This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
Things are pretty quiet on the NHL front, with only one game having gone down on Monday and no real news to talk about, so let's go back to my favorite topic: prospects!
As you may have heard, the World Junior Championship just concluded, with Canada edging Russia 5-4 in the title game to bring home the gold, with a surprising surge into bronze-medal position by Slovakia. (Us poor, unfortunate Americans ran into the Russians in the first round and took a one-goal loss.
International play offers an intriguing window into the potential of these under-20 prospects, who typically play against a lot of subpar competition at the junior level, for the U.S. Development Team, etc. The higher level of play at the WJC allows us to see how our prospects shape up against the very best young men of their age, and often signals the emergence of some young players into the mainstream consciousness.
In a tournament dominated by Canada, it should surprise no one that the top four scorers (and six of the top 10) came from our neighbors to the north, with the three-headed dragon of 2014 No. 2 pick Sam Reinhart, future No. 1 pick Connor McDavid and Martin St. Louis clone Nicolas Petan each racking up 11 points over seven tourney games, while Max Domi came in a notch behind at 10. No secrets here – all these guys are among the top prospects in all of hockey.
Reinhart got only a nine-game sample of NHL action this year before being returned to Kootenay of the WHL, but several players in this tournament are slated to return to their pro teams following this tournament. Most noteworthy among those are Curtis Lazar of the Wings and Anthony Duclair of the Rangers. Those guys represent Canada's other two entries in the top 10 tournament scorers, with Lazar racking up nine points and Duclair eight – highlighting the difference between juniors and the big boys. Lazar has appeared in 27 games for the Flames this year, managing all of one goal and seven points, which matches Duclair's total in 18 games for the Rangers, who have been healthy scratching him with regularity after his impressive start faded away, and now plan to return him to juniors for the rest of this campaign. Meanwhile, Lazar – the team's captain – should return to Calgary with increased confidence and maybe even an increased role.
But that's the future. Let's go back to the present.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
Sabres (Jhonas Enroth) at Devils (Cory Schneider), 7:00 PM
Senators (Craig Anderson) at Flyers (Steve Mason), 7:00 PM
Lightning (Ben Bishop) at Canadiens (Carey Price), 7:30 PM
Hurricanes (Anton Khudobin) at Predators (Pekka Rinne), 8:00 PM
Sharks (Alex Stalock) at Wild (Darcy Kuemper), 8:00 PM
Avalanche (Semyon Varlamov) at Blackhawks (Corey Crawford), 8:30 PM
Blue Jackets (Sergei Bobrovsky) at Stars (Anders Lindback), 8:30 PM
Blues (Brian Elliott) at Coyotes (Devan Dubnyk), 9:00 PM
Red Wings (Jimmy Howard) at Oilers (Ben Scrivens), 9:30 PM
Islanders (Jaroslav Halak) at Canucks (Ryan Miller), 10:00 PM
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check out our Projected Goalies Grid.
Injury News For Teams Playing Tuesday
Buffalo Sabres
Brian Gionta, RW (head) – Week-to-week
Torrey Mitchell, RW (foot) – No word on return, though he was expected back by now
Marcus Foligno, LW (finger) – Out "a month or two"
Joel Armia, RW (lower body) – Injured at AHL Rochester
New Jersey Devils
Stephen Gionta, C (hand) – Out a few weeks yet
Damon Severson, D (ankle) – Out into late January
Jacob Josefson, C (illness) – Practiced with the team Monday
Eric Gelinas, D (illness) – Has a bad case of the flu
Martin Havlat, RW (flu) – Didn't practice Monday after recurrence of flu symptoms
Bryce Salvador, D (lower body) – Still not skating
Scott Clemmensen, G (illness) – Has the mumps in AHL
Steve Bernier, RW (hip) – Didn't go Saturday
Ryane Clowe, LW (head) – Remains out indefinitely
Peter Harrold, D (face) – Back at practice Monday
Ottawa Senators
Chris Neil, RW (knee) – Was on for morning skate Sunday
Marc Methot, D (back) – Practiced Monday, but not ready to return Tuesday
Zack Smith, C (wrist) – Still out a matter of months
Mark Borowiecki, D (leg) – Should get out of his walking boot soon
Philadelphia Flyers
Claude Giroux, C (leg) – Could play Tuesday
Kimmo Timonen, D (blood clots) – Will have a CT scan at some point in mid-January
Tampa Bay Lightning
Radko Gudas, D (knee) – Will undergo arthroscopic surgery Tuesday
Montreal Canadiens
P.A. Parenteau, RW (upper body) – Injury slightly clarified; no word on return
Carolina Hurricanes
Andrej Nestrasil, C (upper body) – Back at practice over weekend
Alexander Semin, LW (upper body) – Didn't return Friday, but Tuesday possible
John-Michael Liles, D (illness) – Back at practice Monday; Tuesday return possible
Nashville Predators
James Neal, RW (lower body) – Sat out Sunday; no word on Tuesday
Taylor Beck, LW (illness) – Hit IR over weekend
Matt Cullen, C (upper body) – Hit IR late last week
San Jose Sharks
Joe Thornton, C (shoulder) – Hit IR on Sunday
Raffi Torres, LW (knee) – Remains out without timetable
Mike Brown, RW (leg) – Remains out another 2-4 weeks
Tyler Kennedy, LW (shoulder) – Starting to close in on return over next week or two
Minnesota Wild
Mikael Granlund, C (wrist) – Out about another three weeks
Keith Ballard, D (concussion) – Remains on IR indefinitely
Brett Sutter, C (illness) – Practiced Monday
Colorado Avalanche
Jamie McGinn, LW (back) – Still very possibly out for the year
Jesse Winchester, LW (concussion) – Practicing, but no word on when he'll be back
Ben Street, C (hand) – Placed on IR
Patrick Bordeleau, LW (knee) – Out another 6-8 weeks yet
Chicago Blackhawks
Trevor van Riemsdyk, D (knee) – Ahead of schedule, but still out into February
Kris Versteeg, RW (hand) – Expected to miss about a month
Columbus Blue Jackets
Cam Atkinson, RW (upper body) – Could be back Tuesday
Brian Gibbons, C (knee) – Skating on his own; no word on return date
Boone Jenner, LW (back) – Out several weeks to a month-plus still
Ryan Murray, D (knee) – Remains out with no clear timetable
Artem Anisimov, C (triceps) – Has resumed light skating
Mark Letestu, C (groin) – Could be available Tuesday
Dallas Stars
Patrick Eaves, RW (ankle) – Coming up on the short end of his timeline
Valeri Nichushkin, LW (hip) – Remains out 'til late in the season
Shawn Horcoff, C (illness) – Placed on injured reserve Saturday
St. Louis Blues
Chris Porter, LW (lower body) – Hit IR before the new year
Detroit Red Wings
Jakub Kindl, D (elbow) – Back at practice; Tuesday return possible?
Jonas Gustavsson, G (shoulder) – Also practicing; no timetable offered
Edmonton Oilers
Tyler Pitlick, RW (spleen) – Placed on injured reserve Saturday
Keith Aulie, D (suspension) – Two-game suspension up; should be back in Tuesday
New York Islanders
Michael Grabner, RW (lower body) – Ready to return; likely in Tuesday
Brian Strait, D (personal) – Still away for personal reasons? Getting healthy scratched
Vancouver Canucks
Dan Hamhuis, D (leg) – Not expected to return until the latter half of this month
Hot
Tyler Johnson, C, TB – At this point, Johnson is starting to cross the boundary that separates "good" from "great." Stat time: Johnson has a three-plus-week hot streak going in which he's totaled seven goals and 14 points over 10 games. Despite averaging more than a minute less of ice time than he did last year, he's on a far better scoring pace and has already exceeded last season's plus-23 rating, as he's sitting on a plus-26 through 40 games that makes me gulp with the potential of someone going plus-50 in an NHL season. That's happened just one time in the last 10 seasons, when Jeff Schultz (then of the Capitals) finished with an even half-a-hundred on the plus side. The scary thing, points-wise, is that the Bolts are just starting to ramp up Johnson's power-play time – he's barely averaging more than two minutes per game, but played more than seven minutes with the man advantage on Sunday and scored a power-play goal. That might cut into his plus-minus gains, but that's a price we'll pay for even more scoring. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Carey Price, G, MON – Price is one of the streakier goalies around, but you won't find many fantasy owners or Habs fans complaining about his current streak. He's won five straight games and has allowed exactly one goal in six of his last nine starts; he gave up two goals in each of the other three. So that's pretty good. The Canadiens are rocking and rolling, and Price is pushing his way up the chart in terms of rate stats – he now sits fourth in save percentage (.929) and fifth in GAA (2.14) to go with his No. 2 position in wins.
Cold
Jeff Skinner, LW, CAR – It's been a shockingly bad season for Skinner, and it hasn't been getting any easier lately. He missed Friday's game with an illness, which frankly had to be a welcome reprieve, considering that he's missed out on the scoresheet in six consecutive games (including Sunday's return to the ice) and has a very un-Skinner-like 11 shots in that span. Scoring or not, the one thing Skinner had done before this slump was shoot the puck: In his first 27 games of this season, he put 99 pucks on net. This is a particularly worrisome development in what was already a miserable season for the two-time 30-goal scorer.
Ryan Suter, D, MIN – One of the league's most consistent defensemen, Suter doesn't run into a lot of slumps, but he's definitely in one now. Still stuck on one goal (but 21 assists) for the season, Suter has gone five consecutive games without registering a point, and over his last seven contests, he's sitting on a surprisingly brutal minus-7 rating that's dropped him back to even for the season. If Skinner's results are very un-Skinner-like, then Suter's are distinctly un-Suter-like. There's even talk in Minnesota of scaling back his power-play minutes in favor of Marco Scandella.
Recommended Pickup
Mathieu Perreault, C, WPG – Perreault's transition to Winnipeg didn't go so well over the first couple months of the year, but he's quietly been scoring with consistency ever since the calendar flipped over to December. Dating back to Dec. 3, he's picked up seven goals and 14 points in the last 15 games while playing big-time minutes on the second line and the top power-play unit. After bouncing around the league and initially looking like he was going to wash out with the Jets, Perreault has found a home alongside Mark Scheifele and Michael Frolik. He should find a home on your fantasy roster, too, as he remains criminally under-owned.
