Malkin’s points-per-game: 1.09 as a rookie, then 1.29, 1.38 and then in this past postseason 1.50. Steady increase. He’s either playing hurt or he’s about to go nutty with the points very soon, because his 1.13 on the season is wrong wrong wrong – the stat will right itself. Mark it!

Kari Lehtonen took some shots yesterday. No timetable has been released, but the Dobber Psychic Timetable says he’s playing a couple of early AHL tune-up games in two weeks, and starting in the NHL in three. Once he starts, barring a few brutal games, he’ll start 35 of 40 games. Again, this goes towards my mantra that a team plays the hell out of their golden boy, through thick and thin.

Mike Richards has just 12 points in his last 23 contests. Buy low on this guy – too much heart for it to last.

Of all the players with 20 points or more, Michal Frolik is tied for 13th in penalty minutes with 39. Don’t be surprised to see him with 60 points and 85 PIM when the season ends. Long-term, however, I don’t see him as an 80-PIM guy – more like 60 or 65.

I have fought my way up to fifth from 10th in the DobberHockey Expert’s League. I thought I drafted well, but some guys just weren’t rolling (i.e. Lecavalier, Backes and Tanguay). Biggest bonehead move: dropping Stephen Weiss. But I’ve been very strong on the waiver wire – I’ve picked up the following players this year: C – Brendan Morrison; LW – Andrei Kostitsyn; LW/RW – Tomas Fleischmann; RW – Dan Sexton; D – Andy Greene; The latter has 19 points in his last 26 games.

With Paul Martin suffering a bit of a setback, we won’t see him for at least two more weeks. That means even more production from Mr. Greene.

After going two games without a point, Dan Sexton scored again last night. He played about 17 minutes.

So Chicago outshoots San Jose 46-14 and still loses. That’s a sign of clutch goaltending – not. That’s a pretty clear signal that Huet is out of his “zone” already.

The line of Erat, Sullivan and Arnott (who was back in the lineup) was a combined minus-9 last night. Hopefully coach Trotz doesn’t let that make him fiddle with things, as his current three scoring lines are really doing well and that was only one game.

San Jose line combos were back to normal last night and and Devin Setoguchi got the short end of the stick – the Big 3 were back together, followed by Pavelski with Ortmeyer (?) and Clowe. Guch played with Nichol and Mitchell.

Craig Anderson – I’m still a big fan, I do like him as a Top 10 goaltender in the league. But he is 8-8-3 in his last 19 decisions as the Avs slowly come back down to Earth. If you recall a couple of years ago when Florida signed him I told you he was one to watch and all it would take would be a Vokoun injury or slump. He got that last season, was able to prove himself, and is now a starter for another team. His save percentage this year is his lowest (0.917) in four years, but I think that’s more of a reflection of the quality of shots he now faces vs in Florida.

Rookie Brandon Yip scored his first career goal last night and was a plus-1. In three games he has seen no more than 6:39 in any one of them. Yip is ranked 224 on my prospects list and has an upside in the mid-60s, but he moves up the chart in the next update January 10.

Viktor Stalberg missed practice yesterday and is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

The Coyotes recalled Kevin Porter in case Vern Fiddler (LBI) is unable to play. Porter had a monster training camp and has carried that on in San Antonio, leading the Rampage with 24 points in 27 contests. He is ranked 44th on my prospects list.

The Globe is reporting that Milan Lucic is aiming to return on New Year’s Day – the Winter Classic.

Derek Morris, day-to-day, will not play against Atlanta. The door is open for Dennis Wideman – he just needs to walk through. Last game, with Morris out, Wideman saw 29 minutes of ice time, which for this season is unheard of for him.

Once again, I’ll post a link to Part 1 of my two-part series on the hockey events of the last decade with the greatest fantasy impact.

Today is the busiest day of the retail year. I know this because I spent so many years as a buyer/planner for a couple of major retail companies – and again for a vendor. It just makes me thankful that this moonlighting gig I had for The Hockey News grew into a moonlighting gig for my own website…which grew into this – a full-time job with a crew of incredible writers. All thanks to the friendly and knowledgeable community here. Thank you! I will continue to do what I can to bring you alternative opinions and information that you generally won’t find with the giant companies that have long since been bought out by ESPN or NBC