Scott Wedgewood and Thomas Harley made their returns to the lineup last night. Harley was sitting behind Miro Heiskanen as far as the offence in Dallas was concerned early on, so it will be interesting to see whether he can make any in-roads there, and how that affects what has been a fantastic run from Heiskanen to this point in the year. No progress last night, with one assist for Miro plus nearly seven minutes of power play time, and no points for Harley to go with under a minute of ice time with the man advantage.

For Wedgewood, he is the #1 ranked goalie at this point in one of my leagues, and while Mackenzie Blackwood has been excellent in his own right, Wedgewood was not giving any ground prior to a mediocre showing against the Preds last night. I would expect this split to be as close as it ever gets to 50/50 for the next couple of months.

Martin Necas was a game-time-decision, but ultimately ended up playing. Something to keep an eye on over the next few days. With the Avs getting healthy (Gavin Brindley, Valeri Nichushkin, etc) and having a playoff spot basically already locked down, it might be best to give Necas a game or two off soon just to rest up and get back to 100% while he can.

David Pastrnak too was a game-time-call with his return from a multi-game absence. He started out on the third line, which gives some hint that he's not fully healthy, and being eased back in. We knew some missed games were a possibility when the report of tendonitis surfaced during training camp. When in the lineup, Pastrnak has still been solid, he hasn't quite been the top-10 player many drafted him as. His assist numbers have been steady, but the shot and goal rates have noticeably dropped from previous years. His PPP and Hit rates have gone up though, so he is at least compensating a bit across the board for the key drop in goals.

Just to prove a point, he notched three assists last night with his new linemates of Fraser Minten (two goals) and Marat Khusnutdinov (one assist).

One more injury update: Thatcher Demko will return to the lineup on Thursday against the Sabres.

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Victor Hedman was back for the Lightning on Saturday, only playing 16 minutes in his return, then 18 minutes on Monday – obviously he wasn't at full health.

Surprisingly, despite Hedman's return, it was actually Charle-Edouard D'Astous who saw the most power play time in the Saturday game, but then Raddysh took over and soaked up nearly 100% of the power play minutes on Monday and Tuesday.

In Tuesday's game, D'Astous potted a goal, and Hedman was ruled out from the game after just the first period – seems like he needs some more recovery time. Raddysh had gone pointless with Hedman back in the lineup for seven periods, but almost as soon as Hedman was ruled out from the game, Raddysh rung a laser in off the crossbar. He then proceeded to add another power play marker soon after. Hope you didn't drop him yet… or trade him like I did three weeks ago when Hedman was initially estimated to return.

With Erik Cernak and Ryan McDonagh still out there are some under heralded names getting some big minutes with the Bolts. Most notably, J.J. Moser has been thriving in a top-pair role, playing between 19 and 25 minutes in every game since the calendar turned to November, with some excellent possession metrics. He's also plus-12 in that 18-game span.

Up front, the group is also getting back to full health, and that has meant the first healthy scratch of the season for Gage Goncalves (seven points in 29 games). After the offensive outburst we then immediately saw against the Canadiens, things are likely to stay this way for a while.

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Josh Norris is up to seven points in five games, and while it's great to see him succeeding when he's on the ice, he missed last night's contest, which puts his short and long-term availability back in question. It is interesting to see that the effect that he was supposed to have on the Sabres' lineup – shifting Tage Thompson to wing so he could bring more offence – hasn't come to pass.

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Thompson is actually only has two points in five games with Norris in the lineup, and the two were moved apart for the majority of Monday night's game (which included a goal for Thompson). Peyton Krebs was lined up on left wing alongside Thompson to end Monday's game, and that continued with Tuesday's game as well. As long as he's getting that kind of deployment, he's one to watch.

Thompson meanwhile put up an even-strength goal and two power play assists. I’m not sure what he has against Josh Norris, but the Sabres should be looking into that.

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Sidney Crosby's assist last night brought him within five of Mario Lemieux's franchise mark for points. Mario incredibly did it in two-thirds the number of games.

The Penguins were looking like they were going to walk away with a regulation win against the Ducks, but a last second unassisted shorthanded goal by Beckett Sennecke (yes with 0:01 left on the clock), pushed the game into extra time, where the Ducks ended up taking home the extra point via a shootout.

Sennecke has a goal and an assist in each of his last three games, which coincidentally marks when Mikael Granlund returned to the lineup. Maybe that's freeing up some defensive responsibilities for the younger players, or maybe they're just taking flight regardless. Either way, Sennecke is now on pace for 71 points as a rookie, and looks like a stud in the making.

