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With the midseason guide now out of the way and off the to-do list, the next thing for me in the fantasy hockey realm is to get the next iteration of the Cap League Rankings out at the end of the month, and augment those with the salary projections for the top-100 or so upcoming free agents.

Once I have everything up to date there, William Nylander's number will be interesting to see before the extension gets inputted. The AAV does seem a little high, but for a GM that has caved to big contracts before, and was set up with huge AAVs already on the books as starting points, there wasn't really much doubt that this was where it was going to end up. At least it wasn't a drawn-out process, and the Leafs can focus on this season and the path forward. Hopefully for you Nylander owners he doesn't take the foot off the gas now mid-season with his contract locked up. I think his pace in the second half will be a great indicator of what we can expect and hope for out of him now that he's no longer in a "contract year".

Mitch Marner is the next one up for a contract, and he conveniently had four points last night to out-do Nylander's three.

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Cliffy had some thoughts on the Cutter Gauthier/Jamie Drysdale trade with his Ramblings and Fantasy Take. I think he hit the main points, though I just wanted to dive into a few things myself. It feels like Gauthier is being raked over the coals in Philly to an extent that we need to question what management's role is in all of this too. It all sounds a little fishy, and it makes me question how many others may be asking out of Philly soon as well. Something to think about with their players.

On the Anaheim side, Gauthier should be making his debut as early as this spring, and could make an immediate impact. Drysdale had taken the bulk of the power play opportunities since his return, but didn't have much to show for it. Pavel Mintyukov should be back on the top unit, but he had already started to cool a little from his early-season run. He does get a boost with the trade, but it's not a boost above his current numbers, it's really just to maintain them.

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Anaheim came out swinging with the confidence of a team that just got some support with a good trade from management, and ran circles around the Predators. Alex Killorn, Jackson Lacombe, and Troy Terry each had two assists, and Frank Vatrano scored again – he's up to 19 in 40 games.

Unfortunately, Trevor Zegras left the game with a lower-body-injury, which pours some cold water on any trade rumours, and his recent uptick in scoring – six points in his last seven games before the shortened match against the Predators.

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Dillon Dube was healthy scratched last night, and this is about rock bottom for him after breaking out last season with 45 points (games 201-282, right on schedule). For some reason though, he hasn't been able to find any of that production again, registering a paltry seven points through 39 games this season.

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To one-up Dube, Elvis Merzlikins has now been healthy scratched for his second straight game. The Blue Jackets are fully embracing a run for the bottom, and may have something in the works to move on from their number-one goalie.

He has a GAA of 3.25 and a save percentage of .907 this year (nearly identical to his 2021-2022 numbers), and eventually he may rebound to his numbers from 2020-2021, but it's tough to see it with Columbus, and it's also getting difficult to imagine another team taking him on and giving him a long enough leash with his current contract. A buyout after this summer would be possible, costing close to $2 million a season for six years, so it wouldn't be ideal. Columbus is trying to open their competition window now though, and that makes it very difficult to stomach a $5 million cap hit that isn't helping you at all (just ask Philly or Edmonton).

All that to say, I think this is a sign that it might be a while before Merzlikins is fantasy relevant again.

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Jaden Schwartz scored a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup, after being out since late November. He's on a 0-point-pace despite Seattle struggling to score as much as last year. Playing on a bottom-six line with Alex Wennberg and Brandon Tanev isn't going to fix him though, so until the situation improves, it's likely going to be a hot-and-cold run for Schwartz.

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With Brandt Clarke up in the pros now (but healthy scratched last night), Jordan Spence is in tough to keep his lineup spot, but had a good showing against the Lightning with an assist, two shots, and two blocks in 12 minutes of an overtime loss. His underlying numbers are very good, and has had some hot and cold stretches lately with when the puck is actually going in. It's a good problem for LA to have, with too many high-caliber players, but for fantasy it makes it tough to regularly roster either Spence or Clarke in the short term.

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The Canucks put up four goals on Ilya Sorokin, who was out-dueled by Casey DeSmith. With Semyon Varlamov injured for the Isles, Sorokin is about to see a lot more volume than his usual over this next stretch. That could be great, but it could also mean he runs into a bit of a wall. That being said, Sorokin has struggled this season, with at least four goals against in three of his last four starts too. Islanders and fantasy owners alike are hoping that he finds his groove by playing more frequently.

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Don't recall if this change was made on recent road trip, but MacKenzie Weegar is now #flames PPQB1 . Rasmus Andersson on unit 2.

— Salim Nadim Valji (@salimvalji) January 10, 2024

Looking at the game logs, it appears this is now game three on the top unit for Weegar, and he notched one power play point there against Chicago.

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The Leafs took it to the Sharks early and often, scoring seven goals. The Sharks did get one return goal by Henry Thrun on the power play, which is noteworthy because the Sharks had been running a five-forward top unit for the last number of weeks. If Thurn sticks (and a goal helps his case) then he definitely adds some value the rest of the way. Mikael Granlund and Anthony Duclair added assists on it, which is nice to see for Duclair, and a continuation of a resurgence from Granlund.

I keep waiting for the Granlund bubble to burst, but looking under the hood his underlying numbers actually show that he might be looking at more points moving forward rather than less. What is keeping Granlund afloat above the low percentages is the heavy usage, with nearly three minutes of power play time per game, and 20 minutes overall. If Grandlund gets traded and loses that ice time, he loses a lot, and someone is going to have to step into all that time.

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Alex Tuch, Jeff Skinner, and Casey Mittelstadt had two points each, covering the only scoring for the Sabres, and they have much better results this year when playing together. They have been reunited recently and it's showing. Keep on them while they are hot and together. I don't play DFS much, but with Buffalo's next eight games including matches against Ottawa, Chicago, Anaheim, and San Jose twice, they are someone to target.

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See you next Wednesday. In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter/X here, or BlueSky here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.