The other editors here have done a solid job covering the shakeups in Vancouver and Philadelphia, but with having a game under our belt from both teams now, we can start to see a few trends emerge. I just wanted to jot down a couple of notes on those.

Power play units are always interesting to note with new coaches. For the Canucks, it appears Alex Chiasson's value isn't quite cooked yet, as he was running in the net-front spot on the top unit.

PP1:
🥅
Chiasson
Garland-Podkolzin-Pettersson
Hughes

PP2:
🥅
Pearson
Horvat-Boeser-Miller
OEL#Canucks @Sportsnet650

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) December 6, 2021

Overall, the two units look fairly balanced which means there isn't a stacked set of five players to own, and it does cap the upside of these players. That being said, Boudreau is known for bringing out some great offensive numbers in his top players, so don't focus too much on how these things may affect them. They'll find the scoresheet one way or another.

In Philadelphia, over two thirds of the available power play time in Monday night's game went to the top unit of Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Morgan Frost, and Keith Yandle. When Joel Farabee returns, we should expect him to take Frost's place on the top unit, leaving Cam Atkinson as the big name left out. Derick Brassard is also likely going to be missing Alain Vigneault, who got the best of him years ago in New York.

*

I don't want to post a video, but Jujhar Khaira had his head down coming out of the zone as he tried to corral a pass, and Jacob Trouba lined him up and the head was the principal point of contact. He left on a stretcher and the only update I have seen is that he was conscious at the hospital.

You hate to see plays like that and players get hurt. Wishing all the best for Khaira.

*

Here's your weekly update on the Jakob Chychrun plus-minus watch:

With only two games last week Chychrun had to work hard to put another dent in your plus-minus column. He did just that, going a combined minus-four in the two games to put his season number at minus-29. Through 25 games, that means he's currently on pace for a minus-95 figure on the season. League-wide, Chychrun's plus-minus is almost doubly as bad as the next closest player. Keith Yandle comes in at minus-15, and with the new coach he's either going to be scratched soon, or have those numbers slowly turn around as the team bounces back to the norm a little (as mentioned above, if last night's game is any indication, it may be the latter). The race for the worst plus-minus in the league this year looks to be already wrapped up.

*

The Blues are now down both Jordan Binnington and Ville Husso. The team also couldn't dress a full roster, so they could be in trouble having additionally lost Jake Walman last night. Charlie Lindgren is next up on the goalie depth chart, and he finished the game for the Blues. Joel Hofer is likely the next emergency call-up though, and as raw as he may be he has more upside at this point than Lindgren.

*

As I pointed out last week, if you're looking for PIMs this week then look no further than the Vancouver & Boston matchup tonight. Brad Marchand was suspended three games for slew-footing Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and his suspension conveniently ends just in time to return for tonight's game. It would be a normal recipe for fireworks, but add in the extra incentive the Canucks have in putting their best foot forward for a new coach, and it will be a game of high tempo and emotions.

*

Might be time to look into buying Brayden Schenn. There are a lot of scorers in St. Louis right now though, so he probably won't be hitting close to his career highs, but he does provide a ton of value in multi-cat leagues and the points will come soon.

Schenn has 0 points in 6 games since returning from injury.

Berube: "He's getting a lot closer to being 100%. My conversations with him were good. He feels like he can get (back to) playing his game here tonight so I look forward to seeing him get back to what we need from him."

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 8, 2021

He scored a power play goal last night, so the monkey is off his back too.

*

Aleksander Barkov scored in his return to the lineup, but he also left the bench in the third period, and there hasn't been an update on his status. If he is injured again (he was favouring his left arm right before he left), then Anton Lundell stands to benefit. Lundell stepped into Barkov's spot in the lineup for the last few minutes of the game. He was just coming into his own with four points in the last two games that Barkov missed, and he could be a great short-term pickup or DFS play – he should already be owned in dynasty leagues.

*

The date of the Midseason Guide is now set – and it will be January 15. This Guide comes with your Ultimate Fantasy Pack or Gold/Platinum subscriptions. It does not come with the Keeper League Fantasy Pack nor the Silver subs. You can pre-order it here.

*

Juuse Saros missed last night's game with a non-Covid related illness, meaning David Rittich stepped in for only his third start of the season. If Saros misses any time, Rittich's stock rises – though this may be more so in leagues that value volume over ratios.

*

Whatever was up with Oliver Bjorkstrand's shot rate was fixed in a hurry last night as he put up six shots against the Leafs, scoring twice. In the past six games, he had only put five shots on net and his attempts were was down as well. Despite the cold spell he is still on pace for a career year, and is putting up his second-best season in shots per game. The biggest change for him though is the power play production, where he is already one point shy of his career high, with three-quarts of the season left to be played. His ice time is up with the man advantage (and at even strength for that matter) and the top unit is clicking with Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Boone Jenner, and Patrik Laine. Of the forwards, Jenner has the lowest individual points percentage (IPP) mark on the power play, and could luck into a few extra points as the season goes on just by being a part of that unit. Someone has to clean up the garbage from all the volume the other four put towards the net.

*

If you're a Mitch Marner owner I'm sure you're not waiting for the Ramblings for injury news, but in case you're one of his few owners that wasn't all over the updated timeline as soon as it was released, then I can tell you he's now looking at missing another three-to-four weeks.

The Leafs are also going to be without the services of Jason Spezza for the next five games, after he served the first game of a six-game suspenson last night. The first suspension of Spezza's career was levied as a result of his knee to the head of Neal Pionk in their tilt against the Winnipeg Jets.

Without both Marner and Spezza, Ondrej Kase was the next man up on the top power play unit. However, he was the only one from that unit who didn't record a point on the two goals that the Leafs scored with the man advantage last night.

*

I'm sorry, what?!

What an assist from Trevor Zegras to Sonny Milano 🔥 pic.twitter.com/m5OjTWnNll

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) December 8, 2021

I think it's time we realize that Sonny Milano is going to bring some value to fantasy leagues all season long. His shooting percentage is a little high thus far, but then again playing with Trevor Zegras will do that for you. His underlying numbers in general point to a bit of luck with his shooting, but all of the other high numbers, with his PDO, on-ice shooting percentage, etc, could be countered by the rebounding of a minimalistic secondary assist percentage, and his IPPs rising up a little further to his career norms. His high IPPs in prior seasons should have been an indication that he had this kind of production in him, if only he could get the deployment to take advantage. Having an IPP of 70% or above is generally seen as the threshold for a good player vs an average on. Milano's is 80% in any prior season where he has played more than 10 games.

Finding a few other players like him might be something I'll look into in a future Rambling. In the meantime, feel free to find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions.