Fantasy Forecast for Monday, November 16

WEEKEND ROUNDUP:

Evgeni Malkin made a return to Pittsburgh's lineup on Saturday and posted three assists in a 6-5 win against Boston. He earned the first point on his first shift, assisting on Jay McKee's goal 1:42 into the first period. Malkin (13 games, 4-13-17, owned in 99 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) had missed six games with a strained right shoulder and the Penguins were 1-5-0 in his absence.

Also returning over the weekend were defensemen Tom Preissing of Colorado and Sheldon Souray (4, 0-0-0, 80 percent) of Edmonton. But as usual, some come back and some go out of the lineup. Notable names in the latter category include Chicago's Kris Versteeg (upper-body), Pavel Kubina (lower-body) and Bryan Little (groin) of Atlanta, and Anaheim's Saku Koivu (groin).

Though getting Malkin back is great news, the Penguins defense is in shambles and getting worse. Already with offensive defensemen Sergei Gonchar (wrist) and Kris Letang (shoulder) out, and defensive-minded Brooks Orpik also sidelined, on Monday the team announced that its highest-scoring defender, Alex Goligoski (20, 6-8-14, 83 percent), will be out two to three weeks with a lower-body injury.

"He's getting an MRI (Monday); He's got a lower-body injury," coach Dan Bylsma told the team's Web site. "We are going to estimate 2 to 3 weeks on Alex."

With Goligoski out, Malkin took his spot at the point on the power play. Mark Eaton occupied the other slot with recent call-up Nate Guerin providing net-front presence and Sidney Crosby and Ruslan Fedotenko working along the boards.

The Monday morning line combinations were Fedotenko-Crosby-Malkin, Chris Bourque-Jordan Staal-Bill Guerin, Matt Cooke-Mark Letestu-Pascal Dupuis, and Mike Rupp-Craig Adams-Eric Godard. Defense pairings had Martin Skoula-Ben Lovejoy, Eaton-Deryk Engelland, and Guenin-Jay McKee.

The Blue Jackets will have Mathieu Garon start in goal on Monday at home against Edmonton, his old team. Coach Ken Hitchcock made the decision to go with his backup two days ago on the heels of Garon's 3-2 shootout win against Anaheim last Friday. "I'm not here to count ice time, or whatever," Garon (7, 3-1-0, 2.60 GAA, 7 percent) told the Columbus Dispatch. "I'm here to help us win hockey games. I know it's part of my job to play when (Steve Mason) needs a day off, but I also know that he's going to need to be pushed like everybody else." Mason (14, 7-5-2, 3.67 GAA, 87 percent), the Blue Jackets' starting goalie, has only 2 wins in his last seven appearances.

Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller (15, 12-2-1, 1.77 GAA, 94 percent) has developed a trend this season. Following last Friday's 2-1 shootout win against Calgary, Miller is 5-0-0 with a 0.99 goals-against average in five games against Western Conference teams this season, allowing a total of five goals on 129 shots. Buffalo's next Western opponent is Chicago on Dec. 11 at home.

The Boston Globe speculates that the Bruins may play backup goalie Tuukka Rask (14, 5-6-3, 2.33 GAA, 11 percent) on Monday at home against the Islanders. Tim Thomas (5, 3-1-1, 2.33 GAA, 96 percent) has started three straight and six of the last seven, and Rask defeated the Islanders in a shootout on Oct. 10, also at home. Also from the Globe, Milan Lucic (broken finger) may return to the Bruins' lineup either on Thursday at Atlanta or Friday at Buffalo. He has been sidelined since Oct. 16. Also, center Marc Savard (broken foot) is probably at least 10 days away from returning.

The top 10 Yahoo! MVPs are Ryan Miller (Buf - G), Anze Kopitar (LA - C), Dan Boyle (SJ - D), Evgeni Nabokov (SJ - G), Chris Pronger (Phi - D), Ryan Smyth (LA - LW), Dany Heatley (SJ - LW), Ilya Bryzgalov (Pho - G), Craig Anderson (Col - G), and Dustin Penner (Edm - LW). These are the 10 players who appear most often on the top 500 public league teams in Yahoo! Fantasy Hockey.

Henrik Zetterberg of the Red Wings was named the NHL's First Star for the week ending Nov. 15. He scored his fourth career hat trick and had a career-high 5 points on Saturday against Anaheim. He had 3 goals and 6 assists with a plus-5 rating and back-to-back game-winning goals. Second Star went to Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk, who scored 3 goals and 5 assists in three games. Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller earned the Third Star for winning all three of his starts last week while allowing only four goals.

Daily Ovi update -- Alex Ovechkin (14, 14-9-23, 99 percent), listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury, is hoping to return to action early this week. Both the Washington Post and New York Daily News report that it is likely Ovechkin will play on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. It would be his first game since Nov. 1.

MONDAY'S PROJECTED GOALIES:

NY Islanders (Martin Biron) at Boston (Tim Thomas), 7:00 p.m. ET
New Jersey (Martin Brodeur) at Philadelphia (Ray Emery), 7:00 p.m. ET
Edmonton (Nikolai Khabibulin) at Columbus (Mathieu Garon), 7:00 p.m. ET
Anaheim (Jonas Hiller) at Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury), 7:30 p.m. ET
Los Angeles (Jonathan Quick) at Florida (Tomas Vokoun), 7:30 p.m. ET
Tampa Bay (Mike Smith) at Phoenix (Ilya Bryzgalov), 9:00 p.m. ET

RECENT INJURIES:

Brian Gionta, RW, Montreal: Is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Denis Grebeshkov, D, Edmonton: Is sidelined a month with a torn MCL.
Milan Jurcina, D, Washington: Is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Mike Knuble, RW, Washington: Sidelined 3-4 weeks with a broken finger.
Chuck Kobasew, RW, Minnesota: Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Pavel Kubina, D, Atlanta: Is day-to-day with lower-body soreness.
Chris Kunitz, LW, Pittsburgh: Sidelined for two weeks with a lower-body injury
Jere Lehtinen, RW, Dallas: Is day-to-day with a groin injury.
Bryan Little, C, Atlanta: Is day-to-day with a groin injury.
Drew Stafford, RW, Buffalo: Is day-to-day with a hip flexor.
Raffi Torres, LW, Columbus: Placed on injured reserve with a facial injury.
Kris Versteeg, LW, Chicago: Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

TRANSACTIONS:

Anaheim Ducks: Recalled LW Kyle Calder from Bakersfield (ECHL).
Buffalo Sabres: Recalled C Tyler Ennis from Portland (AHL).
Chicago Blackhawks: Reassigned LW Bryan Bickell to Rockford (AHL).
Colorado Avalanche: Assigned F Philippe Dupuis to Lake Erie (AHL).
Columbus Blue Jackets: Recalled LW Tom Sestito from Syracuse (AHL).
Detroit Red Wings: Recalled G Daniel Larsson from Grand Rapids (AHL).
Edmonton Oilers: Recalled D Dean Arsene from Springfield (AHL).
Florida Panthers: Assigned LW Steve MacIntyre to Rochester (AHL).
New York Islanders: Recalled D Andrew MacDonald from Bridgeport (AHL).
Phoenix Coyotes: Recalled F Kevin Porter from San Antonio (AHL).
Pittsburgh Penguins: Assigned RW Chris Conner to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL). Recalled F Mark Letestu and D Nate Guenin from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
San Jose Sharks: Recalled C Logan Couture from Worcester (AHL). Reassigned F Ryan Vesce to Worcester.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Reassigned F Ryan Craig to Norfolk (AHL). Assigned D Matt Smaby to Norfolk for conditioning.

NHL.COM EXPERTS LEAGUE:

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

Week 7 schedule
Rocky Trottier (31-24-11) vs. Philly Cheesestakes (15-42-9)
Skoula Hard Knocks (36-23-7) vs. No Shanahan-igans (22-34-10)
Clown Shoes (23-37-6) vs. Ovi's Heroes (23-30-13)
Hempstead Slowpokes (31-24-11) vs. Hammerhead United (31-27-8)
The Birdcage (27-29-10) vs. Out on a Dan Hinote (35-19-12)
Big Skillets O'BKLYN (31-27-8) vs. Code Monkeys (34-23-9)

EMAIL OF THE DAY:

Hello,
I have a quick, yet perplexing question. For my third goalie spot I have Jonas Hiller and Chris Osgood. We start two goalies, and I also have Miikka Kiprusoff and Roberto Luongo, and I snapped up Hiller as I think he might have a better year than Osgood. I just find it very difficult to drop the starting goalie for the Cup finalists, but I can't seem to make a trade. Out of the two goalies which one should I keep?
Thanks,
-- BE

You know what, why not keep both? Seriously, to have those four goalies and the depth to choose who to start and sit every day is a very powerful advantage in fantasy. I have to say, choosing between Hiller (15, 6-7-1, 3.03 GAA) and Osgood (12, 6-3-2, 2.77 GAA) is pretty tough right now, and I'm not trying to cop out on giving you an answer, but I really believe you should keep both, even if it shortens your bench for skaters. Neither is playing up to their capability as of yet, so I believe even if you don't want to carry four goalies, you should do so until either of Osgood or Hiller get hot and then revisit trading one when their value is at its highest.

Obviously, you will start Luongo and Kiprusoff most often, but on days when only one is playing you could plug Osgood or Hiller in the other spot. And on days when three of four, or all four, are playing, you can take advantage of home games and favorable matchups. I really don't see how you can loose with four top-notch goalies.

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