After having Joel Eriksson Ek played just one game in the last two months, and none since late February, as well as Kirill Kaprizov not being in the lineup since late January, the Minnesota Wild got great news on Wednesday as both returned to the lineup against the San Jose Sharks. Heading into that game, the Wild were just four points up on the Calgary Flames for the final playoff spot in the West, and if the Wild do hang on, they'll need a full lineup for a deep playoff run.

To say that Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov had an immediate impact on the Wild would be a massive understatement. Minnesota escaped with an 8-7 win in a home matchup against San Jose thanks to a Kaprizov overtime game-winning goal, Kaprizov's second goal (one PP) and third point of the night. He finished with nine shots and a block, too.

Eriksson Ek was the star of the game, though, as he potted a four-goal night (two PP), totaling eight shots and four hits along the way. It was Eriksson Ek's first four-goal game of his career, and pushed him and Kaprizov to six goals and seven points on eight goals.

Brock Faber and Marcus Johansson had the other goals.

Mats Zuccarello had a trio of helpers (two PP), four shots, a block, and a hit. Matt Boldy had four assists of his own, too.

Marc-Andre Fleury held on for the win despite seven goals allowed on 31 shots.

On the San Jose Side, Macklin Celebrini posted his first career hat trick and added a pair of assist for his first career five-point game. He totaled four shots and two hits in the game, and the points pushed him to 62 in 66 games.

Will Smith had a goal and three assists of his own, giving him his first four-point game of his career. Smith has 29 points in his last 30 games.

Carl Grundstrom, Nikolai Kovalenko, and Tyler Toffoli had the other goals for the Sharks while defenceman Jack Thompson had a pair of assist, a shot, and four blocks in a solid multi-cat night.

Alexander Georgiev allowed eight goals on 44 shots for the loss.

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A very positive note on Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog:

Landeskog has not played an NHL game in 34 months, and we'll see if he gets any gametime in the AHL, but it's clear he is very close to returning to the Avalanche. It is truly one of the most surreal injury returns we've ever seen in this league.

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A positive note on injured Winnipeg defenceman Neal Pionk:

#NHLJets Scott Arniel says Neal Pionk will be a gametime decision in Dallas. Nikolai Ehlers "is getting closer" and will also be a gametime decision after taking part in Thursday's morning skate. Luke Schenn is visiting his family in Nashville and will meet the team in Dallas.

— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNWpg) April 9, 2025

Pionk has not played in nearly a month and now has a chance to get a few games in before the Jets hope to go on a long playoff run.

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Edmonton gave some moderately firm updates on Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins:

Kris Knoblauch says Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is doubtful for tonight due to illness. Also notes McDavid, Draisaitl, Ekholm etc are more day-to-day and should be available before the end of the regular season.

Added that Stu Skinner could be available by Friday. pic.twitter.com/VzdUYBSk0O

— Tom Gazzola (@TomGazzola) April 9, 2025

In a surprise, though, McDavid suited up for the Oilers in their game against St. Louis on Wednesday night. A bit of gamesmanship?

That they're designated as day-to-day seems like good news, but at this time of year, a player could have half their body amputated and if their team was on the verge of the postseason, the player would be listed as day-to-day.

Edmonton toppled St. Louis 4-3 in McDavid's return. Connor Brown scored twice (including the game-winner with under 30 seconds left), Viktor Arvidsson and Vasily Podkolzin scored once each, and McDavid had three assists, a block and four penalty minutes.

Darnell Nurse had two assists, a shot, two blocks, and a hit in a very balanced fantasy night.

Calvin Pickard stopped 23 of 26 shots for his fourth win in his last five games.

Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists, Jordan Kyrou posted a goal and an assist, and Robert Thomas managed a pair of helpers in the loss. Thomas has 22 points in his last 10 games, which seems good.

Ryan Suter scored the other goal for the Blues.

Jordan Binnington took the loss giving up four goals on 23 shots.

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Anaheim erased a 3-1 deficit with four minutes remaining in their home game against Calgary on Wednesday night, and then Cutter Gauthier scored in overtime, his second of the night, to seal the 4-3 win for the Ducks. Gauthier totaled eight shots and a hit in the game, pushing him to seven goals and 41 shots in his last 12 games.

Frank Vatrano and Trevor Zegras tallied the other markers for the Ducks. Vatrano finished with three shots, a block, and two hits in a solid multi-cat night.

Ville Husso faced 39 shots and allowed just three goals for his first win in a Ducks uniform.

Mikael Backlund scored once, added an assist, had five shots, and took one penalty in the loss. Matt Coronato and Yegor Sharangovich scored the other goals as Mackenzie Weegar wound up with an assist, three shots, and three blocks.

Dustin Wolf took the loss, giving up four goals on 23 shots.

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Matthew Knies pulled through in a huge way for Toronto on Wednesday night scoring nearly three minutes into overtime, completing his second career hat trick, to lift the Leafs to a 4-3 win in Tampa Bay. Knies' second goal came on the power play, and his three tallies push him to 29 on the season, right on the brink of his first-ever 30-goal campaign. He had six total shots, two penalty minutes, and a hit, and that hit pushed him to 180 for the year. Just a marvelous multi-cat fantasy season from the 22-year-old.

Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists (one PP) while Auston Matthews had a trio of helpers in the win. That gives Matthews 44 assists on the season, two shy of his career-high of 46 set back in 2021-22.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 25 of 28 shots for his 19^th win.

Both Oliver Bjorkstrand and Victor Hedman had a PP goal and PP assist each in the loss. That makes two goals and two assists in Bjorkstrand's last five games as his offence has started to come alive with the Lightning.

Nick Perbix had the other tally.

Andrei Vasilevskiy took the loss, allowing four goals on 31 shots.

Jake Guentzel was not in the lineup for Tampa Bay due to the birth of his child.

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The playoff hopes for the New York Rangers were effectively snuffed out on Wednesday night thanks to an 8-5 loss at home to the Philadelphia Flyers. That loss leaves the Rangers eight points back of the Montreal Canadiens and New York has just four games left. Readers can do the math.

Not to be outdone by Knies, Tyson Foerster registered his first career hat trick to lead the way for the Flyers. He finished the game with four shots and a pair of hits, and he's now managed back-to-back 20-goal seasons to start his career. He certainly looks as if he's part of the long-term solution in Philadelphia.

Sean Couturier, Garnet Hathaway, Owen Tippett, Jakob Pelletier, and Travis Sanheim had the other goals for the Flyers. Sanheim also assisted on Foerster's second goal, and those two points pushed Sanheim to 30 for the season, the first time in his career he's managed at least 30 points in back-to-back campaigns.

Nick Seeler had a trio of assists, shots, hits, and penalty minutes to go along with seven blocks in a very, very good multi-cat performance.

Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin, J.T. Miller, Chris Kreider, and Jonny Brodzinski all scored for the Rangers. Mika Zibanejad had four assists and three shots, leaving him one assist shy of 40 on the campaign, which would be his fourth straight season doing so.

Jonathan Quick was in net for New York and allowed six goals on 27 shots in defeat.

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In Tuesday's Ramblings, we look at forwards that were not on my preseason target/avoid lists, and what has stood out about them this season. Today, we'll do the same for defencemen. As usual, data will be from Natural Stat Trick or Frozen Tools, unless otherwise indicated, and as of the afternoon of Wednesday, April 9^th.

Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Out of 18 teams I drafted this season, two of them had Hedman, so it wasn't as if I was avoiding him. However, once the first 4-5 defencemen were off the board, I was often waiting several rounds for another defencemen and getting someone like Zach Werenski, Mikhail Sergachev, or Shea Theodore. It largely worked out.

It also overlooks just how good Hedman has been this season. He is 1 of 7 defencemen with at least 60 points, has a reasonable chance of a 15-goal, 50-assist campaign, and is averaging 2.3 shots and 1.6 blocks per game. The hit totals are down again, but overall, it's hard to complain.

That across-the-board coverage is what made him a great fantasy option this year as Hedman is 1 of 8 defencemen with at least 10 total goals/40 total assists while exceeding 4.0 shots+hits+blocks per game:

Hedman turns 35 years old late in 2025, has just 90 hits in his last 152 games, and is averaging 23:14 per game in ice time this season, a six-year-low. Eventually, father time and a diminished role will keep him from being a top-10 fantasy defenceman. This season is not that season.

Thomas Harley (Dallas Stars)

In those Tuesday Ramblings, it was mentioned that William Eklund is a player I am very high on long-term, but was not for 2024-25. The same is true of Thomas Harley, who has turned into a genuine number-1 defenceman. He went into this season stuck on the second power-play unit, which is why I wasn't very high on him, though was largely ambivalent.

The injury to Miro Heiskanen pushed Harley to permanent top PP minutes and he has 12 PP points in 28 games since that injury. However, it is his 5-on-5 play that has really stood out to me. This season, here is the list of defencemen who are responsible for above-average rates of zone exits and entries, carry the puck into the offensive zone at least 50% of the time, and carry the puck out of the defensive zone at least 66% of the time:

We are now at two deep playoff runs and two full regular seasons of Thomas Harley being nothing short of an elite offensive defenceman. The only thing standing between him and being a perennial top-10 fantasy blue liner is a consistent top power-play role. Given his performance since Heiskanen went down, he should have earned those minutes, but it may also be a Victor Hedman–Mikhail Sergachev situation. He absolutely can be a 70-point blue liner next year if he has a top PP role.

Brandon Montour (Seattle Kraken)

For those with Montour in leagues with plus/minus, maybe things didn't go so well, but the offseason signee having a career-high 17 goals, cracking the 40-point plateau, reaching double-digit power-play points, pacing for over 230 shots and 100 blocks, as well as being over a hit per game? That is a very balanced, very successful rebound season for Montour.

When it comes to Montour, what stands out the most by a wide margin is just how involved he is in Seattle's offence. This season, he leads all defencemen in shot attempt market share, which means he takes the highest percentage of his team's shot attempts when he's on the ice:

Of course, it may not be great for Seattle to have a defenceman taking that many shots when he's shooting 7.7% as opposed to Cale Makar (12.3%) and Jakob Chychrun (11.3%). All the same, being responsible for that many shots is going to often lead to A) a lot of shots on goal, and B) a lot of goals. That has certainly been the case for Montour, and is something to keep in mind when considering him in drafts come September.  

Owen Power (Buffalo Sabres)

It is another tough season for Buffalo but fantasy-wise, Power has been solid once again. He has reached the 40-point mark for the first time ever, has a career-high in goals (7) and shots (137), and needs seven blocks to reach a career-high there as well. That is all with 21:26 in ice time per game, the lowest of his career and nearly 1:30 per game lower than just last season.

All that aside, the big note here is the even-strength production. Power has 34 points at even strength, which sits 16^th in the league. It also makes three straight seasons of at least 25 even-strength points, making him 1 of 12 defencemen to do so:

The problem for Power's future fantasy value is while he's good offensively, he's not in Rasmus Dahlin's tier yet, so there is little-to-no chance he earns a top PP role anytime soon. This isn't the same situation as Harley and Heiskanen. So, he may be a reliable 40-point guy from here on out, but without that power-play time, he's basically an Eastern Conference Devon Toews. That has value, no doubt, but his upside will be unfulfilled for a while.