With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, there are a lot of thoughts here covering players in new situations, be it new teams, or with new roles as a result of recent additions/subtractions.

Let's start with the big fish. Jake Guentzel played his first game with the Hurricanes, lining up alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Martin Necas. This could be good news for all three. It's not Sidney Crosby's line like Guentzel is used to, but it's a line with a lot of talent that will get a lot of offensive minutes without the heavy lifting Crosby's line usually had to manage. For Kuzy and Necas, it's a chance for them to rebound late on what has so far been a below-expectations campaign. Guentzel finished the shutout loss with only one shot through 15 minutes of ice time. The peripherals will take a hit with the reduced minutes, but hopefully the scoring numbers don't.

Magnus Chrona is in an excellent spot for those of you who need goalies to face large volumes without it mattering much how many goals they let in. He has two quality starts and three really bad starts through his first five games, so there isn't much in between with him, but there will be volume. Last night was his first game not hitting either marker, as he let in three goals on 42 shots in a 3-2 loss. He has faced at least 30 shots in every game he has finished, and has the run of the net in the short term while the Sharks wait for Mackenzie Blackwood to get healthy again. He's still only 23, so the inconsistencies are expected, and he's not someone I would write off completely for at least another three years.

The trade of Noah Hanifin at the trade deadline, in addition to the departures of other defencemen earlier in the season, led to Daniil Miromanov taking over the top power play unit last night. If he can stick there for any length of time (I give it a 40% chance), then he's worth a look in most leagues to close out the season – just don't expect too many peripherals. He scored an even strength goal last night for the Flames on a big point shot, his third of his NHL career.

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Elvis Merzlikins and Alex Lyon both got blown up last night. Elvis letting in three goals on four shots, Lyon four goals on 13 shots. Buffalo wasn't any nicer to James Reimer scoring three goals on 26 shots. With Ville Husso not too far away now, and the Red Wings needing to get their game back on track to stick above the playoff line, Husso isn't going to be brought back slowly. As soon as he is ready they're going to push him in to see if he can be the presence the Wings need in goal.

Bowen Byram scored his second and third goals in his three games since joining the Sabres. The talent is shining through, and there is so much more depth for him to play with in Buffalo. He will still be capped as Rasmus Dahlin is in front of him, but he is looking more like the 45-point defenceman from the past two years as opposed to the 30-point-pace defenceman that he was in the first two-thirds of the year with Colorado this season. His breakout threshold is still 50 games away too.

Zach Benson led the way with three points for the Sabres, and looks like the real deal. He shouldn't have slipped past seven in last year's draft, let alone all the way to 13. More on him later in Rick's article.

Back to the goalies, on the positive side for Elvis, he has had some good outings lately before missing two weeks with an injury. He has played better this season with regular work, so wait him out for another game (likely Thursday vs Ottawa) before you look to him as a positive streaming option. In the meantime, Daniil Tarasov may get Saturday's game against the Sharks, which is a juicy one albeit on a day with a lot of other streaming options. He also looked excellent in the rest of the game last night, and has been solid of late. He should see more games to close out the year too.

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Hartman is taking Eriksson Ek's spot on the No. 1 Power play unit.

— Dylan Loucks (@DylanLoucks4) March 13, 2024

If this stands for any length of time then Ryan Hartman is a must-add. He's available in half of Fantrax leagues, and 80% of Yahoo leagues.

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One player who was traded that I didn't think I was going to be able to be as positive about is Jack Roslovic, who was in a groove with Columbus before the deadline, and played 20 minutes in each of his last two games with the Jackets. Now with the Rangers, he was always going to see a reduction in ice time, but it appears that the Rangers see him as a top-six player, which should keep his numbers up despite the drop in overall ice time and power play usage. Peter Ryell had some similar thoughts on Roslovic, along with some views on other players in new locations in his latest Lining Up article here.  

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One player not mentioned in that article, who maybe be for the folks in slightly deeper leagues, is Brandon Duhaime. He was only playing in his second game with the Avs last night, but was up on the second line while Artturi Lehkonen was nursing an illness.

