Now that we're past the Christmas break, the schedule doesn't have too many quirks until we arrive at the All-Star break and the "bye weeks" that no one mentions anymore which are really just a few extra days on one end of the All-Star break for each team. It's not worth looking into those yet as they're a month away, but it is worth highlighting that Edmonton is the only team with one game left this week, and they don't have a four-game week until after the All-Star break.

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I picked up prospects Julian Lutz and Niklas Kokko in my dynasty league in an effort to ride some of the WJC exposure, but both were very disappointing in the group stage. Lutz's only game remaining is the relegation game on January 4^th, while Kokko finally won a game with the Fins taking home their quarter-final matchup in overtime.

Luckily the prospects I have owned for a while fared a little better, with Gavin Brindley, Noah Ostlund, and Theo Lindstein each helping lead their teams to the medal rounds, while Easton Cowan looked his usual disruptive self in the last two games.

Elsewhere at the World Juniors, USA rolled over Latvia, with Gabe Perreault and Seamus Casey leading the way with three points apiece. Perreault falling to the mid-20s in last summer's draft where the Rangers snapped him up was a surprise then and it's still looking like a steal now.

Canada was stunned in the last dozen seconds by the Czechs after a puck that was going wide deflected off Oliver Bonk's stick and in for an "own goal". Macklin Celebrini led the way for a Canadian team that was otherwise very disappointing. Credit where it's due to the Czechs who have looked good overall in the tournament, and got revenge on Canada after losing in last year's Gold Medal game. They got two goals yesterday from Jakub Stancl (a 4th Rnd Pick by the Blues in 2023), but Jiri Kulich (BUF) and Filip Mesar (MTL) are the ones to watch in the semis.

In the last game of the day, the Swiss nearly pulled the upset over Sweden, but Axel Sandin-Pelikka pulled it out in overtime. Jonathan Lekkerimaki has been the most dangerous Swede through the tournament thus far, though the team is nearly as stacked as the Americans, so there is lots of praise to go around.

I'll leave a few final tournament thoughts until after the Gold Medal is awarded. 

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I have a feeling that unless you own Brady Skjei you don't fully realize how excellent he has been this season. He's on pace to put up his best season since his rookie year, and is pacing the Carolina defencemen in scoring. Coming into the year the pecking order was supposed to have Brent Burns as the top-dog, Tony DeAngelo as the number two and power play specialist, with Dmitry Orlov mopping up most of the rest of the offence. Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei were supposed to be afterthoughts, however Skjei and Slavin now have a combined 43 points through just 38 games. This Carolina team is one game-breaking forward and some consistent goaltending away from walking through the East to the Stanley Cup final this year.

Up front, Andrei Svechnikov may be injury-prone and inconsistent, but it's stats like this that keep him firmly in Star territory in the league.

Andrei Svechnikov holy cow.

Svechnikov now has 5 straight multi-point games.

2nd time in his career he's done that.

— The Canes Stats Brand™ (@CanesStats) January 3, 2024

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After starting the season completely off balance with four points in 18 games, Rickard Rakell has found his footing lately and racked up eight points in his last six. He is currently on the top power play unit, so that should start to add some extra points soon as well.  

I acquired Rakell a month ago, so it's nice to see the payoff coming through. I traded Trent Frederic for his one-for-one, who coincidentally also scored last night. He's on a 43-point-pace after crossing his breakout threshold right at the beginning of the season, and though his luck metrics are a little high, he should be able to keep up that pace with a bit of ice time growth.

James van Riemsdyk had three points last night, including an assist on Frederic's goal. He's up to a 60-point-pace despite shooting under 10%. What a great (and cheap) signing by the Bruins.

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Alex Ovechkin wasted no time in 2024, scoring in his first game this year to give him goals in two straight. After being held without a shot in two of the first three games of the season, he hasn't gone shotless in a game since. Everyone who says age is finally catching up with him is going to look foolish in the second half – I'm telling you, the dam is breaking, and he's going to pot at least 25 between now and the end of the year.

The market correction also looks to be kicking in for Rasmus Sandin, who picked up two assists to make it four points in four games for him, though still only 10 in 35 overall. Someone I'm holding for future years, but not necessarily a big second-half.

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Speaking of busting slumps, Jonathan Huberdeau finally scored again – his first in 18 games. It's going to take a lot to rebuild any kind of trust in him, but his highlights from the last two games are at least a start.

Jonathan Huberdeau tucks home Lindholm's nifty feed, pushing the Calgary lead to 2!#Flames pic.twitter.com/mUuDM283xx

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 3, 2024

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The Senators got walloped by the Canucks last night, and they really need to do something about their goaltending. It’s some of the worst in the league, and both Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo have been equally bad. Whether it’s calling up Mads Sogaard, or making a trade for a different goalie to try, it’s about the personnel on the ice and especially in the blue paint at this point after firing the coach.

Elias Pattersson, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Pius Suter each scored two goals in the game, and one of these things is not like the others. Suter is just passing his breakout threshold, but right now he is only on pace to regain his form from earlier in his career with Chicago and Detroit. On top of that, he’s shooting 25%, and generally due for some regression. Don’t get too excited that he might be moving up with the big snipers.

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Highlighting someone else a little more relevant that will be hitting their breakout threshold tonight:

#NJDevils Dawson Mercer will play his 200th NHL game tonight. It's pretty impressive that he never missed a game since making his NHL debut.

I have an article coming out today with quotes from Dawson, Erik Haula, and HC Lindy Ruff.

— Kristy Flannery (@InStilettos_NHL) January 3, 2024

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Steven Stamkos scored his 16^th of the season for the Bolts, and in doing research for the Dobber Midseason Guide (which you should pre-order here) I noticed that Stamkos is actually a free agent at the end of the season. Last time he hit free agency he was the talk of the town for the entire year leading up to it. This time however there seems to be hardly a whisper, and the expectation seems to be that he will just calmly re-up with the Lightning and probably retire there.

The Toronto native in me wants him to take a discount to come to the Leafs, but realistically he will take a bit of a pay cut to stick in Tampa, and continue the good thing they have going there. I haven't gotten around to updating my salary projections yet (though I will by the end of the month for the latest Cap League Rankings update) but my feeling is that something similar to Joe Pavelski's contract at the same age would make sense. Pavelski took a three-year deal at $7 million which took him through his age 35-38 seasons, and while Stamkos while only be turning 34 this February, not everyone can expect to age as gracefully as Pavelski has. A $7 million price tag then comes out to about $7.5 million now, which sounds like a reasonable number for both Stamkos and the Bolts at this point.

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Tyler Bertuzzi seems to be clicking a little better of late on a line with William Nylander and John Tavares – the former two with a pair of points each last night.

With some stable goaltending in Martin Jones – who earned a 31-save shutout against the Kings last night – the Leafs look to be a bit more reliable for the short term.

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More good hockey in North America is going to be a very fun thing to watch. The energy around the PWHL for the opening few games has been great. If you need to figure out how to watch, click here.

CLAIRE DALTON GETS PWHL MONTREAL'S FIRST EVER GOAL! 1-1 GAME!#PWHL pic.twitter.com/zxmSo9yOBP

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 3, 2024

Maybe next year I'll be organized enough to sort out some PWHL fantasy content…

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See you on Friday as I'm covering for Ian – let me know if you have any topics you want covered, as it will be extra content from me this week and coming up with the questions is the hard part when I already have all the answers.

You can find me on Twitter/X here, or BlueSky here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.