Chris Nichols

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

Twitter: @Nichols_NHLPool/ Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

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The Washington Post reports that Mike Green skated for about 20 minutes Thursday morning but left the ice when the rest of the Capitals started the morning skate. Coach Bruce Boudreau said he’s hoping that the defenseman may be able to start working out with his teammates as soon as Friday.

Green hasn’t played or practiced with the team since he suffered a concussion on Feb. 25, when he was hit by the New York Rangers’ Derek Stepan. The two-time Norris Trophy finalist has completed light skates for four consecutive days this week, but on Monday said Green said he was still experiencing some symptoms.

“He’s coming along well,” Boudreau said. “And I say that hoping that tomorrow — again, it’s Bruce hoping — that he might be able to come out with the team.”

Also from The Post: Defenseman Dennis Wideman, who suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of Washington’s 3-2 shootout loss to Carolina Tuesday, did not take part in the morning skate in advance of tonight’s game and is now formally listed as week-to-week by the team.

Martin Brodeur has started the Devils’ last 15 games, but Fire & Ice believes he has shown no signs of tiring as the season approaches its end.

He has allowed eight goals over the last five games, including two shutouts, but won only two of them.

“Right now, to me he’s at his best of the year, of the season.” Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said. “He plays with a lot of confidence. He’s a lot quicker in the net. I’m sure he feels good about his game right now. All of that adds up.”

This has certainly not been a typical Brodeur season statistically. Even with tonight’s win, he’s just 22-24-3 with six games remaining and backup Johan Hedberg likely to see some action in at least one of them. Brodeur has lowered his goals-against average to 2.39 (it was 3.15 on Jan. 1) and raised his save percentage to .905 (it was .882 on Jan. 1), but that doesn’t do much for Brodeur.

“It’s just the about the wins,” Brodeur said. “After that, the losses are about the same. The goals-against average is the same as last year. Besides the wins – (Johan Hedberg) got the rest (of them). But it is not satisfying at all. I’m used to better stats than that. I guess it was bound to happen one year and I think I’m reflecting the team because I’m playing a lot of games.”

Still, he is pleased with the way he has played in the second half after such a bad first half. He’s also a bit surprised how heavily Lemaire has been leaning on him lately with the way Hedberg also had been playing.

“Personally, he’s been playing me a lot, a lot more than I expected to play down the stretch like that,” Brodeur said. “But I think for me to feel the way I’m feeling, I feel that I make a difference every game and I’m playing solid. I just want to keep it up for my own sanity I guess for the summer to know that I was able to contribute and still be able to play and make a difference. Because I think it was hard on me early on in the season. I’ve got a few more games to go and I just want to play them well.”

The Raleigh News & Observer says that back when the NHL All-Star Game was here, what seems like many moons ago, there was nothing bigger in the world of hockey than Jeff Skinner - here or anywhere else.

All-Star MVP Patrick Sharp, the Chicago Blackhawks forward, summed the weekend up thusly: "Jeff Skinner, I got to meet him. Seems to be a fan favorite here."

As anyone would expect from an 18-year-old, Skinner's frenetic scoring pace slowed a bit during the dog days of the endless NHL season. It's the home stretch now, and with the Carolina Hurricanes' playoff hopes ever so thin, Skinner has picked up his game.

With the Hurricanes' first two goals Wednesday in a 6-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens and an assist on the fourth, Skinner maintained his lead in the rookie scoring race and helped the Hurricanes stay within three points of the seventh and eighth playoff spots with five games to play.

The big game is Sunday, when the Buffalo Sabres come to town for a proverbial four-point game that gives the Hurricanes a much better chance of catching the Sabres than the New York Rangers. With Skinner playing like this, the Hurricanes have a chance.

As for the 18-year-old, who The News & Observer notes is now one goal shy of 30, he'll just keep living the dream and hoping for the best.

"Looking back at the beginning of the season, I definitely wouldn't have predicted to be here," Skinner said. "I look back and don't predict a lot of things that happened. You just try to roll with it, and hopefully we can keep going."

