Fantasy Forecast for Tuesday, October 27

Tuesday marks the debut of the weekly fantasy segment on the Verizon All-Access Pregame Show, which can only be found on the NHL Network. Catch host Rob Simpson and me, your Fantasy Forecaster, with player tips to help your fantasy squad.

MONDAY'S ROUNDUP:

I can't believe I'm writing about another injury to another fantasy superstar. Ilya Kovalchuk of the Thrashers is out for three to five weeks with a broken bone in his right foot suffered last Saturday. He was struck by a puck during the first period of a loss against San Jose.

"Injuries are a part of the game," GM Don Waddell said. "It's very disappointing for Kovy and for us to lose him."

Kovalchuk (8 games, 9-1-10, owned in 99 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) is one goal behind Anze Kopitar of Los Angeles for the League lead.

"It's never good when you lose your best player, top scorer, captain," teammate Zach Bogosian told the Journal Constitution. "There is not much we can do about it. We just have to come together as a team and step up. That's the bottom line. Everyone has to help out. It will be a big loss for us."
It's worth noting that after Kovalchuk's injury last Saturday against San Jose, rookie Evander Kane joined Nik Antropov and Maxim Afinogenov on the top line. To replace Kovalchuk on the roster, not that you can truly fill his shoes, the Thrashers recalled journeyman forward Jason Krog from Chicago of the American Hockey League. He had 1 goal and 6 assists in eight games for the Wolves.

Fantasy owners of Marian Gaborik (12, 10-8-18, 99 percent) should be concerned that the Rangers star winger left Monday's victory against Phoenix early with what he called a lower-body injury. He went to the locker room with 8:47 to play in the third period and New York leading by three goals. "The game at that point [was in control], so there was no reason [to play him]," coach John Tortorella said. Gaborik scored twice -- both on the power play -- and is now tied with Anze Kopitar for the League lead with 10 goals. We should learn more about Gaborik's condition following Tuesday's practice.

At Monday's practice in Washington, Alexander Semin returned from an illness and coach Bruce Boudreau used the occasion to reunite his top line of Semin, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, according to the Washington Post. Boudreau also reunited the No. 2 line of Brooks Laich, Brendan Morrison and Mike Knuble.

"I really like the idea of having the two lines with two real threats because if you check Alex then you have [the other] Alex [to check]," coach Bruce Boudreau said.

Check out this informative story from staff writer Brian Compton on several rookies that are off to flying starts for their teams. Maybe a few are still available in your fantasy league.

The Red Wings are not playing, well, like the Red Wings, so coach Mike Babcock has some changes in mind according to the Detroit News. At Monday's practice he put Valtteri Filppula at center on a No. 2 line with Todd Bertuzzi and Dan Cleary. Kris Draper was on the No. 3 line with Ville Leino and Jason Williams. The top line remains Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg. "I don't know what I am going to do yet and that's the truth," Babcock said. "This last while Fil's line has been good but we're not scoring enough goals. You have to score goals to win and we have to find a way to win.

"You know, sometimes when you are playing you think you are doing a lot of good things, but so what? You've got to get some points."

On Tuesday, the Wings visit Vancouver and will face former teammate Mikael Samuelsson.

Do the Canadiens have a goalie controversy? Should fantasy owners of Carey Price (2-4-0, 3.36 GAA, 76 percent) be concerned? Montreal has won four straight, all with backup goalie Jaroslav Halak (4-1-0, 2.28 GAA, 27 percent) in net. Two of the wins have come in overtime, one in a shootout. "It's not me, it's the team," Halak told the Montreal Gazette.
"I've said all along that we need two goaltenders and we're going to take it one game at a time," coach Jacques Martin said.

The Ottawa Citizen reports Filip Kuba could make his return to the lineup for the Senators on Wednesday against Florida. The offensive defenseman hasn't played since the season-opener, missing eight games with a lower-body injury. Coach Cory Clouston is hoping Kuba (1, 0-0-0, 20 percent), who had 23 power-play assists last season, can help a struggling man-advantage unit. At practice on Monday, Ottawa spent an hour working on power play drills with Kuba at the point. Highly-touted rookie defenseman Erik Karlsson (9, 0-3-3, 2 percent) was demoted to AHL Binghamton.

The Flyers suspect struggling winger Simon Gagne may have an injury and are having him checked out. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gagne (99, 1-4-5, 95 percent) played one shift in the third period of Sunday's 4-1 loss against San Jose and probably will miss Tuesday's contest at Washington with lower-body soreness. Gagne had an ultrasound on Monday to try to find out whether his problem is related to the surgery to his right hip in the offseason, or connected to the groin injury he suffered in the summer and re-aggravated during Canada Olympic Orientation camp. "He was having an issue and didn't feel he had the power to skate there; we didn't think he could play up to the level we need him to play, so we just held him back," coach John Stevens said.
Without Gagne at practice, forward lines were Daniel Briere-Jeff Carter-James van Riemsdyk; Mike Richards-Scott Hartnell-Mika Pyorala; Arron Asham-Claude Giroux-Dan Carcillo; Darroll Powe-Riley Cote-Ian Laperriere.

Canucks rookie winger Michael Grabner (6, 2-3-5, 4 percent) has a modest three-game point streak and goals in two of his last three games. Chances are, he's available in your fantasy league as a free agent pickup and is worth a flier. Vancouver's Web site has Grabner listed as the No. 2 left wing on a line with Mason Raymond and Ryan Kesler.

TUESDAY'S PROJECTED GOALIES:

Philadelphia (Ray Emery) at Washington (Jose Theodore), 7:00 p.m. ET
Colorado (Craig Anderson) at Edmonton (Nikolai Khabibulin), 9:30 p.m. ET
Detroit (Chris Osgood) at Vancouver (Roberto Luongo), 10:00 p.m. ET

RECENT INJURIES:

David Booth, LW, Florida: Is day-to-day with a concussion.
Ryan Carter, C, Anaheim:  Is day-to-day with a foot injury.
Radek Dvorak, RW, Florida:  Is day-to-day with a knee injury.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, G, Anahiem:  Is day-to-day with a groin strain.
Tim Gleason, D, Carolina:  Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Kim Johnsson, C, Minnesota: Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
D.J. King, LW, St. Louis:  Will be sidelined 8-10 weeks with a fracture/dislocation of the right hand.
Ilya Kovalchuk, LW, Atlanta:  Will be sidelined three to five weeks with a broken bone in his right foot.
Toni Lydman, D, Buffalo: Is day-to-day with a groin strain.
Paul Martin, D, New Jersey:  Is out 4-6 weeks with a broken left arm.
Cody McLeod , LW, Colorado:  Placed on injured reserve with an eye injury.
Milan Michalek, LW, Ottawa:  Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Matt Niskanen, D, Dallas:  Is day-to-day with a head injury.
T.J. Oshie, C, St. Louis: Is out two weeks following emergency appendectomy surgery.
Jay Pandolfo, LW, New Jersey:  Is out 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury.
Brent Seabrook, D, Chicago:  Is day-to-day with a concussion.
Devin Setoguchi, RW, San Jose:  Is day-to-day with a leg injury.
Jonathan Toews, C, Chicago: Is day-to-day with a concussion.
Darcy Tucker, LW, Colorado: Placed on injured reserve with a concussion.
Kyle Wellwood, C, Vancouver:  Is day-to-day with a broken toe.
Justin Williams, RW, Los Angeles:  Is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

TRANSACTIONS:

NHL:  Suspended Dallas Stars center Steve Ott for two games.
Anaheim Ducks:  Recalled G Justin Pogge from Bakersfield (ECHL). Assigned D Luca Sbisa to Lethbridge of the Western Hockey League.
Atlanta Thrashers:  Recalled F Jason Krog from Chicago (AHL).
Chicago Blackhawks:  Reassigned C Jake Dowell to Rockford (AHL).
Colorado Avalanche:  Placed RW Darcy Tucker on the injured reserve. Recalled F Chris Durno from Lake Erie (AHL).
Florida Panthers:  Recalled LW Kenndal McArdle and RW Michal Repik from Rochester (AHL).
Minnesota Wild:  Recalled G Anton Khudobin from Houston (AHL).
Nashville Predators:  Recalled F Mike Santorelli from Milwaukee (AHL), and reassigned F Ryan Jones to Milwaukee.
New Jersey Devils:  Recalled D Cory Murphy from Lowell (AHL).
Ottawa Senators:  Assigned D Erik Karlsson to Binghamton (AHL).
St. Louis Blues:  Recalled F Yan Stastny from Peoria (AHL).
Toronto Maple Leafs:  Reassigned G James Reimer to Toronto (AHL).

NHL.COM EXPERTS LEAGUE:

Week 4 results through Oct. 26
Rocky Trottier 0 vs. Big Skillets O'BKLYN 9 (2 ties)
Skoula Hard Knocks 8 vs. Philly Cheesestakes 1 (2 ties)
Clown Shoes 6 vs. Hammerhead United 3 (2 ties)
Hempstead Slowpokes 6 vs. Code Monkeys 3 (2 ties)
The Birdcage 8 vs. No Shanahan-igans 1 (2 ties)
Ovi's Heroes 1 vs. Out on a Dan Hinote 6 (4 ties)

EMAIL OF THE DAY:

Just wondering if I should get rid of Bobby Ryan while I still have a chance at getting Patrick Sharp.
-- Todd

No way! Stop the insanity Todd, the Ducks have played only 10 games. Fifty-seven points in 64 games last year was no fluke, and Ryan (10, 2-2-4) is not a No. 2 Entry Draft bust at all. He's just off to a slow start, same as other stars (Vincent Lecavalier, Ryan Getzlaf). I haven't seen much of the Ducks this year, so I can't pretend to tell you what is ailing Ryan, but I recalled a story I wrote near the start of the season on every team's top line. Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle spoke of his plan to have the No. 1 unit of Ryan, Getzlaf and Corey Perry also act as his shut-down checking line, citing their stellar defensive work in last season's playoffs.

"Historically we've played a checking line," Carlyle said. "With the emergence of Getzlaf, Perry and last year Bobby Ryan, we felt we could play those guys up against anybody's so-called No. 1 line in the League. That's a steppingstone. Are they going to be able to do it this year? Well, we're going to wait and see, but we think they're capable of doing that."

Perhaps this added responsibility is hampering Ryan in the early going. I'm just speculating, but the scenario does make sense.

Sharp (11, 5-5-10) is a good player, but Ryan is a special talent. Give him some more time, please.

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