Looking at the points race one month into the season gave us a glimpse into the future — even if for one fleeting moment.

Upon gazing at the very mountaintop of goals and assists prior to Saturday night’s games, one wouldn’t see the familiar names of

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What I loved this weekend

As an avid puck collector, I want to throw some flowers to the Philadelphia Flyers and their assortment in the team store. While attending their Star Wars Day on Saturday, I ventured into the shop and saw a cornucopia of landmarks, legends and game pucks.

The mark of a good collectors’ puck is uniqueness and quality. The 3D printing on pretty much all of the pucks was a value add, and the different materials (metal vs. rhinestone, for example) offered great variety.

Gritty even had his own puck, complete with googly eyes and an orange beard. Creative.

If you’re a Flyers fan and you walk past this, you’re probably picking up a puck or two.

Hart Trophy candidates if the season ended today

It might be the only week I can do this …

Congratulations Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, you are Hart Trophy finalists if the award was handed out on Nov. 10, 2025!

If the Capitals were in a playoff position, I would easily give the third spot to Logan Thompson (.930 save percentage, only 16 goals allowed in 10 games despite a 6-4-0 record). William Nylander has 21 points — including a league-leading 18 at even strength — and is a plus-8. Alas, he also falls prey to the “your team is not in the postseason right now” fate.

You know which team is firmly in that playoff position as we head to the all-important American Thanksgiving cutoff? The Avs. And they just dismantled the Oilers over the weekend 9-1. Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists in that game alone and took over the league lead in points — which is very rude after I made the whole point about Celebrini and Bedard above. He gets the nod as my third pick.

Honorable mention: Leo Carlsson. Uncle Leo is on an absolute tear so far this season. He had 45 points last season and already has more than half of that (23) through 14 games; he’s riding a nine-game point streak, I believe we call that a heater! He’s going to be a finalist on this list a few times coming up, I’d bet.

Social media post of the weekend

NJ Devil is one of the best mascots in sports, full stop. Speaking with Devils fans, they would point to his tireless work in the community, creating core memories for kids at Devils home games and keeping the vibes high during those games as the main reasons for the honor.

But I will add the fact that his social media game is tight; he’s routinely collaborating with influencers such as Kickball Dad and Frank the Tank. On Saturday, NJ got help from current AEW wrestler Claudio Castagnoli to put a Penguins fan through a table:

Castagnoli, a native of Switzerland, caught up with his fellow countrymen Timo Meier, Jonas Siegenthaler and Devils captain Nico Hischier, who presented him with a Jersey jersey:

Stick taps

You might know the story of Logan Coyle, a 9-year-old boy who is battling cancer and put out a call earlier this year for mascots to send him videos of encouragement.

Hundreds of mascots from across all sports, including hockey, flooded Logan with videos, gifts and visits.

The New York Islanders were among the first to do so, with Sparky visiting Logan in his hospital room.

Logan battled through another setback this week but fought hard and is now back home. Mascots continue to send him all the good vibes, and in recent weeks, Logan has been strong enough to attend games and meet some of them in person! I know that one of his favorites, NJ Devil, is waiting to roll out the red carpet at The Rock when he’s ready.