New York and Pennsylvania were hit with one of their biggest snow storms in the last number of years yesterday, and foremost we do just want everyone to be safe. On a fantasy hockey note though, it does mean we could see a couple of delays and/or postponements of games due to travel issues, so that's something you may want to be aware and on top of with your lineups.

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It's Valentine's Day today, and with it also being less than a month to the trade deadline, I wanted to come up with three trade matches that I would love to see come to pass.

Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev in New Jersey for a package including Alex Holtz:

The Devils have been searching for goaltending consistency all year, and that has been highlighted as it has never been there at the right moments to put a band-aid over the death by a thousand cuts that their skater core has seemed to be dealing with all season. Jacob Markstrom has been amazing on a bad season, and seems like the most reasonable of the big goalie names to be moved based on team need and acquisition cost. The Devils have the assets to make a deal happen, and with Dougie Hamilton on LTIR, the cap space necessary, as well as the need for a more stabilizing presence on the back end.

This kind of move would solidify Markstrom's value for the stretch run with more wins, it would be a rising tide for the entire New Jersey team, as well as getting Alex Holtz a longer runway with bigger minutes. On top of that, it would see Dustin Wolf and Daniel Vladar with rest-of-season fantasy value based on volume alone.

The downside for some fantasy GMs is it would neuter any remaining value on the season for the current New Jersey goalies, but a perfect win-win always has to have someone losing out in the background. In the meantime, Nico Daws is carrying the load with Vitek Vanacek nursing an injury, starting on back to back nights. He only allowed one goal on 28 shots on Monday, and then on Tuesday allowed two goals on 31 shots in the first regulation victory for the Devils in Nashville since 2009. Three goals over two games in two days is going to earn Daws a bit of leash here as we get into the stretch run.

Looking back at the Markstrom option for a second though, this wouldn't be the first time in the last calendar year that these two teams linked up for a big deal either, with the Tyler Toffoli for Yegor Sharangovich swap seeming to have worked out well for both sides to date.

Noting that after I had written the blurb above, I had this article cross my feed – link here. Sounds like there might have been a deal close, but it didn't get across the finish line. That could be bad news for this getting done, or it could just need one final push. We never know with these things until they're official.

Adam Henrique and Ilya Lyubushkin to the New York Rangers for Adam Sykora and a first round pick

Adam Henrique is now one of the best available centres on the market, and would fill a specific need for the Rangers who need a middle-six centre that can take some of the defensive-zone pressure off of a very offence-focused top-two lines.

Henrique is having a bit of a bounce back scoring-wise, though joining the Rangers risks upsetting that with a possible downgrade in linemates from his current setup with Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson. Lyubushkin probably gets less minutes wherever he goes too, which would help his plus-minus, but hurt all of his other counting stats. Anaheim's young guys and remaining veterans would see a big uptick though.

Overall, a deal like this though would probably put the Rangers at the top of the East, especially considering how many other teams have goaltending issues, which the Rangers don't have to navigate. It seems like too perfect of a fit and a reasonable acquisition cost to not look into this.

Scott Laughton and Nick Seeler to Edmonton for a package including Dylan Holloway

Aside from UFA Adam Henrique, Scott Laughton may be the most useful centre left on the market, and when his minutes are high enough, he can be an excellent multi-category fantasy player with two shots, two hits, five faceoff wins, and nearly one PIM per game. He's worth checking in on as a trade to a playoff team likely wouldn't see his ice time drop much at all from the 15 minutes he currently sees, and he's due for some positive regression with his puck-luck too. As a third-line centre in Edmonton, and especially coming with a defenceman like Nick Seeler or Sean Walker, the Oilers would lengthen their lineup and have the real look of a team that is all but assured to go deep into the playoffs.

I'm hoping that Dylan Holloway gets a fresh start as well, because he just feels buried in Edmonton. His production at the lower levels indicates there's more pop to his game, but there just isn't that kind of offensive support in the Oilers' bottom-six group at the moment.

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Alex Newhook has been back in the lineup for three games now, and has only hit the scoresheet once, recording an assist last night. This might be a perfect time to buy-low on him, after months off, and with a slow return. Under the hood though, he has three shots in both his first two games since his return, and two last night, and has been seeing a very heavy dose of power play time. The points will come.

Newhook's return hasn't really affected Joshua Roy's ice time, as it coincided with Sean Monahan being traded. The two are actually linemates at the moment, and could see some heavy offensive usage the rest of the way. Maybe a nice flier in those keeper leagues deep enough that he could be a consideration by the end of the year.

In the meantime, keeping the spotlight away from Newhook's third line is Juraj Slafkovsky and his recent surge:

In other words, Slafkovsky has surpassed his production in 39 games all of last season (10 points) in his last 11 games alone.

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) February 14, 2024

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Via his assist last night, Nikita Kucherov was the first player to 90 points this season. That's despite missing on a breakaway early in the game. Believe it or not, that puts Kucherov at 0-for-9 this season on breakaways, which I think leads the league (leads in futility anyways). I'm not sure what to make of that for fantasy, but it's curious regardless.

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Artem Zub was unable to suit up for Ottawa last night due to injury, meaning they played with five defencemen as a result of cap issues. It was a tough draw in front of goaltender Anton Forsberg, who returned after missing a month with a groin injury. Forsberg did as well as he needed to though, stopping 36 of 39 in the win.

Brady Tkachuk scored a hat-trick last night. He was someone I projected to take another step forward offensively, but his lack of power play production has really slowed him down. If he had kept up last year's power play rate, then he would be a 90-point player this season. Ottawa's power play rate is running at two-thirds of the rate it was last year, and is in the bottom-third of the league. When they eventually turn that around, multi-cat beast Tkachuk could also be an even bigger scoring threat.

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Kessel's stint with Abbotsford isn't expected to be too lengthy, I'm told. Fairly short timeline (well in advance of deadline day) before officially signing a contract with Vancouver. Until then, he remains a UFA. https://t.co/46HTBlnl5B

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) February 14, 2024

Kessel isn't likely to play more than a third-line role at even strength, but could factor in on the power play. He's not someone you have to jump for in fantasy leagues, but does remain an interesting option in deeper leagues, as the scoring upside is still present.

Conor Garland heard the Phil Kessel news and didn't want to lose his spot in the lineup and scored two goals. Some competition for lineup spots may be good for everyone.

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The Stars will be without Evgenii Dadonov for a few weeks, and this feels like the perfect time to bring up Logan Stankoven and give him a shot on the third line with Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston. Stankoven has 53 points in 43 AHL games (an NHL equivalency of a 49-point-pace), which is the highest total in the league, and the highest points-per-game mark of anyone over 20 games. He's noteworthy in fantasy from the moment he gets called up.

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Morgan Rielly got five games for his cross check on Ridly Greig. Argue all you want on whether it was fair or not, but looking at the fallout, that means four more games missed by Rielly, with the Leafs having played last night. Jake McCabe was the defenceman taking Rielly's spot on the top unit, but funnily enough he didn't record a point, while Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, and Simon Benoit all picked up assists. Not a likely regular occurance. Bet on McCabe the other four games while Rielly is out.

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Ryan Johansen averaged 16:14 in his first 15 games with the #Avs. He hasn't played 16+ in a game since, and is starting on the 4th line tonight.

It's been a struggle … not what he nor the club expected. https://t.co/FDBl5VlCUx

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) February 13, 2024

As it goes with situations like this, Ryan Johansen picked up an assist. It did get lost in the scorecard though as the Avs put up five, and most notably Artturi Lehkonen notched points on four of those goals. This is only his second game registering a point since returning at the end of January from a 10-week layoff.

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Owen Power is going to be missing a bit of time.

Don Granato said on @WGR550 that defenseman Owen Power is out tonight vs. LA and is expected to miss a few games.

The injury that occurred in practice isn't long-term, said Granato, but Power will miss at least a week and maybe a few.

— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) February 13, 2024

It could be a bit of a bump in Henri Jokiharju, but most of the offence on Buffalo's back end runs through Rasmus Dahlin and his 41 points through 51 games. Notably, Dahlin is just passing his breakout threshold too, so we could very well see a return to his 77-point-pace level, whether that be for the last stretch this season, or starting next year.

Dahlin's two points were part of seven goals scored by Buffalo, five of which were on David Rittich, marking his first Really Bad Start of the season. It should be a one-off, but the overall trend for the Kings is concerning. This team was a near-lock for the playoffs two months ago, and is now very firmly at a crossroads that could go either way. It's entirely possible that this team ends up as a seller by the deadline.

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Brad Marchand played his 1000^th game, and ho-hum notched another two assists. Love him or hate him, he is an excellent player, and fantastic to have on your fantasy teams.

Tip your hat, or stick out your tongue for him. Congrats.

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See you next Wednesday. In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter/X here, or BlueSky here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.