Will the pandemic kill the buzz in this year's Trade Deadline? Perhaps – but only because the salary cap is tighter than usual, both now and in the immediate future. That certainly handcuffs a lot of teams. Expect to see lots of creativity, not unlike with Tampa's acquisition of David Savard on Saturday (looping in Detroit to take some of that cap space).

I'll be putting the minor deals here in the Ramblings – the ones not worthy of a full breakdown, just a mention in list form. All the major trades will have fantasy breakdowns – for the 15^th straight year. If needed (i.e. if things get too crazy), I have Ian, Mike and Alex all ready to go with their two cents. Check back throughout the day!

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As an example of the minor deals, they have already started:

• Islanders have given Ottawa a seventh-round pick for Braydon Coburn.

• Boston has acquired Mike Reilly from Ottawa for a third rounder. Great return there, and these two moves explain why the Sens signed Cody Goloubef earlier in the day.

• Ottawa has claimed Victor Mete

• Dallas has claimed Sami Vatanen off waivers

• Dmitri Kulikov traded by the Devils to Edmonton for a draft pick

• Ottawa trades Erik Gudbranson to Nashville for Brandon Fortunado and a seventh-round pick in ’23

• Toronto has acquired defenseman Ben Hutton from Anaheim for a fifth-round pick in ’22

• Vancouver trades a fourth-round pick to Chicago for Madison Bowey and a fifth-round pick

• Philadelphia trades Michael Raffl to Washington for a fifth-round pick

• Carolina trades Haydn Fleury to Anaheim for Jani Hakanpaa and a sixth-round pick

• Winnipeg acquires Jordie Benn from Vancouver for a sixth-round pick

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To add to Ian's breakdown of the Nikita Gusev signing.

I honestly believe that he is a talented player. Potentially a star. He may have issues defensively, and perhaps even some in terms of work ethic. But so does Patrik Laine – and Laine can do whatever he wants without getting scratched for five games. All he needs is a true chance. No third line stuff. No 12-minutes of ice time crap with Tommy Stonehands and Jimmy Lunchbox. A real, legit chance.

I'll be honest with you. I don't think he's going to get one. I mean, yes, he'll get three games on a line with Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe. I think the Panthers are unhappy with Anthony Duclair, whereas Verhaeghe has been amazing. So Gusev will get three games there, if that. And if he struggles to find a rhythm… if he struggles to click with Barkov in that short span, then he's done. Why am I so pessimistic? Because I believe he needs to go to a newer coach that tends to try new things. A coach that plays players where they best fit and actually listens to analytics. But Gusev just went from Lindy Ruff to… Joel Quenneville. He just went from an old warhorse to… and old warhorse.

Gusev has about 20 games to prove that he belongs in the NHL and earn his next contract. So he's motivated. But if he only gets three games to try things out on that top line before getting played on the third line for the next three games alongside Noah Acciari and Mason Marchment, then he's screwed. Quenneville will question why he only has one point in six games. I'm not saying this will happen. I'm just saying that I'm leaning 51-49 that this is what will happen.

But who knows – maybe he finds immediate chemistry and he and Barkov become Gretzky-Kurri-esque legends.

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If I sound bitter, it's because I invested a lot in Gusev and had given up on him Friday. I own him in two leagues. One league, a Keep 12, he was one of my 12 last offseason. And I actually held him on my bench, stubbornly, all along. I was just about to drop him Sunday until Saturday night I heard he could sign with Florida. In another league, a full dynasty, I acquired him a month ago as a "buy low" that just got worse and worse with each passing game. I made a huge trade on Saturday and was forced to drop a player. I honestly was just about to make Gusev that drop when I heard the news just in the nick of time. So I dropped someone else.

We'll see how this plays out! I certainly hope it works, I just wish he went to another coach. He had 36 points in his last 46 games last year under interim coach Alain Nasreddine (a new, younger coach as I noted above). For this to work, he'll need some early bounces and get on the board quickly to hold his spot.

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By the way, that "someone else" I dropped was Andreas Johnsson. So you can expect 20 points from him in the last 17 games.

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I guess you can safely consider Philadelphia as "sellers". Losing to the Sabres on Sunday just put the cherry on top of that notion.

Casey Mittelstadt has points in six of his last seven games with the empty netter on Sunday.

Shayne Gostisbehere has seven points in his last nine games. So don't blame him! The key to his resurgence – sitting Erik Gustafsson. I said this before the season: there isn't room for both. And Ghost was showing hints of getting past his knee issues and finding at least part of his form again. Bringing Gustafsson into the mix just muddies the waters and delays Gostisbehere's rebound. I hope Ghost stays healthy and continues to build on this. He is still a defensive risk, but as long as he's putting up points I don't think teams will care.

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Marc-Andre Fleury tied Ed Belfour with his 484^th career win. A Hall of Fame spot is a lock. He also picked up his 66^th shutout of his career, and league-leading fifth of the season. This is a gift for dynasty league owners of Fleury. One last huge year for his fantasy value. You could have enjoyed many great years of help from him, and still dish him off right now for a king's ransom. I don't think he does anything like this again. What are the odds that Robin Lehner is injured next year too?

Tomas Nosek scored the only goal in the Vegas game. He now has 13 points in his last 17 games after just one point in 15 before that.

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Washington scored eight times and Alex Ovechkin had 10 shots on goal. You'd assume from that statement that Ovy had a four-goal night, but nope – zero.

With a three-point night, TJ Oshie has six in his last three games and 13 in his last 10. At 34 years old, his 0.80 points-per-game average is just shy of his career best 0.81 (2016-17).

That's back-to-back incredible games for Vitek Vanecek. That's also four consecutive Quality Starts. It would seem that the threat of Ilya Samsonov is spurring this guy on to show that he's the deserving one. I wouldn't count him out!

That's a big "oof" for Dan Vladar. Ouch. They left him in the net for all eight goals (33 shots).

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And on that same note of goalies getting spurred on by competition, Jonas Johansson got the start after Devan Dubnyk joined the team. Dubnyk was the backup to Johansson, who followed up shutout with a one-goal, 24-save effort.

Gabriel Landeskog's three-point effort Sunday gives him 32 points in his last 24 games.

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Mike Matheson has nine points in his last 10 games. He's starting to show a bit of what we saw him him years ago. He's not getting PP time. He's not getting offensive zone starts (second lowest in his career). But he's getting points.

Jake Guentzel gets a hat trick in a 5-2 Pittsburgh win – and wasn't one of the three stars of the game. It should be noted that after the game (well after), he was given a goal originally credited to third-star Bryan Rust.

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In the first of what will be many meetings throughout their rivalry, it was Ilya Sorokin vs. Igor Shesterkin! Sorokin won, but both goalies were solid.

Vitali Kravtsov had his first career NHL point in what was his fifth career game. He had some pretty sweet linemates in Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich.

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Oh look! Two smurfs are fighting. How cute…

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The Leafs toughened up and added a lot of veteran experience in the offseason, but they were still just a little lacking in both areas up front, their goaltending still has some off nights (and injury concerns), and their depth defensemen could stand to be upgraded. But Nick Foligno sure solves the first problem – and in a big way (breakdown here). If the goaltending comes through, then the Leafs are set – having a backup plan of rolling with Jack Campbell/David Rittich is probably the best they could do. To help the goalies along, adding a defenseman like Josh Manson would be phenomenal. GM Kyle Dubas has to know that they'll never get a better chance to win it all than this year – two rounds in the same division, a division they dominate. Just two teams outside the division to get through. No Columbus, and Boston or Tampa Bay they may not see until the final round… or not at all.

With that in mind, only one member of DobberHockey's preseason panel picked the Leafs to win the Cup. Just ignore that "Rebound" and "Vezina" prediction (eep)…

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See you throughout Deadline Day with my breakdowns…