After missing Saturday's game due to illness, Mathew Barzal was back at Islanders practice on Monday, skating in his usual spot on the top line. It seems as if he should be good to go for the team's home game Tuesday night against San Jose.

Brock Nelson and Noah Dobson were both absent from practice and it doesn't seem like serious injuries for either, but they are both up in the air for the game against the Sharks.

Of interest was Oliver Wahlstrom skating as an extra at practice. It is interesting because both Nelson and Matt Martin were missing but it appears as if Wahlstrom is heading towards a healthy scratch.

One of the players I thought may break out this season was Wahlstrom as he returned from knee surgery. Things haven't gone well with just two goals and five points in 17 games. Whether he's not up to speed, or whether he's just not going to make it in the NHL, is undecided. I am leaning towards not up to speed yet as his shot rate is by far a career-low (under 7 shots per 60 minutes where he had been over 10 shots per 60 over his three full seasons), so maybe he's having a tough time getting where he needs to be to unleash his shot. Regardless, it really does not appear as if that breakout will happen this season, but I am not giving up on his upside in the fantasy game yet and let's see where things stand in training camp next September.

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Detroit had a full-ish practice and these were the lines with Patrick Kane on the roster:

Don't see J.T. Compher on the ice at Monday's Red Wings practice, but lines are:
Fabbri-Larkin-Raymond
DeBrincat-Veleno-Kane
Rasmussen-Copp-Perron
Kostin-Fischer-Sprong

— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 4, 2023

It should be noted that as has been the case of late, Alex DeBrincat was left off the top PP unit as Kane took JT Compher's spot. I don't have doubts with DeBrincat and Kane rekindling some of their magic in their Chicago days (as long as Kane is healthy) but skating on the second line with an aging Kane and off the top PP unit is very bad news for now. Things change quickly in the NHL, but DeBrincat has cracked 17 minutes just once in his last five games. It would be nice to see more consistent usage from him even if he does have nine points in his last 10 games.

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Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk were missing from practice for Ottawa but the team said it was just maintenance. The big news is that the team expects Ridly Greig to be back on Tuesday night for their game against the Rangers. Ottawa has four straight games against Eastern Conference opponents before heading out on an extended road trip to the West, and they need to start racking up wins if they want to stay in the playoff race.

Greig is an interesting name in the fantasy realm. He won't get top PP minutes but this team has enough talent on the wings to support three scoring lines, and they've been giving their second PP unit more ice time of late. Greig had seven points in nine games before his injury, totaling two shots per game and 15 hits. He may not be an exceptional fantasy option, but for multi-cat formats, he can post solid totals across the board even in a third-line role.

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Winnipeg signed Nino Niederreiter to a three-year extension:

Give me fuel, give me fire

GIVE ME CONTRACT EXTENSION ⛽️ 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZbL2L9hION

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) December 4, 2023

The team announced the AAV will be $4M a season. Turning 32 years old next season, Nino may end up a Winnipeg Jet for the rest of his career.

One thing he does that can help the team is he's truly flexible in his role; he can fill in on the top line if injuries hit, and he can be a great two-way winger on a third line. He is having a solid fantasy season in multi-cat formats, but he'll continue to be capped because he'll largely be kept away from their top stars at all in the important strengths. It is interesting he could push for 50 blocks and 100 hits this year, though, as the shot-blocking league-wide becomes a major thing.

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Seattle moved Tye Kartye to the top line for their game in Montreal on Monday night. They moved Jared McCann to the Alex Wennberg line and left Yanni Gourde's trio intact.

For fantasy purposes, I'm not a fan of McCann's new line mates, but this kind of move makes a lot of sense for the Kraken. Kartye is kind of a Diet McCann, and the Real McCann is good enough to help boost the scoring of any trio. It will be fun to watch Kartye develop some chemistry with Matty Beniers as those two should be among the long-term Kraken forwards currently on the roster.

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Victor Hedman reached 1000 regular season games played with his appearance Monday night against Dallas. The 2^nd overall pick from the John Tavares draft back in 2009 took some time to get his NHL career going but once he reached his mid-20s, he reached superstar level and has looked that part for almost the entire time since.

In the fantasy game, his consistency is something to be marveled over. Outside of a blip last season where his 82-game pace was for 9.7 goals, Hedman has been over a 10-goal/82-game average every season dating back to 2013-14. He has also averaged at least 0.6 points/game in every campaign in that stretch, with 2015-16 being the only season he didn't have a 50-point/82-game pace (and he was at 49.7 points/82). In the six seasons he played at least 75 games in that stretch since 2013, he managed triple-digit blocks. This season will also likely make seven of eight years with at least 20 power play points. This is a guy who could almost always be relied upon for 10 goals, 50 points, 170 shots, 100 blocks, and 20 power play points. Again, that consistency is something else.

This is where I have to give my mea culpa and say I thought this would be the season that Sergachev took over the top PP duties on a full-time basis. That hasn't happened and Hedman went into Monday night on a point-per-game pace. Even turning 34 years old later this month hasn't prevented him from regaining for after a down (injured) season in 2022-23. Just an amazing player that is headed straight to the Hall of Fame whenever he decides to hang up the skates.

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Jacob Markstrom took a puck off his right hand in practice on Monday when he was without any padding on it, left, and had to get it checked out. The team has three games this week and no back-to-backs, so it could have been a three-start week for him. Maybe it turns out to be nothing, but it's something we'll keep fantasy owners updated on over the next couple of days.

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An overtime goal from Sean Couturier, finishing off a pass from Travis Konecny on a 2-on-1, lifted Philadelphia to a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh. Carter Hart was stellar in goal with 31 saves on 32 shots, pushing him to seven wins and a .913 save percentage. A solid season from him so far and he's being shorted some wins because of the team's difficulties scoring.

The goal was Couturier's sixth of the year, and his 17^th point, totals he reached needing six additional games played back in 2021-22. Konecny had assists on both goals and now has 20 points in 25 games this season. He had four shots and a hit for a solid multi-cat effort.

Sidney Crosby scored in the loss, managing four total shots and a hit. Crosby now has 15 goals, 25 points, and 91 shots in 24 games. Imagine if this team had a decent power play.

*

Andrei Vasilevskiy had his best game of the season, saving all 25 shots he faced in a 4-0 shutout of Dallas. Considering he got pulled after six goals against this same team over the weekend, it was a nice turnaround. Anthony Cirelli led the way with two goals on three shots, managing two blocks as well. Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist with six shots in the victory. Kucherov's current shot pace has him pushing 400 over an 82-game season; he's never reached 280 before. With a point pace approaching 140, he's been an unbelievable player for the team, and fantasy players, this season.

Miro Heiskanen had three shots and four hits in the team's shutout loss. He now sits with just one goal and 14 points in 23 games this year, and his production is falling well short of last season. If the team's top stars can find more consistent offence, he should find a turnaround, so maybe a buy-low option here.

*

Montreal got out to a 3-0 lead over Seattle and managed to hang on for a 4-2 win on Monday night. They moved Juraj Slafkovský to the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield – I thought Slaf played well and the line outshot the Kraken 10-7 in their 5-on-5 time – but it was the depth that did all the scoring. A more appropriate name for last night was the Seattle Slumpbusters as Sean Monahan scored twice, breaking a 14-game goalless drought, while Tanner Pearson scored his first goal in 20 games. And, yes, Josh Anderson got on the board by tallying on the empty net. It was his first goal of the year, and first in 28 games going back to 2022-23.

Sam Montembeault stopped 31 of 33 shots in his first game, and win, since his contract extension. He continues to look very good in net for the Habs.

Jared McCann and Vince Dunn (PP) scored in the loss. Dunn added an assist for a two-point game, pushing him to 21 points in 26 games on the season, pacing for well over 60 again.

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Winnipeg got goals from Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers to skate away with a 2-1 win over Carolina. The top line all assisted on each other's goals, so those two and Mark Scheifele had two-point games. That was just Ehlers's third multi-point game of the season in 24 games played; he had nine such games in 45 contests last season. Hopefully this is a sign of his offensive turnaround as he remains on Winnipeg's top trio.

Martin Necas scored his seventh goal of the season in the loss. He has five points and 15 shots in his last five games despite being stuffed down on the fourth line.

Laurent Brossoit was stellar in goal for the Jets, stopping 42 of 43 for the victory. Winnipeg is now fourth in save percentage in the league since Halloween.

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Arizona put Washington down quickly on Monday night by scoring five goals in 10 minutes during the first period, eventually cruising to a 6-0 win. Their top line finally came alive as Nick Schmaltz scored twice (once on the PP), Logan Cooley also tallied on the power play, and Clayton Keller posted three assists (two on the PP) in the win. That was just Cooley's third goal of the season, though he has landed 10 shots in his last five games so maybe he's getting more comfortable shooting the puck.

Nick Bjugstad (SH), Michael Carcone, and Jason Zucker also scored with Zucker adding an assist. Carcone has eight goals on his last 16 shots on target, and it's always nice to be able to shoot 50% for four weeks.  

Connor Ingram – coming off being named a star of the week – had the 26-save shutout as he's solidified his place as Arizona's starter (for now).

Darcy Kuemper allowed three goals on five shots before being pulled before the end of the first period. His save percentage has dipped down to .887.

Sean Durzi took a hard hit from Tom Wilson during the first period and left the game, not to return. There was no immediate updated on him, but any extended absence would be a big loss for the team. Matt Dumba was moved to the top PP unit for the time being.

*

Jordan Binnington stopped 33 of 34 shots faced in Vegas as St. Louis took a 2-1 overtime win. Some nice moves from Robert Thomas at his own blue line helped set up Pavel Buchnevich for the winner:

St. Louis goal!

Scored by Pavel Buchnevich with 04:22 remaining in the OT period.

Assisted by Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko.

Vegas: 1
St. Louis: 2#STLvsVGK #VegasBorn #STLBlues pic.twitter.com/G82nMUs7Sk

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) December 5, 2023

Thomas now has 8 goals, 15 assists, and 47 shots in his last 21 games. If he can stay well over two shots per game, he is a genuine dual-threat offensive option. His stellar fantasy effort continues, even if the physical elements like PIMs and hits are infrequent.

A power play goal from Jack Eichel was Vegas's only marker.