The Vancouver Canucks signed veteran defenseman Travis Hamonic to a professional tryout contract, the team announced Sunday.

Hamonic is traveling to Vancouver from Winnipeg and will have to partake in a seven-day quarantine before he can join training camp.

The 30-year-old entered the offseason as an unrestricted free agent after spending the last three seasons with the Calgary Flames. He was traded there from the New York Islanders before the 2017-18 campaign.

Hamonic has 637 games of NHL experience, racking up 188 points. If he secures a contract with Vancouver, he'd add some quality depth to the right side of its blue line.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins locked up defenseman John Marino with a six-year contract extension that carries an average annual value of $4.4 million, the team announced Sunday.

Marino, 23, has one season remaining on his entry-level contract, so the deal will kick in for the 2021-22 campaign.

"We are very fortunate to have a young, skilled defenseman like John in our organization," general manager Jim Rutherford said. "His rookie season proved he is a top-four defenseman with great hockey sense. We were impressed with his strong defensive play and look forward to watching him develop offensively."

The Edmonton Oilers drafted Marino in 2015. He then spent three seasons at Harvard before Edmonton dealt his rights to the Pens for a sixth-round pick prior to his rookie campaign in 2019-20.

Marino showed plenty of promise as an NHL freshman, registering 26 points in 56 games while averaging over 20 minutes per night.

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Dylan Cozens and Bowen Byram scored about three minutes apart in the first period and Connor McMichael added an empty-netter as Canada defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 in the quarterfinal round of the World Junior Championship in Edmonton on Saturday night.

The hosts join Russia and Finland in the semifinals, and either the United States or Slovakia, who face off later Saturday, will occupy the fourth spot.

Byram - named Canada's player of the game - and Cozens are serving as Canada's co-captains after Kirby Dach's tournament-ending injury.

The Czech Republic outshot Canada 29-25 - including an 11-6 margin during the third period - in the contest.

Canadian goaltender Devon Levi continued to excel at the tournament, stopping all 29 shots he faced.

The semifinals will be played Monday, followed by the gold- and bronze-medal games Tuesday.

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Dylan Cozens and Bowen Byram scored about three minutes apart in the first period and Connor McMichael added an empty-netter as Canada defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 in the quarterfinal round of the World Junior Championship in Edmonton on Saturday night.

The hosts join Russia and Finland in the semifinals, and either the United States or Slovakia, who face off later Saturday, will occupy the fourth spot.

Byram - named Canada's player of the game - and Cozens are serving as Canada's co-captains after Kirby Dach's tournament-ending injury.

The Czech Republic outshot Canada 29-25 - including an 11-6 margin during the third period - in the contest.

Canadian goaltender Devon Levi continued to excel at the tournament, stopping all 29 shots he faced.

The semifinals will be played Monday, followed by the gold- and bronze-medal games Tuesday.

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To prepare for the 2020-21 NHL season, theScore will be rolling out all the fantasy hockey advice you'll need to dominate your draft and win your league. Make sure to check back for updates right up until the regular season begins.

2020-21 Rankings

• Top 200

Breakouts, busts, sleepers

• Busts to avoid
• Sleepers to steal
• Bounce-back candidates (Jan. 7)
• Breakouts to target (Jan. 9)

Target or avoid

• Risky picks worth gambling on
• Tips for drafting in unique season
• Aging players you can still bank on (Jan. 3)
• Goalies to avoid (Jan. 4)
• Goalies who could become studs (Jan. 5)
• Players who will lead you to a title (Jan. 8)

Keeper/Dynasty leagues

• Rookies who will make an impact
• Players with long-term value (Jan. 6)

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The 2020-21 NHL season is going to be unlike any other. A temporary realignment, a condensed 56-game schedule, and COVID-19 factors will make this a unique year in most respects - and fantasy is no exception. Here are three tips for drafting in a bizarre campaign:

Target members of West Division powerhouses

The West Division is easily the weakest in hockey. Yes, the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, and Vegas Golden Knights are three of the best teams in the NHL, but the division's other clubs are five of the worst.

The Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks were all bottom-five teams last year, and they didn't do much to improve this offseason. The Arizona Coyotes and Minnesota Wild, meanwhile, both finished bottom 11 in points percentage in 2019-20.

Players such as Nathan MacKinnon, Mark Stone, and Torey Krug could all set career highs in points per game with 40 of 56 contests against the aforementioned basement-dwellers. The division is similarly promising for goalies Philipp Grubauer, Robin Lehner, and Jordan Binnington, who should all find it easier to collect wins than most netminders around the league.

You might be kicking yourself midway through the season if you don't have any players from the Avalanche, Golden Knights, or Blues on your roster.

Don't reach for goalies

Though the goaltenders listed above could have big seasons, it might not be wise to spend an early-round draft pick on a goalie. Teams have been platooning netminders with increased frequency in recent years, and that trend should only grow this season.

Under the campaign's format, most teams have a higher percentage of back-to-backs than usual. That means some backups will get more work than ever before, spreading the wealth in the fantasy goalie market.

The Montreal Canadiens, for example, have nine back-to-back sets in 56 games this year after they were scheduled for 12 in 82 games last season. Coronavirus-related postponements - as we've seen in the NFL and MLB - could potentially lead to even more.

The Canadiens also invested in a backup goalie this offseason, acquiring Jake Allen from the Blues. Allen is guaranteed nine starts this season, but he'll probably play closer to 20. Is it really worth drafting Carey Price in the early rounds when he may only play roughly 60% of his team's games? The answer is no.

The best strategy for drafting goalies this season is to scoop up a 1B with the potential to usurp the 1A. Consider Pavel Francouz in Colorado. Francouz actually outplayed Grubauer last season, and he could easily start half of the Avalanche's games this year.

Other goalies who fit this description include Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders, James Reimer of the Carolina Hurricanes, Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks, and Jaroslav Halak of the Boston Bruins. These goalies offer the best upside relative to draft position.

It can be tempting to take a goalie early, and a run on quality starters can typically start in the fourth or fifth round. But any netminder drafted in that range is unlikely to be as valuable as a similarly ranked skater. Stockpile three high-upside 1Bs, and you should be set between the pipes. If they don't pan out, it will still be relatively easy to stream free-agent goalies - depending on the size of your league.

Avoid injury concerns

In normal seasons, it can sometimes be smart to draft an injured player. You can get a valuable contributor later than you would if he was healthy, and you get him for the most crucial moments down the stretch and into the fantasy playoffs.

But that strategy could backfire this season. A shortened schedule means any player set to miss a month is out for a quarter of the season. If that player takes another month to hit his stride after missing training camp, he could be a non-factor for practically half the campaign.

This doesn't mean you should totally avoid someone like David Pastrnak, who isn't projected to return until mid-February, but it certainly isn't worth drafting him in the opening rounds. If you're comfortable with your team after your first five or six picks, then it might be time to consider him. Any earlier probably isn't a great idea.

Tyler Seguin, who isn't supposed to return until April, shouldn't be taken until the last few rounds.

Josh Wegman has been theScore's resident fantasy hockey expert since 2015. Find him on Twitter @JoshWegman_.

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After breaking down the NHL's top forward trios, we're shifting our focus to the league's best defensive pairings.

This exercise isn't designed to highlight the most talented individual defensemen. Instead, we're looking to establish the five most effective defensive pairings from a season ago, using both counting stats and advanced analytics.

For a tandem to be eligible, it must be intact for the upcoming campaign.

All stats are from five-on-five play during the 2019-20 regular season, with a minimum of 400 minutes played. League ranking is in parentheses.

TOI: Time on ice
CF%: Corsi For
GF%: Goals For
xGF%: Expected Goals For
HDCF%= High Danger Chances For

5. Jamie Oleksiak-Miro Heiskanen

Heiskanen's breakout campaign and Oleksiak's bounce-back season occurred at the perfect time for the Dallas Stars. The pair were sensational at both ends of the ice, with their play helping to lift the Stars from postseason contenders to Stanley Cup finalists.

Oleksiak's size, grit, and defensive acumen blends perfectly with Heiskanen's elite skating and puck-moving ability. The former struggled to find his place following his arrival in Dallas at the 2018 trade deadline, but Oleksiak rebounded after starting the 2019-20 season in the Stars' system. His strengths allow Heiskanen to roam the ice and contribute offensively while not worrying about being burned defensively.

The only thing keeping the pair from being higher on this list is relatively low usage. However, Heiskanen and Oleksiak would have cracked the 500-minute mark over an 82-game slate, and the sample size of play from the two is large enough to prove their performance is no fluke.

4. Jeff Petry-Brett Kulak

The Canadiens rewarded Petry with a splashy four-year, $25-million pact after he put together perhaps the best season of his career at age 33. Meanwhile, Kulak's offensive production dropped, but he took a leap defensively and recorded some of the best metrics of his career at that end of the ice.

The pair made a major impact at both ends, finishing with a leading share of high-danger chances and a second-ranked expected goals share. However, Montreal's lackluster offense - which produced a 25th-ranked shooting percentage (7.49%) at even strength - didn't yield the results the duo's strong play warranted.

The pairing also controlled possession. Petry and Kulak owned the best Corsi For among all blue-line duos, with a convincing amount of play taking place in the offensive zone when the two were patrolling the ice.

3. Jared Spurgeon-Ryan Suter

Suter and Spurgeon have been the backbone of a strong Minnesota Wild blue line for years, and the veteran duo doesn't appear to be slowing down despite logging heavy minutes.

The pairing ranked fourth in ice time together and eighth while shorthanded this past season. The high-level play from Suter and Spurgeon was even more significant considering the woeful state of Minnesota's goaltending in 2019-20. The Wild ranked 29th in save percentage (.897), and the pairing still outperformed its expected share of goals for at five-on-five.

The tandem also produced strong possession numbers because the two are remarkably responsible with the puck. Spurgeon and Suter were two of just eight defensemen to register under one turnover per 60 minutes of ice time last season (minimum 35 games played).

2. Dougie Hamilton-Jaccob Slavin

Hamilton may have missed extended time, but there's no denying the Hurricanes' top duo produced quality work last season. Slavin cemented his status as one of the league's top two-way defensemen, while Hamilton established himself as a perennial Norris Trophy candidate.

The pairing is perfect for the Hurricanes' possession-oriented system, as Hamilton and Slavin are both quality skaters for their size (6-foot-6 and 6-foot-3, respectively), and they're strong at both ends of the ice. The duo is one of just two ranked in the top 10 in all four of the advanced stat categories applied here.

Each player took a major step, too. Slavin led the league with 81 takeaways while pouring in career highs in assists (30) and points (36) despite the shortened season. Hamilton, meanwhile, was on pace for a personal-best 24 goals and 70 points over a full 82-game campaign.

1. Roman Josi-Ryan Ellis

If you were starting a team tomorrow and needed to choose an active defensive tandem, it would be tough to pass on the Predators' star pairing.

Josi, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, is one of the world's top blue-liners, while Ellis is somehow still among the most underrated. Nashville's 50 goals scored with Ellis and Josi on the ice at five-on-five ranked second among all defensive tandems, even with the former missing 20 games due to a concussion. Before Ellis suffered his injury, the pairing was on pace to rank No. 1 in that department by a mile.

The duo dominated in every advanced metric, too, finishing in the top six in all four categories while eating a ton of minutes. Josi finished third among all skaters in average ice time (25:47) while Ellis finished 22nd (23:30).

Analytics source: (Natural Stat Trick)

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