The DobberBaseball Fantasy Guide is fully updated through Tuesday!

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Patrick Wiercioch has really made strides these past few weeks. The Sens were forced to lean on him thanks to the Karlsson injury, and Wiercioch has been up to the task. Three assists and plus-3 last night give him 10 points in 13 games.

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I’ve been meaning to mention in the ramblings – click on a name that is highlighted. We just added the fantasy newsfeed to the player’s profile. So now when you click the player, not only do you see line combos, trends, line production and other fun stuff – but you also see the last few news items relating to that player. It’s something I’ve been meaning to have added for awhile now, but Jason Arbuthnot has been slammed with his day job and hadn’t been able to implement until now. We have more plans for the Frozen Pool section and player profiles that we’ll start phasing in, including expanding the free area and hopefully bringing the price down even further for the pay area.

If you have a few minutes to help out with the newsfeed each week, I’d like to double up the coverage. It’s real easy, if you have a good system you could put up six or seven links in less than 10 minutes. Hell, if I had someone who would just go through my ramblings every day and for each player I mention a streak about, such as Wiercioch above, he or she adds his name and a link to my ramblings mentioning the streak – that alone would really help. Please let me know!

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Here’s another streak – Jiri Tlusty has just one point in his last five games. Tlusty is a buy low guy right now, because his owners will be panicky – after all, he’s not proven, right? But he’ll find the magic again, I believe in him as a 65-point player and I’m convinced he’ll get the chance to succeed. These little slumps will no longer see him get demoted to a checking line.

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The Leafs have sent down Korbinian Holzer and have recalled Jake Gardiner. He has 31 points in 43 games for the Marlies this season – and yes, he’ll make an impact quickly.

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Martin Brodeur was on the bench last night as a backup. He’ll probably get his start next game.

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Jakob Silfverberg has five points and 20 shots on goal in his last six games.

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Since returning to the lineup, hard-luck forward Guillaume Latendresse has five points in five games.

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I had given up on Shawn Matthias, wrongfully recommending to someone that they drop him – this was in early March. Since then he has seven points in 10 games, with six of them goals. I feel a bit guilty because he had a choice of players to drop and needs all the help he can get. And I honestly felt that Matthias was the one with the least hope. Meanwhile, how often do I preach that big giants like that take until they’re 27 years old before you give up on them?

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From the pages of Jumping the Gun – is the Ville Leino we saw in the 2010 postseason, back? Three points in three games since returning to the lineup. Worth keeping an eye on. He was so horrible last season that most people are afraid to touch him with a 10-foot pole.

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Evgeni Malkin is expected back within the next two games. I’m so impressed that Beau Bennett has managed to continue producing even without Gino. Not huge, but some. Three points in five games. James Neal, meanwhile, is pointless in four.

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Blake Wheeler has seven points in five games and he’s fixing his plus/minus as well. He’s up to a minus-5 now on the year and hasn’t been in the red for nine games.

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Taylor Beck played his first career NHL game for the Preds – he has 41 points in 50 AHL games, but was pointless with two shots last night. He played 14:49.

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Remember that clip I had in yesterday’s ramblings about the AHL fight at (and in) the benches? The AHL suspended four players for that, including Jeremy Morin (one game). Just to give you some closure on that, I know you had trouble sleeping.

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Andy McDonald had five shots and played 19:24 in his return to the St. Louis lineup.

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Brooks Laich made his season debut for the Caps, seeing nearly 13 minutes of ice time and dishing out three hits. He played with Ribeiro and Brouwer and moved Wojtek Wolski to the press box.

The other debut for Adam Oates – Dmitry Orlov. I don’t get the sense that Orlov will give fantasy value this season, given the 12 minutes of ice time. Then again, it’s just one game and he was practically an NHLer last year.

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The Red Wings are close to signing 6-5 free agent goalie Jared Coreau from out of Northern Michigan. Given their top two goalies – a Band-Aid Boy in Gustavsson and an “almost” Band-Aid Boy in Jimmy Howard… in deep deep keeper leagues I’d be looking at this guy, to sit on for a couple of years.

The name of the game this year, in terms of free agents coming out of college, is “defensemen”. All the buzz is about the D available – Danny Dekeyser is the most notable one, but Andrej Sustr is also generating a lot of interest. But that’s because he’s 6-8! Neither player is looking at big points, but the Red Wings are said to be close to signing Dekeyser.

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Power-plays are dropping as the season goes on. Here is the data. Less power plays mean less goals. We hate hearing/reading that here at DobberHockey.

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Ryan Malone is out indefinitely (again) with a shoulder injury. So the great numbers we’re seeing from the kids will continue.

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It’s a good thing the Rangers won. Had they lost, Rick Nash would have been on a team with 30 points – whether he was traded in the summer or not. That’s right, Columbus is two points behind New York.

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Here’s something to keep an eye on – the Flyers have signed forward Kyle Flanagan to a one-year contract for next season, per Bob McKenzie. It’s an NHL deal, not sure if that means it’s one-way. Flanagan is a small (5-9), skilled player and I’d like to see how he performs for Adirondack this weekend. College players adapt to the pro game differently. He was ninth in NCAA scoring with 47 points in 35 games.

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Interesting stuff by Puck Daddy here regarding the Perry and Getzlaf contracts. As UFA’s, they could only sign seven-year deals. But they get eight if they “re-sign”. Furthermore, the no-trade clause kicks in immediately – they don’t have to wait until the summer for it to kick in (like Jeff Carter had to with the Flyers – and was then traded just before it kicked in). Anyway, interesting points.

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After being shut out three games in a row – Phoenix finally scored in the third period of last night’s game. Then they scored again – both by Shane Doan. Anyway, the monkey is off their backs and I would expect owners of Coyote players to see a little surge. Radim Vrbata returned to the lineup, but was held pointless.

Thanks to Shoeless for pointing this out – Doan had two goals, 11 shots and 13 hits. Think he had enough of being shut out? Now that was an angry player.

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This is a great fight – Chris Stewart vs. Zack Kassian. On a side note, do the commentators know that they’re allowed so shut up? We don’t need play-by-play on fights:

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