We now have two regular season games of Connor Bedard's performance. Statistically, there isn't much to discuss yet. He is taking a lot of shots, which is what was anticipated. More than that, though, is his ability to create basically every single shift. For 95% of the league, it is incredibly difficult to look dangerous every time a player steps on the ice; even some point-per-game guys have nights where they would have better served their team in the press box than on the ice.

In what I've seen, what stood out about Bedard was his ability to constantly create. Whether it was digging a puck out and flying the zone, creating a lane for himself on a disadvantageous zone entry, finding soft areas of the defence where he can pounce on a loose puck, or whatever else he needs to do to have that shift be a shaky one for the opposition, he's a menace. A lot of the draft talk was about his shot – and it's beyond impressive what he can do with a puck in a very small space – but his ability to shift in and out of lanes, or get the puck to a teammate in a good area, is surreal for a player that turned 18 years old over the summer.

It isn't that he wasn't expected to excel; all signs clearly point to him being a generational talent. But it's something else to see a player be head-and-shoulders above everyone else at the age of 18 years and 3 months or whatever it is. Even Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid were in the age-19 seasons as rookies. The only thing that'll hold Bedard back from fantasy stardom in the next year or two is the team around him. Other than that, he's been as advertised, and then some.

He scored his first of his career last night against Boston, following up a rebound to wrap the puck around the other side. The speed with which it happened is what is going to be his hallmark for years to come, beyond just having a wicked shot. Boston slowly took over their home opener against a back-to-back Chicago team and skated away with a 3-1 win.

Taylor Hall assisted on the Bedard goal but left the game midway through the second period and did not return. More on his status as the team releases it.

David Pastrnak scored twice, once on the empty net, to get his season off to a roaring start.

Matthew Poitras managed an assist on a Trent Frederic goal, the rookie's first career NHL point.

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Carolina's depth shone through as goals from Jordan Staal, Brady Skjei, and Jaccob Slavin helped lift the Hurricanes to a 5-3 season-opening win at home to Ottawa. Slavin finished with three shots and two blocks in a very good first game. Staal added an assist with three shots and a pair of hits for a stellar night.

It is worth noting that with seven defencemen dressed, no blueliner from the Hurricanes side reached 21 minutes – Brent Burns was at 20:59 and he was the only one to exceed 20 minutes.

Tim Stützle scored his first of the season in the loss, totalling three shots and four penalty minutes.

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Toronto and Montreal had the early high-scoring affair, as the Leafs took a 6-5 shootout win, and the term “shootout” can be used interchangeably for this game. The Habs took a 2-0 lead, with one of those goals being Alex Newhook's first with his new team. A Cole Caufield goal that would have made it 3-0 was disallowed, and then Toronto scored three goals in a 12-minute stretch during the second period to take the 3-2 lead. Montreal replied with three goals to open the third period before a pair of late Auston Matthews goals tied the game, and gave him his first hat trick this season. All that pushed us to a shootout.

This was the game I watched last night and two things stuck out: a few key miscues from Toronto all ended up in their net while Montreal looked both skilled and nervous. It seemed about par for the course for a season-opener between these two teams.

As a Habs fan, it was Juraj Slafkovsky that stood out. It was easily his best game in a Montreal uniform as he looked confident with the puck and making slick passes that seemed to be coming second-nature to him. He had an assist, a shot, and three hits in what was a very good debut to his season.

Though Matthews got the goals, John Klingberg had a good game himself. He had a pair of assists with one of those coming on the man advantage.

Michael Matheson had an assist, two shots, five blocks, and a pair of hits in over 26 minutes of ice time. As long as he stays healthy, he'll be a very good multi-cat fantasy performer.

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To put it bluntly, it was a whole-ass beatdown on Edmonton last night as Vancouver crushed them 8-1 in the season opener in British Columbia. Brock Boeser had a surreal performance with four goals, and both Elias Pettersson and JT Miller chipped in a goal and three assists each. Quinn Hughes had a trio of helpers so everyone on the top PP unit, sans the regression-candidate Andrei Kuzmenko, had huge fantasy nights.

Filip Hronek had a pair of assists in his season debut.

Thatcher Demko left the game with what the team is describing as dehydration as a result of the flu. Hopefully he's back on his feet shortly as he had a great game, saving 21 of 22 shots before exiting in the middle of the third period.

Jack Campbell started for Edmonton and allowed four goals on 16 shots. He was spelled off by Stuart Skinner who also allowed four goals on 16 shots. Mattias Ekholm did not play for the Oilers.

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Calgary took their home opener from Winnipeg by a 5-3 score. Andrew Mangiapane book-ended the game with a pair of goals, one on the power play and one in the empty net, to help fuel the Flames. He added an assist and a couple of penalty minutes in a great fantasy performance.

Elias Lindholm also had a three-point night with a goal and two assists. Jonathan Huberdeau had a pair of helpers, breaking a streak of 18 games without a two-assist performance. MacKenzie Weegar looked like the Florida MacKenzie Weegar as he had a goal, four blocks, and a pair of hits in the win. Jacob Markstrom saved 34 of 37 for his season debut. Calgary's blueline alone blocked 21 Winnipeg shots.

Alex Iafallo scored in his Jets debut with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor adding the others.

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Colorado was the lone road team to win last night, earning a 5-2 victory over Los Angeles. Mikko Rantanen (2+2), Nathan MacKinnon (1+2), and Cale Makar (1+1) all had multi-point games, and all had a power play point among them. Jonathan Drouin assisted MacKinnon's goal and Miles Wood scored the empty-netter.

Quinton Byfield scored one of Los Angeles's two goals, totalling three shots and a block in 16:15 of ice time. The team went 0-5 on the power play and that's not a good start to the season in that regard.

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Washington announced defenceman Joel Edmundson will head to the injured reserve to start the season. The team has a lot of cap maneuvering to do so exactly when he'll be back in the lineup is uncertain, but it's good news in the short term for guys like Rasmus Sandin. It should also assure minutes for Nick Jensen, who has rounded into a pretty good multi-cat blueliner.

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New Jersey announced a contract extension for Lindy Ruff. The Devils have really grown as an offensive force since he's taken over, and the players seem to respond well to him. I am ambivalent about most coaches, but Ruff is a guy who has been great for us fantasy owners over the years, and it looks like that'll continue for a few more.

(I guess the team going to two split PP units isn't a favour to fantasy managers, but it helps the value of guys that would have otherwise been stuck on a lesser-used PP2 unit like Luke Hughes.)

Staying with New Jersey, Erik Haula was on the ice for practice on Wednesday after missing a couple in a row. It isn't a huge deal, fantasy-wise, but with Alex Holtz down on the third line, fantasy players don't want too much depth missing from the roster. The Holtz Fan Club is down real bad right now, though.

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At practice on Wednesday, Casey Mittelstadt was back in the lineup and it looks like rookie Zach Benson is staying on the third line. I will admit that it's a surprise to see the team go that direction after having him alongside Tage Thompson for so much of the preseason, but it may be an indication that Benson will not be staying past the 9-game mark. He was unlikely to, anyway, but this is pushing me in the direction of "he'll be back in junior after Halloween" rather than "he'll Seth Jarvis his way into 60-some games and be in the press box for the rest." Whatever happens, it has been tremendously impressive to see him go from the 13^th overall pick to the roster of a potential playoff team in a matter of months.

Matthew Savoie was also on the ice for practice but was not skating on one of the lines. He might be a guy to take Benson's spot down the road if Savoie needs some time to get up to speed (that's just my guess).

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Kaapo Kakko remained on the top line for the Rangers at their practice.

Over the last couple seasons, the top line has been very good at controlling the play whenever Kakko's been there, they've just had trouble scoring goals – 6.6% shooting at 5-on-5 with him on the top line and 10.2% without. Being able to finish with consistency is something Kakko has been able to do when skating with Filip Chytil, for the most part. If he can bring that finish to the top line, with the way he helps them control the play, it could turn that trio from a good scoring line to a flat-out dominant top line. Time will tell if they can find that scoring chemistry, but he's getting the opportunity to show it again. A lack of peripherals will keep his fantasy value muted, but the production could come around in very short order.

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Roope Hintz was in a regular jersey but not taking rushes with his Dallas team on Wednesday. Hintz has been an injury concern during the preseason, but a regular jersey is a good step forward. He may miss Thursday night's opener – we won't know until Thursday morning – but even if he does, it does not seem as if he'll be long until he returns to the lineup.

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Ilya Mikheyev was at morning skate for the Canucks but did not play their home opener on Wednesday night. That he was taking twirls with the fourth line does seem to indicate he's not very far off, however.

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Despite Ivan Prosvetov being claimed by Colorado, it was Justus Annunen who was the backup for Alexandar Georgiev on Wednesday night. It might just be a case of wanting to get Prosvetov acclimated to the team, but it is a situation worth monitoring for people in deep leagues needing a third (or fourth) goalie.

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Sheng Peng reports that San Jose is continuing to work on a five-forward top power play unit consisting of Mikael Granlund, Mike Hoffman, Anthony Duclair, Alexander Barabanov, and Tomas Hertl. In the offseason, I wondered if Jacob MacDonald might be the guy to take top PP reps until Henry Thrun was called up to stay. It seems as if San Jose has solved the problem of "who is going to be the defenceman to run the top PP unit" by answering "no one".

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With Brett Howden awaiting suspension, Vegas looks to be moving Paul Cotter up to the second line in his place. Considering that's a role next to Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone, there may be some fantasy value here for the former teacher from Brooklyn.  

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Buffalo is continuing to lock up their young defence corps as Mattias Samuelsson was extended one year ago today, Rasmus Dahlin got an eight-year extension a few days ago, and now Owen Power has been locked up for seven more years at $8.35M per season. He has managed 38 points in 87 games while showing great promise at both ends of the ice.

For fantasy owners, this is a tough sell in cap leagues. Power has a grand total of 123 blocks+hits in his 87 career games. That is with 23:39 in TOI each night so it's not as matter of low ice time levels. Anyone in a multi-cat cap format will have a huge decision at the end of the season because not only does he need to pick up the peripherals, he is stuck behind Dahlin for top PP time for… a while. It seems tough to say he'll be worth it in 2024-25 but a few more years of salary-cap growth might make his AAV more palatable down the road.