Connor Bedard has been placed on IR with a fractured jaw. Although one report suggested he would be out four to six weeks, Chicago coach Luke Richardson said there's no timeline for Bedard's return. I wrote about what the Blackhawks would look like without Bedard in yesterday's Ramblings. (Spoiler: Like an AHL team, but you probably knew that already.)

The Hawks have also placed Nick Foligno on injured reserve with a fractured finger. Brendan Smith is now Public Enemy No. 1 in Chicago, with all apologies to Al Capone. 

Here's a quick recap of all the Blackhawks currently on injured reserve.

#Blackhawks on IR:

Connor Bedard
Taylor Hall
Tyler Johnson
Andreas Athanasiou
Anthony Beauvillier
Nick Foligno
Taylor Raddysh
Joey Anderson
Seth Jones

Luke Philp and Samuel Savoie are still on SOIR.https://t.co/ZJ2OGkS3q4

— CapFriendly Depth Charts (@CF_DepthCharts) January 6, 2024

Because the Blackhawks badly need warm bodies to fill the roster, they acquired Rem Pitlick from Pittsburgh for a 2026 conditional seventh-round pick on Saturday, and also claimed Zach Sanford off waivers from Arizona. Pitlick has played the entire reason in the AHL, scoring 23 points in 31 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Sanford has split time between the NHL and the AHL this season. Both seem certain to play in the NHL at least until other players start returning to the lineup.  

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After leaving Friday's game early with an upper-body injury, Jack Hughes was out of the lineup on Saturday. According to Elliotte Friedman, Hughes isn't expected to require surgery, which is "kind of" a good thing. The injury could be arm or shoulder related, which is concerning if it is the latter because he missed time earlier this season with a shoulder injury.

As a result of Hughes's injury, the Devils opted to use 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Hughes's absence opened up a spot for Dawson Mercer on the top power play. Mercer has had an up-and-down season, but he could certainly benefit from an increase in power-play time. Mercer has just 3 PPP all season, while Hughes and Jesper Bratt have already reached 20 PPP for the season. The Devils have a top-5 power play (28.6 PP%) for the season, although Hughes's potential absence could hurt its success rate.

Jonas Siegenthaler suffered a broken foot in this game, which will complicate New Jersey's injury situation even more. Currently the Devils are without Hughes, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat, Dougie Hamilton, and now Siegenthaler. That's not as lengthy as Chicago's list, but it puts a dent in the whole operation.

After watching his team score just one goal in two of their last three games, Canucks coach Rick Tocchet decided to load up on scoring by reuniting the "Lotto Line" of Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, and J.T. Miller (Hint: sound out their numbers in the order I listed them. You might only understand if you live in Canada.) It helped them carry play for a good chunk of this game, with the trio combining for eight points while combining for a plus-13 in this game. Pettersson and Miller each scored two goals while adding an assist in securing a 6-4 win over New Jersey. Pettersson now has four goals over his last three games, while Miller has three multipoint games in his last five games.

After being healthy scratched again, Andrei Kuzmenko returned to the lineup. Although he did not record a point, Kuzmenko led the Canucks with six shots on goal. His line with Pius Suter and Ilya Mikheyev dominated the shot attempt department with a CF% of 88.9% (CF 16/CA 2). That should make Tocchet happy and keep Kuzmenko in the lineup next game. I'm okay with dropping Kuzmenko in fantasy leagues, since his spot in the lineup hasn't been secure recently.

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Sam Reinhart for the Rocket Richard? With his hat trick on Saturday, Reinhart has 28 goals on the season, including a scorching hot 10 goals in his last seven games. Following Saturday's game (before the Leafs game), Reinhart was just two goals behind league leader Auston Matthews. His current 27.7% shooting percentage means he is likely to regress during the second half, although he seems certain to reach 30 goals for the third consecutive season and smash his career high of 33 goals. Regardless, it's a great time for Reinhart to be in a contract year.

Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk each chipped in four points in the Panthers' 8-4 win over Colorado. After leaving Thursday's game with an upper-body injury, Barkov was a game-time decision for this game, which no doubt threw off fantasy teams that decided to bench him in case he was inactive. Barkov has 13 points over his last seven games, so only an injury should keep him out of your starting lineup.

If you've been panicking over Tkachuk's slow start, not to worry. Tkachuk now has a five-game point streak in which he has piled up 10 points. He also has goals in three consecutive games after scoring just five goals over his first 36 games. There's been some concern about his offseason surgery and him not being right after the long playoff run, but his recent output proves that you shouldn't be selling low. Tkachuk's advanced stats also show that he hasn't had much good luck, particularly with a low 5.8 SH%.

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I added Andrew Mangiapane on one of my teams before Saturday's early game, as I needed a right winger and Calgary was the only team with games on both Saturday and Sunday. Mangiapane chipped in an assist, extending his point streak to four games. He currently has six points over those last four games.  The downside is that Mangiapane hasn't found a way to secure much power-play time since mid-December, which is going to severely limit his upside.

Mangiapane is lining up with Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund, a spot that was vacated by Jonathan Huberdeau. The $10 million winger's struggles have been well documented, but perhaps he is showing signs of life. Huberdeau scored a goal on Saturday, giving him points in three of his last four games. Huberdeau is back on the top line with Elias Lindholm and Yegor Sharangovich, which seems like a better spot for him. He's not back on the top power play, but baby steps here.

Egor Zamula might be for real in sticking on the Flyers power play, folks. Or maybe it's Torts not being that confident in Cam York. Zamula has logged at least 75% of the team's available power-play minutes for two consecutive games, also assisting on Sean Couturier's power-play goal in the third period. Meanwhile, York recorded his first point in six games on Saturday (a shorthanded assist), but he still hasn't registered a power-play point since December 2. York also has just 2 PPP all season, a number that Zamula has now equaled. Zamula is probably available in your league (0% Yahoo/12% Fantrax), although the Flyers' power play is dead last in the entire NHL with a 9.8% success rate, so spots on there shouldn't be safe anyway.  

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William Nylander has made the most of his contract year, and he added to it on Saturday with another two goals and an assist. He is reportedly about to be rewarded for his career year with an extension worth $11.5 million per season. If that's true, Nylander will earn a significant pay hike from the $6.9 million cap hit he currently earns. That will also mean that all four members of the Leafs' "Core 4" will earn at least $10 million next season. Even though the salary cap will increase, that won't leave a lot to address other needs, such as that gaping hole in net.

I'll steal this from TSN: Only Jake Neighbours has played in more games (38 GP) than Morgan Rielly (37 GP) this season without taking a single penalty.

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Rather than allow young Thomas Harley to man the point on the top power play, the Stars opted to use a five-forward power play in the absence of Miro Heiskanen. Despite the lack of power-play time, Harley finished with two assists on Saturday, including one on the power play. He also logged 24 minutes of icetime for the second consecutive game, so he should at least benefit from increased responsibility. Nils Lundkvist was able to slot into the lineup as well, although he was held without a point in nearly 19 minutes of icetime.

Matt Duchene was the fifth forward added to the power play, and a deserving one at that. Travis Konecny and Robert Thomas are the only two players with more points than Duchene (35) but fewer power-play points than Duchene (7).

Jake Oettinger has gone from week-to-week to day-to-day, which should be good news for Stars fans. Scott Wedgewood has allowed at least four goals in each of his last three starts, including a 4-3 loss to Nashville on Saturday. Wedgewood has played 11 consecutive games, so perhaps he is starting to wear under a much higher workload. The Stars haven't played back-to-backs since mid-December, so that natural reason to play the backup hasn't happened and won't until next weekend. Oettinger is in no danger of losing his starting job.

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The save of the night goes to Marc-Andre Fleury. The one we would pretend to do in street hockey.

MARC-ANDRE FLEURY ARE YOU KIDDING ME pic.twitter.com/ddUCUfN3MG

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) January 7, 2024

That save was made in overtime. The game-tying goal before that was absolute madness.

I never want Marc-Andre Fleury to retire pic.twitter.com/GoXsU7blPW

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 7, 2024

It wasn't easy, but Fleury was able to secure his 551^st career win, tying him with Patrick Roy for second on the all-time list.

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With his third hat trick of the season, Zach Hyman has tied Auston Matthews for the league lead. Hyman now has seven goals in his last six games, and he has taken at least six shots in back-to-back games. Only three players – Matthews, the previously mentioned Reinhart, and Nikita Kucherov – have more goals than Hyman this season. And yes, that means Hyman leads a team with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on it in goals. Hyman’s advanced stats are a bit high, but he’s on pace for a 50-goal season if he can somehow keep it up.

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Apologies if I'm cutting it a bit short or missing anything important on a busy Saturday night. I've got quite a bit of work to do with the Midseason Guide. Release date is this Friday, and I can tell you from reviewing the content so far that there will be plenty of fantasy goodness in there. Second-half projections, sleepers, advanced stats, historical trends and prospects you need to know. For more information and to make your purchase, click here.

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Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads @goodsfantasyhockey.