Matt Dumba was made a healthy scratch on Thursday, possibly because the Wild are currently working on a trade involving him. At one time, Dumba was a universally rostered player, but he has fallen out of that category (19% Yahoo/40% Fantrax). Could a trade revitalize his fantasy value? Dumba is a right-shot defenseman, so teams will pay a premium for a dependable two-way defenseman that can log 20+ minutes per game. Dumba has just one point in his last five games and receives almost no power-play time. He's also on an expiring contract, so he may not be part of the Wild's plans moving forward.

Max Pacioretty returned to the Canes' lineup after a two-game absence from a lower-body injury, but it looks like he might be dealing with more missed games. Pacioretty has missed most of the season due to offseason Achilles surgery, and it certainly looks like the latest injury is lower-body related. He will have an MRI tomorrow, but judging by Rod Brind'Amour's comments, it doesn't look good. Unfortunately, stashing him on your IR may not turn out as hoped. When he's healthy, he's proven that he can still find the net, as he has three goals in five games.

Oh no.

Inside the final minute, Max Pacioretty goes down and has to be helped off the ice. Awful, awful scene. pic.twitter.com/B6leVJRGqX

— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) January 20, 2023

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Sergei Bobrovsky left Thursday's game early in the first period with a lower-body injury. Goalie Bob was replaced by Alex Lyon, who stopped 23 of 25 shots he faced in backstopping the Panthers to a 6-2 win over Montreal. Since Spencer Knight is also injured, Lyon might be worth an add if you are goalie starved. I didn't take any chances by adding Lyon in a deep league where I also have Bobrovsky rostered.

If Bob misses time with Knight also on the shelf, then Lyon is likely the next man up. Lyon is 30 years old and has mostly been an AHL lifer, only having played more than 10 NHL games in a season once (2017-18 with Philadelphia). After that, one option might be Mack Guzda, who is only 22 and was playing in the OHL last season. As much as those in deep prospects leagues might be excited about Guzda (I learned about him in a Journey article during the offseason), he's too early in his development to face NHL shooters. Veteran J-F Berube (age 31), who has played bits and pieces of four NHL seasons, is also in the Panthers' organization with the Charlotte Checkers.

Anton Lundell recorded just one point in a 10-game stretch that started just before Christmas. However, he's been heating up with points in three consecutive games, including an assist on Thursday. He's being used on the left wing of Aleksander Barkov's line as opposed to having to center a bottom-6 line, which is far better for his fantasy value both in terms of points and positional eligibility. His advanced stats (6.7 SH%, 9.5 5-on-5 SH%, 1.7 PTS/60, 1001 PDO) show some room for growth, so he might be one to pay attention to in the second half.  

Sam Reinhart had a hearty Draisaitl hat trick on Thursday, scoring a goal while adding two assists but finishing with a minus-2. As is often the case with Draisaitl hat tricks (G, A, minus), all of Reinhart's points were on the power play. The Panthers teed off for four power-play goals in total on an injury-ravaged Canadiens' roster. Reinhart is now riding a six-game point streak, so he appears to be heating up after a so-so first quarter (13 PTS in first 22 GP). Keep in mind that he is also minus-7 over his last five games and minus-13 on the season, so that could be draining his value a bit in your league.

Matthew Tkachuk had a nice multicategory game, scoring two goals, firing nine shots, and receiving a fighting major. Tkachuk is firing on all cylinders with 15 points over his last nine games.

Barkov recorded two power-play assists. He now has a six-game point streak in which he has nine points, including five power-play points. His overall scoring might be down from last season, but at least he's already recorded 20 PPP when he posted 26 PPP all of last season.

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Load management came up tonight with Patrice Bergeron. It wasn't about playing today after taking the puck to the face yesterday. That was his call depending on swelling. But he knows load management might be coming with who he is, how important he is, and the Bruins record.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) January 20, 2023

The Boston Bruins are currently 12 points clear of any other team in the league, having picked up points in all but 5 of their 45 games this season. That means if there's one team that will utilize load management during the last week or two of the season, it would be the Bruins. The prime candidate for this appears to be Patrice Bergeron, who is already 37 and has already contemplated retirement. In fact, I could envision a scenario where centers Bergeron and David Krejci (age 36) alternate games if the Bruins clinch the President's Trophy early. Brad Marchand, who is now 34 and missed the first few weeks of the season following offseason double hip surgery, also seems like a prime candidate to miss a game or two at the end of the season. Just putting it out there – you do what you think you need to do.

Goalie-wise, the Bruins have basically been alternating starts between Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman since mid-December and could continue to do so for the rest of the season to keep both goalies fresh and ready. Ullmark has been an every-game starter this season, and we should be able to add Swayman to that list as well. Swayman was less than five minutes away from a shutout on Thursday against the Rangers, but he'll have to settle for his fourth win and fourth quality start over his last four games. Among goalies with as many starts as Swayman (18), only four goalies (including Ullmark) have a better goals-against average than Swayman (2.27 GAA).

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A follow up on Dylan Strome from last weekend, when he was a healthy scratch. Strome scored a pair of goals with a plus-2 and four shots, giving him goals in back-to-back games. Strome was on a line with Alex Ovechkin (and Nicolas Aube-Kubel) so it's not as if he's being pushed down the depth chart. The scratch appeared to be a one-off, so things appear to be back to normal, or at least how they have been throughout the season.

Aube-Kubel doesn't have a point over his last two games, in case you're wondering if he's piling up points on that line. But you can always add him out of speculation.

Anthony Mantha appears to be the healthy scratch of choice, having missed four of the Capitals' last six games. Mantha has not recorded a point in about two weeks (since January 5), which works out to three games that he has played. I'd probably move on from him in all but the deepest of leagues with this intermittent use.

Darcy Kuemper pitched a 26-save shutout in Arizona, which ended a three-game cold spell without a quality start.

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Jack Roslovic scored his first goal in 18 games (since December 11), yet he has five points in his last four games. Roslovic also led the Blue Jackets with six shots.

The Jackets jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period in their game against the Ducks. Yet after replacing Anthony Stolarz with John Gibson to start the second period, the Ducks stormed back with five unanswered goals to win 5-3. Gibson allowed 7, 6, 6, and 4 goals over his previous four games, but he stopped all 18 shots to pick up an unexpected first win in five games. Seems like the definition of an accidental win if you left him in your starting lineup. The Ducks are the only team that averages over four goals allowed per game, making Gibson a risky play most of the time.

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Well, well, well… what's this? Leon Draisaitl has his first Draisaitl Hat Trick of the season! A goal, an assist, and a minus-2. The goal was on the power play. Connor McDavid also had a DHT with the same statline (1 G, 1 A, -2). The Oilers won this game even though McDavid, Draisaitl, and Evander Kane were all minus-2.  

After a hat trick (including his 500^th goal) on Wednesday in Vancouver, Steven Stamkos stayed hot with another goal on Thursday in Edmonton. Stamkos has 11 points over his last seven games.

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I was very concerned about Ville Husso entering Thursday's game, as he had recorded four really bad starts and just two quality starts in his last seven games. Yet he managed to hold his own in Vegas, stopping 33 of 35 shots in picking up a win. He looked shaky on the Golden Knights' first goal late in the first period to Alex Pietrangelo, but he seemed to settle down after that before allowing a goal to William Karlsson with the net empty.

Tyler Bertuzzi has struggled with injuries this season, having played in just 15 games and scoring just one goal and four assists. There could be more bad news regarding Bertuzzi on the horizon, as he was not on the Red Wings bench during the third period. Something to keep an eye on.

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While Roope Hintz has been injured, Tyler Seguin has snuck onto the Stars' top line with Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski. Over the six games that Hintz has missed, Seguin has piled up eight points, including five goals. Seguin scored two first-period goals and added a second-period assist on Thursday in Los Angeles, also finishing with a plus-3 and five shots. Prior to Hintz's injury, Seguin had 26 points in 39 games, which is not a terrible total but there's a clear difference here. I wonder if Seguin has a shot to stay on that line even when Hintz returns. That might help balance the Stars' scoring so they don't seem like so much of a one-line team entering the playoffs.

Scott Wedgewood posted a 30-save shutout, which was his first shutout of the season. He was starting just his third game since December 19.  

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If I missed anyone important, you might be able to read about them tomorrow, as Friday features only two games. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.