Dobber’s latest over at Puck Daddy – check it out here.

Daniel Sedin is out tonight for the Canucks with back spasms. Pavol Demitra is en route to Los Angeles and may suit up in his place.

Allan Walsh, the always-interesting agent for Jaroslav Halak, tweeted this earlier, “Just wanted to be the 1st one to announce that Jaroslav Halak has signed a new 6 yr contract with the Montreal Canadiens.” I was about to come and post it here before I checked the calendar. Good one, Mr. Walsh.

Ryan Classic has put together a very in-depth analysis of Erik Karlsson’s fantastic rookie season. Check it out here.

Brady Irwin is making his NHL debut tonight for the Leafs. The hometown boy scored 15 goals at the University of Vermont this past season.

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Baseball season is almost upon us – time to pop over to DobberBaseball, pick up the fantasy guide, and join the forums!

Got a fantasy question on your mind? I'll be answering questions all day today over on the message boards. Ask away here!

Ryane Clowe left the game last night with an undisclosed injury. I'll update later on today.

San Jose is 7-7-1 since the Olympic break – Nabokov has looked very pedestrian, as has Joe Thornton.

Steve Ott had quite the night for Dallas last night, recording his first career hat trick. He scored one goal shorthanded, one at even strength, and one with the man advantage.

Alex Burrows has 25 goals in his last 35 games (a 59 goal pace).

Antti Niemi shut out the Wild last night after playing the night before. It was only the second time all season that Niemi has started back-to-back games for Chicago. Even though Cristobal Huet essentially gift wrapped the starting position for him, he needs to get on a roll here to get some confidence going for the playoffs.

Ben Eager and Tomas Kopecky combined for five points, while Kane and Toews combined for one. Just one of those nights, I guess.

Steve Downie and Steve Stamkos both scored goals for Tampa Bay last night. Look for at least one of them to be on the 2009-10 Prime Cuts roster, set to be unveiled very shortly.

Jason Blake had a five point night for the Ducks last night. He scored a goal in the process, bumping his shooting percentage close to 0.08.

Carey Price plays a gem of a game and comes away with the loss. Unfortunately for Price, I have probably typed that statement (or something very similar) about nine or ten times this season. Simply awful luck. Price was even jeered a bit by Habs fans after being announced third star – what is up with that?

Carolina had seven rookies in their lineup last night (eight if you include Brandon Sutter). It was my first time getting to see Jamie McBain play a full game (mostly just highlights before), and he really impressed me with his mobility and awareness. With over 24 minutes played, he trailed only Joni Pitkanen (over 30) in ice time.

Raffi Torres had a productive return to Buffalo's lineup. He assisted in three of the six goals scored by the Sabres after missing six straight games with a hand injury. Torres has had a pretty decent season production-wise, and Buffalo may use him more during these final games as they are a bit thin up front.

Tyler Ennis and Nate Gerbe both scored for Buffalo, and both played over 15 minutes of ice time. It was funny to see Gerbe and Myers celebrate together after the goal, as Gerbe is a generous 5'6", and Myers is about 6'8".

Calgary won, Colorado lost. The Flames only trail the Avs (who still have a game in hand on them) by only two points, and the two teams will face off on Friday evening. That is a game you won't want to miss.

Mikael Backlund had one helper for the Flames, and even saw some power play time to boot.

Teemu Selanne scored his 601^st career goal last night for the Ducks, and now he needs only one more to break Jari Kurri's record for goals by a Finnish born player.

Milan Hejduk has eight goals in his past 12 games. He has lost a few steps over the past few seasons, but is still very deadly offensively (especially on the power play). He won't be scoring 35-40 goals again, but should continue fill a nice veteran role for the young Avs.

Lee Stempniak scored AGAIN for Phoenix, and was a crossbar away from having two. He has been on an absolute tear since the trade deadline, and is probably going to win a few of you some hockey pools this season.

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed defensive prospect Erik Gustavsson from Northern Michigan University. Gustavsson, who served as team captain, finished the season with 32 points in 39 games, leading all CCHA (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) defensemen in scoring. He was also named the best offensive defenseman in the conference. He isn't big, but skates very well and is a smart player. He was one of the most sought-after NCAA free agents.

Jeff Halpern has just one assist in 13 games as a King. He wasn't brought in to score, but the Kings have to be disappointed with his miserable production. As Dobber mentioned earlier this week, Scott Parse has been vastly outperforming Halpern on the fourth line.

Ken Campbell, who writes for The Hockey News, weighs in on the Hart Trophy race. He says Henrik Sedin shouldn't win because goals are better than assists, claiming Peter Forsberg is overrated in the process. He says assists may be bad because "without going back and looking at the tape of each of his assists, there's no way of telling." Yes, but thankfully we don't live in the 1800's, and tape exists! How about you do some work before passing off this lazy piece of journalism? The Hockey News usually puts out well-informed and researched pieces, but this one misses the boat completely. Until the NHL stops counting assists, they matter. As for the Hart Trophy, I'd probably give it to either Sedin or Miller. Crosby would be my third candidate.

The Canucks have signed defenseman Lee Sweatt, the older brother of Hawks prospect Billy Sweatt. Lee has played the past two years in the Finland, and has been one of the best defensemen in the FNL. He is built like a fire hydrant at 5'9" and 200 pounds. Picture for visual proof. Sweatt had nine goals and 24 points in his final NCAA season with Colorado College in 2006-07. His college numbers as well as his production in Finland is similar to that of Brian Rafalski (who is 5'10" and 200 pounds). Rafalski didn't make his NHL debut with New Jersey until he was 26. Sweatt turns 25 this August. Vancouver has a lot of question marks on the back end heading into next season, and they obviously view Sweatt as a guy who can compete for a roster spot. This isn't an AHL signing, as he is making much more money over in Finland than he would playing in the AHL. He should be on your radar as a sleeper defenseman to watch for in 2010-11.

Boston has signed top prospect Joe Colborne to an entry level contract. I don't think he is NHL ready for next season – he will need at least a year or two in the AHL with Providence. Colborne scored 22 goals this past season with the University of Denver Pioneers.

In 2008 we had Fabian Brunnstrom, last year we had Jonas Gustavsson. The European free agent that has everyone buzzing this year is Finnish goaltender Jussi Rynnas. At 6'5", perhaps the "Monster" nickname would be more appropriate for him than Gustavsson. According to sources he is a bit more of a project than Gustavsson, but over 15 NHL teams have reportedly expressed interest.

Mats Zuccarello Aasen was reportedly in New York earlier this week to meet with the Rangers. He also has sat down at met with Hakan Andersson, the director of European scouting for the Red Wings. I'd bet that MZA ends up in one of those two places. Atlanta is also reportedly after him very hard as well. From a fantasy standpoint, New York or Atlanta would represent the best opportunities for an immediate impact, as Detroit already has a clearly defined top six locked up.

Some information about the three Hobey Baker finalists – Nyquist, Geoffrion, and Butler.

Pavol Demitra returned to the ice today after being away from the team for over a week due to personal reasons. It was revealed yesterday that Demitra's wife was very sick, and obviously that is where his priorities lie. If the Canucks decide to keep Michael Grabner around, Demitra will probably slide in on the third line with Kyle Wellwood and Jannik Hansen. He won't be travelling with the team though, so expect his return to come on Sunday night as the Canucks host the Minnesota Wild.

Alain Vigneault will have several tough lineup choices to make shortly, as Demitra, Samuelsson, and Steve Bernier are all very close to returning. I assume Grabner will eventually get demoted (although I would find a way to keep him around), as Vigneault likes to have a fourth line with grit and defensive awareness, two things which Grabner doesn't really bring to the table. Some possible line combos – Burrows with the Sedins, Raymond with Kesler and Grabner, Demitra with Wellwood and Samuelsson, and Bernier with Johnson and Hansen on the fourth line.

Bold prediction – Erik Karlsson will hit 50 points next season. It may not even be a bold prediction if Karlsson keeps up his recent pace to close out the season – he has nine points in his last five games for Ottawa. His pass on Tuesday night to Kovalev for the OT winner was a thing of beauty. He still makes the typical rookie mistakes in his own zone, but Cory Clouston has shown a willingness to allow Karlsson work through them, which is great to see. So many times coaches stifle young talent (Jacques Martin with Jason Spezza is an example of this).

Jeff Deslauriers is one of the most exciting goaltenders to watch. Like Tampa's Mike Smith, his acrobatic style leads to a lot of inconsistency from game-to-game, though. Both goalies are capable of stopping 40+ shots, but also just as easily have games where they allow three or four goals on 15-20 shots. Check out some of the thievery Deslauriers committed against Detroit on Tuesday night here. He made about three saves that should all be save of the year candidates.

Here is a nice article on one of my favourite young players in the league, Brandon Sutter. Sutter went from six points last year to close to 40 this year, and a jump up to 60 may be in the cards for 2010-11. Most impressive is the fact that Sutter only has ONE minor penalty all season (66 games to date). If your league counts penalty minutes you may disagree with that being an impressive stat, though!

I'll have a good rant one day about why I believe counting penalty minutes in fantasy hockey is silly. If I were running a league, I would designate one roster spot exclusively for penalty minutes (a goon category, if you will), and leave it out of the rest of the roster spots. Skilled players shouldn't be rewarded for playing dirty (elbowing, roughing, charging) or lazy (tripping, interference, holding).

DobberHockey reader Dave P added some great insight to yesterday's ramblings. Here is what he discovered with regards to the production from Detroit's top two lines:

Mar 1 vs. Avs: Datsyuk line 6 points, Z line 0 points
Mar 3 vs. Van: Datsyuk line 2 points, Z line 4 points
Mar 5 vs. Nas: Both lines had 3 points
Mar 7 vs. Chi: Datsyuk line 1 point, Z line 7 points
Mar 9 vs. Cal: Datsyuk line 3 points, Z line 0 points
Mar 11 vs. Min: Datsyuk line 0 points, Z line 7 points
Mar 15 vs. Cal: Datsyuk line 4 points, Z line 0 points
Mar 20 vs. Van: Datsyuk line 1 point, Z line 6 points
Mar 22 vs. Pit: Datsyuk line 0 points, Z line 7 points
Mar 24 vs. StL: Datsyuk line 0 points, Z line 7 points
Mar 26 vs. Min: Datsyuk line 8 points, Z line 0 points
Mar 30 vs. Edm: Datsyuk line 6 points, Z line 2 points

Sergei Shirokov's level of play has tailed off a bit recently for the Manitoba Moose. Many are speculating that he is simply playing the season out and preparing to bolt back Russia after failing to make the Canucks this season, but Shirokov seems to be adjusting well and enjoying life in North America. If you can survive Winnipeg winters, you can survive anything! From what I have read, it seems like he has a great attitude and is really committed to put the work in at the AHL level in order to one day be a successful player in the NHL.

Was the Kesler hit on Derek Morris boarding? Perhaps. Was it a hit from behind, like Morris thought? Not a chance. Photographic evidence here.

Coming soon…