Fantasy buzz: Brown enjoying resurgent season for Kings

All season long, NHL.com's fantasy hockey staff will have you covered with daily lineup news, production trends and injury notes from around the League. We will identify how these developments affect fantasy owners in year-long (Yahoo) and daily (DraftKings) formats.

5 p.m.

Luongo on IR; Reimer good in-house replacement for Panthers

The Florida Panthers placed goaltender Roberto Luongo on injured reserve Saturday after he sustained a hand injury on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Luongo was replaced by backup goalie James Reimer who stopped 11 of 12 shots in the 4-3 loss. Reimer (24 percent owned in Yahoo leagues) bounced back strong on Saturday against the Washington Capitals with 41 saves in the Panthers' 4-1 victory. Reimer has been shaky in limited action this season but until Luongo returns, he is a great short-term option, especially in DFS contests.

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Ryan injured for Senators; Palmieri hurt in practice for Devils

Ottawa Senators forward Bobby Ryan left the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday after he broke a finger. Senators coach Guy Boucher said he expects Ryan to be out for about one month. Ryan (30 percent owned) was having a solid start to the season with six assists and was plus-8 in eight games, and had points in back-to-back games. He was skating on the first line with Derick Brassard and Mark Stone and on the second power play. It is unclear who will take his spot on those lines, but fantasy owners and DFS players should monitor the situation.

Forward Kyle Palmieri of the New Jersey Devils went into the boards awkwardly during practice on Sunday and is day to day. Palmieri, owned in 72 percent of leagues, has had a strong start to the season for the surprising Devils with seven points in his first seven games. He had points in three of his last five games overall and was skating on a line with Adam Henrique and Marcus Johansson. The Devils do not play again until Friday against the Ottawa Senators, but if Palmieri can't play they could look to someone like Jesper Bratt (26 percent owned) to move up to Palmieri's spot in the lineup.

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DFS value picks for Sunday/Monday contests

With one NHL game on Sunday and two on Monday, DraftKings NHL contests span both nights with all three games making up the player pool. Here are some value options that DFS players should target for the slate of games:
Brock Boeser, VAN ($4,100) -Boeser has exploded onto the fantasy hockey scene for the Vancouver Canucks. After being a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, he has dressed in all five games since. Boeser has five points, two power-play points and 14 shots on goal. He's skating on a solid value stack with Bo Horvat ($3,800) and Sven Baertschi ($3,800), and has a solid matchup on Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings who are allowing 3.1 goals against per game.

J.T. Miller, NYR ($4,400) -Miller started the season slowly with only three points and one multi-point game through his first five games but has begun to produce as of late for the New York Rangers. Miller has one goal and four assists in his past four games. He is skating on the second line with Chris Kreider and David Desharnais, and had a power-play assist in a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators.
Jake Muzzin, LAK ($4,400) - Muzzin has been a fantasy beast to open the season for the Los Angeles Kings. After being shutout in the Kings season-opener against the Philadelphia Flyers, Muzzin has bounced back and enters Monday with a six-game point streak. Muzzin had his best game of the season against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday with a goal and two assists. He has eight points, three power-play points, 12 blocked shots, 19 shots on goal and is averaging 4.8 fantasy points per game in DraftKings contests.

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2 p.m.

Low-ownership fantasy studs of the week

Mikhail Sergachev caught fire this week for the Tampa Bay Lightning and is the top stud of the low ownership players. The rookie defender is owned in only 39 percent of Yahoo leagues and finished the week with six points in four games, scoring multi-point games in each of his past three games. He had three goals, three assists, two power-play points and six shots on goal. With his exposure to one of the top offenses in the NHL, he's a must own going forward, especially in keeper league formats.
Chris Stewart has been a fantasy beast for the Minnesota Wild, and an offensive savior for their injury-depleted lineup. In two games this week Stewart scored in each, including a power-play goal, and had six shots on goal. Stewart (9 percent owned) is skating on the first line with Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker, and on the first power-play unit. He has a point in all six games this season and is getting solid category coverage providing 14 shots on goal and five hits, although he has no penalty minutes. Until forwards return from injury, Stewart is a great add in the short term and a great value target in DFS contests.
A lot of the talk about the Dallas Stars this season was centered around their top line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov but one forward who had a standout week was center Radek Faksa (1 percent). He scored in all three of the Stars games this week with two goals, three assists, two multi-point games and six shots on goal. Faksa is centering the third line between Antoine Roussel and Tyler Pitlick and could see some power-play time if his production continues.

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High-ownership fantasy duds of the week

P.K. Subban opened the season with points in four of his first five games but was held in check in three games this week. Subban (99 percent owned) didn't have a point in games against the Colorado Avalanche, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. He had seven shots on goal and six blocked shots for decent category coverage numbers in DFS and in leagues that count those stats.
Brandon Saad (98 percent owned) started the season as one of the hottest scorers in the NHL but has cooled off quickly for the Chicago Blackhawks. Saad opened with six goals, eight points and 26 shots on goal in his first six games of the season, but the forward was completely shutout in three games this week. Saad was held pointless on the week and only managed two shots on goal overall.

The tough start to the season for Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens continued. Price (99 percent owned) allowed 10 goals against in two games against the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. Price has lost six games in a row and has allowed at least four goals in four of those outings. Fantasy owners should be very concerned with Price and the Canadiens at the moment.

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10 a.m.

Kings top line continues hot start to season

Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar and wing Dustin Brown continued their hot start to the season against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Kopitar scored twice against and had an assist with three shots on goal. He has six goals to lead the Kings in scoring.
Dustin Brown has opened the season as a surprise offensively and is still relatively lowly owned compared to his level of production, available 36 percent of Yahoo leagues. Brown had his best game of the season Saturday, scoring his fifth goal and adding three assists. He had six shots on goal and was plus-5, tying him with Kopitar for the NHL lead at plus-11. Brown is ranked 10th among all players in Yahoo based on standard-category performance this season.

Rookie Alex Iafallo had two assists and three shots on goal. Iafallo (1 percent owned) has struggled out of the gate but does have three assists and 17 shots on goal in seven games. He is also skating on the Kings second power-play unit. He had 51 points as a senior at Minnesota-Duluth last season, and should be on fantasy radars as a sleeper going forward as long as he maintains his exposure to Kopitar and Brown.

Tavares, Lee have breakout games for Islanders

New York Islanders center John Tavares and wing Anders Lee had a dominant performance together on the first line in their 5-3 win against the San Jose Sharks.
Tavares, who opened the year as an NHL.com top-20 fantasy player, was in a five-game point drought since a three-point game in the Islanders home-opener against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 7. He had a three-point game Saturday against the Sharks with two assists and adding an empty-net goal. Fantasy owners who were weary on Tavares as of late should begin to roll him in lineups again, especially in DFS formats.
Lee had his strongest game of the season with two goals and an assist with two shots on goal. Lee is coming off 34 goals last season, but is only owned in 44 percent of Yahoo leagues. That's goals in back-to-back games for Lee, and in four of his past six games overall to give him five on the season. The forward is playing on the first line with Tavares and Jordan Eberle and is skating on the first power-play unit as well. He is a must-own fantasy player and is a great DFS target in nightly lineups as long as he maintains his exposure to Tavares.

Smith comes up big; Subban injured for Vegas

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in overtime on Saturday. Reilly Smith (8 percent owned) scored his second goal of the season and had two assists. His goal and one of his assists came on the power play where he is skating on the second unit. Smith now has back-to-back multi-point games with at least one power-play point in each. He has points in four of his past five games.
Subban has filled in admirably for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion). Subban (32 percent owned) stopped 37 of 38 shots against in his strongest outing so far. However, Subban sustained a lower-body injury in the third period. Fantasy owners will want to monitor Subban in the coming days before the Golden Knights next game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. If Subban can't go it could be Oscar Dansk (1 percent owned), although Vegas could acquire another goalie. Owners looking for a short-term answer on the waiver wire could look at Jimmy Howard (61 percent) or Petr Mrazek (25 percent) of the Detroit Red Wings, Anton Khudobin of the Boston Bruins (24 percent) or Chad Johnson of the Buffalo Sabres (4 percent).