With Dan Vladar being pulled in Calgary's game on Tuesday night, it seemed likely that prospect Dustin Wolf would get the nod in net and that's exactly what happened. Jacob Markstrom injured his hand when he got hit with an errant puck during practice and that pushed Wolf to the NHL roster. The young netminder had a .920 save percentage in the AHL season, and that was while following up back-to-back seasons as the Goalie of the Year in the AHL.

This is obviously a huge moment for both Flames fans and fantasy owners. Though not a goalie that has pedigree as a seventh-round pick in 2019 – for whatever 'pedigree' is worth – he has demonstrated for 2 ½ years now that he could be a diamond in the rough. Dynasty owners may finally get some usage out of a netminder that probably should have been in the NHL this time last year.

Of course, no matter how he fares, a few starts won't tell us a lot about his future. It would be great to see how soar out of the gate, though, and he may get some run in net depending on what happens with Markstrom (currently week-to-week for the starter).

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On the injury front in Colorado, all of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Bowen Byram played on Thursday night, though Valeri Nichushkin did not. Ross Colton remained on the top PP unit in the absence of the team's top forwards.

At a certain point, teams can't overcome their injuries. I'm writing this the afternoon before the game, but taking Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, and Gabriel Landeskog into account, they are missing three of their top four wingers from the lineup. Colorado needed to completely re-tool its depth in the offseason, which gives an indication of what they thought of their depth. This is great fantasy news for Colton, but at a certain point, all the injuries hurt the upside of the players that are actually still on the active roster.

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Patrick Kane returned to the action on Thursday night, suiting up in his first game for Detroit. He skated on the second line with Alex DeBrincat and Joe Veleno. Most importantly here for fantasy is that DeBrincat was on the top PP unit thanks to an absence from JT Compher.

Michael Clifford vs. Detroit's Power Play Formations is a struggle that stretches back generations. It is part of hockey lore at this point. That the Red Wings were practicing with DeBrincat on PP2 last weekend when Kane joined the team would have driven me to the brink of insanity. The fact that it took an injury to ensure that DeBrincat would be on the top PP unit is really weird, but we take the small wins when we can get them.

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Nashville welcomed Tommy Novak back to the lineup after missing nearly four weeks due to an upper-body injury. He skated on the second line with Luke Evangelista. Novak started the year with six goals and six assists in 14 games before exiting the lineup. Colton Sissons remained on the top power play unit, though.

Novak was a player I was really excited about this year. It seemed he could carve himself a big role on the second line with the talent exodus the team had, and his playmaking data from AllThreeZones last year was excellent. Funny part about his start this year: his rate of assists on teammate scoring chances, per that tracking data, was nearly double the league average. There are the makings of a tremendous playmaker here and getting him back is a boost for Nashville's depth scoring. In fantasy, though, he is under two shots per game over his last 65 games while managing just 10 hits. In points-only formats, there's potential for success here, but not in multi-cat formats. Think a poor man's Robert Thomas.

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Sean Durzi was not in the lineup for Arizona on Thursday night. Matt Dumba took his spot on the top PP unit where he finished last game.

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Andre Burakovsky made his return to the Kraken lineup after missing nearly seven weeks with an upper-body injury. Though he had just two assists (zero goals) in six games to start the season, this is a guy who is usually very efficient with his production in the minutes he's given. That is important on a Seattle team that likes to spread out ice time, but that lack of ice time means a strain on his already-meagre peripheral production. Beware of that before running out to add him to fantasy rosters.

Ryker Evans was also in Seattle's lineup, his first game in the NHL. Evans had 52 points in 89 AHL games and is one of the team's top prospects. It'll be interesting to see how long he lasts.

Evans was skating on what would be termed the team's top PP unit with Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle while Burakovsky was pushed to the second unit with Matty Beniers.

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Toronto pulled a 4-3 win in Ottawa on Tuesday night thanks to third-period goals from Calle Jarnkrok and William Nylander. With David Kampf and Mitch Marner scoring, the Leafs got four goals from three lines in a balanced attack. That broke a five-goal goalless drought for Nylander, who is now up to 13 goals and 30 points on the season. His four shots brought him over the 100 SOG mark to land at 103 thus far in 2023-24.

The big news, though, was Joseph Woll leaving the game with about 10 minutes left in the third with what looked like an injury to his left leg. There is nothing for certain right now about the nature of the injury, but Martin Jones did take over down the stretch and would presumably start against Nashville on Saturday if Ilya Samsonov isn't 100%.

Ottawa got goals from Josh Norris, Jacob Bernard-Docker (the first of his career, too), and Claude Giroux in the loss. Jake Sanderson had one assist, four shots, and three blocks with Chabot out of the lineup.

Anton Forsberg gave up four goals on 22 shots in the loss. Woll looked good before his injury but now the waiting game starts.

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Buffalo got the better of Boston by a 3-1 score last night thanks to goals from JJ Peterka, Tage Thompson, and Victor Olofsson. The latter had a great shot coming down the wing on a 2-on-1, showing off why he still gets into the lineup despite lacking in other areas. Olofsson now has two goals and four points in his last six games, so maybe he's heating up a bit. Peterka had six shots and a hit in this game to bring a rounded fantasy effort. He now has 11 goals and 20 points in 27 games on the season. Being on pace for a 30-goal, 60-point campaign in his second year is the kind of breakout a lot of us here at Dobber were hoping to see.

Brad Marchand scored Boston's lone goal, finishing with four shots, four PIMs, and two hits. David Pastrnak had eight shots but no points to show for it.

Devon Levi saved 28 of 29 in possibly his best outing of the season (or close to it). His finding another level would be a big piece for this team to add. More games like this could see them in the playoff hunt in a month's time.

Rasmus Dahlin did not play and Owen Power ran the top power play unit in his absence. He had an assist and five shots with over 28 minutes of ice time.

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Montreal was handled comfortably 4-0 by Los Angeles. Quinton Byfield had another two-goal game, adding an assist, and including this beautiful rush:

Quinton Byfield drives to the net and scores a great goal to give the Kings a 2-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/4bVGNPlOVo

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 8, 2023

Byfield now has seven goals and 13 assists in his last 18 games following a slow start. That stretch has seen 37 shots, five power play points, and a plus-11 rating. It's been a great six weeks in the fantasy game for him.

Anze Kopitar had three assists (one on the PP) while Kevin Fiala had two (one on the PP with four shots). Drew Doughty had a tally and a helper to push him to 14 points in 23 games. He has 40 shots, 37 blocks, and 33 hits to go with that production.

Cam Talbot stopped all 24 shots he faced for the shutout while Sam Montembeault allowed all four goals on 42 shots.

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San Jose is incapable of playing a normal game which is why they and Detroit combined for eight goals in roughly 10 minutes of game time during the second period. The game was actually 0-0 with 11 minutes left in the second period, 4-0 Detroit with six minutes left, and tied 4-4 by the end of the second. Mikael Granlund broke the eventual 5-5 tie less than 40 seconds into overtime for San Jose's second comeback of at least three goals in a 48-hour span. Just normal stuff.

Granlund had that OT winner and two assists, Tomas Hertl scored twice, Fabian Zetterlund had one of each, and Nico Sturm scored twice for the Sharks. That makes nine points in four games for Granlund who is now on a heater to end all heaters. Hertl now has more goals in those last 48 hours (5) than he did the entire season up until Tuesday night (4).

Michael Rasmussen scored twice for Detroit, adding two PIMs and a hit. Klim Kostin, Dylan Larkin, and Lucas Raymond also scored for Detroit (with Raymond adding an assist). Ben Chiarot had two assists, two shots, three blocks, two PIMs, and four hits in one of the best multi-cat performances of the night.

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The Islanders came alive offensively against the Blue Jackets by pasting them 7-3, with the top line doing a lot of the damage: Bo Horvat (2+1), Mathew Barzal (2+2), and Anders Lee (6 shots, 3 hits) putting four of their goals on the board. Barzal had five total shots and a block on the night, with one of his points coming on the power play. He now has 11 points in his last four games as he's starting to right the ship with Lee on his left side.

Emil Bemstrom (1+1) and Adam Fantilli (2+1) had good fantasy nights in the loss. Fantilli had three shots and two hits, and he could have a nice multi-cat season along the lines of 20 goals, 20 assists, 200 shots, and 60 hits.

Spencer Martin was in net for all seven goals against on 35 shots faced.

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Dallas stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to eventually tie their game against Washington 4-4, and taking it in a shootout. Roope Hintz had a pair of goals while their second line continues their tremendous contributions with goals from Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment. Seguin did end up playing after leaving their previous game due to injury, so that was a good sign.

