NHL Week 6 Schedule Planner: Four-Game Teams, Back-to-Backs and Returns

If you set a weekly lineup, let game volume guide your fringe choices before locking flexible slots.

The week at a glance

Week 6, Nov 2–8: 51 games over 7 days. 11 teams play 4 or more games: ANA, CGY, CHI, COL, DET, FLA, NJD, PIT, SJS, TBL and VGK. 5 teams play 2 games or fewer: LAK, NYI, OTT, SEA and WSH.

If you are choosing between fringe starters, use Colorado as a tiebreaker for your utility slot.

Four-game teams to lean on

Team	Games	Schedule	Opponents' avg. points
ANA	4	Tue at VAN, Thu at EDM, Fri at CGY, Sun vs PIT	13.3
CGY	4	Mon at SJS, Wed at SEA, Fri vs ANA, Sun vs PHI	13.3
CHI	4	Mon vs COL, Wed at FLA, Thu at TBL, Sat at CAR	19.3
COL	4	Mon at CHI, Tue at CBJ, Thu vs NSH, Sat vs DET	12.3
DET	4	Mon at FLA, Tue at TBL, Thu vs VGK, Sat at COL	18
FLA	4	Mon vs DET, Wed vs CHI, Sat at WSH, Sun at BOS	15.3
NJD	4	Tue vs EDM, Thu vs STL, Sat at NYI, Sun at TOR	17.8
PIT	4	Tue vs VGK, Thu vs BOS, Sat at LAK, Sun at ANA	15.3
SJS	4	Mon vs CGY, Wed at LAK, Fri at MIN, Sat at DAL	15
TBL	4	Tue vs DET, Thu vs CHI, Sat at MIN, Sun at WPG	14
VGK	4	Mon at BOS, Tue at PIT, Thu at DET, Sun at BUF	16.3

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

Player	Team	Pos	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	PPP	Shots	Hits	Blocks
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
Macklin Celebrini	SJS	C	82	45	70	115	33	287	53	53
Will Smith	SJS	C	69	24	35	59	17	166	16	12
Alexander Wennberg	SJS	C	80	18	37	55	15	94	28	93
Cutter Gauthier	ANA	LW	76	41	28	69	19	285	66	20
Leo Carlsson	ANA	C	70	29	37	66	17	192	14	29
Beckett Sennecke	ANA	RW	82	23	37	60	13	196	97	24
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
Nathan MacKinnon	COL	C	80	53	74	127	30	349	64	35
Martin Necas	COL	C	78	38	61	99	24	205	85	26
Cale Makar	COL	D	75	20	59	79	29	200	35	116
Alex DeBrincat	DET	RW	82	41	44	85	23	287	38	39
Lucas Raymond	DET	LW	80	25	51	76	27	172	43	29
Moritz Seider	DET	D	82	10	50	60	28	186	129	180
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
Nikita Kucherov	TBL	RW	77	44	86	130	36	229	36	30
Jake Guentzel	TBL	C	81	38	50	88	29	219	39	41
Brandon Hagel	TBL	LW	71	36	38	74	12	214	42	38
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
Connor Bedard	CHI	C	69	30	44	74	21	226	31	27
Tyler Bertuzzi	CHI	LW	79	32	26	58	21	164	55	24
Patrick Kane	CHI	RW	67	16	41	57	19	167	21	23
Sidney Crosby	PIT	C	68	29	45	74	23	159	60	30
Erik Karlsson	PIT	D	75	15	51	66	26	176	20	64
Bryan Rust	PIT	RW	72	29	36	65	24	180	35	71

In shots leagues, give Cutter Gauthier a close look for a flexible wing slot.

Sam Reinhart • FLA

Light weeks to plan around

Team	Games	Schedule	Opponents' avg. points
LAK	2	Wed vs SJS, Sat vs PIT	13.5
NYI	2	Thu vs CAR, Sat vs NJD	21
OTT	2	Wed at BUF, Sat vs UTA	17.5
SEA	2	Wed vs CGY, Sat vs NYR	13.5
WSH	2	Tue vs DAL, Sat vs FLA	17.5

If you roster a Seattle skater in a weekly league, compare your bench options before locking a forward slot.

Back-to-backs and goalies

13 teams play on consecutive nights this week.

Team	First night	Second night
COL	Mon at CHI	Tue at CBJ
DET	Mon at FLA	Tue at TBL
VGK	Mon at BOS	Tue at PIT
CHI	Wed at FLA	Thu at TBL
ANA	Thu at EDM	Fri at CGY
CBJ	Thu vs DAL	Fri at BUF
MIN	Fri vs SJS	Sat vs TBL
SJS	Fri at MIN	Sat at DAL
FLA	Sat at WSH	Sun at BOS
NJD	Sat at NYI	Sun at TOR
PIT	Sat at LAK	Sun at ANA
TBL	Sat at MIN	Sun at WPG
TOR	Sat vs MTL	Sun vs NJD

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%
Jacob Markstrom	FLA	G	44	23	.883
Akira Schmid	FLA	G	34	16	.893
Yaroslav Askarov	SJS	G	47	21	.884
Alex Nedeljkovic	SJS	G	39	18	.895
Lukas Dostal	ANA	G	55	30	.888
Ville Husso	ANA	G	20	10	.884
Mackenzie Blackwood	COL	G	38	23	.903
Scott Wedgewood	COL	G	45	31	.921
John Gibson	DET	G	57	29	.902
Daniil Tarasov	DET	G	33	12	.895
Jake Allen	NJD	G	37	17	.904
Connor Hellebuyck	NJD	G	57	23	.895
Dennis Hildeby	TBL	G	20	5	.914
Andrei Vasilevskiy	TBL	G	58	39	.912
Carter Hart	VGK	G	18	11	.890
Adin Hill	VGK	G	27	10	.870
Spencer Knight	CHI	G	55	19	.902
Arvid Soderblom	CHI	G	26	8	.880
Arturs Silovs	PIT	G	39	19	.888
Jet Greaves	CBJ	G	55	26	.908
Cam Talbot	CBJ	G	34	12	.882
Filip Gustavsson	MIN	G	50	28	.904
Calvin Pickard	MIN	G	16	5	.870
Jesper Wallstedt	MIN	G	35	18	.915
Sergei Bobrovsky	TOR	G	51	27	.876
Anthony Stolarz	TOR	G	26	10	.893

If you rely on a Colorado goalie, keep an alternate ready and check the starter announcement before lineup lock.

Jacob Markstrom • FLA

Due back and injury changes

Players with a listed return date this week:

Player	Team	Status	Injury	Listed return
Bowen Byram	CHI	Out	Upper body	Mon, Nov 2
Jonathan Huberdeau	CGY	IR	Hip, surgery	Mon, Nov 2
Logan O'Connor	COL	Out	Personal	Mon, Nov 2
Anthony Mantha	NJD	DTD	Undisclosed	Tue, Nov 3
Brock Faber	MIN	IR	Skull, surgery	Tue, Nov 3
Marcus Foligno	MIN	IR	Lower body	Tue, Nov 3
Nick Foligno	MIN	IR	Upper body	Tue, Nov 3
Taylor Hall	CAR	Out	Upper body	Tue, Nov 3
Zach Hyman	EDM	IR	Neck	Tue, Nov 3
Alex Turcotte	LAK	IR	Undisclosed	Wed, Nov 4
Jacob Markstrom	FLA	IR	Upper body	Wed, Nov 4
Jiri Kulich	BUF	Out	Concussion	Wed, Nov 4
Konsta Helenius	BUF	Out	Upper body	Wed, Nov 4
Albert Johansson	DET	Out	Undisclosed	Thu, Nov 5
Radek Faksa	DAL	Out	Lower body	Thu, Nov 5
Ryan Pulock	NYI	Out	Upper body	Thu, Nov 5
Sam Montembeault	MTL	IR	Lower body	Thu, Nov 5
Conor Timmins	BUF	IR	Lower body	Fri, Nov 6
Jared Spurgeon	MIN	IR	Undisclosed	Fri, Nov 6
Alexander Nikishin	CAR	Out	Not injury related	Sat, Nov 7
Ivan Demidov	MTL	IR	Lower body	Sat, Nov 7
Jan Jenik	LAK	IR	Undisclosed	Sat, Nov 7
Kevin Fiala	LAK	IR	Left lower leg, surgery	Sat, Nov 7
Linus Ullmark	OTT	IR	Lower body, strain	Sat, Nov 7
Mathew Barzal	NYI	IR	Knee	Sat, Nov 7
Zachary L'Heureux	COL	IR	Upper body	Sat, Nov 7
Ian Moore	ANA	IR	Lower body	Sun, Nov 8
Jack Rathbone	BUF	IR	Undisclosed	Sun, Nov 8
Justin Danforth	BUF	IR	Upper body	Sun, Nov 8
Matt Grzelcyk	BUF	IR	Lower body	Sun, Nov 8

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

Player	Team	Status	Injury	Listed return
Pavel Mintyukov	ANA	IR	Lower body	Sun, Nov 1 (date passed)
Ryan Poehling	ANA	IR	Lower body	Wed, Nov 25
Troy Terry	ANA	IR	Hip, surgery	Sat, Nov 21
Devin Cooley	CGY	IR	Lower body	Sat, Nov 14
Samuel Honzek	CGY	IR	Lower body	Sun, Nov 15
Connor Zary	CGY	Out	Knee, surgery	Sat, Nov 14
Josh Manson	COL	Out	Left ankle	Sun, Dec 27
Dylan Larkin	DET	IR	Suspension	Sat, Nov 14
Marco Kasper	DET	IR	Upper body	Sat, Nov 14
Mason Appleton	DET	IR	Undisclosed	Tue, Nov 10
Simon Edvinsson	DET	IR	Contract dispute	Sat, Nov 28
Aleksander Barkov	FLA	IR	Left lower body	Fri, Nov 27
Brad Marchand	FLA	IR	Left leg	Sat, Nov 21
Jonah Gadjovich	FLA	IR	Upper body, surgery	Sat, Nov 28
Seamus Casey	NJD	IR	Knee	Sat, Nov 21
Bryan Rust	PIT	IR	Lower body	Sat, Dec 5
Elmer Soderblom	PIT	IR	Upper body	Sat, Nov 7
Ryan Graves	PIT	IR	Knee	Sat, Nov 28
Trevor van Riemsdyk	PIT	IR	Lower body	Thu, Nov 5
Justin Brazeau	PIT	Out	Lower body	Tue, Nov 3
Alexander Wennberg	SJS	IR	Upper body	Mon, Nov 9
Igor Chernyshov	SJS	IR	Upper body	Sat, Nov 14
Kyle Keyser	SJS	IR	Upper body	Tue, Dec 1
Quentin Musty	SJS	IR	Upper body	Tue, Dec 1
Yanni Gourde	TBL	IR	Hip, surgery	Wed, Dec 2
Parker Wotherspoon	VGK	IR	Upper body	Sun, Nov 8

Injury report changes since Fri, Oct 30 (report of Sat, Oct 31):

Player	Team	From	To
Brennan Othmann	CGY	Out	DTD
Bowen Byram	CHI	DTD	Out
Logan O'Connor	COL	DTD	Out
Esa Lindell	DAL	IR	Off the report
Kyle Capobianco	DAL	Out	IR
Brandt Clarke	LAK	DTD	Off the report
Joel Eriksson Ek	MIN	DTD	Off the report
Mike Matheson	MTL	DTD	Out
Anthony Mantha	NJD	Not listed	DTD
Ryan Pulock	NYI	DTD	Out
Braden Schneider	NYR	Not listed	DTD
Sean Durzi	NYR	Not listed	DTD
Hayden Hodgson	OTT	Not listed	Suspended
Warren Foegele	OTT	Out	IR
Colton Parayko	STL	DTD	Out
Chris Tanev	TOR	IR	Off the report
Filip Chytil	VAN	Not listed	IR
Carter Hart	VGK	DTD	Off the report