Dobber's 2026 Midseason Guide is now available! It is a downloadable PDF and Excel spreadsheet built to help you turn your fantasy hockey season around with second‑half projections, advanced‑stat insights, prospect evaluations, and strategic schedule analysis. It continues a 19‑year tradition of Dobber's midseason breakdowns. Get yours today!

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Connor Bedard returned to the Blackhawks' lineup on Friday after missing nearly a month with a shoulder injury. His return didn't result in a favorable outcome for the Blackhawks, who lost 5-1 to Washington. Bedard was held without a point while taking four shots in nearly 17 minutes of icetime. Bedard was on an even-strength line with Oliver Moore and Nick Lardis, which might be something to watch when it comes to the fantasy value of these two players. Bedard is having by far his best season and needs to be back in fantasy lineups ASAP.

Connor Bedard has shown zero rust in his first game in almost a month. Here's his best chance of the night. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/ciPC5os1Q9

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 10, 2026

By the way, if you are in a league that counts faceoffs, coach Jeff Blashill has stated that Bedard won't take faceoffs for the foreseeable future. You may recall that Bedard was injured on a faceoff.

In the Capitals' win, Connor McMichael scored a goal while adding an assist. McMichael was a solid add for me about 10 minutes before gametime on Friday. Love it when that happens. I added him because Washington also plays on Sunday (against Nashville), so he has the potential for more this week without me trying to squeeze him in on a busy Saturday. McMichael has had a great week with six points and eight shots over his last three games.

McMichael has been on a line with Ryan Leonard and Justin Sourdif, the latter of whom also has six points this week and 10 points over his last six games, including a goal on Friday. Sourdif had an impressive WHL career with Vancouver and Edmonton; in fact, I remember him scoring a hat trick in a game that I attended not long before COVID hit. The Capitals acquired Sourdif in an under-the-radar offseason trade with Florida for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick, which may have seemed like a bit much at the time. Perhaps I'm more inclined to like players that I'm more familiar with, but I wouldn't have an issue with adding Sourdif in a mid-to-deep league and seeing where this goes. The question is what happens with him when Pierre-Luc Dubois returns.

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The Winnipeg Jets landing at the bottom of the league at the midway point of the season wasn't something most of us had predicted. However, the Jets provided a glimmer of hope that not all is lost on the season, defeating the Kings 5-1 on Friday. The Jets ended an 11-game winless streak with the win and now sport an identical 16-22-5 record with the Vancouver Canucks for 31^st in the league.

Mark Scheifele led the Jets with a pair of goals, giving him seven points over his last five games. Despite Winnipeg's struggles, Scheifele and Kyle Connor have an identical 52 points in 43 games this season.

Eric Comrie stopped 23 of 24 shots in earning the win and quality start – his first of each since December 5.

Recently named to Team Canada for the Olympics, Darcy Kuemper was pulled after two periods. Kuemper allowed five goals on 16 shots.

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In the Mammoth's 4-2 win over St. Louis, Nick Schmaltz led the way with two goals and an assist and five shots, while linemates Clayton Keller had three assists and Lawson Crouse had a goal and an assist. Schmaltz has been hot and cold this season, but he is back on the hot side with eight points and a plus-8 over his last six games. After a slow start to the season, Crouse has seven points and a plus-9 over his past six games. Crouse (17% Yahoo/28% Fantrax) has value in hits leagues when he is scoring, as he regularly averages over 100 hits per season.  

Robert Thomas left this game early in the third period after hitting his face on the ice following a collision with Crouse. Fortunately, Thomas was able to return to the game. You may want to double-check on his status for tonight's (Saturday's) game in Vegas just to be safe, as this looked painful. On another busy Saturday, you may even want to go with an earlier-game option over Thomas, as the Blues/Golden Knights game is one of the two latest games on the schedule (10 pm ET). Several times this season, I’ve seen players who returned to a game after an injury, only to miss the following game and perhaps beyond. Even as the Blues’ leading scorer, Thomas’ production is below the point-per-game mark, which is well down from the past two seasons.

Robert Thomas needed assistance after hitting his face on the ice due to a collision with Lawson Crouse 🤕 pic.twitter.com/LEaXOYJinZ

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 10, 2026

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James Reimer may appear in an NHL game this season after all. Reimer has agreed to a professional tryout with the Ottawa Senators' AHL affiliate in Belleville. According to Darren Dreger, Reimer could report to Ottawa in a few days with an NHL contract. Reimer was on a PTO with the Leafs during training camp, but he was released from it just before the season started.

With Linus Ullmark on personal leave, the Senators are rather thin in net with the inexperienced Leevi Merilainen and Mads Sogaard handling the goaltending. On top of some on-ice struggles that have resulted in three consecutive losses including an 8-2 disaster in Colorado on Thursday, the Senators are also dealing with a nasty off-ice rumor that resulted in a strongly worded statement from GM Steve Staios on Thursday. The only other comment that I’ll make about this subject is that you should probably stay away from Sens’ goaltending for the moment.

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According to Elliotte Friedman, the Hurricanes are considering trade offers on Jesperi Kotkaniemi. I had written this about Kotkaniemi in Carolina's On the Block section of the Midseason Guide:

Carolina can't be satisfied with Kotkaniemi's production—just six points in 22 games as of late December. He has also missed time with an ankle injury. The team reportedly explored a Kotkaniemi-for-Phillip Danault swap with Los Angeles, but the Kings were unwilling to take on the five years remaining on his contract. Expect the Hurricanes to continue looking for opportunities to move him.

To give you an idea of how much Kotkaniemi has fallen, I had dropped him in a 20-team league recently. (He's still available, if any of you from my league are reading!) This is a salary cap league, so he’s hardly a productive player in that format with his contract. Kotkaniemi was drafted back in 2018 and we're still waiting for him to come around. Actually, his production has gotten a lot worse this season and he's even being healthy scratched now. A trade could breathe new life into his fantasy value, but the much stronger bet is that fantasy relevance isn't going to happen. A buyout of his contract eventually might, though.

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Let's get you set up for the weekend push.

Teams with games both Saturday and Sunday: Boston, Columbus, Nashville, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Vegas. All 32 teams play at least one game this weekend.

Players you could consider that play twice this weekend:

Viktor Arvidsson – Rostered in just 2% of Yahoo leagues and 17% of Fantrax leagues, Arvidsson has five points in his last four games. The Bruins appear to be spreading out their scoring right now, which means Arvidsson lands on a line with Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt. With Arvidsson, staying healthy seems to be the main issue, but you might be okay to add him now.

Denton Mateychuk – The Blue Jackets' defenseman was a popular waiver-wire add this past week due to a recent production surge. However, Zach Werenski is back in the lineup, which means Mateychuk's power-play time is now minimal. In addition, Mateychuk has no points in his last two games. Yet the fact that Mateychuk has offensive upside and is on a 40-point pace anyway makes him worth an add.

Kris Letang – Now 38 years old, Letang isn't scoring like he used to. However, he is still regularly logging over 20 minutes per game. Letang also has six points in his last eight games, and he is also on a 40-point pace on the season. He still has some name recognition in being rostered in 40% of Yahoo leagues and 67% of Fantrax leagues, but Letang is an option if he happens to be available in your league.  

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Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Bluesky @goodsfantasyhockey.bsky.social