The Avalanche have signed Zach Parise to a one-year contract worth $825,000. Parise should provide Colorado with scoring depth, which should help a team that seems to deal with more than its share of injuries (currently without Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin). A point-per-game scorer early in his career with the Devils and a fairly consistent scorer with the Wild, Parise has seen his scoring numbers drop to around a 35-point pace over the last three seasons. Expect the 39-year-old Parise to slot in at around the third line with possible second-unit power-play minutes for the Avalanche while making his debut after the All-Star break.

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Owen Tippett has used his time on IR to sign an eight-year, $49.2 million contract extension. The Flyers obviously view him as a major contributor going forward, which should make keeper owners more confident. Tippett is currently a bargain in cap leagues at $1.5 million per season, so cap leaguers will need to create more room for him starting next season. That being said, Tippett has demonstrated tremendous value in multicat leagues for his shot and hit totals, so he may be worth it. Also, the Claude Giroux trade has reaped benefits for the Flyers.

Owen Tippett signs extension with #LetsGoFlyers

His offense combined with a high volume of shots and hits make him a valuable multi-cat contributor even in shallow leagues. At 24 years old he might still have some untapped offensive potential.https://t.co/Kgt16u0tht pic.twitter.com/QwaeH7j4fh

— Frozen Tools (@FrozenTools) January 26, 2024

The Flyers also took care of business with Ryan Poehling, signing him to a two-year, $3.8 million extension.

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Brendan Gallagher was suspended five games for his illegal check to the head of Adam Pelech during Thursday's game. This hit was undoubtedly suspension-worthy and could have easily suspended Gallagher for more than five games, as it met multiple criteria for a dirty hit. Watch the Department of Player Safety video for an explanation.   

Brendan Gallagher receives a 5 game suspension for this illegal check to the head of Adam Pelech pic.twitter.com/s6xWaXigFS

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 26, 2024

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Since January 1, no goalie has more really bad starts than Igor Shesterkin (5). Not surprisingly, Shesterkin's struggles coincide with the Rangers' roughest stretch of the season, where they have won only four times in 13 games this month. Looking at it from a different angle, Shesterkin has had only one really bad week in January, which is hardly the worst in the league. However, he has yet to post a quality week in January, which is something you'd expect from him over nearly a month.

Shesterkin's track record shows that he should bounce back, so it will be interesting to see whether the All-Star break will give him some time to reset. He is participating in the game in spite of an .899 SV%, which is 40^th in the league among 58 goalies that have played in at least 15 games. Not exactly the best return on investment for those who drafted him in single-season leagues (15 ADP in Yahoo).

With a hat trick on Friday, Jonathan Marchessault is red hot with 11 points over his last six games. Those 11 points include eight goals, which is a result from him continuing to shoot the puck. Over those six games, Marchessault has averaged over three shots per game, which is around his usual pace.

Marchessault's linemate Ivan Barbashev recorded the primary assist on all three of Marchessault's goals. Barbashev has been red-hot himself with 10 points over his last five games while primarily on that line with Marchessault and Nicolas Roy.

Roy, by the way, has multiple points in three consecutive games, including two assists on Friday. Marchessault is unlikely to be available in fantasy leagues, while Barbashev is about 50/50. That means Roy (5% Yahoo/17% Fantrax) might be worth a look. Since Jack Eichel's injury about two weeks ago, Roy is averaging over two minutes more per game.

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With an assist on Friday, Erik Karlsson has extended his point streak to 10 games. That is the longest current point streak by any defenseman. During an unstable stretch for the Penguins, Karlsson has been an example of consistency, registering assists in each of his last six games. He won't come close to 100 points again but he is currently on pace to reach 60 points.

Not something any of us would have predicted before the season, but only Auston Matthews currently has more goals than Sam Reinhart (36). With a 12-game point streak in which he has 13 goals and 17 points, Reinhart is showing no signs of slowing down. Reinhart is also far and away the league leader in power-play goals with 19, as no other player has more than 13. His 27.5% shooting percentage should level off the goals a bit, but barring an injury Reinhart is well on his way to 50 goals.

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Me during every Cam Talbot start pic.twitter.com/V8J20MmImX

— Michael Amato (@amato_mike) January 27, 2024

It's been a tale of two seasons for Cam Talbot. The current story paints a grim picture.

Talbot from October 11 to December 23: 14-6-2, 2.06 GAA, .925 SV%, 15 QS

Talbot since the holiday break: 0-7-3, 3.86 GAA, .881 SV%, 4 QS

That's right. Talbot's last win was on December 23. He's also been tagged with really bad starts in three of his last four games. Talbot was chased from the net in the first period after allowing three goals. The Kings have two more games before the All-Star break (@STL, @NSH), and it seems like David Rittich will be starting at least one of those games. Bench Talbot until things improve. Rittich might be worth a short-term pickup, although the Kings are having a very difficult time picking up wins at the moment.

In the Avalanche win, Logan O'Connor scored a pair of goals. O'Connor suddenly has six goals in his last five games, including a hat trick on Saturday. O'Connor mainly skates on the third line with Ross Colton and Miles Wood and he sees very little power-play time, so this recent run doesn't seem that sustainable.

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Something to keep an eye on in St. Louis: Scott Perunovich has been on the first-unit power play in back-to-back games. Perunovich recorded a power-play assist in Friday's overtime win in Seattle. His icetime over those two games has still been relatively low (around 14 minutes), so he's really an option for power-play points and about one block per game – that's it. Five of Perunovich's 10 points this season have been on the power play. Perunovich is rostered in zero percent of Yahoo leagues (probably actually between 0 and 1%).

Meanwhile, Torey Krug broke a six-game point drought on Friday with a power-play assist of his own. I'd stop short of swapping Krug for Perunovich at this point, in case that's what you're thinking about. Only if Perunovich can stay in this spot and go on a bit of a run. Neither defenseman has a ton of value at the moment, with Perunovich still even a healthy scratch risk. St. Louis's power play isn't overly strong either (14.2%). Yet with two more games before the All-Star break, Perunovich might be worth rolling the dice on.

Pavel Buchnevich scored a pair of goals, including the overtime winner on Friday. He now has five points in his last four games.

Robert Thomas snapped a nine-game goal drought by scoring a power-play goal on Friday. The Blues scored on both their power plays, which is an area they have struggled with this season.

With two assists on Friday, Brayden Schenn has a four-game point streak with five points over that span. He has followed up a 12-game point drought with 10 points over his last nine games. He might be worth a grab for those final two games before the break.

Matty Beniers returned to the Seattle lineup on Friday after missing nearly two weeks with an upper-body injury. He was on a line with Tye Kartye and Brandon Tanev, which isn't exactly the best scoring line in Seattle. But at 29% rostered in Yahoo, there's a decent chance he's available for streaming purposes over the next few days.

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In case you haven't looked ahead at the schedule, next week is a shortened one with games only from Monday to Wednesday and then the All-Star break. In addition, only nine teams play next week, with the rest on bye week through to Sunday, when the break ends. After that, those nine teams are off for a few days while the rest of the league slowly returns to action starting on Monday February 5.

Because of the shortened week, many fantasy leagues have combined the two weeks into one scoring period. This combined scoring period presents its own unique set of challenges and opportunities. To stay on top of things, refer to the Schedule Planner in Frozen Tools. The Looking Ahead article will also help.

When streaming, you may want to consider players whose teams play on Monday through Wednesday as well if possible. Then for the second week, swap those players for options who are back in action. The way the schedule seems to work, the "bye week" technically starts on Sunday, so your Sunday streaming options (Columbus, Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Louis) will all have at least one more game before the All-Star break.

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