Week Five Recap/Week Six Preview

02 Nov, 2026

Wow, what a week in the National Hockey League.

The levee finally broke in the world of Dylan Larkin, who has decided not to play for the team until he's traded. The important thing to remember here is that both the player and the team can be dumb as fuck.

The less tiresome news is the reigning MVP requesting a trade. Kucherov does not seem like a player you'd want to piss off, and Tampa went ahead and did just that with what he considered an insulting offer. While I don't love the current trend of players demanding trades, this one feels a little different: he's in the last year of his deal, and Tampa could use it to greatly benefit their hockey club. Management, though, has said there's no chance of a trade.

We all know this. I just felt compelled to summarize because it's surreal. I don't think this league has seen anything like it before, and I genuinely don't know what will happen next.

Interesting league history tidbit of the week: after starting 0-1-1, the Carolina Hurricanes are 12-2-2 and sitting atop the league. It's an extremely strong start from the reigning Stanley Cup champions, and I was curious to know the last team to open with that same record...

It was the 2017-18 Tampa Bay Lightning. Here's how their season played out:

The Capitals went on to win it all.

Will Carolina follow a similar path? It would be a return to form for a Hurricanes team that has made a habit of reaching the conference finals without getting it done.

Now onto the main event... right after I request a trade from my current fantasy team.

Week Five Recap

Oof. While I went 3 for 5, I made some really bad calls this week, including getting Brian's matchup wrong... again. A big reason is that the NHL schedule was more balanced than in weeks past. Don't get used to that because it's business as usual in Week Six.

Seider House Rules (Brent) vs. Neither Fish or Fowler (Alan)

Well, I got this one right!

I'm not surprised Seider House Rules fell again, even to the team with the fewest points for (and by a solid margin). But I was surprised by the path it took.

In the end, the newly-newly-renamed Neither Fish or Fowler exploded for not just the most points of the week, but the most points by any team this season. He was propelled by... guess what, Matt? Goalies! Fowler and Kochetkov both posted shutouts and each contributed about 30 points. He also got 30 from Carlsson, 26 from RNH, and 22 from Benson. It didn't hurt that seven players scored between 12 and 19 points. Uh, yeah, that'll do it.

The tragic part for SHR is that his squad had their best week of the season, good for the third-most points in the league in Week Five and tied for third-most points overall.

Big Macs (Kevin) vs. King Booby's Ice Reign (Myles)

Here's one I got wrong. I thought the Big Macs would bounce back after their first loss, but their slide continued. It wasn't an embarrassing performance. The squad put up 176 points. It just couldn't match King Booby's Ice Reign, who surged to the second-most points of the week at 264.

Myles found success with some unlikely players, namely Jarry, who contributed 25 points, and Forsberg, who showed shades of his former self with a 28-point week. Bedard is also back and put up 22. Beyond that, it was a BUNCH of consistent outings, with eight players scoring between 14 and 18 points.

Geri-hat-tricks (Brian) vs. Gus Chychruns (Ben)

I got this one wrong, but I don't blame myself too much. I thought Brian would keep his winning streak alive after the Week Four nail-biter against Kim Kardashian. Instead, he fell to Gus Chychruns, who put up the fourth-most points of the week. Brian still eclipsed 200 points, showing there's plenty left in the tank.

Like several teams this week, Ben found success without the expected help from his stars—namely Celebrini, who put just 10 points on the board. But I'm taking partial credit for this win, because whenever I talk about a player on this blog, they go off. Last week, I pointed out Tage's poor play. This week? A cool 46 points.

Outside of Tage, Gus had no super producers. Instead, 10 players scored between 12 and 20 points. There's definitely a trend in Week Five.

A big storyline for Gus Chychruns is Hellebuyck's trade and return to the lineup. He put up a respectable 19 points in his first week back.

Singin' the Blues (Justin) vs. Kim Kardashian (Rich(ie))

I got this one right, but just barely. Justin and Richie sparred for the closest matchup of the week, decided by fewer than 5 points.

Justin's usual suspects helped him climb to first overall. Matthews and Draisaitl combined for 47 points, and Panarin chipped in 22. One interesting development is Seth Jones' consistency. After a monster Week Three, he posted 24.4 points this week. You'll take that from a defenseman anytime.

Kim Kardashian saw Jack Hughes pop off for 29, McDavid score a subdued (for him) 30, and Batherson add 25. But he struggled in net, with Vasilevskiy posting -2, and didn't have the depth of this week's other winners. Richie still has the firepower.

Rebuilding Since 2019 (Matt) vs. Not Gavin a Good Time (Andy)

I called this one right as well, but like our previous recap, just barely. This one was decided by about 6 points.

It was our lowest-scoring matchup of the week, with a combined 326 points. That's about 215 fewer than our highest-scoring matchup, Brent vs. Alan. But both teams have had plenty of success this season, and Matt improves to 4-1, so it's no cause for alarm.

Matt continues to have poor luck with goalies. He rostered four this week, and only one posted a positive point total. His top producer was Aho, with 19 points. Yep, 19 points led his team.

Outside of Stützle's 26 points, Andy's top scorers were Quinn Hughes (24 points) and John Carlson (20 points). Normally, seeing those numbers from defensemen would be a great sign. It's less fun when they're among your top scorers.

Again, I don't count either of these teams out. As we've seen this season, there are big swings week to week.

As ever, following our recaps, we move on to:

This week's Bozo is an easy call: Dylan Larkin.

After requesting a trade in June, getting stripped of the captaincy, and getting booed at the home opener, Larkin decided he's done waiting. He informed the Red Wings he won't play again until he's traded, and Detroit responded by suspending him without pay. He's reportedly altering his list, removing some obvious no-gos like Colorado and Vegas and adding others, so a deal could come any day. Or not. I, for one, am okay with the Wings sitting on it until they get the right deal, including if that comes at the trade deadline.

Like I said up top, both sides look dumb here. But only one of them is a 30-year-old man refusing to show up for work because he had too much fun at a sleepover with his friends a few months ago.

And yes, he's on my fantasy team. I took him hoping I could provide a reverse jinx. Instead, the Commissioner's Curse claims another victim.

(Let's see if I was hard enough on Larkin to get him a Bozo Bump on his new team.)

Power Rankings

Five weeks in, and the standings are tightening up. Two teams sit at 4-1, four more are at 3-2, and Seider House Rules is somehow fourth in points at 0-5.

Three Stars of the Week

Remember how I said every player I call out on this blog goes off? Last week, I complained about Tage, and about Gauthier and Sennecke's slow start. This week, Tage and Gauthier finished first and second in the league. The Commish's callouts are officially a performance-enhancing substance.

Honorable mentions go to Alan's goalies, Pyotr Kochetkov (29.82) and Jacob Fowler (29.27), who each posted a shutout.

1) Tage Thompson, BUF (45.98 points, Gus Chychruns)

2) Cutter Gauthier, ANA (37.43 points, Seider House Rules)

3) Leo Carlsson, ANA (30.02 points, Neither Fish or Fowler)

Welcome back to the Waiver Wire Wizard, where we recognize managers who showed a bit of magic in their pickups.

This week's wizard is Alan, with an asterisk. On Tuesday, he picked up Adam Fantilli and got 18.10 points out of him. Add in last week's pickup, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, putting up 25.90, and Alan's waiver work was a big reason for the highest score of the season.

Now for the asterisk. Alan also grabbed Viktor Arvidsson on Monday, got 9.72 points out of him, and cut him on Tuesday to make room for Fantilli. On Thursday, Arvidsson scored a hat trick and added an assist against the Blackhawks (22.85 points), in the first game the Red Wings played without Larkin. Nobody in the league had him. Ben finally picked him up on Saturday and got -0.99. Even wizards miss a spell.

Honorable mentions go to Matt, who reunited with Joel Hofer (17.07) and added Jack Roslovic (15.52), and Ben, whose Arseny Gritsyuk pickup produced 15.77 in the lineup. Myles technically had the best pickup of the week in Tristan Jarry, who put up 24.82 points, including a shutout on Wednesday. But Myles cut him on Thursday for Yaroslav Askarov (9.01), and Jarry posted another shutout on Saturday as a free agent. We'll call it half-magic.

Now for the dark arts. Matt dropped Dylan Garand, whom I shouted out in last week's intro, for James Reimer, whom I called a loser in the very same paragraph. Reimer went -4.09, Casey DeSmith followed with -6.44, and Stuart Skinner capped it off with -10.94 on Sunday. That's -21.47 from three goalie pickups in one week.

Ben bought high on Matvei Gridin, grabbing him Tuesday right after a three-point game. Gridin went scoreless on Wednesday, Ben cut him on Thursday, and Gridin put up a goal and an assist on Friday. Ben's Colten Ellis experiment didn't go much better, costing him -8.29.

Kevin dropped Shane Pinto on Monday for Morgan Frost, who gave him -0.07 points across his lineup and bench. Pinto then scored in three straight games. Kevin's Darcy Kuemper pickup also gave him 4.01 in the lineup and -8.69 on the bench before getting cut on Sunday.

And Brent? He dropped Carter Verhaeghe on Monday to pick up Sergei Bobrovsky for the second time in two weeks. Verhaeghe scored twice on Tuesday. Bobrovsky was gone by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the J.T. Miller World Tour rolls on. After stints with Kevin and Ben, Miller landed with Brian on Sunday.

Putting on The Cure as we return to Benchwarmer Blues, where we shine a light on the managers who left points sad and alone on their benches, just like Brent every Sunday night.

There were far fewer points left on the bench this week and that's because, as I mentioned up top, the schedule was more balanced; there were fewer opportunities to have benched players. Expect for a big jump in Week Six.

Andy led the league with 37.13 points on the bench and lost to Matt by 6.35. Logan Cooley scored 26.77 points from the bench, the most by any benched player this week. But the Vejmelka Whisperer lost his touch: Vejmelka put up 5.81 while sitting and a big negative when he played.

Alan came in second with 27.40, including 9.96 from Pyotr Kochetkov on top of the 29.82 he scored in the lineup. When you put up 290, you can afford it.

Matt rounded out the top three with 26.00, led by Nikolaj Ehlers (9.19), Morgan Geekie (8.94), and Sam Reinhart (5.99). He won by 6.35, so no harm done.

And Seider House Rules' entire bench was Spencer Knight, whose 20.72 points sat unused. Too much anxiety about the Blackhawks' performance in front of their netminder? Maybe.

On the other end, Justin was nearly perfect. He left just 1.07 points on his bench and used 99.4% of his total points. Good thing, too, since he won by 4.54.

Here's the full breakdown.

Week Six Preview and Commissioner Picks

Seider House Rules (Brent) vs. Not Gavin a Good Time (Andy)

Andy has the fewest points against in the league and a roster that keeps finding ways to produce, even when he leaves 26 points from Logan Cooley on the bench. Meanwhile, SHR is 0-5 and somehow fourth in points, which tells you everything about how this season is going. Until the Commissioner's Curse breaks, I can't pick Brent. 0-6, here we come.

Gus Chychruns (Ben) vs. Kim Kardashian (Rich(ie))

This might be the toughest call of the week. Richie is the best 1-4 team in the league, with two losses by a combined 5.79 points, and he's due for some luck. But Ben has momentum. Tage just dropped 46, Hellebuyck is back in the lineup, and Gus Chychruns put up 234 points last week. I'm riding the hot hand.

Geri-hat-tricks (Brian) vs. Rebuilding Since 2019 (Matt)

This one feels like a coin flip. Brian topped 200 points last week and still lost, so he's due. But Matt has won four straight without a goalie he trusts for more than a day at a time. At some point that has to catch up with him. Just not this week.

Singin' the Blues (Justin) vs. King Booby's Ice Reign (Myles)

Call it a gut pick. Justin is first overall and sets his lineup better than anyone, using 99.4% of his points last week. But Myles just put up the second-highest score of the season, Forsberg is producing, and Bedard is back. If Kucherov's trade drama lights a fire under him, look out. I'm taking the upset.

Big Macs (Kevin) vs. Neither Fish or Fowler (Alan)

Who would've guessed that a team on a two-game skid would be the Big Macs? Kevin still leads the league in points, so I don't expect the slide to last. But Alan is coming off the highest score of the season, and both of his goalies just posted shutouts. Give me the fish. Or the Fowler. Whichever one wins.

Thanks for reading, crew. Good luck this week and we'll see you back here next Monday.