Minnesota called up Jesper Wallstedt from the AHL on Sunday. The 20-year-old netminder – drafted 20^th overall in 2021 – has been solid for the Iowa Wild this year. Through 20 games, he holds a .917 save percentage and 2.54 GAA. With Filip Gustavsson injured and Minnesota playing a back-to-back against Philadelphia and Arizona this week, Wallstedt is set to make his NHL debut. He's not a bad option if you need a spot start.

For the first time in his career, Jesper Wallstedt is recalled by the #mnwild. Zane McIntyre reassigned.

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 7, 2024

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Colin Blackwell had an incredible showing Sunday afternoon. With two goals and an assist, he led the Bedard-less Blackhawks to a 4-3 victory over Calgary. The 30-year-old forward doesn't have a strong track record of offense, but he's also never really seen a high volume of opportunity. He's averaged less than 12 minutes per game in most seasons. The one year he saw more action was 2020-2021, when he skated 14 minutes a night with the Rangers and posted a 38-point pace. On Sunday afternoon, he saw 19 and a half minutes of action. Given the state of Chicago's roster right now, a player like Blackwell could go on a little run, fuelled by never-before-seen levels of deployment.

What a shot by first-line winger Colin Blackwell, who scores his second goal of the season. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/meyavkP6zV

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) January 7, 2024

Sunday marked the second-straight game in which Jason Dickinson saw over 21 minutes of action. He registered a point in both of those games. He's another player that may be relied upon more while Bedard is sidelined. Dickinson is currently skating on Chicago's top line with Blackwell and Philipp Kurashev. He's especially valuable in deeper multicategory pools, registering a solid number of hits, faceoff wins and shots lately.

Dan Vladar conceded four goals against a Hawks' team that barely has more scoring talent than I do (different kind of scoring in my case). Vladar has conceded three or more goals in 77% (10/13) of his games this season. Although he and Jacob Markstrom put up similar numbers last year, Markstrom has been significantly better this season – especially recently. In his last seven appearances, Markstrom boasts a .935 save percentage and 2.03 GAA. Considering he struggled earlier in the campaign, it's possible someone in your league dropped him and he's still sitting on the waiver wire.

After failing to register a point in 12-straight games, Huberdeau now has five in his last five outings, with two of those points coming on Sunday afternoon. A streak like this could help him build the confidence needed to have a more productive second half.

Another player who posted two points on Sunday was Nazem Kadri. He had a rough start to the season, posting just one point in his first eight outings. However, he's been solid since then, posting 29 points in his last 32 games – a 74-point pace.  

Kadri sneaks one past Mrazek to pull the Flames within one 👀

Catch the conclusion of Calgary 🆚 Chicago on Sportsnet and stream on Sportsnet+. pic.twitter.com/MFq45gl2r8

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 7, 2024

MacKenzie Weegar's overall production is also marred by the exact same slow start as Kadri. After posting one point in his first eight games, Weegar has 23 points in his last 32, including one on Sunday afternoon. He's scoring at a 59-point pace if you ignore that early cold streak. Weegar's fantasy value is limited because he doesn't get see a high volume of power-play action. Funnily enough, he leads the Flames in PP production. Weegar has six points with the man advantage through 40 games despite seeing just 28% of the team's total power-play time. One last thing I wanted to highlight is Weegar's consistency. He's registered a point in 17 of his last 25 games.

Speaking of the Flames, they play just 12 games from March 11^th to April 7^th – which covers most of the fantasy playoffs. Just three games a week during the most crucial four-week stretch of your fantasy year. To make matters worse, 10 of those 12 games are scheduled on busy nights when most teams are playing, so your Flames may end up riding the bench of your fantasy roster. The stock of Calgary's skaters isn't particularly high right now, but if some of them heat up and you can get value in a trade, it's probably a good idea to cut bait before fantasy playoffs.  

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Cam Talbot had a rare off-game on Sunday, surrendering four goals. This is only the third time since October 27^th that he's given up four goals. He's allowed three or less in 19 of 22 starts since then. The 36-year-old netminder has been one of the greatest fantasy hockey stories this year, benefiting from a strong defensive team in Los Angeles.

Brandt Clarke made his season debut on Sunday, seeing 15 and a half minutes of action. More importantly, he saw 44% of the Kings' total power-play time. Drafted 8^th overall in 2021, the 20-year-old defenseman has been tearing up the AHL this year, posting 32 points in 30 games. A significant role with the man advantage should help him post a few points with LA this year.

Alex Ovechkin started Sunday's game on a line with Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov, but was shifted to one with Dylan Strome and Max Pacioretty as coach Spencer Carbery tried to ignite his team. The move proved to be fruitful as the POS line (patent pending) collaborated for a pretty goal to tie the game. With an assist on that goal, Ovechkin now has nine points in his last 10 games.

Goals in back-to-back games.
Leads the team with 15 tallies.
Dylan Strome should be an All-Star.

RT if you agree#NHLAllStarVote pic.twitter.com/G3D9rOmgj1

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 7, 2024

Kuznetsov was benched down the stretch on Sunday, finishing the game with a season-low 12:46 of ice time. He's found the scoresheet in just one of his last 13 games. Carberry had been giving Kuznetsov ample opportunity all year, but it seems the coach is finally running out of patience. Don't be surprised if Kuznetsov yields power-play opportunity to someone like Pacioretty in the near future.

Speaking of Pacioretty, Sunday marked his third game back after a prolonged absence due to a twice-torn Achilles tendon. He registered his first point of the season and saw 30% of Washington's time with the man advantage – his highest share with the Capitals thus far. I imagine he's being eased into the lineup and should start seeing more opportunity shortly.

Keep in mind, the Capitals have a strong fantasy playoff schedule. Between March 11^th and April 7^th, Washington plays 15 games, with seven of those games scheduled on light nights. During that stretch, no other team plays more games or has more light-night contests. If Pacioretty is sitting on your waiver wire right now, picking him up could pay dividends down the stretch. By the same token, if you're able to buy low on Ovechkin now, the playoff payoff could be huge.  

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Connor Hellebuyck had a quiet night on Sunday, stopping 15 of the 17 shots he faced. It was just the third time in Hellebuyck's last 17 games that he's posted a save percentage below .920. During that 17-game stretch, there's only been one game where he's allowed more than two goals. He holds a .939 save percentage and 1.76 GAA in that span – both of those numbers lead the league (among goalies with at least 10 GP). While looking up those stats, I was shocked to see the other top netminders over these past seven weeks – Joey Daccord (15 GP; .937 SV%; 1.76 GAA), Martin Jones (11 GP; .932 SV%; 2.08 GAA), and Samuel Ersson (11 GP; .926 SV%; 2.00 GAA). All of those goalies were sitting on your waiver wire at some point this season – some might still be. Regardless, they've been good enough for long enough that we should start taking them seriously – especially Daccord.

Winnipeg's top line had a strong showing on Sunday as Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi combined for five points against the Coyotes. They were cold last week but got back on track this week. Through four games, Ehlers posted five points, Scheifele posted four, and Vilardi posted two. I see Vilardi as the most expendable member of that trio right now, so I wonder if he drops to another line once Kyle Connor returns from his knee injury in a month or so.

#MarkScheifele assisted by #NikolajEhlers

SEND THEM BOTH#NHLAllStarVote pic.twitter.com/S469Vdwh8c

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) January 8, 2024

Another game, another point for Vladislav Namestnikov. He has 11 points in his last 11 appearances, tying Ehlers for the team lead in scoring during that span. As Ian mentioned in yesterday’s Ramblings, Namestnikov is still available in the vast majority of fantasy leagues.

Despite seeing four opportunities with the man advantage on Sunday, the Jets failed to score a power-play goal. Although they sit atop league standings with a pristine 26-9-4 record, their power-play has struggled. The team's 17.7% success rate with the man advantage ranks 23^rd in the league.

On Sunday, Dylan Guenther scored his first goal of the season, in his first game of the season. He was called up from the AHL on a short-term basis to fill in for Jason Zucker, who has one game left in a three-game suspension. Guenther, the ninth overall pick of the 2021 draft, saw 67% of his team's time with the man advantage on Sunday. I expect him to see similar opportunity during Arizona's next game, scheduled on Tuesday against Boston. It'll be interesting to see if Guenther sticks around or gets sent back down after that game.

Both Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong and coach André Tourigny stressed that this call-up for Dylan Guenther is short term.
Jason Zucker's suspension gave them an opportunity to reward him and they think he can help the team.
Guenther is aware of the plan.

— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) January 6, 2024

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On Sunday, Troy Terry returned to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury. He tallied an assist in his return, giving him a team-leading 10 points in his last 12 games. His overall production isn't all that impressive, but there's no harm in riding this heatwave. Keep in mind, he scored at a 70-point pace in each of the last two seasons, so this production isn't coming out of nowhere. Terry is still available in 66% of Yahoo leagues.

With two goals on Sunday, Trevor Zegras now has five points in seven games since returning from a 20-game injury absence. This may not seem all that impressive, but it's a significant step up from the two points in 12 games he had prior to the injury.

🚨 Zegras X 2 🚨

Snipe 🎯
🍎 Fowler
🍏 JD

We're tied at two! pic.twitter.com/Lf7qhLKdN1

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) January 8, 2024

Alex Lyon had another strong showing on Sunday, stopping 29 of the 31 shots Anaheim threw at him. He holds a .920 save percentage and 2.51 GAA through 12 games this season and is starting to cement himself as Detroit's starting netminder. I'm not sure if Detroit is good enough defensively for me to feel confident in rostering Lyon all year, but he's certainly capable of getting you wins.

The Red Wings have been implementing a new approach on the power play recently, spreading their talent across two units. For the most part, it's been Dylan Larkin, David Perron, J.T. Compher, Lucas Raymond and Shayne Gostisbehere on one unit, while Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Robby Fabbri, Daniel Sprong and Mortiz Seider are on the other. It was the Larkin unit that cashed in on Sunday. If Detroit sticks with this balanced configuration, it's unlikely that anyone sees a high enough volume of power-play opportunity to post massive numbers with the man advantage.

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Thanks for reading! If you ever have any fantasy hockey questions, follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza and shoot me a message!