The Midseason Guide is up now – enjoy! Buy it here

Cory Schneider is getting the start for the Canucks tonight – Luongo will face Detroit tomorrow.

Dallas has reacquired Jamie Langenbrunner from New Jesrsey for a conditional draft pick.

Three players I see having huge stretch runs – Shea Weber, Pat Kane, and Anze Kopitar.

Weber had two helpers last night – he also changed the tide of the game with two monster body checks. The Kings seemed afraid to skate into his corner the rest of the evening. He now has eight points in four games.

Colin Wilson has seven points in five games – it is starting to come together for the former college star. With O'Reilly out long term, he has a permanent top six spot. His C/W versatility helps as well.

We have a contender for the title of streakiest scorer in the league – Patric Hornqvist scored twice last night and now has five goals in his past four games.

Sergei Kostitsyn is loving life in Nashville – he has points in eight of his last 10 games and 10 total points in that same span. He has really stepped up with all of the injuries that the Predators have been dealing with (O'Reilly, Sullivan, Erat, Lombardi, Legwand, you name it).

Marek Svatos scored his first goal as a Predator last night.

Briere, Leino, and Hartnell combined for seven points. Briere now has seven points in his last five games.

James van Riemsdyk was pointless last night, but he saw over 20 minutes of ice time – well above his season average of 13:51. Ice time first, production second.

The Devils are rumoured to be trading Jamie Langenbrunner very soon… it sounds like Dallas could be the destination.

The Leafs chased Halak last night with four goals on only 19 shots.

Grabovski had a goal and eight shots on net last night (and a beauty in the shootout, check the video below).

Backes had a goal and a helper – his fourth multi-point game in his past 10. A notorious second-half player performing to expectation.

The Blues are getting a lot out of Vlad Sobotka – I was surprised the Bruins tossed him aside last summer (to be fair, they aren't exactly desperate for centers). He plays with a lot of jam and has more offense than many thought.

Now that he is getting ice time with McDonald/Oshie/Perron out, he is producing at a very respectable level.

Speaking of Oshie, he is on track to return within the next three weeks. I haven't been able to find any updates on Perron or McDonald (both are suffering from concussion-related symptoms).

I was excited to see Phoenix finally got a shutout last night as a Bryzgalov owner. Check the box score… and… LaBarbera. Nice.

Nine of Kris Versteeg's 16 assists have come in his last 10 games. Not sure why the Leafs are shopping him – unless they can package him up with a defenseman for an upgrade?

Crosby missed the game last night for the Penguins – some are speculating that he suffered a minor concussion against Tampa Bay after being drilled from behind by Hedman (and others sre speculating that the Steckel hit from the Winter Classic was the original culprit).

Crosby is expected to be out for a week, according to Dan Bylsma – time to see Malkin step up.

David Desharnais had a helper and played almost three minutes on the PP for Montreal. I love it when small and skilled call ups are actually placed in roles that they can thrive in. Coaches that stick scorers on checking/grinding lines are doing the player and their team a disservice.

Talk about bad luck – Tuukka Rask is 3-8, even though he possesses the NHL's 4^th highest save percentage at .931.

Cal Clutterbuck scored last night and is now on pace for 25 goals. He could hit the 200 SOG mark as well. Combine that with the rest of his game, and you have yourself a very valuable multi-category player in the making.

Not sure where Zdeno Chara's offense has gone this season… Big Z is on pace for only 10 goals and less than 40 points.

Kyle Cumiskey has been cleared to practice with the Avs after missing 30 straight with a concussion.

Chris Stewart skated yesterday morning and is getting closer to a return… I'll guess he's back in 7-10 days.

Wojtek Wolski was a huge miss on my part last summer – I saw him leading the Coyotes top line and playing the center position at a high level. He had eight minutes of ice time last night and has been as offensive as Mr. Rogers this season.

Keith Yandle is on pace for 63 points, but I see him getting more. Imagine if he was on a team that actually encouraged offense from the back end (slightly tongue-in-cheek, slightly true).

The Futility Bowl was played between Edmonton and Long Island last night (apologies to our Devils readers). The Oilers won a 2-1 snooze fest.

Nate Lawson let in two goals on three shots. Kevin Poulin (the backup to the backup) stopped all 19 he faced. Poulin has very impressive numbers in his first professional season in the AHL (10-4, 2.13 GAA, .931 SV %).

Rick DiPietro missed the game with a sore knee/elbow/foot/ankle/groin.

If there's ever good timing for an appendectomy, Jordan Eberle should count his lucky stars. After finding out he was going to miss 2-3 weeks with an ankle injury, he underwent an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday night. The recovery time… about 2-3 weeks.

Edmonton's paper thin defense took another hit with Jim Vandermeer leaving the game.

Grabovski with an interesting twist (pun) on the spin-o-rama: