I tried to trade Sergei Bobrovsky to anyone that was paying attention during the offseason, but to no avail. That may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as he and the Panthers are performing better than I had expected. With a 26-save effort in a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh, Goalie Bob now has four consecutive wins as well as quality starts in four of his past five games. As well, his 13 wins places him second in the league in that category. His solid run during the playoffs has carried over into the season, so we're now at a place where we can start him with confidence.

Once a force to be reckoned with, the Penguins' power play is a real issue and is eating into the fantasy value of the players. The power play has fallen below 10% for the season, which is among the bottom three teams. In fact, its last power-play goal came on November 11, which will be a month ago by the time the Penguins next play on December 12. That's a 0-for-37 skid. Remember: this was a power play they had thought they had upgraded with the acquisition of Erik Karlsson during the offseason. They will find their way again, but how effective will they be once they break the slump?

For what it's worth, Karlsson is tied for second on the Penguins with four power-play points. But that's not even within the top 100 of the league. Onetime power-play mainstays Kris Letang and Bryan Rust have yet to register a single power-play point. Both Letang and Rust have found themselves outside of the first power-play unit for much of the season, and Rust is now injured.

To put this another way, Nikita Kucherov (22 PPP) has more power-play points than the entire Penguins roster (21 PPP). That not only speaks to how abysmal the Pens' power play has been, but also how dominant Kucherov has been. No other player has more than 17 power-play points.

Reilly Smith broke a 15-game goal drought with the Penguins' only goal of the game. During that stretch, Smith had registered just two assists. He seems droppable in many leagues with that recent production, but he's still rostered in 37% of Yahoo leagues.

–

With Elvis Merzlikins on injured reserve, Jet Greaves was recently recalled from the AHL. In his first start of the season, Greaves made 41 saves in the Blue Jackets' 5-2 win over St. Louis. Merzlikins' absence is listed as an illness, so his stay on the injured list could be a short one. Spencer Martin has nearly as many really bad starts (3) as quality starts (4), so Greaves could earn some more work, starting with Sunday against Florida. The Jackets are far from your best choice if you need a goalie win, but Greaves could be a Sunday option if you need one.

Adam Fantilli's goal on Friday gives him three goals in his past two games and five points in his last three games. Fantilli now has sole possession of second place in the rookie scoring race with 16 points in 29 games. Although icetime is sometimes an issue (12:44 on Friday), Fantilli seems to be adjusting very well to the NHL game. He should be considered an option for mid-sized to deeper leagues.

Yegor Chinakhov scored two goals and added an assist on Friday, breaking a four-game point drought.

In a losing cause, Robert Thomas scored both of the Blues' goals on Friday. Thomas now has a three-game point streak where he has picked up four points. He also took five shots.

–

Evan Bouchard scored twice and added an assist in Friday's win over the Wild, extending his point streak to 10 games. Over his point streak, Bouchard has registered 15 points. His recent scoring moves him up to tied for third in scoring among defensemen (27 PTS in 24 GP), while he is only one of three defensemen that have played at least 20 games and are scoring at a point-per-game level (Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes are the others).

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins assisted on all four Oilers goals, including the primary assist on this beauty from Connor McDavid.

CONNOR MCDAVID, WE ARE NOT WORTHY 🔥😱 pic.twitter.com/4f1K9ACXx5

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 9, 2023

Also, please tell me you didn't sell low on McDavid when the Oilers appeared to have hit rock bottom. A total of 21 points over his last eight games says that he'll be fine.

Oilers Connor McDavid prior to this 8-game point streak on November 19

13 points: T-91st in NHL

Now

34 points: T-7th in NHL

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) December 9, 2023

Over his last six games, Stuart Skinner is 6-0-0 with a 1.82 GAA and .932 SV%. Maybe the coaching change in Edmonton didn't have an immediate effect, but the Oilers are turning it around under Kris Knoblauch.

