Happy Tuesday y'all! I hope you had a nice holiday break. I'm back on the grind as the family gets back to school after having the last two weeks off. It was tough to wake up yesterday morning, but we survived. Now is the time to start making the push for your fantasy playoffs as the NHL regular season is halfway through and we only have about two/two and a half months before our fantasy playoffs start depending on your league format. If you have a start/sit question or looking to bounce a trade idea off someone, make sure to message me on Twitter @LAM1926. 

—-

A couple of big returns to organizations have us excited for this new year!

We got a welcomed return to our fantasy lineups last week when Jack Eichel hit the ice for the Vegas Golden Knights. Prior to his injury, he had skated in 31 games and put up 42 points, but has only registered one assist in his two games since returning. While his return is great for managers who drafted him, it is one less spot in the lineup for one of our free agent darlings this season, Braeden Bowman. The undrafted winger had 11 points in 16 games with Eichel in the lineup, but only two points in the seven games without him. 

In Eichel's second game back, Bowman got the health bomb and was stuck in the press box while Eichel reunited with Ivan Barbashev and Mark Stone. Vegas does have a number of players going to the Olympics, so watch out for his name again come February/March when those skaters have maintenance days. Come fantasy playoff time, he could be a nice deep play once he replaces an inevitable Stone injury.

Like I just mentioned, Barbashev is back on the top line with Eichel fully healthy, and Barby is only 36% owned in Yahoo leagues so double check your waiver wire. He is a good contributor across the board, the only thing you shouldn't rely on with him would be powerplay production as Vegas' top unit is stacked.

—

Another top line player that is expected back very soon is Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers. Per Jameson Olive, the American winger is traveling with the team on their upcoming six-game road trip.

Tkachuk played most of last season with Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett, but that is currently where Brad Marchand plays. Whether the coaching staff decides to reunite that trio or not, it will probably spell the end of Eetu Luostarinen's time in the top six. He has been a solid player in deeper leagues, especially ones that count peripheral stats like hits and blocks.

Another Panther, Seth Jones, was deemed week-to-week after suffering an injury in the Winter Classic. Aaron Ekblad could see some extra man advantage time in the immediate future, but I feel when Tkachuk returns, they'll go with five forwards on the number one unit.

—

Looking ahead to waiver streams, we have two teams that have three light day schedules this week and those two are the Utah Mammoth and Washington Capitals.

I don't typically mention defensemen on here, but Sean Durzi on the Mammoth should be streamed this week if he is available in your league. Only 14% owned on Yahoo, he has nine points in his last 10 games, with 21 shots on goal and 17 blocks in that same time period. With Utah playing on every off night this week, he should be an easy fit into your lineup unless your league only dresses two defensemen.

Looking at the Capitals, the player I am looking to stream is Justin Sourdif (before his big game last night!). We have seen an uptick in his ice time as he averaged over 16:30 in the month of December with a minute on the power play. In a small sample in the new year these past three games, he has averaged over 17 minutes and has seven points. He has been united with two first round picks in Connor McMichael and Ryan Leonard, and the trio seem to have found instant chemistry.

During the offseason, the Capitals traded a second(!) and a sixth-round pick for Sourdif, so management obviously likes the player and with the draft capital they gave up for him, we knew he was going to be playing. Until Pierre-Luc Dubois comes back from injury, Sourdif might be a player we hold as he has taken grasp of his opportunity. 

—

If you need someone at the end of the week, I'd take a look at Alex Iafallo if you are in a deep league. He plays against his former team, the LA Kings, on Friday and then against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. Both games are at home, and he was recently upgraded to the team's top powerplay group and was taking shifts with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor in their previous game.

Good luck to everyone this week and make it a great one!