Jake Guentzel is expected to miss up to the next four weeks with an upper-body injury that forced him to leave Wednesday's game. On the final year of his contract, Guentzel has been the subject of trade rumors, particularly if the Penguins cannot find a way to advance above the Eastern Conference playoff bar soon. Guentzel would be projected to return shortly after the March 8 trade deadline, but the risk of trading for an injured player might deter teams from pursuing Guentzel, or at least the Penguins might have to decrease their asking price a bit.

Without Guentzel, the Penguins added Lars Eller to their first power play. Why not Rickard Rakell? You might not want to put too much stock into that, since the Pens had only one power play on Thursday. Let's see what happens on a larger sample. Rakell had 21 PPP last season. Eller has 17 PPP over his last six seasons. But I doubt that Mike Sullivan cares about your fantasy team.

In the same game, Connor Bedard returned to the Blackhawks' lineup from a broken jaw, perhaps a week earlier than expected. Wearing a full face shield, Bedard assisted on Philipp Kurashev's goal – the only goal of the game for the Blackhawks. Chicago's offense should improve with Bedard back in the lineup, but it still has a long way to go before it strikes fear into opponents.

Bedard gets an assist in his first game back from injury 🔥 pic.twitter.com/f02jlVkUvo

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 16, 2024

Bedard might be the future face of the league. In the here and now, Sidney Crosby is still very much relevant. Crosby scored a pair of goals on Thursday, giving him at least 30 goals for the third consecutive season. The 36-year-old Crosby is in the top 10 in goals this season, with the eight other current 30-goal scorers all younger than him. He's not Sid the Kid anymore.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have fired general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, with team president John Davidson taking over on an interim basis. The timing of the move might be a surprise, since teams often wait until the offseason to make a move at general manager. However, the move makes sense in that it gives the Jackets a head start in finding a new GM to begin preparing for the offseason. Perhaps there were also differences of opinion for a near-term move such as a trade, which might necessitate a move with the trade deadline approaching.

Kekalainen faced challenges with convincing players to sign long term in Columbus, and the Jackets have faced considerably more injuries than the average team over the last couple seasons. That being said, the NHL is a results-oriented business, and the Jackets are on track to miss the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season while currently holding the worst record in the Eastern Conference. On top of that, the one big-name free agent Kekalainen was able to sign (Johnny Gaudreau) hasn't delivered as hoped, while the botched Mike Babcock hire might have sealed his fate.   

Despite all the current gloom and doom, the Jackets have a decent set of prospects in the fold (see the Dobber Prospects team page). The new general manager will have an opportunity to determine how these prospects fit in, and also decide which direction the team will take with what should be a high first-round pick in the 2024 draft.

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If you've been waiting on Viktor Arvidsson all season, now is the time to try to squeeze him into your lineup. Arvidsson was activated from LTIR and made his season debut on Thursday. He was held without a point in the Kings' 2-1 win over New Jersey, but he contributed in other ways with five shots and two minor penalties, mixing it up with Jack Hughes on one of them. Arvidsson was placed on a line with Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, a line he spent much of last season on. He finished just shy of 60 points last season, so he might provide a second-half boost to your roster.

"People pay to watch me play." – Jack Hughes to Viktor Arvidsson in the penalty box. 🍿 pic.twitter.com/GhQtZ8XnSt

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 16, 2024

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The Rangers piled seven goals on the Canadiens on Thursday. Chris Kreider led the way with a hat trick, while Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad each chipped in three points. Adam Fox added four helpers and finished with a plus-4. As much as Fox's season might seem uneventful, he is closing in on the point-per-game mark (43 PTS in 44 GP).

Blake Wheeler had to be helped off the ice, unable to put weight on his right leg after taking a hit along the boards. No official diagnosis was provided, but expect Wheeler to miss some games. Kaapo Kakko might play in an elevated role if Wheeler is out, which comes just as he's heating up a bit. Kakko scored a goal on Thursday and has points in three consecutive games.

In his second NHL season, Juraj Slafkovsky is taking a big step forward. Slafkovsky scored another goal and added an assist, extending his point streak to seven games. Over that span, he has six goals and 11 points. Playing on the first line and the top power play is helping Slafkovsky's value to the point where he should be rostered in single-season leagues as well as keeper leagues. He's one of the players featured in this week's Frozen Tools Forensics, so I won't cover him in detail here.

Slafkovsky's linemate Cole Caufield scored a pair of goals and an assist on Thursday. That gives him 18 points over his last 14 games. Caufield is shooting the puck like crazy this season, as he has reached the 200 SOG mark already and sits in the top 10 in that category. Caufield has also taken 14 shots over his last two games.

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Sergei Bobrovsky is clearly the starter in Florida, but Anthony Stolarz is making a strong case for a workload increase. Stolarz stopped all 45 shots he faced in the Panthers' 4-0 win over Buffalo. Stolarz now has three wins and four quality starts in his last four games, allowing just five goals over those four games. At just 12% rostered in Yahoo and 15% in Fantrax, Stolarz should at least be in the conversation as a potential streamer whenever he is announced as the starter.

Fresh off a shutout of his own on Tuesday, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is now day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Since Devon Levi started an AHL game on Wednesday, Eric Comrie started his first game since December 5. In eight games this season, Comrie has just one win and one quality start to go with four really bad starts, so you're best to steer clear from him.

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The St. Louis Blues are suddenly hot, having won eight of their last 10 games. That includes a 6-3 win over Edmonton, where Jake Neighbours scored a goal and added two assists. Neighbours has been a bit streaky this season, but he's hot again with four goals and seven points over his last four games. His 19-7 statline puts him in contention for the Cy Young award. If you don't understand that, Neighbours is one goal shy of 20 with less than half as many assists.

Remember when Jordan Kyrou made the "no comment, he's not my coach anymore" response when asked for his thoughts about Craig Berube being fired? Check out Kyrou's splits under his two coaches.

Berube: 27 GP, 5 G, 12 A, 17 PTS

Bannister: 26 GP, 13 G, 12 A, 25 PTS

Almost the same number of games played and assists, but considerably more goals under Drew Bannister. Happier players might be more productive players.

Robert Thomas has also been more productive under Bannister, posting 33 points in just 26 games since Bannister took over. Like Neighbours, Thomas recorded three points on Thursday. Thomas was a point-per-game player under Berube this season but under Bannister, he has taken his game to another level.

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Juuse Saros was pulled on Thursday after allowing four goals on 18 shots in one period. Saros has been hurting fantasy teams more than he has been helping fantasy teams over the past two months, posting a 6-11-2 record with a 3.48 GAA and .888 SV% since December 19. Saros also has six really bad starts over that span, including Thursday's blowout loss. He has also allowed at least three goals in each of his last five games. You may want to pick and choose your matchups until Saros finds his game again. Saros's name is also coming up in trade rumors, since Yaroslav Askarov is putting up strong AHL numbers (25 GP, 18-6-1, 2.17 GAA, .921 SV%).

The Stars scored nine times on the Saros/Kevin Lankinen duo on Thursday. Matt Duchene took his former team for a pair of goals, giving him three consecutive multipoint games. Wyatt Johnston finished with a four-point game (2 G, 2 A), while Tyler Seguin and Ty Dellandrea each recorded three points.

Need a goal explosion in daily fantasy? The Stars are one team to consider stacking. They've had four 8+ goal games this season. No other team has more than two 8+ goal games.

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Not long after being named captain of the Flyers, Sean Couturier left Thursday's game against Toronto with an injury. Couturier appeared to get slashed in the third period, but he did not play the last few minutes of the third period or in overtime. Couturier has had horrible injury luck the past few seasons, so hopefully this is nothing serious. The Flyers' next game is Saturday's Stadium Series game against New Jersey.

Another day at the office for Auston Matthews. His three goals on Thursday were his fifth hat trick of the season. He's now up to a league-leading 45 goals, seemingly headed toward another Rocket Richard award.

While Morgan Rielly is suspended, Timothy Liljegren could be worth a short-term pickup. Liljegren picked up two assists while logging a season-high 24:25 on Thursday. He also appeared on the Leafs' top power play, although both of his assists were even strength. Liljegren has averaged 19 minutes of icetime per game this season, so this could be his opportunity to get Sheldon Keefe to notice him. Liljegren entered Thursday's game without a point in 11 games, so his value could easily plummet once Rielly returns.

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Matty Beniers hasn't been quite as advertised this season. However, he scored a goal and added two assists on Thursday, giving him goals in back-to-back games. Before that, Beniers had just one point in his previous 12 games. Remember that he's only 21 and seems to be dealing with a sophomore slump.

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With a goal and two assists on Thursday, Frank Vatrano has seven points over his last five games. Vatrano has already equaled his point total from last season (41 points) in 28 fewer games. That 41 points is already a career high for Vatrano, who seems to be having a breakout season at age 29. His career high in icetime (18:15) as well as power-play time (2:26) seems to be a major reason why.

John Gibson left Thursday's game after two periods because of an upper-body injury.  

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This is the way to get back at an opponent if you don’t like their celebration. No one gets hurt or suspended, and at least some of us have a good laugh.

Nikita Zadorov mocked Jake Walman's "Griddy" 😭🕺 pic.twitter.com/HYSUr3nyUD

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) February 16, 2024

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If I missed anything important, I might discuss it tomorrow, as there's only one game on Friday. Gotta love NHL scheduling.

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