October is often called the best sports month on the calendar. You've got NFL in midseason form, MLB playoffs, NHL and NBA openers, North American soccer playoffs and college sports (mainly football) as far as the eye can see. Regardless of where your favorite team or sport is, you've likely got something to root for.
October Sports Spectacle: A Month of Thrilling Action
Out in Seattle, it's been a particularly special October. The Mariners are on the best playoff run in franchise history. The Seahawks look good, the Sounders are playoff bound and the Kraken have yet to lose in regulation. Obviously, the Mariners are getting the headlines here. I've had a lot of my non-sports-inclined friends reach out and be curious about what makes this so special. They're tuning in and paying attention when they never had before.
One of the biggest questions I've gotten is about how nervous I get, as a fan, watching the Mariners. My answer is simple: I've watched enough losing games for my favorite teams in all sports that I don't get nervous until the season is on the line. Sports are supposed to be fun to watch and to play -- don't ruin it with wild swings of emotions. Savor the wins and forget the losses. I'll get a little frustrated with a blown lead here or there, but for the most part, I don't get truly disappointed until the season comes to an end. Unless of course it ends with a trophy in hand.
Fantasy Hockey Strategy: Early Season Tips and Tricks
This approach also makes fantasy that much easier. The NHL season is all of two weeks old. Am I concerned about some players' or teams' performances so far? Absolutely. It's far enough along that a few bad games in a row can be concerning. Ultimately, this is still the early part of the season. We don't have enough data to know all that much. Some teams have just played hard schedules. Others are off on the wrong foot. Injuries are abundant around the league. Most unexpected things have a logical explanation behind them.
Take the Panthers for example. They're down a perennial Selke candidate, a star winger and a key part of their defense for months. Matthew Tkachuk (groin) is the closest of the three to returning. You don't like to see the defending champions start 3-4-0, but they're facing adversity. A couple more long-term injuries could torpedo their whole title defense.
On the flip side, the Penguins have two teenagers in the lineup and a rookie head coach and have started 4-2-0. Evgeni Malkin has found immediate chemistry with Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau. Will it last all season? Probably not, but time will tell. The thing with the Panthers and Penguins is that they're still just two points apart in the standings. That's a lot at the end of the season, but it means next to nothing this early on.
If you've got a struggling star player -- say, an Elias Pettersson or a Matvei Michkov -- you don't want to make a hasty move. They're two different cases, of course. Pettersson's a veteran who had a down year and has started with three points in six games and didn't score his first goal until Sunday. Michkov was supposed to be free to create sans John Tortorella, but he's finding himself on the bench at times with new head coach Rick Tocchet. These are just two examples, but consider the talent. Pettersson's a player with a 60-point floor, and Michkov's creativity and youth can be a double-edged sword at times. I went in heavy on both of them this year. I'm not pulling the ripcord on either this month. Pettersson offers enough non-scoring help to stick around, and I'm not yet willing to put Michkov in the Patrik Laine bin yet.
Overall, this is the time of year to figure things out. See what works and what doesn't. Nobody drafts a perfect roster, and certainly not multiple perfect rosters. I don't make a ton of moves, outside of injury replacements, in the first month. It's a long season -- we've all got plenty of time to make up any ground we lose early on. But the one thing I won't do at any time of the year is worry. You win some, you lose some. Never get too high or too low from a game or a matchup.
Fantasy Hockey Waiver Wire: Top Picks for October
Looking to the waiver wire, it's an excellent time to try to cash in on some hot starts while reshaping your depth. The goal here is generally to look at players that are under-rostered -- below 50 percent in Yahoo formats, but with leniency for those in the 50-75 percent range that should be higher.
Bo Horvat is one of those players, with availability in just 37 percent of leagues as of Sunday afternoon. His Thursday hat trick should have opened some eyes -- he had a power-play tally and a shorthanded goal among the three. He added another goal in a win over the Senators on Saturday. So far, he's got six points, 25 shots and a plus-5 rating through five games. He's not even missing Mathew Barzal's creative playmaking, as they've started the year on separate lines. Horvat's usually good for about three shots per game, so expect the volume to come down over time, but I've always got time to listen on 60-point centers.
Artturi Lehkonen is a little less available (67 percent rostered), but that should be in the upper 80s. Playing with a top-three player is basically automatic success in fantasy. He's doing so as the left wing for Nathan MacKinnon at even strength, though Victor Olofsson looks to have taken Lehkonen's spot on the first power-play unit. Still, with seven points, 14 shots and a plus-9 rating over six games, there's plenty to like from Lehkonen so far. One footnote: he's decreased his physical play in recent years -- that's often part of the adjustment from middle-six defensive forward to top-six regular, especially for a player with a lengthy injury history. However, in this case, Lehkonen's scoring more than makes up for fewer hits.
If you need that extra physicality, Nikita Zadorov is off to a positive start. He has just two points through six games this season, but he's added 34 hits, 16 blocked shots and a plus-4 rating. He got a boost in ice time while Hampus Lindholm nursed a lower-body injury, but it doesn't look like Zadorov will lose too much with the Bruins back at full health. Zadorov do much better than 20-25 points for a full season, but his playing style is a perfect fit for a workmanlike Bruins squad -- all grit and no shine. He'll be stronger for hits and PIM than blocks, but it's the ice time that will keep him in the fantasy conversation, allowing him to rack up more of everything.
The Senators have been a defensive mess to begin the year, but their offense is right there with the best teams. Two centers are still available in about half of fantasy formats -- Shane Pinto is at 51 percent rostered, while Dylan Cozens clocks in at 46 percent. If you want to start with pure scoring, Pinto is your guy. Seven goals and an assist through six games will grab attention, though he's shooting 33.3 percent so far. He had 37 points in 70 regular-season games last year, a slower pace than his 27-point effort over 41 contests the year before. Still just 24 years old, a breakout is definitely possible, likely into the 50-60 point range. Obviously, he's getting a lot of the work done early, but the Senators are rolling three lines, so Pinto's usage is excellent.
Cozens has displayed a higher ceiling in his career -- his 68-point effort in 81 games with the Sabres in 2022-23 is evidence of that. He's posted 47 points in back-to-back years, which is still decent but not a must-have fantasy profile. To start 2025-26, Cozens has five points, 17 shots on net and 26 hits over six contests. I doubt he'll sustain four hits per game, but the offense is real, and he's on the first power-play unit. I could be sold on 60 points (20 on the power play) and 200 hits, but if the Senators can't clean up their own zone, he'll be an anchor on plus-minus rating. His all-around numbers track better than Pinto's, but Cozens' value is higher in more physically-inclined formats.
I mentioned Evgeni Malkin above, but just to put his work into numbers: he's picked up two goals and seven assists over six games to begin the year. He's seen double-digit declines in points in each of the last two years, and at age 39, it's tough to expect him to defy Father Time. A hard hit or a lunge in the wrong direction could take him out for a week or more. Malkin's case is interesting, but I see him as more of a streamer for fantasy at this point. Keep him while he's hot, and cut him loose when the points run out.
I'm curious to see what Josh Doan can do with the Sabres. He was part of the package back to Buffalo in the deal that sent JJ Peterka to Utah. Obviously, Doan is no Peterka -- they play vastly different styles. Doan's is a puck-possession game, which has made him a reliable third-liner in limited NHL action. He got moved onto the second line Saturday and responded with a two-goal game against the Panthers. He had three assists in an 8-4 blowout win over the Senators earlier in the week. Three of his five points have come on the power play, and he's added 18 shots and seven hits in five outings. This isn't a buy-now directive, but let's see where this goes. He's already doing enough to help in deep formats.
I didn't give much thought to Brent Burns when he joined the Avalanche, but after a quiet first two games in burgundy, he's rattled off a four-game assist streak. I certainly didn't see him averaging 20:09 of ice time through six contests, especially playing half his games at altitude. Burns is obviously extremely fit -- you don't get to be a 40-year-old NHLer otherwise. It's tough to trust any Avalanche defenseman outside of Cale Makar for consistent offense, but Burns is getting the second-unit power-play time right now, which gives him the edge over Devon Toews until that changes. Burns won't hit much, but he can still block shots and keep a positive plus-minus rating, and he's in a great team environment.
On the speculative side, I'm taking a look at K'Andre Miller. His four points in five games is deceptive -- it's a pair of two-point efforts. However, Jaccob Slavin (lower body) is still ailing after missing all of the preseason and now Shayne Gostisbehere (lower body) has a concern as well after leaving Saturday's game versus the Kings. Head coach Rod Brind'Amour doesn't look set to throw Alexander Nikishin into the fire, so Miller could quickly take the title of all-situations No. 1 defenseman, at least for a brief stretch. The 25-year-old already piles up hits and blocks at a high rate, and he's never been a minus player in a full season. It's fair to question the offense, as his career high is 43 points in 2022-23 with the Rangers. I still like the overall profile, especially when Miller is playing on a team that heads into the new week undefeated.
To the crease, where Alex Lyon has my full attention. A shutout win over the Panthers on Saturday strengthens what was already becoming a compelling case. He's 2-3-0 on the year, but with a 2.43 GAA and a .929 save percentage, his record comes down to bad luck. At this point, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body) should not be guaranteed the starting job when he's healthy. Even if he claws it back, he's already dealt with two injuries this year. I'm not banking on him holding up. Meanwhile, Lyon has been viable with a number of teams in recent years, though he took a step back in a gnarly timeshare with the Red Wings in 2024-25. Keep the GAA under 3.00 and save percentage above .905 and he's a fantasy No. 3 rest-of-season.
Speaking of the Red Wings, Cam Talbot deserves some attention. All he's done is win his first three starts of the season. He's allowed six goals on 88 shots (.932 save percentage) over four appearances. John Gibson is supposed to be the starter, and early-season Gibson is almost always worth the price of admission. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see head coach Todd McLellan ultimately turn this crease into an even split. Gibson needs the rest, Talbot needs to stay up to speed and sharing the workload would likely be the best solution to keep both of these injury-prone netminders healthy for the full year.
Jake Allen fully deserves a chance from fantasy managers looking to navigate life without Jacob Markstrom (lower body) for a couple of weeks. Markstrom wasn't great prior to his injury -- maybe it was a contributing factor, or maybe he's just wearing down after nearly a decade as an NHL starter. In any case, Allen has two wins in his three appearances while allowing just five goals on 76 shots. I don't think defense is the Devils' problem. It shouldn't be, given the talent on that blue line. Allen could carve out a split of the crease if he performs well for a couple of weeks in a starting role.
So, that's a lot of talk about when not to worry. The basic answer is take things easy in this game. However, there are moments where it's fine to let emotions get the better of the you. I'll be in that mindset watching the Mariners in Game 7. That's when things get real -- the whole season comes down to a handful of moments. It's the same way in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the vibe is the same trying to find an edge in the final week of the fantasy season. That kind of pressure and high-stakes action just isn't there on a random Tuesday in the middle of the season. It's good stress. You don't want too much of it, but a little here and there gets the blood pumping. Stay balanced this week and I'll bring you more fantasy hockey next Monday.
Stuck between two players available on the waiver wire? Check out the NHL Player Comparison Tool or the NHL Trending Players to help break the tiebreaker on your waiver wire decisions.
