The DobberBaseball Fantasy Guide is out now and fully updated

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Some early afternoon news – Bobby Butler, who was placed on waivers on the weekend, has been claimed by Nashville. I think he’ll do very well there, similar to how Barry Trotz turned things around for Sergei Kostitsyn. That being said, “very well” in Nashville means “a 50-point player”, so say goodbye to any upside.

Benoit Pouliot “will not play this week” due to injury. Once again, he starts rolling and then an injury stops all momentum.

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Jose Theodore will not have surgery, and so he will be back by mid-April. As for Cam Ward – late April. So now is the time for scooping up Markstrom and Ellis, if you haven’t already.

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Evgeni Malkin was back in practice Sunday and my hunch is that he won’t miss anymore than another game or two. Perhaps zero.

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Jose Theodore is probably out for the season. He left Saturday’s contest with what turned out to be a torn groin. Scott Clemmensen started yesterday and got the loss, while Jacob Markstrom waited for his equipment to arrive. But frankly, I think Markstrom will be starting 15 of the remaining 25 or so games that are left – assuming Theodore is done.

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Martin Brodeur (back injury) will not play Tuesday, per Tom Gulitti, but he’s eligible to come off the IR.

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Cam Ward left Sunday’s contest after colliding with Justin Faulk. He got the win, but Dan Ellis finished the game and it’s unclear if Ward will miss any further time.

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Joni Pitkanen returned Saturday, but left early and was not in the lineup Sunday. It hasn’t been announced whether his LBI is related to the one that kept him out for three weeks… but logic would dictate that it is.

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Dmitry Kulikov has been placed on the IR with a UBI, but it was his wrist (it looked like).

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Rick Nash has returned to action and has posted two points in each of the two games since he’s been back. In fact, the last six games that he’s played ha has posted points. I get the sense that the Rangers offense is leaning on him too much – this is a team that is mostly intact from their Top 5 (in the NHL) roster last year, other than Nash’s presence. Yet, when he is out of the lineup, they forget how to score. I don’t know if I like that, and am losing faith in this, as of this moment, non-playoff team.  Derek Stepan, Ryan Callahan, Brad Richards, Michael Del Zotto – they did it without Nash last year, they need to be able to do it without him this year. And then he’s a bonus over and above that.

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Brenden Dillon had 11 hits in Sunday’s game, giving him 67 on the season – that’s good for 11th in the league.

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Mark Letestu has points in three straight games, and here’s the funny part – he’s tied for the team lead in scoring. Here’s an even funnier part – Columbus may end the season without a 20-point player. Not funny “Ha Ha” but funny “man, that sucks”.

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Jeff Petry took 17 games to get his first point, but has four in his last four, but was a minus-2 last contest. His ice time is often above 20 minutes and he’s taking more shots. I swapped Ryan Ellis for him in a very deep limited keeper that I’m winning (so I need help now, not later) – just to see what happens over the next week.

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Charlie Coyle played on the big line last night and this time it worked, as he tallied the second and third points of his career. But it was against the Oilers, who gave up about 100 shots.

Nail Yakupov‘s plus/minus continues to plunge as he’s entered double-digit-negative territory now.

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Drew Shore is the only skater on the entire Florida Panthers team who boasts a positive plus/minus rating.

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As bad as Sergei Kostitsyn is doing, he’s actually third on Nashville in scoring. Ouch. Nine points.

As bad as Kyle Turris is doing, he’s actually leading Ottawa in scoring. Wow! Just 13 points, two in his last 10 games.

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Two players who deserve to be traded before their skills erode from lack of top-six playing time: Matt D’Agostini, St. Louis; and Michael Frolik, Chicago.

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Lee Stempniak is up to 15 points now, which is on pace for about 37. He’s getting the ice time to sustain a 30-plus pace so, for one year only, he’s probably the real deal in terms of reaching that mark.

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So patience is a virtue and Cam Barker gets into the Vancouver lineup for the first time – and he picked up an assist.  No, I wouldn’t pick him up – but it’s a good start and worth watching. I’ll always say that third overall pick is worth watching if he shows any signs, even if he’s a 35-year-old bust. (in Barker’s case, he’s 26)

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Danny Taylor picked up his first career NHL win for the Flames Sunday, stopping 29 of 31 shots. In his first start, he had two great periods before giving up an early third period goal that kind of rattled him and opened up the flood gates. This time he shut the door in the third period. Great sign, and I made the decision last night to dress him for the week over Devan Dubnyk.

Both Taylor and Dubnyk have an injured goaltender in the mix (Kipper and ‘Bulin) – and Dubnyk is the more proven goalie by far. But the Oilers are in a slump and Calgary is coming off a win. It’s only one week, I’m just playing a hunch… and wanted to share.

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I had a one-round midseason draft in one of my keeper leagues Friday. I picked seventh and eighth out of 13 and was looking at my Top 3 on my list – Drew Shore, Jiri Tlusty, Beau Bennett. Tlusty went first overall, Shore went fourth. I got Bennett seventh and had to ponder the next pick. It was either Brendan Gallagher or Alex Killorn. In the end I went Gallagher, who proceeded to pick up four points in two games on the weekend since then. Killorn scored as well. But I went with Gallagher since I have Desharnais.

And I had Bennett higher on the list than he should be because I own Malkin, Letang, Dupuis and Neal – the league has a postseason component and having five Penguins is advantageous if they go to the Final.

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The Hockey Writers – headline says it all – Tlusty Enjoying Breakout Season

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The St. Louis Blues are contemplating bringing back Jason Arnott. He met with Ken Hitchcock Saturday. The team has Tarasenko, Steen and McDonald all out with injuries and Jamie Langenbrunner is out for the season.

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Their respective coaches were real excited to get these guys last month… at first. They were given ice time, performed okay as far as stats go…but eventually wound up in the press box. And now they’re considered useless, just like they were in Montreal and New York: Wade Redden and Scott Gomez.

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Top 10 Will Ferrell moments in sports:

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Harry Zolnierczyk gets four games for this: