The Oilers are on the verge of signing prospect Jeff Petry, who has chosen to forego his senior year at Michigan State. He will join the AHL affiliate in Springfield, at least for a few games, before suiting up with the Oilers. Petry had four goals and 25 assists in 38 games this season with the Spartans.

Check out the photographic evidence of this past Sunday’s DobberHockey event at the Marlies game HERE

Dobber will be on The Hockey News Radio Show (XM station 204) at 3:45 PM EST today chatting puck.

We are looking for sponsors for the upcoming Playoff Pool! A great way to get thousands of hockey fans to check out your product or service! Shoot me an e-mail if you think it may be something you/your company would be interested in.

Steve Stamkos scored twice last night, and is now tied for first in the Rocket Richard race with Ovechkin and Crosby. This, along with the Art Ross battle between Sedin and Ovechkin, is going to be very, very fun to watch during the final few games of the season.

Cristobal Huet delivered a very nice present to Antti Niemi last night – the starting gig during the playoffs for Chicago. Huet was horrendous, allowing seven goals on 27 shots. He was pulled after the score became 5-1, and then he returned in the third, only to get scored on two more times. I can't see Chicago advancing very far with Niemi in between the pipes – he lacks experience, and really struggles when he is outside his crease (I know, goalies are paid to stop the puck, but he is miserable at handing it).

As many of you know (especially those that own him), Derek Roy is incredibly streaky offensively. I had a hunch he would get hot down the stretch, mostly because he had yet to really take off at any point this season. He is producing at a point-a-game clip over his past 18 (as Russ Miller noted in his article yesterday), and I wouldn't be surprised to see him finish out the season on a high note.

Paul Stastny has 19 points in Colorado’s 12 games since the Olympics concluded. He had a disappointing tournament, but perhaps learned a thing or two from watching some of his teammates compete and hustle every single shift. Stastny was not having an awful season before, but he was just gripping the stick a bit tight and overthinking things out on the ice.

Montreal should go ahead and name Brian Gionta captain already. He is the backbone of that team.

I have recently joined my first baseball pool in four years – so I’ll be reading a lot over at DobberBaseball. The forum is really picking up, so if you are in any baseball leagues, you may want to bounce some ideas off of the growing community over there. And of course, you should strongly consider picking up the fantasy baseball guide. Unfortunately I don’t contribute to it (although if you want to win your baseball pool, that probably is a good thing).

Phoenix LOST in the shootout. Yep, you read that correctly.

I think the argument can be made for both Miller and Bryzgalov to win the Vezina. Their stats are very similar across the board. Bryzgalov plays tougher teams in the West, but Buffalo is not as strong defensively as Phoenix. Personally, I'd give the award to Miller, even though Bryzgalov has been a bit better since January. Miller's strong play at the Olympics will help him in the voting, although it officially isn't supposed to count.

Henrik Lundqvist was fantastic last night, and the Rangers FINALLY rewarded him with some goal support.

Brian Boucher is winless in his last four starts.

Jamie McBain, who I wrote about a few months ago and who Dobber wrote about earlier this week over at THN, has two goals and four assists in six games this season.

"Carolina has a few decent young defensemen in Brett Carson and Bryan Rodney, but the real gem on the blue line to watch for is Jamie McBain. He has 15 points in 39 games with Albany this season, and possesses a ton of offensive upside – in his final year at the University of Wisconsin, McBain scored seven goals and added 30 assists. He may not be ready for top-four duty yet, but that is where he is penciled in for next season. The only guarantees to return next season are Joni Pitkanen and Tim Gleason, so expect McBain to be given every opportunity to earn a roster spot."

John Carlson scored his first career NHL goal for Washington last night.

In a keeper league (with positional requirements), would you take Stamkos or Kane? The poll I posted yesterday is (as I had hoped) generating very interesting results. Personally, I'd take Kane, just for the fact that he is a right wing. His relative worth at that position (assuming he develops into a consistent 25-35 goal scorer who adds 50-60 assists) is higher than Stamkos as a center, even if he becomes a consistent 45-50 goal threat. Chicago also has a much better future than Tampa Bay, so that takes away some of the risk with projecting future linemates.

Jonas Gusvatsson has won six straight starts for the surging Leafs. This little streak in March is nothing new to Leaf fans. The only difference is they are screwing Boston over instead of themselves!

The Kulemin-Bozak-Kessel line is continuing to click, as they got together for the first Leafs goal. I recently traded for Kulemin in one of my leagues, and drafted Bozak last summer. I won't be going after Kessel though.

Jaroslav Halak was great again last night, as he has been all season for Montreal. Expect him to continue to see 80-90% of the starts as Montreal will want to get one goalie in a groove for the playoffs.

In his past ten games, Derek Dorsett has 22 PIMs and five points. I could see him hitting 25-35 points, and 200+ PIMs next season. He has more skill than Jared Boll, and will get more ice time because of that.

Kristian Huselius is sizzling with 13 points in his last ten games. Calgary really misses his offense, but I don't think they could have afforded to give him the kind of money that Columbus did. He is a very solid complementary offensive player, who is prone to consistency issues.

Rick Nash had only one assist in the 8-3 win. His ice time wasn't cut in the blowout either, as he played over 22 minutes.

Jake Voracek had a three point game, and is really turning his season around under new coach Claude Noel. Voracek could hit 65-70 next year. He is one of the most powerful skaters in the league, and is starting to look a bit like Jagr with his awesome mullet.

Antoine Vermette has three points as well, and has to be one of the quietest 60-point players in the league. He has been a very solid fantasy player for me all season, and has really found a home in Columbus.

Ron Hainsey has eight points in his last 10 games for the Thrashers. He had 39 points for Atlanta last season, but he probably won't hit that number this year.

Expanding my thoughts on Valtteri Filppula a bit – I think he "could" hit 70 points in the right situation. What does this mean? Steady top-six minutes, steady power play time, and good wingers to play with. He is by far Detroit's most important secondary player, as he plays a very similar game to Datsyuk and Zetterberg (obviously a few levels below, but he pressures the puck and works hard defensively like they do). His shot isn't great, but he has good speed, good hands, and solid vision when the puck is on his stick. I see Detroit keeping the Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom line together, and then Filppula and Zetterberg will play with a rotation of wingers (most likely Dan Cleary). Filppula sometimes gets placed in a checking role when Babcock puts both Zetterberg and Datsyuk at center, but I think Filppula is showing lately why he deserves a shot to be Detroit's long-term second line center.

Steve Downie only had two penalty minutes last night. What gives?

Tuukka Rask showed the first chink in his armour last night, allowing five goals on only 18 shots. He has been near perfect for the Bruins to this point, so he will be cut some slack.

Zdeno Chara has to be one of the biggest (pun) fantasy busts of the season. After scoring 19 goals in 2008-09, he has only six (one of them coming last night) in 2009-10.

David Booth got absolutely cranked last night by Mike Rich.. I mean Jaro Spacek. This hit was very clean, but it is unfortunate that Booth got his bell rung once again. He was taken to the hospital for further testing, but was coherent and alert according to Florida's coach. Before the hit, Booth had four goals in four games. This is scary stuff, and there has to really be some worry over his long-term health with him being on the receiving end of two such vicious hits already this season.