While there is no official word of Chicago defenceman Bowen Byram returning to the lineup imminently for the Blackhawks, he took part in an optional practice on Wednesday and is joining the team for their quick two-game road trip in Detroit and Boston. It seems as if there's a chance he's back for a game before the end of the week, but we're waiting for confirmation from the team.

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The St. Louis Blues had some new line combinations at their practice on Wednesday following their 46-shot shutout loss on Tuesday night:

#stlblues top-three lines today:

Neighbours-Thomas-Snuggerud
Buchnevich-McTavish-Berggren
Holloway-Dvorsky-McMichael

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) October 28, 2026

That sound you heard was 1000 Dylan Holloway fantasy managers falling to their knees in either prayer, agony, or both.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have listed winger Kirill Marchenko as week-to-week:

Injury updates from the #Leafs:
Marchenko — lower body, week-to-week
Joshua — recalled from conditioning loan
Blankenburg — upper body, week-to-week
Tanev — upper body, day-to-day
Tavares — lower body, week-to-week
Rifai — lower body, week-to-week

— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) October 28, 2026

That kind of designation is never a good sign, so hopefully this is on the short end and 'week-to-week' doesn't turn into 'month-to-month'.

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Washington Capitals goalie Logan Thompson was back in net on Wednesday night for his first start in over a week as the Caps defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2. Thompson wasn't terribly busy but stopped 23 of 25 shots for his fifth win of the year.

Alex Tuch scored twice on five shots, adding a hit along the way, in the win. He is up to nine goals and 11 points in 11 games, posting nearly 3.0 shots per game and over a hit per appearance.

Jordan Kyrou also scored twice (one on the PP) while Aliaksei Protas scored his first of the year. Jack St. Ivany made his Caps debut and had two assists, a shot, and two blocks in 14:44 of ice time.

Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers. Michkov is also up to nine goals on the year, but he's shooting 43%, so, you know…

Joseph Woll took the loss, giving up four goals on 29 shots.

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Th Edmonton Oilers welcomed back Jason Dickinson to the lineup on Wednesday, but they did lose Zach Hyman:

Zach Hyman is on IR with a sore neck according to Mike Babcock. #Oilers

— Derek Van Diest (@DerekVanDiest) October 28, 2026

Dickinson slotted on what would be the third line with Mathieu Joseph and Alex Formenton.

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In Tuesday's Ramblings, I went over three forwards fantasy managers should consider buying low, naming Sidney Crosby, Adam Fantilli, and Tyson Foerster. Not for nothing, but on Tuesday night, Fantilli and Foerster combined for one goal, two assists, five shots, three blocks, and three hits.

Today, we'll be going in the other direction and covering players to sell high on. We will again be using Individual Points Percentage (IPP), which is how often a player registers a point when their team scores a goal with them on the ice. For a frame of reference, of 246 forwards with at least 1000 minutes played last season, none had an IPP over 85%, just seven forwards were over 80%, and just 15 of them were over 75%. That is a good barometer for being too high.

We will add on-ice shooting percentage, which is a team's shooting percentage with a player on the ice. Again, from last season, no forward exceeded 17% and just 15 of them were over 15%. That is another barometer to consider.

All data from Natural Stat Trick or Frozen Tools and current as of Wednesday, October 28^th.

Leo Carlsson (Anaheim Ducks)

It is always hard selling high on a young player because it's a fine line between overheating or improving skills. It can be both, and though Carlsson is off to a great start with 15 points in 12 games, both his IPP and on-ice shooting percentage indicate a player who is overheating quite a bit:

If Carlsson had a 70% IPP, which would be in line with his prior two seasons, and the team was shooting 11% with him on the ice, which would also be in line with the prior two years, Carlsson would be sitting with 8-9 points rather than 15. If we give him a 75% IPP – which would be among the highest in the league by the end of the year – and a 15% on-ice shooting percentage – which would also being among the league leaders in April – then he would have around 12 points. In other words, even if he had very efficient point-producing numbers, he is still outstripping the expected production by about 25%.

As things stand, Carlsson is on pace to reach/surpass the 100-point plateau. Unless the team dramatically improves its shot volume with him on the ice, he won't reach the 100-point plateau. Fantasy managers should expect no more than 90 points, which means expecting no more than a point-per-game player from here on out.  

Anaheim's next nine games include Calgary (x2), Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and Nashville. Maybe he can keep this magic going for a few weeks, but he won't produce at this level much longer, and it doesn't give a lot of time to trade him as a potential top-50 fantasy forward.

Alexis Lafreniere (New York Rangers)

Fantasy performance often includes a 'many things are true at the same time' statement. That is the case with Lafrenière as a few things are true at once:

1. His new usage, and in particular a regular top PP role, has him set up to have the best season of his career.
2. At 25 years old, he's in the thick of his production prime, and that's another checkmark in favour of having a career year.
3. He is on pace to post 96 points and that is far too high.

Here are his IPP and On-Ice Shooting% rates this year compared to the last two years:

Because he is new to having a regular top PP role, we have to break down that part of it.

So far this season, Lafrenière has a point on 83.3% of New York's PP goals with him on the ice. Last year, there 97 forwards with at least 200 minutes of PPTOI, just two of them reached an 80% IPP (Connor McDavid and Nick Suzuki), and just eight of them surpassed 75%. He is probably averaging  at least 1 PP point too many, which works out to about six fewer PP points than his pace from here on out. His full-season pace is already down from 96 points to 90, all from the power play, which is a double-whammy for multi-cat formats.

The other issue is where the rest of the production comes from. He has 11 even-strength points, and six of them are at 5-on-5, 4-on-4, or 3-on-3. That means 5/11 of his EV points have come with the empty net, or over 45% of his EV points. For reference, last year, Connor McDavid got 21% of his EV points with the empty net. The question is: Can Lafrenière be twice as productive with the empty net as Connor McDavid? If the answer is no (it's no), then he's also far over-producing there as well.

Lafrenière's start has given me a solid start to my fantasy season, and for that I am thankful. I also realize that expecting him to be a 90-point-pace player from here on out is far too high. If he can be an 80-point-pace player from here on out, that's a great year. If he can be traded as a top-50 skater, I would be very tempted to do that.

Steven Stamkos (Nashville Predators)

We will quickly touch on our last player here, who is off to a great start with 15 points in 12 games:

Each of Stamkos' last four seasons have seen his IPP finish between 60% and 70%. It is probably giving him a couple extra points so far this season. Each of Stamkos' last four seasons have seen his team shooting between 10-14.5% with him on the ice. That is also giving him an extra 3-4 points so far this season. Put it all together and his point production is about 40% higher than where it should be. Fantasy managers should not expect more than 60 points from him over the rest of the season. If that is too low for your taste, now would be the time to trade him.