Rick Bowness was cleared to return to the team following a false-positive COVID test. This seemed like a likely case of a false positive as it became public that he and some members of the team had already been vaccinated, but it's always good to get clarity in these situations. Good for Bowness.

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Mike Hoffman was a healthy scratch on Wednesday night. We have seen a lot of this around the league this year and I have to think the schedule and travel is playing a factor here. Just the grind of this season in particular, really.

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A quick Frederik Andersen update:

Sheldon Keefe on Frederik Andersen:

"No update. He had another follow up but I haven't gotten the update yet."

Any concern he's done for the season?

"No concern."

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) April 7, 2021

There are a couple factors at play here. First, the Leafs can probably walk to a division title for the balance of the season, so there's no rush to get any injured player back. Also, Jack Campbell has been great in his tenure this year. Giving Andersen all the time he needs makes sense, and he's probably not even the starter anymore.

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It doesn't appear as though Brendan Gallagher will require surgery on his fractured thumb, which is good news, but he is on LTIR and will be out at least six weeks. He may be fine for playoffs but that will be pushing the timeline depending when the North Division can fit in all their games.

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Both Zach Parise and Mats Zuccarello were back in the lineup for the Wild on Wednesday night.

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Alex MacLean wrote about the trade between the Islanders and Devils that sent Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac to New York.

All I will add is that I think this finally gives the Islanders three complete lines again, something they haven’t had since the Anders Lee injury. Adding two players that can play top-9 roles, particularly one that is a proven 25-goal scorer, is a great get for the Isles. I will also note that because they’re local players, there is no quarantine. They are eligible to suit up right away.

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Blake Wheeler is out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms and in practice, Andrew Copp took his spot on his line.

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Sometimes, you still marvel at what he can do and at the speed with which he can do it:

Omg Connor 🔥 pic.twitter.com/g5Or4LD4CC

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 7, 2021

The odd thing is, that goal kind of overshadowed what Leon Draisaitl did, which is tally a hat trick. He scored the empty-netter with one second left in the game to complete the three-goal effort. Connor McDavid assisted all three goals while Tyson Barrie had a pair of helpers on his own in the 4-2 win.

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William Nylander was held out of the Leafs game on Wednesday night because he was a close contact with a possible positive case. The game went on as scheduled.

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Boone Jenner has a broken finger and will miss the remainder of the season. I would like to offer up players who could step up in his absence, though I think if you’re digging into Columbus depth with a month left in the regular season, your fantasy season is probably already over.

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Evgeni Malkin was skating for the Penguins on Wednesday morning, though we didn't get any further updates. That he's skating is a good sign, though.

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Gustav Nyquist continues to skate with Jackets in practice, indicating that he's at least somewhat close to returning.  

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The trade deadline is only a few days away and we've gotten a lot of clarity over the last few weeks of play. Let us take a quick view of the landscape, division by division.

North

It has been a brutal slide for the Flames, going 2-9-0 over their last 11 games, and that has effectively pushed them out of a playoff spot. Barring a complete miracle, the playoff teams in the North will be Edmonton, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Montreal (the Habs are eight points up on the Flames with five games in hand). That kind of clarity eases the issue of the 7-day border quarantine because teams don't *really* need those players for the stretch run. Sure, they can jostle for seeding, but that's about it.

Unfortunately for the teams missing the playoffs, there isn't much to sell off. The Flames' best UFA is probably Derek Ryan, while Vancouver has very few healthy players and it's uncertain how many will be healthy in five days' time. It could be a quiet trade deadline for them.

That effectively leaves Ottawa as the lone seller of worth in Canada, but their two best UFAs – Ryan Dzingel and Mike Reilly – could be best-served being re-signed by the Sens. Of course, they can trade them and accomplish that bit of business in the offseason, but there's always the chance of being rebuffed.

All in all, it could be a quiet deadline for Canada, and it's not necessarily because of the governments' quarantines. The fact is between the four playoff teams, there is less than $1.5M total in deadline cap space, per Cap Friendly. Any trades made will be relatively small or with in-kind salaries. I am not sure how gung-ho GMs are going to be to trade draft picks in a flat-cap era. Draft picks on ELCs are becoming even more important, in fact. Beyond the limited cap space, it's unlikely (m)any Canucks are traded, so there may not be a lot going on in Canada for the deadline.

West

We still have ourselves a playoff race here but half the teams in the division (COL/VGK/MIN and ANA) have basically decided their playoff fates already, as the former three are almost certainly in and the latter is almost certainly out. Los Angeles is almost certainly out as well but they're not a bad team and a game last night against Arizona (this was written Wednesday afternoon) and two games against the Sharks this weekend could get them there.

Colorado and Minnesota both have a lot of deadline cap space to work with so it'll be curious to see what goes on there. Colorado is arguably the best team in the NHL already while Minnesota is in its re-tool mode. Where can Colorado improve, and where can Minnesota improve without sacrificing the future? They definitely need a centre but it's unlikely to be one that would cost much in a trade. What about the aforementioned Derek Ryan? I think that would make a lot of sense, allowing Joel Eriksson-Ek to move away from a defence-first role.

I am very curious to see what St. Louis is going to do here. They aren't far out of a playoff spot and this team is still in their Cup window. That said, they haven't looked very good basically at any point this year and it's a wonder if they aren't just going to see if they can get through with what they have. They don't have cap space anyway, and with all the injuries this year, maybe they're too far gone already as it is.

Arizona is an interesting team here. They are currently sitting in a playoff spot and have cap space, though they have injured players and the state of the franchise isn't the best. Remember, they gave up assets for Taylor Hall, didn't get much in return for that, and lose more assets with their tampering issue. Even with cap space, it's hard to see them moving out more assets to just repeat the same mistake they made last year. This could be a playoff appearance to keep selling the future of the team without mortgaging the future of the team.

Central

Here we have three teams in (FLA/TB/CAR) and we have one team out (DET). The other four are fighting for the last playoff spot, and it's probably going to be an entertaining race to the end of the year. Every game between those four teams for the final playoff spot is a four-point game. That is always fun to watch.

Anyway, Chicago picked up Vinnie Hinostroza and that feels like the kind of move they'll make at the deadline, if anything. They have no cap space, so money in has to be money out, and this is a team that still has uncertainty around it with regards to Jonathan Toews's future. They may want some clarity there before deciding what to do with their assets.

I think Nashville is almost in the same spot. Two months ago, the talk was the rebuild. There is still some talk about Mattias Ekholm being traded, yet they're currently sitting in a playoff spot? They are in a real tough spot because it appears the Cup window has closed but they have multiple contracts running for tens of millions several years into the future. They are almost in a similar position as San Jose, and eventually, San Jose's aging players just couldn't do it anymore.

Dallas has a number of UFAs that would be of interest but they could be in a playoff spot in short order and could be getting Tyler Seguin back somewhat soon as well. They look like they could be a darkhorse to make some noise, but it's unlikely to be a big deadline addition.

This isn't related to the trade deadline but can we get the Detroit Red Wings a first overall pick? They keep getting screwed. Give them one. As a treat!

East

We probably aren't far from there being enough separation from the top-4 and the bottom-4 teams to call it a season, but we aren't quite there yet. Of course, Buffalo and New Jersey are sellers while WSH/NYI/PIT look to be buyers, if possible. Boston has the inside track on the final playoff spot, but the Rangers are starting to play good hockey, easily their best of the season. They made a run last year – don't count them out of making another one this year. They just might have too much ground to make up in a month.

Regardless, I think all eyes are on Boston here. They have the cap space and the assets to make some additions for the postseason. This is also David Krejci's last year while Patrice Bergeron has just one more. The time for this core is running out so I would look for them to make a couple big additions. Kyle Palmieri would have made a lot of sense, but too late for that now. So maybe they swing for the fences on the blue line with Ekholm.

Washington is a team that interests me. Alex Ovechkin is UFA and there are no guarantees he returns. The team also has no cap space. Do they get creative to make one more push in what could be Ovi's final year in a Caps uniform? They have several players extended for several millions in the years beyond this, so they need to find a balance of going for it this year but leaving enough in the cupboard for the next 3-4 years. Not an easy season to be the Caps' GM.

New Jersey has oodles and oodles of cap space. They could be a temporary home for players with bad contracts that need to be moved out to make the money work in trades elsewhere.