Chris Nichols

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

The Columbus Dispatch, citing "sources within and beyond the NHL", reports that Blue Jackets rookie forward Nikita Filatov - who has struggled to remain in coach Ken Hitchcock's line-up - might be headed back to Russia and the KHL. Perhaps as soon as this week.

No comment from anyone with the Jackets or Don Meehan, his agent, at this time. Sometimes saying nothing says plenty though, eh? We'll likely see soon enough.

The story basically says that if this were to transpire, it'd be with the understanding that Filatov could return to the Jackets next season. The team would obviously continue to own his NHL rights regardless. The piece also intimates that Hitchcock and GM Scott Howson may be at odds over the handling of Filatov this season. The youngster has been averaging around eight minutes of ice time and has been buried on the fourth line as Hitch tries to teach him about being an NHLer and raising his compete level.

Filatov's single-season value hasn't been great anyway, so from that perspective it's really not going to matter if he goes back to the KHL for '09-10 pools. His keeper league potential remains enormous though, so if you're in one of those deeper leagues with farm systems and can afford to wait... maybe you can use these next few days, when the media will invariably start throwing around Nikolai Zherdev and Alex Radulov references, to get this guy at a massive discount to make an investment for the future.

Filatov wants to play in the NHL and he's going to become a star. It just may not be on the timeline that both he and poolies were hoping it would happen.

UPDATE: The Jackets made it official today. They've loaned Filatov to CSKA for the rest of the season. GM Scott Howson's press release quote pretty much sums it up: "Nikita is a top prospect in our organization and we believe it is in the best interest of his development to play more and in all situations in the KHL. We have agreed to his request to be assigned to CSKA and this should afford him the opportunity to continue to work and develop his game in his hometown of Moscow."

QUOTABLE
"Seasons always go like this for me," rookie pivot Matt Duchene told The Denver Post. "At the beginning of seasons, I start off pretty slow. I'm usually playing well, but the points are the last things to come. I'm just going to keep plugging away. I'm getting some nice chances and creating some nice plays, and they'll start going in.

"From Day One, I felt comfortable in this league. From the first exhibition game until now, I felt very comfortable with the speed. I had six points in my first nine games, and since then I've been a little snakebit."

KIPPER'S RETURN TO FANTASY FORM
Miikka Kiprusoff led the NHL with 45 wins last season, but his peripherals (2.84 GAA and a .903 SV%) were far from outstanding. The latter had been a disappointing trend that saw his GAA (1.70, 2.07, 2.46, 2.69 and 2.84) and SV% (.933, .923, .917, .906 and .903) continuously fall since breaking onto the scene in the second half of the '03-4 campaign.

Despite the fact that Kipper has generally been a really strong option for the Flames between the pipes for most of his tenure in Cowtown (215 wins in 387 starts to date back up that claim), his fantasy stock had generally been steadily declining aside from the win category.

Now, midway through November in '09-10, the Finnish goaltender is carrying an 11-3-2 mark with a strong 2.35 GAA and .923 SV% with one shutout. He was particularly unreal last week, when he went 2-0-1 with 0.97/ .969 splits. That somehow wasn't enough to earn consideration for NHL Player of the Week honours, but nobody with the Flames seems too concerned.

"Well, he's been the player of the year for us . . . so I don't think he's too worried about being the player of the week," Brandon Prust told The Calgary Herald. "He's been unreal lately. That's awesome. He's definitely stolen a few. He's saved our butts. We owe him some."

Cory Sarich says Kiprusoff's play speaks for itself.

"I don't think there's too much to say," says Cory Sarich. "If you've watched any of our games, he's just been unbelievable. Sometimes, you need that as a team. When your goalie stands on his head like Kipper has, it's how you manufacture two points."

Craig Conroy took it one step further.

"This is the best I've seen him, other than '04," says Conroy. "Probably the best I've seen him play since he came here."

Four goalies in the league have one more win that Kipper's 11 and three have as many. 13 goalies still have a better GAA than his 2.35 level, but only four of those netminders have played in as many or more games. Only five goaltenders have thus far bested his SV% of .923, while another four have the same stat. Only five goalies league-wide have made more than his 457 saves.

All of this and the Calgary Flames really haven't even begun to realize their defensive potential under Brent Sutter, who has only been behind the bench for six weeks of the season. But whatever lies ahead for this team - be it good or bad - one consistent factor should be Kipper. Through the highs and the lows, he's just Mr. Nonchalant.

"He's had that same routine . . . a drink of water and forget about it," admired Conroy. "Patrick Roy, I played with him. Same thing. Grant Fuhr -- 'It's a goal, what am I going to do, I can't take it back. But I can stop the next one.' That's the attitude. You feel comfortable because you know it's not going to bother him."

QUOTABLE
"We really want to make sure we don't put him back in and this thing get re-aggravated," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice, who feels injured centre Eric Staal may be able to return to the line-up next week, told The Raleigh News & Observer. "We can't go through this again. We need him to come back and play and play his big minutes."

KOIVU STRONGER
The Orange County Register notes that Saku Koivu sat out a fourth consecutive game last night because of a strained groin muscle, but the second-line center did participate in the morning skate.

"There's nothing new," he said. "It's just day by day. Keep getting better and stronger. When we feel it's safe to go, we'll play. That's really the bottom line right now."

Koivu said he wouldn't put a timetable on his return, only to say that it's "not a long-term" injury. But it's something that he feels he can't rush.

"It's a different thing to practice and then do it in the game situation," he said. "You only know after the first game you play but you want to do it when you feel comfortable enough to kind of go and try it. You've got to test it as much as you can in practice and then when it feels fine after that, you're good to go."

The Finnish centre only has eight points in his 15 GP to date, but six of those eight points have come in his past seven starts.

QUOTABLE
"I'm hoping that maybe I'm doing the opposite of what I was doing last year,'' Dennis Wideman explained to The Boston Globe when asked about his low point totals this season. "Last year I had a bunch of points before Christmas. Didn't do [expletive] after. So hopefully, when I'm not doing [expletive] now, I'll do a bunch after.''