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Angus here with some early evening updates.

Taylor Pyatt is skating with Mats Sundin on the second line in practice (and Pyatt is confirmed for tonight against the Devils); look for him to have a much better second half than first (only 10 points).

The Rangers and Nikolai Zherdev have began to talk extension. Zherdev said that Russia was not an option for him.

Ales Hemsky skated with the team today and looks probable for a Friday return.

Roberto Luongo and Sami Salo should both be back in the Vancouver lineup on Thursday night against the Coyotes.

Bryan Little (bruised ribs) is practicing with the team and it is possible he could play as early as tomorrow night. I would give him one more game though. Rich Peverley will make his debut at center tomorrow night for the Thrashers.

PIT line combos: Crosby with Malkin and Dupuis (who may be back now); Staal with Cooke and Sykora; Talbot with Satan and Kennedy; Jeffrey with Minard and Godard. Satan took Dupuis spot when Dupuis left practice.
 

According to NHL.com, Kings rookie defenseman Drew Doughty suffered a thigh contusion in the second period after a hit from Artyukhin.

Phil Kessel has mononeucleosis. If he didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all. He could be out anywhere from three weeks to nine weeks or more. Chuck Kobasew benefits HUGE from this arrangement, as he will slide into that RW spot. Furthermore, I am reading in the Globe that Martin St. Pierre has been subbing in at times for Lucic as the other winger – I think St. Pierre, a prolific AHL scorer, bears watching.

Florida has recalled Cory Murphy, who finished up his conditioning stint in Rochester. He had SIX points in FIVE games there – however, they subsequently placed him on waivers, clearly trying to move him to another team. If he gets scooped up he is definitely worth a flyer.

Ales Hemsky traveled with the team to Washington and took the morning skate. He may play tonight.

Robert Nilsson is also suffering from a concussion and is not as close as Hemsky, from what I'm reading.

From the Edmonton Journal, quoting MacT: "Every time we call somebody up, we have a tendency to wonder why it's not Robbie," the coach said. "But I think the bottom line is it's up to Robbie to be a decent player (in the AHL). "We all know what he can do: he's got decent hands, he can play the power play OK. But he's slow, he's not a physical player, he's soft at (the NHL) level. There are a lot of things in his game that he needs to address to be that guy that gets called up. MacTavish then said that if Schremp doesn't change, it'll be a long time before he dons an Oilers jersey again. "It's getting to the point where we've got to be honest. He's not helping them particularly (in Springfield) right now and there's no reason to think he's going to come up here and help us given those circumstances." Um…wow. Poor Robbie! (and poor Robbie owners)

Jeff Deslauriers' conditioning stint is over and he is back with the team, but Rolo will continue to get the starts.

Daniel Briere will play a game for the Phantoms and test out his groin.

Steve Eminger missed last night's contest for TB with an undisclosed injury. He has 15 points in 29 games for TB.

Martin Hanzal is pointless in his last nine games. His freefall pretty much began around the time that Jokinen returned to the lineup.

David Legwand has five points in his last three games.

The good news is – my newborn daughter is wonderful and fatherhood has been truly fantastic. The bad news? Sometimes these ramblings get up at 3am…sometimes 11am… the schedule will be chaotic like that for a few weeks, but bear with me – they will always be posted so it's worth checking back on even in the afternoon.