Just one week after being acquired by Edmonton from Pittsburgh, Tristan Jarry has been placed on injured reserve while he undergoes further evaluation for a lower-body injury. In the meantime, Connor Ingram has been recalled from the AHL.

Ingram has an .856 SV% in the AHL after 11 appearances, so I wouldn't bank on him taking the Oilers job and running with it while Jarry is out. However, Calvin Pickard hasn't exactly been outstanding this season with a 3.91 GAA and .857 SV% with just three wins in 12 games. Pickard has more of a track record with the Oilers, especially when he has been called upon to play a stretch of games when the recently traded Stuart Skinner needed a break. While Jarry is out, Pickard seems like the default option for an Edmonton team that has been playing better of late but still struggles defensively. 

Jarry is not a Band-Aid Boy at DobberHockey. Jason Gregor would probably agree, but maybe you have a different opinion. 

I see many claim Jarry is injury-prone. My calculation has him missing total of 40 games due to injury and three to illness.
Missed stretch of 12 games with broken foot, then 9 games with upper body injury and twice missed 7 games with lower body injury, including once in…

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) December 19, 2025

Not sure this makes you injury prone. Had one stretch.
Jarry missed 28 games from April 2022 to Feb 2023. He has missed 12 games the other 7 years. Did miss 7 games earlier this year, and likely will a few weeks depending on what diagnosis is. Seemed like a strain.

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) December 19, 2025

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Right before the NHL holiday roster freeze kicked in, NHL GMs quickly consummated two trades. Merry Christmas, pal. Pack your things, because you're on the move.

The Kings sent Phillip Danault to the Canadiens for a 2026 second-round pick. Fantasy Take here.

The Kraken sent Mason Marchment to the Blue Jackets for a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. Fantasy Take here.

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Since trading Quinn Hughes, the Vancouver Canucks are 3-0, with all of the wins coming on the road in metropolitan New York. That means the Canucks don't need a rebuild anymore, right? Sometimes hockey doesn't make sense.

To try to explain this, let's start with Thatcher Demko. Over those three wins (and three quality starts), Demko has allowed a total of two goals with a .972 SV%. The Canucks have managed to keep Demko from being overworked during that time, as he has faced less than 30 shots in each of the three wins. If he can avoid any more injuries this season, Demko might sabotage the Canucks' tank effort. No, he's not getting traded, because teams will be scared off by his upcoming contract and injury risk. The Canucks are a decidedly better team when Demko plays, as their worst stretch of the season occurred when Demko was injured. Demko is okay to start in all fantasy formats, even when the Canucks inevitably fall back to earth.

You probably expected more than two hits from Kiefer Sherwood on Friday, but you'll take that because he scored three goals. Sherwood is up to a team-high 16 goals, but with just four assists. Sherwood is also averaging a career-high 17:29 per game, and he is shooting at over 21%. The shooting percentage should drop, which will mean fewer goals. His icetime could also drop if he is traded, which has a high probability of happening because he is on an inexpensive expiring contract. In the end, Sherwood's goal frequency could plummet, but he should continue to provide hits because of his energetic style of play.

Overall, the Hughes situation was a distraction for a team that has had more than its share of distractions the last few years. This winning streak is probably only a dead cat bounce for the Canucks, but at least getting the trade out of the way has allowed them to focus on hockey and not on more drama.

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There just simply aren't enough injuries this season. Seth Jarvis is the latest victim, as he left Friday's game against Florida in overtime after crashing into the net. After the game, Rod Brind'Amour said that the injury is "not good" and that Jarvis is "going to be out for a while." Jarvis recorded two assists in this game, giving him four points in his last four games.

Here's the play and what Jarvis could be facing:

Concern is broken rib(s) and at least 4 weeks out for Jarvis. Technically can play with broken rib(s) with numbing injection and protection but doubt Canes do that for reg season

Hopefully no complications like a collapsed lung or injury to any organs or can be even longer https://t.co/mirN7BcE3j

— Dr. Harjas Grewal (@Harjas_Grewal) December 20, 2025

This game is one the Hurricanes would like to forget, and not just because of the Jarvis injury. The Canes held a 3-0 lead midway through the third period before it all fell apart. The Panthers scored three goals to tie the game in regulation, and then they won the game in a shootout.

Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Sam Reinhart scored the Panthers' goals, with each also picking up an assist. Marchand now has eight points over his last four games.

Sebastian Aho scored two of the Hurricanes' goals, while Andrei Svechnikov picked up two assists. Since starting the season without a point in his first eight games, Svechnikov has 22 points in his last 26 games.

