Did anyone see the massive trade coming? The deal itself might have been out of left field, but it shouldn't be a complete shocker that Mikko Rantanen and Martin Necas were traded. Re-signing Rantanen appeared to be a major challenge for the Avalanche, while Necas was rumored to be on the trade block during the summer before signing a two-year bridge deal. Obviously the fantasy implications of this trade are massive, which I wrote all about in the Fantasy Take.

In case you missed it, the full trade:

While the Hurricanes and Avalanche took care of business as needed, the Blackhawks' commission as the third party needed to broker the deal didn't seem high enough. Giving up Taylor Hall while retaining 50 percent of Rantanen's salary ($4.625 million), all the Blackhawks had to show was a third-round pick (mind you, a high third-round pick, since it was their own returned from Carolina). Maybe Hall on his own was worth a third-round pick, and half of his salary retained would have been $3 million. Even if the Blackhawks weren't necessarily robbed in this deal, it feels like they left something on the table.

Now we wait and see what other trades are in store. Then in the offseason, whether the Canes can sign Rantanen long-term or he simply becomes this season's version of Jake Guentzel for them.

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The Devils announced on Friday that Jacob Markstrom will be out for the next 4-6 weeks with an MCL. This isn't the worst-case scenario for Markstrom, but it is hardly ideal for the next few weeks. Only Connor Hellebuyck and Sam Montembeault have played more games than Markstrom (36), while only Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger have more quality starts that Markstrom (23). On top of that, Marky has only three really bad starts and no really bad weeks all season, affirming his status as a set-and-forget fantasy goalie.

The quality goaltending volume that Markstrom provides is difficult to replace. The most obvious candidate as a potential fantasy replacement is Devils backup Jake Allen, whose workload should increase significantly as a result. Allen is rostered in under 25% of Yahoo leagues, so he should be available in shallower leagues. Jakub Dobes, Leevi Merilainen, Spencer Knight, and Yaroslav Askarov are decent options rostered in a similar percentage of Yahoo leagues compared to Allen, although none will give you the number of starts and upside for wins that Markstrom will.

Here's another consideration: The NHL will be on pause from February 10 to 21 – nearly two full weeks – for the 4 Nations Face-Off. That will cut into the actual time that you'll need to find a replacement for Markstrom, which could mean that you'd be missing his services for only 2-3 weeks as a best-case scenario. The tournament starts on February 12 and finishes February 20. Related to the 4 Nations, Sweden will also need at least one more goalie, as Linus Ullmark is on LTIR and may not be ready in time.

Isaac Poulter has been recalled from the AHL's Utica Comets to back up Allen instead of Nico Daws, but that is reportedly because Daws will play for Utica this weekend. Daws is expected to be recalled early next week and could start a few games while Markstrom is out. Allen's trade from Montreal would award the Habs a second-round pick instead of a third-round pick if Allen plays 40 games (he has appeared in 15 games so far), so it makes sense for the Devils to monitor how many games Allen plays. With Allen a free agent in the offseason, Daws could be the goalie-in-waiting to backup Markstrom next season. Markstrom's contract expires at the end of next season.

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In news that I wasn't expecting today, Tony DeAngelo has been signed by the Islanders for the rest of the season. DeAngelo's signing could be a hint that Noah Dobson is out for a while (now on IR, listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury). The Isles seem intent on pushing for a playoff spot in spite of having the third-lowest winning percentage in the Eastern Conference. DeAngelo would likely slot in on the top power play, so you can probably pause on adding Ryan Pulock at least for now. Cliffy provided the Fantasy Take on the TDA signing shortly after it was announced.

Before getting too deep into what DeAngelo will look like on the Islanders, he has to clear waivers because he was playing in the KHL (where he scored 32 points in 34 games). I would assume that most teams would want nothing to do with DeAngelo, given his lack of interest during the free agency period and his on-ice and off-ice history before that. DeAngelo wasn't in the lineup for the Islanders on Friday, but he could be in their lineup today (Saturday) if he is not claimed.

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Overshadowed by all of this news was the fact that four games were played on Friday. Although much of my bandwidth was taken up by the blockbuster trade, I'll quickly take you through some notable happenings.

Before I do that, I'll let you in on a little fantasy summary hack: Go to Frozen Tools, then under Research select Report Generator. Change the Report Range to Today. Then click Big Board for a summary of the stats. Or you could click here to get to where I am. It may already be Saturday by the time you read this, so you may have to choose Yesterday instead of Today.

Let's start with Cole Perfetti's hat trick, which was the first of the 23-year-old's career. Perfetti entered this game without a point in his last four games and without a goal and just two assists in his last 14 games. I had already moved on from Perfetti in one single-season league, which was fine with this lack of consistency. There's still some upside for Perfetti, even this season. He's playing on the Jets' second line with Nikolaj Ehlers (1 G, 2 A on Friday) and Vladislav Namestnikov. If the Jets upgraded their second-line center from Namestnikov at the trade deadline, perhaps that would help Perfetti score more consistently.

Jason Robertson scored a pair of goals on Friday. That gives him seven goals and three assists over his last seven games. After an underwhelming start of 13 points in his first 22 games, Robertson has been over the point-per-game mark in Quarters 2 and 3 with 31 points in his last 27 games. Here's another one for you: Since the Christmas break, only Nikita Kucherov and Leon Draisaitl have more points than Robertson (21 PTS in 15 GP). Hopefully you held onto him instead of selling low, although we may have to re-evaluate Robertson's draft position in the offseason.

Kucherov, by the way, had three points of his own on Friday – all three on the power play. But with a minus-2, he had a Draisaitl Hat Trick (go to Frozen Tools if you don't know what that is). Kucherov is on another little hot streak with 19 points in his last 14 games.

Darren Raddysh is finding ways to hang around on my roster after I streamed him earlier this week. Raddysh picked up an assist on Friday, giving him seven points in his last six games. Raddysh also led all skaters with six shots on goal on Friday. He has also been getting some looks on Tampa's top power play over Victor Hedman recently. I don't know how permanent that will be, though.  

Jack Eichel scored a pair of goals on Friday, giving him seven points over his last five games. With 61 points in 48 games, Eichel remains within the top 10 in NHL scoring. He'll be good as long as he remains healthy.

Frank Nazar scored a goal and added an assist on Friday, giving him four points over his last three games. His icetime has steadily been climbing recently, ranging between 15 and nearly 18 minutes per game over the last five games. A side implication that I didn't mention in the Fantasy Take of the blockbuster trade is that Hall being traded could solidify a full-time roster spot for Nazar. He scored 24 points in 21 games for Rockford in his first AHL season, knocking on the door for a callup. And yes, Nazar played on Connor Bedard's line on Friday.

Speaking of Bedard, he has at least one point in 13 of his past 15 games. He has 16 points over those 15 games. You could say he's not slumping anymore.

Your banger of the day was Alexander Romanov, who had seven hits and four blocked shots along with an assist on Friday. Among Islanders that have played at least five games, Romanov leads his team with an average of 4.85 HIT+BKS per game.

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