In a bit of non-fantasy news, CBA discussions are set to start soon between the NHL and the Players' Association. Given the sharply-rising cap, the pending Olympics, the likelihood of fiscal issues in both America and Canada over the coming years, and a lot more, these negotiations will have a lot to cover. There shouldn't be any delays to any NHL season(s), but the NHL has taught me to never be optimistic.

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The injured Columbus Blue Jackets skaters, including Sean Monahan, were at practice on Wednesday:

https://twitter.com/JacketsInsider/status/1902376168117993705

It appears as if a lot of players are close to returning, and not a moment too soon as their losing skid over the last couple of weeks has come at the worst possible time. Monahan returning and playing like he did for the first three months of the season would make a huge difference to this lineup.

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An early third-period short-handed goal from Steven Lorentz was all that the Toronto Maple Leafs needed to skate out of their home rink with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. It was a nice rebound from the 7-4 loss they suffered at the hands of the Avalanche a couple of weeks ago.

Joseph Woll was the star of the night for either team as the Leafs netminder stopped 38 of 39 shots for his 24^th win of the season. It was the first time he allowed fewer than two goals against in a game in over 10 weeks. It brings him up to a .908 save percentage and is a nice game from him after some shaky appearances in March.

Auston Matthews had the other goal for Toronto, scoring a power-play goal for his 27^th tally of the season. He now has 7 goals and 16 points in 13 games since the Four Nations break, averaging over four shots per game in that span. He also has goals in three straight games, so he seems to be heating up at the right time.

Valeri Nichushkin scored the lone goal for the Avalanche, a second-period power-play tally. He finished the game with four shots, a block, and a hit. He has 45 goals in his last 82 regular season games dating back to last season, and has 18 goals in 31 games this season. Having him back in the lineup regularly makes a big difference for this team's scoring depth.

MacKenzie Blackwood allowed two goals against on 25 shots for just his eighth regulation loss in 28 starts with Colorado.

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Minnesota was at home to Seattle on Wednesday night, but it was without both Marcus Foligno, Marcus Johansson, and Jonas Brodin. That Minnesota's injury list is getting longer, and not shorter, is not a great sign for this team with four weeks left remaining in the season.

Things got even worse on the injury front during Minnesota's game on Wednesday night. Centre Marco Rossi took a shot off the inside of his leg (knee?) halfway through the first period and did not return. Hopefully this is nothing serious, but we will of course update when we get more information.

The Wild scored three times in the first five minutes of that first period to cruise to a 4-0 win over the Kraken. Matt Boldy led the way with a pair of goals, which snapped an 11-game goalless drought for him. It was his second drought of at least nine games in the last two months. A tough season, but hopefully he can end things on a heater.

Ryan Hartman and Liam Ohgren had the other goals. Hartman finished with four shots, a block, and two penalty minutes as well. Hartman has three goals, five points, 19 shots, five hits, and six blocks in his last six games, and was up to 22:26 in ice time in this one. If Rossi has to miss any sort of time – the Wild don't play until Saturday, so there's time to recuperate if it's not serious – then Hartman is in line for a lot of minutes.

Filip Gustavsson was stellar in goal, stopping all 34 shots faced for the shutout. He is up to five shutouts on the season, one away from tying his total for his entire career up to this season.

Brandon Montour had a decent multi-cat night for the Kraken with three shots, three blocks, and four PIMs. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer allowed three goals on 27 shots for the loss.

Seattle was 15-14-2 on December 13^th. Since then, they are 15-21-3, which is 29^th in the league in that span.

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There are just four weeks remaining in the regular season – where does the time go? – and at this time of year, especially for those knocked out of their fantasy leagues, it's easy to check out. However, this is also a crucial time of year that can give us insight into next season, and perhaps find some gems at the draft table in September that others have overlooked. Last year, players like William Eklund, Dylan Strome, Lucas Raymond, and Dylan Samberg all had good indicators, in some fashion or other, that helped them carry over to 2024-25, leading to good/excellent seasons. Here are some players I'm keeping an eye on down the stretch to see if there are some signs of life for next year, focusing specifically on those from non-playoff teams. Data from Natural Stat Trick or Frozen Tools, and as of the afternoon of March 19^th.

Jared McCann (Seattle Kraken)

It has really, really been an uneven season for McCann. With 17 goals, 29 assists, and 164 shots, he has a decent chance to put up a 20-30 season with 200 shots on goal. It isn't that bad, looking at it holistically. The problem is that he had 9 goals, 12 assists, and 42 shots in his first 18 games of the season. In the 51 games since, he has 8 goals, 17 assists, and 122 shots. The shots per game have been relatively consistent, but the production has collapsed, and it's not all driven by his individual shooting percentage (though that is at 6.6% over those recent 51 games). That stretch has also seen him with a below-average rate of shot attempt share and expected goal share relative to his teammates. He hasn't only declined; he's been worse than a lot of teammates.

Following Wednesday night's game, the Kraken have just 12 contests remaining, and the Schedule Planner has them with the second-hardest schedule by opponent points percentage. That mixture of a short and difficult runway makes it unlikely McCann improves much before his season ends, but it would be nice to see a turnaround. He is a prime trade candidate for the offseason and a late-year rebound would make me a lot more optimistic for next year, regardless of where (if) he's traded.

Frank Nazar (Chicago Blackhawks)

In a small sample, the tracking data from AllThreeZones has Nazar with a very high rate of carried zone entries, particularly considering the team he plays for. It isn't enough to make a determination one way or another, but it is a sign of life.

The 2024-25 season has not been smooth sailing for Nazar. He has found himself splitting time between the AHL and NHL, but has been consistently in the big leagues since December. He was recently skating on a line with Connor Bedard and Ryan Donato, which is a good sign. He has shown some offensive chemistry with Bedard – with those two on the ice, the Blackhawks generate 25.5 shots per 60 minutes, well clear of what anyone else on the roster manages – even if the goals aren't there. Nazar's speed is helping create problems for the opposing defenders, whether by gaining the zone or drawing penalties. Those are good signs.

It is probably too much to ask for the Blackhawks' top line to have a big turnaround down the stretch, but even marginal improvements in some underlying numbers would go a long way. Nazar should be a key piece of this team for years to come, it's just a matter of whether that starts next year, or truly in years, plural. 

Travis Konecny (Philadelphia Flyers)

Fantasy managers with Konecny on their rosters, and Philadelphia Flyers fans, are likely aware of the downturn, but it's worth reiterating that Konecny has genuinely been a poor fantasy option for a couple months now: Over his last 25 games, Konecny has 2 goals, 13 assists, 4 power-play points, 49 shots, and 28 hits. That is… extremely bad, especially considering he's averaged over 20 minutes a game in that span. Konecny has as many goals in his last 25 games than Rodrigo Abols has in his last 15 games. In those 25 games since January 14^th, Konecny has as many goals as Mathew Barzal, who hasn't played since February 1^st.

It isn't just a drop in shooting percentage, either. Those recent 25 games have seen 12 different Flyers forwards skate at least 125 minutes at 5-on-5. Among those 12 forwards, Konecny is 9^th by shot attempt share and 10^th by expected goal share relative to his teammates. He is not producing, and he is not playing well. For a guy that was so good for basically 3.5 years, it is a drastic crash.

Something like this always makes me think he's playing through some kind of injury. If he doesn't turn things around down the stretch, it'll be worth keeping an eye on injury news after the season. If he doesn't turn things around and he's not playing through injury? That is when some alarms will start going off.

Mason Lohrei (Boston Bruins)

The unfortunate injuries to Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm opened a lot of minutes for depth defencemen that wouldn't otherwise get it. That is certainly true for Lohrei, who is skating over 22:30 per game across his last 10 games. Boston is clearly looking towards next season, given what they did at the Trade Deadline, but even with a thinned-out forward group, Lohrei has zero assists in those last 10 games, too.

Believe it or not, the Boston power play has been scoring much more with Lohrei running things than with McAvoy up until his injury: The Bruins were scoring 3.7 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 with McAvoy as the PP quarterback, a number that is much higher with Lohrei (7.0).

Looking ahead, Boston also has a fairly soft schedule remaining. Of their 13 games, they face San Jose, Anaheim, Detroit, Montreal, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey. Five of those teams are among the 10 worst teams by goals allowed per minute at 4-on-5 since Christmas. The Bruins have a lot of poor penalty killing teams coming up, and continued (relative) success with Lohrei running their power play would bode well for his chances at starting with that role in October.