The Daily Puck: Spezza Stays Hot

Projected Goalie Starters (all times listed are Eastern)

Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury) at Islanders (Al Montoya), 7:00 PM
Philadelphia (Sergei Bobrovsky) at Buffalo (Jhonas Enroth), 7:30 PM
Chicago (Corey Crawford) at Detroit (Jimmy Howard), 7:30 PM
Florida (Scott Clemmensen) at Tampa Bay (Dwayne Roloson), 7:30 PM
Carolina (Cam Ward) at Atlanta (Chris Mason), 7:30 PM
Columbus (Steve Mason) at Nashville (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
Minnesota (Jose Theodore) at Edmonton (Devan Dubnyk), 9:00 PM
Dallas (Kari Lehtonen) at Colorado (Peter Budaj), 9:00 PM
San Jose (Antti Niemi) at Phoenix (Ilya Bryzgalov), 10:00 PM
Los Angeles (Jonathan Quick) at Anaheim (Dan Ellis), 10:00 PM

Injuries for Teams Playing Friday

Day-to-Day (Includes DL players close to returning)
Rick Nash (W) Columbus – (Back) Out for the season
Jack Hillen (D) Islanders -- (Shoulder) Questionable to play Friday
Daniel Briere (W) Philadelphia – (Lower body) Questionable to play Friday
Chris Pronger (D) Philadelphia -- (Hand) Questionable to play Friday
Jochen Hecht (W) Buffalo -- (Upper body) Doubtful to play again in the regular season
Ryan Miller (G) Buffalo -- (Upper body) Could backup Jhonas Enroth on Friday
Troy Brouwer (C) Chicago -- (Shoulder) Questionable to play Friday
Henrik Zetterberg (W) Detroit -- (Lower body) Out for the regular season
Niklas Kronwall (D) Detroit -- (Shoulder) Doubtful to play Friday
Stephen Weiss (C) Florida -- (Groin) Probable to play Friday
Tomas Vokoun (G) Florida -- (Back) Could backup Scott Clemmensen on Friday
Victor Hedman (D) Tampa Bay -- (Lower body) Doubtful to play Friday
Radek Dvorak (W) Atlanta -- (Upper body) Questionable to play Friday
Tobias Enstrom (D) Atlanta -- (Upper body) Questionable to play Friday
Anton Stralman (D) Columbus -- (Illness) Probable to play Friday
Steve Mason (G) Columbus -- (Lower body) Expected to start Friday
Cal Clutterbuck (W) Minnesota -- (Illness) Questionable to play Friday
John Madden (C) Minnesota -- (Foot) Doubtful to play Friday
Martin Havlat (W) Minnesota -- (Upper body) Doubtful to play Friday
Marek Zidlicky (D) Minnesota -- (Hamstring) Doubtful to play Friday
Tom Gilbert (D) Edmonton -- (Back) Questionable to play Friday
David Jones (D) Colorado -- (Hamstring) Questionable to play Friday
John-Michael Liles (D) Colorado -- (Concussion) Doubtful to play Friday
Ryane Clowe (W) San Jose -- (Lower body) Questionable to play Friday
Ray Emery (G) Anaheim -- (Lower body) Questionable to play Friday

Long Term or IR
Frans Nielsen (C) Islanders -- (Concussion) Out for the season
Kris Russell (D) Columbus – (Tibia) Out for the season
Steve Sullivan (W) Nashville – (Groin) Doubtful to play Friday
Shawn Horcoff (W) Edmonton – (Ankle) Still not practicing, likely out for the season
Paul Stastny (C) Colorado -- (Leg) Out for the season
Martin Hanzal (C) Phoenix -- (Lower body) Doubtful to play Friday
Justin Williams (W) Los Angeles -- (Shoulder) Out until at least the playoffs

Transactions

Steven Kampfer (D) Boston – Re-assigned to the AHL
David LeNeveu (G) Columbus – Re-assigned to the AHL
Tomas Kubalik (W) Columbus –Re-assigned to the AHL
Raymond Macias (D) Colorado – Recalled from the AHL
Shawn Belle (D) Colorado -- Recalled from the AHL
Quinton Howden (C) Florida– Signed to an entry-level contract
Anthony Luciani (W) Florida -- Signed to an entry-level contract
Jed Ortmeyer (W) Minnesota -- Recalled from the AHL
Carson McMillan (W) Minnesota -- Recalled from the AHL
Colin Greening (W) Ottawa -- Recalled from the AHL
Andre Benoit (D) Ottawa -- Recalled from the AHL
David Hale (D) Ottawa -- Recalled from the AHL
Derek Smith (D) Ottawa -- Recalled from the AHL
Erik Condra (W) Ottawa -- Recalled from the AHL
Mark Visentin (G) Phoenix -- Signed to an entry-level contract
Greg McKegg (C) Toronto -- Signed to a three-year entry-level contract
Chris Tanev (D) Vancouver -- Re-assigned to the AHL
Raffi Torres (W) Vancouver -- Suspended for four games
Yann Sauve (D) Vancouver -- Re-assigned to the AHL
Carter Camper (C) Boston -- Signed
Greg Nemisz (C) Calgary -- Re-assigned to the AHL
Lance Bouma (C) Calgary -- Re-assigned to the AHL
Jared Knight (C) Boston -- Signed an amateur tryout agreement
Ryan Spooner (C) Boston -- Signed an amateur tryout agreement
Steve Kampfer (D) Boston -- Re-assigned to the AHL

Hot

Corey Perry (W) Anaheim – Who had Perry in the "first player to score 50 goals this season" pool? He has always had the talent, as he had been one of the better fantasy forwards for a few years now with his ability to score around 30 goals per season and spend over 100 minutes in the sin bin, but this year he has finally pushed his game to the next level. Perry plays on what may be the best line in the NHL with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan and has a bright future ahead of him.

Jason Spezza (C) Ottawa – Spezza has taken a lot of grief over the past couple of seasons for uninspired play and has also shouldered his share of the blame for the Senators' struggles during that time period, but he has played very well for Ottawa this season, especially lately with 10 points in his last six games – pretty good considering the lack of talent around him.

Cold

Henrik Zetterberg (W) Detroit -- Zetterberg is on the cold list not because he hasn't played well lately, but because of the ankle injury he suffered earlier this week. Bad timing as the Red Wings had little or nothing to play for and now his availability for the first round of the playoffs is in doubt.

New York Rangers -- Hard not to call out the entire team after their dismal performance against Atlanta on Thursday. The Rangers controlled their own playoff destiny and were playing a team that had zero to play for other than pride, yet they get shutout 3-0. How does this happen after they come off impressive victories over Philadelphia (in overtime) and Boston (after trailing 3-0)? Then again, this is the same team that didn't show up against the Islanders, another team with nothing to play for, a week ago either when they lost 6-2. If they are setting up tee times next week, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Recommended Pickup

Simon Gagne (W) Tampa Bay – Gagne had a questionable reputation among fantasy owners coming into the season with his inability to stay healthy, and he hasn't disappointed, as he has missed approximately 20 games, but he is healthy now, and more importantly, he is scoring. Gagne has six goals and 10 assists in his last 11 games. He's talented, hot and playing, so why not?