Rambling about a sleeper pick after the Gallagher injury; Should Jordan Subban get recalled? And more …

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Brendan Gallagher is “out indefinitely” after suffering fractures on two of his fingers Sunday. He’ll undergo surgery today. The breaks themselves ‘looked’ pretty bad, but I’m not doctor. At what point can someone shoot a puck reasonably well with two fingers that are healing after surgery? Yes, it’s Gallagher – the type of player who will play through most injuries if possible. But how effective would he be if he returned in, say, two weeks? I’m guessing it will be six weeks before he’s back to normal at the earliest, even if he returns in two.

Gallagher had been on a seven-game points streak and was on pace for 71 points. Here is the shot he blocked:

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Brian Flynn subbed in for Gallagher on the power play, while Alex Semin took over at even strength. Semin couldn’t even get a reasonable bump in ice time despite having a top winger on the team out for half the game. He saw just 11 minutes and has just one point in four games since getting back into the lineup.

The Habs had called up 27-year-old Bud Holloway. Maybe now he’ll get into the lineup for his first ever NHL game. Holloway was a fairly high pick (86^th overall in 2006) and put up solid WHL and AHL numbers before fleeing to Europe for the big bucks. He rightfully figured his NHL shot was a slim one with Los Angeles, who at the time had several prospects knocking on the door and no place to put them. So Holloway dominated over in Sweden, and again in Switzerland, until he turned 27 and could become an unrestricted free agent by NHL standards. He has 20 points in 18 AHL games, so he’s champing at the bit for this chance. I’ll be interested to see if he not only gets into the lineup but also gets plunked on that line. Hey – if Semin can keep getting chances there, why can’t Holloway?

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Since the Travis Hamonic trade request went public he has two points in two games, is plus-2 with 10 shots and 10 PIM. It’s almost like he doesn’t want fans to get down on him or question him in any way, so he’s doubling down on his efforts.

I dropped Marek Zidlicky, for what it’s worth. Healthy scratch. Five points this year. Not a lot of faith in him to begin with. I only held him this long because I get 40 transactions per year in that particular league and I’m down to 30 already.

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Another move I made – I dropped Chris Stewart. For the second time. And I’ll never pick him up again even if he gets 20 points in the next 10 games. Not falling for it. That prick went nine games without a point to start the season so I dropped him. Then he gets six points in six games so I pick him back up. Pointless in five games. I played it perfectly – if I was living in Opposite Land. So done with that guy.

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Columbus rookie Josh Anderson has played three games this season, none reaching 10 minutes in ice time. Yet he picked up his second assist last night. These are his first signs of life since turning pro last year. A power forward who will likely take several years to make any kind of consistent mark on the score sheet. More on him here.  He did play on a line with Ryan Johansson…

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Joonas Donskoi now has points in four straight games. We currently have him as the sixth-ranked prospect in the Sharks organization for fantasy hockey.

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Boone Jenner is still scoring even though he was removed from the Ryan Johansen line. Or rather, Johansen was removed from the Jenner – Brandon Saad line. Jenner scored his 11^th goal already as he does his best Nick Foligno impression and over-achieves.

Foligno, meanwhile, is struggling with just one goal this season. Last year at this time he had 10 goals already. So yeah, that’s Jenner now.

Cam Atkinson picked up his fourth point in five games and saw 19:16 of ice time, which is the second-highest he’s seen all season. He’s been playing with the aforementioned Foligno.

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Joe Pavelski has 90 goals in his last 185 games. I remember a lot of pundits calling his 40-goal season a fluke and considering him more of a 30-goal guy. I think they’re convinced now that he can certainly get to 40 goals again. He fell short last year (37) but he’ll take another good run at it again this season.

Just when Joel Ward starts to undergo a market correction (pointless in four games) he goes out and gets three points in two games. He’s tied for 37^th in league scoring with 17 points. His career high is 49 and it’s certainly looking like he’ll match that. Right now his ATOI is 17:40 which is the highest of his career.

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With a goal on Sunday, Dustin Brown has 28 of them in his last 181 games. He had 28 goals in 82 games back in 2010-11.

With two points on Sunday, Anze Kopitar has 10 in 20 games. Last year he also had 10 in 20 games to kick things off. He ended up with 64, so take heart. And yes, buy low – I think 64 is the minimum for him this season.

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Jonathan Quick got the hook in Sunday’s game after two periods (four goals allowed on 21 shots). But this is a guy who played at least 69 games in three of his last five non-lockout years…

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Mike Cammalleri, whom I had written off (mostly), picked up three points last night – his second three-point effort in four games. He’s now at 21 points in 20 games.

One of the great mysteries of this NHL season is Adam Larsson not getting ANY power-play time. Any. John Moore – sure. Andy Greene – you bet. But Larsson? Nope. The only thing this season that has me more stumped is the Crosby thing, but I won’t go there right now. This Larsson thing is just a huge head-scratcher.

Speaking of scratch (see what I did there?), Jiri Tlusty was one last night. That’s twice in five games, with minimal ice time in between. For him to walk into camp with a contract, upside, and youth and lose his spot to Lee Stempniak (who had no contract, minimal upside and not young) is embarrassing.

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Yannick Weber saw 9:55 on the power play last night but was held pointless again. Nobody can ever say that he wasn’t given a chance. He’s getting the PP opportunity because Ben Hutton is out for what is likely going to be two weeks with an undisclosed injury.

Frankly, I think it’s time to call up Jordan Subban for a few games. Let’s see what he’s got. Seven points in 11 AHL contests so far for Subban. The “Forgotten Subban”. Read more on him here.

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This week's 20 Fantasy Thoughts…

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I was watching the game on Saturday at a pub and they were discussing Zdeno Chara’s possible Hall of Fame career. I thought he was a shoe-in. A no-brainer. My buddy thought that the HoF leans on stats too much and that he doesn’t have enough points – may not be the shoe-in I think. So I put the question out there on Twitter and about a dozen people tweeted back and it was unanimous – he’s a Hall of Famer. As you know, I’m a guy who values greatness over stats. I’d take half the people out of the HoF so my standards there are pretty high. And yet to me Chara is in.

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Did you see this? This is unbelievable. I’ve never seen this before. Crazy goal by Dmitry Orlov: