I have the player and d-man rankings up early. Please note, because the deadline is into March this year, I will redo these rankings on Thursday March 5.

The Habs claimed Glen Metropolit off of waivers. No fantasy significance. The Canucks claimed Vaananen.

Dallas WILL put Sean Avery on re-entry waivers Monday and Sportsnet is reporting that the Rangers will put a claim in. If they get him, it will be interesting to see how Torts plays him.

The second-best prospect magazine for keeper league owners is out now. The best, of course, being te DobberHockey Fantasy Prospects Report. THN Future Watch is out to subscribers, so should hit stands soon. Of course, as with my rankings for the last few months, Filatov is No.1.

If it weren't for the Leafs and Bruins' games, I would probably be doing the soccer theme in today's ramblings as well. Has scoring hit a wall?

Martin Brodeur stopped 24 shots for the shutout in his long awaited return.

Brian Pothier has not played in 13 months (concussion), but has been practicing hard is not very far off. He would go to Hershey on conditioning first.

Marc Savard and Milan Lucic were both held out of the third period last night because of upper body injuries. It doesn't sound too serious, but for Lucic it may be his shoulder again as he seemed to hurt it in a fight. Savard could be a concussion. In fantasy hockey, we just guess this stuff because the NHL has a broken policy that needs to be fixed.

Brent Burns is sick and may miss tonight's game.

Daniel Briere will probably be back in the lineup tonight. To make room, the Flyers have waived Glen Metropolit and Ossi Vaananen.

Paul Mara, just 12 days into his 2-4 week diagnosis (shoulder), was back last night, as Torts (who is Mara's former coach so there may be some "pressure" here) is unhappy with Reitz (according to Blue Notes) and wanted Mara back.

Interesting – TB has been outshot 218-124 in the last five games.

Vincent Lecavalier will be in the lineup tonight.

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Evgeni Artyukhin injured his leg in practice and although the team isn't saying, he is reportedly limping and I think he could miss a few games.

Chris Gratton made his CBJ debut and was a checking fourth liner, as expected. It's worth noting, because he has enough talent to be considered on other lines.

Interesting stuff in Boston, Ryan Whitney got over there in time to play for his new team the Ducks. Scott Niedermayer played 22:39 and was a minus-4; Chris Pronger played 25:42 and was a minus-1; Whitney played 24:19 and was "even". Impressive. He also saw more PP time than Nieds, 3:13 to 2:56

Anaheim top line sans Kunitz: Getzlaf with Niedermayer and Perry (huh?)… later they were tried with Mike Brown and later still – Bobby Ryan.

Sergei Samsonov was a late scratch last night because of a UBI. No word on how serious or the extent. Jokinen and Ryan replaced him on the top line.

Marian Hossa has a stiff neck, not a concussion. He will miss today's contest.

The Pens waived Chris Minard and sent Janne Pesonen back to the AHL.

The Leafs recalled Anton Stralman from the Marlies – once again I remind you: you can see Stralman and the Marlies at a steep discount on March 7 at DobberHockey night in Toronto! Click here for more details.

Viktor Kozlov was in the lineup last night for the Caps.

Jaroslav Spacek left last night's contest after getting his head rattled. It's reportedly not that serious, but they always say that.