Chris Nichols

­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.

@Nichols_NHLPool on Twitter for timely NHL & poolie info, along with occasionally snarky comments.

Live blogging nightly: line combos, defensive pairings, analysis, statistical trends and more from every game on the NHL docket. Refresh the 'Live NHL Recap' page while the games are on to get new info as it is added.

Send in a brief fantasy hockey question, including all relevant league info, and it may be included in a future Hockey Hearsay blog during the week. One per person, please. Send it via Twitter for a possible response in the blog, or send via email (include your first name and hometown to represent!) if you'd prefer. chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

In the past few days there have been a number of emails from longtime regulars of this blog (some from the early Canoe.ca days and some even further back to the origins at ESPN.com) asking for more poolie Q&A, perhaps sparked by Darren in St. Louis's entry in Monday's Hockey Hearsay.

Hey, if you're game then I'm game. Let's do it.

In the past we've had Q&A dedicated to certain days of the week and this year, in an effort to accommodate the growing base of readers - which includes both fantasy owners and general hockey fans - the move was made to sprinkle Q&A into the daily format of hockey-based stories in what we now call the Hockey Hearsay blogs. Combined with the addition of Twitter to the daily arsenal, it's a pretty well-balanced attack to both keep you informed and also give you the ability to have your specific fantasy questions answered and/or read the responses I give to other people - which can help give you some insight into the madness that goes on between these two ears. The bonus of this year's format is that instead of being limited to questions on two days of the week you can submit one any weekday.

But if you think the Q&A content needs to be higher, I'm certainly more than willing to put it into the mix. I can incorporate as much Q&A into the daily Hockey Hearsay blogs as I want in addition to the news portion. It all comes down to you though. If you want more Q&A in the content, then I need the Qs so I can supply the As.

As usual, you can submit them via email or, if you'd prefer, do it via Twitter and I'll include as many as possible in the HH blogs.

Twitter. Love it or hate it, it's a part of our culture.

I've been on it for a few months now and all in all, it's been a real positive for the blog. The ability to pass along timely news directly to readers has been great and it has turned into a solid supplemental for the blog itself.

One of the cooler aspects to Twitter though is that a growing number of people are using it, including NHL players. I've done my best to verify the ones I'm following are actual player accounts, either by going off a beat writer's note that so and so has joined or by checking out the people players themselves are following.

While the vast majority of tweets are filled with useless info, some are amusing and some can even glean some possible insight for poolies.

Take Bobby Ryan (@b_ryan9). Last night after the 3-1 win win over Phoenix, the forward tweeted this: "Great win tonight in a tough building. Back home for awhile. Good things are gonna come, started to feel the puck again." For a guy who only has five points this month, that could be a good sign.

Dec. 25: "Hopin there's no weigh in tomorrow. Just crushed a six course christmas dinner with family and Sbisa! Merry christmas all!!"

Teammate Joffrey Lupul (@JLupul) offered this on Christmas Day: "Good tidings to all... (I don't get it either)" and also this earlier in the month while Christmas shopping: "Dear everyone at the mall... Get out of my way. I'm in a zone."

Isles winger Michael Grabner (@grabs40) tweets a lot and apparently learned of the James Wisniewski trade via Twitter yesterday: "Wow no I didn't know he got traded...damn well I wish him all the best in MTL...lost a member of the call of duty clan!"

Blues winger Cam Janssen, who fought John Scott in last night's 3-1 win over Chicago, put this out there after the game: "How fun was that STL fans? Boys played great, crowd was insane. Hope I did my part in getting everyone excited? Love beating the Hawks!"

A few days ago he did something nice too: "I bought 5 Cam Janssem t-shirts today at rink, signed them all and gave them out to the best fans in the @NHL! #MMDM @MakeMyDayMonday"

When Rangers blueliner Michael Del Zotto (@MichaelDelZotto) was a scratch because of the flu, he tweeted it and I was actually able to pass that on to readers before the NY reporters. And Christmas Day he tweeted something that Rangers fans probably loved: "Merry xmas everyone! Have some signed tshirts + pucks to give away. Who wants one?"

When Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Wings beat Colorado 4-3 in OT a few nights ago and Osgood earned his 400th career win with a stellar 46-save performance, young Matt Duchene (@Matt9Duchene) was nothing but class: "Tough loss, hats off to Osgood for an amazing performance. Great effort by the boys, and an awesome crowd!"

Clearly the star of Twitter, from an NHL player perspective, is Phoenix winger Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0). He might not play many minutes, but he tweets a lot and he's pretty entertaining. If you're going to follow any player, he's a pretty easy winner in the entertainment-per-tweet ratio and it'd have been easy to fill an entire blog with his stuff. He's also not afraid to make fun of himself. Here's one that's actually clean enough to put in the blog...

Golfer Stewart Cink started following him, to which Bissonnette said: "@stewartcink I'd say swap golf lessons for hockey lessons but I can't play that either."

Senators general manager Bryan Murray, via The Ottawa Citizen, wondering what the NHL would have done if it had been Sidney Crosby instead of Jason Spezza who was thrown headfirst into the boards on Sunday night and suffered serious shoulder injury.

"They would have closed the league, wouldn't they?" Murray said, exaggerating only slightly.

The Vancouver Province believes that as much as last night's convincing win over the Philadelphia Flyers was about a yardstick for the Canucks, it was also an individual grading curve for Ryan Kesler because the Ohio State product was facing two other graduates from the remarkable 2003 draft class in the Flyers' Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.

Those players have been to a place Kesler and the Canucks want to go and to get there, it's imperative that Kesler, at the very least, becomes their version of Richards, the Flyers' captain.

As for the very most, well, right now Kesler might be the best player in the NHL not named Sidney and Tuesday night was another jaw-dropping performance for the kid from Livonia.

If he really is this good — and we're talking about a 40-goal centreman who plays Selke-calibre defence — then the Canucks are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. And that's not gee-if-everything-goes-right-and-they-get-lucky contenders. That's get-out-of-their-way-they'rea-monster contenders.

"He's establishing himself as one of the NHL's elite," said linemate Jeff Tambellini, who's had a front-row seat for Kesler's coming-out party.

"People will look back and say this is the year Ryan Kesler became a superstar. His game is so complete. It's just fun to watch."

And a little scary.

The Province says that against the Flyers, Kesler potted his 18th and 19th goals of the season, picked up an assist when he went the length of the ice and left a sitter for Tambellini, fired seven shots at assorted Flyers' goalies and was generally the best player on the ice by a million miles.

He essentially gives the Canucks two first-line centres, which — as we've seen — is a luxury found only with the NHL's elite. But he also gives them two different looks with Henrik as the classic point producer and Kesler as Rod Brind'Amour 2.0. That, in turn, gives Alain Vigneault a contortionst's flexibility with his line matchups and the ability to deploy his best players in a variety of configurations.

While general manager Pierre Gauthier said he was happy with the Canadiens' defence corps, The Montreal Gazette says that he also said the team has been looking for help since Andrei Markov went down with a knee injury on Nov. 13. Hence the deal to acquire James Wisniewski from the Isles for a second rounder in 2011 and a conditional fifth rounder in 2011 as well.

"We feel that it's better to make a deal at this point rather than at the deadline," Gauthier said. The Canadiens employed a similar strategy last season when they made a deal for Dominic Moore prior to the Olympic break.

The timing also is fortuitous because there are questions about Josh Gorges's health. He has been playing through a knee injury for several weeks and was scratched from last night's game against the Washington Capitals. Gauthier described his status as "day-to-day," but the addition of Wisniewski may allow the Canadiens to give Gorges extra recovery time.

There are now eight defenceman on the roster and the deal may not be good news for Alexandre Picard, Yannick Weber and P.K. Subban. One of them will be heading to the minors and the two survivors will take turns in the press box.

The Gazette notes that Wisniewski is a right-handed shot who will get an immediate spot on the power play. He has 21 points this season and all three of his goals have been on the power play. He has averaged nearly 24 minutes per game on Long Island and, while he's not particularly big at 5-foot-11 and 208 pounds, Gauthier described him as "feisty."

Like I tweeted yesterday when news of the trade broke, it's likely that once Subban earns his way back into the line-up regularly we'll probably see a Subban-Wisniewski tandem on the PP1 point. How long it will take for Subban to step up to the plate is another matter altogether.

After the news broke that Darryl Sutter had stepped down as executive vice-president and general manager of the Flames, The Calgary Herald had reaction of surprise, shock and remorse from some of the key players.

Olli Jokinen: "I think we all feel bad. He did a lot here. As players, we have to take the blame. If we got the job done on the ice, he would be able to keep his job. It's a tough day. In this business, it always comes down to the way the players are playing . . . they control the coaches' fate, control the GM's future.

"Especially with me. He brought me back. He's been very supportive when I wasn't scoring and it's tough to see him go."

Alex Tanguay: "You look at what Darryl has done for this organization . . . I remember playing here in my early days and the building wasn't sold out. Then Darryl came on board and what he did taking this franchise, putting people in the building and giving this city something to cheer for.

"Since they had that run, the fans have been great, everything has been great, so I have nothing but good things to say about Darryl. I wish he'd still be here, but I guess hockey's like everything else . . . times change and I certainly wish him all the best."

The Herald notes that Tanguay actually asked to be traded under the reign of coach Mike Keenan and revealed that Sutter was reluctant to do the deal.

"Darryl was always good to us, always provided us with a good team, opportunities to win. . . . He gave me a chance for a long time and, even this summer when most people didn't believe I could still play, he gave me a chance, so I'm very thankful for what he's done for me.

"What he's done for this city and this franchise, he's certainly going to be well remembered."

Jarome Iginla: "It's surprising in one sense when a big change does happen and then everybody takes it personal," he said. "Some of us more so who have been through a lot with him. . . . "It's always hard when you first hear it and it still is hard because it's more than just hockey.

"A lot of us have got to know him, become friends. We've been through a lot of battles and stuff together. It's a hard day."

One of six games on the live blogging slate this evening will be the New York Rangers on the road against the New Jersey Devils. It's normally a great poolie match-up for my team since I own both Martin Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist, but who knows what to expect with Jersey playing as horribly as they have this season?

The New York Post writes that Lundqvist, 18-4-5 lifetime against Martin Brodeur and 20-7-5 for his career against the Devils, is finding this a little hard to believe.

"At the start of the year, I thought they were going to be a top team like they always are, but I guess you can't expect that to be forever," said the Rangers' goaltender, who tonight in New Jersey is expected to make his 28th straight start against the Devils dating back to Jan. 2, 2007. "I certainly didn't expect this.

"They've been one of the best teams in the league for my whole career, and that's always been one of the challenges when we play them, going up to their level and sometimes making adjustments in the way we play.

"My approach is the same no matter what, but as a team, I think we're good enough to focus on what we do and should feel confident enough in our own game not to adjust to New Jersey . . . or any top team we play."

Chris Drury tendered this: "You know what, though?. You look at their lineup, at their talent, at their goaltender [Brodeur] who is the best of all time, and it would be a big mistake for us to go in there thinking that anything is going to come easy.

"We're going to have to be ready. They are not going to keep losing forever. They are going to turn it around, and I'm sure there's nothing they'd like more than to get it going against us."

He added: "I don't care what their record is [9-24-2], we are certainly in no position to take any team or game lightly," Drury said. "This is a chance for us to reset ourselves after a pretty lopsided win over [the Islanders on Monday] and make sure we're focused on our game.

"I'm certainly not thinking that we're going to just go in and roll over them. Knowing them like I do my whole career, I just think they have too much talent there and too much pride for this to keep going for much longer.

"We're going to have to be ready."

The Denver Post writes that despite Craig Anderson's recent struggles and coach Joe Sacco's use of backup Peter Budaj in the net against Detroit on Monday in the first game after the Christmas break, Sacco insists:

• The goaltending pecking order hasn't changed.

• He hasn't lost faith in Anderson.

• He isn't worried about the Avalanche's overall goaltending going forward.

"With Craig, I think he's going to be fine," Sacco said. "To me, there's no gray area. He's our No. 1 goalie. I've said this before: I thought Peter deserved to play (Monday), and I thought Peter was fine. But Craig right now is working hard in practice. He's trying to get himself back on track. I'm confident that he will. Our organization and his teammates are confident that he will."

Anderson said, "The object of the game is to win hockey games. "The last couple of times I was in there, I didn't do that. The next opportunity I get in there, I have to do the job. My confidence is good."

The Post points out that Anderson has backed up or been in organizations with a bevy of respected goalies, including Nikolai Khabibulin, Ed Belfour and Tomas Vokoun. "I played with a lot of guys who were in the league for a long time, and you're not in the league for a long time if you have a long-term memory," Anderson said. "Those guys have taught me well and bounced back, and that was the one main thing you take from those guys. They never have a bad couple of days; they're right back at it, doing the work, and the next start is their best one."

The article notes that Anderson is in a contract year, so he's playing for a new deal — with the Avalanche or someone else, since he can again be an unrestricted free agent July 1. "Every time you step on the ice, you're playing for a contract, whether you're in the first year of a four-year deal or the fourth year of a four-year deal," Anderson said. "We're very fortunate to play a game we love. It's a kids' game. If you don't respect that and have fun playing it, you shouldn't be playing. I come to the rink with a passion every day and come out here and have fun with the guys. I worry about things I can control."

"I'm happy about the win and it's pretty cool to be around long enough to get 200," Ryan Miller told The Buffalo News after last night's win over the Edmonton Oilers. "Looking back, you never expect to be around that long. You're happy to be playing. When you can make a career out of it and get to that point, it's exciting to reach milestones."

Miller made 29 saves, including a great glove grab on Ales Hemsky in the third period as Buffalo was protecting a 3-2 lead. Miller, 30, is the 67th goalie in NHL history to reach 200. He's 12th on the active list, tied with teammate Patrick Lalime. When the final horn sounded, Miller and Patrick Lalime were the last two off the ice as they shared a big hug in front of the Buffalo net and Lalime presented Miller with the game puck.

"It's pretty cool that we're right next to each other in the record books now," Miller said. "... We're the first tandem to reach it while we're on the same team together. It's a little fun trivia fact. We're really close and it was pretty special to have that happen for both of us while we're on the same team."

The Columbus Dispatch posits that earlier this season, with the Blue Jackets off to a 14-6-0 start, first-year coach Scott Arniel seemed blissfully unaware of the losing culture that has taken root in Nationwide Arena over the past 10 years.

Now that he's gotten a taste of the poison in the well, Arniel has pulled out all stops to make it go away. Postgame tirades in the dressing room. Postgame teardowns of his players to reporters. And, for Monday's game against the Minnesota Wild, a trio of notable scratches.

Arniel made healthy scratches of right wingers Derek Dorsett and Jake Voracek and defenseman Rostislav Klesla. That's a high-energy forward whose energy has been heretofore unassailable (Dorsett), a top-six forward with point-a-game potential (Voracek) and the most-tenured player in franchise history (Klesla).

"When times are tough, you have to find a different way to motivate," Arniel said. "No matter who those three guys are, you have to be accountable for your actions. That's all I've ever asked of anybody from the beginning.

"We're going to do what's right for this hockey club, to get us into the playoffs. It's not about that individual and making sure that he alone is looked after."

The Dispatch says that Arniel's frustration level reached a new high after a 7-3 loss to Vancouver on Dec. 23 in Nationwide Arena. In his postgame news conference, Arniel apologized to fans for the listless performance and then described it as "men against pee-wees."

"That game kind of threw me over the top," Arniel admitted yesterday.

Apparently, Arniel's address in the dressing room that night was even more cutting, enough to make Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau's HBO tirade seem cuddly.

"It's got to be up there in the top one or two I've ever witnessed," R.J. Umberger said. "I've had a GM flip out like that before - Paul Holmgren (in Philadelphia) - but it was richly deserved.

"Every word he said was the truth. Guys in the room needed to hear it. Coaches have to be able to do that stuff."

You saw this with the live blogging last night, but the Dallas Morning News expands on the situation by noting that Stars coach Marc Crawford showed a bit of his coaching style Tuesday.

Over the previous seven games, Loui Eriksson had nine points, Brad Richards six, and James Neal just one. So to spark the top line and send a message to Neal, Crawford took Neal off the top line. He moved Neal mostly to the third line with Steve Ott and Adam Burish, and he shuffled a carousel of players with Richards and Eriksson.

It was a great coaching move for Crawford, but it was also a great lesson for Neal. Play a simpler game, drive the net more, and you can be rewarded. Richards and Eriksson will find you with passes if you just get into the hard scoring areas.

The Morning News believes Neal has been too good over the past two seasons on this line for this break-up to last too long. Crawford didn't put Jamie Benn up on the top line too much, and that's probably a sign to Neal that this is only temporary. But in the span of a season, there are some interesting lessons learned – and Tuesday might have been one of those teaching moments.

According to Michigan Live, reaching 400 wins had become an obsession for Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood. Now that he has it -- following a 46-save performance Monday night in a 4-3 overtime victory against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center -- Osgood said he is not focused on moving up the list.

But he is creeping up on a couple of legends. Grant Fuhr, the former Edmonton Oiler who Osgood idolized while growing up in western Canada, has 403 wins. Glenn Hall, who spent two full seasons in Detroit, has 407.

“I’m happy to get that one in the past. Whatever number it ends up at now, I’m not really too concerned about it,” Osgood said. “I wouldn’t have wanted it to finish at 399. If it gets (much) higher than (400), then that’s great. If it doesn’t, I’m happy with that, too.”

Osgood ranks 10th in the NHL in career wins. He is proud of how long he has lasted and his ability to adapt.

“I was a different goalie in the early ’90s, changed in the late ’90s and had to change again after the lockout (in 2005), more or less to have an opportunity to stay in the league,” Osgood said. “I’ve been through a lot of things. I’ve worked behind the scenes to change my style, be in better shape. That’s what I’m most proud of, that I worked hard even at the toughest of times, fought through a lot of things.”

Michigan Live writes that Osgood is 38 years old and in the final year of his contract. He maintains that he hasn’t decided his future.

“It’s not only how I’m playing, but a lot of factors will go into it. How I feel, if I want to go through the whole thing (preparation) again, whether they want me back,” Osgood said. “But I’m not too sure about it.”

The Miami Herald observes that Scott Clemmensen has been strong for the Panthers this season when given the chance.

"I felt good about the way I played in Phoenix, and I tried to carry that over,'' said Clemmensen, who is 2-4-1 this season with a goals-against average of 2.51. Clemmensen has stopped 92 percent of shots faced in nine games.

"I didn't know if I was going to start or not over the next few weeks so I wanted to carry the personal momentum in. I felt good in Pittsburgh as well. You just want to stay in your comfort zone and be ready. I didn't know it would be three weeks between starts, but so be it. I'm happy.''

The Panthers are fortunate to have two strong goalies in Tomas Vokoun and Clemmensen. Only a handful of teams have two goalies with a save percentage of 92 percent of better. When coach Pete DeBoer and goalie coach Robb Tallas do give Clemmensen a start, the Panthers go on as usual. On some teams, when the backup goes in, there's a hope just for survival.

"It's great to have two goalies like that,'' defenseman Mike Weaver said. "With some goalies, you have in the back of your mind that you're going to have to block the shot. With him, you're confident he'll make the save. He's a battler, a guy who is on his game in practice and that carries over. In the NHL, you have to step up when given the chance. Guys who rise to the occasion are the ones who will have a long career.''

DeBoer also offered this insight, which could be helpful for poolies: "We have a crazy month of January. We're going to depend on him a lot. Clemmensen deserved a game, he played real well in Pittsburgh when we put him in. He was exceptional in Phoenix.''

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Penguins forward Mike Comrie underwent hip surgery and is expected to miss another three to four months, which would be most of the rest of the regular season. Comrie first got hurt Oct. 9 in the second game of the season and missed games and practices before coming out of the lineup altogether Nov. 26. He has been on injured reserve since Dec. 10.

He signed in September as a free agent. After a strong preseason, he was slowed by the hip injury and had just five points, all assists, in 16 games.

Josh from Lloyminster (Your Long Time Follower and Oilers fan): Hey Chris, So With Hemsky back (which i'm excited about, lets go Oil), I'm left with the dilemma of who to drop!

When he was finally moved to the IR, I managed to pick up Dion Phaneuf, who has performed well and who i have been relatively pleased with. Now, sitting second in my pool, I need to decide who to let go in order to allow Hemsky to come back. My pool is works on a rotisserie basis with G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP and GWG for skaters and W, GAA, SV% and SHO for goaltenders. My team consists of:

Evgeni Malkin, Martin Brodeur, Rick Nash, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Erik Johnson, Brad Richards, Brian Rafalski, Ryane Clowe, Semyon Varlamov, Lubomir Visnovsky, Ales Hemsky, Alexander Edler, Carey Price, Brenden Morrow and Dion Phaneuf.

At the moment, I am considering letting go of one of Dion Phaneuf, Brenden Morrow or Erik Johnson, all who have under performed to some degree this season. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have and to get a fresh perspective on my situation! Thanks a lot!"

Chris: Thanks Josh and yes, it's great to have Hemsky back in the fold. Part of this answer for your IR issue would involve how many guys you're allowed at each position (so I know who's on the bench, specifically),

Generally speaking, your three goalies are locked into place. Fingers crossed that Brodeur and the Devils can finally DO SOMETHING POSITIVE! A scoreless shootout with the Rangers tonight would be a great start.

I'll have to assume that either one of your wingers or one of your defencemen would be an extra, which in roto would mean riding the pine until someone else gets hurt. This year Hemsky and Morrow are bringing more to the table than Johnson and Phaneuf, so I'd be more inclined to drop one of the D to make room for Hemsky. Between the two I might favour keeping Phaneuf slightly, but it's really a coin flip. Your league has shallow enough rosters that I wouldn't necessarily feel bad about dropping EJ, despite the fact that he could still turn things around this year.

Andy in Vancouver: "Chris, I'm losing my patience with Ilya Kovalchuk. Time to ditch him and add someone hot like Sergei Kostitsyn and then go with whoever's hot after that? I'm losing ground offensively in my roto format and I'm pulling my hair out with this guy. I don't have much hair to begin with Chris. Help!"

Chris: Ha. I get the frustration Andy, but I would stick with this guy until the end. Goal scorers can get hot just as quickly and for just as long as they've been cold and there are few guys in the league who can snipe like this guy. Give Lemaire time to turn this team's attitude and fortunes around and Kovalchuk's points will come. The +/- will likely improve too. I still maintain that while it's growing less and less likely with each passing week, the playoffs are not an impossibility this year for the Devils either.

Aside from the last three games, Kovalchuk had begun to show signs of life and I still think he's going to get hot. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I think you'd deeply regret dropping him now.