The big news out of the NHL on Sunday night was the cleaning house in Vancouver. It is pretty funny that a GM that has been there for over seven years and a coach for over four got fired in the middle of the night on a Sunday, but the NHL has always been great at unintentional comedy. Not that someone losing their job is funny, but the league and its teams generally handle these things in the worst way possible, Vancouver here being no exception.

Regardless, there is a lot of fallout from this. I want to start with Ian Gooding's take on the firing of Travis Green. Ian is a long-time (or long-suffering, depending on your view) Canucks fan. He has a really good take on Boudreau here, namely that it's probably a good hire but it won't make a difference for this season; the team is last in their division and nine points out of a playoff spot. They are as good as cooked as far as playoffs go, but that doesn't mean there can't be a turnaround offensively. As fantasy owners, that's really all we care about.

I do like the Boudreau hire here, personally. This team has, seemingly, under-performed their ability for a couple years now, and the team doesn't seem to be getting anywhere close to the maximum from guys like Pearson and Pettersson. Boudreau is a coach who can step in and right the ship within a month or so. This team won't undergo a Calgary-like turnaround, but they'll be better.

Of course, I maintain that at least a few players from this team haven't completely recovered from their brutal bouts with COVID last spring. That is complete conjecture, and I don't like speculating on the health of players, but I also don't see any beat writers (from any team) asking questions regarding long-COVID issues so there is nothing we can do but speculate on the health of the players.

To that end, I have some hope here for the Canucks for the rest of this season. If we operate under the assumption these players are healthy – I'm not, but just for this exercise – there is a lot of talent here for Boudreau to work with. Hopefully it starts with Tyler Myers not earning the most ice time of anyone on their blue line over any meaningful timeframe.

Long-term, I'm a little less hopeful. We have to wait and see what the general manager search yields, but these things always start at the top. If the owner doesn't hire the right general manager, then it doesn't matter who the coach is; just ask literally any Edmonton Oilers fan you know. It is a situation where having a President of Hockey Operations can help, but that just pushes the decision one rung up the ladder; if you hire the wrong PHO, they'll hire the wrong GM, and so on the dominoes fall. Organizations need to be smart and stable from the top-down in order to achieve sustained success. If Francisco Aquilini keeps plucking from the 200 Hockey Men barrel, well, there would be no reason to think there'll be a significant change in the way the team is run moving forward.

Of course, we have to cross those bridges when we get there. All we can do for now is evaluate the new coach, and Boudreau is one of the best in hockey. This is a step in the right direction for the Canucks, there are just several other steps that are also necessary to ensure they're staying on course.

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Alain Vigneault has also been relieved of his coaching duties. The Flyers coach has done little for the team, getting bounced in the second round a couple years ago, getting beat in the play-ins last year, and they're seven points out of a playoff spot as of Monday afternoon. That is nowhere near good enough for a team that believes, rightly or wrongly, that they're in their Cup window.

You can read Dobber’s take here.

Anyone that has read my writing knows I was never a fan of the hiring and that it only took a couple years for him to be fired is not a surprise. Like Vancouver, the change only matters if someone better is running the show the rest of the way.

The defence needs to improve the most here and I wonder if that's where John Tortorella couldn't help. Again, I'm not a Torts fan, but he's obviously a good defensive coach and he worked wonders with a lot less in Columbus. What can he do with a very talented, albeit flawed team? Or anyone in his vein? We see names like Couturier, Giroux, Atkinson, Konecny, Hayes, and Farabee. This team should not have problems scoring, it's the other end of the ice they need cleaning up.

To that end, the biggest turnaround could just come through regression. The team is 29^th in shooting percentage this year, with only the Islanders, Canucks, and Coyotes being worse. Just being middle-of-the-pack in shooting percentage would have them as a middle-of-the-pack scoring team. They don't need to reinvent the wheel offensively; they just need to start finishing. It is on the defensive side of the puck where the real improvements need to come.

We will see what happens here, but it's hard to be worse than the Flyers have been so far this season.

For now, Mike Yeo is taking over behind the bench on an interim basis.

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Robin Lehner has decided to pull out of the Olympics. He cited the potential of a three-week lockdown in China if he happens to test positive for COVID, and the mental health fallout that would likely ensue. Given his reasoning, it's hard to argue, given that the players will all be in Vegas together for the All-Star Game the weekend before they leave for China.

There will undoubtedly be more players, though the exact amount remains to be seen. It is just a reminder that we are still in a global pandemic and we have to adjust our lives accordingly. We can't make the virus adjust to us.

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The Florida Panthers have some updates

So #FlaPanthers injury update: Sasha Barkov, Anthony Duclair, Gus Forsling and Olli Juolevi all practicing today before flight to STL.

— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) December 6, 2021

Barkov was skating on the top line in practice yesterday with his normal line mates, sans Duclair, who still seems a game or two away. It does seem as though Barkov is ready to return with the rest not too far behind. The Panthers are 6-2-0 since his injury, so, uh, they seem to be doing pretty well regardless.

Florida also has a very nice schedule leading up to Christmas: eight games, and ARI, OTT, LAK, and CHI are included in that mix. That is eight games in 17 days, though all but one are on the T-TH-SA schedule. It's just nice to have him back for this stretch, regardless.

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I know a lot of people are getting excited about the Dallas Stars, given their 7-1-0 record over their last eight games (as of Monday afternoon). I would be remiss if I didn't mention that their scoring-chance share over those eight games is worse than New York's or Vancouver's, at 5-on-5. They are tied for 5^th in PDO in that stretch, however. I would love if this turnaround were real, as I have Cup futures on them, but I'm not a believer just yet.

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Speaking of Dallas:

The Stars plan on sending goaltender Ben Bishop on a conditioning assignment to AHL affiliate Texas this week, according to a source.

— Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) December 6, 2021

There have been lots of rumours that Anton Khudobin is on the trade block, and now it seems Ben Bishop may only be a couple weeks from returning. It seems the team is ready to run a tandem of Bishop/Holtby after Christmas, and that means Jake Oettinger's fantasy value is dwindling. He may be in the AHL for the second half of the year, barring further injury.

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Neither Vladimir Tarasenko nor Robert Thomas were at practice for St. Louis on Monday. We got an update:

Thomas (lower-body) is out day-to-day and Tarasenko is maintenance. #stlblues

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 6, 2021

That is basically the entire second, or third, line, depending how we want to number them. This team just could not get healthy last year and we have to hope it doesn't bleed into this year.

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We had overtime games in both Washington and New Jersey as both the Anaheim and Ottawa, respectively, took the home teams to the extra frame. Both games went to a shootout, actually.

Fantasy-wise, Alex Ovechkin had a pair of assists and seven shots in Washington's 4-3 shootout win, including the shootout winner. Ovi now has more assists in 26 games than he did in all of 2019-20 in 68 games. He is also over four shots per game. It is absolutely crazy what this guy is doing at 36.

Trevor Zegras also had a pair of assists and three shots, and was very noticeable all game long. It doesn't seem like his confidence is waning as the season wears on in any manner.

Both Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist in Ottawa's 3-2 shootout win. That makes 18 points in 19 games for Tkachuk this year.

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Colorado went into Philadelphia, sans Vigneault, and absolutely pounded the Flyers 7-5. Thirteen different Avalanche skaters figured into the scoring, with no player having more than two points, and none of their forwards both scoring and grabbing an assist. It was weird. Erik Johnson did have a goal and a helper though, to go with two blocks and a hit. It was a great fantasy night across the board for him.

Claude Giroux had a pair of goals in the loss, while Travis Sanheim had a pair of assists. He was also plus-3 with two shots and two blocks. A pretty good fantasy night in what was otherwise an ugly affair.

We should note the Avs cracked 50 shots here, so maybe the defence has a ways to go.