Also, is Frederik Andersen's face on a milk carton yet? The last time Andersen appeared in a game was December 4, and no injury has been reported. The emergence of Brandon Bussi has a lot to do with that. Despite coughing up the three goals late in the game, Bussi was credited with his fourth consecutive quality start, as he faced 41 shots on Friday. Expect Pyotr Kochetkov to start today (Saturday) against Tampa Bay, unless the Canes have a surprise up their sleeve.

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The Avalanche continued their dominant season on Friday, taking the Jets down by a score of 3-2. Brent Burns, Martin Necas, and Parker Kelly scored the Avalanche goals. With points in six consecutive games, the 40-year-old Burns is proving that he still has something left in the tank while benefitting from playing on the Avs' high-powered offense. Burns is also a plus-9 over his last five games.

Since picking up a win in his return to the lineup last Saturday, Connor Hellebuyck has gone three consecutive games without a win. Nearing the midway point of the season, Hellebuyck has just nine wins, so reaching 30 wins again will be a real challenge unless the struggling Jets go on a second-half run.

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Connor Brown and Stefan Noesen scored to lead the Devils to a 2-1 win over Utah. Nico Hischier assisted on both New Jersey goals.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 32 of 33 shots to earn the win and quality start. Unfortunately, Markstrom still has more really bad starts (6) than quality starts (5) this season. Other prominent goalies with more really bad starts than quality starts include Jordan Binnington and Sam Montembeault. Whoa, Canada! Hopefully those two aren't two of the three goalies picked for the Olympics.

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In the final game of the night, the Stars exploded for eight goals in trouncing the Ducks by a score of 8-3. Jason Robertson led the way, scoring a pair of goals while adding an assist. Robertson is currently in the top five in the league in both goals (22) and power-play goals (9). Thomas Harley, Roope Hintz, Radek Faksa, Miro Heiskanen, and Mikko Rantanen each had two points in this game.

For the Ducks, Lukas Dostal was pulled in the first period after allowing four goals on seven shots.

If you thought the Ducks' extremely hot scoring start to the season was unsustainable, you were right. Over their first 15 games, the Ducks were scoring over four goals per game. They have regressed since then, averaging fewer than three goals per game over their last 20 games. (I caught this stat on the telecast, so I don't remember the exact numbers.) I know scoring wasn't necessarily the issue for the Ducks in this game, but a few prominent Ducks have cooled off somewhat, relatively speaking:

Cutter Gauthier: 2 PTS in last 5 GP

Leo Carlsson: 5 PTS in last 9 GP

Jacob Trouba: 2 PTS in last 13 GP

Also, Frank Vatrano has just five points in 35 games. That's Danault-like, where he just completely fell off the map. Somehow, Vatrano is rostered in 22% of Yahoo leagues – maybe by the people who stopped checking their roster shortly after the season started. There seems to be one or two of these types in every one of my fantasy leagues. Vatrano is averaging only 12 minutes per game and has been bumped down the lineup by their young up-and-coming scorers.  

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13 teams have games on both Saturday and Sunday, so you could get plenty of mileage on certain streamers this weekend. The Frozen Tools Schedule Planner is your friend when you are looking for the most ideal options.

As long as Mats Zuccarello is out of the lineup, Vladimir Tarasenko is worth adding. With Zuccarello injured, Tarasenko moves up to the top power play. A total of seven of Tarasenko's 17 points have been on the power play this season, although all of Tarasenko's seven points over his last six games have been at even strength. A one-time must roster in fantasy leagues, Tarasenko is currently rostered in just 13% of Yahoo leagues and 22% of Fantrax leagues.

Sticking with the Wild, Danila Yurov has five points over his last four games. Marco Rossi's last game with the Wild was actually on November 11, as he was still on IR when he was traded to Vancouver. That means Yurov has had a chance to play on a scoring line with Kirill Kaprizov for much of that time already. Yurov actually has 10 points over his last 15 games since Rossi's injury/departure. Yurov is only 3% rostered in Yahoo leagues, but 41% rostered in keeper-heavy Fantrax.  

This might seem counterintuitive given what I wrote in the recent Fantasy Take on the Hughes deal, but I've added Jared Spurgeon in multiple leagues. Spurgeon has just eight points in 35 games this season and is without one in his past two games, but he had a four-game point streak prior to that. A rising tide may lift all boats, so it's possible that Spurgeon is helped to some degree by the game changer that is Hughes. Spurgeon is more of a PP2 option at this point in his career anyway, but the Wild are on a six-game win streak with many rosterable players at the moment.  

Los Angeles is the only team with no games on either Saturday or Sunday. Numerous Kings would be droppable for the weekend, depending on the size of your league. For example, I had added Alex Laferriere early in the week because the Kings playing three times from Monday to Thursday. With the Kings idle from Friday to Sunday, Laferriere became droppable. In a shallower league, you could consider dropping a player like Anze Kopitar or Quinton Byfield. I was going to mention Danault here too, but of course he was traded.

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