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 Orange County Register reports that the Ducks signed goalie Ray Emery to a one-year, two-way contract today that is subject to him clearing waivers.

The club will assign Emery to AHL affiliate Syracuse. He was therefore placed on waivers at 9 a.m. Pacific Monday and other teams will have until 9 a.m. Tuesday to claim the former Stanley Cup finalist goalie.

“Ray Emery has been a solid NHL netminder for several years and is only 28 years old,” general manager Bob Murray said in a release.

“We are going to give him a chance to go to Syracuse and establish himself again. He’s worked hard to get back into shape and we are looking forward to seeing what he can do.”

IMO, the Oilers should at least consider claiming him on waivers. It's my understanding they could give him a two-week conditioning stint in the AHL and even though Emery apparently needs a lot more time than that (which is why the Ducks exposed him to waivers in the first place), it'd be an investment in the future.

Maybe you believe Devan Dubnyk (one more year, then RFA) is the answer. I'm not as sure. What I do know is that Nikolai Khabibulin (two more years at $3.75M per) turned 38 last month and he's clearly not the answer in the long run for a team in its developmental infancy. Oliver Roy, who I think might be the guy eventually, is likely still years away from being NHL-ready.

Emery is a guy who would be grateful for the opportunity to be back in the NHL on several levels, dating back to his stint in the KHL and now coming back from an injury that maybe should have been career-ending. You don't think he'd be excited about the chance to start - and he'd be the favourite heading into next season if Khabibulin was dealt this summer - for a team with a bright future like Edmonton?

The Oilers, make no mistake, have a LOT of work to do before they'd be a goalie-friendly team. But they'll get there. And Emery is still young enough that he could step in and not only give the team the sort of veteran perspective that Khabibulin can now, but also still be a part of the team's future as an answer in net. He and Dubnyk would make a pretty solid tandem, at worst.

Maybe you're in the camp that looks back on Emery's perceived attitude issues and thinks they could negatively impact the team, like management felt Sheldon Souray would. I'm of the opposite mind. From where I sit, Emery's more likely a changed man and his fire from the crease would be a positive for a young team.

Food for thought anyway. I certainly don't claim to have all of the answers for this scenario.

The Oilers would have to invest a roster spot in Emery for the rest of the season, which would mean carrying three goalies since he's not ready to start in the near future. But who cares? Edmonton isn't going anywhere this season anyway and to get a free crack at a legitimate No. 1 goalie who would - I'm speculating - LOVE the chance to play in Edmonton... and we've seen too many players who want to avoid the city like the plague... why not take the free lottery ticket?

The Oilers would also have to find a taker for Khabibulin this summer (or, if things went really well, maybe the trade deadline at the end of this month) and with two years left on his current deal maybe that's a problem. But it'd at least be worth exploring the Emery angle, no?

What's the absolute worst case? The Oil take him and either he doesn't get back to NHL-readiness. Or they can't find a taker for Khabibulin and don't want to buy him out.

Emery's contract expires at the end of this season. It's a freebie. Take a chance. What do they have to lose?

The Denver Post reports that it's official: Peter Forsberg, at 37 and nearly three years removed from his most recent NHL game, agreed to a contract through the rest of this season with the Avalanche. At a salary of $1 million, prorated with a bit more than a third of the season to play, Forsberg will be back in his familiar uniform number 21.

For the Avs, it could be blackjack. Or, it could prove to be an ill-advised idea. In a league in which youth and speed have trended upward since the NHL's lockout of 2004-05, Forsberg knows this could be the biggest challenge of his professional life.

"I'm nervous to see how it goes," said Forsberg, who won't play tonight at Phoenix and likely won't make his debut with the Avs until Friday at Columbus or Saturday at Nashville. "I don't know how it's going to go. I'm going to say that right now."

Forsberg's former Avalanche teammate Joe Sakic thinks it will go well.

"He was never the fastest guy in the world, and he still won't be the fastest guy in the world. But he'll be the smartest guy in the world, I'll guarantee you," Sakic said. "He'll still see guys nobody else can see and get them the puck.

"You know what? He's a hockey player. These young guys, they're really going to see what he's about. They're going to learn so much just by watching him. They'll learn strength on the puck and what his competitive fire is all about."

Forsberg offered this to the media and fans: "It's going to be nerve-wracking before the first game," he said. "I'm not sure how it's going to go, if I'm going to be good or not, but I'd like to give it a shot."

Avalanche coach Joe Sacco told The Post he will decide soon on which line and position to play his newest acquisition. It is likely to be at left wing, probably on one of the top two lines.

"My intention right now is to start him at wing," Sacco said. "We know the type of player that he is, and I know the situations he has to be in in order for our team to be successful."

Sakic added this: "He's going to give the team a good kick-start, and they could use one right now. You just hope he can stay healthy."

Marty Turco offered The Calgary Herald two perspectives on the return of Swedish legend Peter Forsberg with the Colorado Avalanche.

Turco, the hockey fan, is delighted. "It's great to see Fozzie Bear back," he said. "I'd love to see flashes of the old brilliance that he brought to this league - and to that team - for many years. From the outside looking in, I think it's a great thing. If he's healthy and he can get after it, I wish him all the best."

Turco, the goalie of the Chicago Blackhawks, is not so thrilled.

"For us, it's not the most welcome news," said Turco, whose outfit, like a half-dozen others in the Western Conference, is within spitting distance of the Avs. "But our club is probably indifferent. We feel that our destiny is in our control, regardless of what others do. We just feel that strongly about our group."

Patrick Sharp and Forsberg were employed by the Philadelphia Flyers at the same time. And, yes, you could say the Blackhawks veteran quickly became a fan of the scruffy Swede.

"Probably the most skilled player I've ever played with," Sharp said. "I just found myself watching him in practice. He was unbelievable. I'm glad he's coming back - it's good for the league. I think he's going to be a great player. I'll be glued to the TV to see Colorado play now.

"He's a dangerous player. I guess it's not too good for the Hawks that he's coming back, but it'll be fun as a fan to watch him."

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville worked with Forsberg in Colorado.

"A tremendous player. We have to be concerned with how good he is because he can make a difference."

Most rave about Forsberg's competitive spirit. "Well-documented," is what Turco calls it.

Quenneville, though, points to the centre's near-peerless skill-set.

"He does things that nobody else can do - an amazing player," he said. "I mean, (Detroit's Pavel) Datsyuk does some things you haven't seen before. But Forsberg, on a regular basis, does some things you've never seen before. He's fun to watch."

Just to reiterate what I've written and tweeted about Forsberg's return so far, now that his signing with the Avs is official...

He's 37. He hasn't played in the NHL for quite awhile. He has a long history of injuries keeping him out of the line-up.

And he'll still be starting each and every game for my fantasy team.

How effective he'll be, with whom he'll play (I'm guessing LW on the Duchene line) and more still need to be determined. But you can bet he'll be a staple on the first power play unit sooner rather than later and you read what his new coach had to say about knowing where Forsberg needs to be in order to succeed.

For any player coming back from a long injury layoff I'd advise an expectation of waiting for results, like when Jordan Staal finally played his first game of the season with the Pens. It's only fair to give players time to get up to speed and get their skating legs under them.

While that's the fair thing to do with Forsberg too, especially given how long he's been out of the NHL, it's still entirely realistic that he'll start putting up points right away. That's why I'm not going to wait to put him in my line-up and I won't take him out, even if he goes the first few games without a point.

Sakic said it best: "He'll still see guys nobody else can see and get them the puck."

And Forsberg - even years removed from the NHL and at this age - is still a better fantasy bet than virtually any FA that either was available when news broke of his potential comeback or would be available today if your league is just putting him on waivers now that the signing is official.

"The media has told me the record and they make a little bit of hype out of it," Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller told The Buffalo News of his 24-8 career mark against Toronto with a 2.16 goals-against average and .931 save percentage. The Leafs are the only NHL team he's won at least 20 games against. "But it mainly has to do with the fact I really don't want their fans to have a fun time coming to Buffalo."

The Edmonton Journal believes that when it comes to the complexities of the North American hockey game, Magnus Paajarvi figures he’s finally made some progress.

“I feel a lot better now,” he said on the eve of the Oilers (15-29-8) contest with the Nashville Predators. Monday’s meeting at the Bridgestone Arena will close out Edmonton’s three-game road trip. “I’ve felt a lot better in the second half of the season.”

The 19-year-old Paajarvi arrived in Nashville with three goals in as many games, giving him nine on the season along with 13 helpers. He scored the Oilers’ only goal in a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings last Wednesday, then potted a pair on just two shots in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“Point-wise, I want to be better, but I look at my game first and it has been better,” he said.

The Journal points out that the trio of Paajarvi, Sam Gagner and Linus Omark has been the one constant on head coach Tom Renney’s lineup card for weeks now and will continue to be, given it has become one of the team’s most consistent lines.

The line has netted five goals and accumulated nine assists in the last five games, which trumps the rest of the Oilers forward combos. Taylor Hall has four points (two goals, two assists) in that same stretch, Shawn Horcoff has three assists and Dustin Penner has three goals, but that’s it for team production.

“Linus and I think the game the same. We come from the same country, the same program. I know where to put the pucks when I’m with him,” Paajarvi said, “and Sam complements us. He is leaning more to our style.

“But we have been playing together a while and that is an advantage. You feel so much more secure when you’re out there.”

Best line from the article: “I’m getting used to things. Like if you get on an elevator here, it’s common to say, ‘Hey how are you doing?’ and just finish with, ‘Have a nice day.’ In Sweden we just stand there. It’s a lot more social here."

Senators general manager Bryan Murray told The Ottawa Citizen he doesn’t anticipate bringing in another goalie as a stopgap measure until the end of the season. But that doesn’t rule out that he’ll try to acquire one who could be a long-term part of the team’s future.

For Ottawa’s future, the only goalie under contract for next season is 19-year-old Robin Lehner, with the contracts of Pascal Leclaire and Brian Elliott expiring at the end of this season.

Leclaire’s future is uncertain because of injuries and Elliott’s confidence is at an all-time low, so Murray may choose to look elsewhere for another netminder.

The team has now lost nine straight and just once in 16 games since Boxing Day. Murray hadn’t yet talked to Lehner about elbowing Islander goalie Kevin Poulin as the teams left the ice after the second period, giving the Islanders a two-man advantage they used to score the winning goal, but he was going to try to speak with him on Sunday or Monday.

However, Murray told The Citizen he was willing to forgive Lehner’s outburst as a byproduct of youth.

“What we said to Robin at the beginning was ’We don’t want you to be the saviour,’ ” said Murray. “We want you to get experience. We’ve had a tough year. We’ve had some guys not perform close to where we thought they’d be.

“So, come in and learn from it, and I look at (Saturday’s game) as another learning experience.”

Murray also believes Elliott is a lot better than he has played recently, a view not shared by Elliott’s growing legion of critics. But certainly Elliott has demonstrated in the past that he can play very well. He is, nonetheless, in a terrible funk.

“It just looks like he’s put the burden of the team on his shoulders,” said Murray.

“I know Brian is a quality, quality man, and (that he’s) a goaltender that can play in the National Hockey League. But it just looks to me like he is so uptight helping this team do something positive that it’s affecting him.

“I never saw him give up rebounds like he did (on Saturday), and on shots that were really harmless shots. I think it’s all about trying to do too much for the team.”

On the topic of general trades leading up to the deadline, Murray told The Citzien he continues to talk to teams.

He said there’s a “fair amount of interest” from contending teams in some of Ottawa’s players, but when the deals get made is the question.

“I wouldn’t even like to predict when it will come down,” he said. “We continue to talk, but I just wait and see.”

In the final seconds of overtime Sunday, The Tampa Tribune relays that defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron fired a rocket that knocked off the mask of St. Louis G Ty Conklin and stopped play.

Seconds later, he sent in a floater that wound up in the net as C Vinny Lecavalier poked in the winner in a 4-3 victory.

For Bergeron, the primary assist was his second point of the day as he made his Lightning debut a success in his first NHL game since May. Bergeron suffered a torn ACL in his right knee during the playoffs with Montreal last year and underwent intensive rehabilitation.

Tampa Bay signed the 30-year-old as a free agent Jan. 4 and sent him to the American Hockey League, where he appeared in 13 games for Tampa Bay's affiliate in Norfolk, Va. The Lightning called up Bergeron on Saturday, and without a practice under his belt, he played 17 minutes, 21 seconds in his first game.

Bergeron, whose 27 goals in the previous two seasons rank fourth among defencemen, was placed on the top power-play unit, where he helped set up the winning goal with 6.7 seconds left.

"I was obviously nervous, but I have been waiting for this day for a long time. I've done a lot of rehab and a lot of stuff and finally I'm here and back in the NHL and it feels good,'' Bergeron said. "I'm not only back in the NHL, but when you have the chance to come back and play for such a good team, it's a great chance. So right now, I'm really looking to try to take advantage of that and making sure I'm helping these guys.''

Coach Bruce Boudreau told The Washington Post the Capitals are playing it safe with defenceman Mike Green, who did not take part in Monday's practice after being struck in the head by a slap shot Sunday afternoon against the Penguins. Green had several rows of stitches near his right ear and said after Washington's 3-0 win that he felt a little woozy immediately following the incident.

Boudreau wouldn't go into specifics when discussing how long Green might be out though or if the team might have him sit out Tuesday's game against the Sharks as a precaution.

"He's not 100 percent; we thought another day off would do him good," said Boudreau, who was asked if the team was guarding against the possibility of a concussion. "I think we'd have to. It's definitely way more serious now any injury to the head than it was 10-15 years ago, we always err with the side of caution."

"You're always concerned because Mike Green is one of the best defencemen in the league, so you're concerned about that," Boudreau continued when asked if there was worry of lingering effects of Green being hit in the head by the puck. "You just hope that that's not the case and we'll wait til tomorrow morning and hopefully he feels better.

"We will re-evaluate tomorrow," he said, "and we will listen to what the trainer and Mike have to say and that's the advice we'll use."

The Post reports that Alex Semin was out there and the lines were Ovechkin-Backstrom-Chimera/ Laich-Perreault-Semin/ Hendricks-Johansson-Knuble.

The hope is Semin will play Tuesday.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak checked out OK in this morning's practice in Tampa Bay and he's been given clearance to return to action Tuesday night in Florida.

Halak missed two games with an upper-body injury, which was considered minor.

Ty Conklin made back-to-back starts against Edmonton and Tampa Bay and went 1-0-1. He made 36 saves in Sunday's 4-3 overtime defeat to the Lightning.

The Blues will wrap up their two-game road trip Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers and it appears that Halak will get the start.

Halak has not been between the pipes since a 4-3 loss to Colorado on Jan. 24. That ended a string of six consecutive starts, in which he went 2-3-1 and allowed 18 goals on 171 shots for an .895 save-percentage. He's allowed four goals in four of those six starts.

With the All-Star break and the injury, Halak will have been off for 13 days when he returns Tuesday. As a result of him getting healthy, the Blues have re-assigned goaltender Ben Bishop to Peoria.

Michigan Live reports that Pavel Datsyuk (broken right hand) will help the Detroit Red Wings at both ends of the ice when he returns to the lineup tonight against the New York Rangers at Joe Louis Arena.

But, right now, they need his offence more than anything after being shut out in their last two games.

“We haven't played very well in the last few games, so it'll be nice to get some energy in our lineup,'' coach Mike Babcock said after today's morning skate. "We got to work way harder than we have.

“We've put up a couple of bagels the last two nights. ... So we got to get ready to get to the net, get some second chances and compete harder on the inside.''

Babcock said his forwards must play harder.

“We need more play out of our forwards, we need more time in the offensive zone,'' Babcock said. "When you do that, you play better defence and you also put more pressure on the other team. Right now we're one and done, too easy to play against. Ideally, having Pavel back and having more guys on deck we'll be better. But the guys that are playing got to play harder.''

Michigan Live also notes that Tomas Holmstrom, out since Jan. 14 with a broken right hand, hopes to return Wednesday against Nashville. That appears a bit optimistic.

“I started battling and I couldn't push away,'' Holmstrom said. "Shooting for Wednesday but we'll see. It gets better and better every day (but) it's too painful when I did some battling drills.''

Here are the lines they skated with today: Franzen-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi/ Hudler-Datsyuk-Cleary/ Abdelkader-Filppula-Eaves

The Miami Herald says that Jacques Martin wanted Rostislav Olesz to shoot the puck more. Pete DeBoer wants Olesz to take aim at the net more often. So does Dale Tallon.

Olesz has heard that refrain many times in his six seasons with the Panthers, from coaches and teammates alike. Olesz grew up with a passer’s mentality, and even though he has a pretty nice shot, he would rather set a teammate up than go for the gold himself.

He says he wants to change that thought process and has been shooting more lately. And guess what? Olesz has scored a few goals.

“I’m playing on a line with Mike Santorelli and David Booth and they like to shoot, so we have to share the puck,’’ said Olesz, whose overtime goal beat the Devils on Friday night. That goal came after he almost won the game in regulation, his shot ringing off the post.

“Some nights I’m not going to have the shots because they’re taking them. I know I have to be patient, but I’m trying to get the puck at the net. Since my first year here, everyone has told me to shoot the puck more. Everyone. I don’t know, I like to pass. I don’t think it’s a bad habit, but if a guy is open, I’m going to try to get the puck to him. If not, I’m looking to shoot it.’’

The Herald says that although fans have derided Olesz because of Florida’s limited offensive return on a big-money contract (six years, nearly $19M, signed in 2008), goalie Tomas Vokoun said teammates don’t look at it that way, wanting only a consistent show of effort. One of the knocks on Olesz is that’s not always the case.

“Rusty needs to play like that every night,’’ Vokoun said Friday. “We really need him to play like that for us to be successful. When he plays hard, he’s a very effective player. Everyone has an off night during an 82-game season, we know that. But he needs to play like this in 75 of them. And it’s not about numbers or money.

“I don’t care how much he makes or if he has one goal or 30. It’s about the effort and how he battles. He’s a 230-pound guy. We need him to make a mark somewhere, even if it’s just on defense. We don’t give him grief if he doesn’t score because of how much money he makes. He doesn’t control that. He does control his effort.’’

DeBoer, one of Olesz’s most vocal critics the past few seasons, , had plenty of good things to say about Olesz after Friday’s game.

“You know what? Rusty is coming around and we’re seeing glimpses of the player he can be,’’ DeBoer said. “Everyone’s frustration lies in that the sky is the limit with this guy. We just want him to realize his potential. Some guys get it different, especially power forwards. It took Todd Bertuzzi years to learn how to use his size and that body to be effective at this level.

[Olesz’s] God-given gifts are his size and power. He’s figuring it out.’’

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune indicates that Wild GM Chuck Fletcher was limited by salary cap issues when it came to reshaping the Wild roster last summer. But there was one thing he felt he had to do: create more depth on the team, particularly down the middle. As a result he signed free-agent centres Matt Cullen and John Madden. In those two he got veterans who had been on winning teams, two guys who are good leaders on the bench and in the dressing room. The team also got a lot deeper.

This team still has to overachieve to beat out more talented teams if it wants to make the Western Conference playoffs. Some other teams in the West have more high-end, skilled talent, but one edge the Wild often has is depth. For the first time under Richards -- and, perhaps, for the first time ever -- the team can safely roll out four lines in just about any situation.

Cullen is more of an offensive threat than Madden. But both can win a draw and are good in their own defensive end. And that is especially important on the road, when the home team gets the final change. There were times last season when Richards felt he had to have Mikko Koivu's line out constantly in crucial situations.

"Now I'm not worried if one of our centres gets caught out, say, when we ice the puck," Richards said. "I'm not worried when [San Jose] throws [Joe] Thornton out there. The centres we have, I know they can all play and be responsible against those types of players. It is definitely easier for me, especially being able to manage ice time."

Fletcher said this was how they looked at last summer: "It is very difficult to obtain high-end talent on the unrestricted free-agent market. So our goal was to increase depth. One of the reasons we struggled on the road last year was that we didn't have depth down the middle, and there were many nights our third and fourth lines weren't good enough to help us win."

That increased depth is a big reason the Wild, 13-24-4 on the road last season, was 15-9-3 after Saturday's loss in Phoenix.

"Any time you have depth at centre, it's huge," said Madden, who has played on three Stanley Cup champion teams. "We're fortunate to have the four centres we have, and I'm sure it's helping our road success rate."

It's all about comfort for Brentwood's Blake Geoffrion, according to The Nashville Tennessean.

When he feels at ease with his surroundings, the game slows down for him and prolific numbers follow.

"Once he seems to acclimate and play with confidence, and that's the biggest thing with him, it's playing with confidence. Once he plays with confidence, you get to see what he's all about," assistant general manager Paul Fenton said. "The confidence brings competitive spirit and his compete level rises, and when he competes in the fashion he's able to compete, then he becomes productive."

The acclimation process appears to be over for Geoffrion, who is playing for the Milwaukee Admirals in the American Hockey League. In his past four games, he has scored 13 points. In his previous 33 games, he had just 19.

The Tennessean says that has led to the question of whether the Predators might call him up. The answer is soon, but not yet.

"It has taken almost three-fourths of a year for Blake to really find his range, if you will. And that's good, but there's no sense of taking him out of his range right now," Predators Coach Barry Trotz said. "He needs to stay in that groove and we'll take note and when opportunity opens up again he'll get a lot more consideration."

Geoffrion has had a somewhat up-and-down first season as a professional. He didn't score his first goal until Dec. 5. He also missed a month of action with a concussion. But the Predators have been impressed with his play in the past month, when he has found more consistency to his game. If he can keep this up for a prolonged period, he might make his long-awaited debut for his hometown team.

"Chris Mueller was the best player on a consistent basis for a long period of time (in Milwaukee), and he was the guy who was called up," Trotz said. "Blake is now playing very consistently and is one of the better players down there. If he can sustain it for a long time, when a move is made, he will be a likely candidate."

Fire & Ice reports that Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said he doesn’t know how long goaltender Martin Brodeur’s right knee injury (sustained yesterday afternoon against the Habs) will keep him out, but he doesn’t expect him to be available to play in Tuesday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Prudential Center.

“I don’t think we’ll have him,” Lemaire said. “But I got no news on how long.”

Lemaire said another goaltender will be called up from Albany to serve as Johan Hedberg’s backup Tuesday.

Hedberg said he’ll be ready to play as much as needed, but wasn’t about to guess how long Brodeur will be out.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen with him,” Hedberg said. “I’ll do whatever they tell me to do and not look too far ahead of that either. Whatever the situation is, I’ll deal with it.”

Charlie Buckets, Mo-town: "Hey Chris,

First year of a long term keeper pool with a farm team, as such the draft had a lot of youth involved. Scoring stats are G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SO. Roster spots 4C, 3L 3R, 2F 4D 1U, 2G. We keep 10, with 2 goalies max.

Active roster; * denotes who I think will be a keeper. F; E. Staal*, Duchene*, P. Stastny, Filppula, Skinner*, Gionta, Heatley*, Lucic, T. Ruutu, Gaborik*, Franzen*, Selanne, Umberger, Zajac, Backes, Kane, Okposo (still in IR slot) D; Chara*, Phaneuf, Burns, Goligoski G; Luongo*, Hiller*, Backstrom Farm team; Fowler, Zuccarello, and Skinner who I called up. I'm thinking I'll hold on to either Kane or Okposo, depending on how the rest of the season plays out for both of them.

thanks again for the great blog this year, I don't doubt that your help in the off season and up to today is the reason I'm in first. Helpful as always."

Chris: Thanks, I appreciate that.

In terms of keepers, I really think I'd be keeping Stastny over Evander Kane or Okposo if you wanted another forward. Colorado has run into a lot of injuries this season, but Stastny and Duchene are still a dynamic duo with loads of potential for an Avs team that has some talent on the wings. Since you have Duchene, there's some attraction to keeping them both.

And really, with PIM in play for your league a legit argument can be made to keep Lucic too.

My preference though, would be to see you deal Hiller while his value is fairly high (current injury situation aside) with a keeper forward to land a Lundqvist if possible. Maybe you could even capitalize on Franzen's recent five-goal effort to send him with Hiller in such a scenario. I love Franzen, but with your depth up front I'd easily sacrifice him to gain a second stud option in net with your Luongo.

It's also entirely possible someone like Burns or Goligoski could sneak in as the 10th guy, depending on how the trades and/or rest of the season shapes up.

Darren in St. Louis: "hey chris, im thinking it would be wise to add MAB and put a waiver in on forsberg(16 out of 20 though in waiver priority). problem is who to drop? i also have a healthy prospal sitting on my ir who needs to be activated first. i would truely appreciate your thoughts. thanks.

20 teams 25 man rosters 10 keepers. h2h g a +- pim sog ppg shg gwg fw hits w gaa sv sv% sho. goalies are very valuable and hoarded if at all possible as 3 starts per week are needed. in position to win this year...here are the players who could be dropped. seguin rolston pacioretty horcoff berglund knuble prospal gonchar shattenkirk clitsome bernier(goalie) poulin nabokov.(luongo and brodeur are my starters)"

Chris: I'm going to assume that you have no shot at Forsberg with the 16th waiver pick. I'm also going to assume you want to have a crack at Nabokov being a keeper this summer, so you won't want to drop him.

I get that goaltenders are valuable in that format and with so many teams, but you really need to look at dealing Bernier and Poulin if possible. Tying up so many rosters spots with goalies in an H2H format is rough, especially when you have two workhorses in Luongo and Brodeur that'll easily get you the three starts per week.

Knuble is really the only one on that list (since Seguin has keeper potential) who isn't producing too much right now. I'd rather have Prospal than Knuble (your IR move to begin this whole process) and I'd rather have Forsberg than Prospal. Assuming the rest of your roster is more forward-heavy, I'd rather have MAB than Prospal too since you might be able to get MAB into your line-up more often than Prospal. And since you won't likely get Forsberg, it looks like MAB would be the guy you'd end up with.