It had been a good start to the season for San Jose Sharks defenceman Jake Walman, posting 5 goals and 20 assists in 31 games, totaling 80 shots, 47 blocks, and 30 hits. However, injuries have started to limit his appearances as he's now missed 12 games in total, with San Jose playing Game 44 Friday night in Utah. He and the team got good news on Monday, though:

Walman back for a second-straight day of practice, good sign for tomorrow

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 9, 2025

He wasn't skating amongst the top three defence pairs nor on either power play, so it seems as if Friday may not be in the cards. It sure does look like a return is imminent, though, and Saturday night's game at home to Minnesota is still possible.

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The New York Rangers were missing Filip Chytil on Thursday night, but the good news is that he was skating in the morning:

Filip Chytil is skating this morning at MSG.

— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) January 9, 2025

New York is heading on a three-game road trip with the first game in Vegas on Saturday.

The Rangers managed to win that home game to New Jersey on Thursday night thanks to a Sam Carrick overtime marker. It was just his third goal of the season, and an assist to Reilly Smith gave him his 20^th point in his 40^th game.

Adam Fox had a big hand in New York winning their fourth game in their last six tries. He had a first-period power play goal and then assist on a power play goal from Artemi Panarin in the second. Fox finished with that goal and assist, three shots, a pair of blocks, two PIMs, and a hit. It was Fox's second goal of the season, after posting 17 last season. He hasn't been as productive as usual, but that is basically all due to a drop in goal rate/shooting percentage.

Vincent Trocheck had a power play assist, five shots, a block, and four hits in a very solid multi-cat night. He has been heating up since American Thanksgiving, posting nine goals and nine assists in his last 20 games, posting 57 hits in that span. That is a tremendous performance in banger leagues.

Igor Shesterkin returned to the net for New York and stopped 21 of 23 shots for the win. It was Shesterkin's first start of 2025 and his first win since before Christmas.

Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist on three shots with a block in the loss. Line mate Jesper Bratt chipped in a goal with four shots and two hits. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom took the loss, allowing three goals on 32 shots.

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St. Louis got a positive update on defenceman Nick Leddy:

#stlblues    out for the morning skate and so is Nick Leddy (lower body injury). Seems like it's been forever. Well, actually, it has.

— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) January 9, 2025

Leddy has been held to just four games played on the season but he looks to be working his way back as well.

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Winnipeg also got a positive update, theirs being for Josh Morrissey:

#NHLJets practice starts in 15 minutes, and Josh Morrissey has stepped on the ice in a regular jersey.

— Mitchell Clinton (@MitchellClinton) January 9, 2025

He left the game on Tuesday night against Nashville and did not return. However, it doesn't appear to be anything serious, and both Morrissey and Dylan Samberg look ready to return to the lineup on the weekend for the Jets.

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Nashville got some bad news on forward Luke Evangelista:

#Preds Luke Evangelista out approx. 4 weeks with a lower body injury @TheHockeyNews

— Emma Lingan (@emma_lingan) January 9, 2025

Evangelista hasn't having a great fantasy season with 14 points in 39 games, but he was part of one of the few line combinations that has found any modicum of success for Nashville this season. This hurts the depth of a team that can ill afford it.

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With Sean Monahan injured and Cole Sillinger out of the lineup for Columbus's Thursday night home game against Seattle, Adam Fantilli lined up on the top line with Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko. Fantilli was also getting top power play time, so it sure seems as if he'll have all the offensive opportunities possible in the near-term.

Columbus laid a beatdown on Seattle in that game by a 6-2 margin. Luca Del Bel Belluz, called up for this game because of all the injuries, had a goal and an assist with two shots for the Blue Jackets. The second-round pick from 2022 has 37 points in 34 AHL games this season, and now has three points in two career NHL games. With the injuries piled up, it might be a chance for him to show his offensive upside.

Defencemen Zach Werenski and Denton Mateychuk both had a goal and an assist in the win. For Mateychuk, it is his first multi-point game of his NHL career, and he skated 19:14 overall in the contest. He has now skated at least 19 minutes in three of his last four games. He had two shots and six blocks in the contest, and is up to 16 blocks and seven hits in eight games. This is someone to keep an eye on if you're desperate in a multi-cat league.

Kirill Marchenko, Kent Johnson, and Sean Kuraly had the other tallies. That makes seven goals and eight assists for Marchenko in his last 10 games, registering 34 shots on goal along the way.

Elvis Merzlikins stopped 29 of 31 shots for the win. He now has 13 wins in his last 20 starts, largely thanks to a very good Columbus offence.

Eeli Tolvanen had both goals for Seattle in the loss. That gives Tolvanen 10 goals on the year to go with a whopping 123 hits. For those keeping track at home, that would be tied for third among Nashville scorers.

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Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had a tremendous game for the Buffalo Sabres, stopping all 35 Ottawa shots he faced on Thursday night, and registering a shutout via 4-0 score. After a six-week stretch that saw some pretty bad games, Luukkonen turned in one of his best on the season, perhaps only surpassed by a November outing, also against Ottawa. His second shutout of the season pushed him up to a .898 save percentage.

Jack Quinn had a big game for the Sabres, managing two goals on three shots while earning four PIMs and landing a couple hits. Quinn had just three goals in his first 27 games of the season (two of those goals coming in one game), but now has four goals and nine points in his last eight games. He won't keep up this level, but the team needs him to show more of the offensive upside we saw from him as a rookie. This is a good start.

Ryan McLeod also had a big night with a goal, two assists, five shots, a block, and a hit. That gives him 21 points in 42 games this season as he is on pace for easily the best production season of his young career.

Dylan Cozens has the other goal, and that was just his ninth of the year. There is another guy the team (and fantasy mangers) need a lot more from.

Anton Forsberg took the loss, allowing all four goals on 21 shots as Ottawa has scored just 10 goals in their last eight games, going 1-6-1 and being shutout three times. That is, one could say, suboptimal.

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Philadelphia had Samuel Ersson in net for his first start of 2025 Thursday night at home to Dallas, and it went as a lot of starts have gone for Flyers netminders this season: The team lost 4-1 as their goalie allowed three goals on 22 shots.

The Stars got a goal from each of their top three lines as Mavrik Bourque, Roope Hintz, and Wyatt Johnston each got on the board. Miro Heiskanen added the empty-net tally, his fifth goal on the year, and his first goal in their last 20 games.

Johnston finished the game with that lone goal on two shots. While not a great night, it kept his hot streak going as he 23 points in his last 23 games after a very slow start to his season.

Casey DeSmith gave Jake Oettinger the night off and stopped 27 of 28 shots for the win.

Morgan Frost scored his eighth goal of the season in the third period to break DeSmith's shutout, but it was the only threat the Flyers had on the night. Travis Sanheim was held off the scoresheet and has just four points in his last 15 games.

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Tampa Bay got late goals from Brandon Hagel (EN) and Brayden Point (PP) to secure their 4-1 home win over the Boston Bruins. Nikita Kucherov assisted on both of those goals, totaling three shots and a hit in nearly 23 minutes of ice time. That puts him up to 58 points in 37 games, not far off an 82-game pace of 130 points.

Hagel finished the game with that goal, a short-handed assist, nine shots, a block, two PIMs, and a hit in one of the best multi-cat performances of the evening. That puts Hagel on pace for 229 shots after setting a career-high with 184 last season. There are career-high marks across the board for him as he’s earned his way to the Four Nations roster for Canada.

Anthony Cirelli (SH) and Michael Eyssimont scored the other goals for Tampa Bay. That makes 16 goals in 38 games for Cirelli, who set a career-high of 20 last season.

Ryan McDonagh had a good night on the blue line with two assists (one SH) and four blocks.

Andrei Vasilevskiy was in net for the win, stopping 27 of 28 shots. Vasilevskiy now has 18 wins on the season and could reasonably break 40 for the first time since 2017-18 if he keeps playing like he has for the last month.

Mason Lohrei scored Boston's lone goal, totaling that one shot, two blocks, and two PIMs. He is now up to 18 points in 39 games, and was getting meaningful power play time in this one. Lohrei is in range to break 40 points with a bit of luck.

Jeremy Swayman was in net for three goals on 30 shots.

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Pittsburgh's top line had another great night in a 5-3 win over Edmonton as Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby each had a goal and two assists while Rickard Rakell scored his 21^st goal of the season. Rust finished the game with two shots, three blocks, two PIMs, and a hit in a stat-stuffing night. He is up to 32 points in 36 games on the season, which makes 35 goals and 72 points in his last 82 regular season games dating back to last season. That is pretty good production, it seems.

Those three points give Crosby 16 points in his last 10 games, 26 points in his last 20, and 30 in his last 25. It has been a pretty good 10 weeks for The Kid (I can say that because he's younger than me).

Drew O'Connor also had a multi-point night with a goal and an assist on two shots, adding a hit along the way.

Kevin Hayes had the other goal.

Alex Nedeljkovic was great in net for… Pittsburgh?… by stopping 40 of 43 shots faced from the Oilers. He is up to a modestly respectable .895 save percentage on the season, which sounds worse than it actually is.

Leon Draisaitl scored twice on seven shots, adding a hit in over 27 minutes of ice time in the loss. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (PP) had the other tally. That was Nuge's fourth goal in his last five games.

Evan Bouchard had a monster game on the blue line, fantasy-wise, with a power play assist, 10 shots, and a hit.

Stuart Skinner took the loss, allowing five goals on 26 shots.

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A Jordan Staal hat trick (yes, really), with one of those coming short-handed, led the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win at home to Toronto. Staal increased his season's goal production by 37.5% with that performance, and he registered four shots, a block, and three hits along the way.

Jordan Martinook assisted on all three Staal goals, adding a block and a pair of hits to that point production.

Jackson Blake, Eric Robinson, and Seth Jarvis (EN) had the other goals for Carolina. That helps Jarvis maintain his recent point-per-game pace with 11 points in his last 11 games.

Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 30 of 33 shots for his 16^th win of the season.

Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Nick Robertson had the goals for Toronto. Both Matthews and Mitch Marner were on the ice for all six goals against, and because one was a short-handed goal against and the Matthews goal was on the power play, they both went minus-6. A tough night if you have either in a plus/minus league.

Joseph Woll allowed five goals on 33 shots in the loss.

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Minnesota was at home to Colorado on Thursday night, and each of Brock Faber, Jonas Brodin, and Jared Spurgeon were out of the lineup. There was no update on Faber's status from the team, so we'll just have to wait and see how things progress from here.

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The later games will be updated in the morning.