A dominant run of play has put the Washington Capitals back atop the latest Stanley Cup odds list.

The Capitals - who won 12 of 15 games in January - now sit first in the NHL standings, and by extension have the best odds of being the last team standing in the playoffs, according to Bodog.

Also of note on the list below: the St. Louis Blues - who fired head coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday - dropped well down, while the Toronto Maple Leafs made a bit of a leap.

The Capitals, of course, won the Presidents' Trophy last season but were bumped from the playoffs in the second round by Pittsburgh.

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The situation behind St. Louis' bench this season was a bit odd to begin with.

Early in the offseason, the Blues added Mike Yeo - former head coach of the Minnesota Wild - to serve as an assistant to longtime bench boss Ken Hitchcock. There was nothing odd about that, except for the fact it was concurrently announced that Yeo would take over for Hitchcock at the end of 2016-17.

The best laid plans often go awry, as they say, and on Wednesday the club decided to expedite the succession process, relieving Hitchcock of his duties and promoting Yeo to the head coach position effective immediately.

And so ends a successful run for one of the NHL's most experienced head coaches.

The move comes with the Blues sitting in the Western Conference's second wild-card spot, albeit with a record of 24-21-5 and a minus-16 goal differential with 32 games remaining on the schedule. This after St. Louis finished third in the league last season with 107 points before advancing to the Western Conference Final, where they lost to San Jose in six games.

So what went wrong?

It doesn't take too much digging to see one of the major issues that plagued Hitchcock this season, and that Yeo will now have to contend with.

Following the trade of Brian Elliott to Calgary, the goaltending duties were handed to Jake Allen, with Carter Hutton brought in to serve as backup. The results to date have been disastrous.

These numbers come in a season where the Blues are allowing the fifth-fewest shots per game (27.6), but also the third-most goals per game (3.12). Looking a bit deeper, they rank fifth with a Corsi rating of 51.68 in five-on-five play, and 28th in save percentage (90.67) in the same situation.

In other words, they're regularly recording more shot attempts than the opposition, but simply unable to keep the puck out of their own net.

That imbalance - in conjunction with a slightly above average 11th-ranked offense in terms of goals per game - is enough to make even the best of coaches want to tear their hair out.

This falls largely on Allen, to whom general manager Doug Armstrong handed a six-year contract extension worth $17.4 million based on the belief he could carry the load as a bona fide starting goalie. It wasn't without merit, as Allen started 44 games for the Blues last season, posting a .920 save percentage.

The 26-year-old, however, has taken a big step back, costing Hitchcock his job and leaving Yeo hoping he can turn things around, and fast.

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Follow theScore's fantasy feed on Twitter (@theScoreFantasy) for the latest news, features and more. And download Squad Up, theScore's free-to-win-money sports game.

Here is a look at the Squad Up daily NHL fantasy picture for Wednesday, Feb. 1:

Dynamic Duos

• C Jeff Carter (62K) & LW Tanner Pearson (49K), Kings (vs. Avalanche): The Avalanche surrender a league-high 3.4 goals against per game. Carter is tied for second in the league with 24 goals, yet he remains relatively affordable.

• C Nicklas Backstrom (55K) & LW Alex Ovechkin (74K), Capitals (vs. Bruins): Bruins G Tuukka Rask has a save percentage of just .869 in his last nine games. Knowing Ovechkin will take a healthy amount of shots each game, he is bound to find twine at least once.

• C Eric Staal (39K) & RW Nino Niederreiter (41K), Wild (at Flames): The Flames have lost four of their last five games, surrendering at least four goals in all four of those losses. Minnesota is on the second of a back-to-back while Calgary hasn't played since Jan. 26, but it's still tough to ignore the bargain of Staal.

Bargain Plays

• G Devan Dubnyk (75K), Wild (at Flames): The Wild may have played last night, but Dubnyk did not. The road matchup against a rested team is likely the reasoning he is just 75K, but the guy is a near lock to win the Vezina Trophy. Don't overthink this.

• LW Matthew Tkachuk (29K), Flames (vs. Wild): Tkachuk is having a fantastic rookie season with 31 points. He has additional value in Squad Up thanks to his 92 PIMs and 51 hits. A matchup with Dubnyk is daunting, but he can return value in other ways.

• C Frank Vatrano (29K), Bruins (at Capitals): Vatrano has just eight points in 18 games this year, but he is averaging nearly three shots per game. He has also chipped in with 25 hits. The matchup is tough, but bargain plays are limited on a three-game slate.

Top Fades

• C Patrice Bergeron (53K), Bruins (at Capitals): Bergeron isn't having the type of offensive season to which we've become accustomed. Yet, he is still priced like a valuable offensive fantasy asset. His main priority will be shutting down Ovechkin and Co., so don't expect much offensive production.

• RW Kris Versteeg (40K), Flames (vs. Wild): To be frank, Versteeg has done absolutely nothing to warrant a salary of 40K, especially with a matchup against Dubnyk and the first-place Wild.

• D Jake Muzzin (38K), Kings (vs. Avalanche): Even against the lowly Avalanche, it's not worth investing 38K in Muzzin with cheaper options who can provide the same results.

Contrarian Options

• LW Johnny Gaudreau (64K), Flames (vs. Wild): The Flames are the only team on Wednesday's slate who didn't play last night. Gaudreau and his high salary will be faded by most against Dubnyk, but Johnny Hockey is by far the most dangerous offensive talent Calgary has to offer.

• C Anze Kopitar (72K), Kings (vs. Avalanche): Carter is having a better season and comes cheaper than Kopitar, so the Slovenian's ownership will surely be down despite the great matchup. He has 10 points in his last nine games.

• RW David Backes (36K), Bruins (at Capitals): Backes is averaging just 0.5 points per game, but he makes up for it with 115 shots, 121 hits, 54 PIMs and a surprising 32 blocks for a forward. Any points he can muster up would be a huge bonus.

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Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand will reportedly not face discipline for a dangerous trip on Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman.

The incident, for which Marchand was not penalized, took place during Tuesday's game between the two clubs:

On Jan. 26, Marchand was fined $10,000 for a dangerous trip on Detroit's Niklas Kronwall.

Based on this apparent decision, Marchand - who sits fifth in NHL scoring with 51 points - will be in the lineup when Boston plays Washington on Wednesday.

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Mike Yeo was next in line, but he'll be taking over sooner than originally planned.

The St. Louis Blues have dismissed head coach Ken Hitchcock and named Yeo his immediate replacement, general manager Doug Armstrong announced Wednesday.

When Yeo was hired as associate coach last summer, Armstrong initially said the former Minnesota Wild head coach would succeed Hitchcock as Blues' bench boss after this season and "for three years after that."

St. Louis has lost five of its last six games and sits dead-last in the NHL with a team save percentage of .887, according to Corsica Hockey.

Hitchcock led the Blues to the playoffs in each of his five previous seasons behind the bench, but their run to the Western Conference Final last spring was the furthest he'd take them.

He was named Blues head coach following the firing of Davis Payne early in the 2011-12 campaign.

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The Vancouver Canucks are staying the course.

Despite sitting one point out of a Western Conference wild-card spot, team president Trevor Linden confirmed the club won't deviate from a plan designed around sustained, as opposed to short-term, success.

"There's no question we won't be in the rental-player market, regardless of what (the playoff picture) looks like," Linden said Tuesday on TSN 1040. "If there's an opportunity ... with a young player that we feel is an upgrade, we'll certainly look at that. But there will be no situation where we'll go and mortgage any future pieces to make a playoff push."

That said, general manager Jim Benning could still be active in advance of the NHL's March 1 trade deadline.

"If it make sense on the whole philosophy of getting younger and developing then we'll do that," Linden said, "but we'll see how the second half plays out."

The Canucks have posted a 23-21-6 record through 50 games with a minus-21 goal differential, and are already without their fifth- and sixth-round draft picks in 2017.

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