Ramblings: DeSmith Extended; Updates on Samuelsson, Sanderson, and Duchene; Robertson Soars in Penguins Debut – October 1
Michael Clifford
2026-10-01
The fun thing about fantasy hockey, or any fantasy sport, is that it can humble you very quickly. Case in point: last week, I had a Ramblings where I discussed defencemen and goalies I had yet to draft and probably wouldn't draft before the season started. One of them was Edmonton Oilers blue liner Evan Bouchard. It wasn't that I was terribly low on him – he was sixth in my rankings – but that was low enough to ensure I wouldn't get to draft him.
Then, in Edmonton's season opener, Bouchard goes out and scores the first opening-night hat trick for a defenceman in nearly 50 years, adds a pair of assists, totals six shots and three blocks, and is already a week-winning blue liner for anyone in head-to-head leagues. Egg, meet face. Sometimes, it do be like that.
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The Dallas Stars announced they've extended goalie Casey DeSmith extended for two years at $2.5-Million per season. That puts him under contract for the next three seasons, carrying him to his age-38 season. For a guy who never reached the NHL until he was 26 years old and had fewer than 60 career starts by the time he turned 30 years old, he will have gotten a decade in the league. An interesting trajectory.
The Stars don't really have any high-rated goalie prospects banging down the door – Arno Tiefensee split time between the AHL and ECHL last year – so this buys the team a few years to figure out their goaltending depth past Jake Oettinger.
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Some good news from the Buffalo Sabres on defenceman Mattias Samuelsson:
He is one of a handful of Sabres skaters dealing with injury right now, and it was also reported that Samuelsson has a chance to play in Buffalo's season opener in Columbus on Thursday night. Olen Zellweger won't be in the lineup, though, and looks unlikely to return this weekend, either.
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The Detroit Red Wings were running power-play practice on Wednesday and it did not include Dylan Larkin:
Larkin is considered day-to-day for now and there's no commitment to him playing or not playing this weekend. He did eventually get a bit of run on the power play in practice.
This PP setup does make some sense. The team is still trying to trade Larkin and that could happen at any moment. Detroit needs to prepare its current roster to play without Larkin, and that includes the power play. It also gives a lot of fantasy upside to Andrew Copp. Not that he's a burgeoning offensive talent, but he's going to get top-6 and top power-play minutes for the time being. He is also someone who blocks a lot of shots for a forward, so there's some specific multi-cat fantasy value here.
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Here is a look at line combinations, including Matthew Knies, for his first practice with the Columbus Blue Jackets:
This is a chance for Knies to really be a team's top winger and he's being given the role and opportunity to do it. Let's see how it goes.
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A bit of good news from the Pittsburgh Penguins regarding Ben Kindel and Bryan Rust:
A non-contact jersey means they're still a little ways away, but that they're skating at all is a very good sign. We will provide more updates as they become available.
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A sort-of, sort-of-not update on Ottawa Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson:
There was a point in the preseason where the line from Ottawa was that whatever was going on with Sanderson wasn't even an injury, just a precaution. Now, he played basically one period of one preseason game and hasn't practiced for days. Clearly it's more than just a precaution, but we have to wait and see on his availability for this weekend.
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An update on Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene:
The team said it's not related to the concussion issues from last year, so that's the good news. It is a lower-body injury and he was subsequently placed on injured reserve. There will be more updates passed along as they become available but this is not a team that can afford to see some of its top forwards miss time.
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With Ben Kindel and Bryan Rust injured, and Andrei Kuzmenko away from the team for family matters, the Pittsburgh Penguins opened the season in Philadelphia to face a full-strength Flyers team. And the Penguins absolutely brutalized them.
Offseason addition Nick Robertson opened the scoring less than 7:30 into the game and the Penguins piled on six more goals to take a 7-0 win against the Flyers. Robertson would add a second goal (short-handed) in the third period, totaling four shots, two PIMs, and a block. It was Robertson's first two-goal game since April of 2025, and not a bad way to endear himself to a new fanbase.
Evgeni Malkin, Egor Chinakhov, Ville Koivunen, Hendrix Lapierre, and Filip Hallander added the other goals. Hallander added two assists, totaled three shots, and threw in a hit for good measure.
Both Sam Girard and Kaedan Korczak had a pair of assists in the win. Korczak also had three shots, two blocks, and a hit. It was a great first night for him as he also made his Penguins debut.
Goaltender Arturs Silovs stopped all 19 shots he faced for the shutout.
No one on the Flyers side did much, though Owen Tippett did have four shots and six hits in 14:11 of ice time. At least when he's not getting on the scoresheet, he has other ways of contributing.
Dan Vladar was in net for all seven goals, facing 38 shots in total.
It is a quick turnaround for the Flyers, who head to New Jersey to face the Devils in their home opener on Thursday night.
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Colton Sissons and Easton Cowan (PP) both scored in the first period for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they took a 2-1 win at home to the New York Islanders. Cowan also assisted on the Sissons goal, ending the game with three shots and a pair of hits. That gives Cowan three points, four shots, and three hits in two games to start the season.
Emil Heineman scored the lone goal for the Islanders, a short-handed third-period tally. Heineman landed three hits to give himself a solid multi-cat night.
Anthony Stolarz was stellar in net for the Leafs, stopping 26 of 27 shots for the win.
Ilya Sorokin gave up the two goals on 26 shots in the loss. Both teams are now off until Saturday.
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