NHL Player News

Cousins scored a goal on two shots in Thursday's 2-1 win over the Flyers.

Cousins has opened the season in the bottom six. The 33-year-old forward has two points, three shots, 10 hits, three blocked shots, 12 PIM and a minus-1 rating. Cousins can be an effective agitator, and he's topped the 20-point mark in three of the previous five campaigns. That level of offense doesn't help in standard formats, but he could be a decent option for deep banger leagues.

Nazar will have a hearing Friday for an illegal check to the head against Bo Horvat.

Nazar was assessed a major penalty late in Thursday's loss to the Islanders for his hit on Horvat, and it's possible he'll face further discipline, with a believed maximum suspension of five games, per Stefen Rosner of NHL.com. Across his five regular-season appearances this year, he's recorded two goals, an assist, two hits and two blocked shots while averaging 18:50 of ice time.

Pitlick was reassigned to AHL Iowa on Friday.

Pitlick was called up by Minnesota on Wednesday, but he didn't appear in any games during his time with the NHL club. He'll be sent back down after Rieger Lorenz was called up from the AHL on Friday.

James (hand) was reassigned to AHL Syracuse on Friday.

With his demotion, James will have been medically cleared for his hand injury. While the team likely wants the 24-year-old forward to start with the Crunch in order to get up to game speed, he should be in the mix for a call-up sooner rather than later, especially if an injury or two pops up or the Bolts are playing a more physical team.

Newhook potted a goal and posted four hits in Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Predators.

Newhook doubled Montreal's lead in the early stages of Thursday's second period with his first goal of the 2026-27 campaign. The 25-year-old center now has two points, four shots on net, seven hits and three blocked shots across four appearances this year. With a point in back-to-back games and solid category coverage from his second-line center role, Newhook is positioned well to contest for new career highs in multiple stat categories this season. He should be left on waivers in fantasy for the time being, but he could be a solid streaming option in deep leagues if his point streak continues to grow.

Suzuki scored a goal in Thursday's 5-2 loss to Nashville.

Suzuki extended his point streak to three games in Thursday's loss, where he tallied an unassisted goal just over three minutes into the second period. Overall, the 27-year-old center is up to three goals, seven points, a plus-3 rating, nine shots on goal and eight hits across four outings to begin the new season. While Montreal's offense as a whole took a hit with the loss of Ivan Demidov (lower body) to injured reserve, Suzuki has showcased enough skill across his eight-year NHL career to stay the course when another key offensive player goes down to injury. Fresh off a 101-point showing across 82 regular-season games a year ago, Suzuki projects to challenge the century mark once again in 2026-27, where he is an elite fantasy option in all league formats.

Stamkos plated two power-play assists, placed two shots on net and dished out two hits in Thursday's 5-2 win over Montreal.

Stamkos continued his hot start to the new season in Thursday's clash, where he extended his point streak to four games. He played a key role in the 5-2 win, where he had the primary helper on Matthew Wood's power-play tally before picking up the secondary assist on Ryan O'Reilly's go-ahead goal at a man advantage late in the contest. Overall, the 36-year-old Stamkos is up to three assists, six points, 10 shots on net and five hits across four games in 2026-27. Thursday's pair of points also helped the 19-year NHL veteran stay ahead of a point per game across 1,250 regular-season contests, where he now has 635 assists and 1,262 points. He's shown no signs of slowing down to begin the new season, making Stamkos one of the top waiver-wire pickups across all fantasy formats.

O'Reilly tallied the game-winning goal, placed two shots on net, posted two blocked shots and served two PIM in Thursday's 5-2 win over Montreal.

O'Reilly played the hero in Thursday's contest, as he gave Nashville a 3-2 lead with his power-play goal with just over three minutes remaining in the final period. The 35-year-old center is off to a solid start in 2026-27, where he has a goal, three points, eight shots on net, three hits and four blocked shots across four appearances. While his 74-point outburst in 2025-26 was his first season north of 70 points since the 2018-19 campaign, his early involvement with the Predators' offense in the new season shows that he still has plenty to give. The two-way center is a solid fantasy option in category-based leagues, and even in his 18th NHL season, a projection of 60-plus points is a fair assumption to make for O'Reilly in the 2026-27 campaign.

Nazar scored a goal on one shot in Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Islanders.

Nazar spoiled Ilya Sorokin's shutout bid with a one-timer from the slot at 17:26 of the third period, converting a feed from Patrick Kane with Chicago's net empty for an extra attacker. The 22-year-old endured a slow start to the season and went pointless in the first three games, but he's beginning to turn things around and has notched three points (two goals, one assist) in his last two contests.

Kerfoot tallied a goal, recorded an assist and compiled a plus-2 rating in Thursday's 5-2 win over the Canadiens.

Kerfoot's first multi-point game of the campaign helped spark the Predators' comeback Thursday, as he scored the first of five goals for the team. He later picked up a secondary helper on Adam Edstrom's first empty-net tally. Overall, the 32-year-old Kerfoot is up to three points and four shots on net across four games in his first season in Nashville. After playing just 34 games with Utah a year ago, he's currently seeing usage as the Preds' top-line right winger. His increased role is certainly noteworthy, but he's best left on the waiver wire in fantasy until he makes performances such as Thursday's a regular occurrence, which he has proved he's capable of doing across his 10-year NHL career.