Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson are both expected to make their season debuts today (Sunday). Backstrom had undergone significant hip resurfacing surgery, so I had wondered if he would be returning at all. I'm not sure how he'll be used, but I wonder how his return affects Dylan Strome, who has been centering Alex Ovechkin for a significant portion of the season and has been on the first-unit power play. Remember that Strome was brought in after the news about Backstrom's surgery. Both Backstrom and Wilson had been on a practice line with Ovechkin earlier this week.

In case you're worried about Sonny Milano being pushed out of the lineup completely, my guess is that he probably won't be. Milano has eight points over his last 10 games.

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Another day, another crazy statline for Jack Hughes: 2 G, 1 A, 11 SOG. Hughes is currently riding a five-game goal streak in which he has eight goals. Going back further, Hughes has 19 goals over his past 20 games. Only Alex Ovechkin has as many goals over that stretch. Shooting the puck has been key for Hughes, as he has taken at least six shots over each of his last six games. Only David Pastrnak and Timo Meier have more shots than Hughes this season. With all of that, Hughes has now moved into the top 10 in scoring with 49 points, including 26 goals.

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Kirill Marchenko recorded his first career hat trick and scored a shootout goal in the Blue Jackets' 4-3 win over Carolina. Marchenko has a very Cy Young statline of 8-0 (eight goals, no assists). Marchenko also took nearly half of his team's shots in the entire game, as he was credited with a season-high eight shots while the rest of the team combined for just 10 shots! Marchenko's eight goals are over just 15 games, which means he's shooting at nearly 30%. It's easy to suggest that he will add more assists but score fewer goals going forward. He's just 1% rostered in Yahoo leagues (27% in Fantrax), so I'd be more tempted to add him in a keeper league or a deeper league than a standard-sized one.

Kent Johnson is fun to watch.

Straight filth by Kent Johnson as he scores the deciding shootout goal. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/xfMdv7icGg

— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) January 8, 2023

In his second game as a Hurricane, Max Pacioretty scored a pair of goals, one of which was on the power play. Patches was on a scoring line with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, which seems to be an ideal place for him to be. Get him back into your lineup ASAP.

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The Buffalo Sabres scored six goals on Saturday, and Rasmus Dahlin recorded a point on five of them. Dahlin has not cooled down at all from the first quarter, as he has scored at over a point per game in both Quarter 1 and 2. Only Erik Karlsson and Josh Morrissey have more points among defensemen, and only Karlsson has a higher point-per-game pace among d-men than Dahlin (1.22 PTS/GP). Another stat that stands out is his average icetime, which is among the league leaders at over 26 minutes per game. Dahlin should definitely be included in the Norris Trophy conversation and has also made his way into one of the top defensemen in fantasy.

Rasmus Dahlin stays patient for a BEAUT of a goal, Buffalo with two goals in 1:32 to take the 3-2 lead!#LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/E5ddtRQhFa

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) January 8, 2023

By the way, those days of double-digit negative plus/minus (-36 and -22 the previous two seasons) for the sad sack Sabres seem like a distant memory. Dahlin is a plus-16 this season, and the Sabres currently lead the league in goals per game (4.0 GF/GP).

With two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, Victor Olofsson snapped a six-game point drought. Olofsson also tied his season high with six shots on goal.

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The Seattle Kraken might cool off eventually, but it hasn't happened yet. On Saturday they torched the Senators in Ottawa for eight goals. Fresh off a shutout on Tuesday against Columbus, Anton Forsberg was chased from the net after allowing three goals to the Kraken on five shots in the first 15 minutes. Cam Talbot didn't fare much better, allowing five goals on 19 shots.

You might not be sold on the Kraken as a potential playoff team because they don't have an elite scorer, although Matty Beniers and Shane Wright could be those players one day. No one on the Kraken is a point-per-game scorer, but they have 11 players with at least 0.5 PTS/GP (minimum 30 games). Seattle had eight different goal scorers and 13 players recording at least one point on Saturday, further demonstrating that team effort. That being said, the Beniers – Andre Burakovsky – Jordan Eberle line combined for eight points, with each player scoring a goal.

In a losing cause, Tim Stutzle recorded his second career hat trick. Stutzle is on a heater right now with six goals over his last three games along with a seven-game point streak in which he has 12 points. That hot streak has pushed him over the point-per-game mark for the season (39 PTS in 35 GP). With 18 goals already, Stutzle will likely far surpass his career high of 22 goals, although his 19.6 SH% suggests that the current goal pace will cool off.

Some nasty plus/minuses for the Senators included Alex DeBrincat and Shane Pinto both with a minus-5 for the game. DeBrincat has been held without a point in his last three games, while Pinto is without a point in four games.

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If you're looking to take a flier on a recent AHL recall, Jakob Pelletier might be worth a look. The Flames have recalled 2019 first-round pick Pelletier, who might play his first NHL game today against Chicago. He's been scoring at a point-per-game this season for the Calgary Wranglers (34 PTS in 31 GP). The Flames could use some scoring help, as they are unexpectedly in the bottom third of the league with just over three goals per game. That being said, Darryl Sutter didn't seem too keen to give Matthew Phillips much of a run when he was recalled, so you might want to wait a few games on this one.

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The current run of Pheonix Copley is another example of why goaltending is the most unpredictable position in fantasy hockey. Every year, at least one or two goalies come out of nowhere and outperform some of the league's best. The downside of relying on finding that next hidden gem is that you simply don't know when you'll find that goalie or who it will be, which is why many fantasy leaguers opt for the more expensive and safer (although not all the time) pick. At the same time, if you were struggling to find any starting goaltending, you were probably more likely to latch onto Copley than someone who invested in brand-name goalies, whether they were performing well or not.

Now 30 years old, Copley had only played double-digit games in an NHL season once, and that was back in 2018-19. In other words, he was an AHL lifer. Ten years there. (Did he get his commemorative gold watch or clock yet from the league?) Since being unexpectedly recalled by the Kings, Copley has posted a 10-2-0 record with eight quality starts, including a near-shutout of the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. Taking a flier on him early was like finding a $50 bill when you were desperately searching for any loose change in your couch.

Copley has been playing well even in the tough matchups, having posted wins against both Dallas and Vegas this week. He's earned the number one job based on merit, having started 10 of the Kings' last 12 games. Credit the Kings in that they're simply not willing to settle for assigning the majority of the starts out of habit to the goalie with the name or the contract. Placing Cal Petersen on waivers was risky, but it has paid off as far as their fortunes for this season go. Copley's season numbers beyond the win-loss (2.52 GAA, .904 SV%, -0.22 GSAA) aren't exceptional, but they're considerably better than those of Petersen or Jonathan Quick. That should be enough to keep him going for a while. Call me crazy, but I'm feeling confident enough to start him even in a matchup against Edmonton at home on Monday.

Kevin Fiala's first multigoal game with the Kings was also his first hat trick with the Kings. Fiala had not scored a goal in his previous seven games, but he has taken six shots in back-to-back games. He's also hot with seven points in his last five games.

Gabriel Vilardi assisted on all three of Fiala's goals. After starting the season red hot (10 G and 15 PTS in his first 15 GP), then cooling off considerably (4 PTS in 17 GP), Vilardi has picked things up again (9 PTS in last 10 GP). He was on the Anze Kopitar line to start the season but was then off when his production dropped, but now he is on Fiala's line. Seems that he is a very linemate-dependent player.

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Nathan MacKinnon scored this beauty goal and also assisted on Cale Makar's overtime winner.

HOLY MOLY NATHAN MACKINNON 🚨 pic.twitter.com/yTWFtq9DwQ

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 8, 2023

He also fired 11 shots on the Oilers, which is tied for the second-highest single-game shot total of the season. Teammate Mikko Rantanen has the highest single-game total this season with 13 SOG on December 23.

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Highlight of the night from the AHL:

Karlsson's goal from 𝙖𝙡𝙡 the angles 🤩🤩🤩

Who's going to be watching this all night long? pic.twitter.com/7g9fAxDrxX

— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) January 8, 2023

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.