Entering last night's game there were exactly three players on the Red Wings that aren't listed as cold right now in the FrozenTools system. Those three are Tyler Bertuzzi, Moritz Seider, and Filip Zadina. The first two aren't surprising, but the fact that Zadina is keeping his head above water while the rest of the team is drowning is a good sign for his future production.

Zadina is one of 20 names that Rick Roos has for you in his column today as potential breakout candidates. The former sixth overall pick has taken a little longer to make an impact than many expected, but that's what happens with a lot of players. We remember the ones that made an immediate impact, but the ones that take a few extra years before carving out solid NHL careers get forgotten when we look back on these things.

He's not quite at the 200-game threshold yet, currently sitting 40-games shy, so we don't need to be seeing an uptick yet. In fact, that kind of makes him an ideal target as a buy-low about 20 games into the season. There is help coming in Detroit, with the current NHL core growing, a healthy season from Dylan Larkin & Jakub Vrana, and some top-tier prospects like Simon Edvinsson, Jonatan Berggren, and Theodore Neiderbach all getting close. As the team gets better and Zadina's offensive zone time climbs from under 50%, to the close to 60% that he should be seeing, there will be a lot more offensive chances for the young forward. There's room to grow with his ice time and his underlying percentages too, but the IPP is still consistently high enough to indicate that he's more so a driver than a passenger.

Sticking with the Wings, it's interesting to see Jake Walman playing top-four minutes. He is providing some solid value in the shots (over two per game with the Wings) and blocks (just under two per game) categories, and it would be great to see him with a look on the power play. He was once a highly regarded prospect with a relatively high offensive ceiling, but that just hasn't clicked yet.

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The Leafs trotted out some interesting lines with Auston Matthews out of the lineup:

Leafs lines in warm-up

Bunting – Abruzzese – Marner
Mikheyev – Tavares – Blackwell
Nylander – Kerfoot – Engvall
Simmonds – Kampf – Spezza @TSN_Edge

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) April 19, 2022

It's the time of year when players get shut down for the season, others get rested, and a lot of teams are out of things to play for, so the youngsters get some great opportunities. Case in point here is Nick Abruzzese, who took the place of Matthews between Michael Bunting and Mitch Marner.

On the other end of the ice, there were a few other guys in similar situations that you can look out for:

Noah Cates – The 23-year-old has played this year in the NCAA, the Olympics, and now has a 11-games in the NHL. He's up to five points through those games, and was up on the top line last night with Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny. He's more of a hitter than a shooter, but the Flyers don't have a lot of the latter either, so he'll get an opportunity to do both.

Filip Sandstrom – A second Flyer, Sandstrom has played two games thus far and not won either. However, he hasn't looked terrible, and the Flyers give up A LOT of volume. If quantity plays better in your league than quality, then he may be worth a look for a goalie desperate team. He's also being given an audition for next year. Martin Jones is a UFA, and we could very realistically have the Flyers look to fill the hole through some internal promotion. Bringing up the 25-year-old Sandstrom would also leave the AHL starter spot free for KHL stud Ivan Fedotov to make his adjustment to North America.

Ronnie Attard – Attard now has more career goals than assists. The 23-year-old right-handed defenceman is looking better by the game and may end up with a full-time role next season. Having gone only one game thus far in his 10-game career without a shot, we know he likes to whip the puck. Doing that in only 15 minutes of ice time per game tells you that once the team around him is a little more capable, and if/when he sees closer to 20 minutes per game, he could be putting up over 2.5 shots per game, which is a great mark for a defenceman.

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Cam Talbot got the start (and the shutout) for the Wild, and because there's no way that they don't start Marc-Andre Fleury in game one of the playoffs, it would follow that Talbot should see the majority of the starts the rest of the way. He's been lights out of late, but unfortunately he's not really available in any leagues. A couple goalies that are <50% owned in Yahoo leagues include: Pavel Francouz, Logan Thompson, Alexandar Georgiev, Chris Driedger, and Brian Elliott. All of them have been top-15 goalies in the last month, and except for Francouz, who is playing every third game and is due another one any day now, they have each seen at least five starts in that window. These are the kind of players that can really swing a matchup, and are worth picking up with a lot of the big names sitting/struggling of late.

Just another reason not to over-draft goalies.

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The Evander Kane grievance hearing will need a second day. It will need to be scheduled. Date TBD.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 19, 2022

This is going to be messy, and it may not be the last game that Kane misses as a member of the Oilers. His value is decently high right now with him having fared well in Edmonton, but I would be looking to move him ASAP (league rules allowing of course).

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Sometimes you see something like this, and you just have to cackle maniacally:

With two weeks before the playoffs, #FlaPanthers playing around with lines — Huberdeau – Barkov – Giroux a thing right now

— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) April 19, 2022

The trio combined for one goal, and then Barkov finished off the hat-trick later in the game. It may not stick full time, but when the Cats need a goal in the playoffs you can bet that line gets reunited.

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Igor Shesterkin locked up the Vezina trophy with his sixth shutout of the season, and kept the door open in the Hart trophy conversation. I never recommend it, but if you had to use an early pick on a goalie next year in a redraft, who do you take first, Vasilevskiy or Shesterkin?

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Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov stayed hot for the Lightning, hooking up for a power play tally, with Stamkos adding an extra two assists. The two are on separate lines at even strength, but with the rest of the roster struggling to create much offence, don't be surprised to see the lines thrown in the blender before the playoffs. It might be worth looking into the likes of Ross Colton (two goals last night) and Anthony Cirelli, as Jon Cooper searches for offence anywhere he can find it.

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The previous record for most goals in a season by a Nashville Predator was 34 by Viktor Arvidsson. Last night, Filip Forsberg scored his 39^th of the season to tie him with Matt Duchene for the team lead. Duchene then had to go out and score his 40^th. With the Preds fighting for their playoff lives, and the two forwards competing for the team record, we could see another handful from each of them before the end of the year.

He may be a goal behind at the moment, but my money is on Forsberg.

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Matt Boldy through the legs 🤯

🎥 @NHLpic.twitter.com/yJZPNiMiBR

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) April 20, 2022

The Wild are cruising, meanwhile that was the third straight game that the Habs have given Carey Price zero goals of support (dating back to game five of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final).

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Find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.

Cheers!