Matt Boldy scored one goal in his first 12 games with Dean Evason as the Wild's head coach. Since John Hynes took over, Boldy has five goals in his last six games.

The Department of Player Safety might be calling Evander Kane for this hit on Jonas Brodin, who was forced to leave the game.

Evander Kane hit on Brodin. pic.twitter.com/fqoGBXScAc

📢 advertisement:

— Nation Network Media (@NationNMedia) December 9, 2023

–

A couple weeks ago I watched Mikael Granlund in a game and he looked all right, but I wasn't quite ready to put my reputation on the line and recommend him (November 26 Ramblings). Nearly two weeks later, Granlund has the most points of any player since December 1. Is this a case of us writing a player off too early? The Penguins were criticized for acquiring him at least year's deadline, and Kyle Dubas couldn't get rid of him fast enough when he took over as GM (maybe Granlund could help their power play?) Now he's on a team with very few better options, and suddenly he's fast approaching point-per-game territory while said team is on an out-of-nowhere run with wins in five of their past seven games.

Yes, go ahead and add Granlund. Like many non-superstars that go on these kinds of runs, it won't last. But he might just be better than you thought on a team that will give him icetime, which has averaged nearly 22 minutes per game since November 14. His advanced stats don't even suggest a regression. When measured as a whole, the shooting percentages, points per 60, PDO, and secondary assist percentage appear to be poor luck early in the season combined with great luck recently. He'll cool off, but he still might provide enough to remain rosterable beyond the short term. By the way, this is all coming from someone who dropped Granlund from his keeper team in the offseason.

Granlund Oct 12 – Nov 12: 8 GP, 1 PT

Granlund since: 12 GP, 15 PTS

Do you want to know who is tied for second on that December scoring list? None other than Tomas Hertl, who has five goals in his last two games.

–

At this point, you're probably okay to click the drop button on Andrei Kuzmenko in shallow to mid-sized leagues. Currently in Rick Tocchet's doghouse, Kuzmenko skated on the fourth line during Thursday's game, although he remained on the first-unit power play. Kuzmenko has just one point in his last eight games, and he also seems in danger of being healthy scratched again after sitting for two games in late November. Kuzmenko's shooting percentage of 26.8% last season made him an easy bust candidate after scoring 38 goals in his first NHL season, but four goals in 24 games is quite a decline on a Canucks team that leads the league in total goals.

Kuzmenko could easily find his scoring touch later in the season, but Tocchet's issues with Kuzmenko's game have more to do with his defensive play as opposed to scoring. In order to stay in the lineup, Kuzmenko's mindset might have to drift away from scoring for the time being, which makes rostering him very difficult at this point.

–

Maybe the most significant player transaction of the day (now that another one in another sport didn't happen) had the Blues trade Robert Bortuzzo to the Islanders for a seventh-round pick. Bortuzzo has been with the Blues since all the way back to the 2014-15 season, but he has been held to just four games this season. Consider this a depth acquisition for the Islanders with no real significant fantasy implications.

Speaking of which, I know I'm veering off topic from what we usually discuss here, but it's funny how this whole Shohei Ohtani story has a ton of implications throughout MLB and Toronto. Like how the half-billion that the Rogers-owned Blue Jays could be dropping on Ohtani could result in them turning away from national NHL coverage when their contract expires in 2026. That could put TSN back into the game from a national standpoint while Sportsnet becomes all things Blue Jays.  

Also, wouldn't it be something if a player qualified as both a skater and a goalie in fantasy hockey? Not saying it will ever happen, since hockey training is so specialized these days. If you don't play fantasy baseball, Ohtani is split up into two players: Ohtani the batter and Ohtani the pitcher. One analogy to fantasy hockey might be those pencil-and-paper hockey pools that predate the internet where Wayne Gretzky's goals and assists were treated as two different players. Another Ohtani analogy might be the hybrid forward-defense-eligible player, similar to Brent Burns and Dustin Byfuglien of a few years ago.

–

Follow me on Twitter/X and Threads.