Jason Robertson had a pair of assists and now has 14 points in his last 12 games. One of those helpers was on the power play and is now pacing for roughly 30 PPPs this year. That is down from the 41 he had the year before but a good effort all the same.

Dylan Strome (2), Evgeny Kuznetsov (in his return from the healthy scratch), and Aliaksei Protas (with an assist elsewhere) scored for Washington in the loss. He is tied with Anthony Mantha for the team lead in goals at 5-on-5 with five apiece. His 10 goals also doubles what Alex Ovechkin has, and we're two months into the season. He has been a tremendous addition for the team from Chicago and it's scary to think where they'd be without him.

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Roman Josi and Ryan McDonagh each had a goal and an assist in Nashville's 5-1 win over Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Josi had four total shots, a block, and two PIMs in a very good fantasy effort. The defender now has 12 points in his last 13 games as he's looking a bit more himself.

Filip Forsberg also scored once on three shots, adding a block, two PIMs, and a hit. He is now pacing for 44 goals, 51 assists, 331 shots, 139 hits, and 35 PPPs per 82 games this season. The addition of Ryan O'Reilly as his centre and Andrew Brunette behind the bench has been transformational for him.

Novak skated 12:55 and didn't register a point. He was also kept off the top PP unit as Sissons remained there.

Juuse Saros stopped 32 of 33 shots faced in the win. It pushes him to a .922 save percentage and 7-1 record over his last eight starts going back three weeks. If he does this the rest of the way, this Nashville team could legitimately get to the postseason.

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Petr Mrazek had a 37-save shutout at home to Anaheim on Wednesday night as Chicago took a 1-0 win. It was his first shutout of the campaign, and he now has a .907 save percentage in 15 appearances. For such a bad team, he's had a very good season.

Phillip Kurashev scored the lone goal, his fifth of the year, to go with two shots and a block. Had he not missed time due to injury, he might be a legitimate 60-point threat this season next to Connor Bedard.

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A hobbled Colorado team fell 4-2 at home to Winnipeg on Thursday night. Even with Bowen Byram and Cale Makar playing, the team didn't really come alive until halfway through the game and it wasn't long after they were down 3-1. Chasing the game didn't do them any favours here.

Kyle Connor scored twice to push him to 17 goals and 28 points on the year. A reminder that he had a 39-game stretch last year that saw him post 23 goals and 53 points; he finished the season with 31 goals and 80 points. Let's see if there's a big slowdown for him after Christmas. As a Kyle Connor fantasy owner, I hope not.

Josh Morrissey had a goal and an assist on two shots, adding two PIMs. He is now back over a 70-point pace for the season for his second year in a row.

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Despite allowing two goals in the first nine minutes of the game, Dustin Wolf held down the den by saving 28 of 30 shots in Calgary's 3-2 win over Carolina. Rasmus Andersson, Blake Coleman (who added an assist), and Connor Zary scored for Calgary. Coleman is now pacing for 22 goals, 25 assists, 208 shots, and 82 hits this year. Not a bad multi-cat effort.

Martin Necas jumped back to the top line with Sebastian Aho and skated 21:12, his highest mark of the season. He was on the fourth line for a while before this? Interesting usage.

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Two goals from Travis Konecny helped the Flyers to a 4-1 over the Coyotes. Those were the 13^th and 14^th goals of the season for Konecny, and he has 21 goals in 37 games going back to last season. He could push for 250 shots and if this team ever gets a competent power play, the fantasy upside is very large for Konecny.

Cam York had a goal and an assist to go with three blocks and a pair of hits in a very good multi-cat effort.

Carter Hart saved 25 of 26 shots faced for the win.

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Casey DeSmith had a 26-save shutout of the streaking Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. Nils Hoglander scored what would hold up to be the game-winning goal in the first period and skated 15:45 on a line with JT Miller and Brock Boeser. Hoglander is a player I've long thought just needed some time to develop and better line mates, and he's now scored twice in two games. He has looked good in a minimal role for most of this season and it'll be interesting to see how long this might last.

Filip Gustavsson allowed two goals on 17 shots as his light workload may have worked against him.

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Burakovsky had to be benched during the third period of Seattle's 2-1 loss to New Jersey as he wasn't quite right upon his return. Coach Dave Hakstol said he'd be reevaluated Friday morning so this may not be good news for a guy just coming back from injury.

Simon Nemec scored the game-winning goal in the second period and now has three points in three NHL games. Safe to say he won't be going anywhere regardless of how healthy their blueline is.