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Dylan Cozens was centering Brady Tkachuk and Drake Batherson last night, which led to a multi-point contest from all three of them. Tim Stutzle also put up a goal and an assist for the Sens, his first marker in seven games.

Arseny Gritsyuk and Connor Brown each had three points for the Devils in their win over Ottawa. Gritsyuk is the more notable one for fantasy, as he is still adjusting to the NHL game, and 30 games in he has 16 points to show for it. He has bounced around the lineup but has produced much more effectively in the top six. If he can stick consistently, get ready to buy-in on a big second half.

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One of my leagues was talking about three-headed goalie tandems the other day, and it's something I have noticed a fair bit this year. In previous seasons it has been a very rare occurrence, but this year there were a few factors that led to the sudden rise in goaltending trios.

Over the last few seasons, we have seen a shift towards a more balanced approach to goaltending workloads. We've adjusted in the fantasy sphere, and more often it means targeting the remaining workhorses, balancing volume versus better ratios and owning both players from a tandem more often than in the past. With the way the schedule has been compounded over the last few years, leading to more frequent injuries, handcuffing your starter has become more necessary. Nowadays, with the tight schedule, balanced workloads, and a rising cap landscape thrown into the mix, teams have room and interest in holding a third goalie.

Currently, the Sabres and Hurricanes are carrying three goalies, and perhaps Chicago soon as well with Laurent Brossoit. Seattle has carried three healthy goalies at times this year as well, and teams like Edmonton and Detroit have certainly considered it as well with their struggling tandem and options in the minors they could try. Plenty of other teams have reached for goalie number four on their depth charts due to injuries, this year, and we're really having to adjust as fantasy owners. It seems like something that we may see even more of in the coming years, as teams have more cap space with which to carry an extra player or two on their roster, and it's more useful to carry a third goalie rather than an extra fourth-line forward.

More so than in other years, I am finding myself carrying more goalies in order to find an advantage. Sometimes that has meant paying a bit more for a more established starter, while other times it has meant reaching into the FA pile to grab Colten Ellis and Dennis Hildeby. I have found some success with it, though it has meant being even more on top of goalies this year. The GoaliePost email notifications are a huge help to that, and keeping an eye on injuries and depth charts can get you ahead on the next streaming gem.

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I would expect more three-headed goalie monsters next year rather than less. Prepare accordingly.

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The other thing that has come with the sudden cap jump, is that teams are more able to lock in their players on contracts that appeal to the players, while also being manageable on the books for the GM. We're seeing more watered-down free agent crops because players don't have to hit the open market to get their ask, and because it's easier not to have to move your family across the country (or countries). Another ripple effect is that RFAs are getting long-term deals earlier, as their existing teams have to lock them up before A) the price inflates, and B) another team gets a chance to big on them with an offer-sheet (as more teams now have the cap room to use that weapon).

One team to watch over the next couple of months, is the Anaheim Ducks, who have both Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson coming up for new contracts. Up front, the Ducks have three different forwards making exactly $7 million a year for the next few seasons, while Jackson Lacombe's new $9 million cap hit will kick in next year. The top-tier forwards often make more than the top-end D-men (except in Nashville, New Jersey, and Buffalo), which indicates that the next contracts for Gauthier and Carlsson will likely have eight-digit cap hits.

Carlsson as the centre would have a case to make more than Gauthier, but negotiating with both can be tricky, and ideally the Ducks would probably like to find an identical number to fit for both. Logan Cooley and Martin Necas probably provide the bookends for the two players, meaning some $11 million cap hits would possibly work. It's not something the Ducks are going to want to drag into the summer though, and the term could be a sticking point with the players perhaps preferring to re-up to a higher number in five or six years rather than eight.

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Annual reminder that with the World Junior roster being released, there are lots of projected rosters out there a the moment, and now is the time to take a look at which top players are still available in your leagues, so you can buy-in now, have some added excitement while you watch, and then try to sell high in the weeks after the tournament.

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I was looking at the % Owned marker on Fantrax for my Cap League Dynasty, which can help provide a bit of an outside perspective on which of your players and prospects are held in higher regard. It helps sometimes to take the feeling out of it and see that someone you may have a soft spot for is the lowest owned player you have, and maybe it's actually worth looking at cutting bait.

One other thing I noticed with it, is that Aleksander Barkov is currently 60% owned in Fantrax, and as he should be held in just about every keeper and dynasty league right now, but wouldn't be rostered in single-season leagues, we can guess that about 60% of Fantrax leagues have some degree of keeper setup. Just in case that's a relevant conclusion for anyone else when evaluating players based on the ownership percentage of the masses.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean.