I don't believe in stacking the top PP unit with your best guys, once it's clear that your power play is not in the NHL's Top 10. Take the Toronto Maple Leafs, for example. If Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly and Mitch Marner sit you in 28^th place in the league for PP efficiency – then stop stacking the top unit! Picture Matthews and Nylander with Michael Bunting. And then Tavares and Marner with Jason Spezza. Double up Rielly and have Jake Muzzin and Rasmus Sandin rotate in. Have Pierre Engvall get the odd sniff too. Give each unit half the PP time. Keep both units fresh and both units are equal threats to score. Under the current scenario, not only are there too many cooks in the kitchen, but after playing 1:45 of PP time before the second unit comes out – those top players are exhausted. Under the second scenario, each unit out there for around 1:00, the first unit out there (could be either one) will be fresh to hit the ice after the PP is over. Later in the season, if you want to try stacking again, give it a whirl. But if the power play isn't working and you're stacking it with your top players for 1:45 – make some changes! I used Toronto as an example, but the Rangers do it too – and the Rangers rank 29^th. Split the top unit into two equal units!

/rant

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Stan Bowman stepped down as GM of Chicago. Joel Quenneville stepped down as Head Coach of Florida. Today, you will probably see that Kevin Cheveldayoff will step down as GM of Winnipeg. The impact of the Kyle Beach investigation is far-reaching, and rightly-so. Right now, though, Brad Aldrich is sitting at home with his wife and kids (as far as I know), untouched by any of this. He had served jail time in a different sex assault case back in 2013. But his name is still on the Stanley Cup. Etch that name off of there, and let's he him face criminal charges and a civil suit. Throw the back at him.

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The Coyotes have absolutely nothing to offer their poor goaltenders, my goodness. While they recently upgraded their goaltending in a big way (i.e. Carter Hutton is out for a couple of weeks), the two best prospects – Ivan Prosvetov and Karel Vejmelka – are getting hung out to dry. The team is clearly going for Shane in hopes that he will Wright the ship. But that doesn't help us for this year. I feel bad for pretty much everyone on this roster. Last night it was Prosvetov between the pipes in a 5-1 loss. At this point I don't think Arizona wins even 15 games this year. It could wind up being the most embarrassing season in NHL history.

On the bright side, Barrett Hayton returned to action and played with Clayton Keller, notching an assist. Currently, the Coyotes have zero players on pace to reach 50 points – and to me that sounds about right. So that's your ceiling right there when it comes to any Arizona player this season. I do foresee a a huge overhaul next summer as they build their team around Wright (assuming they win the lottery – and wouldn't it be funny if they don't?).

Alex Killorn has seven points in his last four games. He is really cashing in on the Nikita Kucherov injury.

Alex Barre-Boulet also has points in two straight, though his ice time remains below 12 minutes. I'm seeing a lot of Jonathan Marchessault in him. Though with Marchessault, he was an unrestricted free agent immediately following a season like this – and we know what happened after that. Whereas Barre-Boulet is signed for each of the next two seasons.

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With another shutout Thursday, Jacob Markstrom has allowed just one goal on his last 107 shots faced.

Between Markstrom's and Johnny Gaudreau's rebound seasons, and Andrew Mangiapane's breakout – the Flames just might surprise. Oliver Kylington, who has three points in his last two games, has also been surprisingly strong so far this season. Kylington is salvaging a prospect status that seemed to be fading in a hurry.

Blake Coleman's SOG/GP with Calgary is up double over last season with Tampa Bay. His Hits rate is up, and of course his goals. His career high pace (82 games) was 46 set last season. The way he's clicking with Mikael Backlund, he'll match that total and likely exceed it. Right now in six games he has three goals, four points, 27 SOG (4.5 SOG/GP) and 18 Hits. If he keeps scoring like this he's going to start sneaking in some power-play time and if that happens – watch out. Thursday he scored, had six Hits and six SOG.

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Speaking of hot goalies on a rebound season, Freddie Andersen is now 6-0-0, 1.33 and 0.956 and is now coming off his first shutout of the season. On this team, in front of this coach, all Freddie needs is his health. And with him that's a tall order. But honestly, if he stays healthy he'll be a Vezina nominee.

Tony DeAngelo has five points in six games now after scoring his first on Thursday. If he can keep his mouth shut for the entire campaign then I'll call it right now – 65 points. Bookmark this!

Andrei Svechnikov has nine points in his last five games.

Jack Studnicka may just have the one point, but he's been strong on his line with Taylor Hall and Charlie Coyle. So I think this experiment will continue and he'll stick in the NHL for a while. That line created 11 chances-for while giving up just four chances-against for Carolina.

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Darcy Kuemper concerns me. And that's why I was pushing caution in the Fantasy Guide while many out there pegged him as a top three or four goalie pick due to his team. Being a goalie for Colorado is certainly a sweet gig and the wins will almost come by default. But not only is he a huge injury risk, but since December 19, 2019 he is 18-26-3, 2.95 GAA and 0.904 SV% with a 47.1% QS%. Whatever injuries have befallen him the last two seasons has had an impact on his effectiveness.

JT Compher has been a staple on the top PP unit and he's also off to a career-best start with six points in seven games.

Andre Burakovsky snapped a four-game pointless drought with an assist. He's off to a cold start. But as with anyone on teams that are underachieving for offense – wait it out. I'm talking about the Avalanche, the Leafs, the Knights, Bruins, Blackhawks and Canadiens. You don't want to drop any of these players right now because they'll get their points. If they haven't yet, then that means they'll produce even more in a condensed period of time – and you don't want to miss that.

Vladimir Tarasenko's shoulder seems to be okay. He has eight points in his last five games – on 25 SOG. That's five shots per game he's averaging (if you don't have a calculator).

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The Minnesota Wild actually tried Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov on the same line on Thursday. We've all been clamoring for that since Kaprizov joined the league. But it was a disaster. No chemistry, no defense, and the experiment was quickly dropped. So now you know.

Kirill Kaprizov has now gone seven games without scoring a goal. That's the longest of his career.

Cam Talbot is having such an amazing season. I had a hunch on that one, trading Mackenzie Blackwood for him (before Blackwood's vaccine status became public) in a keeper league. On the flip side, his elite play has pushed Kaapo Kahkonen to the sidelines. At this rate, Kahkonen will be lucky to play 18 games this year. And Kahkonen is a terrible goalie coming in cold. I believe in Kahkonen and think he can be a starting NHL goaltender, but it sure won't look like it as he plays once every five games. Just saying. However, if Talbot were to ever get injured and Kahkonen gets to string together several games in a row then we'll get to see the real Kahkonen.

Since Yanni Gourde has returned, Jared McCann's ice time has dropped by a full minute and his %PP has slipped from around 67% to something closer to 50%. He has three points in four games since Gourde returned, and four in four prior to that. For what it's worth, I think McCann will out-produce Gourde.

It looked rough there to start his Seattle era, but Philippe Grubauer has posted back-to-back Quality Starts.

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With a goal Thursday, Troy Terry now has eight points in his last six games. The talent has always been there and this is technically his fourth NHL season. But health hasn't always been there, which is the main reason why he's only played 137 career games. That actually puts his BT (Breakout Threshold) for next season – but he's certainly looking like it's coming early. As long as he stays healthy, I think it's here. But that's a big 'if'.

After going pointless in six games, Max Comtois found himself on the fourth line for Anaheim. This is last year's leading scorer. Now that Terry has emerged and Zegras has arrived, Comtois will be hard pressed to climb out of this hole.

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San Jose rookie William Eklund injured his wrist on a shot block and was seen with ice on it in the third period of Thursday's game against Montreal. He did return to the game for a couple of shifts.

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Conor Garland was benched for much of the third period and ended up playing fewer than 11 minutes in the game. To me, it seemed like Elias Pettersson played a horrible game and it was Garland who paid the price.

Carter Hart has been…okay this year so far. Not great, but not terrible. He's the Golden Boy and Philly needs him to thrive. So he'll get as little or as many starts as is best. Meanwhile, Martin Jones has actually been great. Last night was Jones' second start and he posted another Quality Start. Right now it seems to be a rotation of two starts for Hart followed by one for Jones.

Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux are off to huge starts, each with a pair of points Thursday. In six games Couturier has nine points while Giroux is at eight. Wam Bam Cam Atkinson has six goals already. He's playing with Joel Farabee and Derick Brassard, effectively making Brassard fantasy-worthy.

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See you Monday.