After Brandon Hagel started the season with one point in seven games, there were many poolies unwilling to wait on him, and those who dropped/traded him early are now kicking themselves. With two goals and an assist last night, he has 45 points in 36 games since October 25^th, adding exactly three shots per game, and has a plus-33 rating to boot. He’s now back up right in line with last year’s 90-point pace. It was also all the Lightning needed to leave the Sharks behind in the 4-1 win by the Bolts.

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Kirby Dach returned to the lineup for the first time since November 15^th, and took Alex Texier's spot on the top line with Texier on the shelf due to a short-term injury. He had two SOG, one Hit, and three blocks in 16 minutes of ice time. If he can hold that spot, the scoring will come, but he's going to have to make his mark soon, as Texier has the existing chemistry, and the new contract in his back pocket too.

Cole Caufield won the game with 15 seconds left on the clock, giving him 25 in 50 games, and for those of you that can do quick mental math that's a 40-goal pace.

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Konsta Helenius made his NHL debut, and immediately found the scoresheet courtesy of primary assists on both of Noah Ostlund's goals. He then potted his own goal before the first period was over for good measure.

Helenius probably won't finish his career as the all-time leader in points-per-game, but his easy transition to the AHL with 30 points in 34 games as a rookie prior to making the jump to the NHL. There's room for him to stick in the top-six long term, and if this is any indication, he's not getting sent back down.

Filip Forsberg and Ryan O'Reilly each had a goal and an assist for the Predators in the loss. At this rate, O'Reilly may not be centering Forsberg for much longer, which would likely be a loss for both of them if he is indeed shipped off at the trade deadline.

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Valeri Nichushkin looks to be working his way back to the lineup after being in a car accident on the way to Monday's game. He was back on the ice on Tuesday, and fantasy owners are hoping that he can make it back into the lineup sooner rather than later, as he has some ground to make up to catch up to his scoring in previous seasons.

He is a fascinating case, having shown nearly nothing in terms of breakout signs at the NHL level (previous career high of 29 points) before his 69-point season in 2021-2022, and then suddenly becoming at least a 65-point player every season from his age-26 season up to this year as he turns 31. His recent cold streak of one point in seven games since the calendar flipped to 2026 has dropped his pace this season down to 58, and his shot rate has been terrible over that stretch too. It's likely a blip on the radar, but certainly something worth monitoring.

Meanwhile, Victor Olofsson scored two points after being bumped up the lineup in Nichushkin's absence.

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The long-awaited Morgan Geekie slump that everyone was waiting over a calendar year for finally seems to have arrived. His last goal was December 20th, 2025, and entering Tuesday night he had 23 SOG in the 12 games since that date, with nothing to show for it. Through those same 12 games, he only had three points (all primary assists) and a minus-four rating.

Morgan Geekie then scored last night, a nearly meaningless goal in a 6-2 loss, but I'm sure it wasn't meaningless for Geekie who got the monkey off his back.

Justin Hryckowian and Miro Heiskanen led the way for the Stars with three points each. Jake Oettinger needed only 16 saves to take the victory.

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The 2026 Dobber Hockey Midseason Guide was recently released, and there's still time to save your season. You can order yours here:

Dobber’s Midseason Fantasy Hockey Guide 2026

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I made a couple of trades over the last week across a few of my leagues. Sometimes I think reviewing more tangible trades and the thinking behind them might be more interesting/enlightening than just giving some boxscore stats and which plays are maybe due for some kind of streak based on underlying numbers. You can let me know if you prefer one or the other.

In the meantime, let's review some trades:

Chris Kreider for Jonathan Toews

In my cap-league dynasty, I was working around trying to shed a few dollars in order to have room to buy a player or two. Chris Kreider was my weakest cap-to-production ratio player, but none of the GMs shopping the bigger fish were interested in Kreider as part of a return, despite some higher end picks and prospects being tossed out as well. Which meant that I had to find a different home for Kreider so that he didn't have to be the poison fish included in the return for a better player. In my perusing of some other teams' rosters I noticed that Jonathan Toews had put together a decent hot streak of late, which put him at least close to Kreider for production, and costing $4.5 million less against the cap. Kreider will be a cap league bargain in two years when he takes a small deal somewhere to go and win a cup, but in the meantime I'll roll the dice that Toews is getting his legs back under him a little.

