What a terrible setback for a player who had such a small window of opportunity to flourish and wasn’t doing too badly – The Fourth Period reports that Scott Parse will undergo groin surgery and is out for 3-4 months.

Carolina has claimed Troy Bodie off of waivers. This is added competition for the likes of O’Sullivan, Tlusty, Samsonov, and Matsumoto to stay in the lineup.

Goldie: I’m a guest on RLD Hockey Talk starting at 1p EST to talk goalies and prospects. You can listen right here. Not happy with Fleury’s game last night. Very deep on Staal’s goal late in the third. Halak was terrible here in Denver, but he is known for bouncing back.

Great article by Down Goes Brown creating a spoof NHL policy for young players getting called up to the NHL.

Excellent data compiled below by Pengwin in his comment on the Penguins PP:

“Clearly PIT is riding Goligoski & Letang on the PP.
Is that working for them though?

Consider PIT’s last 11 games:
Record: 4-5-2
PP Pts: Goligoski 2pts, Letang 2pts, Martin 1pt

PP Eff: 0/6 (NYR), 1/5 (ATL), 0/4 (TB), 1/2 (BOS), 1/5 (PHX), 1/4 (ANA), 0/4 (DAL), 0/2 (CAR), 0/6 (PHI), 0/5 (TB), 0/4 (STL)
PP %: 4/47 = 8.5%.

If the worst PP in the league (CBJ, FLA) is 10.3%.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/standings/_/type/expanded/sort/powerPlayPct/group/2
And PIT’s PP in their last 11 games is 8.5%.

Is it time for a change?
Wake up Bylsma!”

For the record, I think Bylsma no longer fits with this team because of a defensive style that’s outdated. But then again, I’m a fantasy player – I love offense.

And sure enough – Marc-Andre Fleury starts his third straight game. He’ll keep going, too, even though he took the loss and looked rather average (Lundqvist, by the same token, was awesome). Johnson will be lucky to get into 10 more games.

The sleeping giant is starting to awaken. Evgeni Malkin has eight points in his last five games.

What can be said about Brandon Dubinsky? Besides 17 points in 18 games, he has three PP and two SH goals, 43 shots and 23 PIM. This is his fourth full NHL season and it’s looking like a career one. However, this torrid pace is a little much…

Ruslan Fedotenko has five points in his last three games, turning what was an ugly season into something a little more expected of him.

Mike Comrie played just 7:52. Is this the remnants of the flu? Or is Dan Bylsma getting a little tired of the goose eggs?

Kris Letang played nearly 32 minutes and Alex Goligoski played over 27. Meanwhile, Paul Martin saw 20:32.

Interesting dynamic – clearly Martin is third on the PP totem pole already. I thought that could happen, just not so soon. I thought it would be he and Goli on the PP, but Letang has the hot stick and he’s secured the job for good. How can you remove a point-per-game rearguard from the power play? Answer: you can’t. So Martin is off the first unit, which removes a good 15 points from any earlier projections of him.

Jonathan Bernier allowed six goals Monday, so if Jonathan Quick’s role as starter was in any doubt before (and it wasn’t, because he’s awesome), it’s gone now.

The Sharks are starting to score goals now and it’s because their secondary scoring is back. With Joe Pavelski back on a role (six points in last three games), as well as Clowe, Couture, etc, then the top line becomes so much better.

Ten teams have played 18 games or more. New Jersey is one of them. Yet somehow they remain last in goals for with 33. Only three teams have allowed more than their 59 goals. I’m late with this, because I’m always one to believe that people need a fair chance, but yes – John MacLean needs to go.

Buffalo tough guy Cody McCormick actually has some nice fantasy numbers – five points and plus-2 to go with the expected 42 PIM

One thing I notice about the Flyers this year – it seems as though each game there is a different pair of stars. Last night was Richards and Giroux with three points each. Other days it’s Leino and Briere. Other days it’s Jeff Carter. Who do you stop? Although as a fantasy owner it can frustrate, because you have to wait your turn. So you pump your fist if you’re a Carter owner a few days ago, but roll your eyes seeing his goose egg last night.

John-Michael Liles, after three more last night, has 16 in 17 on the season and is a plus-9.

I told you preseason – this is the year of the offensive defenseman. So far, 14 are on pace to top 60 points and 30 are on pace for 45

Alex Steen has eight points in his last nine games.

Halak: 8-3-2, 2.12, 0.918
Price: 10-5-1, 2.18, 0.923
So did the Habs make a mistake in trading Halak over Price? They saved money, they got a better return and it looks as though the goalie they kept is at least in the same ballpark skill-wise, even the most anti-Price fan has to admit that.

Toronto goaltender Jussi Rynnas has been named the AHL player of the week. His numbers on the season: 3-3-1, 1.95, 0.936

Phoenix prospect Mikkel Boedker has 15 points in his last 12 AHL games.

Patrick O’Sullivan will replace Jiri Tlusty in the lineup tonight.

Carlo Colaiacovo returned to the lineup and notched a pair of points last night. He has seven in nine, and I’m sure is available on your waiver wire.

Nashville is hoping Matt Lombardi can start skating again in about a week. That puts his earliest return at about three weeks from now.

Glad to hear that Vincent Lecavalier’s hand surgery was successful, and that 40 different news outlets were able to tell me this in their headline, actually fitting the word “successful” into their headline. It’s very very necessary that they do that.

Is Andrei Markov done for the season? Possibly… And here is a more updated status report.

Forgot to note yesterday that David Desharnais, the Montreal prospect, had his points streak end on Sunday at 13 AHL games.

Andreas Nodl, who is having a great year and really showing what we all saw in him three years ago finally, missed last night’s contest with a bruised toe. That allowed JVR to get back in. JVR was on the second PP unit, but was held pointless.

I need a couple of volunteers interested in flipping me a couple of youtube clips every day. I wish I had one or two each day, but at the same time I don’t want to copy what’s out there on 50 blogs already. Flip me an email if you’re good at this stuff…