There was some awful news that came from the Toronto Maple Leafs and General Manager Kyle Dubas early on Wednesday morning. It was concerning one of their top prospects in Rodion Amirov. The news was shared by Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, though there would be more reports throughout the day discussing this:

Sad news. #Leafs GM Kyle Dubas shares in a statement that first-round pick Rodion Amirov has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. pic.twitter.com/0MdwbapMwE

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 23, 2022

Honestly, there's just not much to say here. It's a cruel life twist that absolutely no one deserves, much less a 20-something young adult. All the best to the young man over the next year or two, whatever may come.

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I have to say that, personally, I'm not sure of the viability of head-to-head fantasy sports anymore. Allow me to explain.

Has anyone had fun playing H2H this month? The last couple weeks, plus this one, have been a lot of make-up games. These are all weeks that count towards the final standings, and yet we have a stretch where Tampa Bay plays five games in a month, Detroit plays seven, and Ottawa plays 13. There is also the absurd travel we've seen with many teams playing back-to-backs while border crossing, which can be a nightmare these days. Teams are running third-, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-string goalies for reasons other than COVID, though at least two goalies have had issues returning because of longer-term health problems relating to the virus. Among a number of other issues that are on the more speculative side, we should also mention that we don't know what the landscape of the league will be come October 2022. Just look how much has changed over the last two years.

This isn't a "H2H is for bad fantasy players" screed or anything like that. I am of the opinion that as long as the league mates agree on the format, players should play whatever format they enjoy. None is superior to another. I just personally think that with all the new challenges we're facing, it's making H2H less fun. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

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An Elvis Merzlikins update:

Elvis Merzlikins on the ice for #CBJ practice today.

— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) February 23, 2022

Not that Columbus is pushing for a playoff spot or anything, but this team has lost a lot of goalies to injury this season and getting any one of them back is helpful. If Merzlikins is good to go – and he'll be with the team on the road trip this weekend – he could see two starts in the next few days. Otherwise, he will only get one.

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We also have updates on Nathan MacKinnon and Bowen Byram

JB says D Bo Byram back skating. "The road to recovery is not necessarily a straight line."

— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) February 23, 2022

As for MacKinnon, he did not play on Wednesday night. It doesn't look like he's going to miss games beyond that but keep an eye on incoming news just to be sure.

With Byram, it's just good to see him skating. We have seen hockey careers derailed with concussions often before. He can take whatever amount of time he needs to get better because this could end up being about much more than just his hockey career.

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An interesting note from New Jersey Devils practice was that Dougie Hamilton lined up on the second power-play unit, not the first. In other words, it doesn't look like Damon Severson is going to lose his role just yet, but I can't imagine it'll take long. Are they really going to leave Hamilton on PP2 for the rest of the season? I can't see it. But this is good news, temporarily, for Severson owners. It may also give them a bit of reprieve because now Severson owners can still shop him on the trade market as a PP1 defenseman.

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Alec Martinez was at practice again but Reilly Smith was not. They would say that Martinez doesn't have any firm timeline to return, and we know they're playing a salary cap dance, so fantasy users with Martinez on their roster might not get him back as soon as they had hoped.

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An update on Erik Karlsson:

Boughner says Erik Karlsson could be back after two more weeks. Will be skating again today.

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) February 23, 2022

The Sharks aren't completely out of the playoff race yet, being nine points back with 32 games left on the schedule. They would have to leap-frog four teams, though, so it's not as if Karlsson is make-or-break for them this year. With that said, this team is much better offensively with him than without, so getting back as soon as possible would be nice.

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Kevin Lankinen has been activated off the injured reserve. This is notable because the trade deadline is less than four weeks away and Marc-André Fleury's name has been bandied about a lot. If he moves on, Lankinen could be the full-time starter for a quarter of the season. Maybe not on a great team, but once we get to mid-March, beggars can't be choosers.

