According to Puck Rakers, Kristian Huselius may actually have a high-ankle sprain. If so, you can kiss the next six weeks goodbye. The door for Nikita Filatov to start producing opens a little wider.

Simon Gagne remains out with a “strained neck” and is undergoing more tests. How do you test a strained neck? Answer – you don’t. You test for concussions, and since “concussion” is Gagne’s middle name, I’m going to assume that the team is hiding something.

Dave Molinari reports that Jordan Staal will return on Wednesday agains Dallas. If Malkin (knee) can play, expect  the two to be linemates. Mark Letestu’s window may have closed.

Zach Parise left yesterday’s contest with a lower-body injury that is “potentially serious”, according to Rick Chere. He went home as opposed to Vancouver. The injury was to his knee, and without the details beyond what I just wrote, I’m thinking at least a couple of weeks, and perhaps as high as months.

The Avs returned Kevin Porter to Lake Erie of the AHL.

Rick Nash has just five points in 10 games. He is also a minus-8. Not buying into Scott Arniel’s system as of yet…

Los Angeles draft pick Maxim Kitsyn tallied his first career KHL hat trick. He was drafted in the sixth round last summer, but as a Russian his stock slipped a good three or four rounds. He’s one to watch.

Isn’t it amazing how everything Marc-Andre Fleury touches is crud, while Brent Johnson has the exact opposite touch this year? Fleury gets lit up, Johnson’s steller, Fleury lit up again, Johnson shut out. This is looking like an off-year for Fleury, but he’s their golden boy – they’ll keep giving him chances. It will come down to the final two months – if this continues through that point, then the Pens will finally turn to Johnson more regularly. In the meantime, enjoy the Johnson magic.

Evgeni Malkin missed last night’s contest with an undisclosed injury. He was a game-time decision though.

Jeff Skinner was a minus-3 and held without a point.

Jay McClement – what the?

Linus Klasen played six minutes for the Preds in his NHL debut.

Patrick Hornqvist has just one point in his last seven contests.

Including the last postseason, Nicklas Lidstrom has 21 points in his last 21 games. The guy is ageless.

Tim Thomas has three shutouts already. I thought he’d have to be moved in order to see a lot of starts, but he’s won his job back. Clearly.

Jason Pominville reportedly failed his neuro-psych test (TSN), so it sounds as though we’re looking at a couple more weeks at least.

Give Jeff Carter his second three-point effort in three games. His stats are quickly falling back into line.

How does Tyler Bozak get seven shots on net…but Phil Kessel gets zero? Isn’t that weird stat?

Benoit Pouliot picked up a point in his third straight game. This, despite fourth-line ice time. That’s what he needs to do though – earn his way back up the depth chart. Then once he’s there, he has to continue. The latter part is where he failed before.

With Gaborik, Drury and Prospal out of the lineup, and despite the fact that he had five points in the first seven games of the season, Derek Stepan is watching his ice time decline. He is down to about 11 minutes per game over the last three, including a career low 9:44 last night. In my opinion, Torts needs to either trust Stepan to be an offensive leader – for more than one game – or send him down. He’ll never get any momentum or the right mindset if he’s jumping over the boards every 20 shifts. In the meantime fantasy owners, you can kiss his production goodbye for now.

So the “send Taylor Hall to junior” nerds are silent now. So are the “don’t compare Hall’s start-of-career slump to Steven Stamkos’ start-of-career slump” nerds. In fact, the only sound I’m hearing right now is Hall’s stat sheet turning like a stock ticker.

Ryan Callahan has 11 points in 10 games, including seven in his last four. It’s his fourth NHL season so a breakout is in the cards. However, his career high is 40 points so I’d be surprised if he gets 65. Count on the mid- to high-50s.

Milan Lucic – eight points in eight games, with 16 PIM and a plus-6. Also two game winners. Wow. Speaking of players in their fourth NHL season…

Take away one poor game and Chris Osgood has been posting very solid numbers. If Jimmy Howard lets him have another three solid starts, then we could have another 1A/1B scenario.

Dave Bolland has an UBI (suspected to be his back – again, though the team claims it is not the same injury). Ryan Potulny was recalled for last night’s game.

Jason Spezza played with Peter Regin and Alex Kovalev last night. Since the Sens couldn’t score, expect the line combos to change.

Tomas Fleischmann has just two points in his last nine games. This is a “prove it” season for Flash. He wanted Plekanec money in the summer, and instead accepted a one-year deal in which he realized that he has to show a little more if wants a big contract like that. He’s a streaky player, so I consider him “buy low” right now.

Jarome Iginla is only 33, but he’s showing a steady decline. His points-per-game the last few seasons, in order: 1.34, 1.20, 1.09, 0.84 and so far – 0.64.

Jarret Stoll has 10 points in his last nine games. We’ve seen hot runs out of him before, although this one seems longer than usual. His career high is 68, so we know he has it in him. But I would be surprised at anything over 55.

Yes, Justin Williams is having a kick-ass season with 11 points in 11 games. Yes, I believe he can keep it up. No, I don’t believe he’ll stay healthy. Enjoy his production and push your luck holding him as long as you can. Last year he played 49 games. He played 44 the year before and 37 the year before that. So you tell me what his odds are. He also had a 41-game season in 2002-03. That makes four of them in his nine-year career.

Devils rearguard Matt Taormina boasts an even plus/minus in a sea of negatives. While Jason Arnott and Patrik Elias are minus-9 and Andy Greene a minus-10, Taormina has been a rock. The undrafted 24-year-old is looking like another Rafalski type of find.

Kovalchuk has six points in 11 games so far. Zubrus leads NJ in scoring with seven points.

Nikolay Zherdev has been a healthy scratch for two consecutive games. I think that’s the best solution for the Flyers – until they suffer an injury, they have scratch one of their “Big 9”. There’s not enough ice time to around right now and trying to spread it through so many players just makes it worse for the players who actually deserve it. Despite my bad prediction for Zherdev in the guide, I think the number of my successes are so far are high – it’s been another good year.

Andrei Markov was back in the lineup and played 23 minutes, including 4:32 on the PP. P.K. Subban saw more ice and PP time than Markov, in case you were a worried Subban owner. Markov’s return helps Subban, not hinder.

Alex Ovechkin – two PP goals in 12 seconds (“back-to-back lightning bolts!”):

What a great tilt – Carcillo vs. Konopka:

Happy Hallowe’en!