There was a lot of news concerning the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, both good and bad, so let's get to the important parts.

First off, with the team going through injuries both up front and on the blue line, more help from the AHL was necessary. Columbus decided to recall winger Kirill Marchenko:  

#CBJ have recalled Kirill Marchenko from the AHL's @monstershockey and assigned Trey Fix-Wolansky.

— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) December 5, 2022

In his first professional North American season down in the AHL, Marchenko has eight goals and 19 points in 16 games. He was also averaging over three shots per game, so he's been very involved in the offense with some of their top AHLers.

Perhaps even more notable here is that he's getting a start on the team's top PP unit. Earlier in the season, we would probably laugh at this slotting given the ineptitude of the Columbus power play. Recent games have provided much different results as the team was sixth in the league in goals per minute at 5-on-4 since Halloween. The only teams scoring more often are Dallas, Los Angeles, Florida, Buffalo, and Boston. Since the injury to Zach Werenski on November 10^th, the team is fifth in the league in PP goals per minute. It is a really weird turn of events, but it gives Marchenko a chance to produce right away in the NHL. Columbus has seven games in the next two weeks though the schedule is a little tough: at Pittsburgh, vs. Buffalo, vs. Calgary, vs. Los Angeles, at Florida, at Tampa Bay, at Boston. He could be a good pickup this week with four games and Buffalo/Los Angeles on the docket, but beyond that is a little more uncertain.

In the bad news department, Jakub Voracek says there is little chance of a return this season. He suffered a concussion a month ago and hasn't played since. Voracek would later say that is his eighth documented concussion in the NHL, which means there are surely more undocumented ones. He is 33 years old with over 1000 regular season games to his name. It sure seems like he'll have a major decision to make next summer presuming he doesn't return in the next 3-4 months.  

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Filip Chytil missed Monday night's game for the Rangers though it appears he's still day-to-day, which is a good sign for returning sometime soon. The team hits the road for a pair of games in Vegas and Colorado on Wednesday and Friday so hopefully he can join them on the road trip.

It really is a tough break for Chytil, who has fought injuries so far in his young career despite showing so much promise. He had a great postseason in the spring of 2022 and was a big reason the Rangers went as far as they did. When looking through some stats so far this season (over at Natural Stat Trick), I noticed just how well he was doing: among 316 forwards with at least 200 minutes at 5-on-5, he was tied for 12^th in primary points (goals and first assists) per 60 minutes with Elias Pettersson, as of Monday afternoon. He was a shade behind Sidney Crosby and ahead of names like Jack Hughes, Joe Pavelski, and Evgeni Malkin. Since the start of the 2021 Bubble season, his primary points rate at 5-on-5 is higher (1.6) than Pettersson, Sam Reinhart, Clayton Keller, and Alex DeBrincat. He may not be on the cusp of stardom but he sure was starting to look like a viable middle-6 center for the long term. We just have to hope injuries don't derail his career. There is a ways to go to get to that point but concerns are starting to mount.

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Nashville announced Ryan McDonagh is injured and will miss at least a couple weeks:

#Preds put Ryan McDonagh on injured reserve and say the veteran defenseman is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with an upper-body injury.

— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) December 5, 2022

He may not be rostered in many fantasy leagues given the very meagre production (zero goals and six assists) with low peripherals outside everything but blocked shots. What it does mean is that Alexandre Carrier is now an interesting name in multi-cat leagues. He has been over 20 minutes in three straight games, skating 21:39 in the game McDonagh was injured. He is over a shot, hit, and block per game while earning the league minimum. At the very least, he's an interesting name for multi-cat cap leagues because of the minimal cost and potential for reasonable peripheral production.

The big concern with Carrier is the team's 5-on-5 scoring problems. Over the last four weeks, the only teams scoring less often at 5-on-5 than Nashville are Anaheim, Chicago, and Ottawa. They are also 26^th in that span in shots per minute, so it's not purely a shooting percentage problem. Nashville is having a lot of issues generating offence and it's a big problem for point production for all their skaters, even Roman Josi.  

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Andrei Kuzmenko, the 26-year-old rookie Vancouver forward, had gone three straight games without a point, managing just one shot on goal. The Canucks demoted him to the third line for Monday's game against Montreal in favour of Brock Boeser. Despite the brief pointless streak, Kuzmenko – heading into the game – was on pace for 38 goals and over 70 points. Not that points are everything but he and Pettersson seemed to have good chemistry together, even if there were defensive issues.

For Boeser, he is now getting the chance to produce. He has just four goals in 19 games this year as he's dealt with injuries. He is also landing just 2.2 shots per game, by far a career-low mark. He needs to start showing the offensive promise he's shown in the past if he wants to stay in the top six.

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Seattle recalled rookie Shane Wright from the AHL:

Shane Wright a terminé son séjour (conditionnement) dans la Ligue américaine avec les Firebirds de Coachella Valley.

Il a marqué quatre buts en cinq matchs.

Wright est de retour à l'entraînement avec le Kraken ce matin à Seattle.

— J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontJDM) December 5, 2022

Wright had four points, all goals, in his five games during his conditioning stint.

This is good news, in a way, but it's still doubtful there'll be much fantasy value here. The team has been consistent with their top-9 forward mix for most of the season and are 12-2-1 in their last 15 games. Seeing as Wright isn't a goalie, he's not really coming into a situation where his help is desperately needed.

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Darcy Kuemper is listed as day-to-day for the Capitals:

Brock Boeser is going to replace Andrei Kuzmenko on the Pettersson line at morning skate today. #Canucks @Sportsnet650

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) December 5, 2022

Kuemper had really turned his season around after a few tough games at the start of the year. He has a .922 save percentage in his last 15 appearances but has won just 5 of 14 starts in that span. Washington is another team that is struggling a lot to score at 5-on-5 so even a great season from him may not result in a lot of wins, at least until they start getting more players back from the injured reserve.

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Artem Zub is also injured:

Zub took puck to the face. Could be out three weeks to a month. Jaw injury #Sens

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) December 5, 2022

It is tough to say who might be the pickup here. I am assuming both Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson are rostered in most leagues. Erik Brannstrom has played under 15 minutes in four straight games and isn't doing much points-wise anyway. Travis Hamonic saw a TOI jump in the team's last game without Zub in the lineup and his peripherals are very good this year so he's likely the option. The concern is with how many minutes Chabot has typically been playing, Hamonic may not see a lot of 20-minute nights. All the same, he can be passable in multi-cat leagues because of decent shots, hits, and blocks.

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It was a bad night at the office for the Colorado Avalanche as not only did they lose 5-3 to Philadelphia, but on top of all the injuries they have now, Nathan MacKinnon was added to the list. He took a shot midway through the first period and seemed to leave the ice favouring his side. MacKinnon did not return to the game. We are waiting for updates from the team.

This injured list now includes Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Evan Rodrigues, Artturi Lehkonen, Bowen Byram, Josh Manson, and that's not all of them. It really is quite amazing what this team is going through in the first couple months of the season.

Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, Tony DeAngelo, and Travis Sanheim were the notable Flyers goals on the night. Sanheim now has points in four straight games while racking up good peripherals; he added a shot, three blocks, and a hit on the night.

Alex Newhook scored twice in the lost and played over 23 minutes for Colorado. It seems he's going to be seeing a very big role for now.

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The Rangers scored three times in the third for a comeback win over the Blues on Monday night. Alexis Lafrenière, who was moved up alongside Mika Zibanejad for the second half of the game, scored the game-winning goal. It was just his fourth tally of the season, but he added an assist on a K'Andre Miller marker as Lafrenière looks to get his offensive production going. Vincent Trocheck also had a goal and an assist, moving him to 17 points on the year. Trocheck has registered at least a point in 10 games but has six multi-point efforts on the season. A weird little fantasy quirk here.

Adam Fox also scored for the Rangers and that means he's still over a point per game on the year.

Pavel Buchnevich, Vladmir Tarasenko, Jordan Kyrou, and Ryan O'Reilly all scored in the loss. Buchnevich had four total shots and a pair of hits. That makes eight goals, 18 points, 33 shots, and 15 hits in his last 14 games.

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Boston erased a 3-0 deficit to Vegas thanks to goals from Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Taylor Hall to push the Golden Knights to a shootout. Logan Thompson had a great night, saving 40 of 43 shots faced, including a few excellent stops on the penalty kill in overtime. Vegas won the shootout, giving Boston their first home loss of the season.

Jack Eichel did not play though it's not expected to be an extended absence. Paul Cotter was moved up to the top line in his absence and scored twice.