Happy Groundhog Day! Hopefully today isn't the start of six more weeks of misery for your fantasy team. After all, your fantasy playoffs might be six weeks away.

Less than 24 hours after details of the Canucks-Rangers trade surfaced, J.T. Miller made a strong first impression in his return to the Rangers in Boston. Miller scored two goals (one on the power play) while taking six shots and delivering three hits. Dating back to his last few games for the Canucks, Miller has registered points in six of his last seven games.

With Miller in the lineup, the Rangers' top 9 was as follows:

MIKA ZIBANEJAD – J.T. MILLER – ARTEMI PANARIN

REILLY SMITH – VINCENT TROCHECK – ALEXIS LAFRENIERE

CHRIS KREIDER – JONNY BRODZINSKI – WILL CUYLLE

When I wrote the Fantasy Take on the Miller acquisition, I wasn't sure whether Chris Kreider or Mika Zibanejad would be bumped out of the top 6 to make room for Miller. On Saturday, Kreider was the odd man out. Kreider picked up just his third assist of the season on Miller's power-play goal. On an 82-game pace of just 34 points, Kreider appears droppable at this point if he wasn't already. Kreider is rostered in 74% of both Yahoo and Fantrax leagues, so many teams out there are still hanging on.

Meanwhile, Zibanejad also assisted on Miller's power-play goal, breaking a three-game point drought. Zibanejad also took four shots for the second consecutive game. If the Zibanejad – Miller – Artemi Panarin line can stick, Zibanejad's production could trend in the right direction again. Zibanejad is on pace for just 48 points this season after 70-plus point paces in his previous six seasons.

Miller's debut wasn't successful for the Rangers as a team, as they lost 6-3 to the Bruins. David Pastrnak scored three goals while adding an assist, which recently has been just another day at the office for him. Over his last 10 games, Pasta has piled up 10 goals and 13 assist, occupying the top spot on the Frozen Tools Hot List. During that time, Pastrnak has also made his way back into the top 10 of NHL scoring.

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It seems as though teams are trying to get their big trades in before the 4 Nations tournament, which might not leave much of significance for trade deadline day. The trades continued on Saturday with the Stars adding Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci from the Sharks for a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick in 2025.

Thank you to Brennan Des for taking care of the Fantasy Take for this trade. I agree with Brennan in that Granlund likely loses value with the deal. Among all forwards, Granlund is 12^th in the league with 20:51 TOI. That number will decline on a deeper Dallas team, and he might also be looking on the outside looking in when it comes to power-play time. There's a chance he could play alongside better-quality linemates, but the icetime drop could be a substantial one.

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Following Thursday night's 2-for-2 trade, Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost made their Flames debuts on Saturday. There were things to like about the deployment of both players. Farabee skated on what appears to be the Flames' top line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, while Frost received time on the top power play. Neither new Flame could register a point, though, as Calgary lost 3-1 to Detroit.

The Flames' top three lines on Saturday:

NAZEM KADRI – JONATHAN HUBERDEAU – JOEL FARABEE

MIKAEL BACKLUND – BLAKE COLEMAN – MATT CORONATO

MORGAN FROST – YEGOR SHARANGOVICH – MARTIN POSPISIL

The Red Wings have now won five games in a row, and they can thank Cam Talbot for securing the victory in a game that they were outshot 34-24 with Calgary carrying the majority of the play. Talbot is officially hot with four consecutive wins and four consecutive quality starts. He has allowed just four goals over those four games. The coaching change from Derek Lalonde to Todd McLellan has done wonders for the Wings, and that is showing in the 37-year-old Talbot's recent play.

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In his first game with the Islanders after being claimed off waivers, Adam Boqvist scored a goal. Boqvist last played on January 6, clearly not fitting into the Panthers' plans. As mentioned yesterday, the Isles have recently added Boqvist, Scott Perunovich, and Tony DeAngelo as a result of injuries to Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock. DeAngelo scored the overtime winner for the Isles.

It was another Islanders defenseman who led all players in icetime on Saturday. Alexander Romanov skated 31:39 in this game that went to overtime. DeAngelo played 26:39 – more big minutes since joining the Islanders. Perunovich played 18:03, while Boqvist played just 10:39.

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With a goal in Edmonton on Saturday, William Nylander has reached 30 goals in four consecutive seasons and five of his last six seasons (the other season being COVID shortened). Nylander also has six goals in his past seven games.

Matthew Knies scored a power-play goal and added an assist along with four hits on Saturday. Over January and the first day of February, Knies has eight goals in 12 games.

Jake McCabe logged 30:22 in this game along with five hits and three blocked shots.

Joseph Woll was a wall late in the game, preserving the win for the Leafs. This is always a nerve-racking part of a game.

JOSEPH WOLL WITH A HUGE GLOVE SAVE AT THE BUZZER!! 😱 pic.twitter.com/NzxE5s9VOf

— NHL (@NHL) February 2, 2025

Woll really earned his third consecutive quality start, turning aside 45 of 48 shots he faced on Saturday.

Of those 48 shots, Connor McDavid took 9, Evan Bouchard took 8, while Leon Draisaitl took 6.

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Props to our DFS writer Andrew Santillo, who had a good feeling about Ottawa on Saturday. Jake Sanderson led the Senators with a power-play goal and three assists and five shots in a 6-0 win over Minnesota. Sanderson now has points in four consecutive games, giving him eight points (4 PPP) in his last four games. He also has power-play goals in back-to-back games. Sanderson has also reached 30 points in each of his first three NHL seasons, and he is well on his way to his first 40-point season and beyond.

Tim Stutzle also had quite a game. Stutzle scored a second-period goal, but at the end of the second period had his head shoved to the ice by Ryan Hartman in the faceoff circle. Stutzle was able to return for the third period and added two power-play assists. Hartman may face suspension for this unnecessary play.

Ryan Hartman receives a match penalty for attempt to injure on this play with Tim Stützle 🤕 pic.twitter.com/dIdusOvRez

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) February 2, 2025

Drake Batherson scored a goal and added two assists with six shots on goal. All three of the points were on the power play. That broke a six-game point drought and a 10-game goal drought for Batherson.

Brady Tkachuk chipped in a goal, assist, and nine shots… but no hits.

The Senators dominated this game, outshooting the Wild 52-16. Leevi Merilainen had a relatively easy shutout, pushing his goals-against average below 2 (1.99, to be exact). Merilainen has eight wins in 12 games and also has a solid .926 SV%, making quite an impression while filling in for the injured Linus Ullmark. Merilainen, the runner-up to Dustin Wolf for NHL Rookie of the Month in January, is also the first goalie in Senators history with three shutouts through 13 games.

Despite the strong play, it might be best for the Sens to return Merilainen to the AHL once Ullmark returns so he can continue to play regularly. Ullmark had been playing well before his injury and shouldn't lose his starting job that way. The Senators as a team lead the league in shutouts with 8: Ullmark and Merilainen each have 3, while Anton Forsberg has 2.

Josh Norris left with an injury late in the game. After the game, coach Travis Green did not have an update. Since Norris is a Band-Aid Boy who has never played 70 games in an NHL season, any injury to him is concerning.

One highlight for the Wild stats-wise in this game: Yakov Trenin was credited with 10 hits.

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Alex Nedeljkovic earned a 25-save shutout against Nashville on Saturday, his first of the season. Nedeljkovic now has back-to-back wins and quality starts in five of his past six games. Over those past six games, Ned also has a .940 SV%, stopping 172 of 183 shots. With Tristan Jarry demoted to the AHL, Nedeljkovic has the Penguins' starting job all to himself. He's only rostered in 15 percent of Yahoo leagues and 32 percent of Fantrax leagues, which is certainly worth an add in many leagues.  

Sidney Crosby scored a goal and added an assist with a plus-2 and four shots on Saturday. Canada's captain for the 4 Nations now has goals in four consecutive games and six points over his last four games.

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In the Panthers' 5-1 win over Chicago, Sam Reinhart scored a goal with two assists. Reinhart has now reached 30 goals for four consecutive seasons with the Panthers. His previous career high with Buffalo was 25 goals, so he's taken big strides in his move to Florida.

Carter Verhaeghe scored a power-play goal and added an assist while taking nine shots. After back-to-back 30+ goal seasons, Verhaeghe is on pace for just 19 goals this season.

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To follow up on Quinn Hughes's injury on Friday night, he is considered a game-time decision later today against Detroit. Hughes appeared to be in discomfort as he was skating later in the third period on Friday. He has also been playing with a guard on his hand inside his glove, so he appears to be playing (and starring) despite multiple issues.

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Goal number 877 for Alex Ovechkin, who has goals in back-to-back games. Only 18 goals left to pass Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goal record.

#ALLCAPS Alex Ovechkin

877th career goal & 38th career goal scored on Hockey Night in Canada pic.twitter.com/z5o8GW0Xdd

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) February 2, 2025

Despite the Ovechkin goal, the Capitals lost 5-4 in overtime to Winnipeg. Josh Morrissey scored the overtime winner, which was his second goal of the game. He has four points in his last three games and currently sits fourth among defensemen in scoring with 46 points in 54 games.

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