Charlie McAvoy's injury and subsequent health questions, in addition to Matthew Tkachuk getting banged up, Brady Tkachuk being unable to finish the game against Sweden, Shea Theodore being week-to-week, and other injuries piling up through the tournament makes me glad that the NHL already announced a plan to the return to the Olympics. Otherwise, we might have had owners clamouring to keep players out of action anywhere but for league games.

Last Four Nations thought: It's going to be a short turnaround for the North American tournament players to play the final on Thursday night and then be back on the road on Saturday for the day's 12:30pm start time. Don't forget to set your lineups!

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Jordan Eberle was recalled from his conditioning loan, and should make his return from injury after the break. That's good news for Jared McCann, one of his frequent linemates, but bad news for a lot of other wingers who may see their ice time cut.

Nico Hischier is also in line to return on Saturday after an extended absence. That should neuter Erik Haula's top-six exposure.

For the rest of the run down on injury news, check out the Injury Ward article later today.

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Through Drew O'Connor's tenure with the Canucks, he has played mostly on a line with Brock Boeser and Filip Chytil, adding two points in four games. The Canucks had seen enough though, and signed Drew O'Connor to a two-year extension, worth $2.5 million per year. It's a nice raise for O'Connor in his second full season, and he's an under-valued piece in dynasty leagues – less so as a driver of his own line, but mainly as a productive complimentary piece who can play up the lineup.

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The Nashville Predators acquired former first-round selection Grigori Denisenko from the Vegas Golden Knights for future considerations. There's likely nothing fantasy relevant to see here, as Denisenko's development has completely hit a wall the last few years, despite tantalizing with potential tools for years as a prospect.

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For Black History Month I thought it might be fitting to take a look at every Black player in the NHL who holds a regular lineup spot at the moment and see how they're doing from a fantasy perspective.

Quinton Byfield

The six-foot-five centre entered the break on a hot streak with six points in four games, but he's still taking the expected slower development curve that we see from larger players like him. The last season and a half have been a good step forward though, as he is blossoming into a top-six player, and the streaks of great production are showing what he can become. He's playing a lot more centre now (243 FOWs already compared to 41 all of last season), which is an additional adjustment and challenge in his development. The point-per-game production will come, though it's likely still another season and a half away.

Jalen Chatfield

It's been another solid season in a bigger role for Chatfield, who puts up some excellent possession numbers. Unfortunately for fantasy managers, Chatfield's scoring and peripherals have remained stagnant despite the increase in ice time. His role could see another increase with the departures of Brent Burns and/or Dmitry Orlov in the summer.

Anthony Duclair

I discussed Duclair in depth a couple weeks ago here. The bottom line is he's had some weird luck the last few seasons but seems to match the production level of whatever line he is placed on. His best bet to regain a higher level of production is with a trade to a new team.

Matt Dumba

The pectoral injury a few years ago that derailed a breakout campaign leaves us with a huge "what if" on Dumba's career, as we won't know whether he could have built on that momentum if healthy, or if the production would have flattened out anyways as the sample size got bigger.

Isaiah George

George had an excellent debut in the NHL, looking poised and ready for bigger minutes. The Isles could make room for him by next season, but for now they seem content to let him marinate in the minors.

Jet Greaves

Greaves is solidifying himself as the number three in Columbus, with solid numbers at both the AHL and NHL levels. He has a one-way deal next season, so the Blue Jackets will have some incentive to make some room for him – be it moving on from Elvis Merzlikins who is under contract until 2027 or finding a new home for pending RFA Daniil Tarasov.

Jordan Greenway

The six-foot-six winger had surgery back in December for an undisclosed issue, and though he recently resumed skating, his timeline is uncertain. The Sabres have reduced his ice time, and even further reduced his offensive zone time minutes. As a result, his scoring numbers have dropped a little, but for those of you in bangers leagues, the bright side is that he's up to 2.5 Hits per game.

Jordan Harris

Harris' usage and scoring have both dried up in Columbus. Hopefully for him some of these injuries last long enough for him to gain a permanent foothold in the lineup, and possibly there are a few bodies moved out at the trade deadline too.

Seth Jones

Jones is having an excellent year in Chicago, being the defenceman that they brought him in to be. He's on pace for 56 points (which would be the second-highest mark of his career), on top of his usual heavy usage and solid peripherals. His shot volume has decreased, but I think it's something that fantasy managers are okay with considering the boost everywhere else. Still another five years after this one at his $9.5 million cap hit.

The Joseph Brothers (Mathieu and Pierre-Olivier)

Both were underwhelming for St. Louis at the beginning of the season, with PO Jospeh getting traded back to the Penguins for nothing. It was a sad twist of fate to have the brothers separated after so little time on the same team, but still a fun story to see them together while they managed it. Mathieu put up some excellent streaks with the Senators a few years ago but hasn't been able to hold onto a top-six role for any real length of time.

Dakota Joshua

Joshua made his season debut in November after battling testicular cancer. Unfortunately, his level of play hasn't picked up right where it left off last year. He only has five points in 30 games this season, after 32 in 63 last season. His shot rate has halved, and both the hit and block rates have dropped as well. He's due for an uptick, but the 40-point pace from last season might end up being his high-water mark.

Evander Kane

Kane hasn't yet played a game this season and could be out all the way until March with hip and knee surgeries.

Keegan Kolesar

Kolesar is having a mini breakout with some extra ice time and opportunity up the lineup this year, pacing for over 30 points in addition to his usual three Hits per game.

Ryan Reaves

With only one fighting major this season, Reaves isn't even doing the one thing that is supposedly keeping him in the league. His time seems to be just about up. Luckily for him his agent got him one more year, so he's not a free agent again until the summer of 2026. He was a top-notch enforcer in his prime, but he just can't keep up anymore.

Andre Lee

Three points in 19 games so far for the Kings rookie, and he's adding almost two hits per game despite seeing only nine minutes of ice time per game. The Kings are going to age out a few players over the next couple seasons, so there could be a permanent fourth-line role player here. He hasn't been a point-per-game player anywhere since playing juniors in Sweden in 2017, so don't expect too much secondary scoring here.

Oliver Kylington

Kylington has only played one game since November, and nine in total on the season. Everyone wants to see him beat his demons and get back to the 35-point player he was for the Flames three years ago, but he just doesn't appear to have the same dynamism and puck control now.

K'Andre Miller

One of my favourite players to watch because even at 25 it still feels like there are some shifts he looks like the most dominant defenceman in the league because of his range, puck skills, physicality, and offensive instincts. He hasn't managed to put it all together consistently though, and there's also Adam Fox still (rightly) barring his way from the top offensive minutes.

Darnell Nurse

The Oilers' defenceman is keeping up with last season statistically, but he's managing that despite a very low secondary assist rate. He could be in line for a slight uptick in production the rest of the way, closer to his 50-point scoring rate from the few years prior. Overall, he still brings a fantastic blend of peripherals, with 2.5 SOG, 2.0 Hits, 1.7 Blocks and 0.8 PIMs per game.

Lucas Raymond

Raymond looked at last year's second-half scoring jump to the point-per-game level and stepped past it again this year. He's on an 88-point pace so far, and has stepped up his shot volume too, to 3.4 shots per game over 13 games in Q3. He's already Detroit's best offensive player, most people just haven't noticed it yet.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky here, as that's now my primary platform.