Some afternoon updates for you:

James Neal gets five games for his knee on Brad Marchand’s head.

Evgeni Malkin will apparently be back in the lineup for the Pens.

The Islanders have waived Pierre-Marc Bouchard and word is that they will call up Ryan Strome. I think Strome is worth a grab off the wire if you can get him, but temper your expectations. Strome has 29 points in 22 AHL games – not a bad pro debut! Here is a very thorough fantasy profile on Ryan Strome.

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As anticipated, Clarke MacArthur is taking a run at his career high (62 points). But as with the Maple Leafs and Thrashers, he loses some of his shine after making a splash that first year. Great to acquire now, but even better if you can trade him for high return come June, in keeper leagues. I had him for 47 points this year in the Fantasy Guide, but also made him a rare 20% sleeper – as in I was 20% confident that he would top 55 points.

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James Wisniewski is out for a week with an LBI. If that’s all that happens to him this year, consider it his healthiest year ever. The Wiz has just two points in his last eight games as the market correction fixes his stats. The injury should see David Savard get back into the lineup.

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Mike Kostka has been activated from IR and Chicago will put him back in the lineup. Not worth a wire grab, but worth watching. The last game he played he scored and took four shots (against his former team the Leafs).

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Kris Versteeg has been playing with Patrick Kane and the result has been three points in his last two games. While I think this has potential, I don’t trust it. If healthy he should be safe for 50 to 55 points, so his production will certainly improve. But I don’t see him sticking on a big line like this one and blasting his point total up into the 60s. Not happening. I liked his situation in Florida better.

Here were the line combos for Sunday:

Six Hawks picked up at least two points in the contest.

Jeremy Morin has two points in three games and is plus-2 since being called back up (while Brandon Pirri was sent back down). If I needed a winger in roto leagues, I would consider grabbing him because his plus/minus and shots on goal should continue to be solid even as his points taper off.

Corey Crawford left the game with an injury – looked to be groin. And he needed help off the ice, which tells me that this could be a two- to three-week thing. Antti Raanta anyone? Scoop him up!

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With Chris Kelly out for the long term (broken ankle), the Bruins have recalled Ryan Spooner. Spooner has 19 points in 19 games and although he won’t get much in the way of ice time, perhaps he’ll pull a Tyler Toffoli and do more with less. See Spooner’s scouting/fantasy profile here. He’s ranked 34th on my Fantasy Prospects List.

The Boston – Pittsburgh game, if you were having holiday dinner or something, got ugly in an awful hurry. Orpik took out Eriksson just 21 seconds into the game, which led to Chara retaliating against Kunitz. Minutes later, Lucic fights Engelland. And then after that is the incident – while Brad Marchand was down on the ice, James Neal skates by and knees him in the head. Neal will get up to five games for that one (phone hearing).

Here are all the incidents. The knee to the head is around the 1:20 mark. And while play is stopped, around the 1:50 mark, Thornton takes down (and knocks out) Brooks Orpik:

The comments below are gonna be on fire over this one. All I ask is you keep it clean and respect other opinions. They aren’t wrong, they just disagree with you! My opinion – I have to think that Thornton’s move was so brutal that it hides the seriousness of the Neal incident. If Thornton wasn’t such a bonehead, maybe Neal gets seven or eight games instead of four or five? Thornton is going to get the book thrown at him.

The repercussions – what an opportunity for Beau Bennett…if only he wasn’t out for the next eight weeks! Opportunity lost. Instead, the Penguins put Jussi Jokinen back on the Malkin line (assuming Malkin returns soon) and perhaps Chris Conner?

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After going five games without a point, Carl Soderberg picked up a pair Sunday.

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Do you have a fantasy hockey question? Ask me here!

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Marc Staal is out with a neck injury (some are speculating it’s a concussion, which is scary given his history). But this pretty much means that Michael Del Zotto will be harder to scratch. Del Zotto played last night, topping 20 minutes for the first time since the start of November. He assisted on the only goal. If there was a catalyst, besides being traded, that could get MDZ going, it’s this one. So if you’re waiting for a sign to pick him back up – go ahead. I suspect he’ll do better now, but stranger things have happened.

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Philipp Grubauer earned his first career NHL win Sunday, stopping 39 of 40 shots. I get the feeling that the Caps will move Michal Neuvirth in the offseason somehow, and that next year Grubauer will be the backup.

Mikhail Grabovski has six points in his last five games, with points in four of those contests. He leads the team in plus/minus with a plus-5.

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Marco Scandella has four points in his last five games. Maybe he has that offensive ability that we saw in him after all? Still only 23, it’s not that farfetched. I wouldn’t bank on it long term, but I would grab him for the short-term if I needed a defenseman.

The Wild won their game Sunday despite taking only 12 shots on Antti Niemi.

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It turns out that Vincent Lecavalier has a fracture in his lower back and will miss the next four weeks or so. These last several years, if he didn’t have bad luck he’d have no luck at all. Remember when he was a safe, guaranteed 80-game guy? Here’s hoping this doesn’t happen to other safe, 80-game guys like Steven Stamkos. Anyway, at this point you should be counting on no more than 70 games from Vinny. I had him for 69 games in the Fantasy Guide.

Lecavalier’s missed three games so far and here are Philly’s line combos over those games:

That’s free info you can grab anytime about any team thanks to Frozen Pool. The longer Lecavalier is out, the more Sean Couturier can rack up the points.

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Dmitry Kulikov has one point in his last 15 games and is minus-5 in that span. He’s injury prone. I don’t see this booming trade market when it comes to him. And I hope whoever lands him doesn’t have to give up much, because right now it’s 100% potential.

Aleksander Barkov has three points in his last 21 games and is minus-8 in that span.

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Still waiting for Mike Santorelli to hit that wall. But it’s not happening. Instead, he’s still getting better. Three more points Sunday along with six shots and plus-2. Kudos to you if you picked up on him early. More proof that the coach has a lot of influence on fantasy value. Couldn’t even make a team full time these past two years, and suddenly he’s a top scorer on the best team he’s played on in years.

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Dion Phaneuf is getting a phone call from the league for this ugly hit. I’m thinking five games on this one: