Ramblings: Jack Hughes Injured; Quinn Hughes & Kaprizov Updates; Dallas’ Dazzling Power Play (Mar 3)

Brennan Des

2025-03-03

Before we get into notes from Sunday's games, a couple of important injury updates:

It sounds like Quinn Hughes is day-to-day with a new injury – not the same one that kept him out for most of February.

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With a goal and assist on Sunday, Auston Matthews extended his point streak to nine games. He had a quiet start to the campaign, failing to register a point in five of his first eight outings, but has been excellent in 2025 boasting 28 points through 21 appearances.

Speaking of strong production in the calendar year, Matthew Knies is up to 21 points in his last 20 games. He's seen reps on Toronto's top power-play lately and is still available in 50% of Yahoo Leagues. His 12 goals in 2025 rank top 10 in the league, with Sunday's tally being a particularly remarkable buzzer beater.

An assist on Sunday gives Morgan Rielly 10 points in his last nine appearances. It's surprising that five of those points have come with the man advantage even though he's only seen 39% of Toronto's total power-play time during this stretch.

If you're in need of offense in a deeper league, Pontus Holmberg has six points in his last five games and is riding shotgun beside John Tavares and William Nylander. Although, keep in mind Toronto's lines could see some shuffling with Calle Jarnkrok set to make his season debut Monday.

The Penguins are allowing the league's second most goals per game at 3.62, with only San Jose doing worse (3.70). Pittsburgh's roster isn't highly regarded, but it's hard to blame team defense for this stat as they've been middle of the pack based on expected goals against. Goaltending has been the main culprit as all of Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic and Joel Blomqvist have allowed more goals than expected this season (i.e., all three have negative GSAx numbers via EvolvingHockey).

Goaltending was optional for both teams in a 6-5 contest. Although that was expected on Pittsburgh's end, Sunday marked the first time in 10 games that Joseph Woll conceded more than three goals.

In such a high-scoring affair, every forward in Toronto's top nine was able to find the scoresheet. In contrast, Pittsburgh's production mostly came from the top line, with Sidney Crosby tallying three points while Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell posted two apiece. The team just hasn't been getting enough offense from forwards outside that trio over the past few months.  

The forwards are floundering, but Erik Karlsson is thriving. With two assists on Sunday, he's up to 13 points in his last 11 outings.

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Brad Marchand missed Sunday's clash with Minnesota after taking a hit from behind during Saturday's game against Pittsburgh. As I write this, all we know is that Marchand is dealing with an upper-body injury, but we should learn more as he's evaluated over the next few days.

It was a low-scoring affair between Boston and Minnesota, but you can't blame Matt Boldy for that as he put up a game-high eight shots on net. He's been shooting more this season, averaging 3.5 shots per game after posting 3.0 in recent years.

An assist on Sunday gives Mats Zuccarello points in back-to-back games. He's finally showing signs of life after an eight-game point drought, and should benefit from Kaprizov's eventual return.

Filip Gustavsson, who entered Sunday's game with a league-worst 11 goals saved below expected over his last 12 appearances (EvolvingHockey), finally came through with a strong performance as he turned aside all 28 shots Boston threw his way. Let's hope this is something Gustavsson can build on as he'd been struggling immensely over the past couple months, getting thoroughly outplayed by 40-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury.

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In a game where he faced twice as many shots as his team directed on the opposing goalie, Dustin Wolf performed amicably, turning away 31 of the 33 shots he faced in a close OT loss. The 23-year-old rookie is having an incredible season and looks primed for a Calder nomination at year's end.

Sebastian Aho's overtime winner gives him 10 goals in his last 14 outings.

The Flames scoring one goal in this game may seem underwhelming, but it's actually an improvement considering they were shut out in their previous two contests.

Calgary has not been an ideal destination for Joel Farabee thus far. There was some promise early on as he scored a goal within his first three games with the Flames and was seeing 17 minutes a night. He's pointless in seven appearances since then, averaging just 13 minutes per game. I can't help but feel like there's some untapped potential for a player that managed 50 points for Philly last year and only just turned 25.

Mackenzie Weegar was Calgary's most productive defender, supplementing his power-play assist with six hits and four blocks. He ranks top-10 in blocks and top-25 in hits this year – a multicategory master.

Defensive dynamo Jaccob Slavin had a strong showing, posting a goal, assist, three shots, three blocks and a plus-2 rating.

With two assists on Sunday, Jackson Blake is up to nine points in his last 16 games. During this stretch, his ice time average is 16:21. Those numbers may not jump out of the page, but they're pretty remarkable considering he was seeing less than 12 minutes a night over his previous 45 appearances and had just 13 points.  

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A power-play hat trick from Wyatt Johnston led Dallas to a 6-3 victory over St. Louis on Sunday. Johnston has had the Midas Touch lately with 10 goals in his last 11 games. Michael Scott/Wayne Gretzky's wisdom of putting pucks on net has been key for Johnston, who's managed at least three shots in eight of his last nine.

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Two power-play apples for Thomas Harley on Sunday night. Since Miro Heiskanen went down with an injury (January 28th), Harley ranks second in blueliner scoring with 12 points in 10 games. Six of those points have come with the man advantage thanks to a top-unit promotion resulting from Heiskanen's absence. The Stars lead the league in expected PP goals since Harley stepped up to the top group (via NaturalStatTrick), so you have to wonder if he maintains this role even when Heiskanen returns from knee surgery.  

With a goal and three assists Sunday, Roope Hintz now has back-to-back four-point outings. He missed a few contests due to injury in mid-January, but it seems that time off was beneficial as he's managed 20 points in 14 games since.

Logan Stankoven has now registered a point in all three games he's played since being healthy scratched on February 23rd. He's only seeing 12-13 minutes of ice time during this stretch but has been skating on the top line with Hintz and Jason Robertson. I imagine his minutes will increase as a result of this recent run, so get in on the ground floor because he's still available in 82% of Yahoo Leagues.

Matt Duchene tallied a goal and assist against St. Louis, so now five of his last seven games have been multipoint affairs. Skating on Dallas' red hot top power-play has been very helpful for Duchene, who has six PPPs in his last six outings. His lofty 22.5% shooting percentage might be a good reason to sell, but make sure you get fair value for his juicy PP1 role.

Don't look now but 23-year-old Mavrik Bourque, who led the AHL in scoring last year, is up to seven points in his last eight appearances. He started the season in a very sheltered role but has earned more minutes with strong play in recent months. He's stuck in a fourth-line role which will be hard to break out of given Dallas' depth, but he could excel with more opportunity if another forward gets injured.

This game featured another young player thriving in a depth role – Zack Bolduc. After scoring on Sunday, Bolduc is up to four goals in his last four outings and seven points in his last eight games.

Joel Hofer was yanked from this one after giving up three goals on nine shots. Jordan Binnington, who had been excellent in three starts for the Blues following his magical performance for Team Canada in the Four Nations Final, was thrown into action unexpectedly after playing on Saturday. Binnington didn't fare any better than Hofer, giving up three goals on 12 shots. Let's hope this doesn't derail the momentum he had.

Brayden Schenn, who seems to be a hot commodity ahead of Friday's trade deadline, continues to increase his value. An assist on Sunday extends his point streak to five games and gives him nine points in his last nine outings.

Speaking of point streaks, Sunday's apple puts Robert Thomas on a 10-game heater.

Dylan Holloway is also on a five-game streak after scoring on Sunday, boasting four goals during this stretch. He got off to a slow start with his new team but has been excellent since late November with 38 points in 40 outings.

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Jonathan Quick hasn't been as good this year as he was last year, but the 39-year-old netminder came to play on Sunday, posting a 34-save shutout.

Calvin de Haan was all over the scoresheet in his Rangers' debut, racking up an assist, two penalty minutes, two shots, two blocks and six hits through 16 and a half minutes of action.

Although the Rangers tried a five-forward power-play in their first game without Adam Fox on Friday, Zac Jones took Alexis Lafreniere's place on the top unit for Sunday's game against Nashville. Jones seems primed for a bigger role with Fox sidelined as he led Rangers' defensemen in ice time Sunday with 22:15.

A goal and assist on Sunday gives JT Miller eight points in his last five games. Since arriving in New York on February 1st, Miller has spent most of his minutes beside Mika Zibanejad, breathing new life into the Swedish forward's game. Mika leads the league with 15 points in 10 games since Miller came to town.

Artemi Panarin had been quiet lately with just two points in his last six games. He got the monkey off his back Sunday though, racking up a goal, an assist and seven shots.

Reilly Smith was held out of this game for trade-related reasons so expect him to be dealt before Friday's deadline.

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Jack Eichel tallied a helper on both of Vegas' goals Sunday and led the team to a 2-0 victory. He's scoring at a 100-point pace this season, which would be a career high.

Adin Hill turned aside all 25 shots New Jersey threw at him to secure his third shutout of the season. Hill has followed up a rocky stretch, where he'd allowed four goals in four of five games, with a spectacular stretch where he's allowed just two goals over three starts.

After a knee sprain kept him sidelined for over a month, Jacob Markstrom finally returned to the lineup on Sunday. He had a solid game, stopping 22 of the 24 shots he faced, but ultimately suffered the loss. Nico Daws was an excellent backup to Jake Allen while Markstrom was out, but had to go back down to the AHL Sunday.

With Shea Theodore suffering a serious wrist injury at the Four Nations Faceoff, Noah Hanifin has stepped up as PP1 quarterback – a role he's excelled in before. Hanifin tallied two power-play points Sunday, giving him five points and three PPPs in three games without Theodore. Hanifin is still available in 38% of Yahoo Leagues – grab him while you can!

It was a scary scene late in this game as Jack Hughes crashed awkwardly into the boards and left the ice holding his right arm in pain. The team didn't have a concrete update afterwards, simply saying Hughes would need to be evaluated so they could learn the full extent of the injury.

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Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great week ahead!

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