It is just a fact of the NHL in 2021, 2022, and probably beyond that COVID will keep playing a part in the league. We have already seen the Ottawa Senators get shutdown this year, with the San Jose Sharks, New York Islanders, and others endure significant breakouts. Even with vaccinations, constant close contact will keep yielding positive results.

To that end, the NHL announced some new rules, or non-rules, regarding COVID boosters:

NHL sent a Covid19 letter to all clubs acknowledging vaccination booster shots remain a players choice. Those with J & J are eligible for the booster 2 months after their shot…other vaccinations are 6 months. Booster is personal choice unless government restrictions change.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) November 24, 2021

This may be something to monitor. We know vaccines provide significantly more protection, but it does wane over time, and boosters are necessary to maintain high levels of that protection. A lot of NHLers got their first shots sometime in the spring, which means most are rolling up on six months post-vaccine, or are there already. Not only is this a concern for fantasy owners, to be quite frank, this is a significant health issue for the NHL. Just look at the number of cases in the league and that's with everyone vaccinated. Imagine the numbers if the vaccine rate cuts in half because players don't get their boosters in the coming months.

It is my sincerest hope the NHL has a plan other than "we hope players get their boosters." It is clear that there are going to be continual breakouts across and that's with complete vaccinations. It could be a catastrophe in six weeks once many players are over a half-year from their first vaccine and go home for the holidays.

Really, it just sucks to have to keep talking about this. But until COVID is out of our lives and out of the NHL, we'll have to adjust as we go along.

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Some good news for the Penguins as Evgeni Malkin was skating in full gear:

Evgeni Malkin working before #Pens morning skate. pic.twitter.com/2TDI3JFXMH

— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) November 24, 2021

They would go on to say they don't have a firm date in mind for him but it's clear he's getting closer. The league goes on a little break in a month for the holidays so it's a wonder if they want to bring him back before or after.

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Casey Mittelstadt was also on the ice, of course for Buffalo:

Good morning. Casey Mittelstadt is on the ice for the morning skate in a non-contact jersey. pic.twitter.com/ar3EG6XaUY

— Heather Engel (@engelheather) November 24, 2021

He still needs to take contact and all that so a return is not imminent. All the same, it's good to see him skating with the team and it may not be long before he's back in the lineup.

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A quick Aleksander Barkov update:

Aleksander Barkov, unsurprisingly, won't travel to Washington. "He's still a week, two weeks away, at least," Andrew Brunette said.

Sergei Bobrovsky starts tonight against the Flyers.

— David Wilson (@DBWilson2) November 24, 2021

The team is obviously in no hurry or need to rush him back at this time. It does seem there is nothing severe here or else he wouldn't be at this stage. That is good news for him, the team, and fantasy owners.

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Paul Stastny looks to be on the verge of returning for Winnipeg. It wasn't last night, but it could be by the end of this week.

Quietly, the Jets have gone 5-3-2 in November (going into Wednesday night's game) and are inside the top-8 of the league in both shot share and expected goal share at 5-on-5. The remade blue line and a Pierre-Luc Dubois that looks like the one of a couple years ago have this team looking great. Bring Stastny into the top-9 and now this team is very deep up front.

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Filip Forsberg returned to the Nashville lineup on Wednesday night after missing three weeks due to injury. He skated with Ryan Johansen and Eeli Tolvanen on what would be considered the second line. All the same, it's just good to have him back. He had four goals in nine games before the injury.

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Also returning on Wednesday night, on the other side of that Nashville game, was Max Pacioretty for Vegas. He broke his foot in the second game of the season and has missed nearly six weeks since. He returned on the top line with Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone, and this team is starting to get healthy. Of course, the big ones to yet to return are William Karlsson and Jack Eichel, but they were one point out of a playoff spot before last night's game after their 1-4 start. This is a team just rounding into form and starting to look scary.

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A third injury return to mention: Brayden Schenn for St. Louis. He returned following a three-week absence himself and was skating with Brandon Saad and Jordan Kyrou.

