The big news from Thursday was that Ottawa forward Shane Pinto will be suspended for half the regular season – 41 games – for a violation related to gambling but unrelated to gambling on the NHL. We will have to see what happens over the next few days (he said he's not appealing but I'll wait out the weekend to make sure). It is clearly a huge deal for a team that is looking to get back to the postseason but started the year 3-3 (heading into Thursday night's game).

One note from this is that it was assumed a player has to be under NHL contract to serve a suspension, and Pinto obviously doesn't have one, but Elliotte Friedman confirmed that's not the case. He would have had to sign his qualifying offer, which was under $900K. Instead, he's just sitting out his suspension without a contract (for now). Game 42 for Ottawa is late January, so it'll be a few months before Pinto is back in a Senators uniform.

Fantasy-wise, it may mean a regular role with good offensive wingers for Ridly Greig. He went into last night's game averaging over 15 minutes a night with five points and 13 shots in six games. He is a guy that lays the body – 42 hits in 26 career games – so there may be some medium-term fantasy value in banger leagues here.

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A quick update on Montreal blueliner Kaiden Guhle:

Kaiden Guhle should be back this week. It will be interesting to see he'll be back tonight. Morning skate should give us a good idea.

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) October 26, 2023

He did not end up playing on Thursday night but is nearing a return in the couple games after that.

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I missed this on Wednesday night, but the Sharks announced winger Alexander Barabanov will be out for a while:

SOURCE: Barabanov has a broken finger https://t.co/yBtt1lFxgp

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 25, 2023

Not that Barabanov, or Sharks skaters in general, are targets for fantasy but it may give opportunities to other players to skate top minutes with Tomas Hertl. It was Kevin Labanc getting the first crack in Thursday's game against Tampa Bay, though that's likely a situation that often changes over the next several weeks.

The team also said that Mikael Granlund is week-to-week again due to injury. He has appeared in just one game in his first year with the Sharks. It certainly gives the younger players more of an opportunity but, again, there's really not a lot to play alongside of here.

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New Jersey said that prospect defenceman is back in practice in the AHL, in a contact jersey. He had taken a bad hit a couple weeks ago and there was a lot of concern. That he’s back in a normal jersey a dozen-or-so days later is very good news. Not that he’s on the cusp of heading back to the NHL, but it at least makes it a possibility.

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We got a clarification on Jared Spurgeon heading to the long-term injury reserve:

Not a setback, they say. They just know he won't be ready by the first home game of the next homestand, so with Gaudreau hurt, LTIR is the only way to call up Khaira https://t.co/iHzIsA453K

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 26, 2023

Mr. Russo would later tweet that both Spurgeon and Matt Boldy are expected to start practicing next week so (and this is just me guessing) hopefully they can both be back relatively soon. The team desperately needs them.

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Some good news for Panthers center Sam Bennett:

Sam Bennett is back at practice for the Florida Panthers. pic.twitter.com/f1zCFzdFjW

— Colby Guy (@ColbyDGuy) October 26, 2023

Bennett has not played yet this year and Eetu Luostarainen has been skating in his spot on the second line. What his exact timeline is remains to be seen (coach Paul Maurice left the door open to a weekend return) but it's not confirmed. but practicing with the team is a very good start. After Saturday's game against Seattle, the next 10 games include a California road trip, and games against Detroit, Chicago twice, and Washington. That is not a bad schedule to get Bennett back on fantasy rosters, though we have to wait for him to actually return. Regardless, good news for the Panthers and fantasy owners alike.

And a quick update on Aleksander Barkov:

Sasha Barkov is not at practice for the Florida Panthers.

He missed Tuesday's game with an illness.

— Colby Guy (@ColbyDGuy) October 26, 2023

This is not a team that can afford to be missing both Barkov and Bennett for an extended period of any sort, so that Barkov will be back this weekend for that game versus Seattle is good news for him and fantasy owners.

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There was still no Devon Levi at practice for the Sabres. After a tough start to the season, he's starting to battle some injuries and that's never a good sign. Buffalo has been playing better, too, so even if Levi returns in a week or two, he may not get back his starting gig. To be determined.

They had the night off on Thursday but it's worth noting that the Sabres have looked much better with their recent line combinations than they did through the first few games of the year. The loss to Montreal sticks out, but sometimes players just can't finish. They had a great game against the Islanders and the top two lines played very well against Ottawa. It may not necessarily lead to fantasy performances that mirror last year, but the team isn't concerned with that.

We are concerned with that, though. It might not be a great fantasy result for Tage Thompson to be skating his 5-on-5 time with Jordan Greenway, even if it's great for the team in real life. This is something Dobber (and a few others at this site) discussed in the offseason and the team is sticking with that new configuration for now.

Buffalo's next 10 games include tonight's tilt in New Jersey, being at home to Colorado, games in Toronto and Carolina, as well as a home matchup against Boston. We are going to have a very good idea of how good this team really is over the next three weeks.

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Adam Ruzicka did not play Thursday night for the Flames. He had been off to a nice start with four points in seven games, and the team desperately needs players like him and Matt Coronato to be impact players if they want to find real success. I suppose, success as long as their goalies improve somewhat, which remains to be seen.

Anyone seen Dustin Wolf? Does his family have a generations-long blood feud with Calgary management? What, exactly, is going on here?

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This is à propos nothing, but St. Louis went into Thursday night's game against Calgary ranked dead last in the league with 45.3 shot attempts generated per 60 minutes. For a reference on how bad that is, Nathan MacKinnon went into Thursday night averaging 31.1 shot attempts per 60 minutes. In other words, MacKinnon is generating two-thirds the shot rate of what the St. Louis Blues are generating as an entire team.

Looking back to 2007, teams have been worse (shout out to those mid-2010s Devils and Sabres teams), but no one has been below the Blues' mark of 45.3 attempts/60 minutes since the 2015-16 Devils. There is obviously a lot of hockey left and there is enough talent on the team to be a lot better than that, but it's something that made me chuckle. At least Jordan Kyrou – over 20 attempts/60 minutes by himself – is still shooting the puck or things would be much, much worse.

To that end, Jakub Vrana was a healthy scratch for the Blues on Thursday night. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes for the team, but here's what I do know:

• The team is dead last in the NHL by shot attempt share at 5v5. Yes, worse than San Jose, Chicago, and Washington. Much worse, in fact. With Oskar Sunqvist on the ice, the team is generating fewer shot attempts per minute than Nathan MacKinnon is generating for Colorado by himself.
• The team has one forward that has at least one goal and two primary assists at 5-on-5. He was scratched on Thursday night.
• The team has scored eight goals at 5-on-5 (heading into Thursday), and they scratched the guy that has factored into 37.5% of them.
• There is the only forward on the roster to have a goal differential of plus-2 or better at 5-on-5, and I’ll let the readers guess which one. Brayden Schenn and Kasperi Kapanen are both minus-2 on the second line.

Whatever is going on behind the scenes, the on-ice results with Vrana have been better than any forward on the roster. I wish I could say this is surprising but the NHL has run out of ways to surprise me.

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San Jose was, in a word, thwomped by Tampa Bay 6-0 on Thursday night. Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist, Brandon Hagel, Nick Paul, and Brayden Point all scored, while both Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev had a pair of assists. No one really had a monster fantasy night, though Jonas Johansson did save all 23 shots he faced for his second shutout in as many games. It is going to be a long year in San Jose.

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Winnipeg found a way to slow down Detroit and skated out of Michigan with a 4-1 win. Connor Hellebuyck was tremendous, saving 35 of 36 shots he faced. After a poor start, he has strung together three straight good-to-great games, which is great news for the team, fans, and fantasy owners alike.

Nino Niederreiter and Mason Appleton both had a goal and an assist, with the former adding four blocked shots and totaling three shots on target. Nikolaj Ehlers also scored, so both Ehlers and Niederreiter tallied their first goals of the season last night.

