Haula left Monday's game after being hit in the head by John Moore of the Rangers. The Wild announced that Haula has not been diagnosed with a concussion, but will still be held out for precautionary measures. Kyle Brodziak will be in the lineup for Haula.
Marchessault played 12:33 and recorded one shot with a minus-1 rating in his Lightning debut on Saturday. With Marchessault heading back to Syracuse, expect J.T Brown and/or Alex Killorn to be back in the Lightning lineup on Tuesday. Marchessault has two goals and five assists in six games with the Crunch.
Marchessault, 23, had a hot start with Syracuse, scoring two goals with four assists (6 points) in the first five games. He has two games of NHL experience (with CBJ) but is expected to make his Lightning debut tonight with Ryan Callahan, Alex Killorn, JT Brown and Brett Connolly all sidelined with injuries.
Forsberg scored his first goal of the season last night and has now recorded at least one point in the first three games of the season. He has one goal and three assists so far and should only continue to produce on the Predators top line with Ribeiro and Neal, who could use a jump-start (1G between the two of them). Forsberg is only owned in 19% of Yahoo! leagues and is definitely worth taking a look at in 12-team leagues.
The Avalanche and O'Reilly have been working on a deal for awhile, and while it wasn't the long-term deal that O'Reilly was seeking, but the $6 million per year, is a huge raise for the 23-year-old. He had a great 2013-14 season, posting 28 goals and 36 assists (54 points) in 80 games. The most impressive thing for O'Reilly was he only took one minor penalty in the entire season. He will play a big role in the Avs' top-6 this season, where he will shoot for his first 30-goal season.
Stamkos left last night's game after taking a knee to the head. Good news that the Lightning captain will be back for Game 4 with this team down 3-0 in the series.
Forsberg has five points (1G / 4A) in 12 games with the Predators this season. While in Milwaukee he has 10 goals and 17 assists (27 points) in 36 games. He is expected to skate on a line with Colton Sissons and Richard Clune tonight in Chicago.
O'Reilly is having a career year having posted 25 goals and 30 assists (55 points) in 66 games. What is most impressive is his ZERO penalty minutes and his league leading 71 takeaways.
Stamkos has played over 21 minutes in each of his first two games back and said that he felt good. The team says he just took his option; Stamkos said he would pick and choose days to take off.
Stamkos has missed 45 games with fractured right tibia but his long awaited return will come on Thursday against the Sabres. This has to feel like the best trade deadline acquisition for the Lightning. Stamkos was excellent before getting hurt. He scored 14 goals and nine assists (23 points) in 17 games. He is a tremendous athlete and will probably be able to pick-up right where he left off.
Stamkos will meet with doctors on Wednesday as he awaits word on whether or not he can play on Thursday.
Haula, 22, has two goals and two assists in 15 games so far in his rookie season for Minnesota. He was sent back to Iowa to continue playing during the break, falling shy of the NHL-mandated guideline of playing in 16 of the 20 games before the break which would have left him ineligible to return to Iowa.
Stamkos underwent another set of X-rays this afternoon. The bone is reportedly healing very well but the Lightning are playing it smart. Stamkos is expected to return when the Lightning get back to Tampa Bay on March 6 vs. the Sabres.
After the brief rest, Stamkos returned to the ice last week along with the rest of his non-Olympian teammates looking as good as ever 14 weeks after suffering a broken right tibia. Though he pushed hard to be ready to return before the break and represent Canada at the Olympics, a CT scan performed on Feb. 5 revealed the bone was not quite healed enough to clear his return. "It did feel good (on Feb. 5), but it feels even better now," Stamkos said. "Maybe I wasn't as far along as I thought, knowing how much better it has felt now that I have kept working on it and taking a couple of days off. It's just going to continually get better, and that's positive knowing it's doing that.''
Stamkos fractured his right tibia on November 11 in a game against the Boston Bruins and he subsequently had surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital to place a titanium rod in the tibia. He has missed 39 regular season games to this point. "Today is obviously very disappointing for me," Stamkos said. "I honestly believe that we did everything possible in order to have my injured leg ready in time for the Olympics, but I realize you can't force healing.
It all depends how Stamkos responds to an increased workload. Stamkos is expected to begin 'light' contact on Saturday. So far things are trending in the right direction for Stammer to be ready for Sochi 2014.
Stamkos was active in multiple drills with the Lightning as he continues to progress towards a pre-Olympic return. Stamkos' recovery has been nothing short of spectacular, but there is still no timetable for his return.
O'Reilly missed the last two games with a freak shoulder injury that he suffered on Monday while celebrating a Paul Stastny goal. He is expected to hop back onto his usual line with Paul Stastny and Gabriel Landeskog.
O'Reilly will miss his second straight game with a shoulder injury that he suffered on Monday vs. Calgary. Monitor his status during Saturday to see if he will suit up against the Wild.
Forsberg was named MVP, Best Forward and a media all-star at the 2014 World Junior Championships, helping the host nation to a silver medal, his third time placing at the tournament. He has posted five points (1G / 4A) in 12 games with Nashville, and eight points (3G / 5A) in seven games with Milwaukee (AHL).
