Chris Nichols

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

The Washington Post reports that goalie Semyon Varlamov, who has been out with knee/groin injuries since Dec. 7, practiced fully today after stopping 26 of the 30 shots he faced in a rehab start for Hershey and will be on the road trip this week. In fact, coach Bruce Boudreau said all three goaltenders would be on the trip.

Boudreau said he has a rotation in mind, but would not make it public. Neither Neuvirth nor Theodore knew who would be in net tomorrow night @MON when the team puts its franchise record 14-game winning streak on the line.

"It's all good when they're all playing great, and I assume they all will," Boudreau told The Post when asked if having three goalies on the roster is a good thing. "Neuvy and Theo have definitely been playing great and Varly is kind of a wait-and-see scenario. ... I'm not saying whether all three are gonna play or what's gonna happen. Varly came out of the game the other day, he felt a little rusty, but he feels real good right now."

In the short term, it's just a wait and see approach for poolies who have a stake in that goaltending trio. You'd have to imagine that assuming he can stay healthy though, Varlamov has the longer-term edge headed into the stretch run. He had a ridiculous 12-1-2 mark with 2.21/ .924 peripherals and two shutouts before getting hurt. Given that nobody has really run away with the rookie race this season, it's entirely realistic to think that had he not been injured (shoulda, coulda, woulda) he'd have been the leading contender for the Calder Trophy right now.

Theodore has won his past 10 starts, although he has given up nine goals over his last two outings. As you no doubt know by now, he'll be a UFA this summer and is, in all likelihood, out the door at that time with Washington being flush with young goaltending talent that has proven quite capable of carrying the load right now.

Factor in that the Caps still have to get Nicklas Backstrom under contract (RFA this summer and due a huge raise) and that Alexander Semin only re-upped for '10-11 and there's little doubt that Theodore and his current $4.5M cap hit will be gone. Even if Theodore were the man between the pipes in a potential Cup run this spring, there's just no way the team could or should put aside any chunk of cap space for him because their financial assets would be better spent elsewhere.

MULE SIGHTING
Michigan Live notes that the points-starved Detroit Red Wings aren't expecting power forward Johan Franzen to be their saviour when he returns to the line-up tonight in St. Louis after a four-month absence due to a torn knee ligament.

"We'll give him one game before he can save us," teammate Kris Draper said with a laugh. "No pressure."

Franzen had only played three games this season before going down with a torn ACL, but poolies are quite familiar with how deadly of a goal-scoring threat he has morphed into in recent seasons. Between his high SOG total, clutch goals and a decent dose of PIM, the 30-year old Swede's stock has been continually on the rise in fantasy leagues.

ML indicates that Mike Babcock had Franzen skating on a line with Valtteri Filppula and Danny Cleary on Monday, before Tomas Holmstrom left near the start of practice due to his bruised knee. Franzen then joined Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, though Babcock said that is not necessarily a line he'll use in the game. Holmstrom may be a game-time decision tonight.

It's always a guessing game as to whether or not you as a fantasy owner should activate a player immediately when he comes off the IR or not, but with the bigger-impact guys I tend to side on the "get 'em in there immediately" school of thought. As always though, it'll just depend on how strong your other options are at that position.

There were a few noteworthy quotes from that piece that you might want to factor in when looking at Franzen's situation.

"The big thing is let's not get our expectations out of whack," Babcock said. "The guy hasn't played since Game 3 this year. That makes it hard for any player to get up to speed. He's going to be in a battle.

"But the thing about The Mule, he can really shoot the puck. He's a big, powerful guy. Because he's been able to skate for so long, we're hopeful that will mean a return to optimal performance quicker than lots of guys."

As to why play now instead of just waiting until after the Olympic break?

"We talked about if I should come back before or after (the break) and get a little more rest, but I think it will be good to get started here," Franzen said. "The first game you feel fine and then the second and third usually feels not as good. All the muscles will be sore, so I get a good break, then I will be on the same page as the other guys when I get back."

LEHTONEN'S TIMETABLE MURKY
Thrashers goaltender Kari Lehtonen practiced with the team Monday after returning from a two-week conditioning assignment at AHL Chicago. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that there is no timetable for Lehtonen, returning from two off-season back surgeries, to play his first NHL game since April 11, 2009.

"Kari is not going to go just yet," Thrashers coach John Anderson said. "We'll see what he looks like on a day-to-day basis. I don't want to set him up to fail. I want to make sure he's 100 percent ready to go in and make an impact for us.

"I don't know exactly what we are going to do. We might carry three [goaltenders]. We still have two or three weeks to decide."

Lehtonen feels he's good to go and he will join the team for its three-game roadie that begins tomorrow night. The Thrashers are currently in 11th spot in the East, but are only three points behind seventh-place Philly and eighth-place Tampa Bay.

We've been over the Atlanta goalie situation in recent weeks so no need to rehash it too much here. In a nutshell, the team faces a situation where both Lehtonen (26) and Ondrej Pavelec (22) will be an RFA this summer. Johan Hedberg (36), the dependable veteran back-up, will be a UFA.

The market for goaltenders headed into the trade deadline will no doubt ultimately determine what GM Don Waddell does, but the Thrashers are in a somewhat comparable situation to what the Habs face now with RFAs-to-be Carey Price (22) and Jaroslav Halak (24).

There are big enough differences (Lehtonen's injury history, the ferociously-passionate Montreal market, how well Halak has been playing, Price's next-coming designation), to be sure, but it's basically two younger goalies for each team and either could arguably be "the guy" for the franchise going forward. Should the Habs or Thrashers then cash in that extra asset (whether it's by the trading deadline or this summer, after the season is over) and free up potential cap space on the next contract for help at another position, or leave them both in place for at least another season to push each other to greatness?

To trade or not to trade: that is the Shakespearean question facing Waddell and Pierre Gauthier.

Gauthier, for his part, had this to say at yesterday's press conference after taking over as GM of the Canadiens:

"We have two very strong, young goaltenders, and they've been a very big part of our team this year," Gauthier said. "They give us a chance to win every night, that's a very important thing in a very close league.

"We believe that we can go forward with these two young men and that's our best chance to get into the playoffs this year. That's a strong position, and we'd like to keep it strong."