The Wild West: Hellebuyck gone, Oilers, Kantersov, and More
Lucas Main
2026-10-26
Happy Monday y'all! I hope you had a great week and have all of your Halloween decorations ready to roll!
The prophecy came true and Connor Hellebuyck was dealt out of the Western Conference, being traded to the New Jersey Devils. At this point of the season, the Winnipeg Jets got the best deal they could, which was Dawson Mercer, Nico Daws, Alex Command (12th overall in the 2026 draft), Nick Bjustad, and two draft picks.
The big winner of this trade is any fantasy manager that took Stuart Skinner at the end of drafts because he is now the clear cut starter. Daws will come in and get some work as well, but I believe this is Skinner's net.
As for Mercer, he debuted on a line with Isak Rosen and Adam Lowry. The former Devil is a reliable (he has never missed an NHL game), two-way, middle-six winger who will give you 45 points a season. He does provide good block numbers if your league counts those, but does not do much in other peripheral categories.
Sticking with the Jets, they played in the Heritage Classic yesterday and lost 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens. Outdoor games are always fun events and if you have the chance, you need to go to one. There will be two more outdoor contests this season. The Winter Classic will see the Colorado Avalanche play the Utah Mammoth and the Stadium Series is in Dallas as the Stars host the Vegas Golden Knights. I'm not sure if I'll be a fan of the Stadium Series because it is at AT&T Stadium and they only have a retractable roof so I don't think that should be considered "outdoor" hockey.
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Say what you want about Mike Babcock the person because it seems Mike Babcock the coach was the right person for this job. The Edmonton Oilers are off to one of their best starts in franchise history and Connor McDavid is on pace for 252 points! He currently has 33 points in 11 games and broke Wayne Gretzky's Oiler record of most points in the first 10 games of the year. It took The Great One 34 games to hit the century mark as the quickest ever to 100 points in a season and McDavid is currently on that exact pace. Can he do it? Let me know what you think.
So obviously McDavid is at the top of the league in scoring. In fact, the top five players come from the Western Conference. Leon Draisaitl (23), Evan Bouchard (21), Kirill Kaprizov (21), and Nate MacKinnon (20). It is a little shocking to see Bouchard so high, but we knew he was on a mission this season with the Olympic roster snub and not being nominated for the Norris Trophy last year. Obviously if we can find some residual points from players on these rosters, they would be the easiest ones to say yes to on the waiver wire or in a trade.
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It is never too early to start talking about playoffs because all of these games will go toward the standings and how you finish. A perfect example is currently what we are seeing from the Colorado Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks. Both franchises are in the two wildcard spots with an identical record of 6-5-1 with 13 points. However, if you dig a little deeper, the Avs have all six of their wins in regulation, while the Sharks have only won once in 60 minutes. Macklin Celebrini and the young guns are fun to watch 3-on-3, but not having a 3-2-1 point system in this case could be criminal.
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The Los Angeles Kings went on a mini two game win streak last week and finally every team has at least one win. The Kings did it on the road and I always feel like an early season road trip can help bring a team closer together to sort the little things out. Time will tell if they bring home some of their road luck, but with the Hellebuyck situation figured out and the NY Rangers signing James Reimer, maybe Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg can focus solely on playing in a Kings sweater.
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Roman Kantserov is starting to find his groove with Connor Bedard back in the lineup. It was silly of us to think he wouldn't have some sort of transition period coming straight from the KHL with a short NHL training camp. In five games with Bedard, the Russian winger has three goals, 10 shots on goal, and seven hits.
As always, hit me up on Twitter, @LAM1926, if you have any questions about trades or need some help with lineup decisions. Have a great week!
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It’s interesting to contemplate both McDavid’s and Bouchard’s start-of-the-season historic starts. For Bouchard, his 19 PTS / 10 GP start is second all-time to Coffey’s 20, with Orr being at 18 PTS, twice. The best season from a D man not named Coffey or Orr is McInnis at 103 PTS, with only three others ever getting to 100. With the added benefit of an 84 game schedule (benefit? – what about increased injury risk?), I think Bouchard is a favourite to break McInnis” non-Coffey/Orr record of 103, but certainly not a favourite to break 139. Also, while Bouchard has avoided any substantive game loss to injury over his career, his biggest risk (of not beating McInnis is probably just that – injury risk – this is the NHL after all).
For McDavid, his 31 PTS / 10 GP is actually well below Lemieux’s 37 PTS in 1988, but it is second all time and it does eclipse Gretzky’s best of 30. The Lemieux / Gretzky in their prime era had elevated goal scoring across the league (interestingly, Orr’s record year of 138 PTS happened with league goal scoring very close to today’s rate), although EDM is obviously scoring at well above league average rate. For McDavid, how does his ~24 min TOI average play into injury risk? TOI was not tracked in Gretzky’s prime, but some estimates to put it in a comparable range to McDavid’s current range.
My guesses?
Bouchard, 78 GP, 112 PTS
McDavid 74 GP, 162 PTS