirelli had a goal and an assist, Conor Geekie also scored, and Brandon Hagel had a pair of helpers in a very good night from the second line.

Victor Hedman managed an assist, two shots, three blocks, and two hits in a balanced fantasy effort while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 of 35 shots in the win.

Cale Makar had a goal and an assist with six shots and three hits in the loss, and Ivan Ivan scored a power play goal on six shots as he got top PP time with Colton out of the lineup. Makar is up to 19 points on the season, which is kind of surreal.

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Mikhail Sergachev had a big night for Utah during Olli Maatta's debut as Sergachev had a power play goal, two assists (one on the PP), one shot, one block, and two PIMs in Utah's 5-1 win over Calgary. Sergachev finishes October with two goals and seven assists in 11 games. He totaled three PPPs, 22 shots, 20 blocks, and four hits in a very good start to his campaign.

Maveric Lamoureux scored the first NHL goal of his career, totaling that one shot and a hit.

Clayton Keller (PP), Barrett Hayton, and Alex Kerfoot had the other goals. Hayton is up to 2.5 shots per game on the season, which would be a career mark if he can maintain it.

Dylan Guenther and Nick Schmaltz each had a pair of assists, with Guenther getting both of his on the man advantage. He finishes October with six goals, four assists, 28 shots, four blocks, five hits, and five PPPs in 11 games.

Connor Ingram was stellar in goal, allowing just one tally on 31 shots. Hopefully a sign of turning things around after some rough starts this season (he went into the game with an .868 save percentage).

Anthony Mantha scored the lone goal for Calgary. It was assisted by Weegar, who had a shot, two blocks, two PIMs, and two hits. Weegar's first 10 games produced five points, 23 shots, 21 blocks, and 29 hits.

Dustin Wolf allowed five goals on 28 shots.

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After a loss to San Jose, Los Angeles bounced back very well with a 6-3 win over Vegas. The top line, now featuring Alex Turcotte, did a lot of the damage as Anze Kopitar had a goal and two assists (one on the PP) while Adrian Kempe had a goal and a helper. Kempe finished the game with three shots, two PIMs, and two hits. He also had 10 points in 11 games during the month as Kopitar had 12 points in 11 games.

Kevin Fiala (PP), Warren Foegele, Alex Laferriere, and Joel Edmundson had the other tallies. Fiala added an assist to go with a pair of shots. A nice rebound game from him after the healthy scratch.

Brandt Clarke had three assists (one on the PP) with two shots. His assist on the Kopitar goal was something else:

Clarke finished the month of October with 11 points in 11 games, five of those points on the power play, to go with 21 shots, 19 blocks, and five hits. He has also averaged 19:21 per game in his last five games so he's starting to get a lot more usage (about two minutes more per game compared to his first six games).

Mikey Anderson had a great across-the-board night with two assists, one shot, two blocks, two PIMs, and two hits.

Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 of 26 shots in the win.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored twice for Vegas, managing four total shots. One of those goals was on the power play, giving him three PP goals on the season. He now has six goals, three assists, 32 shots, five blocks, and four hits in 11 games.

Tanner Pearson had the other tally for Vegas while Ilya Samsonov allowed all six goals on 27 shots.

Los Angeles finished October with a 6-3-2 record despite giving up 11 power play goals against in 11 games. Imagine what they can do once that improves and Drew Doughty returns.  

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New Jersey went into Vancouver and laid waste to the Canucks but a 6-0 score. It was Arturs Silovs first start in over two weeks, and he allowed all six goals on 22 shots. He is winless in three starts with a .797 save percentage. It doesn't seem great.

Nico Hischier remained scorching hot with a goal and two assists (one short-handed), two shots, three blocks, and a hit. He had 10 goals and 15 points through 13 October games, managing 3.4 shots per game. He added 12 blocks and five hits, registering five power play points.

Jack Hughes had a goal (PP) and an assist, as did Dawson Mercer (his goal was the SH tally). Tomas Tatar, Ondrej Palat, and Timo Meier had the other tallies. Meier had three shots and a hit to go with his goal, finishing the month with five goals, seven assists, 40 shots, 28 hits, and eight blocks in 13 games. The loss of top PP time will hurt over the balance of the season, but he had a great month.

Jacob Markstrom stopped all 20 shots for the shutout, his first of the season. He finished the month with five wins, a .903 save percentage, and a 2.68 goals against average.