On Friday, the NHL announced a list of rescheduled games. As the virus does its thing, expect more of these before the end of the season.

The @NHL today announced updates to the 2020-21 regular season schedule. The @DallasStars will now open their regular season on Friday, Jan. 22 at home against Nashville.
 
Details: https://t.co/ymTyzBB4Ji pic.twitter.com/vg7uaqdcK4

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 15, 2021

The most significant announcement is that of the Dallas Stars season debut, which will finally be next Friday January 22. Dallas players that were dropped in your league might be worth picking up and stashing away because of what will be a condensed schedule. For more on the upcoming schedule, have a look at our most recent Looking Ahead.

*

I'm not trying to create speculation when it's not my job, but it's possible that Pierre-Luc Dubois' trade request has something to do with his relationship with John Tortorella. One game into his time with the Blue Jackets and Max Domi is already in Torts' doghouse. Maybe this lights a fire under Domi, or else it's another season where his owners are left wanting more.

#CBJ John Tortorella, asked if he had a follow-up discussion with Max Domi after sitting him for the final five-plus minutes of his Blue Jackets' debut, was pretty succinct.

"Nope."

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) January 15, 2021

I know the Blue Jackets are considered a darkhorse contender by many, but I wonder about their ability to take the next step if players don't have the desire to play under the current regime. I suppose the Jackets have punched above their weight class in recent seasons because of Torts, which I guess means they have to take the bad with the good.  

*

We knew that this season would be crazy, given the shortened schedule, lack of preseason games, and of course the bloody virus. And we knew it would be especially crazy for goalies, considering how volatile the position has been the last few seasons. Looking at Friday's boxscores, there's already cause for concern for two universally-owned goalies.

Tristan Jarry hit the showers early after allowing three goals on six shots in 11 minutes. That gives Jarry an unsightly 7.57 GAA and .710 SV% in two games, both of which were Really Bad Starts^©. At this very early stage of the season, panic moves are already being discussed. I'm not overly worried about Jarry yet because 1) These are only two games (technically, less than four periods), and 2) These games were both against the same opponent, a Philly team that seems to get more fired up to play its cross-state rival than any other team. Now is the time to make a buy-low offer to a Jarry owner who is already feeling the heat. Of course, I may change my mind in a month if he doesn't break out of this mini-funk and he's splitting starts with Casey DeSmith by then. Jarry has played a grand total of 64 NHL games, so we can't rule a timeshare out completely.

I have a different kind of concern about Frederik Andersen, who has now allowed nine goals over two games. He's a high-workload goalie who should continue to receive the opportunity to earn the W. However, his struggles go back further to last season, and his ratios have been trending in the wrong direction for a few seasons. Even as the heavy favorite to win the North Division, the Leafs' defense still doesn't appear to be all that strong. That's going to put pressure on Andersen. Even if he picks up lots of W's, his ratios look like they're going to suffer from all the high-scoring games in Canada. To give you an idea, games in Canada so far have ended 5-4, 5-3, 4-3, 5-2, and 5-3. With Andersen a UFA after the season, Jack Campbell could get a longer look at some point, but I can't see Andersen losing the starting job outright.  

*

Goalies getting torched means that some scorers lit it up on Friday. Travis Konecny was a player that I had lined up to pick in multiple drafts, only to see someone else grab him within about five picks of me. I'm already shaking my head at the missed opportunity, as Konecny connected for a hat trick and an assist with a plus-3. Don't forget that Konecny was the Flyers' leader in both goals and points last season.

For icing on the cake, Konecny also provided the following reaction to Jakub Voracek's answer to a reporter.

truly losing it at Konecny doing his best to hold it together. pic.twitter.com/uePOzxxvJ3

— Brad Keffer (@brad_keffer) January 16, 2021

Konecny was able to record the hattie in spite of linemate Sean Couturier leaving the game early in the first period after taking a hit. Couturier will receive an MRI on his shoulder on Saturday, so Konecny might have to make do without Couturier for some time. In Couturier's absence, Scott Laughton moved up to Konecny's line with Oskar Lindblom, recording an assist in nearly 17 minutes.

*

It's only one game out of 56, but I've already noticed the "maybe Ottawa won't finish last in the North Division" takes on Twitter. Even though it's far too early for that prediction, there's lots of reason to be optimistic in Canada's capital. Future number one center Tim Stutzle played in his first NHL game, although he was held without a point in 12 minutes. By placing him with veterans Derek Stepan and Evgenii Dadonov and not with two players you've never heard of unless you're a Senators fan, D.J. Smith is already optimistic about the rookie's ability to put up points.

Another young line looked impressive for the Senators, with all three of its members also contributing to the first power-play unit. Brady Tkachuk led the way filling multiple categories as you'd expect, scoring a goal while adding two assists, a plus-3, five shots, and five hits. Josh Norris and Drake Batherson each added two assists, with Batherson adding five of his own shots. I'm happy about that because I picked up Norris in my keeper league earlier this week.

Thought to be a shoo-in for a top-6 role, Colin White was a healthy scratch for the Senators. It's probably only a matter of time before he gets into the lineup, but I can't see many changes for the Senators heading into Saturday's rematch with the Leafs, unless someone needs a load management day off.

Some laffs about the Leafs…

We now go to Augusta National:#LeafsForever #HockeyTwitter

Rielly -4
Simmonds -3
Thornton -3
Matthews -3
Brodie -3

— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) January 16, 2021

Hopefully you weren't the Mitch Marner owner facing off against Tkachuk. Marner finished the game with donuts in goals, assists, and shots while finishing with "just" a minus-1.

*

In his NHL debut, Vitek Vanecek finished with 30 saves in a 2-1 win over Buffalo. Vanecek finished with some solid numbers in the AHL last season (2.26 GAA, .917 SV%), so the Washington goaltending race might be tighter than you might think. At the very least, Vanecek seems to be one of the better backups to own at the moment. If he struggles, he will likely get demoted very quickly with veteran Craig Anderson waiting on the taxi squad.

*

The Oilers have placed Mike Smith on LTIR, which gives Mikko Koskinen a big boost in fantasy value based on potential games played. As I mentioned yesterday, Koskinen is the better goalie, but now he doesn't have to worry about Dave Tippett being loyal to his longtime goalie Smith. Among goalies who played at least 20 games last season, Koskinen's 9.25 GSAA was in the top quarter of the league, so I think he deserves this opportunity with the Oilers being unable to upgrade their goaltending during the offseason.  

*

Yesterday I discussed a few Devils that had games that were noteworthy to some degree. Another Devil that I meant to include but missed was Egor Sharangovich, who was on a line with Kyle Palmieri and Jack Hughes on Thursday. Although Sharangovich was held without a point, those who watched this game said the 22-year-old Belarusian put on a display in his first NHL game with his size, speed, and shot. While on loan to Dynamo Minsk of the KHL, Sharangovich scored 17 goals in just 34 games. Deeper leagues might want to keep an eye on him. For more on Sharangovich, see his Dobber Prospects page.

*

The Avalanche were the Stanley Cup favorite of the Dobber Hockey writers, and they demonstrated why on Friday. After falling 4-1 to St. Louis on opening night, the Avs stormed back with an 8-0 (not a typo) win over the Blues. Nathan MacKinnon was doing Nathan MacKinnon things, scoring a goal while adding two assists and five shots. Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals, while Cale Makar added three power-play assists. The Avalanche went 5-for-7 on the power play, and with the score out of hand, every single player on the team got a turn with the man advantage.

Somebody on Twitter is asking me about adding Samuel Girard, so I guess this is a good time to bring him up. Girard recorded two assists during third-period garbage time while firing seven shots in total. Of course, the aforementioned Makar will keep Girard on the second unit, while he may also have to compete with newly acquired Devon Toews for more opportunity. Still, the Avalanche's second-unit power play isn't a bad place to be for both.

With Jordan Binnington getting chased after allowing four goals in two periods, we got our first Ville Husso sighting. Binnington shouldn't have to worry about job security after this one, though, as Husso allowed four goals on 14 shots in one period. Is this a bad time to mention that I also added Husso in my keeper league this week as well? He was expected to be the Blues' goalie of the future until Binnington came out of nowhere and led the Blues to a Stanley Cup. Yet if you're in a keeper league, now might be the right time to add Husso, who would be in a prime spot if Binnington gets injured or suddenly turns into a pumpkin.

*

For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding