NHL Hockey Player News

This will be Budaj's 2nd start of the year. In his first start he was beat up for 5 goals on 22 shots. The way Price is playing Budaj likely won't see many starts. He isn't fantasy relevant.

Burns still isn't quite ready for a return but should be back in the next couple of weeks.

Gunnarsson has missed the last 3 Leafs games and will miss tonight as well. He isn't a very good fantasy option regardless. Unless he starts scoring like he never has in his career he will remain irrelevant in fantasy.

Nugent-Hopkins missed yesterday's contest because of a sore shoulder, but is fine and will play this weekend.

Backstrom has had a slow start to the season but has improved over his last 3 starts. Although he lost 2 of the 3 his SV% was solid over those 3 starts 1.000, .903 and .941 respectively. He has a tough matchup tonight vs. the Sedin lead Canucks.

Ward has had a tough start to the season but is coming off of his best start of the season. He stopped 41 of 42 shots that he faced in a 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs. He will need to be good tonight to give the Canes a chance to win because they could have a tough time beating Craig Anderson who is playing great so far this season (6-2-1, 1.33 GAA, .956 SV%).

Rinne has played well this season but is just fighting some back luck. He is 3-2-3 with a 2.02 GAA and .923 SV%. He will be in tough tonight vs. the Kings, but it is a fantastic goalie matchup between Quick and Rinne. Rinne is a must-start in all formats.

Quick is 3-2-2 with a a GAA (2.62) and SV% (.897) that are unusual for Quick. However he is still one of the NHL's best goalies and is a must-start in all fantasy formats. Quick vs. Rinne is a great goalie battle and should be a good game. With 2 goalies that are so good there is no telling who might win because either goalie can steal a game for their team.

Emery was fantastic in his last start making 45 saves on 47 shots while earning the shootout win against the Flames. Crawford has played will this season as well so Emery is unlikely to take of the starting job but more performances like that and he could earn more starts. He could be a good spot start tonight vs. the Coyotes

Kovalev had a strong start to his career as a Panther but has fallen off a lot lately. The 39 year-old has no fantasy value until he gets back into the Panthers lineup and starts scoring.

Cammalleri has an unspecified injury and will be a game-time decision. Monitor his status prior to the start of the game.

Boyle was averaging 14:19 a game and only had 1 assist with a -3. Boyle isn't fantasy relevant.

There is no solid news on Letang other than he left practice early. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma didn't say anything on the subject of Letang, so monitor his status prior to game-time.

Carkner isn't fantasy relevant.

The former #3 overall pick is a good NHL D-man but not a good fantasy player. This will be a welcomed addition to the Panthers lineup but don't go running to the waiver wire to pick him up.

Girardi will be out of the lineup for the second straight game tonight. He isn't seriously injured so he should return soon.

Byfuglien was off to a good start to the season (3 G - 4 A in 7 games) but this injury has kept him out of the Jets last three games and he will miss tonight. He should be returning in the near future.

The Rangers are lucky that they were only without their captain for 3 games. Getting him back will be a huge addition to the Rangers lineups as he does it all for them.

Pavelec finally ended a 3 game skid where he allowed 14 goals with a win against Florida. Pavelec is struggling this season so I would stay away until he gets back on track. He has a good matchup tonight against the Maple Leafs, but his GAA (3.31) and SV% (.889) are definite red flags that might make you think twice about playing him.

Bryzgalov has been the lone bright spot for the Flyers this season. He is only 4-5-0 but his GAA (2.24) and SV% (.923) are great. It's tough to bench Bryz at this point because of those numbers, if the Flyers can start scoring he will become an even better fantasy option. He has a great matchup tonight vs. the Panthers.