If you haven't checked whether Patrick Kane is available in your league, chances are you're out of luck by now. It's rare that players with the upside of Kane are up for grabs, and of course he's worth an add in most formats. Yet as I was preparing a large auction bid for Kane in one of my leagues (that I eventually lost out on), this tweet from our old friend Cam Robinson jumped out at me:

NHLer's post-hip resurfacing surgery:

• Nicklas Bäckström: 47GP, 22 PTS
• Carl Hagelin: 0 GP, 0 PTS
• Ryan Kesler: 0 GP, 0 PTS
• Ed Jovanovski: 37 GP, 5 PTS

Here's hoping Patty Kane is different, but everyone needs to temper expectations in a big way.

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) November 28, 2023

It seemed likely to me that Kane's dip in production last season to a below point-per-game level (0.78 PTS/GP) for the first time in five seasons was at least partially due to the troublesome hip. However, it might be a reach to expect the Kane of old going forward. It seems like yesterday that Kane was a youthful core piece on the up-and-coming Blackhawks, but he is now 35 years old. At this point his production is difficult to project with a high risk/reward factor.

For more on what Kane to Detroit will mean fantasy wise, Cliffy has the Fantasy Take.

Kane's new team did a number on his old team on Thursday, with the Red Wings taking out the Blackhawks 5-1. Robby Fabbri and J.T. Compher each scored a pair of goals for the Wings. Both Fabbri and Compher have made their way onto the Frozen Tools hot list recently. Fabbri has seven points, including five goals, over his last five games. Compher has six points over his last five games and 15 points over his last 13 games. Both are making a strong case not to get bumped down the lineup when Kane arrives in the Motor City.

ROBBY FABBRI, HIGHLIGHT REEL GOAL 🚨 #LGRW pic.twitter.com/J9qQun4Avr

— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) December 1, 2023

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The Canucks have acquired Nikita Zadorov from Pacific Division rival Calgary in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2026 third-round pick. Zadorov had reportedly requested to be traded, which might explain at least in part why the return for the Flames was relatively low. The Canucks had traded Anthony Beauvillier to the Blackhawks just a day earlier, which freed up the $3.75 million cap hit needed to acquire Zadorov. In an interview on Vancouver radio, Elliotte Friedman suggested that the Canucks may still have some cap room to re-sign the injured Ethan Bear.

Zadorov is a left-handed shot who can play the right side, a much-needed area of concern for the Canucks. He has never scored more than 22 points in a season, and that shouldn't change much in Vancouver. Zadorov has some bangers league value, as he has registered at least 150 hits in each of the past seven seasons and has also made decent penalty minute contributions throughout his career. He will most likely play on the second or third defensive pairing for the Canucks unless Rick Tocchet decides to break up the Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek top pairing.

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Pyotr Kochetkov made his third consecutive start for the Hurricanes, but he didn't do himself any favors in his quest for a fourth consecutive start. Kochetkov allowed five goals on 16 shots in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Islanders, which definitely qualifies as a really bad start after two quality starts.  

I haven't been a "keep Kochetkov at all costs" guy when he was the third goalie in the AHL, particularly when it wasn't known when he would play NHL games. However, you shouldn't wait any longer if he's available and you want to add him, even with the lousy start on Thursday. An injury to Frederik Andersen or Antti Raanta (in particular Raanta) seemed inevitable, and sure enough Andersen will be out for a while due to a blood clot. Kochetkov is available in 42% of Yahoo leagues and 48% of Fantrax leagues at the moment. By the way, did you know that Frozen Tools profiles now show both of these ownership percentages?

Mathew Barzal's overtime goal earned him a four-point night against the Hurricanes. Barzal has been on fire lately with seven points over his last two games, while he has eclipsed the point-per-game mark (23 PTS in 22 GP).

With three assists on Thursday, Noah Dobson is also near the point-per-game mark (21 PTS in 22 GP). Who said the Islanders don't have any scoring?

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Top Frozen Tools search Matt Boldy snapped a four-game point drought and a 10-game goal drought on Tuesday. As I mentioned before the season, I thought he was drafted a bit too high because he seemed like a trendy pick among many. I'm not here to say I told you so – more to say that he wasn't a player I was targeting because others definitely were. I zag when others zig. Makes sense? Boldy owners should hold onto him anyway to find out if the coaching change from Dean Evason to John Hynes will have the desired effect.  

Boldy unfortunately didn't get on the scoresheet on Thursday, but many of his teammates did. In particular Connor Dewar, who had a hat trick along with an assist and a plus-3. You can't be blamed if you missed out on Dewar, as he had not recorded a point since (looks down) October 21, which is a span of 16 games. Dewar also played a season-high 14:12 and even saw a bit of power-play time in this game, so he may benefit to a minor degree from the coaching change. Although he doesn't supply much in the way of scoring, Dewer finished with 124 hits and won 222 faceoffs last season.

Thanks to a 6-1 win over Nashville, the Wild are now 2-0 under new coach Hynes.

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Goalie goals are lots of fun, and they take a lot of skill too. Tristan Jarry shows that in scoring his first NHL goal. Bring on the jokes about Jarry currently having more goals this season than players like Josh Anderson and Max Domi.

Beautiful look at the Tristan Jarry goal 😍 pic.twitter.com/qGFyQYQr4f

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) December 1, 2023

Usually if a goalie scores a goal, it's on an empty net. And the opponent pulling the goalie usually means that the goalie scoring the goal will also earn a win, which Jarry did in stopping 39 of 41 shots. Jarry has now earned four quality starts in his last five games. If you're rostering Jarry and you didn't receive credit for the goal, then at least you're receiving the solid goaltending you'd hoped for.

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Speaking of Anderson, he has been held without a point in eight games as well as without a goal in 23 games this season. But he at least contributed to bangers categories on Thursday with five hits and a five-minute major in a fight late in the third period. Unless you're in a very deep bangers league, Anderson should be nowhere near your roster right now. Until recently, Anderson had even been receiving top power-play time.

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Mitch Marner broke an eight-game goal drought in a big way, scoring a hat trick and scoring the shootout winner in the Leafs' 4-3 shootout win over Seattle. Marner had just three points (all assists) over those previous eight games, which seemed like an uncharacteristic slump for him. Marner didn't seem affected from wearing a full face shield (aka the fishbowl) because of a jaw injury.

Domi may still have zero goals as a Leaf, but at least he has 11 assists in 21 games. He is currently tied with Justin Faulk with the most assists this season without a goal.

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With Dougie Hamilton out of the lineup, Luke Hughes was on the top pairing with Jonas Siegenthaler. Hughes scored the overtime winner in the Devils' 4-3 win over Philadelphia. That gives the youngest Hughes brother four points over his last three games. Hughes' icetime in this game was 21:45, which is close to his recent game logs but higher than his season average of just under 20 minutes per game.

Luke was set up on the overtime goal by Jack Hughes, who finished this game with a goal and two assists. Jack now has three points and nine shots (!) in each of his last two games. In fact, he's been firing the puck a ton since returning from injury, with 41 shots over six games. That averages to nearly seven shots per game. Jack also has the best point-per-game average (1.81 PTS/GP) among anyone in the league, so he's in the scoring race despite missing five games.

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Jake Neighbours is making his way up to the top of waiver-wire add lists. Neighbours scored another two goals on Thursday, giving him seven goals over his last seven games. He's taking full advantage of his promotion to the top line with Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas, receiving 20 minutes of icetime in back-to-back games. He's even found his way onto the Blues' top power play recently.

One stat that's helping Neighbours' cause: He is shooting the puck more recently. Although he has averaged just 1.5 SOG/GP this season, Neighbours has averaged over three shots per game over his last four games, including five shots on Thursday.

One stat that's hurting Neighbours' cause: He's shooting at an unsustainable 28.1%, so as you might guess the goal scoring will cool off. He has just one assist all season, but that number should improve and could offset a downturn in goals while he's on the top line.

Go ahead and add Neighbours based on this recent production, but feel free to drop him in single-season leagues if he's moved off a scoring line and/or the production dries up. The 2020 first-round pick (26^th overall) has seen an increase to his keeper value with this recent run.

Brayden Schenn broke a three-game point drought with two goals and an assist. Schenn entered Thursday’s game with just one point in his last seven games. Schenn has been feast or famine all season with three 3+ point games, but only four other games where he has registered a point. He does not have a single two-point game this season.

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Jeremy Swayman stopped all 26 shots he faced in the Bruins' 3-0 win over San Jose. Swayman had actually started the previous game on Monday against Columbus, but he was pulled in the second period. For the most part, the Bruins have stuck to their goalie rotation, meaning that Linus Ullmark should start on Saturday in an important divisional matchup in Toronto on Saturday. Swayman would likely start against the Jackets again on Sunday.

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I'll cover players involved in Thursday's later games in tomorrow's Ramblings, but for now here's an interesting stat regarding the depth of the Golden Knights.

Vegas is the only team to have every player, including goaltenders Adin Hill and Logan Thompson, record at least one point this season. Hill and Thompson are the only goalie tandem to each have a point.

— VGK Communications (@VGK_PR) November 29, 2023

Also note that Adin Hill left Thursday's game in Vancouver after two periods for what the team is calling "precautionary measures." Hill was working on a shutout, so the issue wasn't performance-related.

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