With all of St. Louis's players back, this is what their top-9 looks like, order it how you like:

Barbashev-O'Reilly-Perron

Saad-Schenn-Kyrou

Buchnevich-Thomas-Tarasenko

Despite my misgivings about Barbashev, that is a deep forward group that is looking to make another Cup run. That Tarasenko line in particular has looked very good for the team and will be able to navigate softer matchups playing behind O'Reilly. This should be fun to watch.

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In rookie news, Aliaksei Protas was moved to the top line for Washington, and the top power-play unit. Watching the game, he didn't look out of place, and halfway through the contest he's third in Washington forward TOI. We will see if they leave him there, it may depend on the injury to TJ Oshie and its severity.

Washington has two more games this week and he may be available on the waiver wire for those that need a miracle in deeper leagues. There are certainly worse ideas than Protas right now.

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In callup news, Morgan Frost was in the lineup for the Flyers. Both Kevin Hayes and Derick Brassard are injured, so the team is running out of centres. He lined up on the second line with Joel Farabee, as Claude Giroux moved back to the top line.

This is an intriguing prospect. Everyone talks about how high his ceiling is but it hasn't translated yet. Will it on this recall? We'll see.

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In the 'Why Not' department: the Minnesota/New Jersey game was delayed on Wednesday night because of traffic. It would figure that the New York/Jersey area would be a bit busy at rush hour on the night before American Thanksgiving.

It didn't do any favours for New Jersey to wait around, apparently, as the Wild took a 2-0 lead in the first period. I watched most of that period and it seemed the Devils were carrying the play, but this is hockey and I just found this whole thing hilarious. Someone give the drivers an extra tip. I'm sure they were stressed out, too.

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With the understanding that I have not consumed all hockey media in all hockey markets, I think the following is fair to say: we need to talk about the Philadelphia goaltending more.

I am sitting here, putting the finishing touches on the first section of these Ramblings, watching Martin Jones stonewall the Panthers. Fewer than three minutes left in the second and 23 saves on 23 shots. He came into the game with a .920 in five games on the year. What's more is that Carter Hart, getting the night off, has a .928 save percentage on the season. In sum, the Flyers have been getting top-5 goaltending on the year. How are Flyers fans feeling about that?

Jones having a nice stretch is one thing, but this team clearly needs Hart to succeed. He is the goalie of the future and had a terrible shortened 2021 season. He said, specifically, how hard all the quarantining was, and the season in general. We cannot dismiss that, especially at a position where laser focus is often required. It is great to see him having this rebound year and I hope he can carry it forward for the rest of the season.

As with all goaltending, we will see if it holds, but they have held the team through a lot of early injuries. Hopefully the team can pick the up if they have some off games.

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Boston went into Buffalo and the game went about how you thought it might: a 5-1 win for the Bruins. The top line did some damage with David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron having a goal and an assist apiece. It was the depth that shone through, though, with Charlie Coyle having 1+1, Taylor Hall scoring a power-play goal, and Nick Foligno chipping in a couple assists. Mike Reilly even got in on the scoring fro the blue line.

Foligno had a great fantasy night, with those two assists, a plus-2 rating, two shots, five PIMs, and five hits. That'll stuff the sheet.

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I talked about Martin Jones earlier and he stood tall in that game, but the Flyers lost 2-1 in overtime after Jones had saved 44 shots. Aaron Ekblad finished the game off a nice dish from Jonathan Huberdeau. It was a two-point night for Ekblad, who had four shots, a pair of blocks, four PIMs, and a hit in this one. Just a monster fantasy night for the blue liner.

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Washington laid waste to Montreal 6-3. This was a 6-2 game late into the third period and the Canadiens managed just 28 shots all game. Alex Ovechkin failed to score but did tally three assists, adding four shots for good measure. With those three assists, he now has as many helpers in 20 games this year as he did in 45 games last year. He is one off his mark of 19 in 68 games from 2019-20. It is all quite nutty.

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Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers!