Some quick notes – Patrice Cormier is suspended for the season and the playoffs for his much- talked about dirty hit. Also, Ales Kotalik and Erik Christensen will be scratched by the Rangers tonight.

Dennis Wideman was a minus-4 yesterday and is minus-12 on the campaign. I really don’t recommend him and I’ve been saying it all year. I sincerely hope you have moved on by now, unless you are truly desperate for defensemen. He is on pace for 25 points. He should be a 45-point defenseman, but had played over his head last year. Now the pendulum has swung in the other direction to make up for it.

Tim Thomas has allowed 13 goals in his last 10 periods and is 0-3-1 in that span. He got the hook yesterday. As a team, the Bruins are 1-7-1 in their last nine. And I thought the Bruins were doing bad BEFORE that little run. Ouch. Fortunately for them, it is looking as though 88 points will be enough to get into the playoffs in the East. So they’ll need to go 15-12-4 going forward.

Martin Havlat has 15 points in his last 14 games, finally turning his Minnesota career around to where it should be. Great buy-low candidate. He’s already missed six games this year, so his injury quota has been almost been satisfied for 2009-10.

Speaking of turning it around in the new city, Scott Gomez has 17 points in his last 15 games. I had about given up on him, but he’s come back strong. Like Jokinen (below), he’s playing like he’s got something to prove after the Olympic snub.

Still waiting for the Sedins to slow down. They’ve actually sped up since the midseason guide. Henrik is now on pace for 118. Huh?

Matt Cooke has two power-play goals in the last five games. He has been seeing time on the second unit. Early in his career in Vancouver I had him pegged to possibly be a 55-point player, but injuries kept striking just when he’d get rolling. He had a production run of 27, 33, and 42 – so the next step was 50 or more, but he was hurt in his fourth and fifth full seasons and never got back on track. He’ll never get 55 points in the NHL going forward, but I do think he can produce at that clip over the final 30 games (so about 18-19 points). In the last two weeks alone, he already has more PP goals (two) than his career-high (one).

Alex Goligoski saw more PP time than any Penguin but Gonchar. A great sign of things to come. When Gonchar leaves in the summer, the team will look to Goli for a big breakout next season.

Some goalies have shuffled around in Tampa Bay – Mike Smith is ready to make his return, probably as backup to start. Dustin Tokarski was sent back to the AHL and Riku Helenius was assigned to play in Sweden, rather than be the third goalie in the AHL. Jaroslav Janus, who was drafted in the sixth round last summer, has impressed team brass and has likely passed the disappointing Helenius on the depth chart. However, he is still a good four years away.

Ryan O’Reilly has one point in his last 27 games. He’s averaged 17 or 18 minutes a game in that span, but he’s been getting no PP time and lots of PK time. Just when he was changing my mind about his NHL future, his role has slipped back into where I thought it would be in the first place – that of an elite checking-line center.

Ryan Stoa, a preseason favorite of mine, has a point in two games during this latest call up. He’s seeing only eight or nine minutes a game, but it is good to see him back in their plans. He has done a complete about-face in the AHL, having a monster 2010: in his last 15 AHL games, he has 18 points with 11 of those being goals. He had nine points in 26 prior to that run. Put him back on your radar.

With a three-game point streak on the go, Brandon Yip has 11 in his last 13.

Somebody’s pissed off over having been snubbed by his Olympic team: Jussi Jokinen has 18 points in his last 14 games and 10 in his last five.

Matt D’Agostini was also sent down with Pacioretty (mentioned yesterday), while Ben Maxwell has been recalled. Maxwell has 12 points in his last 10 contests for Hamilton.

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