The Devils have been alternating winning streaks and losing streaks of late. After barely playing Alexander Holtz in their win against Tampa Bay on the 20^th, he was sent down to the Utica Comets of the AHL. With him being at six games on the season thus far, it seems unlikely that we see much more of him this year. He may get a few games at the tail end of the season to complete his nine-game trial, but as of right now it's best for him to be playing big minutes in the minors rather than sitting on the bench and in the press-box at the NHL level.

Holtz got better every game he played, and as a potent trigger-man he is exactly what this Devils' lineup needs more of. He will be one to target even in single-season leagues for next year.

On the flip side, you may want to cancel your pre-order of the Devils' new black jersey. It's not to my taste anyways, and that seemed to be the consensus online as well.  

In Jersey, tradition is everything.

OUR STORY ➡️ https://t.co/1GDeAfytvH pic.twitter.com/x5ssSn5vUi

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 23, 2021

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Keith Yandle and Nick Seeler were completely hemmed in last night by a short-handed Lightning group. That doesn't bode well for either staying in the lineup full-time over the course of the season. Seeler is the easy one to take out when Ryan Ellis eventually makes his return, while Yandle may end up being next on the chopping block. He is being extremely sheltered right now, but unlike Seeler he is making good with his minutes overall, with his underlying numbers giving him a positive review.

Yandle's offence hasn't exactly been world-beating, with five assists through 17 games, and only two points with the man-advantage. At this point that may be the floor of what we can expect. There is still a bit of room to grow on the power play, especially if he sees more time with the first unit, while there is a ton of luck to be made up for at even strength. He may want to keep up his game soon if he really wants to keep his iron-man streak alive though. He is second all-time now after hitting game 939 last night, 26 games short of the longest run ever.

Right behind him on that list is Phil Kessel at 919 straight games. At age 34, Kessel has seen his numbers drop off drastically since joining the Coyotes, and this year he is on pace for his lowest scoring total since his rookie season. With the Coyotes, there isn't much hope for his production to rebound, but fantasy owners can cross their fingers for a trade to a contender later on in the year. Having a hand in every power play goal the Coyotes have scored while Kessel was on the ice shows that he still has the talent to help the depth scoring of every NHL team. No matter what team he plays for though, the peripherals will never be there, though the hope would be that a change of scenery could at least help his now anemic shot rate of a lowly (for him anyways) 2.1 shots per game in his three years in Arizona.

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Sticking in the desert, here's an update on the Jakob Chychrun plus-minus watch:

Stunningly, Chychrun was plus-three this week. It's unsurprising that the points are coming, but with the terrible team around him, the minuses will continue to rack up as the season goes on. Overall, he is sitting at minus-21 through 19 games. Still on pace for the record, but as we know with the fickle plus-minus stat, that could change in a hurry.

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Anatoly Golyshev was recalled by the Islanders yesterday. He has put up seven points and 10 PIMs through 13 AHL games, and is worth looking at as a short-term flier while the team is dealing with Covid cases. Assuming they get things under control and no games are postponed, they play every second day for the next three weeks, so the team as a whole is worth looking at on your FA pile.

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Roope Hintz is now up to six goals in his last six games, and is rewarding those patient GMs, as well as the shrewd ones that know how to buy low after the first month of the season. Around now is where most of the market corrections really start to kick in, and a lot of the non-injury related buy-low windows start to close.

John Klingberg also recorded three assists to double his season total. He's almost back on track now, and will continue to rack up points as the forwards wake up. This will be kicked into high gear if Rick Bowness is shown the door too.

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Steven Stamkos scored three-point in the Lightning's shutout win over the Flyers, and hasn't missing a beat despite his line being shaken up again. With the injury to Brayden Point, Mathieu Joseph was moved to the Cirelli line, while Ross Colton was bumped up to play with Stamkos. That makes Colton an excellent short-term play, with Stamkos hot right now having scored 10 points in his last eight games.

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Derick Brassard was injured in the first period, and was listed as questionable to return in an intermission update. That bodes well for it not being a long-term injury, but for a Flyers team already battling mediocrity and the injury bug, losing one of their top early-season scorers doesn't help. Brassard is someone that would have been a sell-high about now, but the injury really puts a damper on that. The injury turns him into a hold until he returns for at least a game or two.

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A day after Troy Terry had his point streak snapped, Connor McDavid also failed to record a point. Terry may be a great own for the rest of the season, but I'll eat my hat if he finishes a full season at a 100-point pace. Regression is coming.

The Oilers overall were stumped by Jake Oettinger of the Stars. He is the best goalie in their system, but the contract intricacies mean that he will only be an as-needed fill-in this season, especially if Ben Bishop ever actually makes his way back into a game. Oettinger is a sell-high in one-year leagues, but a buy in keeper/dynasty leagues as soon as he gets sent down again.

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Not strictly fantasy related, but this looks like it is going to be an awesome hockey event to sit in on.

Remember that free hockey conference I announced a while back?

You can now reserve your free ticket for December 18, 2021:https://t.co/MsBt9QNR5p

— Jack Han (@JhanHky) November 23, 2021

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On one of my fantasy teams (12 team, multicat, keep-11, H2H league with 300 players rostered) I am getting buried under an avalanche of injuries. My infirmary list currently reads: Aleksander Barkov, Brayden Point, Mike Hoffman, Filip Forsberg, Darnell Nurse, Erik Cernak, Conor Sheary, Brayden Schenn & Ryan Pulock.

As a team, right in the thick of the playoff bubble, this is something I really won't be able to maintain over the long-term. Dealing with injuries is something every GM has to manage, but your season can sometimes hinge on how you balance the short and the long-term. I have had to dump Lars Eller and Devon Toews, on top of trading Max Pacioretty a few weeks ago in a deal to land Thomas Chabot (who has surprisingly excellent peripherals). I am currently trying to stay patient before making a bigger panic move which would only help me in the short term.

As of right now, my team is sitting right on the playoff bubble, and I have a stretch of weeks against a bunch of the teams lower in the standings. That means three things: 1) That I have had a tough schedule to start the season, and my team held up decently well, 2) I have an easier schedule while trying to navigate rostering a weaker team, 3) there are a lot of points that I need to bank here that I can't waste. All of them play off of each other a little to the point of confusion, but the bottom line is that my injured players need to be carefully balanced so as not to cripple my long-term plans just so that I can make the playoffs.

It's too early to be making desperate pushes just to make sure that I am a playoff team, and the other key is tracking the timelines of all of these players. That's why I keep a close eye on @BrennanDeSouza on Twitter, and check out his Injury Ward column every week (latest issue dropping later today). I may have to concede a poor week this week while I wait out returns from Hoffman, Forsberg, Cernak, Sheary and Schenn over the next week. One poor week won't likely cripple my team in the short term, but moving out Point or Barkov to plug some short-term holes might cripple me far worse down the line.

Knowing how to play the waiver wire to fill in for injuries, as well as how to balance your team's present and future matchups and how they all fit together to get you where you need to be at the end of the season is key to actually staying on course towards those goals. Don't get caught up in the current matchup and hamstring yourself for later.

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Feel free to find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions.