There was a very interesting trade on Monday afternoon, if one nowhere near the size of the Mikko Rantanen trade from a few days ago. Injuries on the blue line have forced the New York Islanders to look outside the organization for some help, and they did that by acquiring Scott Perunovich from St. Louis for a conditional fifth-round pick next year. Perunovich had appeared in 97 regular season games for the Blues, registering 29 points along the way.

To be clear: I don't think there's much fantasy value to be had here, even with the injuries the Islanders have. The team is in the bottom-half of the league by even-strength scoring, their power play is among the worst in the NHL, and even then both Tony DeAngelo and a healthy Noah Dobson would be ahead of Perunovich for power-play time. Add all that to the fact that even with Noah Dobson, Mike Reilly, and now Ryan Pulock injured (more on that in a second), Perunovich is no higher than fourth on the depth chart.

That doesn't mean he can't help the team score some goals. Over the last two seasons, the Blues had the highest goals-for rate at 5-on-5 with Perunovich on the ice than any of their regular defencemen, and it was 15% higher than the next-closest blue liner who has been on the team for both years. That happens because there are a lot of things he's done very well that can help a team create offence. For instance, tracking from AllThreeZones has Perunovich exiting the zone with possession of the puck at among the highest rates of any defenceman in the NHL over the last two seasons:

Not only is he very good at exiting the zone with the puck, he's very good at entering the offensive zone with the puck, too. Here is the list of comparable defencemen to Perunovich by zone entries, and zone entries carried in, per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 over the last two seasons, and the percentage of entries carried in:

Despite that kind of profile, he's not reckless with jumping into the play. Teammates like Justin Faulk and Philip Broberg jump into the rush more often, but the Blues have found a lot of success whenever Perunovich decides to join the rush.

Of course, a lot of this has been done in a third-pair role with sheltered minutes, but he's going to get a similar role (for now) with the Islanders. This is a team that traded away Jake Walman and let Vince Dunn go in Seattle's Expansion Draft. This is a team that has twice given away players who've gone on to find a lot of success elsewhere, in bigger roles, twice in the last four years. Maybe Perunovich follows suit, maybe not. But if he can do for the Islanders what he had been doing for the Blues, it'll at least help the forwards create more offence. There is upside beyond just that, too, so this is a very smart bet to make by New York for a very, very low cost. It is the type of move that bad teams should be making, and it's really surprising that the dregs like Chicago and Buffalo weren't willing to do better than a conditional fifth-round pick. Buffalo would only need to look at Florida for players who were undervalued and gone on to find a lot of success once they left the Sabres.  

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The trade for Perunovich was necessitated by the fact that defenceman Ryan Pulock was put on the Injured Reserve:

#Isles Injury Updates: Marcus Hogberg and Ryan Pulock (both upper body injuries) have been placed on IR (retroactive to Saturday, Jan. 25). Jakub Skarek has been recalled from loan.

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 27, 2025

Pulock was having a very solid multi-cat season with 16 points, 70 shots, 105 blocks, and 58 hits in 48 games. Hopefully this isn't a long one, considering the team is already without Dobson and Reilly, but it will give more value to guys like DeAngelo, Adam Pelech, and Alex Romanov.

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Staying with defencemen, the Boston Bruins offered some very good news on the injured Hampus Lindholm:

Hampus Lindholm is practicing in a regular jersey.

— Fluto Shinzawa (@FlutoShinzawa) January 27, 2025

Lindholm has been out of the lineup since mid-November after suffering a broken bone off a blocked shot. He is a guy that can help the team at both ends of the ice, and considering they find themselves in a fight for a playoff spot, his return cannot come soon enough for the Bruins.

Also in Boston, Charlie McAvoy was skating with the team on Monday and while it appears he's on the verge of returning, it won't be on Tuesday night when the Bruins visit the Sabres. His next opportunity to return to the lineup will be Thursday night at home to Winnipeg.

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In more good news for defencemen, Montreal prospect David Reinbacher was at practice on Monday:

David Reinbacher at @CanadiensMTL practice wearing a no contact jersey.

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) January 27, 2025

Reinbacher had his knee injured in the preseason and was initially given a timeline of 5-6 months. The end of January would be four months since his surgery, and the Four Nations Cup break looms a week from Sunday. That would give Reinbacher another month to get up to speed as he looks to return at the low-end of the initial prognosis.

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Washington announced they signed Logan Thompson to a six-year contract with $6M a season. He has been tremendous for Washington this season, sporting a sparkling .925 save percentage with 22 wins in 26 starts. Dating back to the start of the 2021-2022 campaign, Thompson sits fifth by save percentage (.915) among goalies with at least 120 starts. Goalies are goalies, which means they are voodoo, but this seems like a good bet for the Capitals, and kudos to Thompson for earning the security he did. If he plays like this for the next 10 months, he seems destined to be on the Olympic roster for Team Canada.

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Nico Hischier was not in the lineup for New Jersey on Monday night, and he has returned home to get further evaluated after leaving Saturday's game after a cross-check:

Nico Hischier has returned to New Jersey to be further evaluated, says #NJDevils HC Sheldon Keefe.

Says they'll have more information once they have the evaluation figured out. https://t.co/uMO0iQKEVR

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) January 27, 2025

This leaves a big hole in the lineup, especially considering that Jack Hughes is nursing a hand injury right now, Erik Haula is still not in the lineup, and Dawson Mercer might be a little overmatched having to be the second-line centre.

New Jersey lost that game on Monday night 4-2 in Philadelphia. The Flyers were without Sean Couturier, but got a lot of depth scoring as Bobby Brink (PP), Joel Farabee, Garnet Hathaway, and Scott Laughton all got on the board for Philadelphia.

Travis Konecny had a very good fantasy night with two assists (one PP), two shots, a block, and three hits. That gives Konecny 37 assists on the season, tying his career-high from 2019-20 in 15 fewer games played. He is also 10 points away from tying his career-high in that category set last season (68).

Rasmus Ristolainen also had two assists (one PP) with two blocks, two hits, and four PIMs.

Samuel Ersson managed the win, saving 31 of 33 shots for his 15^th victory of the season. He has now given up just 19 goals in his last 10 appearances.

Dougie Hamilton and Timo Meier had the goals for New Jersey. Meier finished with three shots, a block, and a hit. His goal was his 15^th of the season, and his first in 12 games.

Jake Allen took the loss, allowing three goals on 25 shots.

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Detroit fell behind Los Angeles 2-0 in the first period but peeled off five straight goals to skate away with a 5-2 win on Monday night. The Red Wings were powered by rookie Marco Kasper who scored two goals (one a great second-chance effort on a 2-on-1), an assist, four shots, a block, and two hits. That gives Kasper 7 goals, 4 assists, 19 shots, 16 hits, and 7 blocks in his last 10 games. He has been good defensively all season, but the move to the top line has helped him flourish offensively, and both Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko out for this game, Kasper was also on the top PP unit.

Lucas Raymond had a tremendous night, too, registering a goal, three assists (one PP), four shots, and a block. That makes 20 goals on the season for Raymond in his 50^th game, totalling 56 points along the way. He has truly ascended both in fantasy and in real life, and looks to be on the same trajectory that Mikko Rantanen was early in his career.

Alex DeBrincat (PP) and Elmer Soderblom had the other goals. DeBrincat now has eight goals in 16 games since Todd McLellan took over as coach.

Cam Talbot stopped 23 of 25 shots in the win.

Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield had the goals for Los Angeles. Byfield finished with two shots, a block, two PIMs, and a hit in a balanced fantasy night.

Darcy Kuemper gave up four goals on 27 shots for the loss.

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Seattle offered some good news on Yanni Gourde:

(Gourde was out in a light blue jersey today)

— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) January 27, 2025

Like Hischier, he did not play on Monday night, but it does seem as if he's close to getting back to the lineup. Seattle is back home Tuesday night for a matchup with Anaheim and then host San Jose on Thursday.

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Tyler Myers returned to the lineup for Vancouver and managed a goal and an assist (SH) in the team's 5-2 win in St. Louis. He registered five shots, two blocks, and two PIMs, and skated nearly 23 minutes of ice time.

Conor Garland had a pair of goals (one PP), six shots, and a pair of PIMs in the win, and line mate Pius Suter also had a goal (SH) and an assist. J.T. Miller had the other tally (PP) for the Canucks, registering two shots, a block, and a fight.

Kevin Lankinen was in net again for Vancouver and stopped 24 of 26 shots for the win.

Dylan Holloway and Colton Parayko scored for St. Louis. Since the team hired coach Jim Montgomery on November 24^th, Holloway has 12 goals and 18 assists in 29 games, so it's safe to say he's flourishing under the new coach.

Jordan Binnington allowed three goals on 18 shots and was pulled halfway through the second period.

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Connor McDavid returned to the Edmonton lineup on Monday night and scored in his return, posting two shots and a hit in 21 minutes of ice time. Going back to before his suspension, he has five goals in his last five games.

Mattias Ekholm had the big fantasy night for the Oilers, finishing the game with a goal, an assist, six shots, two blocks, and a hit. It was just his second multi-point game in the last three months.

Corey Perry and Mattias Janmark had the other goals for the Oilers. Calvin Pickard got the start, and stopped 26 of 28 shots for the win.

Eeli Tolvanen and Vince Dunn had the goal for Seattle. Dunn wound up with five shots and a block in over 24 minutes of ice time. Tolvanen is up to 13 goals and 155 hits on the season, so his multi-cat value is as stellar as ever.

Joey Daccord took the loss, allowing three goals on 30 shots.

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Bryan Rust returned to the Pittsburgh lineup, but Yaroslav Askarov was excellent in net for San Jose, stopping 29 of 30 shots faced to help the Sharks to a 2-1 win. He has now made 11 starts for his new team, and has allowed two-or-fewer goals in over half of them (6). Considering the quality of the team in front of him, that is an excellent start to his San Jose career.

Mikael Granlund and Macklin Celebrini scored for the Sharks. Celebrini is up to 16 goals, 20 assists, and 138 shots in 41 games played. That puts his 82-game pace at 32 goals, 40 assists, and 276 shots. He doesn't turn 19 years old until June.

Sidney Crosby scored the lone Penguins goal (assisted by Rust).

Alex Nedeljkovic was solid in net for Pittsburgh, but took the loss, allowing two goals on 28 shots.