Chris Nichols

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

14 games are on tonight's slate for the live blogging before a lighter Thursday schedule on American Thanksgiving, so there'll be plenty of info available this evening for poolies. Tomorrow will be a fairly light day with only two games, although you'll still have live Q&A available at 3pm et.

On Friday there'll be a special extended version of the live game blogging with so many people in the States off that day, so the games will get underway at 12pm et and run through the evening on a 12-game docket.

SPECIAL REQUEST: ARTYUKHIN
The Orange County Register notes that during the Ducks' recent one-on-one meetings, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu asked Coach Randy Carlyle to play with hulking Russian winger Evgeny Artyukhin and Carlyle complied.

"Obviously, I don't want to be the coach," Selanne said. "But he asked me what I think about different players. I said 'You know what? When you have a guy with that kind of tools (who is) that strong on his feet, I think you've got to try and use it.' Otherwise it's a waste of talent. I see progress every day in him. That's huge."

Playing on the second line Monday, Selanne and Koivu combined for nine shots on goal while Artyukhin dished out three hits.

Said Koivu: "He's a big guy. He has tremendous speed. Right now, I think the last few games, I think they're both playing great. We're creating chances."

Selanne has been held pointless in his past two starts, but has 11 points over his past 11 outings. Koivu has seven points in his past nine affairs. Artyukhin has gone 16 games without a single point and despite this line assignment, there are still likely better options in your free agent pool. He can be a good source of PIM at times, but he only has two minor penalties in his past six games recently and 12 looking back a bit further. Still, he'll likely sit at a better-than PIM-per-game average on the whole and if he can benefit offensively from this assignment if it sticks then good on him.

QUOTABLE
"We hope he comes back with a vengeance and he wants to play a hard game and a very determined game," Stars coach Marc Crawford told The Dallas Morning News of winger James Neal returning from a two-game suspension for his hit on Columbus forward Derek Dorsett. "But he can learn. It's like what did they teach you in kindergarten ... how to get along with others."

THRASHERS JUGGLE LINES
After scoring three third period goals in Sunday's game against the Lightning, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Thrashers coach John Anderson is going to use those revamped lines against the Wings tonight.

Ilya Kovalchuk will skate on a line with Rich Peverley and Colby Armstrong. Slava Kozlov moves to a line with Nik Antropov and Max Afinogenov. Evander Kane will join Todd White and Bryan Little. The fourth line remains intact.

"I liked what I saw in the third period of the last game," Anderson said. "Sometimes you get a little stale. I'd like our jump [Sunday]. I'd like to keep some continuity, but lines are not set in stone. We have to do what we have to do for each given week and each given game."

In the past, the big worry for poolies would be their player being moved away from Kovalchuk's line. Now, even though Kovalchuk is still easily the top dog on this team, the Thrashers have enough offensive depth to support at least some level of success for the players on three scoring lines.

SABRES FULLY HEALTHY
The Buffalo News reports that tonight's return of Mike Grier gives Sabres coach Lindy Ruff a completely healthy roster, allowing him to set the forward lines to his liking. He's putting Derek Roy in the middle of left wing Thomas Vanek and right wing Jason Pominville; Tim Connolly will be flanked by Clarke MacArthur and Drew Stafford; Tim Kennedy will centre Jochen Hecht and Grier; while Paul Gaustad will be in the middle of Matt Ellis and Patrick Kaleta.

QUOTABLE
"Both 10 have been good," Ruff told The Buffalo News of the first and second set of 10 games for rookie defenceman Tyler Myers. "I don't really have any complaints about his game. He's really carried on through the second 10 games almost as well as he did the first 10. That's good. You know there may be a drop-off at some period, but I haven't seen it yet."

HORCOFF'S FACE-OFFS
The Edmonton Journal reports that Oilers centre Shawn Horcoff, who took more face-offs than any other NHL player last season (1,756), still isn't taking many draws because of his sore shoulder.

"Probably another week or two (before he gets back to 20 to 25 draws a game). Puts a lot of torque on the (shoulder) joint. It (pain) goes away (in the game). But the next day it's sore," said Horcoff.

"All the stuff in the corners is fine. I can hold people off, but when you come in hard and meet stick on stick, that hurts."

FYI in case your league counts the stat and you were wondering why his face-off appearances have been virtually non-existent recently.

JONES HOT FOR AVS
As you've seen in recent editions of the live blogging, Guelph-born forward David Jones has been skating in the top line RW slot with Paul Stastny and Wojtek Wolski. The speedy winger has scored four goals in his past three starts and he'll look to extend his goal-scoring streak to four games tonight against the Predators.

"I think one key this year in scoring goals is just being able to play with some really good players," he told The Denver Post. "Playing with those guys, you just have to go to the net and some good things are going to happen. Sometimes, things come in bunches. I'm getting some bounces now, and I've just got to take advantage of it."

Jones has scored seven times and set up two others in 10 starts this month. Two of his points have come via the power play and he's averaging two shots per game in that time.

QUOTABLE
"It took us five years to get to the point we got to in San Jose, with the success we had," Leafs assistant coach Tim Hunter told The Globe & Mail. "We developed a lot of young players and that takes time. You don't become the second-place team in the NHL overnight. The same thing's going to happen here - it's not going to happen overnight.

"You're not going to use the same systems everywhere you go because the personnel's different, but the philosophy's the same: aggressive hockey, aggressive fore-checking, puck possession and in-your-face hockey."

HOSSA ON FOR TONIGHT
With veteran winger Marian Hossa set to make his Hawks debut tonight against the Sharks at HP Pavilion, The Chicago Tribune notes that coach Quenneville has shifted Patrick Kane to the left side flanking centre Jonathan Toews and added Hossa on the right wing for what could prove to be one of the most dynamic lines in the league.

"(Hossa) has been in the league longer than I have and has done some special things over there," Kane said of the change. "Hopefully we're moving (the puck) around the offensive zone pretty good so we're not worried about sides. I should just be happy to be on his line rather than where I'm playing. Hopefully we can do some damage."

Kane has already skated on the left side at times in his young career so, for now at least, this formation makes sense for the team.

"I'm more comfortable on the right," said Hossa, who underwent shoulder surgery shortly after the Hawks signed him to a 12-year, $62.8 million free-agent contract July 1. "No matter what side I play I just try to focus on the game. They're young, talented stars and basically anybody could handle the puck on the line. We'll try to play give-and-go and try not to be too fancy. Just keep it simple, go to the net, shoot the puck and try to have fun also."

It's always a toss-up as to whether or not you should activate a player on your fantasy roster immediately after coming back from any sort of injury, but when it's a star like this and he's stepping right into a golden situation it's tough to do anything but play him right off the hop and just see what happens.

QUOTABLE
"I didn't like the way I was playing," Claude Giroux explained to The Philadelphia Inquirer of his fight with Marek Svatos on Monday. "Sometimes it's fun to get messy a bit."