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Sam Montembeault put up 32 saves for his first career shutout in Montreal's 4-0 win over Buffalo. Unfortunately, both Paul Byron and Josh Anderson left with injury and did not return. Anderson's was a shot to the face, though John Lu from TSN talked to his teammates after the game:

#Habs Suzuki just said in a walkoff interview on RDS that he thought Anderson took the Mittelstadt shot off his visor and his face is a little swollen, so the damage may not be as severe as it first appeared.

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) February 24, 2022

More on those two when we hear more.

Nick Suzuki had two goals and an assist in what was easily his best game of the season, at least of the games I've watched. Cole Caufield kept his recent streak going with a goal and an assist of his own with five total shots. Mike Hoffman skated on the top line quite a bit after the Anderson injury, for what it's worth.

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Even with MacKinnon missing from the middle, the Avalanche took a 5-2 win against the Red Wings in Detroit. Andre Burakovsky moved to the top line and skated 18:40, though it was JT Compher who took the top PP minutes that were available.

Gabriel Landeskog had two goals, five shots, two bocks, a hit, and a plus-2 rating in a huge fantasy night. Nazem Kadri and Valeri Nichushkin also found the scoresheet, the latter tying a career-high for a season with 14. That was in his rookie season in 79 games, this time it took 35.  

Thomas Greiss was in net for four of the five goals against, giving Alex Nedeljkovic the night off.

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Jamie Benn had one of the better fantasy nights, assisting on Tyler Seguin's overtime winner, scoring short-handed, adding another helper at even strength, plus two shots, a block, four hits, and a plus-2 rating. Denis Gurianov also scored his first goal in 15 games, going back to early January. Hopefully a sign of more to come.

Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist in the 3-2 loss. Neal Pionk had two assists, one on the power play.

Josh Morrissey had a nice peripheral night with three shots, two blocks, four PIMs, and two hits.

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Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, and Steven Stamkos all scored in Tampa Bay's 5-3 win over Edmonton. Kucherov added an assist with four shots for a solid fantasy night of his own. Patrick Maroon had a goal and an assist of his own as well.

Connor McDavid scored twice in the loss, with Leon Draisaitl assisting on all three Oiler goals. The last scored by Zach Hyman, his 19^th, and one shy of his third career 20-goal season. It was his 45^th game. He added an assist for good measure.

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Dylan Larkin looked to be injured in practice on Tuesday but he was at morning skate on Wednesday and played last night. It appears as though he's no worse for the wear and that could be important because of who else was at morning skate: Jakub Vrana. Remember him? He's been working his way back from injury and while there are boxes to check on his return, 'skating as an extra at morning skate' indicates to me that he's getting close.

We need to remember how good he can be. After the trade from Washington last year, he managed 11 points in 11 games, skating over 17 minutes a night (by far a career-high). He also didn't play much with Larkin because the pivot was injured and missed 8 of 11 games that Vrana has played with the Winged Wheel. In that sense, we don't really know what he can do here because this year's Detroit team is leaps-and-bounds better than any team they've had for a few years now. He may not even play with Larkin up his return, as maybe he takes Tyler Bertuzzi's on the second line with Bertuzzi being moved back into his usual role on the top line.

Vrana is wonderful in transition and is generally one of the better finishes in the NHL. This isn't conjecture, either, as Hockey Viz has Vrana as possessing one of the highest finishing impacts in the league:

That is what made him such a tantalizing prospect with Washington and why it was infuriating watch them skate him 13-14 minutes a night on the third line for much of his tenure. But beyond just the finishing is his transitional play, as his zone entries and exits going into the COVID-shortened season were great (from CJ Turtoro's viz):

While not inherently a great playmaker, if he can help his team setup in the offensive zone, get the puck to his playmakers, and do what he does shot-wise? This is a dimension that any team can use, the Red Wings being no exception.

Fantasy owners, check your waiver wires. This is a guy who can step into the lineup and score to a 30-goal pace right away. His usage will determine his value, as it always had, but it does seem he's getting closer to returning, and that's great news for Wings fans and fantasy players alike.