No School of Block today, as Goldman is pounding away at some Midseason Guide stuff. But he will be fielding questions all day in the forum on his Top 100 prospect goaltender list.

I’m seeing a lot of patting on the back for Boston’s ‘cheap’ signing of Miro Satan. After all – it’s ‘low risk’. But I’m not seeing any mention that they probably could have signed him in September for that and October for even less. He was a 50-point player with Sid the Kid. You’d have to have a pretty big imagination to expect him to be more than that with Savard. Meanwhile, Vladimir Sobotka could do that very thing if used in that role. Instead, they chance stunting his growth.

Kurtis Foster has nine points in nine games for the Lightning, thanks to his being played as a winger – that’s fantasy gold, as we can still use him as a d-man.

Jochen Hecht has 11 points in his last 12 games, perhaps making a statement to Team Germany for deciding to go with youth at his expense.

Patric Hornqvist has 11 points in his last 10 games.

With Ryan Getzlaf out for the last four games with a lacerated leg…Corey Perry has zero points and is a minus-5. Getzlaf is still day to day.

Despite Ottawa scoring seven goals last night, Milan Michalek is still mired in a seven-game pointless streak. He has just two points in 17 games.

Interesting Sens-Philly game from a stats standpoint (I only caught the first period). Leighton got the hook after only two goals, leaving Boucher to allow the other five. I would have pulled a Mike Keenan and put

Leighton back in. Anyway, it saved Leighton from getting his confidence shattered and you can still consider him a “hot goalie” going forward. Did Laviollette see that? If so, brilliant.

Leclaire was pulled when Philly got two quick ones in the second to make it close, leaving Elliott to get the win.

The big stat story of the game was Claude Giroux – he was a minus-6. Gagne was a minus-5 and Richards a minus-4. JVR had two points and was even. This could mean a switch in line combos – favoring JVR and hurting Giroux next game, so watch for it.

The other big stat story – how about Kovalev getting four goals and five points? He, Fisher and Shannon were flying around the ice, combining for nine points and plus-13.

Give Kelly nine points in 10 games.

Shannon – seven points and plus-5 in five games.

Karlsson also had a big game, with one point and plus-4. A lot of Sens with horrible plus/minus this season had much of that corrected in a single game.

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Not to toot my own horn (toot! toot! okay, I will), but this is by far the best Midseason Guide. The expanded prospect stuff that I have – remember, I added a second columnist since the last Midseason Guide and both Van Horne and Bugg are putting extensive work and research into this – plus more insider stuff to look at for the second half than ever before.

Another crazy stats game – PIT vs. FLA: Malkin was a minus-4! The team can’t buy a win right now.

That hat trick by Dvorak opened some eyes. He is on a three-game point streak, but looking back I see he actually has 12 points in his last 11 games and is a plus-7 in that span. He’s still in his prime, albeit at the tail-end, and has a career high of 67 points. He won’t reach that mark. I think even 50 is out of reach, but he can get 26 points in 40 games to get to 45, I’m sure of it.

DiPietro played his second AHL game in three days. That’s a good sign that he is almost ready. I’ll give him another week before he starts for the Isles, barring a setback. As someone says in the comments below, keeping him on IR for an extra week may be the right way to play it – in case he tweaks something. If you’re desperate for goaltending though, activate him in a week.

The Panthers were hoping David Booth would return this month, and he is skating. However, they are being cautious and George Richards speculates that they could wait until after the Olympics to bring him back.

Mikhail Grabovski has a broken wrist and will be sidelined for six weeks. Look for the Leafs to recall Tyler Bozak, especially with Wayne Primeau out (2-4 weeks, knee) as well. Bozak needs a second-line role to flourish and one just opened up. I rate Bozak an immediate “buy and stash”. See how he does before activating him, but most definitely acquire him as soon as the call-up announcement is made (or take the chance and grab him anyway, I think it’s a safe bet).

Kimmo Timonen has just two points in 10 games.

Michael Del Zotto is pointless in nine and is a minus-6 in that span. He looked so ready for the NHL back in October, it’s funny how some players can do such an about-face. He’ll be a stud, but obviously not this year.