Fantasy Forecast for Tuesday, February 9

MONDAY'S ROUNDUP:

Where to begin? The news surrounding several big-name fantasy players is flying at a rapid pace as the last six days of NHL action come to a close before the Olympic break.

Let's start with something positive, and the fact that he's on one or two of my fantasy teams is not coincidental at all -- Johan Franzen will play for the Red Wings on Tuesday at St. Louis. Out since Oct. 8 with a torn ACL in his left knee, Franzen (3 games, 1-1-2, owned in 76 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) will play three games before the League shuts down.

"Really excited," Franzen told the Detroit News on Monday. "I had a good practice. This was my first practice actually being on a line so it was a lot more fun, did some more drills with some physical things in it. I needed that."

Fantasy Forecast for Friday, February 5

Programming note -- The Fantasy Forecast and Top Picks will return on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

THURSDAY'S ROUNDUP:

If you're a fantasy owner of Ilya Kovalchuk, you're no doubt intrigued and maybe excited to have your potential 50-goal scorer change teams overnight. But no matter what jersey he wears, Kovalchuk is Kovalchuk, a premier goal scoring, first-round-pick fantasy team building block.

So with 27 games remaining in the Devils' season, what is Kovalchuk (49 games, 31-27-58, owned in 99 percent of all Yahoo! leagues), who will make his New Jersey debut Friday night at home against Toronto, capable of? In my estimation, probably not much more than would be expected him if he finished the season in Atlanta. After all, how much better can a guy on pace for 48-42-90 get? Maybe the energy of playing for a team leading it's division and considered a Cup contender is worth a boost of a few goals, but don't expect that Kovalchuk is all of a sudden going go bonkers. Actually, he begins his Devils career in a mini-slump with 1 goal and 1 assist in his last six games.

Fantasy Forecast for Thursday, February 4

WEDNESDAY'S ROUNDUP:

Fantasy owners of Niklas Backstrom are scrambling for a replacement as the Wild's All-Star goaltender has been placed on injured reserve. Backstrom has missed the last four games with a bad back, but there always was pre-game hope that he would feel well enough to return, possibly for Thursday's game against the Oilers. The Minneapolis Star Tribune also reports that Backstrom (43 games, 22-16-4, 2.74 GAA, owned in 94 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) has come down with an illness that required a doctor visit Wednesday.

Not having Backstrom against the Oilers especially is tough because he has 11 wins in 11 career games against Edmonton at Xcel Energy Center. Backstrom allowed only 12 goals in those contests (1.08 GAA), with four shutouts and four one-goal games.

Fantasy Forecast for Wednesday, February 3

TUESDAY'S ROUNDUP:

After receiving the results of an MRI, the Canadiens revealed that leading goal scorer Mike Cammalleri (56 games, 26-22-48, owned in 91 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) will not require surgery, but will be out for about six weeks with a knee injury. He was injured last Saturday against Ottawa after falling awkwardly into the boards after being hit by Anton Volchenkov.

Luckily, the two-week Olympic break will make that timetable more tolerable for Cammalleri's fantasy owners. The first-year Canadien is one of 12 NHL players with at least 25 goals. Without him, Montreal's next best goal scoring options are Tomas Plekanec and Brian Gionta with 14 each.

Fantasy Forecast for Tuesday, February 2

MONDAY'S ROUNDUP:

At least this time we can say we saw this one coming. Unlike the out-of-nowhere, seven-player Sunday deal between Toronto and Calgary, the two-for-two trade completed Tuesday morning between the Rangers and Flames -- C Olli Jokinen LW/RW Brandon Prust to the Rangers, RW Ales Kotalik and LW Chris Higgins to the Flames -- was rumored for well over 24 hours before completion. What is the fantasy fallout of the swap? Here's an analysis:

The top player in the deal obviously is Jokinen (56, 11-24-35, owned in 77 percent of all Yahoo! leagues), a four-time 30-goal scorer now with his third team in two seasons. He was dynamite for the Flames after last season's trade deadline deal with Phoenix, going 8-7-15 in 19 games. But 2009-10 hasn't produced the same magic, even centering the top line with Jarome Iginla as a linemate. But it's not just Jokinen -- the whole Calgary team is sputtering offensively with only 140 goals, tied for 22nd in the League.

Now that the season is more than halfway complete, many things still don't make sense in the fantasy world. Some examples:

* Matt Moulson (20) with more goals than Shane Doan (17), Thomas Vanek (17), Martin St. Louis (16), Patrick Sharp (16), Vincent Lecavalier (14), and Pavel Datsyuk (14). No, none of these players have missed too much -- or any -- time with significant injury. Unfortunately, they just stink fantasy-wise in 2009-10.

* Tomas Plekanec is one of 26 players with 50 or more points, yet his ownership percentage in Yahoo! (74) is lower than that of Jeff Carter (98), Jamie Langenbrunner (89), Bobby Ryan (94) and Eric Staal (95), just to name a few superstars looking up at Plekanec in the points column.

* Injured goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who has yet to play this season, is owned in 25 percent of all leagues. That's more than Alex Auld (8 percent), who is supplanting the struggling Marty Turco in Dallas; Jeff Deslauriers (8 percent), who is at least accumulating statistics in Edmonton while we wonder if Nikolai Khabibulin ever will play again; and only 3 percent more than new Toronto starter Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Fantasy Forecast for Monday, February 1

WEEKEND ROUNDUP:

The top defenseman in fantasy was grounded last weekend in a frustrating development for owners of Mike Green. Washington's fourth leading scorer was suspended three games for elbowing Michael Frolik of the Panthers in the head last Friday. It could have turned out even worse for Green, who later in the game suffered a thigh bruise in a collision with Dmitry Kulikov.

Green (52 games, 12-40-52, owned in 99 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) is eligible to return on Friday, Feb. 5 at home against Atlanta. For those in head-to-head leagues, that means Green will be able to play in two of Washington's four games in the scoring period that begins Monday.

Sometimes, fantasy trades have a way of making themselves. So thanks to Brian Burke, Darryl Sutter and Bob Murray, the fantasy value of at least nine prominent players was adjusted on Sunday, mostly bringing excitement and a new look to thousands of teams across the Yahoo! fantasy platform.

Toronto Maple Leafs acquire D Dion Phaneuf, D Keith Aulie and LW/RW Fredrik Sjostrom from the Calgary Flames in exchange for C Matt Stajan, LW Niklas Hagman, RW Jamal Mayers and D Ian White.

Starting with the biggest name in the deal, I'm not convinced Phaneuf's production will take an immediate jump with the Leafs, though I also don't see him declining. Phaneuf (55 games, 10-12-22, owned in 97 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) seemed to be in a great place with the Flames, playing in his home province for his former junior coach (Brent Sutter). But for whatever reason, Year Five wasn't living up to Phaneuf's or anyone else's expectations, and now he finds himself in the Toronto fishbowl in the midst of a so-so season. His goals are about where they should be, but his assists and penalty minutes are down and not for a lack of playing time -- he was second on Calgary with 23:14 per game. Phaneuf led the Flames with 3:46 of power play ice time per game, and was second in man-advantage scoring with 5-6-11.

Fantasy Forecast for Thursday, January 28

WEDNESDAY'S ROUNDUP:

With first place in the League on the line, Blackhawks at Sharks is the marquee matchup of the night. From a fantasy perspective, there are big expectations as both clubs are fourth (169) and second (174), respectively, in total goals.

Their three previous matchups have averaged 7 goals per game. Chicago's Marian Hossa has a series-high three goals despite playing only two contests, and Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith has a high of 6 points, all on assists. Chicago has outscored the Sharks 13-8. San Jose's high scorers are Dany Heatley (2-2-4) and Joe Thornton (1-3-4).

"They are as good as anyone," San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov told the San Francisco Chronicle. "You can put them in a category with Washington or a healthy Detroit. They're balanced, they score, they play well defensively. I hope this is a good rivalry that gets going here."

Fantasy Forecast for Wednesday, January 27

TUESDAY'S ROUNDUP:

The Washington Capitals will go for their eighth straight win Wednesday at home against Anaheim, but will do so without the goaltender that started the streak and has carried them through it. Jose Theodore is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained in Tuesday's 7-2 thumping of the Islanders in New York, a game that, oddly enough, didn't feature a single point from Alex Ovechkin despite a game-high 10 shots.

Theodore (29 games, 16-7-4, 2.86 GAA, owned in 53 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) exited the game at the start of the third period with a 6-2 lead and was replaced by rookie Michal Neuvirth. Theodore stopped 18 of 20 shots.