Nashville has recalled Mike Santorelli to replace the injured Martin Erat. I don’t know what Erat’s injury is, but I’ll keep you posted. Probably not serious.

Michal Neuvirth gets the start for the Caps.

A lot of chatter in the comments below defending Niitymaki. I had forgotten that he led the team in the last Olympics, so of course he should be carried as the No.3 goaltender.

I was very surprised at some of the Czech picks – Cajanek’s terrible. Ditto for some of those other guys. Also left off – Frolik.

Team Canada announced:

Goalie: Luongo, Brodeur, Fleury

D-men: Niedermayer (C), Pronger (A), Doughty, Keith, Seabrook, Boyle, Weber

Forward: Crosby (A), Iginla (A), Morrow, Toews, Thornton, Marleau, Bergeron, Perry, Getzlaf, E. Staal, M. Richards, Heatley, Nash

Team Czech announced:
Goalie: Vokoun, Pavelec, Stepanek
D-men: Blatak, Hejda, Kaberle, Kuba, Kubina, Michalek, Polak, Zidlicky
Forwards: Cajanek, Cervenka, Erat, Fleischmann, Jagr, Krejci, Plekanec, Vasicek, Havlat, Elias, Michalek, Rolinek

No Vinny Prospal. No Rozsival. No Hejduk. No Hudler.

Team Finland announced:
Goalie: Kipper, Backstrom, Niitymaki
D-men: Timonen, Salo, Pitkanen, Kukkonen, Lydman, Lepisto, Niskala
Forwards: Both M&S Koivu, both T&J Ruutu, Filppula, Selanne, Lehtinen, Hagman, Olli Jokinen (but not Jussi), Miettinen, Niko Kapanen, Peltonen and Immonen.

Frankly, they’re nuts to take Immonen, Peltonen, Kapanen or Miettinen over Jussi Jokinen. The shootout is part of the Olympics. They’re insane for not taking him! And no Pekka Rinne? Niitymaki over Rinne? Who was the drunk in charge of this list?

Mat Schneider has been placed on waivers by the Canucks. On re-entry waivers he may have a shot at a new team and an impact similar to what he did in MTL last year. That’s all you can hope for Schneider owners.

Jason Chimera will debut for the Caps on the second line with Semin and Backstrom. Ovy will play with Morrison and Knuble. Flash, Laich and Fehr are the third line.

The wait for Rick Nash seems to be taking forever. A HUGE name in (fantasy) trade talks, Nash has yet to produce accordingly. If you ask me, it’s the coaching style – he should be on a 90-point pace right now. Instead it’s 74 and dropping. Nash has 12 points in his last 23 games. He has yet to have an 80-point season. It will come as soon as Hitchcock is gone.

The Caps bought themselves some time in making a decision by sending Semyon Varlamov to the AHL for conditioning. Michal Neuvirth has been nothing short of stellar and Jose Theodore has been nothing short of… well, I guess “experienced” is a kind word. Varlamov is 12-1-2, with a 2.21 GAA and .924 SP. Pretty darn good.

Ryan Carter was back in the ANA lineup to replace Ryan Getzlaf. Chipchura centered Perry and Carter. The Ducks have been desperate for a solution to that first line left wing spot and when Getzlaf returns I think Carter will get a longer look there.

Kristian Huselius – two points in his last 10 games. Thanks for coming out buddy.

Erik Johnson was a healthy scratch last night. How will he respond? Probably extremely well. It probably really pisses him off – and because the Blues lost the game EJ should also be given a ton of ice time next game.

Halfway through the game, the Pens are up 3-0 and chase Ryan Miller out of the net. Lalime comes in, slams the door and the Sabres come back to win 4-3. Tough collapse.

Only eight teams have 50 points as of now and I bet in September you wouldn’t have named COL, BUF or PHO as one of them.

Fabian Brunnstrom was scratched eight of the last 13 games. Dallas should have just let him go to another team. Imagine that – the guy had a hat trick in his first NHL game and will probably be chased back to Europe within three years of that.

Alex Steen continues to roll with nine points in his last six. He’s getting the PP time now, so he’ll have a chance to keep things going.

The Blues seem to be rolling a 1a and 1b power-play unit. I’m not seeing five guys with five minutes of PP time each and then five guys with one minute each. I’m seeing 10 guys in that 2:40 to 3:10 range.

JP Dumont had two points last night and it was the sixth time this season that he has had a multi-point game. The other five times he followed up with a big fat ZERO the next game. I found that interesting.

Koivu got four points in the MIN-ANA game last night. Mikko got two of them, Saku got two.

Anyhoo – Wisniewski snapped a million-game pointless drought with a deuce. The streaky Wisniewski has found his zone again so his owners can expect a nice little run…

Midseason Guide countdown: TEN days. Buy it HERE.

In case you missed it yesterday – my Top 10 Fantasy Events of the past decade over at The Hockey News.

Nick Boynton has a death wish. I mean – Boogaard? Also see the linesman get in the way of a Boogaard punch: