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Entering his 12th year in the National Hockey League, Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is off and running to the best statistical start to a season in his Hall of Fame career. The Oilers captain recorded his second five-point outing on the year in a 6-2 win over the Utah Mammoth on Saturday night, bringing his season total to six goals and 19 assists for a league-leading 23 points, the best mark since Mario Lemiuex’s all-time best of 27 through eight games in 1995. The Richmond Hill, Ont., native is now on pace for 241 points over the NHL’s new 84-game regular season schedule, a mark that would shatter his career best of 153 and would place him alongside another Oilers great in Wayne Gretzky as the only players in league history to eclipse the 200-point mark. It is no coincidence that McDavid’s red-hot start has come after new head coach Mike Babcock placed fellow Hart Trophy winner Leon Draisaitl on his wing in a re-worked Oilers top line. “I think Leo and I, when we did play together it was just a one-off or a situation where we needed to find one and we knew it wasn’t necessarily a long-term thing,” McDavid said.

It’s been just under a month since the Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off a blockbuster trade on the eve of the NHL season, acquiring Kirill Marchenko from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a deal that saw Matthew Knies head the other way. The sample size remains limited, but the early stats suggest Marchenko is proving to be the upgrade the Maple Leafs were betting he would be last month. The 26-year-old winger has four goals and 10 points through 10 games this season, on pace to average a point per game for the first time in his career. After calling on himself to produce more last week, Marchenko posted a hat trick in a 5-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. He has been a consistent producer, posting at least a point in eight of Toronto’s 10 games. The Maple Leafs inked Marchenko to a six-year, $75 million contract extension as part of the trade, boosting his cap hit to $12.5 million when it kicks in next season compared to the $7.75 million Knies is signed for. “There’s a lot of good players in the NHL,” Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka said in the wake of the deal.

Published: October 20, 2026 at 9:47a.m. EDTKeep updated on all the injury news and roster updates from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips. FilterMontreal CanadiensGoaltender Jakub Dobes will get the start tonight at home against the San Jose Sharks while Adam Engstrom replaces David Reinbacher on defence. After a stellar playoffs, Dobes has struggled to start the 2026-27 regular season. He is 1-2-1 in four appearances while recording an .842 save percentage and 4.63 GAA. In his last outing on Oct. 14 against the Washington Capitals, Dobes allowed five goals on 24 shots in a 5-4 loss. Engstrom draws back into the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch on Saturday. In four games this season, he has yet to record a point while averaging 11:01 of ice time. Adam Engstrom fera son retour dans la formation ce soir, tandis que David Reinbacher sautera son tour. Dobes sera devant le filetAdam Engstrom will return to the lineup, while David Reinbacher will skip his turn. Jakub Dobes starts tonight pic.twitter.com/RdRChsLz1c— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 20, 2026 New Jersey DevilsForward Connor Brown will make his season debut tonight against the Colorado Avalanche after

O'Sullivan has had a quiet start to the 2026-27 season, with a run to the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open the only significant result in his five tournaments to date. Two last-16 finishes preceded his final-four finish at that event, but he has been defeated in the first round in his two subsequent appearances, in Shenzhen and Belfast. Having earned £513,750 at ranking events over two years, O'Sullivan is £99,350 ahead of Ali Carter, who holds 16th spot in the world rankings, and £154,650 clear of Zhou Yuelong, who sits in 17th, with winnings of £359,100. On first glance, that appears to be a comfortable cushion, with only a set of significant runs from his rivals putting him at risk of having to qualify for the World Championships in May next year. However, there are issues over the horizon, because over a third of O'Sullivan's winnings come from reaching the final of the Saudi Arabia Masters in August 2025. The £200,000 he won in Jeddah will continue to count towards his ranking past the 2027 World Championship, but that money will slip out of the eligibility period soon after the start of the 2027-28 season.

Matthew Knies came out of the blocks flying in his Blue Jackets debut, but has cooled significantly since. What's up with that? Adam Vingan takes a look.