Anton Khudobin with another solid performance for Carolina on Friday night making 40 saves, albeit in a losing cause. I have to say, I remember debating with someone in the Ramblings earlier in the year about Khudobin's ability to steal the job from Cam Ward. I didn't think he could but I'll admit I was wrong. It looks to be his job at the moment and it was very telling when he received a contract extension this week. Perhaps the Canes try and deal Ward this summer if they can find a taker for his contract.

 

Jeff Skinner broke out of a slump, but it took a goal on a penalty shot to do so. He hadn't recorded a point since returning from the Olympic break and was minus-5 over that stretch. He's quietly had a good year and is on pace to shatter his career-high in shots on goal.

 

Andrei Loktionov saw some solid power play time in his first game with Carolina. He got over four minutes and he's someone to monitor if that continues.

 

Jordan Staal notched his first goal since January 27^th. He's had a somewhat disappointing year one would have to think.

 

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Martin St. Louis picked up his first point as a Ranger to go along with five shots. Losing Steven Stamkos is a blow to his fantasy production, but at least it looks like he's going to be playing with Brad Richards, who he had some familiarity with in Tampa once upon a time.

 

Derek Stepan had a goal and an assist to give him a five-game point streak.

 

Carl Hagelin has seen some time with St. Louis and Richards so far. If he stays there he's going to be valuable, but something tells me he won't last long on that line. Ultimately whoever ends up in that role permanently should see a bump in production.

 

Mats Zuccarello returned to the lineup after missing time with an injury. He hadn't played since before the break when he had eight points in six games. He picked up an assist against Carolina, so hopefully the injury doesn't destroy all his momentum.

 

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Roberto Luongo's first start with the Panthers was a shutout. As crazy as it sounds, as a Luongo owner I was happy to hear he was going to Florida. You could make an argument the Panthers aren't in that much worse shape than the Canucks at the moment, and at least Luongo will get the majority of the starts now.

 

Jimmy Hayes hasn't done a ton since arriving in Florida, but he still seems to be getting key minutes. He played over five minutes with the man advantage against Buffalo, but didn't even record a shot. These are opportunities Hayes needs to be taking advantage of.

 

Dmitry Kulikov scored a goal, giving him his first point in nine games. After his impressive 2011-12 campaign, I thought he could be a 45-50 point guy, but that doesn't look to be the case anymore.

 

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Michal Neuvirth made 42 saves in a losing effort and that's bad news for Jhonas Enroth owners. I scooped up Enroth when Miller was dealt, hoping he would get most of the starts the rest of the way. With Neuvirth there now it may be more of split unfortunately.

 

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Cody Hodgson and how the Sabres plan to use him. He was once highly touted, but with Buffalo being in a rebuild is he a focal point of their future plans?

 

This is a great time to take an in depth look at the Sabres' roster if you are in a keeper league and want to get your hands on someone for the future. It's hard to think years down the road, but when the team turns it around you will be ahead of the game if you grabbed a few young players with a vision of what they could eventually be. Zemgus Girgensons is one that comes to mind.

 

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Detroit crushed the Devils 7-4 and it's unbelievable how they just keep trucking on with all the injuries they are dealing with.

 

Johan Franzen and Gustav Nyquist led the way with four points each. They seem to be gelling as of late. They also combined for 14 shots and Franzen now has multi-point games in four of his last five outings.

 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Todd Bertuzzi might be worth a look with all the injuries the Wings have. He's got four points in his last four contests and is still getting respectable power play time. He'd strictly be a short-term option though.

 

Picking up David Legwand from Nashville was one of the more underrated moves on deadline day. He had three points against the Devils and Detroit always seems to get the most out of those savvy veterans.

 

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Adam Henrique is on fire right now and added a pair of goals against the Wings. He's scored seven times in five games, with nine points over that stretch.

 

Ryane Clowe now has five points in his last five. He's another short-term option until he cools off.

 

Cory Schneider was in for all seven goals and it's his third straight rough stat line. The last thing he wants to do is give Martin Brodeur a glimmer of hope about getting more starts.

 

Jaromir Jagr with another goal. I'm convinced he's now a robot.

 

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The Flames got the better of the Islanders 4-3 on Friday, as they continue to get production from unlikely sources.

 

Markus Granlund scored again to give him points in three straight. He’s played just five games this season but with the Flames long out of the playoff race, he’s likely to get a long look the rest of the way.

 

Joe Colborne added a pair of goals to give him a four-game point streak. He’s actually scored on his last three shots and his minutes are starting to increase. He’s a good acquisition at the moment. 

 

Joni Ortio got the start in goal and if you were thinking of grabbing him now that Reto Berra has been dealt, I would advise against it. He might get some starts but the Flames are a bad defensive squad.

 

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The Islanders have begun life without, well…. everyone.

 

Kyle Okposo did manage a goal against the Flames, but it’s hard to imagine him continuing the pace he set earlier in the year without John Tavares and Thomas Vanek.

 

One guy to grab though is Michael Grabner if you can. He picked up another point Friday and has seen a bump in minutes after the Olympics.

 

Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome are also worth a look and they both picked up points versus Calgary. They’ll get more opportunities, especially on the power play, with the current state of the Isles forward group. 

 

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The Penguins beat the Ducks in a shootout and Sidney Crosby chipped in with this beauty. 

 

 

Jussi Jokinen with points in two straight. He’s now up to a very under the radar 45 points on the season. 

 

Lee Stempniak might be someone to grab now while you can. He hasn’t done anything since joining the Pens, but he’s played a fair bit with Crosby and Kunitz. If that keeps going he’s bound to produce well soon.

 

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Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf with two goals and two assists respectively. Sure looks like they miss Dustin Penner.

 

In all seriousness though, whoever ends up with them is going to be a must own. It’s been Kyle Palmieri for much of the last couple of games, so see if that continues.

 

Cam Fowler played close to 30 minutes on Friday and he has seen a massive amount of ice-time this season. This could be right around the time he hits a wall, so watch out for that. 

 

*

 

Vancouver Canucks forward Zack Kassian has been suspended three games for his hit on Brenden Dillon Thursday night. Kassian has just one goal since January 21^st, so that shouldn't be a huge blow to fantasy lineups.

 

 

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Clarke MacArthur won't play for the Sens on Saturday and could be out even longer said head coach Paul MacLean. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a long-term absence, since he's been a pleasant surprise for Ottawa this season playing with Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris.

 

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It's been 10 years since the Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore incident and TSN has been running some great features on it the last few days.

 

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Apparently Tampa Bay owner Jeff Vinik tried twice to convince Martin St. Louis to stay with the Lightning prior to deadline day. There has to be something more to this story than St. Louis just being left off Team Canada doesn't there? I understand Steve Yzerman was also the general manager in Tampa, but making those selections was difficult and several strong players were ultimately left off the list. Not to mention St. Louis ended up going anyway. Something tells me we haven't heard the whole story yet.

 

By the way, I actually don't think Tampa did too badly in that deal, especially when you consider the fact that St. Louis only wanted to go to New York. Ryan Callahan is obviously a solid player, the first-round pick they got is in the Connor McDavid year, and the other pick has the potential to be a first rounder if New York makes it to the conference final this season, which is plausible.

 

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The Canucks reportedly had a deal in place with the Boston Bruins for defenseman Alex Edler, but it fell through because it was hinging on players that were supposed to be coming back in a Ryan Kesler deal, that also never happened. I'm not sure I remember a team going from contenders to rebuilding in such a short span. It's also unbelievable that both Cory Schneider and Luongo are now gone from the team after all that talk of who would finally end up getting the No. 1 job, which ultimately turned out to be Eddie Lack.

 

The Canucks also called up former first-round pick Nicklas Jensen from Utica to try and help solve their scoring woes.

 

Michael Amato is an Associate Editor for DobberHockey and a News Editor for theScore. You can follow him on Twitter at @amato_mike