According to Ansar Khan's latest ,  "the Wings recalled goaltender Jimmy Howard from Grand Rapids. Howard will back-up Ty Conklin for tonight's game against Anaheim and then make his first start of the season for Detroit Saturday in Minnesota. Chris Osgood will not dress for at least the next two games, as the team wants to give him some time to re-focus and work on his game."

The price of early morning ramblings…my stupidity. I meant "former two" not "latter two" in the Stastny note below. My apologies

In his return from a healthy scratch, Daniel Carcillo scored the shootout winner, earned an assist, and racked up seven PIMs. Is this the Carcillo we've been waiting for?

Raymond Sawada, in his first NHL game, played seven minutes and scored his first goal for Dallas. Sawada, a dark horse in last summer's Fantasy Guide due to his strong camp, is ranked 98 on my fantasy prospects list.

For those who are interested – not of fantasy significance – but Claude Lemieux notched his first NHL point in several years last night.

Since returning from injury, Andy McDonald has seven points in six games and has only been held off the scoresheet once.

With Daniel Alfredsson out of the lineup for a week or more with a fractured jaw, Ryan Shannon saw over 17 minutes of ice time. Although he earned an assist, he was also a minus-2. Jason Spezza saw just 14 minutes and he was pointless and a minus-3.

Antoine Vermette has seven points in his last five games and 18 in his last 21.

With Langkow out with a bruised hand (day to day), Dustin Boyd saw 18 minutes of action and scored a goal.

Paul Stastny is expected back on Sunday. In the 24 games that Stastny has missed so far: Arnason has eight points (in 23 games, one scratch), Hensick has 10 points (in 22 games, two scratches), Smyth has 23 points. Stastny's return will either see the latter two take turns in the press box, or Hensick off to the AHL. It's tough to see Smyth slowing down with the return of Stastny…but it is undeniable that his production has improved with Stastny gone. Now may be the time to move Smyth.

The big buzz in Montreal, bigger than the Kovalev ordeal, is the rumor that the Kostitsyn brothers have ties to organized crime. They are under police investigation, as well as other Montreal players. This could prove to be a distraction to the team – and may explain why the Kostitsyns have disappointed this season…thinking about all those women that they allegedly have been "provided". You can find the story in any Montreal paper, as well as Sportsnet.

Dan Fritsche finally scored his first game as a Wild member. He also saw a season high 15:50 of ice time and was a plus-1. His "training camp" (conditioning to get back into game shape) seems to be over and I think he'll start to surprise now.

With Meszaros and Ranger now out for the season over in TB, this could be Cory Murphy's last big chance at an NHL career. Steve Eminger will also benefit from the added ice time.

The Ducks have recalled offensive rearguard Brian Salcido. I don't anticipate much ice time, but if he ever gets it he will man the power play. He is ranked 201 on my fantasy prospects list.

PIM dark horse Brandon Prust returned to the CGY lineup last night but saw minimal ice time. As he gets back into shape, he will rack up the PIMs again. If you need them, he could be available in your league.

Sergei Samsonov, with three points last night, has nine in his last seven.

As members of the Albany River Rats slept, their bus lost control on an icy road. Players were flying around "like ping-pong balls" according to one quote in the Times Union (Albany). The bus ended up on its side. The following players were hospitalized: Nicolas Blanchard, Casey Borer, Joe Jensen and Jonathan Paiement. You can read more here .

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