Joseph Woll made his long-awaited return to the Leafs lineup on Thursday. Playing in his first game since December 7, Woll stopped 30 of 32 shots while earning a 3-2 win over Arizona. Hopefully you were able to activate him in time for what was a juicy home matchup against the struggling Coyotes, who have now lost 14 (!) games in a row.

With Woll back, the Leafs are now carrying three goalies. Sending Martin Jones to the AHL doesn't seem fair with the way he held their season together when Woll was injured and Ilya Samsonov was struggling. The three-headed monster won't be ideal if you need volume, but any of these three are worth starting with the Leafs having won eight of their last nine games. Their schedule will become tougher in the near term with three of their next four games against the Rangers and Bruins (twice).

Tyler Bertuzzi has leveraged his hat trick on Saturday into some more goals. Bertuzzi has scored at least one goal in three consecutive games, including a goal on Thursday. He has also taken at least three shots in each of the past four games while accruing six points over that span. He has making it work recently on a line with Max Domi and William Nylander, who led the Leafs with a goal and two assists on Thursday. Bertuzzi is only 20 percent rostered in Yahoo, so this could be a case of grabbing the hot hand.

Late on Thursday, the Leafs also acquired Ilya Lyubushkin in a three-way trade with Anaheim and Carolina involving draft picks. Lyubushkin is just outside the top 10 in the combined hits/blocks category (250 HIT+BLK), but he rarely scores (0 G and 4 A in 55 GP). He should help in the physical department as the Leafs push for the playoffs.   

It might be time to bench Connor Ingram, if you haven't already. After a surprisingly strong first half, Ingram is without a win or a quality start in his last six games. Karel Vejmelka hasn't exactly made a strong case for more starts, as he is without a win or quality start over his past nine games. Avoid Coyotes goalies until the team shows signs of getting back on track.

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After being acquired by the Stars on Wednesday, Chris Tanev was not in the Dallas lineup on Thursday due to visa/immigration issues. He may be able to play Saturday or next week. The Stars were just fine without Tanev on Thursday, taking down division rival Winnipeg 4-1.

Logan Stankoven might be generously listed at 5-8, but he is already standing tall at hockey's highest level. Stankoven scored a goal in his third consecutive game, and he tied for the team lead with six shots on goal. He's been on a line with Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston most of the time, a line that is taking more shots and shot attempts than it is allowing (62.8 SF% and 58.9 CF%, respectively). Although nothing is ever certain, expect Stankoven to remain with the big club even when Tyler Seguin returns. As of a few days ago, Seguin is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

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Last weekend I didn't get around to mentioning Nashville, a team on a winning streak. Now that they've won seven games in a row, I can't ignore them any longer. The Predators solidified their hold on a Western Conference wild-card spot, taking care of Minnesota by a score of 6-1.

With a goal and two assists, Roman Josi has now posted back-to-back games with three points and three consecutive games with a plus-3. With eight points over his last four games, Josi is now close to the point-per-game mark (60 PTS in 61 GP). Only five defensemen that have played at least 30 games are scoring at least a point per game.

I forget a lot of things as I get older, but I do remember around a decade ago when Gustav Nyquist was a hot second-half waiver-wire pickup as he was becoming a regular in what was at the time a perennial playoff team in Detroit. Here we are a decade later and Nyquist is… a hot waiver-wire pickup again. With two assists on Thursday, Nyquist has eight points over his last four games and is on pace for just under 70 points.

It seems like Nashville is a great place for Nyquist because they can offer him the top-6 minutes and top power-play time that he wouldn't receive from other organizations. He's rewarded the Preds for their faith with 16 power-play points, the highest total of his career since 2014-15. Nyquist's shot total (1.9 SOG/GP) is still a bit low for my liking. However, he's available in two-thirds of Yahoo leagues, and you could do a lot worse.

After struggling from about late December until mid-February, Juuse Saros looks unstoppable now. He now has both a win and a quality start in each of his last five games. He has not allowed more than two goals in any of those five games. Get him back into your lineup if you benched him during the rough patch.  

Declan Chisholm didn't record a point and was a minus-3 for the Wild on Tuesday, but he still has a very respectable five points in nine games this season. I read some interesting points made about him in this Forum post. You may have never heard of Chisholm because the Wild quietly picked him up off waivers from the Jets a month ago. He's shown some offense in both the OHL and the AHL, where he recorded 43 points in 59 games for the Manitoba Moose last season. The long-term injury to Jared Spurgeon has opened the door to Chisholm in terms of both overall icetime and power-play time, so he might be worth adding to your watch list.

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Alexander Nylander probably isn't on your fantasy radar either. He certainly hasn't been on mine. But I'll just throw his statline on Thursday out there: 1 PPG, 1 A, 4 SOG, 19:40 TOI, 70.2% PP (yes, top power-play minutes). Do with that what you will. Since the Blue Jackets are nowhere near a playoff spot, don't be surprised to see them give former first-round pick Nylander (now 25 years of age) a bit of a run with some important minutes. He has posted some decent AHL numbers but has never been able to gain much traction in the NHL.

Brady Skjei with the ONE-HANDED breakway goal 👀 pic.twitter.com/1NT3iBFCMG

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) March 1, 2024

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With a goal on Thursday, Patrick Kane has extended his point streak to 10 games. He has 15 points (6 G, 9 A) over those 10 games. Although he hasn't played a full season, Kane is having a strong bounce-back campaign and is back over the point-per-game mark (31 PTS in 29 GP) again.  

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Sam Reinhart picked up a pair of goals (#40 and #41) and an assist on Thursday. He is now the third player to reach 40 goals this season, following Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman. Reinhart had cooled off a bit, however, as he had not scored a goal in his previous seven games. In order to get to 50 goals, he will need to score nine goals over his next 22 games. Among players that have a minimum of 30 GP, Reinhart has the league's highest shooting percentage (25.2 SH%). He also leads the league with 23 power-play goals, while no other player has more than 15.

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Josh Norris is expected to be out for an extended period. If it is shoulder related, he seems safe to drop in single-season leagues. Norris has had surgery on his left shoulder twice already. Unfortunately, he is a Band-Aid Boy, as he has played in just 74 games over the previous two seasons.

With Norris out, Shane Pinto (22% rostered in Yahoo) is worth adding. Pinto has 13 points in 16 games since returning from his half-season suspension.

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Morgan Geekie completed his first career hat trick on Thursday, also reaching 30 points for the first time in his career. As a result of moving from Seattle to Boston in the offseason, Geekie has seen his icetime increase five minutes per game, with some of the icetime in the form of power-play time. With just 235 career NHL games as a 6-3 forward, Geekie could continue to build on his point total.

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In his ninth career NHL game, Justus Annunen picked up his first career shutout, a 25-save effort against Chicago. Sure, it's against the Blackhawks, but they all count. Annunen is starting roughly every third game for the Avalanche, who would be wise to keep Alexandar Georgiev rested for the playoffs. No goalie has played more games than Georgiev (49 GP), but no goalie has more wins (31 W). When Georgiev is resting, Annunen is a worthwhile streaming option and is very widely available (1% Yahoo/18% Fantrax).

Zach Parise turned back the clock on Thursday, scoring twice and adding an assist with four shots on goal. He's playing on a second line of players that have seen better days (Ryan Johansen and Jonathan Drouin). Of course, the return of Valeri Nichushkin soon could break up this line. Nichushkin was recently cleared by the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program to resume practicing.

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There's a lot of buzz here in Vancouver about an Elias Pettersson contract. Pettersson originally stated that he didn't want to discuss contract until after the season, but it's apparent that the Canucks want it done sooner so they have more time to plan for next season (ie. also figure out a Filip Hronek contract and whether they can fit in Elias Lindholm). I'm guessing that the AAV will come in at around $12 million for Petey.  

This would have been quite a trade had it materialized. I'm thinking Sebastian Aho-plus from the Canes?

Now that's an Elliotte bomb 💣 #Canucks pic.twitter.com/xfV05i1MAQ

— Dave Hall (@hall1289) February 29, 2024

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If I missed anything, I'll try to catch up with it tomorrow. In the meantime, follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads.