That’s it – the Dispatch is reporting that Filatov will be loaned to the KHL for one year. It’s done.

A tale of two opposites – here is an update on two prospects I had hyped for Calder contention this year, each moving in an opposite direction: Ryan Stoa (COL) has six points in 17 AHL games. How can he look so NHL ready…and not even be AHL ready? Meanwhile, Sergei Shirokov (VAN) leads the Moose in scoring with 13 in 18 games. His pace has dropped off quite a bit, though.

The Hurricanes expect Eric Staal to return next week, according to Canes Now.

From El Bashir: “Goalie Jose Theodore has returned to Washington for personal reasons, and the Caps have recalled Michal Neuvirth”. No details beyond this are known. The Caps are Varly’s baby for the forseeable future.

Ryan Malone has 12 goals and 19 points this year (18 games) – 18 of them in the last 15 contests. His PIM are way down (just 10), but his production is indicative of a career year. He’s been hot like this before… but still look for 55 to 60 this year and his PIM should pick back up. I can’t see him with fewer than 70 penalty minutes. His chemistry with Steven Stamkos seems to be much stronger than it was even with Malkin.

Two more points for Anton Stralman last night – both on the power play. That’s five PP points in his last seven games – and seven points in that span.

I still doubt that Matt Moulson can make it to 70 points this year, but he’s starting to creep into Rich Peverley territory in terms of having me doubt what he can do. The guy is up to 10 goals and 18 points now – and has seven in his last five games. The team in steadfast in keeping him with Tavares. The other winger is quite variable, but the Moulson/Tavares combo is in stone. If they sign him to a long-term deal… how far can he go with J.T.?

Sean Avery, that multi-cat stud whom we use as a basis of comparison for multi-cat studs… is not a multi-cat stud this year. His current pace is for 30 points and 97 penalty minutes, and a minus-11. That makes him as important fantasy-wise as Matt Bradley. Do I think he’ll turn it around? Yes – that makes him a buy-low candidate. Am I certain of a turnaround? Ummm no. Not under Torts, I’m not. But I think so.

Nikita Filatov was a healthy scratch last night and he may have had enough. According to Aaron Portzline and Tom Reed, the team may be in discussions with CSKA Moscow to lend Filatov there for the rest of the season, perhaps as early as this week. He is quite unhappy. “It's believed the handling of Filatov, a highly-skilled, but small winger, has become a contentious issue between Hitchcock and Howson, the man who drafted him. It’s believed Filatov has a desire to play for Russia in the world junior championships in late December.” It is looking fairly promising that Filatov is gone. If he is gone, will he come back? That depends – will Hitchcock come back? How fast would Alexander Radulov return if Barry Trotz was fired? Filatov, who is the top ranked DobberHockey prospect, sees his value take a massive hit with this troubling news.

Another highly-skilled Russian, Alex Ovechkin, WILL be in the lineup tonight. In practice, Tarik El-Bashir reports that he is playing with Backstrom and Clark. Morrison, with Semin and Laich are on the second line and Perreault, with Fleischmann and Bradley are on the third. Sub in Fehr for Bradley and you would have three pretty damaging lines.

Peter Forsberg has signed to play with MoDo of the SEL this season. I don’t know if there is an out clause involved, but he did tell the Canucks that he will remain in Europe this season. On behalf of any DobberHockey readers who planned on picking you up this year – I thank you, Mr. Forsberg. Although they may say different, your arrival would have done more harm to their teams than good.

The Blues are probably going to send Alex Pietrangelo to junior soon – he has played eight games for them and they will make a decision before he reaches 10.

David Backes will be “100 percent” for the Blues’ next game on Thursday.

You had to see this coming – Ryan Smyth left last night’s contest with a UBI. He was having a career season, but you obviously shouldn’t be counting on him for more than 75 games. The injury is undisclosed at this point, so we won’t know until later (probably today) how bad it is.

Kevin Porter was recalled and played 10:41 of last night’s game. It probably won’t be a productive cup of coffee for Porter this time around. He’s still a promising prospect – give him next training camp at least.
With another three last night, Tanguay has 10 points in his last nine contests. He is a plus-9 in that span.

More later this AM…