Buckle up, there's a lot to unpack here. Dylan Strome of the Washington Capitals is re-emerging, Florida Panthers winger Carter Verhaeghe is finding his scoring touch again, Logan Thompson just inked a big new deal, and a potential diagnosis for Vincent Trocheck power play demotion with the New York Rangers. We've got teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators riding hot streaks, others scrambling under the weight of injuries, and trades popping up everywhere. Keep an eye on those evolving power play units—one tweak could make or break your fantasy lineup. Let's dive right in.

Washington Capitals // 34-11-7 // L7 Days: 1-0-2

Is Dylan Strome Back? Four points in his last three games, including three goals and two power play points. This burst cuts a six-game pointless streak, and a span of 10 games with only two points. 

Logan Thompson has signed a six-year extension with the Capitals, just under six million a year. Right in that Daccord, Ullmark, Markstrom neighborhood.

Carolina Hurricanes // 32-17-4 // L7 Days: 2-1-0

Mikko Rantanen has been getting used to life in Carolina. His time on ice cracked 21 minutes against the Kings earlier this week, but remains at a half-point-per-game pace in his four-game tenure as a Hurricane. 

Florida Panthers // 32-19-3 // L7 Days: 3-0-0

Carter Verhaeghe is on another level lately, putting in overtime to heal his deflated shooting percentage. Four goals and six points  in his last two games, with an impressive nine shot game against the Blackhawks. Two of these goals were power play goals, which snapped a power play goal drought that started December 5th. 

Toronto Maple Leafs // 31-19-2 // L7 Days: 1-1-0

Just as John Tavares and Matthew Knies return, Mitch Marner and Oliver Ekman-Larsson go on the shelf. Anthony Stolarz is also reportedly "close".

New Jersey Devils // 29-19-6 // L7 Days: 1-2-0

The New Jersey Jake tandem went down 'Jacob Markstrom, and left with only Jake Alen. The results have been a mixed bag – it's either fantastic or terrible. Allen stopped all 16 shots in relief of Markstrom when he got hurt on the 22nd, and has won two, and lost two, since. One shutout, and two sub .900 performances, and a league average performance.

Markstrom will remain out for another 3-5 weeks. 

Top power play unit Timo Meier alert! Hopefully it sticks.

Ottawa Senators // 29-20-4 // L7 Days: 3-0-0

The Senators are on a five game winning streak, moving into 3rd place in the Atlantic division. Linus Ullmark is slated to make his return against the Lightning on Tuesday, this will be his first start since December 22nd. 

Brady Tkachuk is showing a pulse again, compiling a four game point streak of five points snapping a ten game pointless streak. 

Detroit Red Wings // 27-21-5 // L7 Days: 4-0-0

The Red Wings are a wagon again. Six straight wins, but not on the back of their offense: 18th in the league in goals per game, but they're giving up vastly fewer goals than any other team. Cam Talbot has a 4-0-0 record, a .966 save percentage and Alex Lyon is 2-0-0 and a .946 save percentage. 

Columbus Blue Jackets // 26-20-7 // L7 Days: 2-1-0

Blue Jackets leading scorer Kirill Marchenko was placed on Injured Reserve with a broken jaw, and had reconstructive surgery to repair it. He could be out as little as a month. 

Columbus is beat up: Boone Jenner, Sean Monahan, Erik Gudbranson, Yegor Chinakov, Dante Fabbro and now Marchenko. Jenner should return after the 4 Nations Tournament, and Monahan and Gudbranson will be back in mid/late March. 

Tampa Bay Lightning // 27-20-4 // L7 Days: 1-1-1

Tampa seems to be toying with split power play units, which taps Darren Raddysh into a well of fantasy value. The Lightning power plays are only "split" on paper, the top unit saw four or more minutes of power play time in their last game, and the second unit saw two minutes or less. Victor Hedman is currently with the second unit and Mitchell Chaffee is making another cameo on the top unit.

Boston Bruins // 26-22-6 // L7 Days: 1-2-0

David Pastrnak has six more points than the next highest scoring skater (Jason Robertson) since January 1st. 

Charlie McAvoy is back on the top power play, head coach Joe Sacco citing his proficiency for zone entries as the reason for bringing him back onto the unit. 

New York Islanders // 24-21-7 // L7 Days: 3-1-0

Mathew Barzal is out indefinitely with a lower body injury being all that was reported. Anthony Duclair was skating on the top line in his absence. 

Tony DeAngelo's return to the NHL has been nothing short of decent. Three points in five games (on the Islanders) is not something we're used to getting from a power play defenseman on Long Island this year. No power-play points yet, despite being on the team's top unit. Those will come in time, one would think.  

New York Rangers // 25-23-4 // L7 Days: 1-2-0

The Rangers made a huge swing on J.T. Miller and it's paid off in spades so far. Two goals and two assists, eight shots, eight hits, all in two games played, three of those points on the power play. Miller is playing center alongside Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. Zibanejad on the wing is a new look, but this wrinkle also puts Vincent Trocheck on an island – he's lost the top power play as well. 

Miller, Kreider and Trocheck all fit the build of a net-front player, so perhaps it was a role redundancy issue that demoted him to the second unit, or more likely the demotion was a faceoff redundancy. 

Vincent Trocheck has taken 168 of 256 faceoffs on the power play for the Rangers this year while J.T. Miller led the Canucks in power play faceoffs. With Miller on the top unit, Trocheck's faceoff prowess could be better utilized on the second unit, especially with Filip Chytil, a center, going to Vancouver in that trade.

Montreal Canadiens // 24-23-5 // L7 Days: 0-3-0

Juraj Slafkovsky has six points in his last 10 games, and 12 in his last twenty. He's rolling at a fairly consistent 0.6 points per game rate since around Christmas. The numbers aren't dazzling, but they're reliable for now.

Pittsburgh Penguins // 22-24-8 // L7 Days: 2-1-0

Evgeni Malkin is skating in a non-contact jersey, his return should be right around the corner. 

Alex Nedeljkovic has started five of the last six Pittsburgh games and six of the last eight. He also handed the Penguins their first shutout of the season on Saturday. 

The Penguins made a trade with the Canucks as well, sending Marcus Pettersson and Drew O'Connor, and receiving a 2025 1st round pick, Vincent Desharnais, Danton Heinen and Malvin Fernstrom. This is Danton Heinen's second stint with the Penguins, last playing for them 2021 through 2023 where he amassed 55 points in 141 games.

Philadelphia Flyers // 23-25-6 // L7 Days: 1-3-0

The Flyers have truly embraced the rebuild. Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee have been sent to Calgary for Andrei Kuzmenko and Jacob Pelletier. 

Rumors are suggesting that Kuzmenko and Matvei Michkov have a rapport, and their shared Russian heritage should also spark some chemistry. Kuzmenko has a reputation that suggests his relationship with coach John Tortorella is over before it has a chance to begin. Luckily for everyone, sarcastically, Michkov is already playing on the fourth line. Chances of them playing together seem higher and higher. 

Buffalo Sabres // 21-26-5 // L7 Days: 3-0-0

Vin-Tage Tage Thompson! His play lately is as good as that pun is bad. Eight points, including four goals, in his last three games, and 14 points in his last 10 games. Not that he's necessarily had a cold enough streak to compare to or highlight, his recent stretch has felt amplified. 

Buffalo has the worst schedule for fantasy over the next four weeks, just six games and no off nights. Keep in mind the Four Nations Faceoff, which dilutes total games played for all teams – the average number of games a team plays over the next four weeks is 7.69. 

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That's our Eastern Edge Eastern Conference update for the week. Thank you for reading, as always feel free to chirp me in the comments below, in the Fantasy Hockey Discord  or you can reach out on X – @FHFHockey. In the meantime, you can catch updates from me on the Five Hole Fantasy Hockey Podcast.