On the heels of Carolina having a game cancelled against Nashville, the Hurricanes have also had two more upcoming games this week cancelled against Florida due to COVID concerns. There have been multiple positive cases in Carolina, meaning they won't be hitting the ice until incubation has passed and enough players test negative.

At the outset of the season, I said I was focusing on best ball leagues for this campaign and this exact scenario was a big reason why. I could not imagine playing a weekly league with Aho and Svechnikov locked in and then not have them play a single game. This is going to keep happening all season so fantasy owners had best get used to this. There is not much sense complaining because nothing is going to change anytime soon. The only thing we can do is roll with the punches.

Speaking of that, Washington had a few names appear on the COVID list. It includes some big ones: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Ilya Samsonov. Washington also got hit with a $100 000 fine for close contact without masks. We'll have to wait and see what the practice lines look like for the fantasy fallout of all this. We also don't know how long they'll be out, either. It could be two days or two weeks.

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In other COVID news:

#Isles Josh Bailey on the NHL's COVID protocol list today.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) January 20, 2021

Not too sure who would be the immediate replacement.

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According to the Avs, Bowen Byram will be playing soon, and it could be as shortly as this weekend. With the trade of Ian Cole, there was ostensibly a spot opened up, though with Conor Timmins around, they have six guys for the lineup, plus the recently-acquired Greg Pateryn. I am still of the mind that Byram will be heading to the AHL or WHL full-time eventually, but it'll be nice to see him get in some games before that. Maybe he shows out so well that they just can't place him elsewhere.

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He still has a ways to go but David Pastrnak was practicing with the Bruins on Wednesday, doing so in a non-contact jersey. That he was in the red jersey indicates his return is not imminent, but that he's on the ice with over a week left in January could mean he's ahead of schedule. That is great news for anyone who bought him at his price in draft season. If he only misses five or six games, he could still have a great fantasy season.

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Joe Thornton left Toronto’s 3-1 loss to Edmonton with an injury and Sheldon Keefe said he’d miss sometime. When we know more we’ll pass it along.

This game was a rather dull affair most of the way. Draisaitl and Yamamoto scored, the latter the recipient of some favourable geometry.

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New pucks will be introduced following player complaints about the pucks with chips implanted in them. While I certainly appreciate the NHL finally getting in gear with regards to tracking technology, it cannot affect the integrity of the game, which these pucks did. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in scoring from here on out.

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Mika Zibanejad missed practice for the Rangers but it's not expected to be anything serious. All the same, they practiced with Ryan Strome on the top line so if anything is amiss, he could be in line for a short-term-yet-large TOI boost. Keep an eye on the Rangers news today.

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The Dallas Stars put Julius Honka on waivers. He was a guy who had good underlying stats in small samples but never could seem to stick with the big club. Whether he gets a chance elsewhere, we'll see, but rebuilding teams like Ottawa, Los Angeles, or even Vancouver should be taking a chance here. If he can pan out, he's a depth puck-moving defenceman, and a right-shot at that. Those guys don't grow on trees.

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Patrik Laine skated for about 10 minutes at an optional practice Wednesday. What does it all mean, Basil?

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It has been an impressive start to the season for Drake Batherson and Josh Norris. The former has three assists in three games, to go with 13 shots and nine hits, while the latter has one goal, two assists, six shots, and five hits. While Brady Tkachuk will rightfully get the ink from that line, those two guys developing into legitimate top-6 forwards would be a huge development for the Sens.

What will make the continually useful in fantasy is ice time and division. They get to play in Canada, which means softer defensive matchups, but they're also getting reasonable ice time, at 18 minutes and 16 minutes, respectively. The concern with a lot of rookies is their role. It doesn't appear as though that will be a concern in Ottawa, at least for the time being.

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I have something I need to get off my chest: what on Earth is up with the way the Blackhawks are treating Collin Delia?

In the 2018-19 season, Delia played 16 games. In those 16 games, he put up a .908 overall save percentage. That may not seem great, but the league average that year was .910, and Chicago's defence looked like this:

Red is bad, and darker red is worse. He played behind a horrific defence and put up the exact same save percentage as teammate Corey Crawford. That year, he tied Jordan Binnington in high-danger save percentage. Binnington would go on to win the Stanley Cup; Delia has played two NHL games since. Again, what on Earth is going on?

I am not saying Delia is a great goalie. I have no idea if he is or not. What I do know is that in the one small NHL sample of his, he was good. And all that's happened since then is they refuse to give him starts.

Chicago is completely out of it this year. They're destined for the lottery. What could it hurt to try and find out if the 26-year old goalie in your organization who has been good before can be good again? Did he put sweetener instead of sugar in Colliton's coffee once upon a time?

Again, I get that Delia might be bad. We don't really know, though, and now seems like the perfect time to find the answer to that question.

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Going through some TOI leaders and one name jumped out to me: Elias Lindholm. Heading into Wednesday night's action, he was a shade under 22 minutes a game, good for ninth in the league among all forwards, ahead of names like Panarin, Eichel, and Draisaitl. While that hasn't led to great peripherals immediately – six shots and four hits in three games – that level of ice time with Matthew Tkachuk, on that PP unit, in that division, could mean great things for him. I don't imagine he'll keep playing 22 minutes a night, but 20 minutes a night is certainly within reach if the coach keeps trusting them as he has.

Staying with ice time for a minute, the league leader per game? Erik Karlsson. Third place in the league? Brent Burns. This is an interesting turn of events as the 2019-20 season saw Karlsson play his second-lowest minutes in nine years (the lowest was the year prior). Burns hadn't really seen a big ice time cut but Karlsson had. Does that mean Karlsson is completely healthy?

That level of ice time is interesting to me because Karlsson playing 28 minutes a game should be great for his peripherals. It is important because Karlsson has just one season of three shots per game in the last four years. That level of ice time should mean a lot more shots. However, what should happen and what does happen in hockey are infrequently the same thing.

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I am writing this in the afternoon so if something changes in the Oilers game, well, so be it, but: Jesse Puljujarvi has looked great so far this year. One game against Vancouver, he led the team in zone entries, not Connor McDavid:

McDavid’s game Thursday against the Canucks. 20 shot contributions at 5v5 plus 10 more on the power play. Did not lead the team in entries, though. 👀 pic.twitter.com/2ETGPNwFlt

— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) January 16, 2021

Besides that, I've though he's looked dangerous around the net. His problem is that he's playing in the bottom-6 and away from their top players. Few players will thrive under such circumstances, even though he's averaging three shots per game. I think he's shown enough to earn a top-6 role, and I think it could come soon. Check your waiver wires. This team won't keep losing games as they have in prior seasons. There is too much pressure to succeed.

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Ethan Bear was back in the lineup for the Oilers for their game on Wednesday night. Let us never speak of the healthy scratch again.