Excellent point by Mabus below – Kaberle was a star defenseman until Phaneuf arrived. Then he hit a wall. He’s been only average since. Perhaps with Phaneuf out, Kaberle will return to his 60-point ways.

Martin Hanzal will return to action tonight.

Phaneuf’s leg laceration is so deep that he will miss four to six weeks. To be honest, I think this actually helps the Leafs power play, as they were too reliant on him and he wasn’t performing. Carl Gunnarsson will get back into the regular rotation and deservers a flyer in fantasy leagues.

Scott Parse will make his season debut for the Kings tomorrow (that explains why Loktionov was sent down).

I would expect the Devils to recall Vladimir Zharkov and Mattias Tedenby as a result of the devestating Parise news.

The Kings have assigned Andrei Loktionov to Manchester. We haven’t seen the last of him. Once he gets some confidence he’ll become a top sixer for LA for sure.

The Washington Post reports that Varlamov will return to practice today and you can expect a start from him in about a week and a half. His next groin injury is scheduled for November 20. BAND-AID BOY

After missing Monday’s practice, Olli Jokinen left Tuesday’s practice after three minutes. The team is mum as to the reason. If you were relying on Jokinen in your league, you were probably in trouble anyway.

The Post-Gazette reports that Malkin, Letang and Goligoski should all be in the lineup tonight.
Ryan Potulny has been returned to Rockford.

Adrian Dater gives an excellent take on the Peter Mueller situation. He ballparks a return to action at around Christmas.

Cam Fowler is “officially” remaining with the Ducks beyond the 10-game mark. The next target is 40 games.

I think when a team fires 18 shots in a period and scores twice, it says a couple of things. One, the team is desperate to end their shutout string as it passes the 160-minute mark. Two, they’ve have finally overcome that mental barrier. The Leafs are scoring again. Not that they are this scoring juggernaut – quite the opposite. But the puck is going in again, so your Leaf players will finally stop posting zeros for you now.

With Clarke MacArthur picking up two points, he now leads Toronto in scoring with 10 points in 11 games. He is also a plus-4 which is second on the team to – get this – Mikhail Grabovski’s plus-7.

At the other end of the spectrum is Dion Phaneuf, who is a minus-6. He also left the game last night with a severe cut in his left leg. Getting into tonight’s game is doubtful, but we don’t the extent of the injury. He was taken to hospital. This should open the door for Carl Gunnarsson to get back into the good books.

Sergei Gonchar may have picked up two points, but he was also a minus-1, bringing his season number to minus-8. His season pace of 53 points is probably about right on what we figured. But his season pace of minus-55 is potentially scary.

One positive for the Sens – Erik Karlsson has six points in his last eight games and is a minus-1. Four of his points came on the power play.

Carey Price has lost two straight games now – ever since Alex Auld got a start. Not that Auld shouldn’t have started – of course he should have. But it may have broken a rhythm and now Price needs to get it back.

Derick Brassard has five points in his last five games. The Jackets need to use him more – and they are. In the last five games his ice time was about three minutes higher per game than the previous six games.

Jakub Voracek has four in those five games, showing similar signs of breaking out.

In a slightly less obvious Fleury/Johnson situation –
Mathieu Garon is 3-0-0, 1.15 and 0.957
Steve Mason is 4-4-0, 3.30 and 0.894

Niklas Backstrom is playing even better than he did last year. Last year he did alright, but the team was bad. This year, the team is still bad, but he’s playing lights out. I don’t believe he will get to 32 wins this year.

Detroit has signed Landon Ferraro to an ELC. Ferraro won’t be on this team for at least three years though. Right now, Jan Mursak (10 points in nine AHL games), Cory Emmerton (10 points in nine AHL games) and Gustav Nyqvist (lighting up the NCAA again) are probably the next three offensive forwards making the jump for this team. Although in the case of Emmerton he’ll have to make the jump as a checker and find a niche that way.

In just two days, DobberHockey will be kicking off five days of celebration – Angus and I will be giving away lots of prizes, putting on some fun contests, and making several cool announcements. You don’t want to miss it – that’s Friday through Tuesday!

On the Forecheck tells us that Suter, Erat and Lombardi will not make the trip out west for the Preds. That means they are out for the next three games. Look for Linus Klasen to get another look.