Brendan Gallagher was back at Canadiens practice on Wednesday but did so in a red non-contact jersey. There is no official timeline for his return. He has battled both injury and COVID this year and as a result, like most Canadiens players, he's had a bad year. A turnaround in the second half doesn't seem likely without the team itself having a big turnaround, so it could end up just being a lost year for the winger.

With that said, the team does have the talent to ostensibly put a decent top line together if they end up with, say, Toffoli-Suzuki-Gallagher. We will just have to wait and see what they do, but I'm not running out to add him from the wire just yet unless we're talking deeper leagues.

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Aaron Dell had a hearing for his hit on Drake Batherson and landed with a three-game suspension. He probably deserves it but that's a brutal break for Batherson more than anything. He had been having a very good year and was on his way to the All-Star Game. Brady Tkachuk is taking his place and congratulations to him, but Batherson had really earned this.

While we're talking about the young Ottawa players, I just noticed that Tim Stützle has 49 points in 88 games to start his career. That works out to roughly 46/82 games for a guy to begin his NHL journey and he just turned 20 years old in January. That is also, by the way, largely playing away from the other top Ottawa stars for long stretches of time. The power-play production has certainly helped, but it's a wonder what his point totals would look like if he skated with a top-6 NHL centre at all times, versus just some of the time.

The question is what Jimmy Stu's upside is if he keeps up this role for the next couple years. It certainly seems like being a 50-point winger with high hit totals is in his near future, but is there more coming in the next couple years? It would be nice if they got him some real help in the offseason. This is a team that has loads of cap space and should be looking to start rounding out a playoff roster this summer. Whether that is what they decide to do, well, I have my doubts.

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A Jonas Brodin update:

Brodin has been skating on his own with Bjugstad, so his conditioning is great. Says he thinks he'll be able to play Friday night at MSG

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 26, 2022

It has been some time since the Wild have had their defencemen healthy but it looks like they won't have to wait too much longer. They are comfortably in a wild card spot and are basically just jockeying for seeding now, barring a collapse.

Just watch for power-play tweets or the man advantage in their next game. Brodin has ran the team's top PP unit at times this year and could very well again anytime in the next three months. Not that he needs to be added right now in lieu of a proven blue liner, but monitoring his role is a good idea.

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Dougie Hamilton and Ty Smith were both on the ice for practice on Wednesday and there was some good news to follow:

Dougie Hamilton and Ty Smith will travel with #NJDevils today for the three game road trip

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) January 26, 2022

It sure seems as if they are on the verge of returning and that's great news for Hamilton fantasy owners especially. He had been on pace for an elite season before his injury and now he can pick up where he left off. Whether he does or not, we'll see, but he obviously goes back on fantasy rosters as soon as he's activated.

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The Penguins extended centre Jeff Carter for two years with a cap hit a little over $3M a season. He has a full no-move clause so he's going to be in Pittsburgh for a while, perhaps until he retires. There is a lot to unpack with this one so let's start with the team implications.

Pittsburgh should have around $30M in cap space for next season, including Carter's new deal. However, there are a lot of significant names that are free agents: Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, and Evan Rodrigues. It isn't hard to see the cap hits of those four guys, on the open market, approaching that number of $30M in sum. There may be one or two that take less-than-market deals given their history with the team but it's not a guarantee all of them do. This is basically insurance against not being able to bring everyone back, but especially Malkin or Rodrigues. They should be in a Penguins uniform for 2022-23, but we never know what the next six months could look like. If (when) they do re-sign, it gives them their complement of centres, with some insurance.  

The second part of this is just how effective Carter can be. I'll be the first to admit that I thought his play would have fallen off by this point, but he's still driving the play and he even has nine points in his last 10 games. At the same time, a two-year extension means he will be 39 when this contract runs out, and it can fall apart at any moment. If the Pens can get the Carter from his first 50 games with the team, this is a home run. It all depends whether he can hang on as he approaches 40 years old.

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Not that it's usually worth commenting on waivers but here were the waivers from Wednesday:

Waivers: Connolly (CHI) and Niku (MON)

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 26, 2022

Sami Niku looks like he's running out of chances in the NHL. It really does show there is a large difference between playing in the NHL and basically every other league. He had 54 points in his first AHL season as a 21-year-old and won the award for the top defenceman in the AHL. Over parts of his next two seasons, he had 26 points in 38 games, or near a 55-point pace over a full season. But that offensive upside just never translated to the NHL.

This isn't over yet, as we've seen players leave the league and come back a couple years later with their skills upgraded. He may also just catch on somewhere now that develops him differently. But it is a reminder that high levels of success outside of the NHL doesn't necessarily mean eventual NHL success.

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The Ducks moved Troy Terry up to the top line with Trevor Zegras and Ryan Getzlaf for the game on Wednesday night against Toronto. For as much as this team has changed up their lines over the course of the season, these two haven't played much together at even strength this season. It wouldn't be surprising to see these two put together a good scoring line with the veteran Getzlaf alongside, but those are still young, improving players. There is no guarantee this works out, but I'm interested in this particular experiment.

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William Nylander and Mitch Marner each had a goal and an assist for Toronto as they try out their new spread offence. Funny enough, most of the team's goals came on the power play, but they did generate a lot of shots. This seems like it's going to be something that could persist for a few games.

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Rudolfs Balcers was a late scratch for the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday and the team moved Timo Meier and Jonathan Dahlen back to a line with Logan Couture. That trio was a line often earlier in the season, and they played well. This does take a pretty big weapon away from Tomas Hertl at even strength.

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The Sharks ended up winning that game on Wednesday night 4-1 with James Reimer shutting the door for San Jose, saving 32 of 33 for his team. He had been on a rough stretch of late so this could set him right back on track from earlier in the year; he had a .936 save percentage leading up to the holiday break.

Timo Meier was a force in this game, as he usually is. He assisted Jonathan Dahlen's late insurance marker while adding nine shots and a couple penalty minutes for good measure. His wonderful fantasy season just keeps humming along.

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We had quite the game in Columbus on Wednesday night. Elvis Merzlikins had one of the best regular season performances of his career in a 6-0 loss to Calgary. It was just an otherworldly performance from the Flames, as they landed 62 shots on goal in 60 minutes, with Merzlikins saving 56 of them. (That was a Flames regular season record for shots in game, the broadcast said, if I'm not mistaken.) This isn't quite Ben Scrivens from all those years ago, but he was the only player that did anything in this one for the Jackets.

Matthew Tkachuk had a pair of goals, including six shots, in the win, while Johnny Gaudreau had a trio of assists. The second line also did work as Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane scored as well, with Blake Coleman having an assist and five shots.