Back from Holiday Break

It's been a while since the last update, and yes, I realize that I've missed weekly updates for both the Erie Otters and the Portland Winterhawks. To that end, here is what has been missed since the last update:

• The Erie Otters will be getting Connor McDavid back after he missed time due to injury and the World Junior Championships.  McDavid had a slow start to his WJC tournament, but he got better as the tournament went on, helping Team Canada to gold in a tournament where the true stars of the team included the likes of Max Domi, Sam Reinhart, and Curtis Lazar.
• McDavid will be rejoining the team and will have to get familiar with a couple of new faces, as the Otters acquired Jake Marchment and Remi Elie from Belleville.
• The Portland Winterhawks get Nic Petan back this week from the WJCs, where he tallied a hat trick in the semi-final game against Slovakia.  He too, will have to get familiar with a couple of new faces, as Adam Henry was acquired from Saskatoon while Evan Johnson was acquired from Calgary in a deal that saw Brendan Burke go the other way.
• The soap opera that is the Toronto Maple Leafs took another turn, as Randy Carlyle was fired this week and Peter Horachek was named interim coach.  No need to rehash the many issues that the Leafs have faced here, as it's ongoing.
• Over the holiday break, the New Jersey Devils did a little house cleaning of their own, relieving Peter DeBoer of the coaching duties, and taking over in the interim is Lou Lamoriello, with Scott Stevens and Adam Oates handling assistant coach duties on defense and offense, respectively.  Yes, you've heard this story before, as Lamoriello is coming down from the press box to take over as coach again...while still being employed as General Manager.
• The Edmonton Oilers fired Dallas Eakins and Todd Nelson is now the interim coach.  Oh, and the Oilers are still stinking up the joint while the front office group is somehow still employed.
• The WHL trade deadline is this Saturday, and some big names are getting moved, with Morgan Klimchuk jumping from Regina to rival Brandon, Brycen Martin going from Swift Current to Saskatoon, Tyler Sandhu heading to Tri-City from Red Deer, and Kelowna loading up for a deep playoff run, acquiring Josh Morrissey and Leon Draisaitl from Prince Albert.

There is plenty of hockey movement going about, and with the All-Star game in Columbus looming, it's just getting started.