Anthony Duclair made his long-awaited season debut on Friday after missing the entire season so far with an Achilles injury. Duclair registered an assist along with four shots and a team-leading five hits in 17 minutes of icetime, which included second-unit power-play time. Duclair (24% Yahoo/45% Fantrax) is worth a pickup if you need scoring help, as he reached 30 goals last season and should be used in a top-6 role for the Panthers going forward. Duclair should be especially appealing in salary cap leagues, as his $3 million cap hit seems inexpensive relative to his cap hit. (He was scooped up in my salary cap league minutes after being activated. The league does not allow players on IR to be added, hence the rush.)

Aleksander Barkov missed Friday's game with a hand injury, which is the same issue that forced him to miss a game earlier this month. Perhaps a stint on the IR would be better for his recovery, although that might not be how this injury plays out. The Panthers are one of a growing number of teams in the hunt for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot, so this might ultimately get addressed after the season if it lingers.  

Also for the Panthers, Spencer Knight will be out indefinitely as he enters the NHL/NHLPA assistance program. All the best in his recovery. Alex Lyon has been recalled and should back up Sergei Bobrovsky for the foreseeable future.

The Panthers fired 54 shots on Craig Anderson, and he was up to the task in stopping all but one of them in the Sabres' 3-1 win. The 41-year-old Anderson starts about once a week, as he seems to perform better under that limited workload as opposed to carrying the bulk of the starts. Among goalies with at least 20 games, only five goalies have a better save percentage than Anderson (.920 SV%). If you are okay with not knowing when he will start or even not being guaranteed a start from him any given week, Anderson might be worth hanging on to in deeper leagues. He's definitely worth streaming now that the Sabres have improved.

Jeff Skinner scored a pair of goals, giving him four goals in his last four games and eight points in his last five games. It might seem like he's been in the NHL forever (actually, since the 2010-11 season, when he debuted as an 18-year-old), yet this season is his first with over a point per game (58 PTS in 54 GP).

Much of Skinner's success has been tied to lining up with Tage Thompson for much of the season. Thompson assisted on all three Sabres' goals, giving him back-to-back three-point games. Thompson also has nine points and an average of four shots over his last five games. He might be slowing down a bit from his sky-high first-half pace, but he's also only 22 points shy of reaching 100 points.

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The Penguins have placed the struggling Kasperi Kapanen on waivers. Kapanen's production is slightly higher (0.47 PTS/GP) than that of last season (0.41 PTS/GP). However, Kapanen has just one point in his last six games while averaging around 12 minutes per game. Being mainly cast on the third line hasn't helped Kapanen, but he doesn't seem to provide much else beyond scoring when in the bottom 6. The move was necessitated to activate Jan Rutta from IR and keep Drew O'Connor in the NHL. Expect Kapanen to clear waivers, as he hasn't scored enough to justify his $3.2 million cap hit.

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After the Blues coughed up a two-goal lead in the third period to lose in overtime to Vancouver on Thursday, Craig Berube sounded off on the lack of passion from his team. Robert Thomas was clearly in Berube's crossfires, with Thomas's lack of defensive coverage on the overtime goal front of mind.

Elias Pettersson weeeeeeee pic.twitter.com/VLEsHlS1Sk

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) February 24, 2023

Thomas responded on Friday that he disagreed with his coach's comments, but could this serve as a wake-up call? Thomas has no points in his last four games, while Jordan Kyrou has no points in his last three games. For what it's worth, Thomas has logged over 20 minutes over those last four games, but he is a combined minus-8 over that span. The latter stat won't make an NHL coach happy. Despite that, Thomas should continue to be leaned on heavily now that both Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O'Reilly have been traded, with more possibly to follow.

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WILLIAM. NYLANDER. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/A4ePTehNjt

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 25, 2023

Mark Giordano blocked three shots on Friday, tying him with Kris Russell for the all-time lead in that category. The 39-year-old Giordano leads the Leafs in that category and is in the top 30 in that category this season. Gio may not provide the offense that he used to, but his contributions in the blocked shot category might provide a reason for you to keep him on your roster.

The Golden Shin Pad!⭐️

After blocking 3 shots in the first 40 minutes, Mark Giordano has tied Kris Russell for the NHL record for most shots blocked with 2,044.

(📸: @markhmasters) pic.twitter.com/6elCfSIgnz

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 25, 2023

While I was researching blocked shots, I noticed that one player is far and away the leader in that category this season. Alec Martinez leads the league with 167 blocked shots, while the next three-highest players have 141, 141, and 140 blocked shots each. Among players with at least five games played, no one has more blocked shots per 60 minutes than Martinez (9.8 BKS/60). The Golden Knights lead the league with four light day games next week, so make Martinez (12% Yahoo/20% Fantrax) your add if you need help with blocked shots.

Frozen Tools – Schedule Planner

Just note that blocking shots is the kind of role that lends itself to injuries. Martinez missed 53 games last season due to a facial injury. Chris Tanev is another notorious shot blocker who has spent considerable time on IR throughout his career.

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Antti Raanta posted a 32-save shutout of the Senators on Friday, giving him wins in each of his last four starts. Only a Raanta or Frederik Andersen injury will get Pyotr Kochetkov back to the NHL, as both of the Canes' currently rostered goalies have a sub-2.50 GAA.

At the other end, Cam Talbot was activated from IR, allowing three goals on 29 shots. This was not a matchup that I activated Talbot for, but he should start a ton of games down the stretch for the Senators with Anton Forsberg injured.

Brent Burns scored early in the first period for Carolina. Burns now has a five-game point streak in which he has seven points. Also, he has at least three shots in four of those last five games.

I didn't believe this when I first saw it, but Andrei Svechnikov's two goals on Tuesday were his first of the new year. Svechnikov had not scored a goal in 19 games prior to that. He didn't score on Friday, but he assisted on two other goals. Svechnikov is also a plus-8 over his last two games with eight points over his last four games, so he is still a hot player even if he is not regularly finding the back of the net.

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J.T. Compher has been on fire recently. Compher scored a goal and added an assist on Friday, giving him eight points over his last three games. The Avalanche had last played on Sunday, when Compher scored a goal with three assists. He has moved up the lineup recently, playing on a scoring line with Mikko Rantanen. His recent icetime increase has pushed his season average to just over 20 minutes per game. Although he's still generally not playing on the first-unit power play, Compher has played well enough to reach 40 points for the first time in his career.

With Cale Makar on IR, Bowen Byram is a must-start. The Avalanche defenseman scored a goal with a plus-3 on Friday, giving him three goals and four points over his last three games. Byram has also taken three shots in each of his last three games. Perhaps more importantly, Byram was also on the first-unit power play, a spot that could be his while Makar is out with a concussion.

Connor Hellebuyck allowed four goals on the first five shots he faced before eventually being pulled at the end of the second period against the Avs. Hellebuyck has only been given the hook one other time this season, so this is hardly the norm. However, Hellebuyck has been tagged with the loss in six of his past nine games, even though he has posted quality starts in the same number of games over that span. After a strong first half (38 GP, 2.40 GAA, .924 SV%), Hellebuyck's numbers have dipped a bit in the third quarter (7 GP, 2.81 GAA, .916 SV%).

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Follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding for more fantasy hockey.