While it's unknown what the package for Marner would have included, his situation would have been a lot murkier than Rantanen's.

The hot streak comes at at perfect time for Matthews and the United States. The center, who grew up in Arizona, will join Team United States for the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20 and begin play against Team Finland at Bell Centre on Feb. 13 (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).

The countdown to the trade deadline heated up last last week when the Carolina Hurricanes swung a blockbuster deal to land both Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks.

Adam Fantilli scored three goals for his first career hat trick, Elvis Merzlikins stopped 29 shots, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have performed about as reasonably expected in their first 50 games with Craig Berube.

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are scheduled and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups.

Bobby McMann has been amazing for the Buds this season, and our Maple Leafs vs. Senators predictions take him to get a point tonight.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators reignite the battle of Ontario on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

The Maple Leafs have placed John Tavares on injured reserve with a lower-body injury that he suffered in practice

BOTTOM LINE: The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota Wild hit the ice in a non-conference matchup. Toronto is 19-10-0 at home and 30-18-2 overall. The Maple Leafs have a 13-5-1 record when scoring a power-play goal.

On his latest episode of The Daily Faceoff Rundown, Frank Seravalli revealed that the Hurricanes inquired about Mitch Marner before trading for Mikko Rantanen.

Auston Matthews has had a ton of success against Columbus in his career, and our Maple Leafs vs. Blue Jackets predictions expect that to continue tonight.