Around the NHL: Nov. 3

As the calendar now flips into the month of November this means the first month of the season is over.

There have been many interesting storylines and plenty of upsets around the league so far this season.

NHL fans were treated to another week of thrilling hockey action. Let's take a look at some of the top headlines from the first month of the 2023-2024 NHL season.

The top headline of the week in not just the NHL, but around all of the hockey community was the tragic passing of former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Adam Johnson.

Johnson died shortly after taking a skate blade to the neck area during an Elite Ice Hockey League game on Saturday.

The EIHL postponed all games scheduled for Sunday in honor of Johnson. The NHL and union are discussing on-ice safety rules for all players to wear neck guards now.

The Anaheim Ducks rookie goaltender Lukas Dostal was shockingly named Rookie of the Month for October over many notable names like Connor Bedard, Luke Hughes and Adam Fantilli.

Dostal led all rookie netminders with four wins in five appearances and posted a 2.79 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in the month of October.

The 23-year-old netminder was selected by the Ducks in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft and could be a very capable backup for John Gibson heading further into the season.

On Tuesday the NHL stripped the Ottawa Senators of a future first-round pick as punishment for the Evgenni Dadonov trade back in 2021.

In 2021 the Senators traded Dadonov without informing the Las Vegas Golden Knights of the right winger's 10-team no-trade clause.

The league has ruled that the Senators will have to forfeit either their 2024, 2025 or 2026 first-round draft pick as a result of the incident.

Longtime veteran Paul Stastny announced his retirement after 17 seasons in the NHL. The 37-year-old forward told The Athletic this week that he made the decision around training camp time.

Stastny was a former second-round pick by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2005 NHL Draft, Stastny totaled 293 goals and 529 assists in 1,145 regular-season games in his NHL career.

Last season, Stastny had 22 points in 73 regular-season games for the Hurricanes and also had four goals in 15 playoff games.

Over the weekend the 20203 Heritage Classic took place at Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta, Canada.

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames, 5-2 in a big rivalry matchup and gained two crucial points to stop an early-season slump.

Evander Kane led the way for the Oilers with his scrappy play and he recorded three points on the night.

Christian Holtzapple is a fourth-year majoring in Broadcast Journalism, To contact him, email cmh7064@psu.edu.