Kyle Connor scored his fifth goal of the season to maintain his point-per-game pace. Connor didn't hit his fifth goal until Game 15 last year, so he's off to a much better start in 2023-24.

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A pair of goals from Reilly Smith was all Pittsburgh needed to top Colorado 4-0. Tristan Jarry saved all 31 shots he faced in what was probably Pittsburgh's best game of the season. If that is a measuring stick game, one team fared much better than the other. Sidney Crosby also scored as he has four goals, seven points, and 25 shots in seven games to start the year.

Nathan Mackinnon registered five shots on goal and now has 43 shots in seven games, or over six per game. That is absolutely bonkers stuff.

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Montreal fought back from a 3-1 deficit to top Columbus 4-3 in overtime. Cole Caufield scored the overtime winner while both Sean Monahan and Mike Matheson scored on the power play. Matheson had a goal and an assist, two shots, five blocks, and a hit in 28 minutes of ice time. His superb start to the season persists.

Nick Suzuki scored the other goal and added two assists. He is now up to six points after a bit of a dry spell his five previous games. More like this from him and Caufield is what the Habs want to see.

Emil Bemstrom had a pair of power play goals while Jack Roslovic (1+2) had a three-point night on his first night back on the top line.

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Carolina fought back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 overtime win at home to Seattle. Martin Necas played the hero, his fifth goal of the year, second goal and third point of the night. Necas now has nine points in eight games on the year. He also had six total shots and a pair of hits in this one in a balanced fantasy effort.

Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and an assist in the loss. He is now a point-per-game played with seven in seven games.

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David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist on nine shots but Boston fell 4-3 to Anaheim in an overtime game of their own. Mason McTavish's third goal of the year lifted his team to victory while Leo Carlsson had a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup. Troy Terry had the same for his second multi-point game in his last five.

Pavel Mintyukov had an assist, two shots, two blocks, and three hits in the win. Charlie McAvoy had three assists, one shot, and four blocks in the loss.

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Erik Brannstrom took a hit from Cal Clutterbuck in Thursday night's game against the New York Islanders, and bad things happened. It was a clean hit along the boards but Brannstrom looked to hit his head on the ice when he fell. He looked in very bad shape initially and players were hollering for a stretcher, which eventually took him off the ice. Updates when we get them but it was a scary moment.

The Islanders took a 3-2 win over the Senators. Bo Horvat had a goal and an assist, as did Noah Dobson, who added five shots, three blocks, four PIMs, and a hit. Dobson's tremendous start continues as he has two goals, seven points (three on the PP), 18 shots, 23 blocks, and four hits in six games. Of course, the concern is Brannstrom, who was alert and moving his extremities after being stretchered off the ice.

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Philadelphia laid the wood to Minnesota, taking a 6-2 win over the Wild. This was a tale of two starts for two teams trending in opposite directions – Minnesota looks unable to slow anybody down while Philadelphia's balanced four-line approach is reminiscent of Seattle last year.

Bobby Brink had a pair of goals while both Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist each. Konecny now has six goals and nine points in seven games, averaging well over three shots per game.

Travis Sanheim was finally rewarded for his tremendous play with a three-point night (1+2) while adding two shots and two blocks.

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Both Joel Hofer (27 saves) and Jonathan Quick (29 saves) had road shutouts in Alberta on Thursday night, blanking Calgary and Edmonton, respectively. As bad as St. Louis has looked this year, Calgary hasn't been much better, and the Blues' goaltending tandem has been superb.

Adam Fox and Braden Schneider both had a goal and an assist on New York's blueline. Fox has started the year with eight points in seven games, but has just nine shots, seven blocks, and three hits. Once the points dry up a bit, it might be tough sledding for fantasy owners in multi-cat leagues.

The duo of Alexis Lafrenière (goal) and Artemi Panarin (two assists) continued their good respective starts to their season.

Speaking of Sundqvist earlier, he had a goal, an assist, and four shots in St. Louis's win. Scott Perunovich played his first game of the year and finished with under 10 minutes of ice time.