Important Boston Bruins update as David Pastrnak was skating with a white sweater in practice yesterday. That is generally an indicator that a player is getting closer to returning. The Bruins have a pair of games at home this week before a short four-game road trip. Pastrnak getting in another 10 days of practice before returning for Boston's home games in early February makes some sense, but I'm just guessing here. Cassidy did say, at the least, that he won't be suiting for those two coming home games.

It should be mentioned that both Patrice Bergeron and Matt Grzelcyk missed that same practice, the latter also having missed the team's most recent game.

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Be sure to check your waiver wires for Ty Smith. He has taken over the top PP duties from P.K. Subban and quite honestly looked great on Sunday night against the Islanders. The usual caveats for young players apply but he looked a year early last year. At this moment in time, he looks like he truly belongs. He is an exciting player to watch.

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The Blackhawks announced DeBrincat and Boqvist to the COVID list. There is no telling how long they’ll be out but with four games this week, fantasy owners may have a tough decision to make with DeBrincat and whether to start him.

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There was only one game in the NHL last night and it was a late game between Ottawa and Vancouver. This won't be the norm for the season, but it will be the norm for this week as days alternate between 1-2 games on MWF and 12-14 games on TThSa. With the scheduling problems the NHL is having – more on those in a minute – it may not be the last time we have a week like this, but it's the last time we're supposed to have a week like this, at any rate.

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Evan Rodrigues was absent from Penguins practice on Monday. He missed the entire second half of the game on Sunday with what appeared to be a leg injury and was not at practice on Monday. Reminder that in that game, it wasn't Kasperi Kapanen promoted to the top line, but rather Bryan Rust. And in Rust's absence, Kapanen moved to Evgeni Malkin's line.

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There are going to be some surprises heading to waivers all season long because of taxi squad requirements, but Tyler Ennis being put on waivers by the Oilers surprised me. The entire bottom-6 – Pulju aside – has been pretty bad and this guy has a history of actually being good, unlike some others they have hanging around. I hope he gets picked up somewhere else because he's too good to be left lingering on a taxi squad.

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Another Carolina update:

Tampa Bay's game tomorrow in Carolina has been postponed. Thursday now in doubt.

— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) January 25, 2021

The make-up games are starting to pile up. Dallas has several, Nashville has a couple, Carolina has however many they're going to need, and now Tampa is going to have at least one. If there is a silver lining here, it's that all the issues have been inside one division, so there won't be a problem with travel when it comes to making up these games. By the end of the year, teams could end up traveling to any one location to play three, four, five make-up games or more. That is a lot easier than having to fly to New York, then Los Angeles, then Vancouver, then Tampa Bay or whatever if we were still playing across divisions. The NHL deserves credit for the foresight here.

Unfortunately, this is just going to be the reality of the situation in the NHL this year. It will be frustrating from a fantasy perspective. There is just no way around that. At least we have hockey to watch every night as we sit home. Well, I guess not everyone is sitting at home. Fans can go watch their team in Dallas and Florida, and I'm sure all this is just a coincidence.

The game between Tampa and Carolina is still on track for Thursday but, well, you know.

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Because of the scheduling crunch and missed games so far, the Florida Panthers are basically playing a hockey game every other day until the season's over. In fact, half the division is going to be playing more than one game every other day for the remainder of the season. Something to keep in the back pocket when rosters are limited because of COVID or contact tracing or injuries or Zeus descending from Mount Olympus to crush the mortals or anything else that the year 2021 can throw at us. Jokes aside, there will be a constant pool of available players, which is a nice outlet to have in case fantasy owners need bodies for their rosters.

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Just a casual reminder that all the kind words being lobbed towards Jesse Puljujarvi after his season's debut on the top line with Connor McDavid on Sunday night was true three years ago. Was he as good then as he is now? No, of course not. But he was good enough to skate on the top line and the numbers in their limited time together said as much. The Oilers have been looking for a right winger for McDavid for five years and they were too dumb to realize they had one the whole time.

And I'm not sure how much credit this coaching staff gets. They got there eventually but not before a 2-4 start in a season where every game means a lot more than they normally do. At a certain point, they don't really get credit for trying Pulju on the top line when they are still playing Alex Chiasson and James Neal on the top PP unit. We know how this story ends, Dave, just get there already.

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Speaking of the Oilers, the team only has three power-play goals through their first seven games. That represents a pretty steep drop from last year but the upside is that this team is drawing nearly four power plays per game. That kind of volume can only mean good things moving forward. They may not replicate the success they saw in 2019-20, but McDavid is on pace for 80 points in 56 games and that's with a lot less PP production. Imagine what he's going to do when that starts turning itself around.

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On the topic of power plays, the only team without a PP goal this year: Anaheim. That is zero goals in 28 minutes of power-play time. They obviously won't stay at zero percent all year but I am fascinated to see if they can maintain anywhere near, like, five percent. Just from an experimental perspective, this would be a fascinating thing to see play out in the real world.

At the least, there is some positive regression to come, so, uh, that's good news?

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The injury to Philippe Myers has potentially opened a spot for Shayne Gostisbehere and he was skating on a pair with Ivan Provorov in Flyers practice on Monday. It doesn't mean that Gostisbehere is a top-pair defenceman moving forward, but that the team is at least going to give him this opportunity is a good sign. I am still a believer in his talent and think he can probably do wonders for them on the power play, but he really needs to show it. Even the most ardent supporters have moments of crisis.

In that same practice, Nolan Patrick was skating with Myers, indicative that there's something going on with Patrick and he may not be completely healthy. Coach said after practice that he’s fine and will play on Tuesday but coaches have absolutely no incentive to tell the truth so I’m going to wait and see.

It would also seem that Erik Gustafsson will come out of the lineup if that is indeed the case. That would pretty much open up a PP role on the team, which would ostensibly be filled by Gostisbehere. I still don't have much faith in the Flyers until Couturier returns but Gostisbehere could be of value sooner rather than later.

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It was quite the start to the season for Dallas over the weekend, absolutely shelling the Preds for 10 goals across two games, including eight on the power play. The top line – with Hintz and Gurianov – looked better than they did at any point last year with Tyler Seguin at centre. As the season progresses and Seguin's return approaches, it will be interesting to see exactly how he fits in.

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Jordan Kyrou looks like he's finally making good on all that promise he has shown for years. Not that it's entirely his fault – injuries ravaged him for a while – but he's getting the shot he deserves and is up to six points in six games. Just a wonderful start for a guy who is now regularly playing 14-15 minutes a night.