Friday Fantasy Notebook - Oct. 16, 2026

The weekend is coming. Who’s hot, who’s not, and who’s ready to make noise? The Friday Fantasy Notebook recaps the week’s biggest developments and sets the stage for the weekend’s must-watch players, matchups and storylines.

Boston Bruins

That seven-year, $50.4 million contract Fraser Minten signed looks awfully good right now with three goals, two assists, seven shots, nine faceoff wins and 14 penalty minutes in his past two games. The Bruins weren’t getting any scoring from their second line until Marco Sturm promoted Minten to 2C, who has scored all seven of his points this season at even strength.

There’s just no room for Minten on PP1, which will cap his fantasy upside, but at 18 percent rostered in Yahoo leagues there’s still plenty of room on the red-hot bandwagon. I’d be pleasantly surprised if Minten can keep this up, but a 30-30 season with 200-plus shots seems very doable.

Carolina Hurricanes

Nikolaj Ehlers has yet to score a goal this season through eight games and 15 shots, and ranks last on the team with a minus-3 rating even though the Canes’ plus-12 goal differential is the best in the league. He’s once again proving he can be a pretty frustrating player in fantasy, and still playing around 16 minutes per game even though he can be a bona fide top-line forward.

With Taylor Hall’s injury, Ehlers has now moved to Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake’s line, which leads all lines in even-strength minutes per Dobberhockey, and you wonder if this will allow him to snap his drought. He’s spent most of the season with Jordan Staal, who’s also injured, and Jordan Martinook. Because Ehlers doesn’t offer much fantasy value other than scoring, you’re hoping the promotion and potential increase in minutes can spark more offense.

Also, with a favorable schedule coming up with stops in Calgary and Vancouver, consider Bradly Nadeau (LW eligibility, 1% rostered) as a streaming option. The 2023 first-round pick has spent the past two seasons in the minors, scoring 114 points in 116 games, and he will take Ehlers’ old spot on a makeshift third line with Martinook and the red-hot Mark Jankowski (a goal in five straight games) with some PP2.

Edmonton Oilers

On the surface, it was not a good game against the Mammoth for Devon Levi with three goals allowed on 23 shots (.870), snapping Levi and the Oilers’ winning streak. But what chance did Levi have on any of those goals? A partial breakaway on a power play where Barrett Hayton jams in a rebound, another power-play goal off a fortuitous bounce where Logan Cooley sets up a Clayton Keller one-timer with a nifty pass, and then Cooley scoring off a rush where Shakir Mukhamadullin doesn’t even attempt to tie up his stick on a cross-crease pass.

Levi’s rostered in a little over half of Yahoo leagues, and unless Tristan Jarry wins and puts in a really strong performance against the Mammoth in the second half of a back-to-back, I’m still of the mind that Levi’s their goalie going forward until Frederik Andersen is healthy. It’s a tough schedule coming up with the Wild and Canes, but Levi deserves a spot on all fantasy rosters for the potential wins.

New York Rangers

Rough game for Dylan Garand, who allowed four goals on 13 shots and was pulled in the second period. It was definitely his worst game, but it’s not all on him. (J.T. Miller’s brutal turnovers are something you’ll have to live with).

Games like these will happen with any rookie goalie, but you’re hoping this doesn’t snowball. Spencer Martin is clearly not NHL material, which means the Rangers will go back to Garand partly because they have no other choice. The hype will die down a little, but Garand’s still worth rostering in all formats due to his role.

St. Louis Blues

You have to appreciate a good nickname. The Blues’ second line with Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael has now been anointed the ‘McDouble’ line, and with Jonatan Berggren on the other wing, you could even call it the ‘McDouble Bergger’ line. McTavish, in particular, has looked very good, now on a five-game points streak with four goals and three assists.

McTavish’s gaining a ton of traction in Yahoo leagues at 38 percent rostered, and at this pace will blow out all of his career highs out of the water. The Blues had a rough first week but things seem to be turning around. Once Robert Thomas’ line really gets going, I think the Blues will be a very dangerous offensive team.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Victor Hedman scored his first goal of the season last night against the Kraken but you can’t help but wonder if his time is over. It’s been an incredibly drastic drop; 66 points in 79 games in 2024-25 and finished fifth in Norris voting, and then just 17 points in 33 games last season hobbled by injuries and struggles with mental health. The most significant drop is in ice time, where he spent 16 years averaging around 24-25 minutes per game, but dropped to sub-19 last season and just under 14 this season, the lowest among Lightning defensemen.

Darren Raddysh leaving for the Leafs paved the way for Hedman to return to PP1, but the signing of John Carlson kiboshed that notion. Hedman is averaging just 24 seconds of power-play ice time per game, trailing Carlson and Charle-Edouard D’Astous.

Whether the Lightning are bringing back Hedman slowly or not, he’s clearly not very valuable in fantasy right now. He’s rostered in 86 percent of Yahoo leagues but that number is slowly dropping; if Hedman didn’t have the track record he has and the name recognition, he might be on the waiver wire already.

It’s going to be really fascinating to see what Hedman can accomplish this season. We’re half a month into the regular season so there’s still a lot that could happen, but I’d be hesitant to play Hedman due to his relative lack of production in basically all categories. He was a risky pick coming into the season with the trifecta of red flags: aging, declining, and injuries. If you have Hedman on your roster, the best plan is probably to just sit and wait and see if his minutes increase over the coming weeks; if it doesn’t, it may be time to consider cutting bait.

Winnipeg Jets

Josh Morrissey is now week-to-week with a wrist injury, which means Neal Pionk takes over as their No. 1 option. He responded with a three-point game in Chicago and should be one of the better all-round fantasy defensemen in most leagues. He’s also only rostered in 23 percent of Yahoo leagues, so snatch him up quick.

Weekend Games

Saturday

Sabres (4-3-1) at Canadiens (3-3-1), 7 p.m. EDT

Rasmus Dahlin’s status for this game is questionable. If he doesn’t play, Olen Zellweger is once again a strong streaming option. He’s played a ton and registered 15 shots in his past three games in Dahlin’s absence.

Oilers (5-1-1) at Mammoth (6-2-0), 10 p.m. EDT

The rubber match and Tristan Jarry might draw this start. A lot of pressure’s on him to play well because Levi looks like he might be taking over the starting job, if not already. If the Oilers go back to Levi again following a 3-2 loss, that tells you all you need to know about their goaltending situation.

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