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

The Ottawa Citizen opines that it's hardly news anymore that Pascal Leclaire is injured, of course. Yet, with the Senators going back to Columbus, it puts a spotlight on the March 4, 2009, trade that brought him to Ottawa in the first place: popular centre/left-winger Antoine Vermette for Leclaire and the Blue Jackets' second-round selection in the 2009 entry draft.

On the surface, the trade has become a lopsided victory for the Blue Jackets.

Well, not so fast. The oft-forgotten part of the trade was the second-round pick the Senators received in the deal. That selection, 46th overall in the 2009 draft, turned out to be goaltender Robin Lehner and he's now looming large in the net for Sweden at the world junior championship in Buffalo.

Lehner stopped 30 shots in Sweden's 2-0 win over Russia Wednesday and Swedish coaches counted 28 scoring chances for the Russians. Lehner's 6-4, 225-pound frame was a huge factor. When he dropped into his butterfly and challenged Russian shooters, they could see little net behind him.

The Citizen writes that at this point, Sweden looks like a legitimate challenger to Canada and the United States for the gold medal.

"He has the potential to become a world-class goaltender," Swedish coach Roger Ronnberg told reporters after the game. "Robin not only makes the saves, but he basically runs our defence the way he communicates with the skaters."

One outstanding junior game doesn't necessarily spell long-term NHL success, but it is certainly providing some hope for the Senators that they may -- finally -- have a top-flight NHL goaltending prospect.

"You can't teach big," said goaltending coach Rick Wamsley, who has made four visits to Binghamton to talk and teach with Lehner this season.

"For me, he's a big guy with skill. He can read the game and his reads will get better the more he plays."

The Vancouver Province writes that Mason Raymond is trying to get a grip on a sour season crippled by wrist and thumb injuries. The Vancouver Canucks are trying to get a grip on an embarrassment of riches with Raymond medically cleared to join the club on a three-game road trip and Sami Salo now practising after suffering a ruptured Achilles in July.

The NHL is also trying to get a grip on the Canucks. They’re on a torrid 12-1-2 run and taking aim at Western Conference supremacy by scoring the most goals per game, leading the league in faceoff percentage while being second on the power play and fifth on the penalty kill. No wonder Raymond wants to return as soon as possible. Not only is the second line of Ryan Kesler between Jeff Tambellini and Jannik Hansen clicking without him — 24 combined points in nine games without the injured left winger — there’s a chance that Raymond could be dangled as trade bait. There’s also the chance he could re-emerge as a second alignment force and see Jannik Hansen slip to the fourth line and Aaron Volpatti returned to Manitoba.

Regardless, Raymond is restless after coming off a career 25-goal season and avoiding arbitration by signing a two-year, $5.1 million US extension. Now, he needs to avoid being an afterthought because his hat-trick in Calgary on Dec. 1 seems long ago. The sooner he builds on 18 points (7-11) in 25 games the better.

“It feels like it’s been forever,” Raymond told The Province Wednesday after practising for the first time since suffering a right thumb hairline fracture against the Anaheim Ducks. “It’s still a bit of a process and there are different things that send the pain threshold through my thumb, but it’s manageable to a point.

“Even in everyday life, you don’t realize how much you use something until it’s injured — especially on the ice. It doesn’t feel right, or how it usually feels, but that’s part of the game.”

The Edmonton Journal reports that precocious Oilers' rookie winger Linus Omark will sit out his first game in years when the Colorado Avalanche visit Rexall Place on Thursday.

Coach Tom Renney, a patient man with his young, rebuilding club, is dispensing a little tough love Omark’s way. He will sit out at least one game, maybe more. It doesn’t mean the Oilers will send him back to the Oklahoma City Barons of the American Hockey League, but he has lessons to learn.

“This isn’t purgatory. It’s the development of a young player,” said Renney.

While he has five points in his eight games in the NHL, Omark has tried to do too much with the puck on his stick at times. He knows it, so does Renney.

“When I do something good in a game I get my confidence ... but when I am worried about making mistakes, then I do,” said Omark, who added that he hasn’t had any trouble with having less time and space to make plays on the smaller NHL ice surfaces.

The Journal points out that he is a supremely confident guy, and he’s not afraid to go into areas where he’s going to get hit hard. But it comes down to the Oilers having too many forwards as much as Omark’s mistakes on the ice. And being a healthy scratch isn’t necessarily the first step to heading back to the minors.

“I don’t see that,” said Renney “We’ll take this a game at a time. I mean, if we win against Colorado and everybody’s extra-ordinary, then Linus might have trouble getting back in, but that’s speculation.”

