There was news that Ville Heinola was sent down to the AHL on Wednesday but we need to remember that the All-Star break is at hand. There is no need to keep the young guys on the roster and the taxi squad has been dissolved. We will see if he gets called back up after the break because him being a consistent part of this team could be a big part of their playoff push. Maybe I'm just a greedy fantasy owner.

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I will say, I'm somewhat excited for the new All-Star game skills competition contests they have going. Does anyone remember the scene from the 2003 movie 'SWAT' where the SWAT recruits are practicing their sniping by shooting at playing cards hundreds of yards down range? The NHL is doing that, but with sticks and pucks instead of sniper rifles, and in the Bellagio fountain. That is the kind of ingenuity that will get me to watch the All-Star Game/Skills Competition so I'm kind of looking forward to it.

I also miss the players drafting teams drunk on stage. That was some of the best entertainment the NHL has ever produced:

A reminder that this stuff is generally for kids. As with Star Wars, if something you see on screen this weekend seems boring, just ask a nine-year old what they think.

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An update on Alex Ovechkin:

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has tested positive for Covid-19. He is unavailable for tonight's game vs Edmonton, per team.

Ovechkin was also supposed to be the Metro Division captain at the All-Star Game this weekend in Vegas. He will no longer be attending.

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 2, 2022

As long as he's asymptomatic, this should be the only regular season game that he misses. Of course, as we saw with Nikita Kucherov earlier this week, just because he's cleared doesn't mean he's necessarily ready. Though, as they say, Russian Machine Never Breaks.

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The NHL has reached its All-Star break and in an alternate universe, some players would be gearing up for the Olympics afterwards. We don't live in that alternate universe, though, so the NHL will be starting back up next week.

It does give us a little reprieve away from the NHL for a bit. In that downtime, might I suggest the 2022 Dobber Midseason Guide? It's available in the Dobber Shop and is great prep for the back half of the season.

It also gives me some time to talk about random things. Today, I want to talk about a potential Team North America. The reason being is that without the Olympics, we may be without a best-on-best tournament this year, and we haven't had one since 2016 (if we can call the World Cup that). There has been talk about some sort of World Cup tournament in the summer of 2022, though it does feel short notice to get that going.

But let's say, for sake of argument, that there is a World Cup of Hockey this summer. Let's also say there's a Team North America that will appear there. Remember how fun that team was last time? What would it look like this time around? I dug into that, and here's what I found. These guys have to be 23 years old or younger by mid-May, which means we're generally looking at the 2018 Draft or more recent. (Stats from Frozen Tools, Natural Stat Trick, or Evolving Hockey.)

First off: who are the automatics? Who are the guys who could – heaven forbid – suffer a season-ending injury tomorrow and still be named to the team in July? There are several: Cale Makar, Brady Tkachuk, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Nick Suzuki, Jason Robertson, and Spencer Knight. That gives us a forward line, a defence pair, a starting goalie, and another defenceman.

One will notice that we have passed the window of the super-elite young stars. The guys like Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Alex DeBrincat have all graduated to their national teams. Young guns like Adam Fox and Brayden Point, meanwhile, are already too old and are also only eligible for their senior national teams.

Some may quibble with the inclusion of Nick Suzuki but coaches do seem to love him as a two-way pivot and I could see him being named to the team. He could then be a 3C or something along those lines. There probably won't be much quibbling with everyone else.

Who are the guys that are likely to be there? Well, that list includes some guys who have had good spurts but haven't been able to put it all together yet. These guys include: Trevor Zegras, Robert Thomas, Joel Farabee, Oliver Wahlstrom, Noah Dobson, Evan Bouchard, Mikey DIPietro, and Adam Boqvist.

This is where we can start to see the cracks in the team. We get to the middle-6 forward mix, and we're looking at one-dimensional wingers like Farabee and Wahlstrom, as well as unproven defencemen like Dobson and Boqvist further down the blue line. These are all good players today, but they all have their issues. Last World Cup, Vincent Trocheck was an emergency replacement. There is no player like that who looks to be an emergency replacement here. It also makes me realize that once we get past Spencer Knight, there really isn't a lot for young goalies in North America. At least not that young.

This is what our lines look like so far, and I'm just throwing names together for now:

Robertson-J. Hughes-Wahlstrom

Tkachuk-Suzuki-Farabee

Thomas-Zegras-???

???-???-???

Q. Hughes-Makar

???-Dobson

???-Boqvist

Knight

DiPietro

Alright, now we have to round out our lineup. We're looking for depth, and at this point, we're probably going to have to take some unproven players, namely wingers. That starts, in my eyes, with Alexis Lafrenière and Seth Jarvis. The latter has looked better production-wise, but what could Laffy do with Zegras or Hughes as a centre instead of his usual Rangers line mates? Maybe we'll find out.

I am going to take a pair of unproven wingers here: Arthur Kaliyev and Alex Newhook. I know the latter can play centre, and they may need him to do that, and that's why he's there. As for Kaliyev, we need depth scoring and he's already found his way to the top PP unit for the Kings at times this season. Playing in a depth role but with prime PP minutes seems like a good way to use him until he gets more experience. For our spare forward, step to the plate Matthew Boldy.

That should round out our forwards, and now to the defence. We need a pair of lefties and we have a pair of those in the Tri-State area in Ty Smith and K'Andre Miller. The latter has been playing second-pair minutes for the Rangers and should be able to slide into that role here. Putting Smith on the third pair keeps him away from the stiffest of competition and should allow him to flourish. It also gives them someone who can help on a secondary PP unit should injuries crop up. My spare here is Jamie Drysdale and we'll add Cayden Primeau as the third goalie.

There are players who can step up here – I'm thinking of Owen Power or Jake Sanderson – but that's my first run going through Team North America. Let's try to make a roster out of this:

Robertson-J. Hughes-Wahlstrom

Tkachuk-Suzuki-Farabee

Boldy-Zegras-Jarvis

Newhook-Thomas-Kaliyev (Lafrenière)

Q. Hughes-Makar

Miller-Dobson

Smith-Boqvist (Drysdale)

Knight

DiPietro

Primeau

Again, this is nowhere near the quality of the team from six years ago but that's just kind of how the cookie crumbles here. If this tournament happens in 2020, four years after the last World Cup, there are a lot of current 24-year-olds that would be on that team (Fox and McAvoy, for example). But that doesn't mean they wouldn't be fun to watch and I want to see this happen sometime.

I'm sure I missed some players – my database doesn't separate by month, only by year – so be sure to hit up the comments with any I may have missed. What does everyone think?

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Philipp Grubauer managed his first shutout of the season in a 3-0 win over the New York Islanders. He faced just 19 shots so Seattle – or New York – had a big hand in keeping this an easy night for him. I should also mention this game was over at like 9:25 ET. That seemed pretty fast to me!

Mason Appleton had a pair of goals, including a late tally with the empty net.

Ryan Pulock played just 16:55 in this one so it seems they're really easing him in. Fantasy owners may have to wait a while for him to get back to full fantasy value.

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A pair of late goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, one short-handed and one with the empty net, helped Edmonton escape Washington with a 5-3 win. He had an assist on an earlier Connor McDavid power-play goal giving him a three-point night, and a huge fantasy evening.

Cody Ceci had a pair of assists and three blocks in the win, while Duncan Keith had the same. Evander Kane had a goal and an assist, skating 16:51. This was one of Edmonton's better games in recent memory.

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