COL: Lines for tonight

Nichushkin-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Duhaime-Mittelstadt-Drouin
Wood-Colton-Trenin
Cogliano-Olofsson-Kiviranta https://t.co/Y0lkbxVlck

— NHL Game Day Lines (@GameDayLines) March 13, 2024

He was someone the Avs targeted to help their depth, and he is right at that breakout games played threshold. Maybe not someone that will ever hit 45 points in his career, but if he put up a point every other game over this last quarter of the season, no one should be too surprised. His Corsi numbers in game one with the Avs were exceptional. And if he doesn't score for you, at least he's going to rack up the hits. 

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Feels like it has been a while since I talked about Connor Bedard:

Bedard has four goals and 11 assists in 12-plus games since returning from a broken jaw.

📢 advertisement:

— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) March 13, 2024

Bedard added another two assists after this tweet to make it a five-point game, and has seven points in his last two games. He has been playing even heavier minutes than he was at the start of the year, and his shot rate has risen as well, Interestingly his linemates have fairly consistently been Philip Kurashev and Nick Foligno all season. Next year he may get some more rotation to see which of Lukas Reichel, Frank Nazar, and other young guys he might mesh well with. For now, he's learning that he is capable of doing it all on his own.

How early does he go in redrafts next year? Has to be a top-20 pick, but do you dare take him over someone like Nikita Kucherov in the top-10? Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, Jack Hughes, Mikko Rantanen, David Pastrnak, Cale Makar, Brady Tkachuk (if your league counts peripherals), Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Pettersson, Nikita Kucherov probably make up my top-12 entering next year. To me Bedard would be part of that next tier from about 12-20 with the group including Kirill Kaprizov, Aleksander Barkov, and Mitch Marner as examples, though I will probably be letting someone else take the risk unless he slips past the 30^th pick.

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Michael Bunting scored his first goal as a Penguin in his third game. He has at least three shots in all three of his games with the Penguins thus far, playing at least 18 minutes in each game too. His numbers should be up the rest of the way with the added ice time, and considering he's seeing a solid chunk of power play time, those points should come in due time as well.

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Anthony Mantha has been fairly quiet with the Golden Knights so far, playing with Chandler Stephenson and a rotating cast of wingers. Last night he got Brett Howden, who finally returned from injury. Pavel Dorofeyev was the one bumped down the lineup, and when the team gets healthier as William Carrier, Tomas Hertl, and others come back from injuries, he may get bumped completely. Mantha meanwhile may take a while to get his feet back under him, but should stick in a top-nine slot the rest of the way, and keep up at least a 40-point-pace.

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Just in case you thought you could count on Jake Allen and one of the young guys as the goalie duo in New Jersey next year:

Report: Devils plan to target Markstrom, Saros in offseason https://t.co/8CsHUBAZUT

— theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) March 13, 2024

Think again. We didn't get the goalie fireworks at the deadline like some were hoping, but then again we never do at the deadline, and with the way goalies often ip when switching teams, it's not worth it. This summer is when we will likely see the fireworks.

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Winnipeg's three off nights remaining this week against Nashville, Anaheim, and Columbus could be a key to milking out some extra points in what is likely your second-last or last week before head-to-head playoffs start – they also play four times next week. Alex Iafallo, Vladislav Namestnikov, Mason Appleton, and Neal Pionk should all be available in most leagues, and have some reliable deployment and solid production of late. Laurent Brossoit is due for a game very soon, and is coming off of a 17-save shutout.

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Sometimes it's nice to end off the article with something positive, and Cody Hodgson's medical recovery and revival of his career certainly qualifies. I had heard last summer through the grapevine in the Toronto area that he was back to playing in local adult leagues, and then all of a sudden, he is helping the Milwaukee Admirals (one of the top AHL teams this year) through their historic winning streak. It would be another huge step to get back to the NHL, but it isn't the impossibility that it was just a few short years ago.

A mysterious illness halted his promising NHL career. Eight years later, hope and a comeback

🔗 https://t.co/fFp2nhnXtI

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) March 12, 2024

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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.