Each week, I will take a trip around the league and dig into the numbers to find insights that can help you make better fantasy hockey decisions.
This week, Elias Pettersson looks like a new man in Vancouver, Gavin McKenna is starting to find the mark in Toronto, plus Logan Stankoven, Tomas Hertl, Pierre-Luc Dubois and much more!
#1 After a miserable 2025-2026 season, expectations are suitably low for the Vancouver Canucks in 2026-2027. If there is one big priority for the franchise, it would be to have No. 1 centre Elias Pettersson get his game back on track after a couple of down seasons. In the early going, it appears that Pettersson is a different player. Not only does he have eight points (2 G, 6 A) in five games, but he has delivered 21 hits! Only twice in his career has Pettersson recorded more than a hit per game for a full NHL season and, while this is a small sample, he’s averaging 4.2 hits per game thus far. If that is an indication that Pettersson is more engaged, then maybe he is going to be closer to the franchise centre that he appeared to be in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
#2 The No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, Toronto Maple Leafs left winger Gavin McKenna went three games in a row without a point to start his NHL career. Before the sky could fall any further, however, McKenna started to find his way, and now has three points (1 G, 2 A) in his past two games. He only has eight shots on goal and is averaging a modest 14:30 of ice time per game, so it’s not like the Leafs are putting undue pressure on him to perform, but that also suggests that he has some easy room for growth as he gets more comfortable at this level.
#3 After leading the Carolina Hurricanes with 11 goals during last season’s Stanley Cup run, capping off a season in which he successfully transitioned to playing centre on a full-time basis, Logan Stankoven started the season with one goal in four games before recording a hat trick in Thursday’s 7-2 win over Vancouver. While the hat trick is obviously great, Stankoven also has 14 shots on goal, and his ice time has bumped up from 15:27 per game last season to more than 18 minutes per game this season. An extra two-and-a-half minutes per game raises the bar for what Stankoven might be able to produce offensively.
#4 Vegas Golden Knights centre Tomas Hertl tallied four of his five points in one game, but the underlying numbers are encouraging for the veteran pivot as he has 17 shots on goal and 10 hits in five games, with the Golden Knights controlling 62.1 percent of shot attempts during five-on-five play with Hertl on the ice. He’s currently skating between rookies Trevor Connelly and Raphael Lavoie on Vegas’ third line but also getting first unit power play time.
#5 Following a season in which injuries limited him to just 29 games, Washington Capitals centre Pierre-Luc Dubois has a chance to be one of the biggest bounce-back players in the league (and not for the first time). He has four points (1 G, 3 A) in four games and is skating on the Capitals’ top line between Alex Tuch and Tom Wilson in addition to getting top unit power play time. Dubois has put up at least 60 points four times in his career and that should be a reasonable objective for him this season on a strong Capitals squad, provided that he remains healthy.
#6 Detroit Red Wings centre Dylan Larkin made his season debut earlier this week, putting up a goal and an assist in a win over Ottawa before he was held off the scoresheet in Friday’s loss to Seattle. Larkin fills the first-line centre role for Detroit, skating between Viktor Arvidsson and Lucas Raymond, though he is still not very popular with Red Wings fans thanks to his offseason trade request. With J.T. Compher and Marco Kasper injured, though, Larkin’s return to action didn’t come a moment too soon.
#7 Veteran Vancouver Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek has registered five assists in five games to start the season but there is a possible hidden value that the minute-munching blueliner can offer. Hronek has blocked 19 shots in five games, an astonishing 3.8 per game. He blocked 100 shots last season, the first time he had hit that threshold, but it appears that he could have many opportunities to block shots in Vancouver this season and if he continues anywhere close to his early pace, Hronek’s fantasy value would skyrocket.
#8 Signed by the Colorado Avalanche as a free agent in the summer, left winger Jaden Schwartz has made an immediate impact with his new team, contributing six points (3 G, 3 A) in four games. His 6.45 points per 60 minutes of five-on-five play ranks fourth among players to play at least 40 minutes (behind Evan Bouchard, Nathan Mackinnon, and Parker Kelly). That’s solid production from a winger skating on the third line, a veteran who is capable of moving up the depth chart, if needed.
#9 The Pittsburgh Penguins have some value players available for fantasy managers early in the season. Start with second-line centre Thomas Novak, who has five points (3 G, 2 A) and nine shots on goal through five games while skating between Egor Chinakhov and Evgeni Malkin. Second-year centre Ben Kindel is cooking early, too, with four points (1 G, 3 A) and 12 shots on goal in four games. In a very small sample, Kindel’s ice time per game is up more than a couple of minutes per game compared to last season.
#10 Playing on Detroit’s top line offers more opportunity for winger Viktor Arvidsson, who has four points (3 G, 1 A) and 11 shots on goal in four games but, perhaps more importantly, he is averaging more than 18 minutes of ice time per game, a mark that he has topped just once in his career. Yes, it’s early and he may not maintain that time on ice, but the opportunity is there for Arvidsson to play a first-line role with a spot on Detroit’s top power play unit.
#11 Buffalo Sabres defenceman Owen Power has had a productive start to the season, with five points (1 G, 4 A) in four games, but the more eye-opening stat is that he is playing more than 26 minutes per game. In the two previous seasons, Power had averaged 21:29 of ice time per game, so if he is suddenly going to be eating up those minutes, he will offer even more potential value for fantasy managers.
#12 Seattle Kraken left winger Jared McCann has opened the season impressively, delivering six points (1 G, 5 A) and 15 shots on goal in five games. He’s done this while averaging less than 15 minutes of ice time per game, which is less than he has typically played since joining the Kraken. McCann is skating on Seattle’s top line, with Matty Beniers and Mackie Samoskevich, but is on the second power play unit right now. That may not last, given his productivity.
#13 After what had to be a disappointing summer as an unrestricted free agent, left winger Michael Bunting finally signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. Across the past five seasons, Bunting has averaged 19.6 goals and 47.6 points per season, which is clearly good enough to not only play in the league, but he should be able to help the Flyers in a middle six role once he gets up to speed. Bunting is a solid player who agitates the opposition and can contribute offensively, so it’s hard to figure out why he remained unsigned when the season started.
#14 Vancouver Canucks left winger Paul Cotter had just 15 points (9 G, 6 A) in 79 games for the New Jersey Devils last season but has burst out of the gate to start this season, producing six points (4 G, 2 A) and 17 hits in five games. He only has seven shots on goal, and he will obviously not continue to score on 57 percent of his shots on goal, but Cotter is averaging more than 15 minutes of ice time per game, which is a significant bump from the 10:41 that he averaged last season. With his high hit totals, Cotter could make his way into banger league viability if he can continue to contribute offensively.
#15 Florida Panthers winger Brad Marchand is expected to miss six weeks with a lower-body injury, keeping him out about as long as captain Aleksander Barkov. Veteran centre Lars Eller has moved up Florida’s depth chart in Barkov’s absence to centre a line with Brady Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart. Sandis Vilmanis is sliding into the right-wing spot that belonged to Marchand before his injury. While the Panthers have the bodies to fill these holes, it’s difficult to imagine that the replacements will be able to fully make up for the loss of such high-quality performers.
#16 Montreal Canadiens goaltender Samuel Montembeault suffered an injury in practice and the Habs called up top prospect Jacob Fowler to fill the roster spot. Fowler showed well with Montreal last season and has been excellent in the AHL (including a .945 save percentage in two games this season), but he is also filling the backup role behind Jakub Dobes, which limits his fantasy appeal in the short term. Fowler gives every indication that he will be a future starter between the pipes for Montreal, but it’s not urgent and that’s part of why there is no need to worry that he allowed three goals on 18 shots in his first start for the Canadiens this season.
#17 San Jose Sharks superstar centre Macklin Celebrini is dealing with a lower-body injury and has missed a couple of games, leaving him as a game-time decision for Saturday’s contest against the Edmonton Oilers. With Celebrini out, Will Smith has moved the middle on San Jose’s top line, between Mason Marchment and Igor Chernyshov. The Sharks have a deep pool of young talent available to fill spots in the lineup, but none of them can match the impact of Celebrini, so for San Jose’s sake, they need their captain back as soon as possible.
#18 The Ottawa Senators are dealing with some major injuries early in the season as top defenceman Jake Sanderson and scoring winger William Eklund are both on the shelf. Sanderson only played 4:29 in the season-opener against Toronto before getting hurt. With Sanderson out, young blueliner Carter Yakemchuk has been getting a shot on the top power play unit, recording a power play goal and power play assist in four games. Eklund’s ankle injury is expected to keep him out of the lineup for an extended period of time. When Eklund got hurt, Stephen Halliday and Nick Cousins split time skating on the left wing of Ottawa’s top line, with Tim Stutzle at centre and Drake Batherson on right wing.
#19 As they try to remain competitive while their franchise goaltender stays home awaiting a trade, the Winnipeg Jets lost defenceman Josh Morrissey to an upper-body injury, and they can ill-afford to lose such a valuable defender for any length of time. With Morrissey out, Neal Pionk moves up to quarterback the Jets’ first power play unit while Dylan Samberg moves up the depth chart to pair with Dylan DeMelo at even strength.
#20 Montreal Canadiens sophomore right winger Ivan Demidov will miss 2-4 weeks with a lower-body injury. In the aftermath of Demidov’s injury, the Canadiens have moved Josh Anderson up the depth chart at even strength and Juraj Slafkovsky is on PP1 for Montreal. Losing Demidov costs the Canadiens offensive creativity because while Anderson and Slafkovsky can be effective players in their own ways, they accomplish a lot more through brute force rather than the creativity and finesse that are hallmarks of Demidov’s game.