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On the poll today, I voted for 26-30. No scientific reason for this, I’ve just seen Green score 18-20 goals in 50 games before. Easy as pie for that guy. I’m a believer in stats lining up properly when the sample size is big enough. In this case, “sample size” is “games played” and “stats lining up” is Green being a 25-plus goal-scoring defenseman.

Alex Goligoski will not play tonight. His groin injury appears to be still bothering him. I had activated him this morning, damn.

Angelo Esposito apparently suffered the same knee injury as before and is out for the season. Story HERE

Simon Gagne is on the ice skating with the team this morning. No info beyond that, though.

He’s still not getting the ice time, which slaps a big red “warning” label on him, but TB rearguard Kurtis Foster has five points and is a plus-3 in his last five games.

In the 15 games that Paul Martin has missed so far, Andy Greene has 10 points. I scooped him up in one of my leagues about 12 games ago – hopefully you did, too.

After kicking off the year with 12 in 15, Jakub Voracek has just three in his last 10.

Radim Vrbata season breakdown, in order: 4 in 2 games; 3 in 15 games; 5 in 5 games; 0 in 5 games. Looks like the cold streaks far outweigh the hot ones, eh?

Sean Avery is back to being rotisserie gold – five points, plus-2 and 25 PIM in his last six games.

TJ Oshie has eight points in his last nine games. He doesn’t have a penalty minute in that span though.  I like him for 55 to 60 this year. He’ll be a great player, but I have some concerns about his potential Band-Aid Boyness. I know it was an appendectomy, which is hardly a Band-Aid Boy injury, but it’s just a feeling I have. I had this feeling about Jonathan Toews as a rookie, too, and that instinct proved true.

I’m working on the December fantasy rankings and I’ll toss up my observations here or on Twitter (or both) throughout the day as pound away.

Mikhail Grabovski took a swing at Beauchemin in practice yesterday.

Max Pacioretty is next in line. A. Kostitsyn was next in line to get the ice time and start producing after the injuries to Gomez and Gionta. But he got injured, himself. So Pacioretty moves to the front of the line. He has four points during a three-game streak and actually saw 20 minutes of ice time Saturday. He is a must start in roto formats.

Dobber Nation is slated to be up later tomorrow. I apologize for the weird schedule last month and this month – and December’s will be off as well, due to Christmas. I’ll announce some or all of the guests later today.

Gilbert Brule keeps rolling along. With the injuries that have hit the Oilers, he has seen over 15 minutes of ice time in five of the last seven games. Prior to that, he saw 15 minutes or more in five of the first 17 games. He has seven points in his last six and 17 points on the season, which pro-rates to 55. The Oilers have made him into a top sixer again – he played last game with Gagner and Penner.

I did a double take when I noticed Jussi Jokinen atop the Carolina scoring leaders tied with Ruutu and Whitney. Then again, he’s on pace for 46 points, which sounds about right for him – it’s the rest of the team that’s sucking.

Speaking of Jokinen, let’s go to his brother Olli (okay, they’re not related). Olli has 10 points in his last eight games and is finally righting the ship. He still doesn’t look like the 85-point player of his Florida days, but he should be worth 70 in Calgary (current pace is 61).

The Thrashers have recalled penalty minute machine Boris Valabik from Chicago. He was on a conditioning stint after coming back from an ankle injury.

Peter Mueller missed yesterday’s contest with an upper body injury. Horrible can’t describe his play this year enough. Perhaps he caught suckitis from Joni Pitkanen. Those of you who are rebuilding in keeper leagues, he is an excellent buy-low guy, as I am still confident he will start to become a star in a season or two. Gilbert Brule bounced back from even more seasons of crappy numbers to become fantasy relevent, so don’t give up on Mueller just yet.

Jason Demers has been sent to the AHL. He’ll be back, but with Rob Blake returning, Demers was first in line to go due to his faltering play. In the last 12 games he had just two points and was a minus-5. Still look for 30-32 points in 70 games this year.

Devin Setoguchi returned to the lineup, but was eased back seeing just 11 minutes. He played with Clowe and Mitchell. Marleau remained with Heatley and Thornton.

Manny Malhotra scored a goal last night. He played with a double-shifting Ryane Clowe, as well as Joe Pavelski. If he can maintain that gig, he could have a brief spurt of solid numbers.

Still waiting for Dustin Penner to slow down. I mean – 30 points in 27 games? Do you remember when Todd Bertuzzi broke out? All season long poolies couldn’t believe he could keep doing what he was doing and bet on him to stop…but he never did. So I won’t bet the house on Penner slowing down, but in trade discussions I still can’t bring myself to treat him as any more than a 70-point player. He has seven in his last five.
Andrew Cogliano is pointless in seven and is on pace for 24 on the year. Like Mueller, Cogliano makes a great buy-low player for those rebuilding in keeper leagues.

From the seventh game forward, Tyler Myers has seen 20:30 of ice time or more. He’s on pace for 45 points and I see no reason to doubt he’d get there. What an excellent debut – although I am unsurprised that he made the team as a 19-year-old, I am surprised that he is producing like this already.

Tobias Enstrom has quietly put up monster numbers. The Atlanta rearguard has 19 points already and just six of those have come on the power play. His 67-point pace will fall back to around 50 points, maybe 55.

Matt Cooke gets two games for this hit on Anisimov:

Ryan Callahan takes exception and puts out a challenge. Great fight: