The return of Eric Comrie to the Buffalo lineup has complicated matters for the Sabres. They needed to make room when he came back and one of the first moves was to send Ukko-Pekka Luukonen to the AHL. That was just a paper move, though, to clear a roster spot, and Luukkonen was back in net for the Sabres on Thursday night.

The paper moves continue as Jack Quinn was, in a word, demoted:

We have recalled goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from @AmerksHockey and loaned forward Jack Quinn to Rochester.

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) January 12, 2023

With the young players having waiver exemptions, this is likely to continue for a while. Just remember that even if it's a paper transaction, that player cannot be in the lineup without an emergency recall (sudden injury or departure on the team) or a corresponding move. Quinn was not in the lineup on Thursday, sitting out his second straight game alongside JJ Peterka. The rookie duo was very good through the first 30-ish games but their play, and minutes, had fallen off of late and giving them a mid-season break seems a good move for a team that has eyes on a playoff spot.

This does create uncertain fantasy value for Quinn and Peterka moving forward. If the team needs to send someone down, it seems the rookies are, for now, at the top of the list. They aren't pillars of fantasy rosters, but they could be useful depth and the paper transactions are a fly in this ointment.

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Pittsburgh was missing a number of players at practice including Kris Letang, Jeff Petry, and Tristan Jarry:

#Pens practice is underway.

No Kris Letang, Tristan Jarry, Jeff Petry, Josh Archibald or Ryan Poehling. Also no Jan Rutta.

— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) January 12, 2023

The team would go on to say that the injured players, sans Letang, skated before practice. Letang is still dealing with his family issues in Montreal so when his return will come is up to him. Any updates for the relevant players will be in these pages whenever we get them.

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Vancouver provided some bad news as winger Tanner Pearson is out for the season:

General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that F Tanner Pearson underwent a second hand surgery yesterday after a setback in his recovery, and he will miss the remainder of the 2022.23 season.

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 12, 2023

Pearson had just five points in 14 games prior to his initial injury but was part of the winger depth they had accumulated to give them three potential scoring lines. With Pearson injured and JT Miller playing on Bo Horvat's wing, they're going to be rolling with two scoring lines for now.

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The 2022-23 Dobber Midseason Draft Guide drops today! For all the season-long fantasy owners needing a boost down the stretch, help has arrived. There are player outlooks and updates, rookies that could make an appearance, previewing each team's trade deadline, and a whole lot more. Whether trying to lock down a championship this season or looking ahead to the 2023-24 campaign and beyond, there is something for fantasy players in all kinds of leagues. Help support what we do by picking up your copy in the Dobber Shop today!

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When doing a bit of research for my parts of the Dobber Midseason Guide, I was looking through recent performances. This is something that stuck out like someone wearing purple on St. Patrick's Day: the top-5 players in per-minute shot attempt rate since American Thanksgiving (minimum of 200 minutes) are David Pastrnak, Alex Ovechkin, Nathan MacKinnon, Jason Robertson, and Timo Meier. Nothing shocking or special about that, I agree. The shock was seeing Daniel Sprong's name in sixth place. His 23 shot attempts per 60 minutes rated higher than Brady Tkachuk, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Hughes, and a whole slew of high-volume shooters. It was not something I expected to see.

Sprong stands out here not only because of his shot volume but also his ice time. The 21-game stretch mentioned – leading into Thursday night's game – saw him skate under 12 minutes a night. Despite playing fourth-line minutes, Sprong has 10 goals in that span, averaging roughly 2.5 shots per game. That is absolutely absurd production for those minutes.

The seven-year veteran has already set a career-best with 25 points and he needs one goal to tie – two to break – his career-best in goals. He has done it by playing the fewest minutes per game since his age-18 season. It really is mind-bending what he's done lately.  

There have been hockey/fantasy analysts that have been partial to Sprong's offensive upside since he was drafted in 2015. Development isn't linear and we could be seeing the breakout many have been hoping for for years. We need to see a lot more out of him than an excellent quarter of a season, but he had to start somewhere and just the shot rate alone is a very promising first step.

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This isn't a complaint because the All-Star Game is not geared towards people like me. The All-Star Game is geared towards kids under the age of 15 and basically no one else. Us Olds should just accept that. With that said, the format of having one player per team both makes sense but is very frustrating to see. As it stands on Thursday afternoon, the guy who is second in the league in goals (David Pastrnak) is not an All-Star. The guy who is fifth in goals (Bo Horvat) is also not an All-Star. Another guy who isn't an All-Star? Leon Draisaitl and the highest point total outside of teammate Connor McDavid. To round out the non-All-Star list, we have Rasmus Dahlin, second among defencemen in points. Each of those guys has a chance to get voted in, which means they also have a chance to miss the ASG completely (not that some of them might mind).

I get that the league wants fans from every single franchise to have a vested interest in the game, and I have no issue with that. I have to think, though, that there's a better way to do this. What if the fan vote is for one skater and one goalie from each Conference with the rest of the lineup announced? Or half the roster voted by coaches, 40% from players, and the other 10% from the fans? There has to be a better idea than the potential of Pastrnak, Draisaitl, Horvat, and Dahlin just straight-up not being All-Stars this season.

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On the night PK Subban was honoured at the Bell Centre, Montreal pulled out a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators. Cole Caufield scored twice, bringing him up to 25 goals on the season. Since the hiring of Martin St. Louis 11 months ago, Caufield now has 49 goals in 80 games. If the coach does nothing else, getting that top line to the limits of their potential seems to be one of the absolute successes of his job.

Jonathan Drouin had three assists in his best outing of the season. He still played under 11 minutes, though.

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Boston suffered its first regulation home loss of the season thanks to a 3-0 shutout at the hands of Martin Jones. No, really. He saved all 27 shots he faced as the Kraken have now won seven straight games.

Eeli Tolvanen scored again. No, really. He has four goals and six points in seven games with Seattle. He also totalled five hits and three shots with a couple of blocks for good measure. There is something brewing here with the 23-year-old.

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The stars came out to play – no, not the Stars, the stars – as Tampa Bay beat Vancouver 5-4 in Florida. All of Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, Elias Pettersson, and JT Miller had a goal and an assist in this goal-fest. Pettersson had eight total shots with three blocks on the night. He also reached the 50-point mark on the year before Game 40 with his multi-point effort.

Quinn Hughes had a goal and two assists, Alex Killorn had one of each, and Brayden Point had a couple helpers.

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In a fun game that featured both impressive offence and great goaltending, Winnipeg took a 4-2 win on the road in Buffalo. Connor Hellebuyck rebounded nicely from that debacle in Detroit as he saved 39 of 41 in victory, looking as sharp as he has most of this season.

Josh Morrissey had a goal and four shots as his breakout season continues. He is impressive every time he plays, making nice small-space passes or using his agility for better passing angles. It is something special to watch. Kyle Connor's torrid pace continues with a goal and an assist. He has points in eight straight games – six goals and eight assists – and has 36 points in 24 games since American Thanksgiving. Like I said, torrid pace.

Victor Olofsson had one and one in the loss, now sitting with 16 goals on the season. He needs four more in the back half to tie his career-high.

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Carolina got five goals from their defencemen in the 6-2 win over Columbus on Thursday night. They got two from Brett Pesce, and one of each from Brent Burns, Jalen Chatfield, and Jaccob Slavin (who added an assist). Seth Jarvis scored the lone goal from a forward, adding an assist of his own with three shots, a block, and a hit.

Johnny Gaudreau scored one of the two Columbus goals as Patrik Laine was moved back up to his line.

In the Bad News Department, Max Pacioretty left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return. The team said it was unrelated to his Achilles injury that he just returned from, but nothing further. Certainly not what we want to see.

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K'Andre Miller scored a last-second goal, literally last-second, to send the Rangers and Stars to overtime tied 1-1:

NO
QUIT
IN
NEW
YORK pic.twitter.com/hQKX79R9RC

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 13, 2023

Adam Fox would score the overtime winner to take the two points when none seemed likely. That was a big win for the Rangers, even against a non-Conference opponent. Fox assisted on the Miller goal, and he's now up to 44 points in 43 games as he just keeps improving.

Jake Oettinger was one second away from a 29-save shutout win, and ended up with an overtime loss, allowing two goals on 31 shots. Fantasy hockey is fun, they say.

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Auston Matthews was again not in Toronto's lineup in their 4-1 loss in Detroit on Thursday night. Lucas Raymond had his second game in a row with a goal and two assists. As of Monday, he was on pace for 22 goals and 28 assists on the season. Now he's on pace for 25 goals and 35 assists. A 10-point jump in pace over the three days. Pretty good!