The Hurricanes have placed Antti Raanta on waivers. Raanta is hardly the only Carolina goalie to struggle this season, but he had managed just one quality start in his past five games and has more really bad starts (5) than quality starts (4). Most recently, Raanta allowed six goals in a 6-5 overtime loss to Nashville on Friday.

Since Frederik Andersen is out indefinitely, Pyotr Kochetkov is the only goalie on Carolina's roster, with the next goalie (Yaniv Perets) currently in the ECHL and possibly to be recalled. Don't be surprised if Raanta is on the bench as the backup today (Sunday) against Washington. Or if the Canes trade for another goalie. (Karel Vejmelka? More on him later.) Raanta has a $1.5 million cap hit and is a UFA after the season, so he could be a low-risk pickup for a team looking for a backup goalie. Injuries are always part of the story for Raanta, though.

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With Jared Spurgeon (lower-body injury) out of the lineup, Brock Faber has taken over first-unit power-play duties in Minnesota. Faber has yet to record a power-play point in the two games that Spurgeon has been out and has just one power-play point all season. However, what stands out with Faber are his icetime numbers: 30:08 on Thursday and 31:34 on Saturday. Granted, both games went to a shootout, but that's a ton of responsibility for a 21-year-old rookie. Faber doesn't have the offensive upside of the recently traded Calen Addison, but he has the potential to pick up a ton of peripheral stats. For example, he has blocked three shots in each of his past three games.

After a slow start, Filip Gustavsson has picked it up. Since John Hynes took over as Wild coach, Gustavsson is 6-1 with a 1.26 GAA and .954 SV% (Michael Russo). Despite the early-season struggles, Gustavsson was dropped in very few leagues. He seems like he's back on track now and safe to start if you've had him on your bench.

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Auston Matthews missed Saturday's showdown against Pittsburgh with the flu. Time to press the panic button, Toronto? Nope. The Leafs were just fine without him on Saturday, scoring a touchdown against Kyle Dubas and the Penguins. The two top point-getters for the Leafs were two secondary scorers whose production hasn't always been there in their first season with the Leafs: Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi.

Bertuzzi entered this game without a point in his previous eight games, which has sunk his production so far that I had to drop him out of the Top 100 Roto Rankings. Yet there he was on Saturday, assisting on three goals. Domi hadn't gone ice cold like Bertuzzi had recently, but his goal on Saturday was just his second goal of the season. His two assists were #14 and #15 on the season. Both benefitted from playing on scoring lines on Saturday, with Domi joining the big guns on the top power play with Matthews absent. The power-play icetime was spread out evenly with the game well out of hand quickly.

Matthew Knies supplied a bangers league special with the Gordie Howe hat trick – goal, assist, and first-period fight with John Ludvig.

The now much-travelled Martin Jones might be in line for more starts. Jones stopped all 38 shots he faced in earning the shutout. With Ilya Samsonov allowing six goals against Columbus on Thursday and struggling overall this season, Jones should earn more work in the short term with Joseph Woll sidelined. Tuesday's matchup against the Rangers won't be easy, followed by road games in Buffalo and Columbus before the Christmas break. Jones is only 15-20% rostered in both Yahoo and Fantrax, so he is worth taking a flier on if goalie starts are what you need.

Although he hasn't scored over the past two games, Valtteri Puustinen has been on the first power play during that time. Puustinen has played just four NHL games this season and five in his career, recording assists in each of his first two games this season. He has also averaged four shots per game over his last two games. After leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring with 59 points in 72 AHL games last season, Puustinen is looking to stick in the NHL. He might be worth keeping an eye on, even if Pittsburgh's once-dominant power play has wilted.

Kris Letang had the hardest-hit plus/minus in the blowout, finishing with a minus-4. He's had a rough go of it lately with just one point and a minus-7 over his past six games.

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With Alexandar Georgiev struggling recently, Ivan Prosvetov received his second consecutive start and third start in four games on Saturday. Unfortunately, the Jets lit up Prosvetov for five goals in the 6-2 loss for Colorado. Georgiev should receive the start today (Sunday) against San Jose and should be okay after that if he can put his recent struggles behind him.  

Since mid-November, Connor Hellebuyck has posted 11 quality starts in 11 games with a 1.82 GAA and .940 SV%. That includes the 30-save win against Colorado. As you might be aware, I've become less confident in drafting goalies early. However, I reached for Hellebuyck late in the third round in one draft, and he has definitely come through. He's a must-start every game not just based on ability but also because the Jets are an under-the-radar Western Conference threat.

Gabriel Vilardi scored a pair of goals on Saturday, giving him six points over his last two games. Vilardi's season has been interrupted by a knee injury, but he's been extremely productive when in the lineup (9 PTS in 11 GP). He has also elevated his shot total while in Winnipeg to 2.5 SOG/GP, including at least three shots in each of his last four games. Playing on the top line and top power play have also helped his stock. Guess what? He is only rostered in 18% of Yahoo leagues – likely dropped in many leagues when he was injured. In addition, all three of Winnipeg's games next week are on light days (see Schedule Planner for more). You know what to do.  

With two assists on Saturday, Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to 14 games. Over that span he has 23 points (6 G, 17 A).

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Carter Hart has been battling an illness, so Samuel Ersson stepped in to start for the third time this week. Ersson delivered with a 33-save shutout of the Red Wings. Only three goalies have more shutouts than Ersson this season, as he is tied with a whole bunch of goalies with two shutouts. Carter Hart has played well this season, so he doesn't seem to be in much danger of losing his starting job to Ersson.

Alex Lyon left this game during the second period with an undisclosed injury. He was expected to be the Red Wings' third goalie and play in the AHL, but his performance this season (2.14 GAA, .932 SV%) has forced the Wings to carry three goalies. If he is injured, then Ville Husso and James Reimer should both receive more work. Reimer has started just once over the past calendar month, even though his numbers (2.58 GAA, .911 SV%) haven't been that bad.  

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By now you've probably seen the Jordan Kyrou interview where he breaks down in tears after being asked how Blues fans booing him makes him feel. If not, watch it here. Kyrou responded on Saturday with an outstanding game, scoring a goal and adding two assists while taking nine shots on goal. Not surprisingly, he was named the game's first star, with both he and the fans in St. Louis happy with each other again.  

Kyrou's "He's not my coach anymore" no-comment comment seems to have revealed that he wasn't happy under Craig Berube. So it's worth mentioning that over the past two games under Drew Bannister, Kyrou had recorded four points with a plus-5 and 13 shots on goal. He's definitely one player who could take advantage of the new coach bump that seems to happen frequently. Or with a 5.9 SH% and other advanced stats lower than expected, he should benefit from more pucks could start going in because he is due.

Read more about how the recent coaching change in St. Louis will affect the Blues in the Fantasy Take.

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Josh Anderson entered Saturday's game with just a single goal in 29 games. However, he scored two more in leading Montreal to victory over the Islanders. Anderson's season numbers (7 PTS in 30 GP) are hardly fantasy worthy, but at least there has been no lack of try on his part recently. Anderson has taken at least four shots per game in each of his last four games.

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New Jersey Devils goaltender Akira Schmid was penalized for playing the puck past the center red line against the Columbus Blue Jackets: https://t.co/euXSltWeBt pic.twitter.com/Jw4WIbvynB

— Scouting The Refs (@ScoutingTheRefs) December 17, 2023

But wouldn't it be fun to watch goalies skate past center ice with the puck?

In this game, Jack Hughes scored a hat trick, while Jesper Bratt recorded three assists. Hughes has 1.61 PTS/GP this season, pushing Nikita Kucherov to be the league's most productive scorer.  

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Two games, two shutouts for the Arizona Coyotes. On Saturday it was Karel Vejmelka's turn, as he stopped all 28 shots he faced. Connor Ingram has established himself as the starter for the Coyotes with a much-better-than-expected season, so it could make sense for the Coyotes to shop Vejmelka. Carolina, maybe? There have to be a few other teams that should be looking for ways to improve their goaltending, and the Coyotes might receive a decent return that could help them either in a wild card push now or for the future.

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Drop Jonathan Huberdeau for Yegor Sharangovich? That's not something I thought I'd say before the season, but here we are. Huberdeau's rostership on Yahoo has dropped all the way down to 38%, while Sharangovich is sitting at 22%. Sharangovich scored again on Saturday, giving him goals in five consecutive games and points in six consecutive games. He demonstrated a scoring touch at times in New Jersey, scoring 24 goals two seasons ago. His shooting percentage is a bit high (17.5%), but his PDO and secondary assist percentage could both stand to improve. Sharangovich has also found his way onto the first power-play unit, so his scoring won't necessarily fall off a cliff.

Meanwhile, Huberdeau has been held without a point for eight consecutive games. I don't think Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman are the most ideal linemates for him, but he isn't exactly making the best of what he has been given either. I've been as patient as anyone with Huberdeau, but something is still off. Bench him, drop him, do what you have to do with him. Calgary will need to figure something out because that contract will be impossible to move.

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An alarming stat from the Panthers/Oilers game tonight: Matthew Tkachuk has no power-play goals this season. He had 14 power-play goals last season and 12 the season before in Calgary. Tkachuk has just five goals this season, which is the same number of goals as Alex Ovechkin. I keep seeing on Twitter that "Ordinary Player X" has the same number of goals this season than Ovechkin, so whatever player you're thinking of for that Ovechkin stat will also have more goals than Tkachuk. Tonight that player is A.J. Greer, who scored his fifth goal of the season on Saturday.

Could Tkachuk make a great buy-low candidate? I think so. His shooting percentage is only 4.5%, far lower than his career 12%. That should improve, provided that Tkachuk is not dealing with an injury that is affecting his shooting. Moreover, his shots per game total is only down slightly (from 4.1 SOG/GP last season to 3.7 SOG/GP this season), so expect him to start scoring more goals soon. He's showing as on pace for 57 points this season, but that won't be the case by the end of the season.  

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One more reason that the Kraken acquired Tomas Tatar: Jordan Eberle has a lower-body injury. With Eberle out for Saturday, Tatar made his Seattle debut on the top line with Jared McCann and Matty Beniers. Tatar did not record a point and played just 13:47, but it looks like he'll get a whirl on a scoring line in the near term.

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