Chris Nichols

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

The Chicago Tribune reports this morning that Marina Hossa expects to make his Hawks debut Wednesday night against the Sharks.

He hasn't played a single game for the team since signing that 12-year contract in the summer because he had shoulder surgery three weeks after putting pen to paper.

"This has been the first time I've ever missed training camp or the beginning of the season and it's definitely not fun," said Hossa.

"You have your own schedule. You're working for a long time all by yourself and with the conditioning trying to get into shape. Soon I'll be on the team's schedule, and I can't wait."

The Trib notes that the Hawks are headed into that key Western Conference showdown having just reeled off seven straight wins, including the first three games on this six-game roadie. Hossa's return figures to ratchet up the intensity even more in this tilt.

"I think all systems are go," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "(Hossa) hasn't played in a long time and hopefully he can just help us. We felt there was an upgrade in our practices when he joined us. He can make plays. We like the way he competes and ... on both sides of the puck he does a lot of good things."

The Sun-Times indicates that chances are he'll start on a line with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, which should be one of the NHL's most formidable, assuming they develop instant chemistry.

No problem, Kane says.

''He's been skating with us for a while,'' Kane said. ''It'd be nice to play with him, obviously, but even if I don't, he'll add so much more to our lineup. He's been a 40-goal scorer, and he might even get 40 this year, too, based on the skills I've seen in practice. It seems like he scores on every shot. He's really good.''

Stay tuned for the live blogging to see how much power play time he logs right off the bat too and as deadly as that super-powered first line might be for Chicago, you can expect that they'll certainly also be split up at times and that'll help to spread out the checking pressure coming from the other team. Regardless of how the line combos end up though, this is an exciting time to be a fan of the Hawks.

QUOTABLE
"I don't think it's any coincidence that there's more broken bones now than there ever has been," Jamie Langenbrunner told Fire & Ice. "It's the combination of sticks and the ability of guys to shoot the puck. Guys are shooting the puck harder now. Ten or 12 years ago, you had to get out of the way of Al MacInnis shooting the puck. Now, there's two guys on every team that can hammer it. When the puck is coming that much harder, it's causing that many more problems."

LATENDRESSE FOR POULIOT
The Monteal Canadiens sent Guillaume Latendresse packing for Minnesota yesterday with Benoit Poliot coming the other way. In single-season fantasy leagues it's a nothing trade for now, but in deeper keeper leagues the question always begged with young players is can a change of scenery help to spark the next developmental curve?

Latendresse has just two goals and an assist after 23 starts this season. To date in his young NHL career he has 48G, 37A for 85 points in 232 GP. He had 29 points in his rookie season alone coming off a year in the Q with Drummondville where he had 43G, 40A and 105 PIM in 51 GP.

Pouliot has a pair of goals and assists for four points in his 14 starts to date. He has played 65 NHL games so far and has 18 points. In his two full seasons with Sudbury of the OHL he tallied 130 points and 243 PIM in 118 affairs.

Pouliot was the fourth overall pick in 2005 and Latendresse was a second rounder in that same draft class.

"I think I can help the team speed-wise and I have good size at 6-foot-3, but I'm the heaviest guy," Pouliot told The Gazette, who weighs 200 or about 35 pounds less than Latendresse.

"These are two players whose best days are ahead of them," Wild GM Chuck Fletcher told The Minneapolis Star Tribune. "You have two young players, both of whom have great potential and hopefully can both thrive in a new environment. We just felt it was an opportunity to get a big, strong power forward and somebody who has the potential to be a contributor for us for years to come.

"Guillaume has good touch around the net, and he's already shown he can score as a young player, and that's with limited ice time and power-play time."

Latendresse is looking forward to his new opportunity.

"I'm relieved and very excited," said Latendresse. "Things were not going well in Montreal. I'm looking for a fresh start and to feel part of a team that wants you and wants to see you as a future of the team, not just to be a number and just play when they want.

"With the ice time I was averaging here, I knew it was coming for me. I knew I would be traded pretty soon."

Will the move help either player? It's still really early on in their development when you look at the big picture, so we'll see. It certainly can't hurt and in those extremely deep fantasy formats with farm systems that allow for the development of players before they have to be called up to the active roster permanently, it'll certainly be worth keeping an eye on them to see if they can take that next step.

QUOTABLE
"We need our top six to push through for us and make a difference," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff told The Buffalo News. "It's not easy. ... You're not going to have all six guys on a given night. More on a nightly basis, we need more even-strength scoring out of that top six. Before [Saturday], we had nine even-strength goals in 10 games. That makes it awfully tough on the plus-minus."

BERTUZZI LOOKING FOR GOALS
Michigan Live indicates that Red Wings coach Mike Babcock is pleased with Todd Bertuzzi's skating and back-checking, but the big winger is committing too many turnovers and isn't finishing. He has just three goals and nine points in 22 games, although his 60 SOG are second on the team only to Henrik Zetterberg's 87.

"It's frustrating not putting up the amount of goals and points I think I can do,'' Bertuzzi said. "I've gotten the opportunity to do it, kind of (had) a handful of bad bounces here and there, could easily have six, seven goals instead of three. Just got to keep grinding and working hard. I know that it comes in bunches.''

Babcock says that although the goals are needed, he's also looking at the other tangible assets.

"He wants to score, we'd like him to score, too, but that's not the measure,'' Babcock said. "The measure for me is how hard you're on the puck, how determined you are, how well you play with your linemates.

"He's getting a great opportunity; he's playing with one of the best players in the world (Pavel Datsyuk). Just go in straight lines, be hard on the puck, get to the net. He's got (Tomas Holmstrom) at the net all the time, shoot it as much as you possibly can. That will lead to success. So just keep plugging.''

Bertuzzi has been held pointless for the past four games and hasn't scored in six outings. The shots have been helpful for standard league poolies and 14 PIM in 22 GP is ok too, but the bottom line is going to come down to offensive production for fantasy leaguers. It's great that he's got a nice line assignment, but how long can you afford to wait for the numbers to roll in? As always, it just depends on your free agent options and it's only another few days until the next Q&A.

QUOTABLE
"We cover stuff that I would like to talk about," Kings coach Terry Murray told LA Kings Insider after a meeting following yesterday's practice that included players that are part of the key leadership group on on the team. "I ask the players if there's anything on their minds about anything. Travel, hotels, Christmas break time -- with our exceptionally long break that we're going to have, kind of preparing the mind for that -- and just reviewing how everything has gone so far, with the number of games we have played and the two East Coast trips, just talking about that, if there's anything we can do better. Just general stuff that, I think, is real important for a group to be a part of."