Thank you to Dobber for filling in while I took a short out-of-town trip last weekend. It is nice to have him back in the fold contributing to the Ramblings again. Big congratulations as well are in order for 20 years of DobberHockey.com.

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Rasmus Dahlin is taking a leave of absence from the Sabres to be with his fiancée in Sweden after she underwent a heart transplant. Although she is reportedly doing well following the surgery, she experienced sudden heart failure during a summer vacation and needed life-saving CPR. Hoping for the best for both and that he takes all the time that he needs.

Not to downplay the importance of human life, but one implication for fantasy teams is that either Owen Power or Bowen Byram should take over the top power play for the Sabres. Both are under 20 percent rostered in Yahoo leagues and are worth a speculative add at this point. I roster Dahlin in one league and just added Byram, so naturally Power will get PP1. Or neither of them will get it because the Sabres will jump on the trend of using five forwards. You know how that works.

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Thatcher Demko is reportedly questionable for this weekend's games today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday), although the Canucks are calling the injury "preventative maintenance." Adding to the worry about Demko is the fact that the Canucks recalled Jiri Patera from the AHL under what they listed as "emergency conditions." That term might allow a callup outside of salary cap parameters, and Demko may well be dealing with something minor, but his injury history from the previous two seasons makes this seem more concerning than this scenario would be for the typical player.

For now, keep Demko on your bench or IR+ for the busy Saturday. We'll have to wait to find out which of the two contradictory terms makes more sense when describing Demko's situation.

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Artemi Panarin's slow start and six-game point drought has had some thinking that the 34-year-old forward is about to regress in a major way. However, Panarin cooled off that talk with a goal and two assists in the Rangers' 4-1 win over Detroit. Panarin is in a contract year and hoping to cash in on the free agent market, so his motivation should be high. A look at his advanced stats shows some bad luck (7.1 SH%, 6.4 5on5 SH%, 1.9 PTS/60), so he should be able to rebound. The Rangers as a team had the lowest goals-per-game average of any team entering Friday's action (just over 2 GF/GP), which has certainly impacted Panarin. This might even be a good time to buy low on Rangers such as Panarin and J.T. Miller.

Alexis Lafreniere scored a goal and added an assist for the Rangers. That gives Lafreniere five points in his last five games. I was considering dropping Lafreniere in one league, but then I noticed he has been heating up a bit lately. On top of that, I noticed that the Rangers have a four-game week next week, so I decided to drop another player or two instead (looking at you, Steven Stamkos).

Patrick Kane returned to the Red Wings' lineup on Friday after missing the past nine games with an upper-body injury. He did not finish with any points despite nearly scoring on this play.  

JONATHAN QUICK MISPLAYED THE PUCK, AND PATRICK KANE HAD THE EMPTY NET BUT COULDN'T BURY IT 😭😵 pic.twitter.com/KdrtFkwKaH

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) November 8, 2025

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Mats Zuccarello made his season debut on Friday, recording an assist on this fabulous sequence with longtime linemate Kirill Kaprizov.

KIRILL KAPRIZOV AND MATS ZUCCARELLO ARE YOU KIDDING?!

WHAT A GOAL 😱😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/JsQWBUzA8l

📢 advertisement:

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) November 8, 2025

Zuccarello was back on Kaprizov's line as well as the top power play, so he's worth adding (13% Yahoo/43% Fantrax) if he happens to be available in your league.

Zuccarello's return also results in a downgrade for Vladimir Tarasenko, who had been on Minnesota's top power play and on a top-6 line up until Friday. Tarasenko already has seven power-play points in just 15 games when he had totaled eight and nine in the previous two full seasons. Tarasenko seems to have a bit of fantasy value left in the tank, although it seems to be heavily role-dependent.

Marcus Johansson has been suddenly surging. With an assist on Friday, Johansson now has an eight-game point streak with 10 points over that span. Overall, Johansson has 14 points in 16 games, providing full value on a one-year contract at the bargain basement cap hit of $800,000.

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At this very moment, the NHL's two leading scorers are a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old who were first overall picks in consecutive seasons and are both from the North Shore in greater Vancouver. If you guessed Macklin Celebrini (23 points) and Connor Bedard (22 points), you are correct… or at least you were paying attention to the games tonight.

Given their ages, first-overall pedigree status, and common birthplace, Celebrini and Bedard could be compared to one another the same way that Crosby and Ovechkin have for the past two decades. Both also appear to be in the discussion to represent Canada at the Olympics, although Celebrini may have the upper hand given his faster development at the NHL level. I'm not about to proclaim which player will have a better career, but you can draw your own conclusions using the Compare Players feature at Frozen Tools.

In just his second NHL season, the under-20 Celebrini has been making easy work of NHL competition. In adding another goal and an assist in a 2-1 win over Winnipeg on Friday, Celebrini has piled up 17 points in his last 10 games. Celebrini also fired six shots on Friday, but it's worth mentioning that his shot per game average is actually down from last season, from 3.4 SOG/GP last season to 3.1 SOG/GP this season. His advanced stats, which include a 16.6 5on5 SH%, point to some kind of regression from his current 1.5 PTS/GP pace. But there's almost no way you should be trading him in a keeper league, while the ask would be a superstar in a non-keeper format.  

Meanwhile, after torching the Canucks for five third-period goals on Wednesday, Bedard's Blackhawks took care of the Flames in a 4-0 win on Friday. Bedard scored a goal while adding three assists, giving him 15 points over his last seven games. On top of that, Bedard has at least four shots in each of his last four games. All of this is to say that Bedard could be making the jump to full-fledged superstar this season. Bedard's advanced stats don't point to quite as much regression as Celebrini's, but it won't be easy for him to keep up his current pace either. Still, the framework for any Bedard trade should be similar to that of Celebrini.  

Tyler Bertuzzi is taking full advantage of playing on Bedard's line. Bertuzzi followed up a hat trick on Wednesday with another two goals on Friday, suddenly looking like a scoring star on the Blackhawks' western road trip. The third man on that unit is Seattle castoff Andre Burakovsky, who picked up a goal and an assist on Friday to give him eight points over his last six games. Both players were afterthoughts in fantasy drafts, but both are also worthy of being added while they are riding the coattails of the young superstar.

The Blackhawks are a fun team to watch, but their inexperience on defense (five regular under-25 defensemen) results in gaping holes that their opponents can exploit. Fortunately, Spencer Knight is demonstrating why the Panthers invested a first-round pick on him back in 2019. Knight followed up a 43-save performance on Wednesday with a 33-save shutout on Friday. Knight was a risky goalie entering the season, but he currently leads the league with 12.41 goals saved above expected and is tied for second with eight quality starts. From what I've seen from the Hawks, I don't think these kinds of stats are sustainable, but Knight could be good enough to steal some wins this season.

Two injuries to report from the Chicago/Calgary game:

Zayne Parekh left with an upper-body injury as a result of a hit from Nick Foligno. Coach Ryan Huska said after the game that Parekh will "miss a little bit of time." Parekh has already played 11 games this season, which means he will burn the first year of his entry-level contract and thus won't likely return to the OHL. Parekh has been a healthy scratch this season, which suggests that Huska doesn't have complete faith in him. But in what is shaping up to be a rebuilding year for Calgary, Parekh might as well play when he's ready to return with the next stage of his development being in the NHL.

Frank Nazar also left Friday's game after taking a hit of his own. Following the game, coach Jeff Blashill said that Nazar is considered day-to-day, so it appears he will avoid a major injury. Nazar hasn't been ruled out for Sunday's game.

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With the NHL committing to participating in the upcoming Winter Olympics, this season's schedule is more condensed than we have seen in previous seasons. One effect of this is more back-to-back games, with 10 teams playing back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday. In fact, this Sunday's schedule features eight games, which is higher than what we usually see that day. A busier-than-normal Sunday means that head-to-head leads after Saturday aren't as safe, making leagues more competitive.

Another effect of the condensed NHL schedule is more injuries. Teams have fewer built-in rest days, which leads to increased likelihood of wear-and-tear-type injuries. With that and reader demand for more updates, you may have noticed that Injury Ward now appears twice a week. On Wednesdays and now Sundays, Logan Clarkson will keep you in the loop on the most recent injury news for the most fantasy-relevant players, as well as how a player's injury could affect other players on the team.

Teams that play both Saturday and Sunday: Anaheim, Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Toronto, Utah, Vancouver

Here are some players you could consider as streaming adds with the potential for more.

Troy Terry

Terry has just climbed above being 50% rostered in Yahoo leagues, so you may have missed your opportunity to roster him. That's a massive jump for him considering he was drafted in just 3% of Yahoo leagues. Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, and Mason McTavish have experienced similar spikes in leagues rostered, which is as a result of the Ducks' sudden scoring prowess (league-leading 4.23 GF/GP). Terry has been in on that surge, picking up 14 points over his last nine games.

If Terry happens to be rostered and you're looking for another Anaheim player, consider Chris Kreider, who has nine goals in nine games, including goals in four consecutive games. Rookie Beckett Sennecke is another option, as he has four points in his last four games and has been on a line with Gauthier and McTavish.

Ben Kindel

In one of my leagues (12 teams), I have a one-round entry draft where players drafted that summer can be added. I traded my pick away, so the first thing I did once the waiver wire opened was add Kindel because he made the Penguins' roster straight out of his draft year. Kindel continues to improve, scoring multiple points in back-to-back games while playing on a scoring line with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust while also assuming top power-play duties. Kindel may get bumped from PP1 once Rickard Rakell returns, but it wouldn't surprise me if he sticks there anyway considering how the Pens are often dealing with injuries. Kindel is also only 3 percent rostered in Yahoo leagues.

On a side note, the Penguins seemed to be a consensus draft lottery finalist entering the season. I don't know if I announced this or simply kept this in my own thoughts, but I had a hard time thinking that a team with Sidney Crosby and other established veterans would be that terrible. I'm not saying they'll be a playoff team, and I certainly wouldn't trade for anyone on that team that's off to a better-than-expected start (go to my X profile to see a crazy bad offer I received involving sell-highs Evgeni Malkin and Justin Brazeau). But maybe they'll end up a little more competitive than you thought.

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Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Bluesky @goodsfantasyhockey.bsky.social