Despite Toews' TOI being virtually the same in Q1 and Q3, he has nearly matched the eight points in 19 games, in just his last eight games. The shot volume is especially

interesting, as it has gone from under 1.5 per game to almost 2.0 per game of late, which also lines up with an uptick in PP minutes. Whether this new production level sticks or not (I'm skeptical), it's good to see Jonathan Toews back and healthy enough to play at an NHL level.

Mikhail Sergachev for Sebastian Aho

In my yearly-re-draft Roto league, I swapped my Mikhail Sergachev for Sebastian Aho in what could simply be described as "I needed a center while the other GM had five good ones and needed a defenseman". I was open to receiving any of Roope Hintz, Nico Hischier, or Aho, but Aho was the one that fit a little better into my team need for more scoring, while also getting a boost in SOG and FOWs.

Sergachev meanwhile was tough to give up, ans his SOG and Blk volume were very solid, but since I also own Miro Heiskanen Vince Dunn, Brandon Montour, and Matthew Schaefer, his skillset was redundant. Sergachev used to provide so many more Hits, but he has really dropped off in that column in recent years. His only two seasons with less than one Hit per game are the two most recent season in Utah, and for what his name commands at the draft table and on the trade market, the peripherals for a 55-point defenseman need to be a little higher.

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Bringing in J.T. Miller, MacKenzie Weegar, and Mikael Granlund for Matt Duchene, Jamie Benn, Trent Frederic, and a bucketload of picks.

This one was for my 12-team H2H partial keeper, where I needed to make a move to keep pace with the other top teams. I targeted peripherals, and had more picks than most other contenders, as well as a few streaming spots that were currently occupied by the three players I sent back.

J.T. Miller is on a Hot streak of six points in three games, which has brought him up to a 60-point pace. He has the upside for much more than that, and in H2H leagues you need your players to be at their best for the end of the season, which is hopefully where Miller is headed. The Rangers also have a fantastic playoff schedule for this H2H league which has the playoff weeks from March 16th to April 5th.

MacKenzie Weegar is in a similar boat to Miller, where the peripherals are strong, but the scoring has really dropped off. Now, I don't expect Calgary to suddenly become a great team in the stretch run, but even a couple more points would make a big difference now that Rasmus Andersson has left a bit of a scoring void to be filled, Even if the scoring doesn't go up though, the two Hits, SOG, AND Blks per game is just fantastic and basically not available anywhere else. Bonus: this league doesn't count plus-minus, so Weegar's minus-24 rating is of zero concern.

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with Granlund this year, as I owned him in two leagues at the outset, but after dropping/trading him in those two leagues earlier this

year, I'm now trading for him in a third league. Context matters though, and in my Cap and Roto leagues, the category coverage just wasn't what I needed, whereas the volume in a H2H league with the Anaheim off-nights are a lot more useful. After an injury in Q1 and a slower Q2, Granlund's offence is still dropping a little in Q3, but the peripheral volume has ticked up a little with his ice time. The scoring is reasonable, and the SOG, Hit, and FOW volume really helps, especially since he's one of those players on Yahoo who is eligible at all three forward positions.

Locking up the peripherals categories, along with some decent goaltending should put me in a great position to win just about any matchup from here to the end of the season. Hopefully worth the cost.

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In deeper leagues, keep an eye on Valterri Puustinen, who was traded to the Avs for Ilya Solovyov, in what was likely a rebalancing of positions for each franchise. The Avs have dealt with injuries up front lately, while the Pens are thinner on the back end (and could be even thinner after the trade deadline if they end up as sellers). Solovyov could crack the Avs if injuries continue to be an issue, and he has been productive at the AHL level this season with 26 points in 35 games. Although, that scoring could also just be used with Colorado's AHL team, reinforcing the squad while they have lost other players recalled to the Avs.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean.