2 o’clock is the deadline – join the free Draft Street fantasty challenge for today’s games. Details here! But basically if you pick your 10 players and they perform better than anyone else’s 10 players then you win a share of $300. Not bad for…FREE.  

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Think Justin Abdelkader likes playing with Pavel Datsyuk? Three goals and a helper for the fiesty forward last night against the Ducks. Datsyuk had three points as well.

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Without Letang on the back end, Matt Niskanen played almost 24 minutes. He also led all Penguin skaters with five shots on goal.

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Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of goals last night – he is really starting to play some great hockey again. To me, you can tell he is back with how involved he is physically.

Ovechkin is starting to thrive on the right side, just like Adam Oates predicted he would. Oates had a similar impact on Kovalchuk in New Jersey.

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Columbus put up five goals on Calgary, but no points from Cam Atkinson. Atkinson is still dealing with lingering effects of a high-ankle sprain, and he probably won't be "right" until next season. Maybe try and buy low on him while you can.

Columbus is winning a lot (points in 12 straight) because they have an identity. Rick Nash wasn't it. This team is tough as hell, they are tenacious, and they are scrappy. Foligno, Umberger, Dubinsky – these guys are a pain in the butt to play against. Johnson too.

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An interesting look at how the 30 NHL clubs have used rookies in 2013.

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Tim Gilbert may suit up tonight for the Wild – the two-way defenseman has been out for a few weeks.

More good news out of Minnesota:

There was one more encouraging note. Goaltender Josh Harding was at Xcel Energy Center Friday, and helooked good. "I had a brief conversation with him," Yeo said. "And he was feeling very good. His word, actually, was great. And even just looking at him, I think he looks great. So we'll talk some more about what the plan is going forward."

Harding has not played since Feb. 7 while trying to get a handle on treatment for multiple sclerosis.

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David Booth is done for the regular season, and potentially the playoffs, too. He suffered a grade two/three ankle sprain (torn ligaments) and had surgery yesterday. He's had rotten luck since coming to Vancouver. A huge buy low candidate this summer, regardless of where he is playing.

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Mike Babcock, tell us how you really feel about Darren Helm.

“Helmer, to me, is a top-four forward on this team, to me,” Babcock said.

That’s a hefty statement considering that, given Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk are obviously the top two, that means Babcock’s third is either Damien Brunner, Valtteri Filppula or Johan Franzen, with two of those guys bumped in favor of Helm.

Helm may not have much fantasy value himself, but he makes things a lot easier for his teammates.

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Is it time for the Oilers to trade for a top end defenseman?

How about Dmitri Kulikov or Keith Yandle?

The Coyotes recently extended left-shooter Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a 6 year deal (damnit), and he’s not alone on the Coyotes’ left defense. Rusty Klesla, David Schlemko, Chris Summers and up-and-comer Brandon Gormley are all lefties; which of course is to say nothing of Yandle. OEL’s new deal carries a cap hit that is $250,000 higher than the one that Yandle signed, which could possibly be an indication that the writing is on the wall.

And to me, this is the key:

The price for both Kulikov and Yandle would be very steep, but if the Oilers want to win before Nail Yakupov is on his second contract, it might be worth paying.

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Does Mike Smith need to get out of the way?

Alex Edler was given a two-game suspension for running Mike Smith over behind the net on Thursday in Phoenix.

I won't get into further detail (the link above does a great job of that)… but what are forecheckers supposed to do when they are first on the puck and Smith comes out to play it?

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Should the Sabres build around Tyler Myers? They are paying him $5.5 million each year until 2019… so they need to figure out where he fits in with their future plans.

This may sound like bad news to poolies (Myers' below quote), but for two-way defensemen, the points tend to come when they are playing with confidence and getting lots of ice time – and those come from playing well defensively.

"Ron [Rolston] has told me he doesn't care if I get another point the rest of the year," Myers said. "So my main focus has been the D-zone, and that's been really good for the most part. I'll find my offensive game again. I'm not worried about that."

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Andrei Markov is really, really good. And this shouldn't come as a surprise. He makes his defensive partners look great (and earn big pay days, too).

So for Emelin, it will be a while before he's a UFA, and the key to him getting rich is Markov staying healthy, evidently. Souray and Komisarek both cashed in big paydays, getting over $20-million each by playing relatively competent hockey alongside one of the best defencemen in the world. As for the experiment, if Markov can finish off this season and play another, will the same thing happen to the 26-year-old Emelin?

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In addition to having a sweet name, Danny DeKeyser is the top college UFA. The two-way defenseman could step in and play in the NHL right now, according to scouts.

One NHL scout thought DeKeyser could transition into an NHL team’s lineup right away, whether that team is in the playoff hunt or not. At the risk of over-hyping DeKeyser, wherever he signs, it’s highly likely he’s in the NHL lineup perhaps even before the ink dries.

The 6-foot-3, 198-pound blueliner is a gifted two-way defender who excels in his own zone. He plays a simple, mature game, can play the body and makes a good first pass out of the zone. DeKeyser had two goals and 13 assists after two previous seasons of 17 points at the college level. He might have a little more offensive upside than his numbers suggest, but his defensive game is high end already.

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Some love for Sergei Gonchar, who has been a rock on the Ottawa back end. Gonchar has a goal and 14 points in his last nine games, and he has recorded at least an assist in each of those contests.

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