A mid-week packed slate means there's a lot of boxscores to comb and fantasy thoughts to digest. Get comfy, grab your coffee, tea, or drink of choice, and let's get rolling.

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Big news, the NHL looks like it is closing in on a new TV deal with ESPN, and if they're getting to it before the offseason, that's good news that they're not feeling pressured into it. 

Sources: ESPN is signing a seven-year deal with the NHL as part of the league's new U.S. media rights package.https://t.co/R7VeixXYq7

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 9, 2021

The future cap numbers will be directly impacted by the numbers coming in on this new TV deal. After a flat cap this season, the cap can continue to rise incrementally for next year. For those of you in cap leagues, don't get too aggressive and count on anything more than $82 million. It's better to guess too low and if the number ends up being higher, well then it's literally found money. 

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Three new players on the NHL Covid list: Kyle Turris, Erik Haula, and Marcus Sorensen. You didn't have Dobber on Monday reminding you of his theory that the NHL will see the majority of their Covid cases in the first third of the season – the thinking is that once players see how tight they need to be, they will clean up their act and the cases will dwindle. These are the first new players added to the list in a few days, so keep a sharp eye on the Twittersphere to keep on top of any rescheduling. 

On the flip side, Tomas Hertl looks set to return to the Sharks' lineup on Friday. 

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The Midseason Guide is scheduled to be released at the end of the week – likely late afternoon on March 12. You can pre-order now and it will be available for download when it’s released. If you're not reading it and your league mates are, then be ready for a disappointing finish to the fantasy season. It's also a great way to help support us and all the content that gets pumped out on a daily basis. 

Also, if you're not a FrozenTools patron, it's probably worth your while: 

NEW for our patrons

Tomorrow morning I'll be adding a new Line Combo report for our top tier. All power play lines, but instead of F and D being separated, they're together. So you know which D plays on PP1, etc.

Every team, every game. Sample below 👇https://t.co/GobG4NqxfN pic.twitter.com/3Lhlw2un4r

— Frozen Tools (@FrozenTools) March 10, 2021

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Roman Josi may have finished Sunday's game against the Stars and scored the shootout winner. However, he's now out week-to-week with and upper-body-injury. With Ryan Ellis also on the shelf, Mattias Ekholm likely sees a big boost in the short term as the favourite to take over top-unit power play duties – he played 29 minutes last night. The Preds' offence has been anemic since the second week of the season though, so the ceiling is not as high as it could be on another team. 

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I made a trade in one of my fantasy leagues last night, and wanted to put it out here for some discussion. The trade was one for one, and they are former teammates. Here's the blind comparison before last night's games:

Player B has missed a few games, so keep that in mind while evaluating the stats, but even the per-game rates favour Player A. Both players played last night. See if you can guess them both. I'll get back to them in a minute. 

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Everyone's favourite analytics whipping boy Jack Johnson finally got is first of the season. Even in leagues with 600 players owned you likely won't find him on my roster. He's now only bringing two hits per game, and as with most Rangers defencemen, the minuses are starting to rack up. 

On the flip side of that game, Sidney Crosby put up two points. He may be 34 years old now, but I have seen a few trades (even in one-year leagues) of late where he is being undervalued. He's still someone that should be considered a top-10 point producer in the NHL, though he currently sits at 20^th. If you're looking for a big swing and the Connor McDavids of the world aren't available, he's your target. 

Among New York Rangers forwards Alexis Lafreniere finished with the second-most ice time in the game, but he was held pointless. It won't be long until the 'scoreless' part of that last statement will be the uncommon half of it. 

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Sergei Bobrovsky has been good in small samples with Florida, but hasn't been able to find his footing for longer stretches or around injuries. 

Chris Driedger has been solid in his role as the second half of the platoon, but has been slowing of late. He has had some bumps along the line wherever he goes, but usually evens out in the end. The Florida system isn't as tight as the one in Columbus, but under coach John Quenneville they're getting better. 

In the other net:

What! A! Save! pic.twitter.com/OF3CxOqtpE

📢 advertisement:

— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) March 10, 2021

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The two players compared above were A) Nikolaj Ehlers, and B) Patrik Laine. Yes, Ehlers looks better across the board this season, and that is in spite of Laine starting with a three-point game. The trade to Columbus hasn't agreed with him despite his underlying metrics showing that he has been a little unlucky. The decrease from almost 20 minutes per game to less than 18 has really affected him. He was back up to 20 minutes last night, so keep an eye on that.  

On the flip side of the Laine (and Jack Roslovic) vs. Pierre-Luc Dubois deal, the Winnipeg Jets also seem to be under-using their new player, as Dubois is seeing only 16 minutes per game with his new team. He's shooting more and getting more powerplay time though, so this might be the right time to look to buy-in before he really gets comfortable. 

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The Tampa Bay and Detroit game was painful to watch, and not because of the talent discrepancy. The arena horn was going off in-game and no one could figure out how to troubleshoot it, so the teams had to play through it. 

Lol the horn is going off at the :59 second mark of every minute. This is amazing

— Prashanth Iyer (@iyer_prashanth) March 10, 2021

The Red Wings actually opened the scoring, but the Lightning were just too much, eventually winning the game in overtime. Erik Cernak had a Gordie Howe hat-trick, and he’s one of the best growing multi-cat defencemen in the game right now.

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Elias Pettersson hasn't hit a post or a crossbar in almost three weeks now, but he still leads the NHL in shots that have hit the iron with eight (from NHL.com). Four skaters are tied at five for second, three of them you would expect, and the last is a real surprise. Auston Matthews, Kyle Connor, and Leon Draisaitl all make sense as skilled players who shoot a lot, but Aaron Ekblad sitting with them makes you think a bit. The initial reaction would be that Ekblad deserves a few extra goals because of all that iron, but peaking behind the curtain, he's actually already been very lucky.

Ekblad is up to 2.8 shots per game after only averaging 2.2 over the last three seasons. He has never shot above 8.5% in his career though, and is now sitting at 13%. From NaturalStatTrick, he's upped his production of shots, and that's showing in the rate that his teammates are shooting with him on the ice as well despite seeing eerily similar usage as in the last few years. However, the high-danger chances are actually down (last column – note it's a total not a rate).

The 25-year-old entered last year's 50-point campaign at his breakout threshold of 400 career games, and has upped his scoring pace to 60 points this season. Still a little confused about what is going on? So was I until I took a look at how his power play usage has changed. With the departure of Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov in the offseason, a spot freed up for Ekblad on the top unit, and he is now playing three-and-a-half minutes on the power play. If the powerplay keeps up, then he should be able to keep up the higher scoring pace. If Florida acquires a few powerplay shooters in the future though, it will be a good hint that you should look to sell Ekblad. 

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Speaking of defencemen that have upped their scoring rates, Neil Pionk is chugging along very nicely right now at a 69-point full-season pace. He's only at 200 career games, and could be a regular 60-point defenceman for a few years through his prime. Contrary to Ekblad, Pionk's even strength scorsing is up and his powerplay numbers are down. There are a few extra assists in there, but under the hood things don't look too bad. 

One interesting set of numbers that I noted in the offseason was Connor Hellebuyck's rollercoaster career. Well, he's back down to being an average goalie again, but he is seeing even more rubber than last year which is keeping his volume stats and save percentage up. He aso doesn't have a shutout this year, and it wouldn't be surprising if he doesn't record one all season in the Canadian Division. 

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Buffalo looked excellent with Jack Eichel out of the lineup, and sometimes that kind of shakeup is what you need to get a team going. Missing a star player like your top-line centre takes the shackles off of a lot of the depth skaters, and forces the team to get out of a lot of bad habits that can creep in during the season. Eric Staal put up his first point in seven games, but would make an excellent trade target for someone at the deadline. His value could really fluctuate depending on where he ends up, so buying in now is a little risky. 

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Matt Grzelcyk notched his second power play point of the season, when healthy he's a part of the top powerplay and that makes him the best Boston defenceman to own in points-only leagues – yes, even more so than Charlie McAvoy. 

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After a poor play leading to the Capitals' third goal, Andreas Johnsson didn't see any ice in the third period. I blame this on me jinxing myself after picking him in the Tim Hortons NHL challenge. He should bounce back closer to a 40-point pace rather than the 20-point pace he's currently putting up. In a short season, there likely isn't enough time for him to fully get back on track though. If he doesn't, he could make an excellent late pick in drafts next year. 

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Stay safe!