NHL Week 3 Schedule Planner: Four-Game Teams, Back-to-Backs and Returns

If your lineup locks early, compare busy skaters for flex spots and check goalie status before submitting.

The week at a glance

Week 3, Oct 12–18: 50 games over 7 days. 6 teams play 4 or more games: BUF, FLA, MIN, NJD, OTT and VGK. 2 teams play 2 games or fewer: ANA and LAK.

Start with Ottawa when filling a flexible skater slot in weekly leagues.

Four-game teams to lean on

Team	Games	Schedule	Opponents' avg. points
BUF	4	Mon vs FLA, Tue at MTL, Thu at TOR, Sat at MTL	5.8
FLA	4	Mon at BUF, Tue at CBJ, Thu vs VAN, Sat vs SEA	4.5
MIN	4	Mon vs VGK, Tue at WPG, Thu vs STL, Sun vs CBJ	6.5
NJD	4	Mon vs OTT, Tue at DET, Thu vs NYR, Sat at WSH	6.3
OTT	4	Mon at NJD, Tue vs STL, Thu vs NYI, Sat at PHI	3.8
VGK	4	Mon at MIN, Tue at NSH, Thu vs CGY, Sat vs PIT	5

Key players on these teams, with their 2025-26 lines:

Player	Team	Pos	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	PPP	Shots	Hits	Blocks
Kirill Kaprizov	MIN	LW	78	45	44	89	32	266	52	27
Matt Boldy	MIN	LW	76	42	43	85	30	252	61	58
Quinn Hughes	MIN	D	74	7	69	76	34	187	7	87
Sam Reinhart	FLA	C	64	29	32	61	25	164	59	40
Brady Tkachuk	FLA	LW	60	21	37	58	20	218	163	19
Sam Bennett	FLA	C	76	26	32	58	14	200	114	31
Jack Hughes	NJD	C	62	27	50	77	23	229	4	32
Jesper Bratt	NJD	LW	82	22	50	72	20	177	74	24
Nico Hischier	NJD	C	82	28	37	65	23	210	58	63
Drake Batherson	OTT	RW	79	33	37	70	29	164	122	22
Dylan Cozens	OTT	C	82	29	30	59	29	205	216	25
Jake Sanderson	OTT	D	67	14	41	55	22	147	30	130
Jack Eichel	VGK	C	74	27	63	90	28	259	35	40
Mitch Marner	VGK	RW	81	24	56	80	24	165	24	46
Mark Stone	VGK	RW	61	28	44	72	26	128	31	47
Tage Thompson	BUF	C	81	40	41	81	24	271	85	48
Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	D	77	19	55	74	22	194	67	80
Ryan McLeod	BUF	C	81	14	40	54	7	90	16	33

If your league counts hits, weigh Dylan Cozens for an active center spot.

Kirill Kaprizov • MIN

Light weeks to plan around

Team	Games	Schedule	Opponents' avg. points
ANA	2	Tue vs CGY, Fri vs BOS	4
LAK	2	Tue vs EDM, Sat vs BOS	8.5

If you manage Los Angeles skaters in a weekly league, compare your bench options before locking a utility slot.

Back-to-backs and goalies

14 teams play on consecutive nights this week.

Team	First night	Second night
BUF	Mon vs FLA	Tue at MTL
FLA	Mon at BUF	Tue at CBJ
MIN	Mon vs VGK	Tue at WPG
NJD	Mon vs OTT	Tue at DET
OTT	Mon at NJD	Tue vs STL
VGK	Mon at MIN	Tue at NSH
COL	Tue at DAL	Wed vs DAL
DAL	Tue vs COL	Wed at COL
MTL	Tue vs BUF	Wed at WSH
WSH	Tue at CAR	Wed vs MTL
BOS	Fri at ANA	Sat at LAK
PIT	Fri at COL	Sat at VGK
CAR	Sat at WPG	Sun at CGY
CBJ	Sat vs NYR	Sun at MIN

On a back-to-back, the backup could start one of the two games: nobody knows who starts in goal on a given night until the team confirms it.

Goalies on those teams, with their 2025-26 lines:

Player	Team	Pos	Games	Wins	SV%
Filip Gustavsson	MIN	G	50	28	.904
Jesper Wallstedt	MIN	G	35	18	.915
Jacob Markstrom	FLA	G	44	23	.883
Akira Schmid	FLA	G	34	16	.893
Jake Allen	NJD	G	37	17	.904
Linus Ullmark	OTT	G	49	28	.890
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	BUF	G	35	22	.909
Alex Lyon	BUF	G	36	20	.907
Mackenzie Blackwood	COL	G	38	23	.903
Scott Wedgewood	COL	G	45	31	.921
Casey DeSmith	DAL	G	30	15	.906
Jake Oettinger	DAL	G	53	35	.899
Jakub Dobes	MTL	G	43	29	.901
Logan Thompson	WSH	G	58	31	.912
Jeremy Swayman	BOS	G	55	31	.907
Arturs Silovs	PIT	G	39	19	.888
Brandon Bussi	CAR	G	39	31	.894
Jet Greaves	CBJ	G	55	26	.908

If you rely on a Buffalo goalie in daily leagues, check the starter announcement before each lock and keep a reserve ready.

Filip Gustavsson • MIN

Due back and injury changes

Players with a listed return date this week:

Player	Team	Status	Injury	Listed return
Artem Zub	OTT	IR	Knee	Mon, Oct 12
Connor Brown	NJD	Out	Lower body	Mon, Oct 12
Charlie McAvoy	BOS	Suspended	Suspension	Tue, Oct 13
Colton Dach	EDM	IR	Undisclosed	Tue, Oct 13
Florian Xhekaj	MTL	Out	Undisclosed	Tue, Oct 13
J.T. Compher	DET	IR	Undisclosed	Tue, Oct 13
Joel Kiviranta	DAL	Out	Lower body	Tue, Oct 13
Justus Annunen	NSH	IR	Undisclosed	Tue, Oct 13
Logan O'Connor	COL	IR	Lower body	Tue, Oct 13
Mason Appleton	DET	IR	Undisclosed	Tue, Oct 13
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	EDM	IR	Lower body	Tue, Oct 13
Samuel Honzek	CGY	Out	Undisclosed	Tue, Oct 13
Brock Faber	MIN	IR	Skull, surgery	Thu, Oct 15
Frank Nazar	CHI	Suspended	Suspension	Thu, Oct 15
Jason Zucker	BUF	IR	Abdomen, surgery	Thu, Oct 15
Mattias Janmark	EDM	IR	Undisclosed, surgery	Thu, Oct 15
Nick Foligno	MIN	IR	Upper body	Thu, Oct 15
Andrei Kuzmenko	PIT	IR	Personal	Fri, Oct 16
Georgii Merkulov	COL	IR	Undisclosed	Fri, Oct 16
Ian Moore	ANA	IR	Lower body	Fri, Oct 16
Atro Leppanen	EDM	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 17
Bryce Pickford	MTL	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 17
Conor Timmins	BUF	IR	Lower body	Sat, Oct 17
Jacob Melanson	SEA	IR	Upper body	Sat, Oct 17
James Stefan	EDM	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 17
Jonah Gadjovich	FLA	IR	Upper body, surgery	Sat, Oct 17
Kevin Fiala	LAK	IR	Left lower leg, surgery	Sat, Oct 17
Mathew Barzal	NYI	IR	Knee	Sat, Oct 17
Mats Zuccarello	LAK	Out	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 17
Zach Hyman	EDM	Out	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 17

Also on the injury report for teams with 4 or more games:

Player	Team	Status	Injury	Listed return
Alex Lyon	BUF	IR	Upper body	Sat, Oct 24
Jack Rathbone	BUF	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 24
Topias Leinonen	BUF	IR	Lower body	Sat, Oct 24
Aleksander Barkov	FLA	IR	Left lower body	Fri, Nov 27
Brad Marchand	FLA	Out	Left leg	Sat, Nov 21
Filip Gustavsson	MIN	IR	Hip, surgery	Sun, Nov 1
Nick Bjugstad	NJD	IR	Left pectoral, surgery	Tue, Jan 19
Seamus Casey	NJD	IR	Knee	Sat, Nov 21
Kurtis MacDermid	OTT	IR	Upper body	Sat, Oct 31
William Eklund	OTT	IR	Ankle	Sat, Jan 2
Lukas Cormier	VGK	IR	Undisclosed	Thu, Oct 22
Victor Olofsson	VGK	Out	Undisclosed	Thu, Oct 15

Injury report changes since Fri, Oct 9 (report of Sat, Oct 10):

Player	Team	From	To
Charlie McAvoy	BOS	Not listed	Suspended
Alexander Nikishin	CAR	DTD	Out
Samuel Honzek	CGY	Not listed	Out
Frank Nazar	CHI	Not listed	Suspended
Teuvo Teravainen	CHI	DTD	Off the report
Carter Bear	DET	IR	Off the report
Aaron Ekblad	FLA	DTD	Off the report
Alex Turcotte	LAK	Not listed	DTD
Florian Xhekaj	MTL	Not listed	Out
Kaiden Guhle	MTL	IR	Off the report
Johnathan Kovacevic	NJD	IR	Off the report
Jonas Siegenthaler	NJD	DTD	Off the report
Bo Horvat	NYI	DTD	Off the report
Igor Shesterkin	NYR	Not listed	Out
Andre Burakovsky	OTT	IR	Off the report
William Eklund	OTT	Out	IR
Cam York	PHI	Not listed	Out
Helge Grans	PHI	IR	Off the report
Rasmus Ristolainen	PHI	DTD	IR
Travis Konecny	PHI	Not listed	Out