The Daily Puck: Habs' Slumping Skaters

The Daily Puck: Habs' Slumping Skaters

This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.

Projected Goalie Starters

Tampa Bay (Dwayne Roloson) at Buffalo (Jhonas Enroth) 7:00 PM.
Washington (Michal Neuvirth) at Toronto (James Reimer) 7:00 PM.
New Jersey (Martin Brodeur) at Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury) 7:30 PM.
Chicago (Corey Crawford) at Montreal (Carey Price) 7:30 PM.
Philadelphia (Sergei Bobrovsky) at Ottawa (Craig Anderson) 7:30 PM.
Colorado (Brian Elliott) at St. Louis (Jaroslav Halak) 8:00 PM.
Atlanta (Chris Mason) at Nashville (Pekka Rinne)  8:00 PM.
Columbus (David LeNeveu) at Dallas (Kari Lehtonen) 8:30 PM.
Vancouver (Roberto Luongo) at Edmonton (Devan Dubnyk) 9:00 PM.

Injuries for Teams Playing Tuesday

Day-to-Day (Includes DL players close to returning)

Dennis Wideman (D) Washington - (Lower body) Likely out until the playoffs.
Vincent Lecavalier (C) Tampa Bay - (Eye) Game-time decision for Tuesday.
Ryan Malone (W) Tampa Bay - (Abdomen) Healthy scratch Sunday, but they could be making sure he stays healthy for the playoffs.
Jochen Hecht (W) Buffalo - (Upper body) Questionable to play Tuesday.
Ryan Miller (G) Buffalo - (Upper body) Out for Tuesday, could return by the end of the week.
Daniel Briere (W) Philadelphia - (Body soreness) Questionable to play Tuesday.
John-Michael Liles (D) Colorado - (Concussion) Out for Tuesday, probably for the season.
Rick Nash (W) Columbus - (Lower body) Out for Tuesday.
Radek Dvorak (W) Atlanta - (Upper body)

Projected Goalie Starters

Tampa Bay (Dwayne Roloson) at Buffalo (Jhonas Enroth) 7:00 PM.
Washington (Michal Neuvirth) at Toronto (James Reimer) 7:00 PM.
New Jersey (Martin Brodeur) at Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury) 7:30 PM.
Chicago (Corey Crawford) at Montreal (Carey Price) 7:30 PM.
Philadelphia (Sergei Bobrovsky) at Ottawa (Craig Anderson) 7:30 PM.
Colorado (Brian Elliott) at St. Louis (Jaroslav Halak) 8:00 PM.
Atlanta (Chris Mason) at Nashville (Pekka Rinne)  8:00 PM.
Columbus (David LeNeveu) at Dallas (Kari Lehtonen) 8:30 PM.
Vancouver (Roberto Luongo) at Edmonton (Devan Dubnyk) 9:00 PM.

Injuries for Teams Playing Tuesday

Day-to-Day (Includes DL players close to returning)

Dennis Wideman (D) Washington - (Lower body) Likely out until the playoffs.
Vincent Lecavalier (C) Tampa Bay - (Eye) Game-time decision for Tuesday.
Ryan Malone (W) Tampa Bay - (Abdomen) Healthy scratch Sunday, but they could be making sure he stays healthy for the playoffs.
Jochen Hecht (W) Buffalo - (Upper body) Questionable to play Tuesday.
Ryan Miller (G) Buffalo - (Upper body) Out for Tuesday, could return by the end of the week.
Daniel Briere (W) Philadelphia - (Body soreness) Questionable to play Tuesday.
John-Michael Liles (D) Colorado - (Concussion) Out for Tuesday, probably for the season.
Rick Nash (W) Columbus - (Lower body) Out for Tuesday.
Radek Dvorak (W) Atlanta - (Upper body) Out for Tuesday.
Tobias Enstrom (D) Atlanta - (Upper body) Out for Tuesday and Thursday.
Grant Clitsome (D) Atlanta - (Knee) Questionable to play Tuesday.
Steve Mason (G) Columbus - (Lower body) Doubtful to play Tuesday.
Mikael Samuelsson (W) Vancouver - (Leg) Questionable to play Tuesday.
Dan Hamhuis (D) Vancouver - (Concussion) Doubtful to play Tuesday.
Alexander Edler (D) Vancouver - (Back) Questionable to play Tuesday.

Long Term or IR

Chris Pronger (D) Philadelphia - (Hand) Should start skating later this week, but not expected to play again in the regular season.
Sidney Crosby (C) Pittsburgh - (Concussion) Skating, but still no timetable.
Jordan Leopold (D) Buffalo - (Finger) Out for the remainder of the regular season.
Mike Green (D) Washington - (Concussion) Skating, but no timetable.
Patrick Sharp (W) Chicago - (Knee) Could return later this week.
Erik Karlsson (D) Ottawa - (Leg) Out for the remainder of the season.
Paul Stastny (C) Colorado  - (Leg) Out for the rest of the season.
Daniel Alfredsson (W) Ottawa - (Back) Out for the remainder of the season.
Max Pacioretty (W) Montreal - (Concussion) Skating on his own, could return by the second round of the playoffs.
Sergei Gonchar (D) Ottawa - (Concussion) Out for the remainder of the season.
Ryan Callahan (W) New York Rangers - Fractured ankle, out indefinitely.

Transactions

Andrei Zubarev (D) Atlanta - Recalled from the AHL.
Rasmus Rissanen (D) Carolina - Signed a three-year entry-level contract.
Carson McMillan (W) Minnesota - Re-assigned to the AHL.
Mike Sislo (W) New Jersey - Recalled from the AHL.
Kris Newbury (C) Rangers - Recalled from the AHL.
Brian Gibbons (C) Pittsburgh -Signed a two-year entry level contract.
Victor Oreskovich (W) Vancouver - Re-assigned to the AHL.
Ben Holmstrom (W) Philadelphia - Recalled from the AHL.

Hot

Eric Staal (C) Carolina - Staal has four goals and four assists in his last eight games as he has done all he can do to try and lift the Hurricanes into the playoffs. Unfortunately for Stall and Cane fans, the Rangers win Monday night pretty much puts those hopes to bed. Staal won't put up 40 goals this season like he did two years ago, but mid-30s is still a nice jump from the 29 he scored last season.
James Van Riemsdyk (W) Philadelphia - The Flyers have been in a funk for over a month now as the team seems to have been waiting impatiently for the playoffs to begin. Van Riemsdyk however has seen his game pick up of late as he has five goals, including a hat trick, in his last six games. With Daniel Briere questionable to play much during this final week, Van Riemsdyk could see more playing time than he normally would in both power play and even strength situations.

Cold

Brian Gionta (W) Montreal - Like many of the Canadiens' forwards, Gionta has been in a big slump of late with only two assists in his last six games. Gionta is pretty much on pace to score the same amount of points he did last season, but that is not much comfort to Canadien fans or his fantasy owners as he will likely fail to break the 50 point mark once again.

Recommended Pickup

Cam Fowler (D) Anaheim - When the season began most figure the Ducks wouldn't have many problems scoring goals with one of the best top lines in the business, but the loss of Scott Niedermayer and James Wisniewski would lead to quite a few pucks finding the back of their own net. It wasn't as surprise when Fowler was taken in the first round of the draft, but the fact that he has been an instant success has been. Fowler has nine goals and 38 points so far this season, more than can be expected, and a sign of good things to come. That being said, he does have a -25 on the season, something he will have to work on before he is a top pick in fantasy leagues.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Kurtz
George is a former RotoWire contributor. He started covering fantasy sports in 2006 and joined RotoWire in 2007. In addition to RotoWire, George has written for SeamHeads, LeatherHeads, Going9 Fantasy Baseball, and FantasyPros911.com. Besides RotoWire, George can currently be found on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network, RotoExperts, and FantasyData.com.
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