The injuries that the Columbus Blue Jackets have endured to their forward group has been extensive: Boone Jenner hasn't played all season, Yegor Chinakhov hasn't played since November, Sean Monahan is coming up on four weeks with his wrist problem, and yesterday it was revealed that breakout star Kirill Marchenko suffered a broken jaw after being hit by a puck while he was on the bench for Sunday's game against Dallas:

The Athletic: Blue Jackets' top scorer Kirill Marchenko suffered a broken jaw in Sunday's loss in Dallas

Marchenko, 24, was struck by a puck while on the bench late in the second period and was taken to a Dallas-area hospital during the third.#CBJhttps://t.co/zn9N8ETvzU

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) February 3, 2025

We will wait to see what the prognosis is, but with the Four Nations Cup break this weekend, it may have come at the best time (if there ever is a good time to break your jaw) to miss the fewest games possible. He had 21 goals and 34 assists in 52.5 games before the injury, and being in a range with Mark Scheifele and Artemi Panarin on a points-per-minute basis.

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After missing Carolina's game on Saturday, Andrei Svechnikov was at practice on Monday:

Svechnikov on the ice and ready for Canes practice.

— Chip Alexander (@ice_chip) February 3, 2025

It is just worth mentioning because with less than a week to the Four Nations break, I worry about teams 'resting' any key player with an injury, particularly for teams comfortably in a playoff spot. Nothing to worry about here, though.

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The Chicago Blackhawks called up prospect defenceman Artyom Levshunov:

Blackhawks have placed Louis Crevier on IR and called up Artyom Levshunov.

Levshunov is just coming to experience a few NHL practices during the AHL All-Star break and is not expected to play in any NHL games before returning to Rockford, per the team.

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) February 3, 2025

Chicago said there are no plans to play him, he's just getting some practice in while the AHL is on their all-star break. It would be nice to see him get a game or two, but don't count on it.

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An update on Ottawa Senators forward Josh Norris:

Josh Norris is out for a few weeks with a mid-body injury.

— TSN 1200 Ottawa (@TSN1200) February 3, 2025

Being out a few weeks isn't necessarily a bad thing because two of those weeks are going to be chewed up by the Four Nations Cup.

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Not a great update from the New York Islanders on Mathew Barzal:

#Isles announce Mathew Barzal is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. Scott Mayfield is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) February 3, 2025

Barzal did not play on Sunday and it looks as if he'll be out until sometime after the break. The 'indefinite' label isn't ideal, but we have to wait until we get more of an update.

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Similar to Marchenko, Dallas Stars forward Mavrik Bourque was hit in the face with a puck but he got better news:

Mavrik Bourque is having an additional test done today, but Pete DeBoer said he doesn't think it's anything too serious. He was just swollen today.

DeBoer did not have an update on Miro Heiskanen, who is seeing a specialist today in New York.

— Lia Assimakopoulos (@Lassimak) February 3, 2025

Another spot where we really need to wait for a firm update, but it seems as if he's avoided the worst.

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Very good news for the Minnesota Wild, Marcus Johansson, and Jonas Brodin:

Hynes said there's a good chance Johansson and Brodin both play tomorrow #mnwild

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) February 3, 2025

Johansson has been out of the lineup for three weeks with a concussion and Brodin has missed four weeks with a lower-body injury. Considering the news they got on Kirill Kaprizov, these are very welcome returns for the team.

Staying with the Wild, Ryan Hartman was suspended for 10 games for his intent to injure Tim Stutzle over the weekend. It isn’t often we see a suspension of this length anymore, but barring a reduction on appeal, he will be out until March.

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The Ottawa Senators picked up their fifth win in a row, pushing their record over their last 13 games to 10-2-1, thanks to a 5-2 win in Nashville. Both David Perron and Adam Gaudette had a goal and an assist with Gaudette posting three shots, a block, and a hit. Gaudette has 16 goals on the season with 13 of those coming at 5-on-5. Those 13 goals at 5-on-5 tie him with Sam Reinhart and exceed David Pastrnak (12).

Shane Pinto, Ridly Greig, and Jake Sanderson had the other tallies. After a very slow start to the season production-wise, Pinto is up to 10 goals and 19 points in his last 25 games. As for Sanderson, he had two goals in 49 games to start the season and now has goals in three straight outings.

Anton Forsberg was in net for the Senators, stopping 25 of 27 shots for the win.

Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist (PP) to go with four shots, two PIMs, and three hits in the loss. That makes 10 goals, 11 assists, 7 power-play points, 62 shots, and 24 hits since January 1^st.

Jonathan Marchessault had the other goal (PP) and Juuse Saros got the start in net, allowing four goals on 38 shots.

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With just one NHL game on the schedule, it's a good time for a bit of reflection. I like to check in on role changes from time to time, so let's use the Ice Time Report over at Frozen Tools to see which players have seen the largest increase in what I call Useful Fantasy Minutes, or even strength and power play, since the Christmas break. It can help us identify players who might be of use down the stretch, especially if they're on a team that might be looking to trade some key pieces by the Trade Deadline. This is expressed by the percentage of the team's ice time (%EV and %PP) and, for now, we're going to exclude players who've changed teams.

Noah Cates (Philadelphia Flyers)

The biggest riser among all forwards by percentage of even strength and power play time added is Cates, and it's been across the board. He has climbed from 22% of the even strength time to 26.8% and has had a regular power play role. The overall jump is large:

The Flyers recently traded Morgan Frost and considering Sean Couturier's role has been minimized over the last calendar year, Cates sure seems to be the team's top centre now. In the Flyers' first game after the Frost trade, Cates skated 20:31, the first time he cracked the 20-minute mark all season. Back in 2022-23, he averaged 17:46 per game and had 38 points in 82 appearances. If he's anywhere around the 19-minute mark, and skating with Travis Konecny as he did on Sunday (or at least he started the game there), he can easily be a 40-point/82-game player with upside for more. Considering he was averaging over a hit per game while skating under 15 minutes a night, there is some solid multi-cat upside for him, even on a low-scoring team.

Oskar Sundqvist (St. Louis Blues)

Though he's a fair bit behind Cates in terms of percentage increase of useful offensive minutes, Sundqvist has seen his role increase with the Blues:

Like Cates, a large portion of the increase has come from a regular power play role (up to 38.8% of the PP share since Christmas), but he has also added over a minute per game in even strength time. He has skated over 15 minutes just four times this season, but all four times have come in his last five games. In those four games with at least 15 minutes played, he has eight hits. He is not going to be a big producer skating around 15 minutes a night, but if he can stay close to that, he already has 33 blocks, 56 hits, and 28 PIMs in 39 games played. There is peripheral value here for those looking for depth, though it may need to wait until after the Four Nations Cup break: St. Louis has three games this week, two are against Edmonton and Florida, and all three games are on the heavy Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule.

Ross Colton and Casey Mittelstadt (Colorado Avalanche)

It is notable that of the three largest drops in useful fantasy usage, two of them come from the same team:

For Colton, it makes a bit of sense. He was acquired to give them good depth on the third line and when their top guys are healthy, Colton won't be on the top line or top power play. The Avalanche already added Jack Drury for some forward depth, and it's unlikely they will stop there as they head towards the Trade Deadline, especially considering the ongoing uncertainty around Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin's setback.

Mittelstadt has just been a flat-out disappointment. After a hot start to the season – 13 points in 10 games and averaging nearly 20 minutes a night – he had a 15-game stretch with just five points while averaging over 19 minutes per outing. His next 20 games saw just eight points with his ice time down to 16:19 per appearance. In the five games since the blockbuster Mikko Rantanen trade, Mittelstadt has crashed to 13:55 per night. He has effectively lost six minutes per game of ice time from October compared to late January/early February. Mittelstadt's tracking data shows poor (for him) playmaking numbers, so there are reasons why his role has been minimized. Assuming the team gets healthier and adds more pieces, he may truly be a bottom-6 forward for the rest of the season.

Jackson LaCombe (Anaheim Ducks)

Cam Fowler has seen the largest jump among defencemen, which makes sense given his usage after the trade to St. Louis. Behind him is Rasmus Ristolainen, but I'm sick of talking about the Philadelphia Flyers. In third place is an Anaheim defenceman, and probably not the one we would have assumed five months ago:

LaCombe has seen a modest jump in PP usage (about an additional 30 seconds per game), but it's even strength where the leap has mattered as he's added over three minutes of EVTOI per game as compared to before Christmas. Since the holiday break, he has 3 goals, 10 assists, 2 power-play points, 49 shots, 33 blocks, and 17 hits in 19 games. That is very solid across-the-board production, even with the meagre power-play output on a very meagre power-play team. He has been a very good puck-mover for Anaheim, being able to get out of the defensive zone while also jumping into the rush. There is a reason he's averaged 23:35 per game over his last 10 appearances and probably should be rostered in nearly all multi-category formats at this point.

Damon Severson (Columbus Blue Jackets)

The largest decline among defencemen came from Columbus, and it makes sense when we think of them adding Dante Fabbro from Nashville back in mid-November and then Denton Mateychuk got called up in December:

This is a guy who averaged 39 points/82 games across his three prior seasons to go with 125 shots and 104 blocks. His pace for this season is 33 points, and though the Blue Jackets have generally been a good offensive team, his power play role is gone, and he's lost over 3:30 per game in EVTOI. He hasn't cracked the 20-minute mark in a single game since before the Christmas break, so, yes, Columbus is good offensively, but few defencemen can be useful in fantasy skating 17 minutes a game, even less so for a guy that doesn't put up big hit/block totals anyway.