Rambling on the Islanders, Kopitar/ Foligno hurt, a new goalie making waves, more Voynov thoughts and more …

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Olli Maatta has undergone will undergo surgery to remove a tumor in his neck. Word is that there will be no long-term impact (per Dave Molinari), but he will be sidelined for four weeks. Edit: Surgery is scheduled for next week and he will be in the lineup for each of the next three games until then. Sorry for the earlier, inaccurate report – I did the update and then picked up the kids, not seeing the newer information.

Brendan Ross has another gem of a Prospects Ramblings over at DobberProspects. Read them here…

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I don’t know if it’s too little, too late or what. But it was interesting to see each of Sam Gagner and Tomas Fleischmann get his first (!!) point of the season Saturday, and Cory Conacher picked up his second point of the season.

In the case of Conacher, it was a measly secondary assist – and he was playing with John Tavares for the eighth full game in row. Two points after eight games, you have to think that his time has fully wound down. But I said this last Wednesday too and he still got two more games there. The Isles are flying high with just two losses on the season and they now have their best lineup together – now that Mikhail Grabovski is healthy and Anders Lee is up from the minors, this is your team and it’s pretty awesome:

Conacher – Tavares – Okposo

Lee – Nelson – Strome

Grabovski – Nielsen – Kulemin

Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck

Boychuk – Leddy

Visnovsky – Hickey

Strait – de Haan

Given the success of the team and how the offense is spread out, you could see Conacher get a longer opportunity there. So I’m waffling on what I said Wednesday. I still think Lee will eventually get that spot, it just may take longer. And Lee should still produce fairly well on that second line, too.

One thing about the Islanders – many people mocked them as a broken franchise, or figured Garth Snow to be a joke. Their rebuilding took what was a good seven years with no perceived hope of that changing. But that’s how these things go – the Penguins were mocked. The Blackhawks were mocked. Perennial rebuilders, until suddenly (and in each case it is always sudden) they weren’t. Even my patience was tested, because as you know I’ve been backing the Isles and Oilers rebuilding plans for years. So the lesson I learned here yet again – true rebuilding from the ground up in this era doesn’t take three years or five years. More like seven or eight. There are other ways to do things, but if you do them this way you’re looking at seven or eight years.

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In the case of both Gagner and Flash, those are two players who tend to be streaky. Is this enough to wake them up? It’s early enough in the season where a five-game hot streak would pull each of their point totals up to where they should be. As good as anything else that may be out there on the waiver wire – and on the plus side, you’ll know after next game if it is indeed the start of a hot run. And if not, you just drop them.

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Just four days left to do this!

I’m refunding your Fantasy Guide, or your Keeper Pack, or your Ultimate Pack.

Details here. But ask any of the 500 people who have taken advantage of this – I refunded their money, gave them a free Playoff List/Midseason Guide within a couple of days. I went through the required process myself – granted, I knew what I was doing, but the entire process still took me less than 90 seconds.

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That 70s line is getting ridiculous – four points for Tyler Toffoli, four points for Jeff Carter, two goals for Tanner Pearson. Anze Kopitar may as well become a full-time checker because, um – they’ve got this.