Lining Up: Value Jump for Yurov and Eriksson Ek; Chernyshov’s Opportunity; Bigger Role for Nazar
Happy Tuesday everyone!
I hope everyone has all (or most) of their holiday shopping finished and can sit back and relax the rest of the year without the last minute stress!
We have a number of games this week to enjoy so there are only two days that we’ll consider light days. There are five teams that play on both of these light days (Wednesday and Friday) and those squads are the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, Utah Mammoth, and Winnipeg Jets.
One player I would look at to stream this week would be Cody Glass on the Devils. They have a number of injuries that have given Glass the opportunity for more ice time and he has responded with four points in his last four games. They also happen to play two teams that are bottom 10 in team save percentage and he has fired 11 shots on goal in those four contests.
New Jersey plays the Vegas Golden Knights (the team that drafted Glass) on Wednesday, a team that just shut them out two weeks ago, so there are a couple of revenge factors for the former first round selection to take into consideration.
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We had a big bomb of a trade happen last Friday evening when the Vancouver Canucks sent their captain, Quinn Hughes, to the Minnesota Wild for three youngsters (Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, and Liam Ohgren) and a future first round selection in 2026.
On the Minnesota side, even though Rossi had been out for a month prior to the trade, one player I can see benefiting from his departure is Danila Yurov. He has been skating with Kirill Kaprizov recently and before Rossi got hurt, that was his spot in the lineup. Now this opens a full time opportunity for Yurov to stay with his Russian brethren and the opportunity to stay in the lineup now that two full time forwards are gone.
Another player this move should help is Joel Eriksson Ek. He is on a heater right now, with seven points in his last four games, but without Rossi in the lineup he had registered 12 points in 15 contests. If you can talk his current owner into moving him, I’d jump on that at the right price.
Joel Eriksson Ek, last week’s 3rd star, is going to be 🔥moving forward.
Before the Rossi injury: 11 points in 18 games. After: 12 in 15. And now Rossi is with Vancouver.
JEE owners are ecstatic. pic.twitter.com/LcJfJ3PFqP
— Dobber (@DobberHockey) December 15, 2025
On the Canucks side, Buium and Rossi are must adds for the time being. Rossi started on the top line with Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk, while Buium has already been handed the QB keys to the top power-play unit. Vancouver management moved Hughes with a year and a half left on his contract, so these two players that they received in return are viewed as main centerpieces and they will be given plenty of opportunities to succeed.
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The San Jose Sharks placed Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev on the injured reserve with upper-body injuries so both will be out for at least one week. That leaves a lot of ice time on the table for someone to grab and one player who should be given that opportunity is Igor Chernyshov, whom the Sharks called up on Monday. The first pick in the second round of the 2024 entry draft, Chernyshov has impressed in his first full season in the AHL. He received AHL Rookie of the Month honors in November and has 23 points in 25 games this campaign.
The Sharks are a team that relies on their young guns and the 20-year-old Russian forward is coming in with a lot of confidence, so he could hit the ground running (or would we say “hit the ice skating” in this instance?).
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Another young player, and someone that is turning into the face of the league, Connor Bedard, was dealt an upper body injury as well and the Blackhawks have said he will be reevaluated again after the new year. This leaves a big hole in their lineup for at least the next 10 games, possibly more. Nick Lardis was called up and he is having a nice start to his pro career (26 points in 24 games in the AHL), but he certainly is not going to fill that void. No one will.
We don’t have a ton of evidence yet, but in their first game without Bedard, the lines were shuffled like crazy. I would personally try to avoid the Blackhawks for the next few weeks, but if I had to pick a couple of guys who could step up in Bedard’s absence, it would be Frank Nazar and Ryan Donato.
Nazar led Team USA to a gold medal at the IIHF Men’s World Championship back in May and was the American leader in goals with six and tied for most points on the squad with 12 so he has that ability to take control and lead a team. Donato is coming off a season where he doubled his career best in points (62). The Blackhawks gave him a new contract last year so while he isn’t producing at the rate they were expecting, a lot of ice time just opened up so he’ll be given the opportunity to prove that he is worth his latest extension.
I hope everyone has a great week and if you need any fantasy questions answered (or ideas for your white elephant gift exchange) hit me up on X @LAM1926.
