The Rangers have signed Alexis Lafreniere to a seven-year, $52.15 million contract extension, which works out to a $7.45 million cap hit. That's a significant raise from the $2.325 million cap hit that Lafreniere has on the final year of his contract, so cap league teams will need to budget for that next season.

Lafreniere has shown gradual improvements in production since debuting in the NHL in 2020-21, reaching a point-per-game pace this season (7 PTS in 7 GP). A move to a line with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck seems to be working, which means that Lafreniere should be rostered in nearly every fantasy league.

Getting Lafreniere signed to what might turn out to be a decent cap hit is a good piece of business to get out of the way for the Rangers. Although the cap ceiling is expected to rise, the Rangers will need to make room for a sizable raise for Igor Shesterkin, who will be a UFA if he is not re-signed by the start of free agency.  

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Linus Ullmark returned to the Senators' lineup on Friday, but he was lit up for five goals on 27 shots as the Golden Knights took a 6-4 win against Ottawa. Ullmark started the season with a win and quality start. However, he has had really bad starts in his last two games, with a gap in between them due to injury, which is described as a strain.

Ivan Barbashev scored a pair of goals for Vegas. Barbashev continues his hot start to the season with seven goals and 11 points over his first eight games. Barbashev is currently shooting at a very unsustainable 43.8% (!), but he is averaging two shots per game for the first time in his career. Although he is not on the top power play, Barbashev is taking advantage of even-strength minutes with Mark Stone and Jack Eichel. He has potential for a career year of over 60 points if he can stay on this line all season, but he won't continue to score at this pace.

Alex Pietrangelo had three assists with a plus-4, giving him six assists over the past two games and nine assists in eight games this season. He has yet to score a goal, though.

Adam Gaudette led the Senators with two goals. Gaudette scored 44 goals in 67 games in the AHL last season, so at age 28 he is trying to make a case to stay in the NHL all season.

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Bo Horvat scored the overtime winner in the Islanders' 4-3 win over New Jersey. Horvat is off to a lukewarm start to the season with three goals and an assist in seven games.

Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson also both scored goals, and they each added an assist.

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Gustav Nyquist scored a shorthanded goal and added an assist in the Predators' 3-2 win over Chicago. After being held without a point in his first four games, Nyquist now has four points over his last three games. The Predators also have back-to-back wins after starting the season 0-5.

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Joel Blomqvist deserved a better fate. Tasked with facing the high-powered offense in Edmonton, Blomqvist faced 50 shots, allowing just four to go in for a quality start. The rookie goalie did not allow a goal until over midway through the second period, when the Oilers were beginning to wonder whether they would be goalied in this one. At one point in the second period, the shots were 32-8 for Edmonton. Puneet will have more on Blomqvist in this week’s Journey, which will drop later today.

One would have to assume Alex Nedeljkovic will start tonight (Saturday) in Vancouver, as Tristan Jarry is back in Pittsburgh working with the goaltending coach.  

Jarry's expected SV% this season is .832, toughest environment of any goalie in NHL so far, 55 points below League average and 40 points worse than other Penguins goalies … Pitt is 32nd in high% chances against 5-on-5, 29th off rush and 32nd in-zone, all per @csahockey https://t.co/ljlRuTa3au

— Kevin Woodley (@KevinisInGoal) October 24, 2024

This is interesting about Jarry. We can all agree that he is droppable in most fantasy leagues, but the Penguins' defensive environment is not doing him any favors. Unless the Penguins can improve drastically in this area, any Penguins goalie seems risky.

Viktor Arvidsson had an impressive game, assisting on three goals. Those were his first three assists, for those who have been waiting on him. Arvidsson was on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin, who also recorded his first assist of the season while taking four shots. This line seemed to click, so expect it to stay together at least for the short term.

Playing in the top 6 is a golden opportunity for Podkolzin, who the Canucks didn't have room for and traded to Edmonton for a fourth-round pick so they wouldn't lose him on waivers for nothing. Podkolzin is averaging over two hits per game, but he will need to prove he can score more consistently in order to stay on a line with Draisaitl. If he can, then he might be worth a look in bangers leagues. He is only 23 years of age, so there's still time.  

Zach Hyman registered an assist and took six shots on goal, but he is still without a goal in eight games. Although another 50-goal season didn't seem likely, the lack of goals is well below expectations for those who drafted him high (ADP 22.5 in Yahoo, 28.4 in Fantrax). Hyman is at least averaging 4.5 SOG/GP over his last four games, so it'll be a matter of time before the pucks go in for him. This could even be a buy-low opportunity if the Hyman owner in your league is getting impatient.

Zach Hyman presses but is yet to bury his first of the season 🤏

📺: SN1, Sportsnet+ pic.twitter.com/mQpJ1q7gNJ

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 26, 2024

Stuart Skinner stopped all 27 shots he faced to pick up his first shutout of the season. Because of the Oilers' early-season struggles, the win is only Skinner's second of the season. He had allowed a minimum of three goals in each of his previous five games. He probably won't win the GAA or SV% title, but he'll pick up enough wins to make him worth starting most of the time.    

The Penguins/Oilers game was also a matchup of two possible captains for Canada at the Four Nations Tournament. Here's how Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid have fared head-to-head (stats prior to Friday's game).

Tonight marks the 14th all-time matchup between Sidney Crosby & Connor McDavid #LetsGoPens#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/eiVpCIIzOH

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) October 25, 2024

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To help you with your weekend push to win your head-to-head matchup, let's look at some possible streamers.

Teams that play both Saturday and Sunday: Anaheim, Detroit, Montreal, Philadelphia. To get the most mileage out of your potential pickups, I'll focus on players from these teams.

Trevor Zegras is just 15 percent rostered in Yahoo leagues. He also has just a goal and an assist in six games this season. It seems like Zegras could score more over the past two seasons, considering that he was a 60+ point scorer over his first two full seasons. If you don't like Zegras, the Ducks have plenty of high-upside players to choose from, including Troy Terry, Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, and Cutter Gauthier.

It's the same thing if you're looking for Ducks defensemen, with Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, Cam Fowler, and Jackson LaCombe quite possibly all available. Don't ask me which of these d-men will play on the top power play, though. One of them – possibly Zellweger – is even at risk of being healthy scratched. With low percentages of ownership in Yahoo, Anaheim players should be readily available when you need to stream.

The Red Wing that both makes the most sense and is possibly available is Vladimir Tarasenko. He is off to a lukewarm start with the Wings with three points in six games. At this point in his career, Tarasenko is a middle-six, second power play winger who averages under 15 minutes per game. That's not something to be overly excited about, but he could get the job done when you need him.

With Juraj Slafkovsky out of the lineup for a week, Kirby Dach has been elevated to the top line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. Dach has also been on the top power play all season. Unfortunately, that deployment hasn't translated to results on the scoresheet. Dach picked up a power-play assist on Tuesday, which was just his second point in seven games this season. The fact that he had four shots in the game and logged over 18 minutes in icetime could be a positive sign, though.

The Flyers are similar to the Ducks in that you have a few half-decent options to choose from, even if it seems like John Tortorella pumps the brakes on the young scorers. You might get something out of Morgan Frost, who has been on the top power play all season. Even though Frost was held without a point and was a minus-4 on Wednesday, he still fired seven shots and logged 19 minutes. Recently healthy scratched Tyson Foerster and Joel Farabee might be worth taking a flier on as well. Scott Laughton or Garnet Hathaway should be available if you need help with hits.

In net, Alex Lyon is confirmed to start against Buffalo. He is coming off a shutout against the Islanders on Tuesday and has given the Red Wings the goaltending that they desperately need (4 GP, 1.46 GAA, .955 SV%). He is rostered in only 25 percent of Yahoo leagues, so he is worth a look. For more starting goalie information, head over to GoaliePost.

Next week's schedule is much more spread out and off-night friendly than this week's schedule was with Tuesday's Frozen Frenzy and another stacked Saturday, so you won't be forced into as many tough start/bench decisions. For more on the coming schedule, see this week's Looking Ahead, or head over to Frozen Tools to use the Schedule Planner.  

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