NHL Hockey Player News

Howard was outstanding Sunday against the Kings. The Red Wings are 2-1 against the Blues already this season.

Zolnierczyk isn't fantasy relevant.

Halak was scheduled to start yesterday for the Blues but didn't end up starting because he re-aggravated his groin injury in warmups. Jake Allen was recalled so Halak will likely be placed back on IR and should be considered day-to-day for the time being.

With Niklas Backstrom playing last night and Josh Harding not feeling great the last couple of days it is expected that Kuemper will make his NHL debut tonight vs. the Canucks. Kuemper is 10-6-0 with a 1.79 GAA and .938 SV% in the AHL this season, but the Canucks are not an easy team to make your NHL debut against.

Dubnyk finally got a win over Columbus on Sunday after losing 4 straight before that. Dubnyk has been excellent this season posting a .928 SV% and facing the second most shots in the NHL right now. He has an alright match-up against the Stars tonight, however they have won 3 consecutive.

Rinne is in early talks for the Hart Trophy which speaks to how well he has played through the first 1/4 of the season. He is 4-3-3 with a 1.92 GAA and .929 SV% and will get a crack at a struggling Sharks team tonight. He already has 1 win against the Sharks this season when he allowed only 1 goal on 28 shots in a 2-1 win. He is a must-start in all formats.

Brodeur has won his last 3 starts and has only allowed 4 goals while doing so. Brodeur and the Devils are sitting comfortably atop the Eastern Conference as it stands now and will take on a Hurricanes team who have won 3 of their last 4.

Fasth has been excellent early in his NHL career. The 30 year-old netminder is 5-0-0 with a 1.72 GAA and .932 SV% which is considerably better than Hiller this season. If Fasth continues to play well he will likely start to see more starts than Hiller. The Ducks are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, but have a tough test tonight against the NHL's best Chicago Blackhawks.

Pandolfo is not fantasy relevant.

Cammalleri has missed the Flames last 3 games but will play tomorrow against the Stars. He is still looking for his first goal this season but has 5 assists in 7 games.

After Thomas Greiss got the start last night and lost 6-2 to the Blue Jacket it is no surprise that the Sharks are going back to their #1 tonight. In Niemi's last start he did something you don't see very often, when he posted a shutout and still lost 1-0 in a shootout. However after a hot-start to the season the Sharks have lost 5 straight.

Price is now 3 days removed from a 6-0 beat down the Habs took at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Price surrendered all 6 goals on 28 shots in the contest. It was Price's first bad game of the season and he will look to bounce back tonight against a slumping Lightning team (lost 4 consecutive).

It has been a rollercoaster of a morning trying to figure out who the Jets starter was going to be, but finally Coach Noel confirmed that it is in fact Al Montoya. Montoya is coming off of a shutout performance against the Senators and if he has another good outing he can carve out some starting time for himself given Pavelec's struggles.

Kovalev isn't the player he once was which is evident by the fact that he was a healthy scratch in the Panthers last two games. Unless scratching him woke him up and will spark some serious offensive production Kovalev remains as a low-end fantasy option.

Grigorenko was scratched in the Sabres last game but will draw back into the lineup tonight. The rookie only has 1 G and 2 A in 12 games this year but is still trying to find his way around the NHL. He only holds fantasy value in keeper leagues.

Myers was a healthy scratch for the Sabres last two games. He only has 1 goal and is a -9 in the 11 games he appeared in so far this season. The Sabres are hoping that using him as a healthy scratch will serve as a wake-up call to Myers and get his game back on track.

In addition to Matt Niskanen being back at practice the Penguins best D-man Kris Letang was also back at practice today. Letang is eligible to come off of IR tomorrow and play in tomorrow's game vs. Ottawa. It all depends on how he felt today in practice. Monitor his status before tomorrow's game.

Niskanen's (ankle) original timetable for a return was 2-6 weeks and it has only been 2 weeks and he is already back on the ice. There has been no word on when he will return to the lineup but this is good news for the Penguins as it appears he will be back at the front-end of that timetable.

The recalling of Allen shows that Halak's setback that he suffered in yesterday's warmups is significant enough that he is going to miss more time. Allen could be in line for a start as Brian Elliott has struggled while Halak's been on the shelf, leading to a 5-game losing streak for the Blues.

There was speculation yesterday that Kipper's injury was likely more serious than originally thought. The addition of 33 year-old Joey MacDonald and the fact that Kiprusoff couldn't go into the butterfly at practice raised some red flags. When he returns the starting job is obviously still his but that appears to still be weeks away.