NHL Hockey Player News

Head coach Alain Vigneault would not confirm that Girardi would play, but Girardi had no problem saying he will play. Bleeding in his leg has stopped so he feels good and ready to go tonight vs. the Devils.

Versteeg's three week timetable was right on as he returns 20 days after being injured. Versteeg will skate on the Hawks second line with Andrew Shaw and Patrick Kane, which gives him a nice opportunity to produce right away. He had 10 goals and 19 assists (29 points) in 63 games after coming over from the Panthers last season.

Niemi allowed two goals on 37 shots in a win over the Devils on Saturday. The Sharks continue to rotate starting goalies, which limits Niemi's value, but he has had a good start to the year, going 3-0-0 with a 2.27 GAA and .933 SV%. If he keeps this up he might be able to wrestle some extra starts away from Alex Stalock

Corey Crawford is day-to-day with an upper-body injury so Darling, 25, has been recalled to back-up Antti Raanta tonight vs. Philadelphia. Darling is 2-0-0 with a 1.44 GAA and .948 SV% in two starts with the IceHogs (AHL) this season.

Original reports were that Crawford was sick, but now head coach Joel Quenneville is calling him day-to-day with a UBI. Chicago has recalled Scott Darling from Rockford (AHL). Monitor Crawford's status leading up to Thursday's game.

Gonchar is two and a half weeks into a 3-5 week timetable with a fractured ankle. He is progressing towards a return, but expect him to miss at least one more week.

Nichushkin will miss his fourth straight game tonight, but returning to practice tomorrow would be a positive step in his return to the lineup. He could be back in one of the Stars' back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday.

Pavelec gave up four goals on 29 shots in a 4-1 loss to the Flames on Sunday. He has now lost four straight starts since winning the season opener. The Jets are not playing well right now, but Pavelec's numbers are decent. He carries a 2.61 GAA and .906 SV% into tonight's meeting with the winless Hurricanes.

All signs were pointing to Datsyuk playing tonight on Monday, but head coach Mike Babcock just confirmed that he will be in. Datsyuk's return is a huge boost to the Red Wings offence, which is currently ranked 26th (2.20 G/PG) and power-play which is 24th, clicking at just 9.5%. Get Datsyuk in all of your lineups.

Niemi allowed two goals on 37 shots in a win over the Devils on Saturday. The Sharks continue to rotate starting goalies, which limits Niemi's value, but he has had a good start to the year, going 3-0-0 with a 2.27 GAA and .933 SV%. If he keeps this up he might be able to wrestle some extra starts away from Alex Stalock.

Crawford was confirmed by the Blackhawks on Monday but came down with an illness over the last 24 hours and will not start tonight. Antti Raanta will make his season debut with Crawford unavailable.

Crawford was the Blackhawks confirmed starter on Monday, but got sick overnight and will not play tonight. So, Raanta gets the call against the Flyers. He was 13-5-4 with a 2.71 GAA and .897 SV% in his first NHL season. He makes for a solid spot-start option tonight.

Sheahan had been playing on the Red Wings second power-play unit, but he will switch spots with Darren Helm as the net-front presence on the Wings top-unit. Sheahan has just one assist through five games, but this move should help him pick up some power-play points in the short-term.

The Sharks have shaken up all of their forwards lines ahead of tonight's game in Boston. One of the moves has Hertl going to the third line to play with James Sheppard and Andrew Desjardins, which is obviously a huge downgrade from Joe Thornton. Hertl has two goals and a plus-4 rating through six games.

Lehtera did not play on Sunday because of the flu and he is not skating this morning. The Blues are off until Thursday, so this is not a huge concern yet.

Stepan's original timetable was 4-6 weeks and we are approaching the four week point and he has yet to resume skating, so it looks like he won't be returning until the tail-end of the original timetable at best.

Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault did not shed any light on if Girardi would play tonight or not. He would only divulge that if Girardi can't play, that Mike Kostka would slide into the lineup. We probably won't hear if he will play until pre-game warmups.

Ryan Callahan was injured in Monday's game, so recalling Blunden likely means that Callahan will not play on Tuesday vs. the Flames. Blunden has two goals and one assist in four games with Syracuse in his first year with the Lightning organization.

The Blackahwks announced on Monday that Crawford was starting on Tuesday, but his absence from the morning skate makes us wonder if something may have happened to him. We will get a full update after the morning skate.

Lehtonen allowed six goals on 37 shots in a OT loss to the Flyers on Saturday. It snapped his modest two-game winning streak and was the first time he allowed more than two goals in a game this season. Tonight, it looks like he will face a Canucks team he was 3-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and .971 SV% against last year.