Fantasy Forecast for Thursday, October 29

WEDNESDAY'S ROUNDUP:

When is bad news good news? When fantasy owners of goaltender Roberto Luongo and center Evgeni Malkin find out their All-Star players are going to be missing for the short term. The way superstars have been dropping for extended periods of time early this season (see Johan Franzen, Andrei Markov, Ilya Kovalchuk), a few games or weeks -- and no surgery required -- is a welcomed sigh of relief.

Luongo is sidelined for at least the next two games with a hairline fracture to his rib. That means fantasy owners of Luongo (12 games, 6-6-0, 2.79 GAA, owned in 98 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) will need an alternate plan for Thursday's game at Los Angeles and Friday's game at Anaheim.

Luongo suffered the injury in the third period of last Saturday's game Toronto. "It was a bad-angle shot," Luongo told the team's Web site. "I went one knee down against the post and the puck just hit me in the seam of my chest protector. The next day was a bit uncomfortable but I was able to play through it without any problems. (Tuesday) night, during the first period (against Detroit) it aggravated itself, not on a particular play, it just gradually got worse."

Backup goalie Andrew Raycroft will make his first start of the season Thursday against the Kings. The Canucks recalled goalie Cory Schneider from Manitoba of the AHL to serve as the backup.

Last season, fantasy owners of Luongo had to scramble for 24 games while he was out with a groin injury.

Vancouver suffered a plethora of injuries in the first month of 2009-10. Daniel Sedin (foot), Janik Hansen (hand), Kyle Wellwood (toe), Sami Salo (MCL), Ryan Johnson (neck) and Mathieu Schneider (shoulder) all have missed time, and Pavol Demitra (shoulder) has yet to play following off-season surgery.

Malkin will be sidelined longer -- 2-3 weeks with a shoulder strain. Coach Dan Bylsma made the announcement Thursday afternoon and stressed that it is not the same shoulder that kept Malkin (12, 4-10-14, 99 percent) out of the lineup during the beginning of the 2006-07 season. But they are erring on the side of caution.

"Geno is going to be out of the lineup for a couple of weeks," Bylsma said. "He strained his shoulder about 10 days or so ago. I don't know the exact day. It is precautionary for the player. We are worried about the safety of the shoulder. A couple weeks of rest and rehab will get that thing healthy so he can get back onto the ice."

The ailment puts a stop to Malkin's streak of 254 consecutive regular-season games played. The Penguins next play Friday at Columbus.

"Obviously he has played with it and could gut it out, which is what Geno would be apt to do," Bylsma said. "At this time of the year the concern is the player and this is a precautionary measure."

Flyers left wing Simon Gagne is getting a second opinion on his hernia from a specialist in Canada on Thursday. There is no timetable for his return, especially if surgery is deemed necessary, since it likely will cost Gagne (9, 1-4-5, 91 percent) significant time. "I don't think it is going to hurt to make sure that we get a second opinion and make sure we all see the same thing in Montreal that we do here in Philly," Gagne told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "We just want to do this to make sure it isn't something else."

On Wednesday, a single-day season-high three goaltenders were pulled from their respective games. Jaroslav Halak of Montreal and Dan Ellis of Nashville were ineffective, and Ottawa's Pascal Leclaire fell ill. Halak allowed four goals on 23 shots and was tagged with the loss at Pittsburgh, with Carey Price taking over at the start of the third period. Ellis let in three goals on 10 shots and was replaced early in the second period by Pekka Rinne, who stopped all 12 shots he faced and picked up the come-from-behind victory in Minnesota. Leclaire exited the game at Florida with the score tied 1-1 after the first period when he fell ill and experienced dizziness. Brian Elliott came on to stop 26 of 28 shots and pick up the win in relief.

The Detroit Free Press reports backup goalie Jimmy Howard (1-2-0, 3.03 GAA, 6 percent) will start Thursday at Edmonton. Also, star center Pavel Datsyuk (8, 2-5-7, 98 percent) did not skate Wednesday because of a sore foot from blocking a shot in Tuesday's 5-4 win at Vancouver. Coach Mike Babcock said Datsyuk likely will play Thursday against the Oilers. "He got a shot in the foot and he should go. He just was sore (Wednesday) and it wasn't going to be comfortable getting his skate on," said Babcock, who added Justin Abdelkader and Kirk Maltby would be scratched in favor of Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves.

Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook (9, 1-6-7, 75 percent) returned to practice Wednesday after missing two games with a concussion, according to the Chicago Tribune. He is probable for Thursday's game at Nashville. Center Jonathan Toews (9, 1-4-5, 94 percent) isn't fully recovered from his concussion and didn't make the trip to Nashville. Also, star forward Marian Hossa (88 percent), recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, practiced with his teammates in skating drills and took some shots, but wasn't involved in contact drills. "For the first time it wasn't too bad, actually," Hossa said. "I thought it was going to be worse. ... You have to pace yourself. You don't want to go too crazy right away. It felt pretty good, but on the other hand I can tell there's no power."

The Toronto Sun reported goaltender Vesa Toskala (0-2-1, 5.56 GAA, 29 percent) has stated he's ready to play again after missing the last five games with a knee injury. The Maple Leafs play Friday at Buffalo.

Since the top line of Ales Hemsky, Dustin Penner and Sam Gagner went bonkers in a 6-4 victory against Columbus on Oct. 22, the Oilers have scored only two goals in the last three games, with consecutive shutouts at the hands of Vancouver and Colorado. "Obviously it's embarrassing to get shut out two games in a row," Gagner told the Edmonton Sun. "We have to change something up. We have to start trying something else to get pucks to the net."

NHL scoring leader Anze Kopitar failed to record a point for only the second time in 13 games this season in Wednesday's 2-1 shootout loss at San Jose. Kopitar (13, 10-11-21, 95 percent) also had his string of three straight multi-point performances snapped.

Minnesota coach Todd Richards made struggling veteran right wing Petr Sykora (6, 1-0-1, 20 percent) a healthy scratch for Wednesday's 4-3 home loss to Nashville. "You know, I can score some goals," Sykora told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "and obviously the less you play it's harder to get yourself into scoring chances."

It's a start. Sharks power forward Ryane Clowe (41 percent), stuck in a funk with no goals and 2 assists through 13 games, scored the game-deciding shootout goal in the sixth round to defeat the Kings, 2-1, on Wednesday. "We've tried taking ice time away from him, we've tried playing him with the top players, we've had talks with him," coach Todd McLellan told the Contra Costa Times. "I felt deep into the shootout this was an opportunity to try something else. He should feel pretty good about himself ending it (Wednesday), and maybe this'll be the trigger that gets him going."

Also from San Jose, injured forwards Torrey Mitchell and Joe Pavelski (2, 0-2-2, 75 percent) are back to practicing with the team but probably won't be ready during the current homestand, which ends Friday.

Here are the Top 10 Yahoo! fantasy hockey MVPs. These are the players that appear most often on the top 500 public-league teams in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Hockey:

Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix, G; Ryan Miller, Buffalo, G; Alex Ovechkin, Washington, LW; Marian Gaborik, N.Y. Rangers, RW; Kyle Quincey, Colorado, D; Ed Jovanovski, Phoenix, D; Ryan Smyth, Los Angeles, LW; Brenden Morrow, Dallas, LW; Duncan Keith, Chicago, D; Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh, G.

THURSDAY'S PROJECTED GOALIES:

New Jersey (Martin Brodeur) at Boston (Tim Thomas), 7 p.m. ET
Washington (Semyon Varlamov) at Atlanta (Ondrej Pavelec), 7 p.m. ET (NHLN-US)
Ottawa (Brian Elliott) at Tampa Bay (Mike Smith), 7 p.m. ET (TSN, RIS)
Phoenix (Ilya Bryzgalov) at St. Louis (Chris Mason), 8 p.m. ET
Chicago (Cristobal Huet) at Nashville (Pekka Rinne), 8 p.m. ET
Detroit (Jimmy Howard) at Edmonton (Nikolai Khabibulin), 9:30 p.m. ET (TSN)
Vancouver (Andrew Raycroft) at Los Angeles (Jonathan Quick), 10:30 p.m. ET

RECENT INJURIES:

David Booth, LW, Florida: Is out indefinitely with a concussion.
Carlo Colaiacovo, D, St. Louis:  Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
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:  Placed on injured reserve with a double hernia.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, G, Anaheim:  Is day-to-day with a groin strain.
Josh Harding, G, Minnesota:  Is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Tyler Kennedy, RW, Pittsburgh:  Is day-to-day with an undisclosed 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:  Placed on injured reserve with a broken bone in his right foot.
Roberto Luongo, G, Vancouver:  Will miss a week with a hairline fracture to his rib.
Evgeni Malkin, C, Pittsburgh:  Will miss 2-3 weeks with a shoulder 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.
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:

Anaheim Ducks:  Signed LW Kyle Calder to a one-year contract and assigned him to Bakersfield (ECHL).
Columbus Blue Jackets:  Reassigned D Mathieu Roy to Syracuse (AHL).
Dallas Stars:  Recalled LW Francis Wathier from Texas (AHL).
Vancouver Canucks:  Recalled G Cory Schneider from Manitoba (AHL).
Washington Capitals:  Reassigned LW Alexandre Giroux to Hershey (AHL).

NHL.COM EXPERTS LEAGUE:

Week 4 results through Oct. 28
Rocky Trottier 7, Big Skillets O'BKLYN 1 (3 ties)
Philly Cheesestakes 5, Skoula Hard Knocks 3 (3 ties)
Hammerhead United 5, Clown Shoes 4 (2 ties)
Code Monkeys 6, Hempstead Slowpokes 2 (3 ties)
No Shanahan-igans 6, The Birdcage 2 (3 ties)
Out on a Dan Hinote 6, Ovi's Heroes 4 (1 tie)

E-MAIL OF THE DAY:

I was wondering what you think of Patrice Bergeron this season and whether you think he will have a decent year. Do you think he is finding his old form again, which at one point had him as an emerging star? He is available in my keeper league and I'm thinking about picking him up for Brandon Dubinsky. Your advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
-- Adil Daudi 

In a season when the Bruins have been ravaged by injuries (Milan Lucic, Marc Savard, Shawn Thornton) and slow starts, Bergeron has been quite effective with 3-4-7 in his first 10 games. Also in his favor is that Bergeron's ice time has increased as his teammates fall out of the lineup. In Boston's last two games, Bergeron has received 21:01 (4:40 on the power play) and 20:13 (1:53) which rank first and second in single-game ice time this season for the 24-year-old. I'm not even going to pretend to know what a concussion feels like, but that Bergeron has come this far after missing almost a full season is remarkable. He's probably not an emerging star, or the future isn't as starry as when Bergeron first arrived on the scene, but he's on pace now for 25 goals and 60 points and that's a very decent year.

As for Dubinsky, the easy way out is to say the week he held of training camp continues to slow him down, but I'm not sure I still buy that after 12 games. He does have 3-6-9, has 14 penalty minutes and gets power-play and shorthanded ice time, so he's plugging along and getting "tough love" from coach John Tortorella. It's disappointing that Dubinsky didn't land the No. 1 center job next to Marian Gaborik, but he's getting top-six minutes.

These are two very different players. I look at it this way, Bergeron is more important to the success of the Bruins than Dubinsky is critical to the Rangers, but that's just my opinion. But in fantasy terms, I think you keep Dubinsky for the plus-minus (plus-6) and the penalty minutes.

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