After Pierre-Luc Dubois skated a grand total of 3:55 on Thursday, it should come as no surprise that the Blue Jackets are getting closer to finally parting ways with the disgruntled center.

My sense from canvassing sources tonight, Columbus is closing in on a trade involving Pierre Luc Dubois. It's a complicated process that could be resolved as early as tomorrow. Teams have been told they're out. Hard to say who's in, but it's believed Winnipeg is among them.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) January 23, 2021

Told #CBJ Pierre-Luc Dubois will be a healthy scratch vs. #TBLightning on Saturday … if he's still on the Blue Jackets' roster.

Sense is GM Jarmo Kekalainen was taking a patient approach to trading Dubois, but Thursday made a trade more urgent.

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) January 23, 2021

Regarding Pierre-Luc Dubois trade talks, as of late last night/early this morning: Winnipeg is believed to have the best offer on the table, and #CBJ continue to gauge the market to see if it will be bettered.

Jarmo Kekalainen has made big asks of the teams still involved.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) January 23, 2021

You might have seen video of his final shift for the Blue Jackets, a leisurely skate that seemed to send a message that he's had enough of the Blue Jackets and John Tortorella. This relationship appears to be beyond a reconciliation, so expect PLD to be dealt sometime in the next few days. Of course, we will break down any Dubois trade for both sides in a Fantasy Impact piece.

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The Capitals managed to squeeze by Buffalo in a shootout 4-3 win in spite of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Ilya Samsonov all being held out due to COVID protocols. Tom Wilson also left this game early with a lower-body injury, so the Capitals were seriously undermanned by the end of this game.

The Capitals' only power play started with just 10 seconds left in regulation, so we didn't really get a good look as to what a full first-unit arrangement sans Ovechkin and Kuznetsov would look like. Interestingly enough, Justin Schultz managed to make his way out for most of it along with usual suspects John Carlson, T.J. Oshie, and Nicklas Backstrom. Schultz has yet to record a point in five games as a Capital, but it's not from lack of opportunity. He ranks sixth on the team in average power-play time.

In his fifth NHL game, World Junior star Dylan Cozens scored his first NHL goal. Want to view the goal? Click on the link on Cozens' name to go to his Frozen Tools page, then his game log, then you'll see a video icon on the right. Another cool brand-new feature over at Frozen Tools. Or for a quicker glimpse, you can catch Cam's GIF below.

Dylan Cozens with his first career goal.

It's a pretty one pic.twitter.com/sqnVotFnh9

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) January 23, 2021

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No Auston Matthews and no Joe Thornton? No problem for the Leafs, who were able to skate to a 4-2 win over Edmonton. Matthews' injury is only considered day-to-day, so he is expected to return shortly. Thornton is expected to be out at least four weeks with a fractured rib, so you'll need to look for another option if you had added him because of his opportunity on the Matthews – Mitch Marner line. John Tavares was moved onto the Marner line, as was Zach Hyman.  

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If you're a Dallas Stars fan, Friday's long-awaited season debut was worth the wait. Sadly, I started Juuse Saros for one of my teams when I needed a big game from a goalie.

Remember when Joe Pavelski joined the Stars last season and it appeared that he wasn't the right fit? After scoring 38 goals in his final season in San Jose, Pavelski sputtered to just 14 goals and 31 points in 67 regular-season games in his first regular season in Dallas. Yet if you include Friday's two-goal effort, Pavelski has scored 15 goals in 28 games dating back to the start of the playoffs. Tyler Seguin's absence might mean that Pavelski is leaned on even more, as his 19:39 of icetime exceeded his 2019-20 ATOI by nearly three minutes. Although Pavelski won't score two goals and two assists every game like he did on Friday, he is worthy of more than 28 percent ownership in Yahoo leagues.

Pavelski's linemate Alexander Radulov also had a strong debut, scoring two goals of his own while adding an assist.

John Klingberg chipped in three assists for the Stars while logging first-unit power-play minutes. I mentioned just before the season that I'd prefer waiting a bit and drafting Klingberg (Yahoo ADP 110.6) over Miro Heiskanen (Yahoo ADP 77.8).

Not skipping a beat from the Stars' playoff run, Anton Khudobin stopped all 34 shots he faced to pick up the shutout. With Ben Bishop expected to be out until at least March, Khudobin is a must-own and a must-start.

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The Wild are off to a strong 4-1-0 start, but there is some worry with Cam Talbot's exit from Friday's game after he was stung by a shot. Kaapo Kahkonen came on in relief and stopped all 17 shots to earn the win over San Jose. For what it's worth, coach Dean Evason didn't think Talbot's injury was serious. Goalie prospect Kahkonen might be a good option to stash away for Sunday's rematch with the Sharks, should Talbot be forced to miss any time.

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Two blueline prospects made their NHL debuts on Friday. They're both worth at least adding to your watch list in keeper leagues.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph recorded an assist, a plus-1, three shots, and three hits in his Penguins debut. He logged 13 minutes of icetime, which did not include any power-play time. I know Dobber mentioned Mike Matheson as the possible beneficiary of a Kris Letang injury, but now Matheson is on the shelf. Joseph might receive a go on the power play should Letang be sidelined. See Joseph's Dobber Prospects profile for more.

In his Coyotes debut, Victor Soderstrom did not fill the boxscore as much as Joseph. Yet included in his 15 minutes of icetime was the equivalent of second-unit power-play minutes. Oliver Ekman-Larsson's injury probably has a lot to do with Soderstrom's recent addition from the taxi squad. Yet this is a very positive sign for a 19-year-old rookie defenseman fresh off the World Juniors, even if the Coyotes aren't overflowing with offensive weapons (although I'll discuss one Coyote who is making some noise in a moment). See Soderstrom's Dobber Prospects profile for more.

Shortly after one-time prospect Julius Honka was waived, there were rumblings that Thomas Harley would also debut for the Stars on Friday after he was paired with Esa Lindell during practice. However, we will need to wait a bit longer for that to happen. See Harley's Dobber Prospects profile for more.

He wasn't making his NHL debut on Friday, but Bowen Byram recorded his first NHL point (an assist) in his second NHL game. You probably know how talented Byram is by watching him in the World Juniors. I know firsthand from watching him live in the WHL how dynamic and mobile he is. Even though he's not unseeding Cale Makar on the first-unit power play anytime soon, and he may not even get a sniff of the second-unit power play, don't sleep on this kid for too long. The fact that the Avalanche were able to draft him with Ottawa's high first-round pick was absolute highway robbery. See Byram's Dobber Prospects profile for more.

Bowen Byram dropping an absolute DIME for his first career point.

pic.twitter.com/4gJwtvCOnu

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) January 23, 2021

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Random thought from the Avalanche/Ducks game. Rickard Rakell finally recorded his first point of the season (an assist) in his fifth game. From what I caught of this game, Rakell was flying out there. The shot total reflected that, as he finished the game with a season-high six shots. If you're thinking about dropping him because of the slow start, see if you can hang onto him a little bit longer. He definitely passed the eye test for me on Friday. Sorry to my friend who I said "okay to drop Rakell but now that you do he'll probably catch fire" earlier this week.

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The Coyotes' week-long four-game ordeal against the Golden Knights wasn't expected to be ideal if you were planning to start any Arizona players this week. This little fact sticks in my mind because Steve Laidlaw brought this up when I mentioned that I drafted the Arizona goaltending tandem in one league.

Anyway, Vegas had managed to hold Conor Garland at bay for their first two matches, but on Friday he helped power the Coyotes to 5-2 win by scoring a goal and adding two assists to go with five shots. Garland now leads the Yotes with six points and 20 shots. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to predict that the former fifth-round pick will lead the Coyotes in scoring.

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There's still tons of season left to be played, but I hope you didn't have Elias Pettersson as your sleeper Art Ross or Hart Trophy winner. Six games into the season and the Canucks franchise forward has zero goals and just one assist to his name. Thursday marked his fifth game without a point, which was particularly demoralizing because he had not taken a shot and was held to just 14 minutes of icetime. Travis Green's line juggling even had him skating with Tanner Pearson and Jake Virtanen in the later part of Thursday's crushing 7-3 loss to Montreal. The cliché "squeezing" the stick might be an understatement for what he's going through, as the frustration clearly shows on his face.

I read something that told me that Pettersson's 5-on-5 shooting percentage is slightly higher than expected, which would suggest that a normalization won't be massive. Yet this is a near point-per-game player who is only in his third NHL season that we're talking about. The normal shooting percentage, points/60, and IPP are all way down. This isn't rocket science. Get that buy-low offer out to a Pettersson owner who is feeling down on their luck (although Kris Letang wasn't going to get it done in my recent trade offer for Petey).

Staying with the Canucks, their inexperienced defense looks completely out of sorts with Alex Edler and Travis Hamonic both on the shelf. Their 28 goals allowed is far and away the highest total among any team right now (although no team has played more than six games, which the Canucks have played).  With a team 4.67 goals-against per game total and 37 shots allowed per game, avoid starting either Braden Holtby or Thatcher Demko for the time being. This is even with Ottawa coming to Vancouver for a three-game set next week.

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In case you missed it, Tyler Toffoli went off with a five-goal explosion in two games this week against Vancouver. This obviously won't be sustainable, but the signs are already there that he could be a solid fit in a good-but-not-outstanding group of Montreal forwards that is designed more as a top-9 as opposed to a top 6. Toffoli's shooting percentage is a sky-high 27% that will regress. However, he has been taking about three and a half shots per game, including 11 shots in the past two games against his former team. I'll leave all the daily league advice to Steve Dotzel, but to me Toffoli is a must-start on Saturday while he holds the hot stick against the Canucks.

Fantasy Impact: Montreal Signs Toffoli

Joel Armia's four-point game on Thursday is worth mentioning. However, he will be out of the Montreal lineup for the foreseeable future with a concussion, thanks to a reckless late-game hit from Tyler Myers that avoided suspension.

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For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding