T.J. Brodie signed a five year, 23M extension with the Calgary Flames this week. He's off to the best start of his career, with five points in five games so far for the Flames, averaging more than 24 minutes per game. Brodie is currently paired up with Mark Giordano and gives the Flames one of the NHL's best 1-2 punch from the point. Brodie has mad upside and plenty of room to grow offensively. You can tell that Giordano has really helped develop his skill-set and confidence.

T.J. Brodie should be on your fantasy radar, if he isn't already.

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Victor Hedman breaks finger and will miss 4-6 weeks

Axeman’s Grind

Literally a tough break for Hedman, and Hedman owners in fantasyland. He broke the finger blocking a shot in a game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday and will have surgery on Tuesday. Hedmen is currently leading all defencemen in scoring heading into the Bolts game against the Oilers Tuesday evening.

Tampa added some quality depth to their blueline this offseason so while losing Hedman is a big blow, they do have guys who will fill holes until he returns. The big question for fantasy owners now becomes, who takes Hedmans prime spot on that high octane power play unit? The Bolts normally run a four forward, one defenceman power play on their PP1 setup. There is plenty of options like Matt Carle, Jason Garrison and Anton Stralman. Many seem to think Stralman will get first crack. He normally mans the PP2 for the Lightning so he could easily slide up to PP1 and see how he fits. Personally I think Jason Garrison makes more sense. He manned big PP minutes in Vancouver the past few seasons so it’s not like he is a stranger to that role. He is a heavy shooting, left handed shot like Hedman as well. Tampa really hasn’t used Garrison for power play time since acquiring him at the draft this past summer so while it may surprise many to see him getting that chance, I do think he should get a look. Tampa loves what they are getting from Garrison right now for his defensive play, but given the chance to show what he can do for them offensively as well, I am pretty sure they would love him even more. 

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Jonathan Drouin gets a quick recall to the Lightning

Axeman's Grind 

Sticking with the Lightning, after two games in the AHL, Jonathan Drouin was recalled for Monday night's game against the Oilers.  It was a surprise recall after Alex Killorn suffered an upper body injury during the afternoon skate.  Apparently Killorn took a scary tumble into the boards and was unable to go.  Enter Drouin!  He filled in nicely in Killorns spot the second line with Val Filppula and Tyler Johnson, skating for just over 16 minutes of icetime and recording one shot on goal.

I watched the game on TV and thought Drouin looked pretty good, all things considered.  No doubt he was nervous and a bit overwhelmed. He created a few offensive opportunities using his speed in the Oilers zone with some nice passes. It's hard to say how long Killorn will be out and what the role of Drouin will be even once he returns, but Drouin won't be heading back to Halifax to join the Mooseheads this year. He is up to stay. It will probably mean that the Lightning will be looking at sending down someone like Vladislav Namestnikov and moving Tyler Johnson back to his natural center position to make room for Drouin. 

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Well those are my Axes for this week’s Grind. Many thanks to those who take the time to read the column and please, feel free to leave a comment. I enjoy reading them and try to reply to as many as I can.

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter. If I am not already following you, I will do the same and follow you. I can be found at @chrispudsey