Copper and Blue opines that Alexander Radulov would be a 94-point player this year had he stuck it out in the NHL. If so, his next contract would earn him Kovalchuk money.

The Rangers have recalled Michael Del Zotto and Evgeni Grachev from the minors. Grachev had an AHL hat trick last night, while Del Zotto has five assists in his last four AHL games.

Benoit Pouliot just shot 102 mph to take the lead in the MTL skills competition. That has to impress you.

Braden Holtby has started the last two games for the Caps and won them both in fine fashion. While Varlamov and Neuvirth impress by playing well in spurts, between their injuries, Holtby impresses us – and does not get injured. I’m liking this guy more and more in fantasy circles. Sometimes being a Band-Aid Boy stunts a promising career and this Neuvirth and Varly stuff is getting on my last nerve. Holtby is waiting on the wings and impresses every time he gets a shot. Eventually they’ll just turn him in the first place.

The Caps have stuck Jason Chimera on the big line lately and it has worked nicely. He has four points in four games and is a plus-5 in that span. Playing with Ovechkin and Backstrom always helps production. He has speed, but no hands – but he scores in spurts, so putting him on that line while he’s wielding a hot stick will work out nicely. But when he cools down, it’s back to the fourth line in a hurry.

Ottawa prospect Kaspars Daugavins is breaking out in the AHL now. He has 19 points in his last 18 games. That will endear the 22-year-old to an Ottawa team that needs offense.

After losing four in a row, Antti Niemi has now won four in a row and has started 12 of the last 15 games. Now, finally, he’s worth owning. Too bad I drafted him in September to be my third goalie – suddenly needed him when Leighton went down – and he was nowhere to be found then. Dropped him by mid-November. Now he’s doing what I was hoping for back in September. That’s fantasy hockey, folks!

Terry Frei of the Denver Post wonders if John Grahame will get a look in net for the Avs. Call him a dark horse. Anderson is struggling and Budaj, well, sucks. Meanwhile, Grahame is on fire in the AHL: 10-7-2, 2.25 and 0.918.

If I own Peter Forsberg today, I’m trading him. No way he stays on my team. I’d rather drop him. All he’ll do is make you dress him for a game and then he’ll be a last minute scratch, ruining your fantasy night. He did that too often last time. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

Or no, what did George Bush say? Fool me once…shame on…me. Fool me twice…uh…we won’t get fooled again.

PK Subban has six points in six games. You know what? If they didn’t keep trying to teach this guy a lesson, for god knows what, then he would have 28 points right now. Between scratching him and trying to cut his ice time, it’s probably knocked a good nine points from his totals. He’s an exciting player. Deal with it. You can’t scratch him and you can’t hold him down – not if you want to win. Because he makes things happen. The sooner Jacques Martin accepts his personality (which, by the way, is awesome), the better. He had six shots on goal last night and two PIM. Forty points, I still stand by that.

Marc Savard leaving with another head injury shuts the door on his fantasy value. In both of my main keeper leagues, the public trash talk has been that of backing away from trade talks involving him, and offers a middling draft pick to acquire him. You have to feel terrible for Savard, as he will always be just a hit away. And he didn’t deserve the hit in the first place. Not that anyone deserves a hit, but Matt Cooke’s hit on him was especially brutal. The word in Boston is that he is not suffering from post-concussion symptoms. Yeah…if that’s true, it won’t last – he’s bound to suffer from them again, given what happened.

Tim Jackman easily has a career high with 16 points, after posting another two last night. The problem is, the enforcer thinks he’s a sniper now. He has 11 points in his last 13 games, but just SIX penalty minutes in that span. So if you pick him up – it really will just be for the points, strangely enough.

Rene Bourque has six points in his last 21 games. He hasn’t been this unproductive since his Chicago days. He had 22 points in 26 games (his proper pace, in my books) before hitting his wall.

I know us poolies are getting down on Mikael Backlund, and I’d be first in line for that, but since he was scratched six games in a row his ice time has hovered around eight minutes. Despite that, he’s still managed three points in nine games (half-games?). I’m worried about his development into a top sixer being stunted. Or Brule-ed as we say in the business.

Devin Setoguchi has not had an assist since November 24, but he’s had seven goals since then – including two last night. He lined up with Heatley and Couture.

Other San Jose lines: Thornton with Pavelski and Marleau on the all-centers line; Wellwood with McGinn and Ferriero; McCarthy with Eager and Mayers.

Eager only played 4:45 last night, so I failed on my gamble of dropping Sergei Kostitsyn for him last week in an effort to pad some other stats.

I enjoy getting credit so often from you guys for Brent Burns, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t think “highly” as a fantasy player and never have been that big a fan. This is Jeff Angus’ boy. But Angus was right on this one – Burns is on pace for 53 points and he tallied three last night. I’ve never argued with Angus about his talent – the talent is there and I agree whole-heartedly. But I think he’s a Band-Aid Boy and questioned this past summer if he could ever remain healthy enough to develop as a player. So far so good. A 50-point, 100-PIM defenseman and All-Star. So your accollades should go to Jeff and not myself

Brian Rolston has eight points in his last six games and is averaging close to 19 minutes per game these days. He turns 38 in another month, but now that he’s back playing for his buddy Jacques, he’s Mark Recchi-ing his way back onto our fantasy radar.

Patrik Elias has 30 points in his last 33 games.

With Brian Boucher losing two of his last three games and Sergei Bobrovsky winning each of his last four, look for things to shift further in the youngster’s direction.

Meanwhile, although Michael Leighton is only 2-5-1 in AHL action, his 0.919 SP is about .028 higher than the next best guy. In other words – he’s doing great on a bad team. I doubt, however, that the Flyers can sneak him through on re-entry waivers. But if Brian Boucher gets hurt, they just might try.

Tomas Kopecky has 10 points in his last 10 games. I’m seeing a pattern where he performs much better if Marian Hossa is in the lineup – of course, they’re linemates. But in the 15 games that Hossa was out, Kopecky had 10 points. That says nothing. But if you remove the first game that Hossa was out with his second injury – a game where the Hawks hammered St. Louis – Kopecky had four points that game. So six points in 14 Hossa-less games as opposed to 21 in 32 with Hossa and removing that four-point game altogether.

Finally, proof that Nick Lidstrom is human: Just three points in his last eight games.

In his last seven games, Henrik Zetterberg has 35 shots. He was averaging four shots per game prior to that, so his SOG/game stat is creeping upwards. The puck isn’t going in for him though – just one goal in that span.

After a point in three games to start his tenure with NYR, Wolski has five in his last four and is clicking nicely with Derek Stepan, who is also heating up.

Corey Crawford is 15-4-2 in his last 21 decisions. With 35 games left, look for another 31 starts (out of 35 games remaining) and 21 wins, giving him 37. Looks more and more as though my comparison to Jimmy Howard’s rookie season was a good one.

Craig Anderson has had some good games, but for the most part has been struggling over the past month thanks to perhaps a slow recovery from his injury – groin – which often dogs a goalie for an entire season because they always rush it. He’s 3-7-1 in his last 11.

COL line combos: Stastny with Stewart and Stoa; Duchene with Jones and Hejduk; and eventually they shuffled off Stoa and stuck Duchene on that line.

Stoa is pointless in his two NHL games this season, watching his window slowly swing closed. This guy’s running out of time to show us what he can do at this level. He turns 24 in three months.

Since going eight games without a point, Kevin Shattenkirk has five in his last six, so hopefully you stuck with him.

With three goals last night, has the sleeping giant awakened? Ovechkin is on pace for 31. It should be 61.

Both Crosby and Malkin will miss the All-Star games, which means they will miss their lone game this week against the Isles. Makes sense.

With them being out, Dustin Jeffrey actually got to see some PP time. He also scored a goal. Despite the ice time available, he was only able to get an 11-minute chunk.

Jordan Staal has seven points in his last five games. He’s the No.1 center in Pittsburgh suddenly, so now we can all see what he can do in such a role. We always whine about how “he’d be a star if he was on another team as a first liner”. Well, we’re actually seeing some proof.

Alex Steen has points in 21 of his last 25 games and has 25 points in that span.

Keith Yandle, our newest superstar, has 28 points in his last 25 contests.

According to the scenarios laid out by Bob McKenzie, I think Nabokov pretty much can’t/won’t be traded nor will he be waived. He’ll either be suspended or he’ll play for the Isles. My opinion.

I have a LOT to say today, so I’ll post these ramblings and come back at you in an hour or so (noonish) with the rest.

Some goals to show you. First up – MZA:

Diving goal by Stoll:

A goal? Take a look. Alex Tanguay wins the game with this one…