Frozen Pucks

November 19, 2009 3:53pm CST

Bruins Getting Healthy
Scoring sensation Marc Savard, out about a month with a broken foot, has returned to practice and appears to be angling for a return to the lineup soon, possibly as early as this weekend. The return of a top-line center clearly would be a welcomed addition by any club, especially one that is third from the bottom in scoring averaging a mere 2.20 goals per game (you aren't going to win too many contests if your GAA is 0.40 points above your goals for mark). Another boon to the club is the impending return to action of Milan Lucic from a broken finger. He is traveling with the team right now and might even be in action on Thursday night. Because of the nature of his injury don't look for him to engage in any fisticuffs, and he may be eased back into the lineup on the fourth line at first, so give him a few games to get his skating legs back before you activate him.


Finally Some Good News in Pittsburgh
The Penguins, who seemingly are pulling guys in from the OHL to play on defense, finally got some good news on Thursday as it was announced that offensive minded d-man Sergei Gonchar is ready to return to the lineup. Gonchar has been out for 12 games with a broken wrist, and he should immediately return to his duties running the first power-play unit where he figures to rack up copious amounts of points as long as he can stay healthy. Activate him immediately.


Fisher is Finishing
Things may not quite be going as hoped in Ottawa as the team currently sits in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 21 points in 18 games, but at least one weapon is firing on all cylinders and that is center Mike Fisher. The Ontario native has 16 points in 19 games on the year, and more excitingly he has scored nine goals putting him on pace to score over 40 this season, not bad for a guy who slumped to just 13 last year (he recorded 22, 22 and 23 the previous three years). Fisher has also been valuable on the power-play with five markers there, and he also has potted three game-winning goals for good measure. Life isn't bad when you are scoring like that on the ice and then following it up by scoring at home with Carrie Underwood. Where's my hot blond country singer?


Hot Pick Ups
David Rogers writes the Free Agent Finds each week, but I wanted to add a couple of quick hits about guys that have seen their ownership rates increase greatly of late.

Niclas Bergfors: Though he spends most of his time skating amongst the bottom-6 forwards with the Devils, Bergfors has been quite the offensive surprise this season with an impressive total of 15 points in 19 games. A former first round pick (2005) out of Sweden, Bergfors entered the year having appeared in a mere nine NHL contests, so don't even lie and say you rostered the guy at the draft table. Bergfors has been particularly impressive in the month of November with three goals and five assists in seven games, so if you can overlook the (-1) mark in that time, something that's easy to do considering that five of the points have been recorded on the power-play, then he certainly hasn't been a bad option for those of you that need some help on the wing.

Andy Greene: Ten points in 59 games in 2007, followed by nine in 49 games last year, clearly had Greene about 160th ranked fantasy defender coming into the year. However, he has channeled his inner Phil Housley this season with nine points through 16 games. OK, that comparison obviously doesn't make much sense, but the fact is that Greene has produced a veritable explosion of offense consider his production on the offensive side of the ice the past two years. Green recently lost a 5-game point streak but still has six points in his last seven games.

David Schlemko: This Coyotes' rearguard suited up for three games last season, and this year he has found his way into six games helping to cover for the loss of the injured Ed Jovanovski. In those six games Schlemko has a goal, two assists and is a +5 for the 'Yotes. No telling if he sticks around, or how much his role will change with the return of Jovo-cop, but for now he is a fine waiver-write grab.

Brandon Sutter: With the loss of Eric Staal to injury, the Hurricanes needed someone to step up, and lo and behold this 20 year old has done just that. Originally looked at as merely a place holder, Sutter has scored five goals and handing out three assists in 11 games to change the mindset of the organization. Brandon has been particularly sharp of late with two goals and three helpers in his last three contests skating on the to line with Ray Whitney and Erik Cole. Sutter should continue to see a lot of time in the top-6, and with that his value remains pretty darn high for a skater who was a nobody at the start of the year.


Russian Star to Miss Time
The Senators' Alex Kovalev will play on Thursday night and then head to Russia for a while to be with the family of his wife since Mrs. Kovalev lost her mother. We wish the Kovalev family well, and selfishly we hope that the time away doesn't result in Alexei leaving his scoring touch back in Russia as he had finally started to score of late with four points in his last four games (you can keep up on late breaking news like this by signing up for our Twitter account which you can link to bellow).


Sharks Leading League in Points
The San Jose Sharks are atop the NHL with 32 points. They have also earned a point in 12 of 13 games on their way to a 14-5-4 record overall. That's a great start for a team that's trying, desperately, to be taken seriously by the NHL after years of playoff failures.


Staal Placed on IR
Eric Staal was played on the injured reserve list on Thursday due to an upper body injury. Don't panic if you are a Staal owner. This move isn't a signal that the scoring star suffered a setback, even though it would seem to be just that on the surface. Actually this move is retroactive to November 2nd. I'll leave aside the issue of why it took more than two weeks to place him on the IR (he has missed seven games), and instead focus on the fact that because of the retroactive nature of the move that Staal could literally return to active duty before the end of the week.

* The team called up Patrick Dwyer to take the open roster spot. Dwyer had nine goals and six helpers in 19 games at the AHL level.


Stuck in Neutral
Olli Jokinen has two goals in 19 games for the Flames. "I think I have seven or eight times I hit the post so far this year, if half of those would've gone in, nobody would be questioning anything," he said. In order to try and turn around the struggles, he actually picked a fight with the Leafs' Francois Beauchemin, though he was surprised when he turned out to be a lefty. "I have to go to HockeyFights.com from now on. Most of our guys go there and they pretty much know what the other guys are going to do in fights." You gotta love that.

As for the scoring, that touch didn't just disappear, so remain patient if you are an owner and target him in a deal if you are not. After all, this guy has scored at least 26 goals in each of the past six seasons, and at 31 years of age, he still has plenty of giddy-up in that body.


Ray Flowers is the Managing Editor for Fanball.com Owner's Edge and Rototimes.com. You can follow also follow the happenings of the game of hockey on our Twitter Page: FanballNHL.