He added: “It’s never a bad thing to watch from upstairs. I want Linus to have our game plan in front of him, so he knows what we’re trying to do to win and he can watch.

“We’ll have a good conversation the next morning.”

"There's no plan to trade Jarome," acting Flames general manager Jay Feaster told The Calgary Herald Wednesday, some 24 hours after taking over for Darryl Sutter. "There's no desire on my part to trade Jarome."

"No matter how many times I tell you, it will still be out there," Feaster said of the Iginla trade chatter. "You can write it tomorrow and put it in headlines, but it will still be out there.

"Again, that is nothing more than rumour. It's nothing more than conjecture about something. We have not talked about trading with Jarome.

"It's not one of the things that I intend to put in my plan to Ken (King). There's no substance to it."

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune relays that forward Guillaume Latendresse is seeing daily improvement and is convinced he will return to the Wild lineup with plenty of time to make his mark.

"I know I'm going to play again this season, and I'm going to make an impact when I come back and be a part of the success of this team," he said Wednesday morning. "That's where I keep my head on."

Latendresse hasn't played since Oct. 25 and had two surgeries in late November to repair a torn labrum in his left hip and a bilateral sports hernia. That's usually a four-month rehab at least, but Latendresse feels he is way ahead of schedule. He is hoping to skate for the first time in a month.

"It's getting better," he said. "The positive thing is we see improvement every day. That's easier to go through when you see improvements."

Latendresse said he had groin issues right from the start of training camp, but felt severe pain in his stomach and hip during his last game against Los Angeles. He never envisioned it would cost him most of the season, though.

"It's really frustrating, but I try to keep my head in a good place," he said. "I'm not trying to stick with the bad things that happened, like the surgery. That's behind me. I'm looking forward to coming back and playing hard."

The Orange County Register reports that Ryan Getzlaf's facial injury (hit by a puck following a Shane Doan shot that was deflected off a stick) doesn't appear to have long-term implications, pending further testing. Getzlaf was told to stay home Wednesday and keep the swelling down after he needed 10 stitches to close the cut, which sounded severe judging from coach Randy Carlyle's description.

"There's quite a gash there," Carlyle said. "He had bleeding into his nasal cavity ... and he felt nauseous at times because of the blood draining into his stomach."

Carlyle said it was too early to determine when Getzlaf would be available. The Ducks play Friday vs. Philadelphia.

The OCR notes that Bobby Ryan took Getzlaf's place at centre on the top line with Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey, and Nick Bonino is also available to play centre.

Ryan was tried at centre during training camp and centred the third line last Sunday. Carlyle liked him there Tuesday.

"I thought that Bobby went out there and was much better in that position than he was the night before," Carlyle said.

Also from The Register: Teammates recognized that 20-year-old Luca Sbisa is growing into a NHL defenceman after he turned in one of his better games this season with a goal (his first), a plus-3 rating and four hits against Phoenix.

"He's definitely finding that groove," veteran defenseman Toni Lydman said. "It's nice to see and great for the team."

This time a year ago Sbisa was playing in juniors and he said he has come a long way.

"I'm starting to play my game," Sbisa said. "I played in juniors on this level on a more consistent basis. Night in, night out I played a decent game. I played a low-risk game. I think that's the biggest difference."

Chris Mason is a gamer, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Sure, he’s an athlete with a competitive nature, but the Thrashers goaltender is also a video game enthusiast.

“I always have enjoyed video games,” Mason, 34, said. “Probably five years ago we started playing on the plane. I just love it. When we first started, we had five-on-five or six-on-six. We’ve tried to carry that over. Every team I’ve been on, we’ve played. It’s a great way to pass the time.”

Mason, who was signed as an unrestricted free agent during the offseason, had a question for his teammates when he arrived: Any other gamers here?

“It’s one of the first things he asked when he got here: Did anyone play SOCOM,” said Bryan Little, one of the game enthusiasts. “He’s kind of in charge of it. He sets up the game. He’s the best player of all of us, looks like he practices a bit.”

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo is the current game of choice for the Thrashers, played on PlayStation Portables (PSPs). Typically Mason, Jim Slater and sometimes assistant trainer Step Roberts team up to face Little, Rich Peverley and Alexander Burmistrov. Little said he and Peverley tend to stick together and “Burmy goes off on his own and gets killed.”

The AJC says most agree that Mason is the team’s best player. However, be careful if you take him out.

“He loses his cool a bit in the game,” Little said. “ ... You can’t kill Mase because every time you do, he gets mad.”

Burmistrov is the one dissenter of Mason’s talents.

“I kill him all the time,” the rookie said. “When I do, he asks ‘What do you have? Magic bullets?’”

The Boston Globe observes that after starting 2010-11 with a boom, Nathan Horton has faded.

In the last seven games, Horton has zero goals and one assist. The ex-Panther, no doubt eager to make a good early impression, scored two goals in the season opener against Phoenix. In the second game, Horton scored again. With 9 points in his first six games, Horton, playing alongside Milan Lucic and David Krejci on the first line, used his speed, strength, and shot to create scoring chances. Lately, he hasn’t employed those tools enough.

The coaching staff was encouraged last Thursday when Horton showed some life by dropping the gloves with Atlanta’s Evander Kane during a third-period brawl. But in December, Horton has three goals and three assists in 13 games — not good enough for a No. 1 right wing.

“Right now, I really think he’s battling with confidence. He really is,’’ said Julien. “Players go through those stages. Somehow, he’s got to help himself through it. Somehow, we’ve got to help him get through it as well. That’s all we can do right now.’’

The Globe notes that in Florida, Horton had a reputation for not playing up to his potential as a No. 3 overall pick (2003). He skated too many soft shifts. He didn’t have the commanding presence of a top-line goal-scoring threat. Lately, that Horton has resurfaced, and it cost him third-period shifts against the Lightning.

Tuesday was one of the rare times when Julien shortened the leash on his top-line gunners. Some players respond well to a reduction in ice time. But Julien made it sound as though Horton needs to be built up, not torn down.

“He’s one of those players you have to work with,’’ Julien said. “That’s where it’s important for me to work with him. That’s what he needs. He needs more encouragement than anything else.’’

The Bruins need their top liners to start earning their bucks.

“You’ve got to think scoring,’’ said Julien of Horton. “In your mind, you’ve got to say, ‘I’m going to score.’ You’ve got to make it happen. I don’t know if, right now, he’s feeling the pressure of not scoring. But we’re certainly going to help him try and get through this, because we need him. It’s pretty obvious.’’

Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel told the Columbus Dispatch that the decision to sit his fourth-leading scorer, right winger Jake Voracek, on Monday against the Minnesota Wild was surprisingly and disappointingly simple.

"Jake is too good of a player to be put in that position where it was an easy choice to take him out of the lineup," Arniel said. "He's gone a long time where he hasn't played very well."

Arniel hinted the 21-year-old might play tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. His potential return, however, doesn't mean Voracek is back in good standing. Arniel expressed his displeasure yesterday with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft and questioned Voracek's levels of preparation, conditioning and focus.

Voracek has scored one goal in his past 15 games, managing more than two shots just three times in that span.

After analyzing his play, general manager Scott Howson deferred to Arniel.

"He's got to recognize what he has in his skills and abilities. I've showed him and talked to him about it," Arniel said. "If he doesn't bring it all every night, he's just cheating himself. He frustrates the coaches and I'm sure, at times, he frustrates his teammates."

The Dispatch points out this isn't the first time Voracek has slumped. Still...

"Young guys can drift over an 82-game schedule, and Jake has a tendency to drift away with his attention to detail," Arniel said. "If you aren't going well, don't screw up the system."

Arniel spoke with Voracek yesterday and told him there's a chance he could play tonight. In return, he wants the player - viewed as a potential point-a-game forward - to start making better use of his skill set.

"Any time you see someone with pure talent, regardless of what sport or what line of work it is, and they don't use it to the best of their abilities, it's just a disappointment," Arniel said.

"It's always easy to look back," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following last night's 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders, which put an end to his 25-game point streak. "There are times when I got points over the span of that [streak] where I didn't have as many chances as I did tonight, but I put one in, or someone else put one in.

"It's a funny thing, the way it works sometimes."

Marek Svatos joined his new Predators teammates on the ice today and The Tennessean says that after tal­king to both GM David Poile and coach Barry Trotz, the Pre­da­tors believe Sva­tos will help jump-start their offence. The 5-foot-8, 187-pound Sva­tos score 32 goals in 2005-06. The only pla­yer on Nash­vi­lle to have sco­red more during one sea­son in his career is Steve Sulli­van who net­ted 34 in 2000-01.

"We think if he can play the way he did just a cou­ple of years ago that he’s just what the doc­tor orde­red for what ails us right now," Poile said.

There are some red flags with Sva­tos. During his career he has mis­sed exten­ded amounts of time with a shoul­der injury and a torn ACL. He's also fought groin issues. During his time with Colo­rado, Sva­tos' num­bers fell off con­si­de­rably in his final four sea­sons. Last sea­son, Sva­tos sco­red 11 points in 54 games. Poile attri­bu­tes this drop-off to how the Ava­lanche used him. Sva­tos went from a top-line pla­yer to a lower-line contributor.

"That was pro­bably the reju­ve­na­tion of their team in giving oppor­tu­ni­ties to a lot of youn­ger pla­yers, his ice-time was cut down and that was a reflec­tion of that," Poile said. "He’s healthy now. That’s always a worri­some situa­tion because he’s not the big­gest pla­yer, but I have to give him marks that he’s going to the dan­ger areas to try to score."

The Philadelphia Daily News writes that watching his team play the first 36 games of the season without him, Michael Leighton has been itching to get back in the Flyers' lineup for a few weeks now. It looks like the goalie will finally get that chance tonight against the Los Angeles Kings in California.

Leighton received the bulk of the work in practice yesterday afternoon in El Segundo, Calif. He had a herniated disk in his back surgically repaired on Oct. 11 and first returned to practice on Nov. 20 before completing two rehab stints with the Phantoms in early December. He has been patiently waiting since then as the Flyers sought the right time to get him back in the lineup.

The Daily News points out that since neither Brian Boucher, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 28 shots, nor Sergei Bobrovsky, who let in two goals on 21 shots, was spectacular in the Flyers' 6-2 spanking from the Canucks on Tuesday, Leighton will try to seize the opportunity.

"I'm getting a little bit of confidence; I definitely feel better," Leighton said yesterday. "They just told me to work hard in practice and be ready. You never know when it can happen."

The Arizona Republic notes that on his first run with the Coyotes second power play unit, Coyotes forward Brett MacLean had his first NHL goal, on his first shot.

"Your young players come in and push the players you have, and some cases they push them out and in some cases they need more seasoning," coach Dave Tippett said. "The best organizations in the league that's what they do. They have young players that can contribute when they're ready, and we saw a good indication of that."

MacLean received a call at 11 p.m. Tuesday night that his services would be required in Phoenix. He left the team's AHL affiliate in San Antonio Wednesday morning and arrived in town at 3 p.m.

"The best thing was I was so busy I didn't have time to be nervous," MacLean said. "I didn't really have any time to do anything but get here."

Upon arrival, MacLean was slotted on a line with Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker-familiar faces from his time with the Rampage.

"We've all played together and that makes it a lot easier, especially in the first game," MacLean said.

That line was responsible for two goals in the 6-3 win, with Turris' unassisted marker in the second period sealing the scoring.

"My main goal is just to come in and try and fit in with the team and prove I belong in the NHL," MacLean said. "I never expected to score. Obviously it's exciting to score and for the team to win, six goals, it's a great accomplishment."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says it took almost three months, but the Blues finally got healthy on defense. They reunited their top six for the last four games.

Not coincidentally, the Blues won all four games while allowing just six goals.

"We're skating well. We're kind of jelling, as we were when the season began," defenceman Barret Jackman said after the team's optional skate Wednesday afternoon. "We're making some good reads off each other, really kind of getting the groove.

"It's comfortable. It's the six guys we kind of had penciled in at the beginning of the year. Things are working out as we had planned."

The cohesion was evident Tuesday night as the Blues skated circles around the Blackhawks during their 3-1 victory. They outshot Chicago 43-26 and Jackman, Eric Brewer, Roman Polak, Carlo Colaiacovo, Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo all played strong games.

"That's our big six right there," coach Davis Payne said. "They have experience. They have offensive ability. They have defensive ability. It's a well-balanced group.

"With Roman getting back healthy, with Petro getting back healthy, it's a complete picture. They are playing good hockey. It makes it easier in our own end, it makes it easier to get out of our end. Chances go down, chances for go up. They've done a real effective job, especially last night."

The Post-Dispatch points out that this is what team President John Davidson envisioned when he began the rebuilding process from the blue line out.

"You can pair them up," Davidson said. "You don't need to play guys on the right side that should be on the left side. You have some experience with the younger players as pairs. You have your power-play guys, your penalty-kill guys.

"I think our goaltending has been good for this streak here, but we're not giving up a lot of second and third opportunities. We're not taking a lot of penalties. It's all improving in that area ... if you go back a month, we were playing some pretty green guys back there. We had a very, very young group for a while. Now we're back. It's probably the strength of our team right now."

Don from pdx: "Hey Chris, Love the idea of a bit more Q&A. So here's one for you.

Been struggling in the middle of the pack in my league. It's a standard league, G, A, +/-, PIM, PPG, PPS, SHG, SHA, GWG, SOG, FW for goalies W, L, GA, SA, SV, SV%, & SHO and thinking about a couple of changes my team consists of:C: S.Crosby, P.Stasny, B.Ryan; LW: M.Cammelleri, S.Gagne, R.Clowe, C.Kunitz; RW: P.Kessel, J.Iginla, R.Bourque, T.Bertuzzi, J.Pominville; D: P.Subban, J.Pitkanen, E.Karlsson, N. Kronwall; G: J.Halak, M.Neuvirth, S.Varlamov, R. Trask.

S.Doane (RW), M.Strum (LW), E.Kane (LW), T.Fleischmann (LW) are all available and are looking like a good pick up. Thinking about dropping Bertz or Pomi for Doane and Gagne for Kane, Fleischmann, or Strum. What's your take on this and who's got the most upside? Thanks."

Chris: Don, is this H2H or roto? I ask because sitting on Subban through the healthy scratches can certainly be costly if this is H2H and you need points nightly. In roto it's certainly easier to bide your time and the payoff should be worth it, although you'd still need to make up a few games on D down the line if you don't have any extra ones now.

Bertuzzi and Doan might be fairly similar. Bertuzzi had been cool, but seems to be coming around. I'm fine with either of them for you. Pominville has finally been good in December, so I'd give him more time to see if he suffers with Roy's firepower out of the line-up. Fleischmann is the guy I'd really like to see you add and as much as the upside is there, I might sacrifice Gagne to make it happen on LW.

With the STL D finally healthy, Halak should be fine. The Caps are coming around, which helps in net too. That alone should help you climb up the standings and if someone like Kessel can catch fire that'll also have a positive impact for you.

Darren in St. Louis: "hey chris, i have questions and you have answers. large keeper league, h2h, standard scoring, 20 teams 25 man rosters, no farm, 10 keeps per team. my team is stacked with young talent and i wish i could keep more than 10. id like to add zach boychuk but who to drop? if you dont mind, ill just give you my whole roster and maybe you can give me an idea of who your top 10 would be at this time as well as who to drop for boychuk? i must keep 1c 1lw 1rw 2d and 1g, and the other four can be any position. thank you sir.

c stamkos couture berglund seguin sobotka lw ryan e kane galiardi pacioretty paajarvi prospal rw giroux justin williams knuble parenteau dadonov cleary d gonchar kaberle karlsson fowler shattenkirk emtpy g luongo brodeur bernier ir okposo horcoff"

Chris: Thanks for sparking something good for the blog Darren. The Boychuk swap is easy enough since you have an injured Cleary on your roster, who'll never be a keeper for you.

In terms of keepers, it's really pretty early for that and I think the most important thing for you is going to come down to whether you're a contender right now or whether you're willing to sacrifice a bit to be really young. I'm thinking specifically about Brodeur, whom I still think will rebound to have a strong second half. The fact remains that he's 38 though and once he heats up, he might fetch you a top prospect via trade. Or, if you can win this year and next, he may help that cause.

The obvious locks here for you, going by positions you must have, are Stamkos, Ryan, Giroux, Karlsson, Fowler and Luongo.

Beyond that, it'll depend both on how the remaining young guys fare and how much production you need immediately. Couture, Kane, Seguin seem like pretty good bets in terms of being able to help you in '11-12 and much further beyond, but arguments can also be made to incorporate Brodeur, Bernier, Kaberle, Okposo and several others. Shattenkirk might even make it a tough choice too, but we'll see where he is by year's end.

Oro Valley Oracle: Chris, here's a complex question. I have surprised myself by leading a 9 man keep 10 team roto with standard cats except PPG and PPA are separate and GWG makes 12 categories. 3C,3LW,3RW,4D,1U and 2G...plus 4 Bench and 4 IR. Have to activate Hossa from IR or lose him by league rules. Was hoping Spezza would go on IR but no dice. Who to drop? Goalies Price,Pavalec,Neuvirth. Defense Phaneuf,EJ,Edler,Yandle,Myers,Zidlicky. C Crosby,Kesler,Spezza,Couture. LW Elias(C),Clowe,Laich,Malone. RW Ericksson,Williams,Bourque Dropping a D is the most logical since I have two extra but EJ is not much yet nor is Myers and he's flu-down. Guess Zyd is the candidate. Could drop a LW but Malone is hot and can't bring myself to drop Elias. Bourque is the weakest stat RW but is so streaky, hate to miss the next streak. What do you think Chris? Thanks."

Chris: Even though he's a decent depth guy who often sees PP1 time with the Caps, the first name that jumps out to me is Laich. I can't imagine there'd be a run on him if you were to drop him and then you'll hopefully have two slots opening up soon if/when Spezza and Zidlicky gain IR eligibility for you. At that point you could either get Laich back, or, if he's been claimed, then you can surely find another guy on a hot streak to take his place in depth form.