Both Elias Pettersson (the forward) and Nils Hoglander were not in the lineup for the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night, and the team said that both will be out of the lineup for the rest of the road trip, so the next three games at least. It is a tough blow for a team fighting for a playoff spot that is already without Filip Chytil.

Vancouver's game on Monday night in New Jersey made it to overtime thanks to a Pius Suter goal that tied the game 3-3 with 36 seconds left, and then the Canucks took the extra point in the eventual shootout. It was Suter's second goal of the game, totaling five shots, two blocks, and two hits in a great fantasy night. He is up to 22 goals on the season, seven clear of his career-high of 15 set in 2021-22, and with 25 goals a real target now.

Jonathan Lekkerimaki had the other goal for the Canucks. Quinn Hughes had an assist with six shots and two hits.

Thatcher Demko was back in net for the Canucks, making his first start since before the Four Nations break. He stopped 22 of 25 shots on goal for the win.

Timo Meier also had a pair of goals in the game (one PP), registering four total shots, a pair of blocks, and three hits. Meier now has 7 goals, 41 shots, 13 blocks, and 28 hits in 12 games for the month of March. His patented late-season heater is very much in swing right now.

Erik Haula had the other goal for the Devils.

Jacob Markstrom topped 24 of 27 shots he faced in the loss.

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For anyone that had been waiting for an update on Roman Josi, here it is:

Seeing a lot of people asking for an update on Roman Josi. All I can tell you is the team will not provide an official update on Josi until after the season ends. There is zero chance he plays any games the rest of this season.

You won't see him again until 2025-26.

— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) March 24, 2025

It is really unfortunate for him and the team, though they weren't going anywhere this season even when he was healthy.

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Jonas Brodin was not in the lineup for the Minnesota Wild on Monday night. The team considers him day-to-day for now but it seems as if he's been fighting lingering injury issues most of the season.

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Edmonton gave an update on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl:

McDavid and Draisaitl unlikely to play any of the three games this week.

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) March 24, 2025

The Oilers aren't in any real danger of missing the playoffs or anything, they just need to be healthy for when the playoffs roll around. It is not great news for fantasy managers as things get to crunch time, though.

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Good news for Calgary Flames fans and fantasy manager alike as centre Mikael Backlund was back at practice on Monday:

#Flames captain Mikael Backlund is, indeed, on the ice for practice today. Has missed the past five games due to an upper-body injury.

I don't spot MacKenzie Weegar. He was a late scratch Saturday on Long Island.

— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) March 24, 2025

There is no official word for when Backlund will return, but Calgary has home games on Tuesday and Thursday this week before heading out on the road for three games starting on Saturday.

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Samuel Girard also returned to practice for the Colorado Avalanche:

Sam Girard is on the ice early in a non-contact jersey. Missed the last two games.

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) March 24, 2025

Both Girard and Josh Manson have been missing time of late but, like Edmonton, this team needs to be healthy a month from now, not today.

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We got a Kaiden Guhle update from the Montreal Canadiens:

Is Kaiden Guhle in a regular practice jersey and on the ice with the group today?

Yes, yes he is #TSN690 #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/1aa2vYyPUY

— Jon Still (@Imstilljon) March 24, 2025

Guhle has been out since January with a lacerated quad muscle, which is as gruesome as it sounds. That he appears close to returning is a great sign for him and the team as they try to lock down a playoff spot.

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Some good news/bad news for Jakob Chychrun:

Asked Caps coach Spencer Carbery if there was any concern about Jakob Chychrun's availability tomorrow after not practicing today:

"A little bit. We'll see how he feels tomorrow, but got very fortunate that there was no significant damage. But it's still a significant cut."

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) March 24, 2025

It is never ideal to have a cut (ask Guhle), but that he avoided a serious injury is a great sign.

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Winnipeg did not have Gabriel Vilardi at practice:  

#NHLJets head coach Scott Arniel says Gabriel Vilardi is week to week with an upper-body injury. It's not his ear, which was hit with a puck against Buffalo.

— Mitchell Clinton (@MitchellClinton) March 24, 2025

Alex Iafallo was on the top line in his place, for anyone scouring deep on the waiver wires this week.

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Both Sean Monahan and Erik Gudbranson were in the lineup for Columbus on Monday night as they faced the New York Islanders, the former his first game in two and a half months and the latter his first game since mid-October. Monahan was back on the top line with Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko, as well as the top power-play unit. Voronkov and Adam Fantilli were both on the second PP unit.

Monahan made a big impact in this game with a short-handed assist on a Boone Jenner goal and then a secondary assist on Kirill Marchenko's game-tying goal with just over seven minutes remaining. Monahan had one shot and three hits on top of those two helpers, skating 18:51.

Fantilli had the other goal for the Blue Jackets. He finished with four shots and four hits in 16:24 of ice time. He is now up to 100 hits on the season in 70 games played.

Elvis Merzlikins was stellar in net, stopping 30 of 33 shots in the win.

Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri, and Pierre Engvall scored the goals for the Islanders. Lee had seven shots, a block, and four hits, and his goal was his 26^th of the season. Four more goals would give him his first 30-goal season since 2017-18 when he reached 40.

Ilya Sorokin took the loss, allowing three goals on 31 shots.

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Jake Oettinger pitched a 32-save shutout as the Dallas Stars took a win at home against the Minnesota Wild. The Stars got goals from Wyatt Johnston, Matt Duchene, and Mason Marchment to secure the two points. After Johnston's slow start to the season, he has 24 goals and 32 assists in his last 56 games.

Thomas Harley assisted on Johnston's power-play goal, and that gives him 30 assists on the season. As of now, only he, Quinn Hughes, and Cale Makar have managed at least 15 goals and at least 30 assists in each of the last two seasons. Both Rasmus Dahlin and Evan Bouchard can join that group with two more goals. As far as Harley is concerned, the only thing standing between him and fantasy stardom is a consistent top PP role next season, which he may have earned over the last two months.

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Detroit managed 14 shots on goal, one of them into an empty net, and that led to a 5-1 win in Utah on Monday night. According to Stathead, it was just the fourth time since the 2013 lockout that a team scored at least five goals on fewer than 15 shots, but the second time in four days (the Rangers did it to the Canucks on Saturday afternoon).  

Alex DeBrincat had a goal, an assist, two shots, two blocks, two PIMs, and a hit in a very balanced fantasy performance. That pushes DeBrincat over the 60-point for the fourth straight season.

Austin Watson, Elmer Soderblom, Tyler Motte, and Marco Kasper had the other goals for Detroit. Kasper finished with three blocks and four hits to give some multi-cat coverage. He is also up to 12 goals, 21 points, 60 shots, 26 blocks, and 69 hits in his last 30 games. Pretty good across-the-board production from the rookie who has really turned it on in the second half.

Petr Mrazek was injured early in the game and did not return. Alex Lyon entered just two minutes into the first period and stopped 16 of 17 shots he faced for the win.

A Dylan Guenther power-play goal was the lone tally for Utah. Even with 12 games missed, Guenther has a decent chance at a 30-goal season as he sits with 26 at the moment. That goal did push him to the 50-point mark, though.

Karel Vejmelka allowed four goals on 13 shots for the loss.

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Every week, Andrew Santillo does the 'Looking Ahead' column to help fantasy hockey managers with moves to make and teams to target (or not) in the near-term. Without stepping on his toes too much, let's look at the rest of the season starting from today. We will consider recent deployment trends, favourable (or not) schedules, and changes to lines/power-play units to find some players who can help fantasy managers looking for a final championship push. We will be using both the Schedule Planner and Report Generator from Frozen Tools as well as Natural Stat Trick.

Fabian Zetterlund (Ottawa Senators – Winger)

He was mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, but Zetterlund was recently moved to the top line with Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle in the loss to Colorado and stayed there for the win over New Jersey. After averaging under 10 minutes a game in his first five games with Ottawa, Zetterlund has averaged 15 minutes over those recent two contests. He has yet to register a point with his new team, but he does have 13 hits and seven blocks in seven games.

The key for Zetterlund is Ottawa's schedule: With 13 games remaining, the Senators are tied for the most games left, nine of those contests are at home, and they have the easiest remaining schedule in the league (by opponent points percentage). This week alone sees games against Buffalo, Detroit, Columbus, and Pittsburgh. For those in moderately deep leagues, this is an option.

Alex Newhook (Montreal Canadiens – Centre)

Montreal is another one of those teams that has 13 games remaining, tied for the most. While they don't have quite the easy schedule that the Senators do, the Canadiens are tied for the 9^th-easiest schedule by opponent points percentage. One advantage Montreal has with their schedule is that six of those remaining 13 games are on light days, tied for the 3^rd-most among remaining teams.

Also, just in the short-term, the Canadiens have eight games in the next 13 days. Those eight games aren't a soft stretch by any means – in St. Louis, in Carolina, home-and-home with Florida included – but it is a lot of hockey in a short time frame.

Newhook has quietly been on a surge for the Habs recently. In seven games since the Trade Deadline, he's earning the most even-strength ice time among their non-top line forwards, posting 15 shots, eight hits, six blocks, and two points in those seven games. Going back to the Four Nations break, Newhook has the highest shot share of any forward not on the Montreal top line. With a heavy upcoming schedule, solid play, and a bigger role, Newhook is another depth fantasy option to consider.

Luca Cagnoni (San Jose Sharks – Defence)

There are both good and bad to consider for Cagnoni.

The good: In the two games since being called up from the AHL, Cagnoni has been a fixture of the top PP unit. He has earned nearly two-thirds of the available power-play time in those two games and though the team hasn't scored yet in that time, they have been generating good shot volume, so things are looking promising.

Though San Jose only has six games in these next two weeks, they are good power-play matchups, specifically. They face Toronto, the New York Rangers, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Edmonton, and Seattle. In calendar 2025, the only team in that mix with a top-10 penalty kill percentage is Los Angeles. After them, the Rangers are closer to the middle of the league, and the other four teams are outside the top-20. It is hard for a team as bad as San Jose to ask for much better PP matchups.

The bad: Early on, the ice time has been very inconsistent. Cagnoni's first game saw him skate 23:15, which was a team-high mark. In his second game, he skated 15:16, a team-low mark. There is a supermassive black hole-sized gap in fantasy upside for a defenceman skating 15 minutes a game or 23 minutes a game. If he can stay around 19-20, then that's fine for managers in a pinch, but it's just very uncertain how they will use him.

Also in the bad-news column, San Jose's remaining schedule is the seventh-hardest schedule by opponent points percentage. There are a couple soft-ish games over the next two weeks with Anaheim and Seattle, but other than that, all their remaining games are against teams either in a playoff spot or firmly in the playoff race. Cagnoni having top PP minutes is nice, but a tough schedule with uncertain minutes makes him a highly volatile addition.

Esa Lindell (Dallas Stars – Defence)

Over his last 10 games, Lindell is earning over 22:30 per game, which would be a four-year high if he did that for a full season. In that stretch, he has 15 blocks and seven hits, which is solid-but-not-elite peripheral production. Overall, Lindell's hit rate is down considerably this year, especially with how much more ice time he's been getting compared to recent seasons, but he's also averaging 2.1 blocks per game, which is a career-high mark. There are both positive and negative aspects for the peripherals.

Lindell isn't a big point producer, but if he's going to get on the scoresheet, Dallas's upcoming schedule is about as good as it could get for him: Dallas has a back-to-back on Wednesday/Thursday in Edmonton and Calgary, but starting on Friday, the Stars have one of the easiest schedules remaining with Seattle x2, Nashville x2, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Utah, and Detroit. When all is said and done, those final 10 games might feature one playoff team. On top of all that, five of Dallas' 12 remaining games are on light days, including four-game days this Wednesday and next Monday.

Lindell will only have value in multi-cat leagues, and he doesn't get power-play time, so keep that in mind when scouring the waiver wire. However, given his bump in usage and relatively easy remaining schedule, this is a name those multi-cat fantasy owners need to keep in mind.

As a bonus here, keep an eye on William Karlsson and Tomas Hertl. Hertl was injured late in Vegas' game on Sunday night and if he's out for any sort of extended absence, Karlsson could be in line for a big jump in fantasy value. There may be a second line/top PP role waiting for him.