NHL Week 5 Schedule Planner: Four-Game Teams, Back-to-Backs and Returns

If your lineup call is close, let game volume guide your flexible slots this week. In daily leagues, leave room to react to goalie announcements.

The week at a glance

Week 5, Oct 26–Nov 1: 47 games over 7 days. 5 teams play 4 or more games: CGY, EDM, LAK, OTT and WPG. 7 teams play 2 games or fewer: COL, FLA, NYR, PIT, SEA, TBL and VGK.

If your utility choice is close, give LAK a look before locking a weekly lineup.

Four-game teams to lean on

Team	Games	Schedule	Opponents' avg. points
CGY	4	Mon vs TOR, Wed at EDM, Fri vs SEA, Sat at COL	15.3
EDM	4	Mon vs DET, Wed vs CGY, Sat at NYI, Sun at NYR	11.5
LAK	4	Mon at NYR, Tue at CHI, Thu vs OTT, Sat vs BUF	12
OTT	4	Tue at VGK, Thu at LAK, Sat at SJS, Sun at ANA	11.5
WPG	4	Tue vs FLA, Thu at TBL, Fri at FLA, Sun at CAR	14.8

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

Player	Team	Pos	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	PPP	Shots	Hits	Blocks
Matt Coronato	CGY	RW	80	18	27	45	15	198	23	22
Mikael Backlund	CGY	C	82	17	26	43	3	186	23	28
Morgan Frost	CGY	C	82	22	21	43	16	141	59	39
Connor McDavid	EDM	C	82	48	90	138	54	305	40	30
Leon Draisaitl	EDM	C	65	35	62	97	42	185	34	15
Evan Bouchard	EDM	D	82	21	74	95	33	221	29	101
Mark Scheifele	WPG	C	82	36	67	103	22	176	32	46
Kyle Connor	WPG	LW	82	39	53	92	19	274	36	19
Gabriel Vilardi	WPG	C	82	30	38	68	24	148	20	35
Artemi Panarin	LAK	LW	78	28	56	84	23	223	11	16
Adrian Kempe	LAK	RW	81	36	37	73	12	226	127	39
Mats Zuccarello	LAK	RW	59	15	39	54	21	122	16	25
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

In a hits league, consider Adrian Kempe for a winger slot when choosing among your regular starters.

Matt Coronato • CGY

Light weeks to plan around

Team	Games	Schedule	Opponents' avg. points
COL	2	Wed vs NJD, Sat vs CGY	11
FLA	2	Tue at WPG, Fri vs WPG	11
NYR	2	Mon vs LAK, Sun vs EDM	11.5
PIT	2	Thu vs UTA, Sat at MTL	14
SEA	2	Wed vs TOR, Fri at CGY	12
TBL	2	Thu vs WPG, Sat at NSH	10.5
VGK	2	Tue vs OTT, Fri vs NJD	15

If you roster a fringe VGK skater in a weekly league, weigh a bench option for your final forward slot.

Back-to-backs and goalies

8 teams play on consecutive nights this week.

Team	First night	Second night
LAK	Mon at NYR	Tue at CHI
NJD	Tue at DAL	Wed at COL
PHI	Tue vs CBJ	Wed at WSH
WSH	Wed vs PHI	Thu at NSH
WPG	Thu at TBL	Fri at FLA
CGY	Fri vs SEA	Sat at COL
EDM	Sat at NYI	Sun at NYR
OTT	Sat at SJS	Sun at ANA

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%
Devin Cooley	CGY	G	30	10	.909
Dustin Wolf	CGY	G	57	23	.899
Frederik Andersen	EDM	G	35	16	.874
Tristan Jarry	EDM	G	33	18	.882
Stuart Skinner	WPG	G	50	23	.887
Anton Forsberg	LAK	G	36	16	.909
Darcy Kuemper	LAK	G	49	19	.891
Samuel Ersson	OTT	G	33	14	.869
Jonas Johansson	OTT	G	25	10	.884
Linus Ullmark	OTT	G	49	28	.890
Jake Allen	NJD	G	37	17	.904
Connor Hellebuyck	NJD	G	57	23	.895
Dan Vladar	PHI	G	52	29	.906
Joseph Woll	PHI	G	39	15	.899
Charlie Lindgren	WSH	G	22	9	.879
Logan Thompson	WSH	G	58	31	.912

If you rely on Stuart Skinner in a daily league, keep an alternate goalie option ready before lineup lock.

Stuart Skinner • WPG

Due back and injury changes

Players with a listed return date this week:

Player	Team	Status	Injury	Listed return
Aidan Thompson	NYR	IR	Undisclosed	Mon, Oct 26
Alex Turcotte	LAK	IR	Undisclosed	Mon, Oct 26
Mattias Janmark	EDM	IR	Undisclosed, surgery	Mon, Oct 26
Esa Lindell	DAL	Out	Lower body	Tue, Oct 27
Mark Jankowski	CAR	DTD	Lower body	Tue, Oct 27
Matt Grzelcyk	BUF	IR	Lower body	Tue, Oct 27
Sam Carrick	BUF	IR	Upper body	Tue, Oct 27
Georgii Merkulov	COL	IR	Undisclosed	Wed, Oct 28
Jason Dickinson	EDM	IR	Undisclosed	Wed, Oct 28
Samuel Honzek	CGY	IR	Lower body	Wed, Oct 28
Linus Ullmark	OTT	IR	Lower body, strain	Thu, Oct 29
Marco Kasper	DET	IR	Upper body	Thu, Oct 29
Marcus Foligno	MIN	IR	Lower body	Thu, Oct 29
Mason Appleton	DET	IR	Undisclosed	Thu, Oct 29
Nick Foligno	MIN	IR	Upper body	Thu, Oct 29
Pavel Mintyukov	ANA	IR	Lower body	Thu, Oct 29
Alex Lyon	BUF	IR	Upper body	Sat, Oct 31
Atro Leppanen	EDM	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 31
Bryce Pickford	MTL	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 31
Devon Levi	EDM	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 31
Florian Xhekaj	MTL	IR	Lower body	Sat, Oct 31
Ivan Demidov	MTL	IR	Lower body	Sat, Oct 31
Jakub Dvorak	LAK	IR	Upper body	Sat, Oct 31
Jiri Kulich	BUF	Out	Face	Sat, Oct 31
Kevin Fiala	LAK	IR	Left lower leg, surgery	Sat, Oct 31
Kurtis MacDermid	OTT	IR	Upper body	Sat, Oct 31
Lucas Condotta	MTL	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 31
Mattias Ekholm	EDM	Out	Undisclosed	Sat, Oct 31
Simon Edvinsson	DET	IR	Contract dispute	Sat, Oct 31
Alexander Nikishin	CAR	IR	Contract dispute	Sun, Nov 1

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

Player	Team	Status	Injury	Listed return
Jonathan Huberdeau	CGY	IR	Hip, surgery	Mon, Nov 2
Alec Regula	EDM	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Nov 21
Frederik Andersen	EDM	IR	Knee	Wed, Dec 30
Matt Savoie	EDM	IR	Lower body	Tue, Nov 24
Jan Jenik	LAK	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Nov 7
William Eklund	OTT	IR	Ankle	Tue, Jan 5
Thomas Chabot	OTT	Out	Upper body	Sat, Oct 31
Garrett Brown	WPG	IR	Lower body	Fri, Oct 30
Josh Morrissey	WPG	IR	Right wrist	Sun, Nov 1
Nick Bjugstad	WPG	IR	Left pectoral, surgery	Thu, Mar 11
Vladislav Namestnikov	WPG	IR	Undisclosed	Fri, Oct 30

Injury report changes since Fri, Oct 23 (report of Sat, Oct 24):

Player	Team	From	To
Pavel Mintyukov	ANA	Out	IR
Jiri Kulich	BUF	DTD	Out
Andrew Mangiapane	CHI	IR	Off the report
Nicolas Roy	COL	Out	DTD
Zachary L'Heureux	COL	Out	IR
Devon Levi	EDM	Not listed	IR
Eeli Tolvanen	NYR	DTD	Off the report
Rasmus Ristolainen	PHI	IR	Off the report
Egor Chinakhov	PIT	DTD	Out
Evgeni Malkin	PIT	DTD	Out
Samuel Girard	PIT	DTD	IR
Anthony Cirelli	TBL	DTD	Off the report
Victor Hedman	TBL	Not listed	DTD
Vladislav Namestnikov	WPG	Out	IR
Justin Sourdif	WSH	DTD	Off the report
Logan Thompson	WSH	DTD	Out
Pierre-Luc Dubois	WSH	IR	Off the report
Vincent Desharnais	WSH	Out	IR