The Daily Puck: Iginla Heating Up

The Daily Puck
George Kurtz, RotoWire Writer

Projected Goalie Starters
Carolina (Cam Ward) at Boston (Tim Thomas), 12:00 PM.
New Jersey (Johan Hedberg) at Islanders (Dwayne Roloson), 1:00 PM.
Calgary (Miikka Kiprusoff) at Philadelphia (Sergei Bobrovsky), 1:00 PM.
Ottawa (Brian Elliott) at Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury), 1:00 PM.
Nashville (Pekka Rinne) at Minnesota (Jose Theodore), 2:00 PM.
Chicago (Marty Turco) at Anaheim (Jonas Hiller), 4:00 PM.
Tampa Bay (Dan Ellis) at Washington (Michal Neuvirth), 5:00 PM.
Detroit (Jimmy Howard) at Columbus (Steve Mason), 7:00 PM.
Toronto (Jonas Gustavsson) at Buffalo (Ryan Miller), 7:30 PM.
Montreal (Alex Auld) at Atlanta (Ondrej Pavelec), 7:30 PM.
Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist) at Florida (Tomas Vokoun), 7:30 PM.
St. Louis (Jaroslav Halak) at Dallas (Kari Lehtonen), 8:30 PM.
San Jose (Antero Niittymaki) at Vancouver (Roberto Luongo), 10:00 PM.

Injuries for Teams Playing Friday

Day-to-Day (Includes DL players close to returning)
Jamie Langenbrunner (W) New Jersey - (Neck) Has missed the past six games, questionable to play Friday.
Martin Brodeur (G) New Jersey – (Elbow) Re-injured his elbow, out until early December.
Craig Conroy (C) Calgary – (Shoulder) Shoulder has been bothering Conroy all season, could be shut down for a while.
Daniel Carcillo (W) Philadelphia – (Knee) Sprained MCL, out until next week.
Erik Karlsson (D) Ottawa – (Illness) Will be back in the lineup on Friday.
Brent Johnson (G) Pittsburgh – (Illness) Scheduled to start Saturday.
Marek Zidlicky (D) Minnesota – (Leg) Unlikely to play Friday.
Teemu Selanne (W) Anaheim – (Groin) Questionable to play Friday.
Mike Knuble (W) Washington – (Jaw) Expected to play Friday.
Mike Green (W) Washington – (Undisclosed) Questionable to play Friday.
Tom Poti (W) Washington – (Groin) Has only played five games so far this season. Questionable for Friday.
Michal Neuvirth (G) Washington – (Lower body) Expected to play Friday.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere (G) Toronto – (Groin) Out until next week.
Tim Connolly (C) Buffalo – (Groin) Missed Wednesday's game, questionable for Friday.
Ryan Miller (C) Buffalo – (Groin) A decision will be made on his status Friday morning.
Drew Stafford (W) Buffalo -- (Shoulder) Almost played Wednesday, will play sometime this weekend.
Rob Niedermayer (C) Buffalo -- (Knee) Underwent surgery Monday.
Michal Rozsival (D) Rangers – (Shoulder) Expected to play Friday.
David Perron (W) St. Louis – (Concussion) Has not started skating, out for Friday.

Long Term or IR
Jordan Staal (C) Pittsburgh – (Hand) Not expected to return until mid to early to mid-December.
Marco Sturm (W) Boston – (Knee) Hopes to be back in early December.
Marc Savard (C) Boston - (Concussion) Finally started skating but looks to be out until early to mid-December.
Zach Parise (W) New Jersey - (Knee) Knee surgery, out until February.
Kyle Okposo (W) Islanders – (Shoulder) Surgery will keep Okposo out until early to mid-December.
Mark Streit (D) Islanders – (Shoulder) Surgery will keep Streit out until at least February.
Daymond Langkow (W) Calgary - (Neck) Has experience numbness below the waist, career could possibly be over.
Ales Kotalik (W) Calgary - (Knee) Still has yet to begin skating.
Michael Leighton (G) Philadelphia – (Back) Could return as early as next week.
David Legwand (C) Nashville - (Lower body) Out until at least next week.
Guillaume Latendresse (W) Minnesota - (Labrum, hernia) Could be out for the remainder of the season.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard (D) Minnesota - (Concussion) Symptoms returned just as it seemed he was close to a return.
Josh Harding (G) Minnesota – (Knee) Out until at least early next year.
Joffrey Lupul (W) Anaheim - (Back) Could be ready for a rehab assignment within the next few days.
Simon Gagne (W) Tampa Bay - (Neck) Neck is healed, just needs to get in game shape. Questionable for Friday.
Vincent Lecavalier (C) Tampa Bay - (Hand) Out until mid to late December.
Kristian Huselius (W) Columbus - (Ankle) Another player without a set timetable, unlikely to play Friday.
Dion Phaneuff (D) Toronto - (Leg) Has begun skating, out until mid-December.
Andrei Markov (D) Montreal - (Knee) Had surgery, could be out for the season.
Chris Drury (C) Rangers - (Finger) Could return in the next week to 10 days.
Vaclav Prospal (W) Rangers - (Knee) Not expected to return until mid to late December.
Steve Bernier (W) Florida - (Orbital bone) Surgery, out three to four weeks.
T.J. Oshie (W) St. Louis - (Ankle) Out until February.
Sammi Salo (D) Vancouver – (Achilles) Not expected back till after Christmas.

Transactions

Jhonas Enroth (G) Buffalo – Re-assigned to the AHL.
Jonathan Matsumoto (C) Carolina – Re-assigned to the AHL, placed on waivers.
Garnet Exelby (D) Chicago – Placed on waivers.
Ladislav Smid (D) Edmonton – Activated off of IR.
Steve Bernier (W) Florida – Placed on IR.
Rostislav Olesz (W) Florida –Placed on IR.
Bill Thomas (W) Florida – Assigned to the AHL.
Petr Prucha (W) Phoenix –Placed on waivers.
Luca Caputi (W) Toronto – Recalled from the AHL.
Peter Schaefer (W) Vancouver – Suspended, placed on waivers.
Brian Fahey (D) Washington – Assigned to the AHL.
Braden Holtby (G) Washington – Assigned to the AHL.
Rick Rypien (W) Vancouver – Indefinite leave of absence.
Tyler Sloan (D) Washington – Placed on IR.
David Legwand (C) Nashville – Placed on IR.

Hot

Jarome Iginla (W) Calgary – Iginla is the definition of why you don't give up on a star player too early. He looked terrible through the first six weeks of the season, only scoring two goals, but now over his past six games, he has seven goals. Hopefully you didn't sell low.
Marc-Andre Fleury (G) Pittsburgh – Speaking of buying low, the time to buy low on Fleury may be over. He has rediscovered his game, and his confidence between the pipes for Pittsburgh. He has won six of his last seven starts and is back to being a must-start.

Cold

Tyler Seguin (C) Boston – The second overall pick in this year's entry draft is having a rough go of it in his rookie season. He has only a single goal and two assists in the month of November and may be in line for a reduction in ice time.
Roberto Luongo (G) Vancouver – Luongo is having a tough time being consistent this season. Just doesn't seem to be the brick wall in net we have become used to seeing all these years. It was thought the workload last season was the reason for his subpar play, but perhaps it's his advancing years.

Recommended Pickup

Semyon Varlamov (G) Washington – Remember him? Well he's back for the Capitals and ready to take back the starting role from Michal Neuvirth. Varlamov played for the first time Wednesday and gave up two goals on 32 shots in a win over Carolina. He may split time initially with Neuvirth, but eventually should play a majority of the games.