Two days ahead of Sunday's Heritage Classic against the Montreal Canadiens, the Winnipeg Jets finally took care of a Connor Hellebuyck trade. The Jets dealt the veteran goalie to the New Jersey Devils for Dawson Mercer, Alexander Command, Nico Daws, Nick Bjugstad, a 2029 second-round pick, and a 2027 seventh-round pick. Cliffy has the full Fantasy Take on this one.

From what I've read, opinions seem to be mixed on the trade. A Devils fan that I know seems to think that they gave up too much for a 33-year-old goalie who saw his numbers decline in 2025-26. The asking price was going to be high, even if Hellebuyck had demanded a trade. On the other hand, goaltending hasn't been stable in New Jersey for a while, and Hellebuyck might be what they need to solidify a spot as an Eastern Conference contender. Maybe this is also a power move to entice Quinn Hughes to force his way onto the same team as his brothers. Maybe Minnesota makes a power move of their own to retain Hughes by acquiring Dylan Larkin.

I'd assume Hellebuyck needs some time to get back into game shape after missing training camp, so don't expect him to make his Devils debut today (Saturday) against the Los Angeles Kings. However, those that have held onto Hellebuyck all this time won't have to wait much longer. Perhaps he makes his first start for the Devils sometime next week.

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Friday night featured only two NHL games. The Nick Suzuki-less Montreal Canadiens were still able to take down the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 4-1. After being held without a point for his first nine games of the season, Jake Evans broke out of his slump in a big way with two goals, an assist, and a plus-4. Kaiden Guhle added a goal and an assist.

Oliver Kapanen is a player to watch while Suzuki is out of the lineup (2-4 weeks, upper-body injury). Kapanen moved up the lineup to line up with Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, also receiving reps on the top power play. Despite that prime deployment, Kapanen was held without a point on Friday and does not have a point of any kind in three games. Kapanen is still worth taking a flier on in deeper leagues.

Connor Bedard scored the Blackhawks' only goal, giving him four points in four games since his return from injury.

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In the other game, Nathan MacKinnon piled up another four points in the Colorado Avalanche's 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. MacKinnon's goal and three assists on Friday vaults him into third in league scoring with 20 points in just 11 games. That pace of nearly two points per game would be getting more attention if not for Connor McDavid exploding for 31 points in 10 games.

Martin Necas scored a goal and added two assists with a plus-4. He is also over the point-per-game mark with 14 points over his last 11 games.

Artturi Lehkonen's goal was his ninth of the season, which ties him for third in the league. Lehkonen is also up to nine points over his last six games. He has been a goal-scoring machine on the MacKinnon/Necas line. On this goal, all Lehkonen had to do was stand in front of the net while Cale Makar and MacKinnon cycled the puck.

Lehkonen has been a find for those who had the foresight to draft him in the later rounds because of who his linemates could be. With nine goals in just 11 games, Lehkonen is shooting at a wildly unsustainable 52.9 SH% clip, with his shot per game total at 1.5 SOG/GP when it has traditionally been at least 2.0 SOG/GP. If he is ever moved off the top line, his value will take a major hit. In addition, he has missed at least 12 games in each of the last four seasons. For those reasons, Lehkonen could be a sell high.

Jake Guentzel led the Lightning with two goals, also adding value in peripherals with a power-play goal, seven shots, and three hits. Guentzel has been steady this season with six goals and 11 points in 10 games.

Victor Hedman left this game early in the second period with an undisclosed injury. Despite some very low icetime totals, Hedman entered this game with points in four of his last five games. I wonder if a nagging injury is the reason behind the reduced minutes. We may finally have an answer soon.

Tampa Bay's power play is, in a word, fluid. Charle-Edouard D'Astous was on the Bolts' top power play for much of this game, recording a power-play assist while scoring an even-strength goal. The Lightning appeared to be trying every possible combination to improve their power play, which at 13.9% is in the bottom 10 of the league. They figured it out to some degree on Friday, going 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Yes, go ahead and add D'Astous where available (2% Yahoo/27% Fantrax). The Bolts have been using seven defensemen regularly, so D'Astous could see an expanded role if Hedman misses games. D'Astous has averaged just 15 minutes per game this season but logged over 21 minutes on Friday.

John Carlson wasn't off the top power play for the entire game, so at this point I'd only be mildly concerned if I roster Carlson. However, Carlson was held without a point in this game and now has just one point over his last six games. He is also averaging under 20 minutes per game, although the Lightning's seven-defenseman rotation seems to have something to do with that because he is leading all of the team's blueliners in icetime.

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My deepest league is a 20-team full keeper salary cap league. 25 rostered players. 33 minor league players. With rosters this heavy, moving up the standings can be as challenging as pushing an iceberg. On top of that, making trades that move the needle can be risky (hi to those of you from this league that happen to be reading). It goes without saying that it is nearly impossible to find difference makers on the waiver wire. Yet I was able to pry one player loose from the waiver wire last season – a player who was the most searched player on Frozen Tools last week. That player was Jack Quinn.

At the time he was dropped in this league, Quinn had seven points in 15 games, which was a 38-point full-season pace. Not terrible, but not great. This league counts all sorts of peripheral categories, and Quinn wasn't contributing much to those areas: minus-7, under 2 SOG/GP, and under 1 HIT/GP. That could have dropped his overall league ranking, so I'm not trying to blame the previous owner for dropping him. That team finished just above me in the league standings and could have had a deeper roster than mine.

After I added him, Quinn upped his scoring pace to 44 points in 67 games, which turned out to be a 53-point pace. Quinn finished the season with his first 20-goal season and first 50-point season, increasing his shot total to over two shots per game. After a sluggish first quarter of eight points in 20 games last season, Quinn turned up the volume with 43 points in 62 games. Quinn's success coincided with that of the Sabres, who went from perennial also-ran to Atlantic Division points leader in less than a season.

Quinn's production has reached another level this season, as he has busted out of the gate with five goals and 10 points in 10 games. That success has much to do with an increase in icetime of four minutes per game, some of which is a corresponding increase in icetime from a promotion from PP2 to PP1. Quinn's shot rate has increased even further, up from 2.3 SOG/GP last season to 2.8 SOG/GP. All great signs for sustained production.

Are there reasons to sell high on Quinn or expect a dropoff? Views on this might be mixed, although some advanced stats could raise a red flag or two. Quinn is currently riding a 17.9 SH%, which is noticeably higher than his 12% career average. In other words, bet the under on Quinn scoring 40 goals, although 30 goals seem to be within reach. Quinn is also benefitting from an 85.9 OZ%, which is set to drop even if he continues to be deployed in far more offensive-zone situations.

On the flipside, Quinn may be due for more assists. Only one of his five assists this season is a secondary assist, while he has averaged anywhere between 35-50% in this category. This could only result in a small increase, but it is worth mentioning. Quinn's 83.3% IPP shows he is very involved when he is on the ice and not riding the coattails of superior linemates. His current line with Zach Benson and Noah Ostlund seems more promising for his long-term production than his previous line with Jason Zucker and Ryan McLeod.

All in all, I'm comfortable in holding on to Quinn, unless I receive an offer that I can't refuse, such as a proven point-per-game player. Even if his production slows, a 60+ point full-season pace seems like a reasonable projection. Quinn will never be mistaken for a banger, but his shot total improvement and increase in power-play time should also be noted for those in multicategory leagues.

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Data was taken from Frozen Tools unless otherwise noted.

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