The All-Star Game fell early in a stretch of 10 points in 22 games for Skinner. That relative drought ended two weeks ago with a two-point night against the New York Islanders, and he has been on a tear since: five goals and three assists in the past six games.

The way he has been scoring lately is no coincidence, linemate Tuomo Ruutu said. The veteran has noticed significant improvements in the rookie's game without the puck - and sure enough, one of Skinner's goals Wednesday arose from good defensive position and the other from a nice defensive play.

"I've noticed, especially lately, he's really strong defensively," Ruutu said. "He's learned a lot. The thing about the goals that he scored last night and tonight, a lot of them are forecheck goals. When he gets the puck in the offensive zone, it's a shorter distance to take it to the net. I think that's been the difference."

Whether he ends up playing this season or not, The Buffalo News relays that injured Buffalo Sabres center Derek Roy continues to be encouraged with his rehabilitation.

Roy has skated lightly three times in the last week, and had his first major workout Wednesday prior to the Sabres' optional morning skate in HSBC Arena. He was on the ice for nearly a half-hour and spent the last 15 minutes or so firing pucks at the net at both ends of the ice.

Roy was the only player on the ice during the workout. He was the team's leading scorer with 35 points in 35 games when he suffered a torn quad tendon Dec. 23 against Florida. He had surgery a few days later, with a recovery time listed of 4-6 months.

"It's been nice to get on the ice," Roy said. "Today it felt a lot better than the first few days where you just move around and see how it feels. Today I took a big step, started skating hard and got my heart rate up. The knee felt pretty good, not good in tight turns and starts and stops or anything. I haven't tried that yet."

Roy admitted to The News that he had some soreness in the knee but that's to be expected because he ramped up his workout.

"It's the nature of a hockey player. You want to get back, you try to push things," Roy said. "[Sabres doctor Les Bisson] said you can push it now. That little pain is nothing really."

Roy and coach Lindy Ruff both agreed there is no change in the center's timetable. The hope is Roy can return for the second round of the playoffs, if the Sabres advance that far.

"That would be right at the fourth-month period, right where [Bisson] said, the 4-6 months," Roy said. "I'm going with his knowledge on the thing. Obviously, I've never had an injury like this. Four months to play at an NHL level in the playoffs might be stretching it but I'm going to try to push for that. I'm ahead of schedule but you never know with these things."

Roy has not been seen much since the injury. He was walking with a cane in January and without the cane but still with a limp at new owner Terry Pegula's introductory news conference Feb. 22. Roy then got into uniform and took a few twirls around the ice after the Sabres had their team picture taken in the arena March 17.

"That gave me an estimation of where I was at that point in time. I've definitely made some huge strides since then," Roy said. "[Dr. Bisson] said at the three-month period, you usually start feeling a little bit better and all of a sudden your leg starts getting bigger and stronger. All of a sudden, things come quicker."

According to The San Jose Mercury News, Joe Thornton is five points shy of 1,000 points in the NHL; an impressive mark that only 77 players have reached among the more than 6,000 skaters who have played hockey at its highest level.

"One thousand points, that's pretty crazy," teammate Dan Boyle said this week. "It's a milestone to hit 1,000 games, let alone 1,000 points."

Yet here's something to consider as the season winds down to its final six games: Normally, Thornton would have hit that mark in mid-February.

But this season is not a normal one for the Sharks captain. His scoring is down to its lowest level since he came to San Jose in November 2005, while other aspects of his play have improved. And considering the Sharks are on a 23-4-4 run over the past two months, coach Todd McLellan is fine with the situation.

"I believe he's paying closer attention to some of the smaller details away from the puck and defensively," McLellan said of Thornton. "We recognize that, we make sure he knows we're aware of it. And I believe our renaissance since January is in large part due to that type of commitment from him and a few other players."

Before this season, Thornton had been averaging 1.24 points per game as a Shark. This season, with 19 goals and 45 assists for 64 points in 74 games, that figure is down to 0.86. But he leads the NHL in take-aways with 106 -- already 35 more than his career best.

Thornton told The Mercury News that any changes in his style of play in his 989-game NHL career have been evolutionary.

"I think every year your game kind of changes a little bit," he said. "The way coaches use you is different from year to year. Not just me, but I think everybody's game kind of evolves."

Dany Heatley offered this about 1000 points: "That's huge for him. "Not that many guys in the history of the game have gotten that, so it's pretty elite company. He's been one of the best, if not the best, passers in the game for a number of years."

More than two-thirds of Thornton's points have come on 691 assists, and Heatley has been on the receiving end of many of those passes over the past two seasons.

"He always finds a way to make that play, to get the pass through," Heatley said. "As the guy receiving the pass, you can never give up on the play because you know he's going to find you -- through the guy's legs or over the guy's stick, it's always going to get through to you."

Thornton, of course, isn't the only Shark whose numbers are down this season. Heatley, Boyle, Patrick Marleau and others are in that same situation -- yet the Sharks once again find themselves high in the Western Conference standings.

McLellan credits Thornton with having the right attitude when it comes to personal numbers.

"I really don't think it's about goals and assists for Jumbo at all," the coach said. "He does have goals set -- but they're not about goals and assists. They're about what this team is doing and what it hopes to do."

The Miami Herald believes that with all the talk around the NHL regarding concussions and other head injuries, David Booth is proof that players can come back from such injuries if they are treated correctly.

Booth has come back strong after missing big chunks of the 2009-10 season after sustaining two major concussions. The biggest one came in November of that season when he was blindsided by Philadelphia’s Mike Richards in open ice. Booth made what, to him, was a slow comeback, returning to the ice Jan. 31.

It turns out, Booth probably rushed things. Booth’s season came to a close in March as he was walloped by Montreal’s Jaroslav Spacek along the boards.

That concussion, however, allowed Booth to truly take some time off. He spent most of the summer taking it easy and not stressing his brain too much. Booth slowly got back into his intense physical regimen and impressed the Panthers with how good he looked coming into training camp.

Booth, who doesn’t like talking about last season, said the time away made him appreciate the game that much more.

“It was my goal to play in all 82 games this year and I’m still fighting to do just that,’’ Booth said. “I just get more comfortable in every game I play. It’s good to be playing again. Last year was just so messed up. I might as well have missed the whole season. I played in 10 games then practiced for two months. I knew this year would be tough but I demand more of myself than others demand of me.’’

The Herald writes that the Panthers were rightfully worried not only for Booth’s health and future, but for what he could bring to the ice this season. Coach Pete DeBoer said he was going to take it slow with Booth, but that usually doesn’t happen as Booth seems to have one speed.

“We were worried, no doubt,’’ DeBoer said. “Guys have been all over the map with how they respond and react the following year. I was warned it could take a year for him to get back to where he was. I think he has shown lately that he’s back to where he needs to be. We’re so scoring challenged, we need him to score and it’s at the sacrifice of his defense. As our scoring improves around him, he’ll be able to be a real good two-way player.’’

Booth worked his way through the complications and has had another strong season. On Tuesday, he scored Florida’s first goal in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets. It was Booth’s 22nd goal this season, tied for the second-most goals in a season for the Michigan State product. Booth had 22 during his breakout campaign in 2007-08 before getting a team-high 31 in 2008-09.

“Coming off last season with the concussions, no one knew how long it would take to get back into form,’’ DeBoer said. “For him to get 22 goals, less than a year removed from what he went through is quite accomplishment.

“That said, I think there’s a lot more there. He’s capable of getting 30-plus and also tightening up his defensive game. He’s one of the hardest working guy in the league — on his body, his game. Almost to a fault sometimes.’’

And Booth knows what could have been. He has had opportunity to score at least a dozen more times and eclipse the 30-goal mark for the second time in his career. John Vanbiesbrouck

“I wish I could have put a lot more in. I’ve had my chances,’’ Booth said. “I’m going to clean things up this summer. I’ll be working hard.’’

The Orange County Register indicates that Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller said on Wednesday that he’s still dealing with some lingering vertigo-related symptoms and was uncertain on when he may be fully recovered and able to play in another game.

Speaking with a couple of reporters after taking part in the team’s morning skate at Scotiabank Saddledome, Hiller said he doesn’t plan to put a timetable on a possible return until he is feeling right every day.

“Yeah, it’s something that’s still up and down,” Hiller said in his first extended comments since that start. ”Some days are better, some days are not so good. I guess it’s just going to take its time. I still found out that I’m not quite where I wanted to be. All I can do is give myself time. Do my exercise. Do my stuff.

“Hopefully it’s going to get better. I kind of like stopped setting myself a timeline or anything because nobody can really tell me how long it’s going to take.”

The All-Star goalie has only appeared in two games since he first incurred the vertigo symptoms during a Feb. 2 home against San Jose, a contest in which he was pulled in the first period. Hiller admitted that he felt as if he were behind the action in a failed attempt to return last week against Nashville.

The Register notes that in that 5-4 loss to the Predators, Hiller allowed three goals on nine shots and was pulled just 11:37 into the contest. The goalie, who was putting up Vezina Trophy-worthy numbers until the All-Star break, said he felt he needed to see how he would react in a game after weeks of regular practice.

“I kind of had to try it at some point,” he said. ”I don’t think they were bad goals or whatever in Nashville. But still I felt like in [that] situation, unpredicatable situations like tips or bounces off the boards or off the net like what happened in Nashville, it just seems I’m a little behind. I’m just always a second late.

“At that high level, it’s just not good enough if you’re a second late on that kind of stuff.” The process to reclaim his starting job has now slowed down once again as the Ducks have now had to turn to Ray Emery as their top option in their final push for a playoff spot — and perhaps the postseason.

“I’m always trying to push myself,” Hiller said. “My personality is obviously [where] I want to reach goals and I wanted to push it. At this point, I know I have to pace myself. That’s kind of the tough part. Not being able to just push, push, push thorugh it. It’s just not possible.

“I can’t make myself see the puck if I don’t feel comfortable.”

The Denver Post writes that to most of the hockey world, Shawn Hunwick is the brother of Avalanche defenseman Matt Hunwick. Not around Ann Arbor, Mich.

"I'm the brother of Shawn Hunwick around there," Matt said Wednesday.

Brother Shawn is one of the best stories in hockey at the moment. A 5-foot-7, 163-pound senior goalie who walked on at Michigan and had never been the No. 1 netminder for the Maize and Blue until a month ago has taken the Wolverines to the Frozen Four of the NCAA Tournament.

"I'm real proud of what he's done, obviously. Not too many probably expected that, but he's a guy with strong determination," Hunwick said. "He was a guy who was just going to play (Division) III, but he ended up working his way on at Michigan as the third goalie, and he's worked hard to put himself in the position he's in now."

Another player in the Avalanche dressing room — forward Kevin Porter — has almost as much pride in Shawn Hunwick's accomplishments. Porter played at Michigan on a team with Shawn (2007-08), and his younger brother, Chris, is best friends with Shawn. Porter won the Hobey Baker Award his senior season at Michigan as college hockey's best player.

"It's really great to see. Hopefully, they can bring home a national championship," Porter said. "(His) first year was my senior year, and he's a great guy."

The Post points out that Michigan looked to Hunwick after starting goalie Bryan Hogan went down with an injury on Feb. 25, and he didn't disappoint, going 14-6-1 as a starter. He led Michigan to the Frozen Four with a 2-1 victory over Colorado College last week.

Though a senior, he has another year of eligibility left and is likely to play another year at Michigan, which is looking for its first NCAA title since 1998.

"I don't know what his hockey future holds. We talk a lot, but really not all that much about hockey," said Matt Hunwick, who never played with his brother at Michigan, leaving after the 2006-07 season. "I think he's just taking it one day at a time and enjoying the ride right now."

The Nashville Tennessean says that Predators winger Joel Ward's nickname is the Moose. It was given to him by his teammates as a compliment, a reference to the Nashville forward's strength, which is best evidenced when an opponent tries — and most times fails — to knock him off the puck.

"There's a reason why we call him the Moose," forward Jerred Smithson said with a laugh. "He's a big body and he's strong on his feet. When he decides to protect that puck and get that big behind in the way, it's hard to get that puck from him. It's a skill he's worked on his entire career."

Like Ward's overall style of play, battling for and keeping the puck, is not the flashiest of skills. But for a team to have success, it is a must.

The willingness and ability to fight for puck possession in the tough areas has been Ward's strength since his first season with Nashville in 2008-09. And it's something that impresses the coaching staff more than other players' cute passes and flashy plays.

"There's obviously a strength and size factor, but there is also a leverage and determination factor. He has that second effort on those pucks," Predators Coach Barry Trotz said.

"Just like anything, the tighter you are into your body, the more strength you have. He keeps it close to his body and stays close to the puck. Some guys just reach and are just using their wrists."

The Tennessean observes that Trotz calls Ward Mr. Fix It, meaning he can move Ward to different lines and see immediate results.

For most of this month, Ward has been on a line with Martin Erat and David Legwand. Erat is tied for the team lead in points with 46 (15 goals, 31 assists) while Legwand has 41 (17 goals, 24 assists) and has been dominant lately. Ward, who has 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists), often does the dirty work on his line.

"I just try to get open, basically," Ward said. "There's no secret to that. I just go to the net and try to put my stick down. Hopefully I can get a couple of whacks at it and put in a few rebounds."

With Tuesday's critical 5-2 victory in Pittsburgh, The Philadelphia Inquirer notes the Flyers took a major step toward winning the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

They also may have discovered something that will serve them well in the forthcoming Stanley Cup playoffs.

Specifically, an adjustment made by the Danny Briere line helped that unit break out of a funk and spark the win. Briere and linemates Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino combined for three goals and four assists and the line was plus-7 as the Flyers moved closer to securing their first Atlantic title since 2003-04.

"It was a good feeling, to be honest," Briere said. "The way they played defense, Pittsburgh forced us to change our plan a little bit with the way we were moving the puck. We had to come a little closer to each other, and support each other closer. We started doing that in the second period, and all of a sudden, we started getting a bunch of chances.

"It might be something we'll have to do more often."

The Inquirer points out that the line excelled in the first 41/2 months, but the players have been in prolonged slumps in the last five weeks. Before Tuesday, Hartnell had just two goals in his last 19 games, Leino had four goals in his last 22 games, and Briere had four goals in his last 18 games.

In Tuesday's win, Leino had a pair of goals and an assist, Hartnell had a goal and an assist, and Briere had two assists.

Hartnell's goal was on the power play, which had been in a 1-for-18 drought. Jeff Carter's first-period goal was scored just as a Penguins penalty expired and, technically, wasn't a power-play tally, but it was created by the five-on-four advantage.

"In previous games, there wasn't enough intensity in our game, and I think that carries over at times [onto the power play]," coach Peter Laviolette said. "The same can be said when you are playing well, and you're moving your feet and you're generating. A lot of times that carries into the power plays as well. It seems like there was some good movement out there, good attacks at the net."

Leino's first goal, which gave the Flyers a 4-2 lead with 141/2 minutes left, was scored just 19 seconds after Laviolette called a timeout. He didn't call it because his team was winded, and he didn't draw up the goal-scoring play during the stoppage.

"At that point, it was probably 6-0 in shots for them [in the third] and they had a couple of scoring opportunities," Laviolette said. "A couple of weeks ago, we talked about not sitting back with the lead and to make sure we were on the attack."

J.D.: "Hi Chris,

I hope all is well. I'm currently in the finals of our head-to-head league (thanks in large part to your advice every day (hour/minute on twitter!))

I had a question re: keeper leagues.

Some buddies and I are about to start one, and we don't know where to begin (rules/regulations etc). I don't suppose you have the "bible" that you guys use for your keeper league that you could pass on to me by any chance? Or perhaps you know where we can find one?

So many things to consider...how many people we're allowed to keep every year/farm team players/draft picks...etc...etc...etc. We just need a starting point.

Anyway, just thought I'd try you. No rush as I'm sure your smoked right now with all your leagues and postings and twitter-ing. Thanks again."

Chris: Good luck in your finals JD. Nicely done.

I definitely have this precise topic on my radar for this time of year and will be doing a blog or two on the subject when I can. Hopefully you can put off the beginning of the league for a little bit.

The single most important part of any keeper league, IMO, is making sure you have the right owners from the beginning. In just over a week we'll be handing out the eighth proverbial championship crown in my league (ninth season, including the lockout year) and we've had more owners than I'd care to remember. A number of the originals are still here and we've found some great replacements along the way, but there have been a few that just were not good fits for that sort of format.

Aside from needing people who will stay active even when losing, you need to make sure your owners are not the sort who will blow a gasket when something doesn't go their way or they don't agree with something that's done. You can't always tell this going in, unfortunately. But the babies will always make themselves known sooner or later.

Try to have a good vetting process for weeding out the owners who can be taken advantage of with bad trades too. A keeper league can be affected for years to come by lopsided trades, so either have a veto process in place (another guaranteed source of contention) or try to have competent people in place.

In terms of the league itself, keep this in mind for how you structure things from the beginning: the deeper the league (in terms of the number of keepers), the more difficult it will be for losing teams to right the ship the following year. A shallow allowance of four or five keepers will let everyone have a crack at getting their favorite stars - which is a huge attraction for any keeper league - while still making sure nobody is out of the running at the start of each season.

We have 17 active keepers and 40 farmers per team in my league, so jumping from 10th to a contender takes years. But having that farm system, along with entry draft picks awarded based on each season's standings, allows the crappy (um, developmentally challenged) teams a chance to stockpile young stars and make a rise in the standings that'll last when it happens.

I had planned to make this topic a priority for sometime within the next month anyway, but I'll see if I can make it sooner rather than later. Hope this little tidbit today gives you some food for thought in the meantime.

Ken in Kennebunk: "Hey Chris

As we wind down the season, have a question re: a keeper slot. We have 10 team league with 4 keepers. I was planning on using one of the four on a netminder. I currently have: Crawford, Emery, Hiller and Rinne. Prior to the vertigo, I was leaning towards Hiller but with that situation not getting any better, am thinking Rinne is the better value going forward over the other guys. Regardless, will be riding those guys to the finish. Appreciate your take and good luck on your own final push in your keeper league.

Thanks for the great blog and recaps."

Chris: Thanks Ken. I would imagine that Hiller's vertigo issue will be resolved by next season, but he's really not in my top two for you regardless. If he were on a better defensive team that'd be a different story, but you have good options and he's not my best choice for your situation.

I remain lukewarm on Crawford in general, but he is where is in terms of being the guy with the Hawks and as such... he has to be considered for your top slot.

That said, given how well Pekka Rinne has fared and how good Nashville is despite having zero talent up front... I'd have a hard time saying no to him as your No. 1 guy. You could then potentially nab Crawford again at the draft, depending on who else is available. I always try to take an outstanding season like this from anyone, including Rinne, with a grain of salt looking toward next season. But Nashville is built around defence and that's a good friend for any goalie.

I'll assume you have enough high-end offensive talent that you won't want to keep Rinne and Crawford as two of your four, but I'm sure we can cover your entire keeper list on another day.

P.S. That blog you mentioned in the email came out recently. :-)