Eric Staal will play tonight for the ‘Canes.

The beauty of drawing upon the knowledge of and the memory of my readers – only through the power of the fantasy hockey nation can we get all the angles covered. Of course, with my Wandell spiel below, I had forgotten – he was a temporary replacement for James Neal. Naturally, Neal will get that spot back and Wandell will go back to fantasy nothingness…

Another great point in the comments below – Trent Hunter is on a seven-game point streak and has nine points in nine games. He is on the other wing on the Tavares line.

The November edition of Dobber Nation will be out on November 30th. The five day delay is due to the quick turnaround – the last show was only a week ago. Need to get quality guests! Listen to last week’s show HERE – guests include Les Jackson, Aaron Portzline and myself.

Masisak of the Post reports that Knuble is back skating. He’s ineligibleto return until Dec 8 (LTIR).

Brad Richards had six points in his last two games and is on pace for 106 points. He is on a mission. He’s been playing with Eriksson and Wandell. The latter is a 22-year-old with a bit of offensive potential. Keep an eye on him – if he can stay on that hot line, he’ll pick up his points.

Wayne Simmonds, who was a stud in the plus/minus category, is a minus-7 in his last five games. This is the ripple effect of no Ryan Smyth – the Kopitar line is less effective, teams can work the other lines a little harder, and everybody suffers.

I don’t believe that Carey Price is out of the woods completely when it comes to solidifying his confidence, but he’s definitely coming closer. To have supreme confidence in your skills as a goaltender and have it show in your game night in and night out would take about two and a half solid seasons of impressive goaltending. With Price we’ve seen one and a half, followed by about three-quarters of a season of shaky goaltending, and now two weeks of gold again. He has been fantastic – 3-1-1, 2.13 and 0.942 in his last five and as a Price owner and as a fantasy hockey website owner, I’m pretty relieved. I had him pegged as the next big thing and my confidence in that was wavering.

The Preds have sent Alexander Sulzer to the minors, meaning that Franson has passed him on the depth chart and will likely remain in the NHL. Sulzer is on a one-way contract. As for Franson, he’s still a rookie and to expect more than 35 this year is probably getting ahead of yourself.

Anton Stralman now has 15 points – that would put him tied for second on the Leafs.

Martin Havlat will not play tonight, although he is “closer” according to Michael Russo.

Chuck Kobasew will return to the lineup – and he’ll be playing the Bruins tonight for the first time since the trade. Also Andrew Ebbett will make his MIN debut and that is one to watch – either he plays 14 minutes and makes an impact, or he plays eight minutes and it’s more of the same crap.
28 teams play 14 games tonight. Nice!

David Backes hasn't scored in 16 games and Paul Kariya hasn't scored in 14. I think Backes will turn it around, I don’t know what to say about Kariya – I’m just shocked that his career could come crashing down so quickly.

Fabian Brunnstrom (shoulder) will be going to the AHL for two weeks on a conditioning stint when he is ready (which is soon).

Chris Drury (head) will play tonight.

The Thrashers have some new line combos: Peverley with Kovalchuk and Armstrong; Antropov with Afino and Kozlov; White with Little and Kane. The big winner is obviously Colby Armstrong – potential here!

Luca Caputi has six points in his last five AHL games. He’ll be the next forward called up by the Pens when they need one.

Briere’s elbow that caused the suspension: