Fantasy Hockey Notes 2/4/2009

Henrik Zetterberg - Since signing that incredible 12 year, $72 million extension, Hank has yet to play in a game.  That should change tonight when the Wings host the Coyotes.  Zetterberg hasn't been great this year, but with his contract situation out of the way, that's one less thing off his mind and he should be a little more comfortable out there than before.  Barring anymore injuries, he should have a nice second half performance.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Brendan Shanahan - Despite just hitting the 40 mark, that's years, not goals, Shanny appears fresh and is contributing to the Devils on almost a nightly basis.  He may not be a bad pickup after all.  He currently has 3 goals in his first 6 games.  You could do a lot worse for your 12th forward.

Danny Briere - He's back, he's gone, he's back, he's gone.  Just before he was about to return he decides to have surgery on his injured groin pushing his return back even farther.  At this point its tough to say how effective he'll be when he gets back.  He was playing great before the injuries, but he's missed so much time now, he may not be back to full speed until closer to the end of the season or the playoffs.  His target date to return is February 19th.

Sergei Gonchar - For those of you in leagues where Gonchar is sitting on the waiver wire instead of on someone's IR, now would be a good time to snatch him up.  Sarge expects to return sometime this month and he could give the Pens a much needed shot in the arm.  Last year, Gonchar was one of fantasy hockey's most valuable defenseman and picking him up off waivers at this stage in the game is huge.

Manny Fernandez - With how well Tim Thomas is playing and Tuukka Rask appearing to be a capable backup, Manny is trade bait for a someone out there.  This isn't the stock market report, but you may want to sell high here.  His numbers have a lot to do with the team around him.  If he gets traded, his value could take a significant hit.

Alexei Kovalev - Now that the All Star game is over and done with, Kovy can go back to being his usual non-productive self.  Its amazing that he can look so good in that game and so bad on a nightly basis.  His value is as high as it will ever be this year and maybe you can sucker some owner into trading for him with his all star performance still fresh in their mind.

Carey Price - Montreal's ultra talented goalie has hit a bit of a rough patch after the all star break, but he's already showing signs of getting back on track.  He's given up only two goals in each of his games against the Bruins and Penguins this month.  I wouldn't worry about his poor outings against the Panthers and Lightning when he gave up 5 goals in each of those contests.

Jason Spezza - With Craig Hartsburgh finally out of the picture, the Sens are reuniting the Pizza line (Heatley, Alfredsson and Spezza) and keeping them together.  If this holds true, Spezza is worth owning again and it should increase the value of the other players on that line as well.  Hopefully the experiments of Spezza, Ruutuu and Neil are over.

Jason Blake - Is there a hotter player in the NHL than Blake right now?  He has 7 goals and 7 assists in his last 8 games.  Who would have guessed it?  He is a former 40 goal scorer, but this explosion of offense on this team is incredible.  I don't expect him to keep this up, but he may not be a bad rental.

Nicklas Backstrom - The new Spezza has arrived. Coach Boudreau is playing with his lines and Backstrom is the odd man out.  Previously playing on the top line with Ovechkin, Backstrom is now, inexplicably, on the third line with Tomas Fleischmann and Eric Fehr.  Apparently he's not real big on the "if its not broke, don't fix it" idea.  Backstrom is still putting up points, but nowhere close to what he was doing on the top line.  I don't expect this to last too long.  He's way too talented of a center to play on a line without Semin or Ovechkin.  Just try to ride this out and hopefully he'll be back with them sooner than later.

Steve Mason - Just when things started to look up for the Jackets, their Calder candidate is diagnosed with mononucleosis.  Not what Columbus or his fantasy owners wanted to hear.  He's pretty much day to day and will play if he feels good on that particular day.  Its a tough spot for fantasy owners.  You hate to give up on a guy that has done so well this year, but him being questionable for every game now hurts his value.  Depending on your league, you may need to just stick this one out.  I doubt you'll find anyone better or even capable of being better on the wire.

Roberto Luongo - Since returning from his injury, Luongo has not been himself posting a 3.68 GAA and a .879 save percentage.  He's way too talented to keep playing like this, but even still those are some pretty bad numbers.  If you own him, you probably drafted him high and if he's playing like this for you, you have to be frustrated.

Mats Sundin - Last night, Sundin lit up the score sheet with a goal and an assist giving him 3 goals, 2 assists and a -4 rating in 10 games this season.  I really hope you're not counting on Sundin for a ton of offense.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere - Usually the second half is Giguere's time of year.  The only problem right now is he can't get off the bench.  Giggy hasn't played since January 21st in a game where he was chased by the Islanders.  The death of his father appears to be really affecting him right now and Jonas Hiller has been getting all of the starts.  If he doesn't get back in the lineup soon, it maybe time to ax him in favor of Hiller.

Scott Niedermayer - I'm not sure what got into him, but Niedermayer scored almost as many points in the month of January (17) as he scored in the first three months of the season (19).  The Ducks aren't exactly oozing with offense, but Niedermayer should continue to be a big point producer and an extremely valuable defenseman.