Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all that celebrate! With the Christmas break, we also had a trade freeze, but before that became official, we got two early presents with a couple of players swapping teams.

The first deal sent Mason Marchment to the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he has found that new team bump, with three goals in his first two games. Skating on the top line with Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko, the rugged winger should be widely available as he is only 10% owned in Yahoo leagues. He contributes all across the board in leagues that count peripheral stats so if you have a spot, add him now. The only thing is he does not play again until Sunday so if you need games played, look elsewhere until the weekend hits.

For the Seattle Kraken, this opened a spot on their top line with Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers and the first player to get a shot with these two has been Kaapo Kakko. After finishing last season with 30 points in 49 games in Seattle, the new campaign got off to a rough start as he broke his hand during preseason and suffered a leg injury upon returning in November. If the Finnish winger can stay healthy, this spot is his for the taking and won't cost you a thing as he is available in 99% (!) of Yahoo leagues.

The second trade saw the LA Kings trade Phillip Danault to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a second round pick. While his offense took a dive this season, the Quebec native could be re-energized by the move to Montreal, where he played for six seasons before signing with the Kings. The Habs have been looking for center help with injuries to Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook so he could have some immediate value. 

For LA, this doesn't change anything to their lineup as Danault had been scratched for the team's previous six contests. If anything, this gives Alex Turcotte and Sam Helenius some breathing room as they don't have to worry about being scratched for the veteran center, but by adding that cap space and draft choice, I have a feeling the Kings will be looking for a center before the official trade deadline.

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Jack Hughes returned for the New Jersey Devils over the weekend and scored a goal, so his hand must have healed quite nice. He is the type of player that elevates everyone in the lineup because now teams have to game plan around him. He lined up with Dawson Mercer (under 50% owned) and Arseny Gritsyuk (under 5% owned), and they scored the only goal of the game for the Devils. Both wingers should be added immediately and hope that they stick with the American center. We'll keep our fingers crossed that this is the only injury for Hughes this year and that he can find some magic with these cheap fantasy options.

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We got word over the weekend that Will Smith is now considered week-to-week for the San Jose Sharks and will be re-evaluated after the new year. That is fine for Igor Chernyshov owners because he looks to be getting more comfortable at the NHL level with each passing game. He has picked up an assist in all three of his contests and recorded five shots on goal in his last outing. He has been primarily attached to Macklin Celebrini, playing with him at even strength and on the power play. Still available in almost all of Yahoo leagues, the young Russian may force management's hand and keep him up for the rest of the season with the way he has adjusted and contributed. Also, via Sheng Peng at SJHN, he says one NHL scout feels the same way.

A Shark that I missed to report last week was Collin Graf. The undrafted winger has nine points in his last eight games and has been the other winger with Celebrini after Smith went out. With the elevated playing time, he is shooting the puck more, but he also contributes to those peripheral stats as he averages almost one hit and block per game. However, proceed with caution for this week as he took a puck to the mouth yesterday in practice and it is still unknown if he could fly with the team to Vegas for their game tonight. 

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With the holidays here, we have a three-day break from NHL games (Wednesday through Friday), with most teams playing tonight and Saturday. Our only light day is Sunday, where we have five games. If we are looking at streamers for this week, four teams that play on Sunday also play on Tuesday and Saturday and those squads are the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Blackhawks have only scored seven goals in the four games since Connor Bedard sustained an upper-body injury and have thrown their lines in a blender almost every game to try and catch a spark, so I'll stay away from them.

Bo Horvat returned to practice for the Islanders yesterday, albeit in a non-contact jersey.

The Leafs fired assistant coach Marc Savard on Monday, who was in charge of the struggling man advantage for Toronto. We don't have any new information on power-play units for the blue and white, but keep that Twitter timeline refreshed because if they put Matias Maccelli or Max Domi up there, they could provide some nice depth value.

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!