The Habs have recalled Sergei Kostitsyn. SK has 13 points in 16 games in the AHL.

Guillaume Latendresse to the Wild for Benoit Pouliot, according to RDS. Two players of similar age and similar upside – albeit Pouliot has much more offensive potential, whereas Latendresse has much more crash and bang potential. Not sure the reasoning here. The new environment will help both players – Latendresse will get a lot of ice time right away thanks to all the MIN injuries. Pouliot will get a good initial look, but if he doesn’t do anything with it he could be buried very quickly. Salary almost identical.

Lots of chatter on Twitter about a trade involving the Wild (Russo is one of the ones tweeting this). Possibly with the Habs and involving Pouliot? More chatter. Stay tuned.

Mike Russo is reporting that Brent Burns has a concussion.

Let’s talk some Filatov destinations. Keep in mind that this is just Dobber yappin’ out his ass and there is nothin’ to it, but here goes:

Anaheim – A definite possibility. They are out of the playoffs and have some veterans who would help down the stretch. If they take on some salary in return, perhaps they can get rid of JSG as well. TRADE FIT: Four stars (out of five).

Atlanta – Only if they fall from playoff status. If they do, then perhaps a trade could be had. Filatov would fit their Russian theme, but they lack assets that the CBJ would want. FIT: Two stars.

Boston – They have enough young, skilled forwards. NO FIT.

Buffalo – Although they have several small players already, if they fall from the playoffs they may trade a heavy salaried player such as Pominville. FIT: Two stars.

Calgary – I don’t see them falling out of the playoff picture at all. NO FIT.

Carolina – Out of the playoff picture, and they have tons of vets who would help a playoff run, including several potential UFA’s. They also don’t have a lot in the way of small and skilled in the system. What a great fit. FIT: Five stars.

Chicago – Already in playoffs. Already loaded with skilled youth. NO FIT.

Colorado – If they fall out of the playoffs, and I think they could, they will make a pitch. However, not a lot of vets to give up and Darcy Tucker just won’t be good enough. FIT: Two stars.

Dallas – They have lots of players that could help a CBJ playoff run in all positions, but will/can they trade them? Modano in another city? Lehtinen? Richards and his salary? Would they trade a Turco with no solid goalie in the system? Unlikely, all. Still… FIT: Two stars.

Detroit – Same situation as Dallas. FIT: Two stars.

Edmonton – The Oilers make moves like this. They also have tradeable assets that would help a playoff run. Horcoff is certainly expendable, for example. FIT: Four stars.

Florida – With Salak RIPPING up the AHL, Stillman on the roster, and Ballard bringing in heavy coin, there are several veterans who could be had at the deadline if the Panthers are out of it. This is a very good fit. FIT: Four stars.

Los Angeles – If they fall out of the playoffs, which I doubt, I don’t think they would pay for another young gun when they already have a ton of them. NO FIT.

Minnesota – They have the need, because the cupboard is bare. Imagine parting with the expendable Josh Harding to stabilize Mason/Garon, along with an experienced vet (Brunette? Nolan?) and/or some low picks…FIT: Five stars.

Montreal – The last thing the Habs need is a small, skilled forward. But that was the case in the summer too, and look what they did. So what a great fit! Halak could be had, Mara is a UFA, and Chipchura is a young and chippy Hitchcock forward. FIT: Three stars.

Nashville – The Preds would really benefit from shedding Erat’s incredibly long-term contract. Also, Ellis and Hamhuis are UFA’s. They have the need and the assets. FIT: Three stars. *Praba makes a great point in the comments – Radulov will have scared off NSH. Downgrade them to TWO stars.

New Jersey – The Devils won’t look to him for a stretch drive run. There may be some interest in terms of next season, but they won’t give up immediate assets. Much like the Pens and Sharks below, they may give up some prospects and picks, but a deal like that can wait until the summer. FIT: One star.

New York Islanders – Young, rebuilding, and would love another future superstar forward. They have assets to move, such as vets Weight, Hunter, Biron, Witt, etc. FIT: Five stars.

New York Rangers – If they are still out of the picture, they are not against bringing in another young Russian player. The Rangers have lots of ’em, what’s one more? More than any other NHL team, the Rags like their skilled Europeans and are unafraid of the KHL threat. They have experienced vets, kids and draft picks to mix and match into the right fit cap-wise for trade bait if need be. FIT: Four stars.

Ottawa – If they fail to make the playoffs, they have a good mix of different skills and age/experience that could be mixed and matched into the right trade. FIT: Four stars.

Philadelphia – They will remain well into the playoff picture. They also have, if anything, too many youngsters with top-six skill, why bury another one? If anything, they will shed a couple of young kids, not bring in more. NO FIT.

Phoenix – They already have a lot of young kids. However, rumors are that Mueller is on the block. Perhaps he along with a veteran rearguard would do the trick. FIT: Three stars.

Pittsburgh – They may look at Filatov as a great compliment for Crosby or Malkin for the future. But what would they trade? Blue chippers for blue chipper? FIT: Two stars.

San Jose – They won’t be out of the playoff picture either, but they don’t have a lot of skilled forwards coming up through the system. Like Pittsburgh, perhaps dealing a couple of prospects with skills in other areas in exchange for Filatov would work. FIT: One star.

St. Louis – If they don’t get it together by February, there could be a fire sale. Kariya, Tkachuk, plus solid prospects like Palushaj, etc. Lots of assets. FIT: Four stars.

Tampa Bay – Go big or go home. They won’t swing a small deal to land Filatov, but what about a huge deal? One that’s so big that it would cost CBJ more than Filatov? You know who I’m talking about. It’s a long shot though. FIT: Two stars.

Toronto – Brian Burke is trying to build a big, tough, skilled team. Bringing in Filatov is going in the opposite direction. The only way this could happen is if they get rid of some small skill in return, such as Stajan, Tlusty, Blake, etc. Is any of that what the Jackets need? Maybe, but doubtful. FIT: Two stars.

Vancouver – What a good fit in terms of need, but they’ll never deal with a team who they will be competing with. NO FIT.

Washington – One thing the Caps need is a skilled Russian left winger. NO FIT.

So to summarize the above – MIN, NYI, CAR have five stars for FIT; STL, OTT, NYR, FLA, EDM, ANA have four stars. Just my opinion, of course, for the purpose of dialogue. Discuss below and if you find a point I have missed, I will add it in. Goaltending: To clarify this, I think the Mason/Garon combo is great. But, Mason has been very shaky this season, last two or three games withstanding. If he is very shaky in February, yet the Jackets are eighth or ninth, then perhaps a Giguere, or Ellis would make sense as a temporary solution.

Slava Kozlov had two points last night. The Thrashers changed up their lines during the game and he played with Afinogenov and Antropov. Kovalchuk was back with White and Little.

The ‘Bulin Wall’s back is acting up. The Oilers had to quickly sign junior goaltender Torrie Jung to be their backup on Saturday. Devyn Dubnyk has been recalled for next game. If you drafted Khabibulin expecting a full season, you were probably high at the time. Deslauriers makes an excellent pickup and those who follow my Twitter heard me speculate about two weeks ago that perhaps JDD would be a good one to stash on the bench for the inevitable Bulin injury. He’s day to day (though could start as early as tonight), but I’m gonna suggest that he’ll miss this week and possibly next. Not much beyond that though.

The Flyers have recalled Jared Ross and Andreas Nodl from the Phantoms, as a result of injuries to Blair Betts and Darren Powe. All the scoring rolls are filled, so do not expect much from Nodl. With the team as high as they are on Stefan Legein, it may be best for Nodl to be moved to another organization, as he’ll be years away from decent numbers while in Philly.

Kronwall’s injury, mentioned and shown in yesterday’s ramblings, is a sprained MCL. You’re looking at four weeks, probably closer to six or seven.

Colin Wilson is back to full health and has been sent to the AHL for conditioning. Mike Santorelli will be sent to the minors when he returns, unless he can start producing within that timeframe (two weeks max).

The injury to Scott Gomez is believed to be his groin and he could be sidelined for a while. He will undergo more tests today, but do not expect to use him at all this week and likely longer.

Nikita Filatov had a goal and two assists in his KHL debut. He played 16 minutes – it would take him three games to play that much under Hitchcock. As Portzline said in Dobber Nation (listen to it here) – he’ll likely be traded, probably at the deadline, and will flourish next year on a new NHL team. I have no reservations about Filatov.

Caps lines in practice, according to Bashir: Backstrom with Ovy and Laich; Morrison with Flash and Gordon, Perreault with Clark and Fehr

The Globe has these lines for Boston: Savard with Sturm and Bitz; Krejci with Wheeler and Ryder; Bergeron with Recchi and Lucic. Sobotka is looking like the odd man out.

Rutherford explains that the Blues will keep Pietrangelo beyond his 10th game, but would be more than comfortable with sending him back to junior at any time in the season if that is what his play merits. In other words, they don’t care if his contract kicks in.

Todd Richards was in San Jose this past postseason when they played the Anaheim Ducks – so he has seen Andrew Ebbett play as a second-line center. This is a pretty good fit for Ebbett and I think he will get a chance there. If you don’t mind risks, pick him up. Otherwise, wait a game and see where he plays.