Rob Blake will be out for the next two to three weeks with a stress fracture in his foot. 

Ryan Miller's knee injury is not serious and he should play Tuesday night in Boston, according to Lindy Ruff in the Buffalo News.

Marc-Andre was back in practice yesterday for the first time. It is looking as if he will be back in a week to 10 days. Conklin may become his backup.

Colby Armstrong (illness) will be back in the lineup tonight.

Finally some news on the Kevin Bieksa front. He was back skating yesterday for the first time in three months since lacerating his calf muscle. The team expects him back by early March.

Shawn Horcoff was a last minute scratch last night. He has a shoulder injury and was hoping to play, but in the end had to back out. He is day to day.

Jere Lehtinen returned to the Dallas lineup last night, notching one assist, plus-1 and playing over 18 minutes.

Denis Savard will apparently give Martin St.Pierre another shot on a scoring line today. Last game he played one shift with Havlat and Kane before being dropped to play with Bourque. That's a useless move, a small and skilled player does not belong there. Anyway, he supposedly will line up with Sharp and Havlat tonight. We shall see.

David Perron was a healthy scratch last night.

Mathieu Schneider missed last night's contest with an arm injury.

Many had expected Teemu Selanne to play last night but he did not. No word on when he will be in the lineup, but always assume next game unless you hear different. He's too good to reserve.

Dan Ellis may start today. Barry Trotz hinted as much yesterday.

Be wary of JP Dumont now that he has signed the big contract. Sometimes that means a slowdown.

Ryan Miller left last night's contest with a leg injury. He declined comment after the game and will be evaluated today.

Drew Stafford has a sprained ankle and missed last night's contest.

Maxim Afinogenov had a such a good practice Thursday that he was almost back in the lineup last night. Expect him back very soon.

Sergei Fedorov suffered a setback yesterday in his return from a concussion. He had a headache while skating and so will be out for at least another week.)

The Blue Jackets acquired Dick Tarnstrom from Edmonton for Curtis Glencross. Glencross will be his usual borderline NHLer in Edmonton, with a possible surge in production in his first few games. It's Tarnstrom that is intriguing here. The Jackets need a quarterback and Russell isn't ready yet, so Dick will get all the PP time he can handle. In the next 10 games, I would expect seven points from him, so he's a great short-term pickup.

Freddie Modin has a tear in his hamstring and will be out until around mid-February.

I don't know where Notch has been lately, so the Saturday weekly picks are on hiatus. I apologize. Maybe the winner of the contest in the forum would like to carry the torch. 

A nice goal – wait for the replay – last night in college hockey UND vs. MIN:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqS0_uFNpCg]