Just a friendly reminder that the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline is this Friday, March 7^th. As is tradition here at Dobber Hockey, the team – well, mainly Ian – will be around all day to break down the important trades that fantasy managers need to know about. Be sure to check in often on Friday as the trades roll in because a few of those trades are sure to have major impact in all fantasy leagues.

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There wasn't a firm update given on New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes, who was injured after crashing into the boards in Sunday night's game. There was a little nugget that might be some good news:

#NJDevils Jack Hughes flew back to New Jersey to be evaluated by team doctors, per source. I'm told it may not be as severe as some are expecting.

— Gabriel Trevino (@GabeCTrevino) March 3, 2025

Of course, we have to see what the team says about all this once the evaluations are complete, but this initially looked like this would end his season. Anything less than that is great news.

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The Florida Panthers did provide a firm update on forward Matthew Tkachuk, and it's not a good one:

Bill Zito says the Florida Panthers expect Matthew Tkachuk to miss the remainder of the regular season, hopes to have him "back for the playoffs.''https://t.co/9DJjI498xp

— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) March 3, 2025

Florida has enough of a cushion that making playoffs isn't in danger, but whether Tkachuk can return and be healthy for the playoffs themselves is another matter. Either way, fantasy managers better be ready to make some waiver moves because they will be without his services until next October.

One player fantasy managers may want to target is Florida forward Mackie Samoskevich, who was moved to the team's top power-play unit for Monday night's game. He has spent time there before, and hasn't remained there, so it's very uncertain how long this lasts. Either way, top power-play time along with a second-line role next to Sam Bennett is pretty good deployment to find on the waiver wire this late into the season.

For posterity, newest Panther Seth Jones was lined up on the second power-play unit, along with Carter Verhaeghe, who lost his spot to Samoskevich.

A pair of goals from Aleksander Barkov was all that Florida needed on Monday night as they took a 2-1 win at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Believe it or not, that was Barkov's first two-goal game of the season, and his first since March 30^th of last year.  

Samoskevich had the primary assist on Barkov's second goal, and he totaled two shots, a block, and five hits along the way. Another solid night for the rookie.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of 29 shots in the win. Goalie Bob has allowed just 16 goals in his last 10 starts, going 8-2-0 in that stretch.

Brayden Point tallied Tampa's lone marker, though he skated over 26 minutes in the game as Tampa Bay went 0-for-7 (!) on the power play.

Andrei Vasilevskiy was solid, allowing just two goals on 29 shots, but took the loss.

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On the top of power-play changes, Tampa Bay made some of their own as the Lightning moved Darren Raddysh and Mitchell Chaffee to the top PP unit, demoting Victor Hedman and Brandon Hagel to the second unit. This has happened already once this season and lasted about 10 games (or thereabouts). This is unlikely to last, but those are another two names to keep in mind for fantasy managers desperate for some depth off the waiver wire.

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New York Islanders forward Anthony Duclair was a healthy scratch on Monday night. It has been a tough season for him between modest production and injury, so maybe a bit of a reset will help.

It didn't really to seem to give the Islanders any sort of advantage, either, as they were shellacked on the road against the New York Rangers by a 4-0 margin. Igor Shesterkin was stellar again for the Rangers, saving all 20 shots he faced for the shutout, his fourth of the season. That ties his total from last season in 11 fewer starts, and puts him in range to at least tie his career-high in shutouts (6) set in 2021-22.

Each of Artemi Panarin, JT Miller, and Will Cuylle had a goal and an assist to lead the Rangers attack. Cuylle's goal was on the penalty kill, too, and he totaled two shots, a block, and a hit in nearly 19 minutes of ice time. He is up to 17 goals, 33 points, and 224 hits in 61 games, which means he could realistically be a 20/20 player with 300 hits. It has been just a monster multi-cat season from him.

Those two points from Miller give him 14 in 11 games with the Rangers, which is a great start to his second tenure. Just beware that he's shooting 35% with his new/old team, so, you know, watch for the incoming regression.

Will Borgen had the other goal for New York, adding two blocks and a hit along the way.

Ilya Sorokin gave up three goals on 26 shots for the loss.

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Ottawa earned a hard-fought points on Monday night as the Senators went into Washington to face the Capitals. Washington got out to a 3-0 lead, which they had with eight minutes left in the second period, before Ottawa scored three goals in the next 16 minutes of game action. The two teams traded late goals in the third period and the game eventually went into overtime, which Washington took. It is never ideal to lose a game, but considering how this looked for Ottawa halfway through the contest, it was a point that they should be happy with.

Washington's second line of Pierre-Luc Dubois (two goals, one PP assist), Tom Wilson (one PP goal, one assist), and Connor McMichael (one goal, one assist) did a lot of the damage for the Caps. Wilson also had a fight with Brady Tkachuk, landed three total shots on goal, had a block, and threw four hits for good measure. It was a massive multi-cat night for him as his own superb multi-cat season rolls along.

The assist from Dubois gives him 36 helpers on the season, tying his career-high set in Winnipeg back in 2022-23. Barring something very bad happening, he will break that mark sooner rather than later.

Martin Fehervary also had a goal and an assist, totaling two shots and five blocks in the win.

Logan Thompson was solid in net once again for the Caps, stopping 33 of the 37 shots faced, including all three in the shootout, for the win. That gives him his 26^th win on the year, surpassing his career-high from last season in eight fewer starts.

Shane Pinto scored twice for Ottawa, managing three total shots and a block along the way. After a very, very slow start to his season, Pinto has 13 goals and 22 points in his last 28 games. That is a lot more like what the team (and fantasy owners) were hoping to get from him.

Tkachuk had a PP goal, the aforementioned fight, three shots, a block, and a hit in the loss, while Claude Giroux had a goal (PP) and an assist.

Jake Sanderson had a great fantasy night with three helpers (two on the PP), three shots, and four blocks. Tim Stutzle had two assists of his own (one PP) with six shots, a block, and a hit.

Linus Ullmark was solid in net for the Sens, stopping 37 of 41 shots faced, but took the loss in the shootout.

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As Montreal has been known to do, they blew another multi-goal lead, this one a 3-0 lead against Buffalo on Monday night. The Canadiens scored two power-play goals, and a short-handed tally, to end the first period with a 3-0 lead. They had that lead with two minutes left in the second period but the Sabres rallied to score three goals and force overtime. Luckily for the Canadiens, Mike Matheson picked up his team and scored in the extra frame to secure the two points.

Nick Suzuki had a goal (SH), two assists (both PP), four shots, and a hit in the win. That gives him 12 points in five games since the Four Nations break, and 64 points in 61 games on the year. He is very much in line for his first point-per-game season.

Matheson assisted the Suzuki short-handed tally and had that overtime winner for a multi-point night. He had the lone shot, four blocks, and a hit, too.

Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky both had multi-point nights as well. Hutson assisted both power-play goals while Slafkovsky scored on the power play and had the assist on Matheson's overtime winner. Those two assists give Hutson 50 points in 63 career NHL games, which seems good to me.

Sam Montembeault stopped 33 of 36 shots for the win.

Alex Tuch, Tage Thompson, and Rasmus Dahlin scored for the Sabres. Dahlin had a stat-stuffing night himself with the goal, six shots, a block, six PIMs, and four hits. Tuch, meanwhile, has 14 goals and 22 points in 24 games since the Christmas break.

JJ Peterka had a pair of helpers, six shots, and two PIMs in the loss. He is now just three points shy of 50 for the second consecutive season.

James Reimer got the start for the Sabres and allowed four goals on 20 shots.

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San Jose went into Toronto and played a solid game, enough to earn them a 3-2 shootout win over the Maple Leafs. In fact, they erased a 2-0 third-period deficit thanks to goals from Tyler Toffoli and Jack Thompson, and that was enough to push them to the skills competition, where Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored to give the Sharks the extra point.

Alex Wennberg assisted on both goals and is now up to 28 points in 57 games on the season. Considering he had just 30 points in 78 games last year, is playing on a very bad Sharks team, and hasn't played that much with either Toffoli or Macklin Celebrini, a fine year from Wennberg.

Alexandar Georgiev stopped 25 of 27 shots, including four in overtime, to secure the two points.

John Tavares and Matthew Knies both scored power-play goals for the Leafs in the first period. Tavares also assisted on the Knies goal, so after having a tough January/early February, Tavares has three goals and four assists in six games since the Four Nations break.

Anthony Stolarz allowed two goals on 22 shots, taking the loss in the shootout.

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Spencer Knight was in net for Chicago on Monday night as the Blackhawks hosted the Los Angeles Kings. He was, in a word, tremendous in his Blackhawks debut as he stopped 41 of 42 shots as his team skated away with a 5-1 win.

Both Ilya Mikheyev and Ryan Donato had a goal and an assist in the win while Teuvo Teravainen had a pair of helpers along the way. The duo of Donato and Mikheyev have been very good together at 5-on-5, outshooting the opposition 55-50 in their time together. Considering how bad this team is, any line outshooting an opponent in a 126-minute sample feels like a miracle.

Alec Martinez, Ethan Del Mastro, and Andreas Athanasiou had the other goals for the Blackhawks.

Anze Kopitar had the lone Kings goal and Darcy Kuemper took the loss in net, allowing 14 goals on 18 shots.

The Los Angeles power play went 0-for-1 and is now 6-for-48 in calendar 2025. That works out to a 12.5% conversion rate, the third-worst mark in the league. Since America Thanksgiving, they are 10-for-70, or the fourth-worst conversion rate in the league. Teams just cannot be that bad on the power play and be actual Stanley Cup contenders in the modern NHL.