Thatcher Demko is going to miss the rest of the 2025-26 season, which should come as a surprise to no one. First-off, his previous three seasons were all injury-plagued, and this season was no different, even up to the latest injury. On top of that, the Canucks are already last in the league, by a decent margin, so they have nothing to gain by rushing back a high-quality goalie when there's nothing to play for. The Canucks have already started selling, with Kiefer Sherwood out the door (and slated to make his Sharks debut in the late game on Tuesday night, against the Canucks no less), and the Canucks should continue to move more bodies out the door as the season progresses.

With Kevin Lankinen signed until 2030, there is some contractual stability in net in the meantime, while Nikita Tolopilo will probably be given a longer leash to see what he can manage the rest of the way, especially after Lankinen was pulled for allowing three goals on his first six shots against last night.

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Ondrej Palat was held out of last night's Devils game for "roster related reasons" which was later revealed to be a trade to the Islanders. The Devils sent two picks with him to dump his salary, and in return they received frequent healthy scratch Maxim Tsyplakov. Tsplakov is a large 27-year-old Russian who scored 35 points last season as a rookie, but has managed only two points in 27 games this year, along with many healthy scratches. There's some upside here with the Devils, while Palat seems poised to fade further into irrelevancy.

The rest of the Devils came out flat against one of the worst teams in the league this year, letting Winnipeg jump out t a 4-1 lead, and only clawing back to a 4-3 score once the game was nearly over. Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes had two goals for the Devils, which is noteworthy after Cliffy profiled them yesterday noting that they were due for some positive regression, especially if Jack Hughes is regaining some health. He took six faceoffs last night, after taking three in the game prior, making his only nine faceoffs he has taken in the month since returning from his unfortunate hand injury.

The top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Gabe Vilardi did a good portion of the damage, teaming up for all six points (two each for those of you math nerds) on the first two of the Jets' goals. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 of 29 shots for his first win since January 15^th.

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Alex Steeves signed a contract extension a week ago, on January 21^st, and then he's a healthy scratch on January 27^th for the team, having gone eight games without a point. The extension is reasonable at under $2 million for a player who doesn't project to slot any higher than the bottom-six, but it's a tough look that the coach and the GM aren't necessarily on the same page here. Despite the cold stretch, Steeves' underlying numbers are still average or high, meaning that this is all part of him having taken advantage of a small sample size to sign an extension, and the bubble has now popped.

The Bruins fared well without Steeves, brining Michael Eyssimont back into the lineup, and having put up a plus-one rating along with two Hits. It wouldn't surprise me to see Steeves back in the lineup for a longer stretch moving forward. David Pastrnak scored the OT winner on seven shots, and has 14 points in his last eight games. I do wonder whether his current level of play might help lift the Czechs to a couple of upsets at the fast-approach Olympics.

Nick Blankenburg and Roman Josi scored for the Preds, who have lost four of their last five, and sit on the outskirts of the playoff bubble.

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Dylan Guenther was missing for the Mammoth, and at this point we don't know a timeline for his return. It sounds more like day-to-day than anything, but check back tomorrow for the Injury Ward article to see if there's an update.

Without Guenther in the lineup, the Utahians managed to put four pucks past Sergei Bobrovsky anyways, earning Vitek Vanecek his first win since October 26^th. Starter Karel Vejmelka leads the league in wins, while Vanecek has really struggled. Either he's going to turn it around quickly, or he's at risk of being replaced by at the trade deadline.

Jack McBain added an assist, giving him his first point in four games. He has been hot and cold recently, with a stretch of seven pointless games preceding a set of six points in six games that led into the most recent cold spell. The good thing about owning McBain is in bangers leagues he is very proficient in some other important categories. He usually brings one PIM per game, and 3.5 Hits per game, but he has also upped his shot rate this year as well, to 1.5 per game, which has been especially prevalent with two per game since the turn of the calendar.

Dmitri Simashev was recalled by Utah, but didn't play in last night's game. Simashev was selected 6^th overall in 2023, and has 20 points in 20 AHL games thus far, though the scoring hasn't transferred to the NHL level just yet, with only one point in his first 24 career games.

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Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen let in two goals before departing with an injury in the first period. Colten Ellis let in two in relief, but it was still enough to earn the win as the Sabres put up a seven spot on the Leafs.

Rasmus Dahlin lapped the field, with a hat-trick and two assists, getting all of the market correction he was due in a single game. Mattias Samuelsson had three assists, continuing his fantastic season thus far.

Max Domi and Auston Matthews each had three points for the Leafs in the loss. For Domi, the pairing with Matthews has been a huge boost to his value, with five points in his last three games, and a bump in ice time to boot.

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Matt Duchene scored two goals last night, which gives him three in his last two games, but his production this season has been slow and spotty. He turned 35 two weeks ago, and it does seem like the age is catching up to him.

On the flip side of that game, 34-year-old Brayden Schenn had two goals for the Blues, both of them assisted by 21-year-old rookie Jimmy Snuggerud. Snuggy has seen a moderate jump in ice time lately, and has put up three points in his last two games in return.

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Patrick Kane tied Mike Modano as the highest scoring American-born player last night, recording an assist on Detroit's only goal against the Kings. Stick taps to him on the excellent career. It likely won’t be long until he’s all alone in first.

The Kings looked fresh after not having to play the Monday half of their scheduled back to back after it was cancelled due to weather in Columbus. The game was re-scheduled for March 9^th, which could be notable for any of you who are super deep into schedule management for your leagues.

Corey Perry was one of the goal scorers for the Kings, upping his point streak to five games, and bringing him to 11 points in his last 10 games. He's averaging over 18 minutes of ice time per game in the last four contests, and is worth a look as a short-term streamer.

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As the owner of Joey Daccord, I can't say I'm thrilled about the Phillipp Grubauer revival this year. The two have mostly alternated starts since early December, though Grubauer has received an extra game or two.

Grubauer does have the kind of game in him that could be an issue for other teams at the Olympics. Don't count out the Germans, with an NHL MVP candidate leading the charge, a Norris contender leading the blueline, and Grubauer peaking at the right time in net.

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Looking ahead at the schedule, there's only a week left until the Olympic break. The Islanders have six games in the remaining nine days, including two back to backs, which means at least two games, but maybe three for David Rittich. The Bruins and Ducks each only have three games left before the break, and for the Ducks this is good timing, as they are really hurting with a handful of injuries.

Games resume on Wednesday Feb 25^th, which means you should check whether the four-games next week are split by your service provider into two weeks, or whether they then tack on to the five days on the far end of the break to create a nine-day week.

The five days from Feb 25^th to March 1^st see the majority of teams playing three games, while the other ten teams have two games. Not too much of an advantage to be found there, unless you have a full roster and would like to get the most out of off-night, in which case it's Anaheim (as always) who plays all three of their post-Olympic-break games on off-nights.

The other thing to keep in mind, is that some Olympic players may be given a break by their NHL teams either with a game off leading into the Olympics, or with a game off to give them a break before returning. Keep a closer eye on lineups within a few days.

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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.