Henrik Lundqvist has signed a seven-year extension worth $59.5 million

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Andrej Sekera was back in the lineup for the Hurricanes and has truly emerged as their go-to PP guy. He played 24:21 with 4:41 on the PP and scored his career-high sixth goal. Other than his fragility, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be owned in most league formats.

Nathan Gerbe saw a season low 11:49 TOI. This is the result of being stuck on a line with Elias Lindholm, who is getting limited minutes in his first NHL season. But it doesn’t bode well for his short-term outlook, that’s for sure.

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The problem with acquiring Band-Aid Boys who are doing extremely well – especially in keeper leagues – is that the moment they get hurt their value reverts to where they were at before the season began. But what if they don’t get hurt? This is what fantasy owners are wrestling with when it comes to Alex Steen and, to a lesser extent, James Wisniewski. I could have acquired Wisniewski in the offseason for a song. Now he’d cost me more than my Michael Del Zotto (a notion that was so very laughable two months ago). But if I paid the piper and acquired the Wiz and he sprains his knee next week, I couldn’t trade him for the lowest possible asset our league has (a future fourth-round draft pick is as low as it gets). Because he’s hurt every season and really has just one good year under his belt in his career. That’s the dilemma both sides wrestle with. His current owner doesn’t want to be stuck holding the hot potato when the music stops (does that game go by music? Can’t remember).

With Steen, the stakes are higher. Now the asking price is hefty. Steen plus a small asset for Phil Kessel? Steen for Parise? These were laughable asking prices two weeks ago. Now they just make you smile. Two weeks from now if the situation remains as is…well, it becomes all too serious. Fantasy hockey can indeed become very much a game of luck. All you can do is play the odds as best you can and the odds are that both Steen and the Wiz will be injured – likely for 10 games, perhaps 15. If it’s 10, how will they do? It looks like Wisniewski would still top 40 points in 70 games. And it looks like Steen will reach 70 in 70. So I would say treat it like that.

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I heard from a source that Henrik Lundqvist‘s shoulder, injured in the postseason against the Bruins back in May, could still be bothering him. It would certainly go a long way towards explaining his sluggish season and would change my outlook on him for the remainder of the campaign, if true. Unless it’s a keeper league, I’m backing off on making a pitch for Lundqvist at this time. Until I hear more.

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I was at the Leafs game last night and to be honest they were pretty disinterested. No passion. Really sucked the enjoyment out of it.

Tyler Bozak missed a shift late in the second. And then he didn't return in the third. I later discovered it was a UBI. I heard Randy Carlyle complaining after the game about only having three centers for half the game, but that statement is misleading – Carlyle hadn’t been playing Peter Holland. So had Bozak remained healthy, they were still only rolling three centers. Holland had six shifts in the game before Bozak was hurt, on pace for about nine shifts by the end of the game (because he was planted on the bench for most of the second).

Tommy Wingels is almost certain to hit a production wall. Third power-play unit and as long as Havlat and Burns remain healthy, I’ll remain concerned about Wingels’ production.

Dominant line – Thornton with Burns and Hertl. The 6-2, 210-pound Hertl looked like a little guy skating around with those two. Leafs couldn’t contain them.

Hertl’s pace has dipped to 61 points and I’m sure it will dip further until he ends up with around 55 points.

Morgan Rielly was minus-3 last night and is minus-11 on the season (and minus-7 in the last four games).

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Anders Nilsson is winless in two starts, but also undefeated. Two OT losses including last night against the pens, but he’s done fairly well. Certainly better than Poulin. I would guess that Nilsson will start at least three and possibly all five games of their upcoming road trip.

Calvin de Haan played 18:12 in his second game of the season and third of his career. So far, de Haan has been injured too often to develop properly, and this season he has just three points in 17 AHL games. This call-up is short term and he is unlikely to have any fantasy value for at least two years, if ever. As an aside, he was victimized by Crosby last night (clip below).

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Hey, look at that. Craig Anderson had his first good start in six games. The trick for him this year has been, other than during one run in late October, he hasn’t been able to follow up one good game with another one. But rest assured – the Sens will keep throwing him out there until he does.

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In a limited keeper I traded Matt Carle and Sandy Barkov for Mike Ribeiro. I need help at center immediately as Barkov was doing more harm than good – but the center on my bench was Stephen Weiss so my hands were tied. This solves the problem – and Ribeiro is C/W eligible in my league. Then I put bids on the best defensemen available to replace Carle, who was just sitting on my bench anyway.

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The two points last night were Valeri Nichuskin’s first in six games. Here were the Dallas line combos:

Looks eerily similar to last game and since they just beat the Cup champs, they’ll probably stick with these lines for next game too. Unless Tyler Seguin is back Thursday. Which I doubt.

Antoine Roussel is fourth in the league in PIM, but he also has five goals which puts him on pace for around 15. Not too shabby. Roussel has four points in his last four games. Here’s his penalty shot goal from Tuesday. Watch him taunt the crowd:

Alex Chiasson has cooled off after starting the year with nine points in nine games. He has six in his last 17 games.

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Jason Garrison picked up his third two-point night in three games. Usually more of a shooter, his career high in assists is 17 and he’s at 14 now.

Ryan Kesler has five points in his last three games.

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Poor Edmonton. I don’t understand it either. Six goals allowed for Dubnyk. As soon as the threat to take his job away is sidelined, he goes back to being horrible.

With two points last night, Shane Doan has 20 points in his last 20 games. I would have, a month ago, bet good money that Doan will never get 55 points again. Today, there is no way I would make such a wager.

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Martin Jones got his first career NHL start Tuesday and as of my bedtime (long day – so tiring getting my ass into downtown Toronto!) he had stopped 21 of 23. I’m a fan of Jones, but not in the organization he is in. It’s doubtful he gets any kind of a real shot while with LA. His AHL numbers are fantastic at 9-2-2, 2.24 and 0.927

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Henrik Zetterberg is out for at least two weeks with a herniated disc. In fact, if I’m Mike Babcock I leave him to rest until the Christmas break. It would mean missing another four games, but the added 11 days rest would help in making sure that there are no relapses.

My first instinct to the Zetterberg news was the fact that Gustav Nyquist, Z’s linemate, would suffer. Then again, the Wings are now desperate for offense and they’ll be turning to Nyquist and Tomas Tatar a lot more. So will the added ice time cover the cost of losing a quality linemate?

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Sidney Crosby being Sidney Crosby. In OT of course: