Frozen Pool Update: The fantasy manager feature will be back online soon. When we moved servers it didn’t transfer over properly, but the problem is being fixed.

Kevin Allen reports that Mike Smith has been placed on waivers by the Lightning. He’ll clear, and it’s a good thing. With Cedrick Desjardins out, the team needs a goaltender for their AHL squad.

I can’t believe I forgot to note this and I watched the damn thing unfold! Alex Stalock, a very promising goaltender in the San Jose system, came on in relief of Niemi and saw his first NHL action. He stopped all nine shots he faced and earned a win thanks to SJ’s comeback victory. I think he’s earned another look – and soon. One to watch.

Zdeno Chara broke his own record this past weekend when he posted a 105.9 mph shot during the NHL Hardest Shot event at the 2011 NHL SuperSkills Competition. In honor of Z's newest accolade, set with the Easton Synergy EQ50 stick, our great friends over at Easton urge hockey enthusiasts around the net to submit their best power shot videos for a chance to win the very same stick he used in the challenge.

I love the community here – between the comments and the forum, nothing gets missed. Jussi Jokinen left last night’s game in the first period with a lower body injury. Coach Paul Maurice said that he wanted to return in the third period, so that sounds promising. But then again, as a commenter posted below, the Canes recalled Zach Boychuk so perhaps it is serious.

New York line combos, with Dubinsky and Callahan back: Anisimov, with Dubinsky and Gaborik; Stepan with Callahan and Zuccarello; Boyle with Prust and Wolski; Drury with Newbury and Avery. The big loser here is Wolski. Anisimov seems to be the winner.

The Oilers have placed Zach Stortini on waivers.

The Penguins have recalled Eric Tangradi.

Regarding my note on Mursak below – Datsyuk is the culprit. He won’t be back until the weekend. Cleary, however, returns.

The Rangers have sent Evgeni Grachev back down.

Marty Turco getting the win last night could see him start the next game. In which case we may not see Crawford for a couple of weeks. It doesn’t matter that Chicago scored seven goals, the fact is that Turco got the W while Crawford is coming off consecutive losses. I could be wrong, but call it a hunch – and I’m a Crawford owner.

Robin Lehner got the start last night and suffered his first NHL loss. He allowed just two goals on 33 shots though. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him start the fall as Ottawa’s backup and then become their starter by mid-November.

Further to Mathieu Perreault’s trend of being a superstar the game after a call-up – he picked up two more points last night after being recalled. The Caps should send him down and call him up every day. It’s eerie how this is going.

Simon Gagne and Teddy Purcell continue to hold hot sticks. It doesn’t matter if Lecavalier and Stamkos cool off, if they have a third line that heats up like this. For Gagne, that’s points in three straight and he has seven in his last seven.

Stephen Weiss and Michal Frolik, two guys who were ice cold heading into the break, picked up points last night. As I noted in Saturday’s THN column, the hot/cold trends are irrelevent after five-day breaks. I had singled out those two as players who will stop the cold streaks.

I think Kevin Poulin is a must own in all formats. He’s winning games on a weak team. I think he’ll be their starter in the fall. Or rather, DiPietro will be the starter in Game 1, get hurt by the second period, and THEN Poulin will be the starter next year.

Wow – when playing proline, bet on a tie for the Calgary games. Last night was the sixth time in 11 games that they couldn’t solve the game in regulation.

Dustin Jeffrey played 19:26 last night. All it took was for Malkin, Crosby and Letestu to all be injured, and Asham (injury) and Staal (misconduct) to leave the game. He scored, had two shots and added the SO winner. If the Letestu injury is significant, and I think it is, look for Jeffrey to stick for awhile. But what we really need to see is a shift to the wing when one of the big boys returns.

Detroit recalled Jan Mursak, indicating that it is possible that perhaps one of Datsyuk, Holmstrom or Cleary will not be able to play tonight.

Despite Andy Greene’s assist last night, it’s clear that the Devils have given up on him for now as a PP QB. They are rolling with a five-forward power play.

It’s sounding more and more as though Marc Savard will miss the rest of the season. Unsurprising. He needs to look at his life and his future. This career could be over prematurely.

Alex Semin is getting closer, but he was unable to play last night. Next game, I’m sure, barring a setback.

Evander Kane played 18 minutes in his return to the lineup.

Logan Couture missed last night’s contest with the flu.

My THN article yesterday on Hudler, Holtby and Clitsome

I think, off the record ;), that there will be a DobberHockey event coming to TORONTO in a couple of weeks. Check in later for more updates/details…

How do you get a hold of me? Well, in the first two years of DobberHockey I answered pretty much every email. Today, I don’t answer any. Why? Because I get three or four every day from new people. If I answer them, then I’m sure to get another question from them a month or two down the road. So add up those three or four people – each day – and have them email questions every month over the course of five years. I would easily have a couple dozen on a slow day. So I had to stop. So how do you get through to me? Here are some thoughts/tips:

1. The Hockey News Fantasy Mailbag – every second Wednesday I answer questions. I get about 25 submitted and answer about 10.

2. Twitter – @DobberHockey. I get about 10 per day this way, and I would say I’m 50/50 about responding. I’m usually best on Thursdays and Fridays because Angus runs the site and I have a bit more time on my hands.

3. Email – Fantasy questions will never get answered, for reasons noted above. But any other inquiries/suggestions I do read them. [email protected]

4. The Forum – Post your question. If you want me to weigh in, email me the link to the post and I’ll almost always weigh in. Especially if it is on a Thursday or Friday (for reasons I noted in Point 2)

5. Forum Private Messages – Uh, no. This is as bad or worse than email. I can’t possibly get to them all for fantasy advice and if I answer the odd one it’s 100% certain that I get a follow-up question. So it ends up being two private messages. And then they send another question a month later. The most common words typed to me are “I don’t want my fellow GM’s reading this in the forum”. Ha ha – try running a website and typing all of your thoughts related to fantasy hockey, and then going to a fellow GM with a trade idea. Yeah. So you’ll get the world’s smallest violin from me for that one!

6. Comments – On articles and ramblings I would say I’m better than 50/50 at responding and giving my thoughts in the comments. I ALWAYS respond to comments in the rankings, but only a month later (prior to posting the next rankings, I read through and respond to the comments from the month before as it is a great way for me to get feedback on anything I might have missed).

There you go. I wish I could respond to everyone, but the site has (thankfully!) really grown. Having a two year old, as well as a pregnant wife, doesn’t make it any easier either!

Thanks to my buddies over at Japer’s Rink for bringing this to my attention. Gorgeous goal by Evgeny Kuznetsev, future star for the Caps:

WOW! What a hit by Ovechkin on Subban:

PK Subban is awesome – what a great sport:

Should Jordan Staal be suspended for this? As it stands now, automatic one-game suspension for his match penalty (thanks to Prust’s Oscar-winning performance)