Fantasy Forecast for Wednesday, October 28

View the video clip of the weekly fantasy segment from the Verizon All-Access Pregame Show, which also can be found on the NHL Network. Host Rob Simpson and I, your Fantasy Forecaster, offer Hot and Not players to help your fantasy squad.

TUESDAY'S ROUNDUP:

Marian Gaborik of the Rangers, the NHL's third-leading scorer, will miss Wednesday's game at the New York Islanders.

Gaborik (12 games, 10-8-18, owned in 99 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) was held out of Tuesday's practice with what the team is describing as an undisclosed injury. Gaborik, who was re-evaluated Wednesday before the decision to hold him out of the contest, reiterated the injury is nothing major and "not related to any issues he's had in the past" with his groin and hips.

"I collided with one of (Phoenix's) players, but it's nothing major," Gaborik told the Minneapolis Star Tribune a day earlier. "It happened with about five minutes left and the game was pretty much over."

"He got into a collision (with Petr Prucha near the boards) late in the game -- he was a little sore and we just got him off the ice," said coach John Tortorella, who declined to be more specific about Gaborik's injury.

Gaborik never has played a full, 82-game season.

After Wednesday's game, the Rangers travel to Minnesota to face the Wild, Gaborik's old team, on Friday.

The Canadiens will give a fifth consecutive start to backup goalie Jaroslav Halak on Wednesday at Pittsburgh. Incumbent starter Carey Price understands the team is opting to ride the hot hand, but fantasy owners of Price (2-4-0, 3.36 GAA, 76 percent) shouldn’t like the fact that their goaltender is giving way seemingly without a fight. "Everybody wants to play, but when the team's doing well you have to think of the team first and that's what I'm doing right now," Price said. "(Halak's) on a streak right now. He's been playing well, so he deserves his playing time." Halak (4-1-0, 2.28 GAA, 29 percent) has a four-game win streak for Montreal.

On Tuesday, Detroit backup goaltender Jimmy Howard posted his first victory of the season in a 5-4 win at Vancouver. Howard (1-2-0, 3.03 GAA, 5 percent) became the third goalie this season to pick up a victory in relief of a starter. Chris Osgood (3-2-2, 3.41 GAA, 91 percent) allowed two goals on four shots and was pulled only 7:05 into the first period. Howard stopped 20 of 22 shots and joined Chicago's Antti Niemi and Washington's Semyon Varlamov in the vulture win category.

If you're wondering, through 154 total games played thus far, teams have pulled their starting goaltender 24 times, either due to ineffectiveness or injury. Nashville, Washington, Vancouver, Florida, Atlanta, Anaheim and Detroit have done so twice.

Left wing Simon Gagne (9, 1-4-5, 95 percent) of the Flyers is out indefinitely after it was discovered Tuesday that he has two small hernias. "Simon Gagne was examined (Tuesday) by Dr. Alan Schurict from Pennsylvania Hospital after an ultrasound procedure found two small hernias in Simon's right groin area," GM Paul Holmgren said in a statement. "Our medical staff will meet with Simon (Wednesday) afternoon to discuss all options."

Without Gagne for Tuesday's 4-2 loss at Washington, the Flyers' top two lines were, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, Mike Richards centering Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell, and Jeff Carter between James van Riemsdyk and Daniel Briere.

The reunited top line of Alex Ovechkin (2-0-2), Nicklas Backstrom (1-3-4) and Alexander Semin (1-2-3) totaled nine of Washington's 12 points in a 4-2 home win against Philadelphia on Tuesday. "Who knows where it will be Thursday (at Atlanta)," coach Bruce Boudreau told the Washington Post. "But for one game, they were very good."

The Carolina Hurricanes are shifting veteran Rod Brind'Amour from center to left wing, according to the News & Observer. Coach Paul Maurice is trying a new wrinkle for a team that is winless in its last six games. Brind'Amour (10, 2-3-5, 8 percent) joins a line with Matt Cullen and Scott Walker. "Every year people have to kind of reinvent themselves at times and Roddy looks good on the left wing," Maurice said. "They're generating a lot of chances. Scotty Walker brings a little bark into that line."

Starting Thursday, the Bruins have a stretch of three games in four days. The Boston Globe speculates backup goaltender Tuukka Rask (1-1-1, 3.17 GAA, 7 percent) likely will draw a start to spell Tim Thomas (4-3-0, 2.97 GAA, 96 percent), probably on Saturday against Edmonton.

Sticking with the Bruins, the Boston Herald reports their top line for Thursday's home game against New Jersey will be Marco Sturm, David Krejci and Mark Recchi. "It's been great. I love playing with (Krejci)," Sturm said. "There have been a lot of new guys in and out."

In the wake of injuries to forwards David Booth and Radek Dvorak, Panthers coach Peter DeBoer used these line combinations at Tuesday's practice, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel -- Michal Repik-Dominic Moore-Gregory Campbell; Rostislav Olesz-Michael Frolik-Stephen Weiss; Kenndal McArdle-Kamil Kreps-Ville Koistinen.

The Predators will shake up their lines for Wednesday's game at Minnesota, reports the Tennessean. Coach Barry Trotz has grouped Steve Sullivan, Colin Wilson and Patric Hornqvist; David Legwand, J.P. Dumont and Dave Scatchard; and Martin Erat, Mike Santorelli and Joel Ward. "We're trying to get on something that maybe works," Trotz said. " … Not that you don't have a game plan, but sometimes you throw things together."

There is no official word on whether Pekka Rinne (1-3-0, 3.79 GAA, 63 percent) or Dan Ellis (2-3-1, 2.71 GAA, 31 percent) will start in goal against the Wild. Ellis played the last game, a loss at Chicago on Saturday.

The (Newark) Star-Ledger brings us the latest Devils lines from Tuesday's practice, their first without injured winger Jay Pandolfo: Brian Rolston-Rob Niedermayer-Matt Halischuk; Zach Parise-Dainius Zubrus-Jamie Langenbrunner; Niclas Bergfors-Travis Zajac-David Clarkson; Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond or Andrew Peters with Rod Pelley and Ilkka Pikkarainen.

WEDNESDAY'S PROJECTED GOALIES:

Buffalo (Ryan Miller) at New Jersey (Martin Brodeur), 7 p.m. ET
N.Y. Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist) at N.Y. Islanders (Dwayne Roloson), 7 p.m. ET
St. Louis (Chris Mason) at Carolina (Cam Ward), 7 p.m. ET
Phoenix (Ilya Bryzgalov) at Columbus (Steve Mason), 7 p.m. ET
Montreal (Jaroslav Halak) at Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury), 7:30 p.m. ET (RDS)
Ottawa (Pascal Leclaire) at Florida (Tomas Vokoun), 7:30 p.m. ET (TSN2)
Nashville (Pekka Rinne or Dan Ellis) at Minnesota (Niklas Backstrom), 8 p.m. ET
Toronto (Jonas Gustavsson) at Dallas (Marty Turco), 8 p.m. ET (TSN)
Colorado (Craig Anderson) at Calgary (Miikka Kiprusoff), 9:30 p.m. ET
Los Angeles (Jonathan Quick) at San Jose (Evgeni Nabokov), 10:30 p.m. ET (NHLN-US)

RECENT INJURIES:

David Booth, LW, Florida: Is out indefinitely with a concussion.
Radek Dvorak, RW, Florida:  Is out indefinitely with a knee injury.
Eric Fehr, RW, Washington:  Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Marian Gaborik, RW, N.Y. Rangers: Is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
Simon Gagne, LW, Philadelphia:  Is out indefinitely with two small hernias.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, G, Anaheim:  Is day-to-day with a groin strain.
D.J. King, LW, St. Louis:  Will be sidelined 8-10 weeks with a fracture/dislocation of the right hand.
Ilya Kovalchuk, LW, Atlanta:  Placed on injured reserve with a broken bone in his right foot.
Paul Martin, D, New Jersey:  Is out 4-6 weeks with a broken left arm.
Cody McLeod:  Placed on injured reserve with an eye injury.
Milan Michalek, LW, Ottawa:  Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Jay Pandolfo, LW, New Jersey:  Is out 4-6 weeks with a dislocated shoulder.
Devin Setoguchi, RW, San Jose:  Is day-to-day with a leg injury.
Kyle Wellwood, C, Vancouver:  Is day-to-day with a broken toe.

TRANSACTIONS:

NHL:  Suspended Dallas Stars center Steve Ott for two games.
Atlanta Thrashers:  Recalled F Jason Krog from Chicago (AHL).
Chicago Blackhawks:  Reassigned C Jake Dowell to Rockford (AHL).
Columbus Blue Jackets:  Placed C Andrew Murray on injured reserve with a shoulder injury (retroactive to Oct. 20).
Minnesota Wild:  Recalled G Anton Khudobin from Houston (AHL).
New York Rangers:  Recalled F P.A. Parenteau from Hartford (AHL).
Ottawa Senators:  Assigned D Erik Karlsson to Binghamton (AHL).
St. Louis Blues:  Recalled F Yan Stastny from Peoria (AHL).
Washington Capitals:  Reassigned LW Alexandre Giroux to Hershey (AHL).

NHL.COM EXPERTS LEAGUE:

Week 4 results through Oct. 27
Rocky Trottier 3 vs. Big Skillets O'BKLYN 2 (6 ties)
Philly Cheesestakes 5, Skoula Hard Knocks 3 (3 ties)
Clown Shoes 6, Hammerhead United 3 (2 ties)
Hempstead Slowpokes 5, Code Monkeys 5 (1 tie)
The Birdcage 4, No Shanahan-igans 4 (3 ties)
Ovi's Heroes 8, Out on a Dan Hinote 3

E-MAIL OF THE DAY:

Hi,
I am having a bit of a hard time figuring out what to do here. On my team I have Duncan Keith from Chicago (in my opinion a contender for the Cup, and a lock for the playoffs). Keith is a great d-man that always has tons of points and good plus-minus (I think plus-30 last year). However, I think that Ryan Suter of Nashville is going to have a huge year this year. Granted, he is not on a great team, at least not that good a team at the moment. I am thinking of trading Keith for Suter. Should I?

The points for my league are as follows: goals (2 points), assists (1 point), plus/minus (0.5 points), penalty minutes (0.5 points), power-play goals (1 point), power-play points (1 point), shorthanded goals (1 point), shots on goal (0.1 point)
-- Rolf

I have mixed feelings on this move. Keith is the more consistent player in 2009-10, but not necessarily better. Here's why: Keith has recorded at least one point in seven of his first 11 games. He has scored 2 points in a game only once, with six 1-point performances. Suter has recorded at least one point in three of his first 10 games. He's had 3-point, 2-point and 1-point games. That one 3-point game for Suter represents half his offensive output.

Thus far, Keith (11 games, 3-5-8) is averaging 26:26 of ice time per game, getting 1:20 on the power play and 3:45 shorthanded. Suter (10, 2-4-6) is averaging 25:23 with 3:59 on the power play and 1:51 shorthanded. Both have one special-teams goal apiece: Keith shorthanded, Suter on the power-play. Although Suter gets a ton of man-advantage time, he is being outshot by Keith 24-14. You can't score unless you shoot. You also mentioned plus-minus -- Keith is a plus-6 while Suter has a zero rating. By the way, Keith was a plus-33 last year (fourth-best in the League). Don't sell him short.

I do believe both are fine players in fantasy and I gladly would take either on my team. But as of now, Keith is outperforming Suter, and the overall team picture in Chicago is much brighter than offensively challenged Nashville thus far.

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