Injuries haven't been uncommon during the first part of the season, but the New York Rangers were hit with the worst possible injury news on Saturday. According to multiple sources, starting goalie Igor Shesterkin will miss the rest of the regular season with a lower-body injury. Shesterkin left Friday's game against the Washington Capitals, unable to put weight on his right leg after it hit the post when he slid back to cover the right side of the net. 

Shesterkin was on average the fifth goalie drafted in Yahoo leagues (ADP 44), which makes sense because he has been widely regarded as a top-5 goalie for the past few seasons. Since Shesterkin was drafted around the fourth round, this is a difficult blow for fantasy teams that were expecting his consistent volume of games played and higher-than-average probability of quality starts. 

The Rangers are already without backup Joonas Korpisalo for four more weeks, also because of a lower-body injury. That means 24-year-old Dylan Garand is expected to be the Rangers' starter for at least the next few weeks. Garand was placed on waivers to be sent to the AHL before the season, so thank goodness for the Rangers he went unclaimed! Veteran AHL/NHL tweener Spencer Martin will likely be recalled to be Garand's backup. Expect Garand to start today (Sunday) in a home game against the Canucks. Garand is worth targeting in all leagues, especially among those fantasy leaguers rostering Shesterkin. He is unproven as an NHL goalie, but he had some decent AHL numbers last season (20-10-8, 2.73 GAA, .913 SV%). 

Shesterkin should be moved to season-ending IR, which will open a lot of salary-cap space. As a result, the Rangers could target another proven goalie. Connor Hellebuyck is an option, but having two high-ticket goalies that both demand starter minutes could be a difficult situation to manage next season and may not be wise asset management for the Rangers. 

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Questions surround the Philadelphia Flyers, who have now been outshot 216 to 121 on the season. Included in that is just 15 shots for and 32 shots against in a 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. The Flyers are now one of three winless teams along with the Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames. After guiding the Flyers to the second round last season, Rick Tocchet is already on the hot seat. Dan Vladar still hasn't settled in, allowing a total of 15 goals in three games. In his sixth game, Porter Martone finally recorded his first point of the season (a goal) on Saturday. Jamie Drysdale and Noah Cates still have yet to record a point over that span. 

For the Bruins, Fraser Minten led the way with a goal and two assists, which were his first points in five games. After a slow start with no points in his first four games, Casey Mittelstadt now has goals in back-to-back games. 

Jeremy Swayman is off to a great start with wins and quality starts in four of his first five games. 

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In his fourth game of the season, Nico Hischier collected his first points of the season. Hischier's two goals and one assist against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday were all on the power play. Hischier was drafted in 85% of Yahoo leagues but has seen his rostership drop to 77% with the slow start. That's why I don't put much stock into early-season results.

The most notable stat for the Canucks was Jake DeBrusk taking seven shots on goal. DeBrusk also contributed a power-play assist to give him four points in four games.

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Macklin Celebrini returned to the San Jose Sharks' lineup on Saturday, back on a line with Will Smith and Mason Marchment. Although Celebrini scored a goal, the Sharks lost 3-1 at home to the Edmonton Oilers. Celebrini was a game-time decision, so it's understandable if you didn't have time to activate him. 

The season is only about a week and a half old and Vasily Podkolzin already has five goals. Podkolzin, who skated over 20 minutes on Saturday on the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl scoring machine both at even strength and on the power play, has points in all five of his games. He is also averaging over four hits per game. Podkolzin won't continue to score like this with a 29.4 SH%, but I've already listed enough reasons for him to be rostered everywhere. 

A Tristan Jarry shutout against Celebrini and the Sharks probably wasn't on your DFS or props bet list. Yet he was working on one until Celebrini scored with less than 10 minutes to play. Starting for the first time since allowing six goals to the Canucks on opening night, Jarry only had to face 20 shots in earning a win and quality start. 

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In the Wild's 4-1 win over Florida, Kirill Kaprizov recorded a hat trick and added an assist. Kaprizov now has six goals, which ties him for the league goal-scoring lead. 

Meanwhile, Matt Boldy hasn't forgotten how to score. In his fifth game of the season, Boldy recorded his first two points of the season – a goal and an assist. Boldy has averaged over four shots per game this season and scored 42 goals last season, so the goals should eventually go in. 

Following the offseason acquisition of Brady Tkachuk and everyone healing from last season's injuries, the good times have yet to happen in Florida. Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand have been re-injured. Also, the younger Tkachuk brother has no points in five games. Dating back to last season (playoffs included), Tkachuk has no points in his last 10 games. At least he is averaging four hits per game, but you didn't draft him in the early rounds strictly for his hits. 

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Brandon Hagel had a hat trick of his own on Saturday. Like Kaprizov, Hagel scored three goals while adding an assist. Hagel also stuffed the multicategory statsheet with six shots, three hits, and four blocked shots. Hagel has been hot to start the season with eight points over his last four games. 

Jake Guentzel scored the other two goals in the Tampa Bay Lightning's 5-3 win over the New York Islanders.

Victor Hedman is officially on icetime watch. His icetime totals over his first five games: 17:45, 13:34, 16:01, 12:04, and 10:34 on Saturday. Zero power-play time as well. Hedman did record an assist on Saturday, which was his first point of the season. However, he was Tampa's seventh defenseman in this game based on both icetime and shifts (15). Something ain't right. Keep an eye on this situation if Hedman is on your team. 

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After taking an illegal hit to the head from Frank Nazar on Thursday, Bo Horvat was back in the Islanders lineup on Saturday. Horvat recorded an assist, giving him points in all five games he has appeared in this season. For his part, Nazar was suspended two games.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs' top scorers did the most damage in a 6-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche. William Nylander scored two goals and added three assists, while Auston Matthews scored two goals along with two assists. Both Nylander and Matthews recorded both a power-play goal and a power-play assist. Matthews is an early favorite for comeback player of the year with 10 points – all in his last four games. 

With John Tavares out for the birth of his child, Gavin McKenna was elevated to the top power play. McKenna recorded a power-play assist in 15:21 of icetime. McKenna now has points in three consecutive games. 

It wasn't all good news for the Leafs. Chris Tanev left Saturday's game with an upper-body injury. Tanev has just one assist this season, but he has also blocked 14 shots. Tanev appeared in just 11 games last season. Given the way Tanev goes all out defending, I'm surprised he has lasted this long. 

Nathan MacKinnon scored two of the Avalanche's goals, firing eight shots at the Leafs' net. 

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Saturday's Detroit Red Wings/Montreal Canadiens matchup was an example of both goalies earning a shutout, but only one goalie receiving a win. Both Daniil Tarasov and Jacob Fowler kept their opponents without a goal in both regulation and overtime, but Fowler was the only goalie to not be scored on in the shootout. Both goalies also made 30 saves in the 65 minutes of play.

Fowler was recalled on Wednesday after Samuel Montembeault was injured, and he has appeared in back-to-back games for the Habs. Montembeault is expected to be sidelined for 10-14 days, so Fowler should appear in at least another start or two while Montembeault is out. Last season's playoff hero Jakub Dobes has been shaky (3 GP, 4.43 GAA, .857 SV%), which is why Fowler has been summoned into action so quickly. Fowler is worth a short-term add if you need goaltending help. 

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Cutter Gauthier left Saturday's game in Calgary with an upper-body injury. Gauthier logged just 1:56 of icetime before leaving the game. 

Ryan Poehling also left the game after crashing into the net while scoring a goal. 

Aydar Suniev scored his first NHL goal, which was about the only bright spot for the Calgary Flames in this game. The Flames are still winless and have a minus-19 goal differential while being the only team without a point this season. They are certainly on the short list of teams that will be in the mix for the best draft lottery odds. 

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Happy Thanksgiving! (Canadian Thanksgiving, if you're reading this outside of Canada)

Data was taken from Frozen Tools unless otherwise noted.

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