Corey Crawford will get the start today for Chicago. A big start from him will solidify his claim as the No.1 guy. He’s won five in a row.

The issue with downloads and the ultimate/keeper league packs is still being worked on, I expect it to be solved this week. Sorry for this, and if you need one of the documents you ordered (and can no longer access) just email me your receipt and I will send it to you.

Goals are up slightly this year over last year, according to the latest issue of The Hockey News. This is not surprising given the offense from some of the blue-liners, as well as the Sid/Stamkos contest (which won’t be a contest for long, but I digress). Just think – Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Letang, John-Michael Liles, Tobias Enstrom, Nik Lidstrom, Lubomir Visnovsky, Dan Boyle and Ryan Whitny are all on pace for 60 points or more. Eight players. Last year, two defensemen reached the mark. And before you say “it’s early”, yeah – that works both ways. Some of those eight will drop off, but some of the other defensemen not listed will step up. I think this is the key to more scoring, and a sign that more scoring is upcoming. The blue line scores more and no neutral zone trap or left wing lock can stifle it. With smarter, more talented rearguards, checking will need to spread out. And I didn’t even list the best offensive defensement of 2013 – Erik Karlsson, John Carlson, PK Subban and OEL… or Jamie McBain, or Alex Pietrangelo or Drew Doughty or Duncan Keith…the point is, scoring will continue to rise because of these players, and defensemen will get more points in the future and deserve to be treated accordingly.

Jeff Carter has yet to tally points in three straight games. A third into the season, and that’s a little concerning.

Evgeni Malkin was out because of a knee injury yesterday, further backing up my contention that he has been playing hurt all year (and last year, too). He’ll come out of it, maybe not this year, but when he does – he’ll have all of you falling to your knees and begging forgiveness for ever having doubted him. When he’s in the moon, and fully healthy, nobody in the NHL today is better. I’ll go to the grave with that belief. So if you are in a keeper league and you own Stamkos, trade him for Malkin plus a great draft pick, plus a decent defenseman. That’s buying low. Not selling high (on the Stamkos side) – because I think Stamkos will be a 100-point player year in and year out – but I think Malkin is better. And when Malkin has down years like this one and last one, it’s still not too bad – so it’s not like the trade I suggest can really hurt you. But it could absolutely help you. Take advantage of the Stammer hype and the Gino “meh”.

Despite Jamie Langenbrunner notching two points, he was a minus-3. Then again, it’s the Devils.

Hey, remember in the summer I put out a plea to you people – help talk me out of putting the Devils in the playoffs in my predictions? I didn’t like them for the postseason… yet every year, they make it and do well, despite what “experts” think of them preseason. Well, finally I got one right with them. Martin Brodeur, although coming back soon, is not as he was in his peak. The defensemen are horrible…

Benoit Pouliot has six points in his last seven games. He is on pace for 43 points, which is close to where I had him at, and if he keeps going then I think he’s 65-70 points by the end of 2011-12.

At 1am Friday morning, after some schedule studying, I dressed Pekka Rinne over Bobrovsky. At 11am when I heard the Rinne news, I tried to switch that, but the deadline was missed by mere hours. Don’t you hate that?

I’m guilty of this as well (although not in this particular case), but the major protest and anger from fans when Jaroslav Halak was traded instead of Carey Price is Exhibit A as to why they’re fans – and GM’s are GM’s. And those roles will never switch.

Price is on pace for 48 wins.

I understand that Nazam Kadri needs his ice time and is best served in the minors for a year – but he is Toronto’s best player. Phil Kessel has been horrible. Tomas Kaberle is not the same player he was before the Phaneuf deal. Phaneuf is not the same player he was as a rookie and sophomore. Clarke MacArthur leads the team in scoring, but is weak on the puck and doesn’t make decisions quickly enough. In the last few games, Kadri – and to a lesser extent Versteeg and Grabovski – have been the only players to generate any sort of excitement on a consistent basis. The Leafs have to keep him up because they’re too desperate for what he brings.His 15:17 of ice time last night was his lowest all season, but I think that second/third line ice time is exactly the best way to use him – less pressure.

Did Ron Wilson want Colby Armstrong back? It’s tough to say, looking at his 23 minutes of ice time.

This is Marc Savard’s training camp, so excuse him while he takes five or six games to find his groove. For now, just be happy he is getting through games and feeling fine.

Speaking of Savard, he is off my IR in the Expert’s League and now I finally have a big-name center on my team. I have gained 14 points in the last three or four weeks, moving from 35 points and dead last to 49 points and 10th (of 12 teams). Slowly creeping up thanks to four things: my Lecavalier/Leino/Ribeiro/Lydman for Plekanec/Bobrovsky/Tavares/Giordano swap, my Kovalchuk/Brassard/Eberle for Heatley swap, my Pavelec waiver claim and my Shattenkirk waiver claim. And now I have Savard. Back from the dead, baby!

Matt Stajan has quietly posted eight assists in his last 10 games.

Brian Elliott has allowed just three goals in his last three games. His numbers are superior to Pascal Leclaire’s in every conceivable way.

Leclaire is 1-6-1 on the season and 13-20-3 in his career as a Senator, with zero shutouts and a SP of under 90 percent. This is who they got for Antoine Vermette.

In a battle of the hot goaltenders, Semyon Varlamov couldn’t match Ondrej Pavelec. It would seem, though, that Varly has seized the starting job back. It will go back and forth between he and Neuvirth, usually switching when one gets hurt. I’ve been preaching that since September and despite that, most of you seemed so certain that not only was Neuvirth the starter, but he was the superior goalie. Hopefully the Varlamov owners hung in there.

It’s been 14 games since Pavelec last allowed four goals in a game. In nine of the last 13 games he has allowed one or fewer.

Here is my column yesterday in the Hockey News on dark horses.

Kris Letang has seven points in his last four games. I had guessed that it would be Goligoski as the next 70-point rearguard…but it looks like I picked the wrong Pen!

Steve Mason is 0-3-1 in his last four. He is their golden boy, but as we creep towards January, Garon will start logging more starts. In fact, if you want to look at a template, look at last year with Halak and Price – and how Halak gradually started with more frequency until the postseason when he seized the reins for good.

Tomas Fleischmann – two points for the Avs playing with David Jones and Matt Duchene. He also saw time with Hejduk and Stastny.

Johan Harju was recalled (to replace Steve Downie) and picked up his first NHL point in 7:33 of ice time. Harju, 24, has been tearing up the AHL with 23 points in 17 games and could develop into a decent second liner.

I don’t know why Simon Gagne sucked so badly before his neck injury, but since he’s returned he has been the Gagne that the Lightning thought they were getting. He has five points in his last three games and if he plays another 50 games this year, he should finish the campaign with 55 points. With Downie out, he’ll see a lot of time with Stamkos.

Maybe it is because they were trying to fit a square peg (Gagne) into a round hole (Lecavalier’s line). Since they can’t try that now, Gagne is producing.

With another two points last night, Kevin Shattenkirk has 15 in 15 NHL games. Yeah…he’s here to stay.

Martin Erat has five points in his last two games, which is making the rest of the Preds more successful in terms of production. Cal O’Reilly, Patric Hornqvist and Sergei Kostitsyn have all picked it up. In fact, SK has three points (and plus-5) in his last two games, putting him right back on the fantasy radar.

Give Anders Lindback another win, and you can probably give him five or six more over the next three weeks while Rinne heals.

Patrick O’Sullivan was a healthy scratch by the Wild yesterday. With PM Bouchard and Chuck Kobasew back, O’Sully needed more than three points in six games with his new team to establish a foothold. Now the window has closed. Wasted talent, that spiralled downward pretty quickly.

Wild lines: Koivu with Brunette and Miettinen; Brodziak with Havlat and Bouchard; Cullen with Kobasew and Clutterbuck; and I love this energy/checking line of Nystrom with Madden and Staubitz.

The last four games last night went into overtime.

Taylor Hall has eight points in his last nine games and is a plus-6 in that span.

So is Nikolai Khabibulin actually good now? I’m not ready to believe that. The easy Leafs game gave him confidence and he rode that into a strong performance versus St. Louis. With the team playing a little better, look for ‘Bulin to continue winning and playing every game.

No date has been set for Khabibulin’s appeal, so jail time for him is a lo-o-ong way off. Millions of dollers in the bank certainly help with such things. If it was Joe Blow who is living check-to-check, then Mr. Blow would already have served his jail time by now.

November’s page views were 5,079,068 – the second highest month in history (to October). In November of 2009 we had 3.7 million page views, so a solid increase.

I expect PK Subban to be scratched until the Habs lose, or sustain an injury. A great buy-low player, trust me – he’ll be fine.

Pittsburgh prospect Dustin Jeffrey has 10 points in his last five AHL games and is now tied for the league lead in points with 30. GET THIS GUY IN THE NHL! Seriously, what is the hold up? Is Pascal Dupuis really that valuable? Take Chris Conner out, move Dupuis down to a checking line and get Dustin Jeffrey into the bigs.

After going four games without a point (finally), Linus Omark picked up three yesterday.

Max Pacioretty has 14 points in his last nine AHL games, including 10 goals.

Nikita Filatov got back into the lineup last night and played with Umberger and Vermette – solid linemates. But he was pointless.

Ryane Clowe has 12 points in his last 11 games. He is playing with Couture and Benn Ferreiro. The latter has a point in each of his last four games and could be a good short-term pick up as long as Setoguchi is out (UBI)

Stamkos has two points in his last five games. Crosby has 10 in that span. In fact, Crosby is riding a 15-game points streak (31 points) and has 45 in his last 25

Kyle Okposo is back skating. He’s still two or three weeks away, but he is the primary reason for John Tavares’ lack of production. You’ll be surprised at how much better this team will be with him back.

Dallas prospect d-man Philip Larsen was recalled and he played nearly five minutes of PP time yesterday. He’s one to watch, though his overall ice time was just under nine minutes. He has nine points in 18 AHL contests.

After recording 23 points in 25 AHL games, Ottawa prospect Bobby Butler has finally been recalled.