The Colorado Avalanche got a big piece of their offence back as winger Valeri Nichushkin returned on Wednesday night for their home game against New Jersey. Nichushkin had initially returned in the middle of November from an off-ice suspension, but didn't even make it to January before being injured. Hopefully this is the end of his games missed.

After a pair of losses on the weekend, Colorado bounced back well in that game on Wednesday night with a 5-1 win at home to New Jersey. The usual suspects did the damage as Nathan MacKinnon had two goals (both PP) and an assist, Martin Necas had a trio of helpers (two on the PP), and Artturi Lehkonen had a goal for himself. That was Lehkonen's 24^th goal of the season, and he now has 37 goals in his last 75 regular season games, dating back to last season. That is a 40-goal pace.

Logan O'Connor had the other Colorado goal, his first goal in 14 games. Cale Makar had a pair of helpers (both PP), four shots, and two blocks.

MacKenzie Blackwood stopped 22 of 23 shots for the win, his 15^th with the Avalanche.

Jack Hughes scored the lone goal for the Devils, his ninth goal in his last 12 games.

Jake Allen allowed five goals on 36 shots for the loss.

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A bit of good news for injured Ottawa Senators forwards Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris, and Shane Pinto:

Norris, Pinto and Tkachuk all skating right now. Pinto wearing a black jersey. pic.twitter.com/hUyaOsJ4B5

— Graeme Nichols (@GraemeNichols) February 26, 2025

None of them suited up for Wednesday night's game against Winnipeg, but that they were all at the optional skate bodes well for a hopeful return on Saturday night.

It wouldn't be a day too soon, either, as the Senators have now lost back-to-back games coming out of the Four Nations break thanks to a 4-1 loss on Wednesday night to Winnipeg. The final on the shot clock was 39-25 in Winnipeg's favour, to give an indication of the issues they face with all those players missing.

Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor both had a goal and an assist while Cole Perfetti and Mason Appleton had solo tallies. That makes five goals and 12 points for Perfetti in his last 10 games dating to late January. A nice hot stretch from him that shows the offensive upside he still has.

Scheifele finished the game with five shots and a hit while Connor had two shots and a hit.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 24 of 25 shots for the win, his 36^th of the season. That is nine more wins than the next-closest goalies (Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jake Oettinger both have 27).

Thomas Chabot scored Ottawa's only goal, registering five shots, a block, and a hit. Goaltender Linus Ullmark allowed three goals on 39 shots in a solid, but losing, effort.

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After sustaining an injury on Tuesday night, the update on Adam Fox was not a great one:

Adam Fox is going on injured reserve. He will be out for "a little bit," I'm told, but the Rangers are confident he will be back for the stretch run of the season.

— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) February 26, 2025

The phrase "confident he will be back for the stretch run" is not one that inspires confidence, per se. That could be just the last couple of weeks of the season, which is over a month away. Obviously, there is no firm timeline here, but for a team so thin on the blue line already, losing a superstar like Fox decimates what little they had.

This is likely to mean more minutes for players like K'Andre Miller and Will Borgen, and more minutes is usually good for peripheral production. I would be wary of assuming a lot more point production, though, because Fox is one of the big drivers of offence on the team, and the only good one on the blue line. Braden Schneider might get some top power-play time, but I suspect that we're going to see some different five-forward power-play units from the Rangers, too. Overall, this is just a mess of a situation and I'm not sure how much it helps the fantasy value of the remaining defencemen.

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More good news, this time from the New York Islanders and Noah Dobson

Pelech and Dobson are a pairing today. #Isles

— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) February 26, 2025

Things are lining up for him to return to action on Thursday night as the Islanders travel to Boston.

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A sort-of update on Nashville defenceman Roman Josi:

Roman Josi is not on the ice for practice this morning.

— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) February 26, 2025

Josi was injured after taking a hard hit on Tuesday night in the team's loss to Florida. For now, consider him day-to-day but the team will provide more firm timeline in the coming days.

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Drew Doughty is considered day-to-day after missing Los Angeles's home game against Vancouver on Wednesday night. On the other side, Quinn Hughes was in warmups, but was listed as a scratch before being listed as a participant. He returned after not playing a game in all of February,  

Vancouver won that game 3-2 thanks to an overtime goal from Conor Garland. He beat goalie David Rittich clean with a wrist shot from the left circle, so probably not a goal Rittich should give up but it was a nice shot nonetheless.

That goal was Garland's second of the game, having also scored on the power play in the second period. Filip Chytil assisted on both of those goals, too, and that gives Chytil five points in seven games with the Canucks despite shooting just 4.8% (one goal on 21 shots).

Hughes logged 21:38, so he was definitely eased into the lineup, but assisted on the overtime winner. He finished with two shots and a hit.

Nils Hoglander had the other goal for the Canucks, just his fourth goal in the last 50 games.

Kevin Lankinen stopped 24 of 26 shots for the win.

Adrian Kempe and Warren Foegele both had third-period goals for the Kings to even get the team to overtime. Kempe also had two total shots, two PIMs, and three hits in a whopping 26:14 of overtime.

Without Doughty in the lineup, Brandt Clarke was moved to Los Angeles's top PP unit, so that's something to keep in mind in case Doughty's absence is longer than just this game.

Rittich allowed three goals on 17 shots for the loss.

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Ice time is crucial to fantasy success. Players with low ice time totals can provide value with hot streaks, or depth players that put up big hit totals, but peripherals and production rely heavily on ice time totals. With seven weeks left in the NHL regular season, fantasy managers need to not only maximize games, but ice time within those games. Here are some forward groups whose ice time levels can benefit, or hinder, fantasy owners. We will use data from Natural Stat Trick and Frozen Tools.

Montreal's Top Line

This is something that has been obvious since the Montreal Canadiens returned from the Four Nations break, but actually started when Patrik Laine rejoined the lineup in December: In an 18-game stretch from December 3^rd (Laine's return) to January 11^th (Emil Heineman was hit by a car), the ice-time leader among Montreal forwards was Nick Suzuki at 19:01 per game, and he fell below 18 minutes in 5/18 of those appearances. In 22 games from the start of the season to American Thanksgiving, Suzuki averaged 19:57 per game and none of those 22 games saw him skate under 18 minutes.

That is also reflected in share of even strength time. That 18-game stretch between the Laine return and Heineman injury saw every regular Montreal forward earn between 20-30% of the team's even-strength ice time. For comparison, the first 22 games of the season saw both Heineman and Oliver Kapanen earn just under 20% of the team's even-strength time, and Suzuki was at 31.7%.

As long as Montreal is competitive in a game, coach Martin St. Louis really likes to distribute the ice time when their group is healthy. Now that Josh Anderson's status is up in the air, maybe that changes (or with any trades at the Deadline), but it is hard to rely on Suzuki as a 20-minute player right now. 

Columbus's Top Line

The good news for Columbus is that Boone Jenner, who hadn't played a game yet this season, and Kirill Marchenko, who broke his jaw a few games before the Four Nations break, both returned following the break. Columbus has had its fair share of injury problems, and they need their players on the ice if they want to push for a playoff spot.

The bad news for fantasy owners is we saw the impact of Jenner's return on the rest of the lineup. With he, Cole Sillinger, and Kent Johnson on the second line, the team now has a second line they can rely on. As a result, in Columbus's first game back, they shredded Chicago by a 5-1 score, and Sillinger (17:07) was the only Blue Jackets forward to reach the 17-minute mark.

Okay, fine, it was a blowout of a bad team, so there was no need to give the top guys a lot of ice time. On Tuesday night, though, they hosted the Dallas Stars, a genuine Cup contender. It was a much closer game (2-1 Columbus after the first period, 3-2 after the second period), and yet Marchenko (18:10) was the only forward to surpass the 18-minute mark. Adam Fantilli played 15:39, his lowest mark since before Sean Monahan's injury over six weeks ago.

Players like Marchenko and Fantilli can still be productive playing 17 or 18 minutes a game, so there's no need to panic, but once Monahan and Yegor Chinakhov return, the Jackets will suddenly have three lines they can rely on, and that changes the ice time equation a lot compared to where they were mid-January.

Utah's Centres

Like Columbus, Utah got back a key player in Logan Cooley, which is going to be important to them making a run at a Wild Card playoff spot. That is good news for them and their fans.

The bad news is that while Cooley was injured, Barrett Hayton assumed a role on the top power-play unit. Even after Cooley returned, Hayton has held onto that role. As a result, Cooley averaged 15:27 across his first two games since returning from injury, which is a drastic contrast to the 20:46 he averaged across the 10 games leading up to the injury. He does have two points in two games since getting healthy, so that's good, but losing five minutes of ice time is not good for any player.

Of course, things can change quickly. Utah went 0-for-5 on the power play in their win over Chicago, and have gone 1-for-9 since the schedule resumed over the weekend. Another game where the team goes 0-for-whatever on the power play could see Cooley get that spot back, so this is a precarious situation for managers with either Hayton or Cooley on their roster. Either player would see a significant cut to their fantasy value if they're not on the top power-play unit, and that formation could change quickly, often, or not at all. Fantasy owners will have to gamble on the final seven weeks of the season, but this could be a frustrating situation if it flip-flops constantly.