Jaroslav Spacek missed yesterday's contest with back spasms.

PJ Axelsson missed yesterday's contest with a foot injury. He was apparently wearing a boot, so it could be more serious than the team is letting us believe.

Sergei Fedorov missed yesterday's game with a hip pointer.

Sergei Zubov is still bothered by his sore hand and apparently is also now troubled by his foot. He missed yesterday's contest.

Mike Smith has lost his last three games. Turco's job is definitely secure, if there was still any doubts.

Martin Straka was back in the lineup yesterday and lined up with Gomez and Jagr. I think this is where he will stick for most of the season going forward and his points should pick up dramatically.

Brendan Shanahan missed the game with a back injury.

Dustin Byfuglien has two points and is a minus-8 in his last eight contests.

The Islanders recalled Jeff Tambellini to replace Satan (knee sprain) in the lineup.

Matt Cullen was back on the ice yesterday, but is still not taking contact. Give him another week to 10 days.

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Maxim Afinogenov is back skating with team, and could be back from his groin injury soon. Tim Connolly, also out with a groin, is equally as close to a return.

Edmonton's Zach Stortini has 43 PIMs in his last five games and at least one major in each of those contests.

Dany Heatley suffered a separated shoulder last night and will miss the next four to six weeks. I like Vermette now, in Heatley's absence.

Chris Clark and Tom Poti will be gametime decisions today.

Tyler Kennedy missed the last two games with the flu.

Erik Christensen missed last night's contest to attend a funeral.

In my keeper league draft yesterday, strictly points, count best 12 and no specific roster positions, I traded Briere, Radulov, Mueller, Hensick and a first rounder for Lecavalier, Brind'Amour, and Tkachuk. That shot me well into first place. I followed that up with an insurance deal that saw me trade Claude Giroux for the draft pick that was up – I drafted Eric Belanger. Gave up a lot of youth, but with the points gained (they carry over with the players in a trade) I took a comfortable lead. It's all about winning. I still have Malkin, Stastny, Kopitar, Cammalleri, Brown, O'Sullivan, Carter and Sterling, so my future is still sound.

When my draft pick came around, 12th overall out of 14 picks, I wanted undrafted Swedish forward Fabian Brunnstrom. However, the cost of running this site is people in my pool read it. Brunnstrom was taken 11th, completely catching me off guard because I figured nobody would have heard of him. I wound up taking Torrey Mitchell – a weak consolation prize.